Kai's Artwork On Exbihit at the Elmwood Park Library

Yeah. That kind of exhibit.

That's Chicago Love

Today on the business section of the Chicago Tribune Web Edition an article was written about Chicago locals being the most content with their city.

"Survey finds Chicagoans are happy with their surroundings, beating New York and Paris as most loved city by its residents." Read more...

By the way it's not a habit of mine to read the Trib online every morning. I knew about this article through the Eric and Kathy show on 101.9 (The Mix) this morning. Kathy made a very good comment about the article. She said something like, "I bet they conducted the survey in the summer!" Haha! I would say, better yet, maybe in the spring! :)

Photo of Ohio Street Beach grabbed from Wikipedia

She Turned 27 on the 28th

Oh no! I'm a few minutes late for this greeting on my blog (the date changed an hour ago), but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister, GET!!! All the best to you and your little angels Isa and Migs always. Lots of love.

Your horoscope for today from Astrology.com (haha!):
You're working much better as part of a team today, so try not to go solo unless you must. You may be the key ingredient that helps everyone else mesh, so don't be shy about speaking up early.

You? Shy?! See, this is why I don't believe in horoscopes! LOL.

Kai: Croc Lover or Destroyer? Discuss.

Although some find Crocs ugly I think it's pretty safe to
assume that most parents of little ones love these colorful clogs especially in the summer time. I, for one, could never see myself wearing a pair but I think little kids look so adorable in them! They're very practical too, because they're : 1) easy to find because of the colors they come in; 2) lightweight; 3) very easy to clean; 4) waterproof and dries quickly; 5) anti-bacterial. And like most kids mine LIVED in their Crocs all summer long this year and last.

But even good things come to an end and such is the case with my two-year old Kai's second pair of Crocs two days ago. He lost the other half of his first green pair (so much with "easy to find!") so I got him yellow ones (with blue straps) the next time. When he came home on Saturday with his dad and his big brother, Sebastian, from the Toyota Jamboree one of the straps came off on one side. I thought, oh well, summer's almost over, so I guess I'll just get another pair next year.

Unfortunately, if you had a child as persistent as Kai you know you're not going to win an argument (albeit that he could barely say a word right). On Sunday on their way to our usual Sunday destination (Tito Egay and Tita Neneth's home to watch TFC!) he refused to wear his other shoes and insisted he wore his damaged yellow Disney Crocs. With one strap hanging loosely and rubbing against the floor when he walked, the poor thing didn't seem to mind one bit that his favorite shoe in the world was broken.

So I decided to get him new ones today. And not just one pair, but two. And seeing how excited he was to try them on, I'd say he's a lover :)

Here they Come, the Beautiful Ones

Louis Vuitton Oak Brook to open the second week of Oak-tober! Watch out!

Wheee!!! He's 23!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHOLO!!!

I Wanna Go Back to Bed, I Feel Much Better There

If the title sounds familiar, it's because it's part of The Murmurs' song called "Carry Me Home." You'll hear it in the beginning part of the song. The Murmurs was a big part of my college life and although it's been a while since I last heard any of their songs I listen to them today (via YouTube) with the familiarity of the near yesterday. My entry this morning has nothing to do with them except for the borrowed words but I hope I provoked a sense of curiosity in you to check this video out:

So why do I want to go back to bed... aside from the fact that I feel much better there? Well there's this little thing at noon which goes on til 9pm (if I'm lucky) called work. Being the caring mom that I am (haha!) I wanted to make something good for lunch and dinner for my babies before I left. And when I mean babies I mean my husband included. Men! So my alarm went off at 7am. In a matter of minutes my husband tells me that he and the boys are going to the Cliff's Off Road Park in Marseilles, Illinois for the Toyota Jamboree event. He's been talking about this for the last couple of days and I keep telling him I have no problem at all about him going, but he needs to find a sitter since I have work all weekend. Apparently this is way too big a task for him so he tells me last night, past midnight, that he decided not to go. Until he wakes up. I swear it'll take a lifetime for me to understand this guy!!!

But then again, looking at the bright side, which I try very hard to do at every given bad situation, I need not make lunch and dinner so that makes me wanna go back to bed. Oh, carry me home.

The Oak Park (Detour) Experience

In my attempt to offer unsolicited advice to Cholo who, up to now, has not decided where he's taking the family for his triple celebration tomorrow (for graduating college, passing the NCLEX and celebrating his 23rd birthday) I decided to make a detour from my usual route home to see about the Flat Top Grill in Oak Park on Lake Street. Someone whom I used to work with live in this village and he highly recommends it. But nearly as soon as I make it to the front I receive a text message from Mr. Celebrant saying that he's finally made up his mind, and that the winner is the Cheesecake Factory at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. I'm so excited!!! Maybe we'll do FTG next time.

I didn't want my detour to end in vain so I decided to make a quick pass along Chicago Avenue and check out one of my favorite places in the world, the Frank Lloyd Wright (my favorite architect too, that's for sure!) Home and Studio. I've been wanting to volunteer here forever since it's only 2 miles away from home but... I don't know what my excuse is.

Even with the scant lighting limited to the middle part where the

stork capitals are, the place looked majestic (note that it's almost 10pm by now). Only problem is I didn't bring my camera (I should really get into the habit of bringing one, if I were to take this blogging seriously). I wasn't about to use that as an excuse so I bring out my camera phone and take a snap. And another. The result is the photo on the left, in case you were wondering what the black box is all about. Haha. Pathetic! But the point is I was there, enjoying this piece of art many regard as one of America's must-see places before you die. So if you ever make it there before you die, please ask one of the volunteers for Kristine. You never know, I could be giving you the tours by then. Or ringing up your souvenir, postcard and fridge door magnet purchase for you, you little tourist, you!

Laughter Work Out

Today was a pretty normal day. I have work and on days like this I wake up anytime between 9am and 10am, not to get ready but to start cooking lunch and dinner. My kids eat home-cooked meals everyday as long as I'm not too busy to do it. They actually eat more this way :) Usually at 4pm I head off to work.

So nothing too exciting today. I even missed running (which I try to do every other day) because our realtor called and said they are coming over within an hour for a viewing. So I had to clean up a little bit, and it's always challenging to keep the place spotless. Any parent of a two-year old would know exactly what I'm talking about. And guess what? The people we're expecting (the realtor himself included) decided not to show up. So I missed running for nothing.

On second thought, looking at the bright side, I did sweat it out a little by scrubbing and what-not. And also while waiting I went to the YouTube website by clicking on a link my little sister sent me. She said Mom wanted me to see it. It's five minutes long and I laughed my head off the entire time. So from the work out I got from playing Cinderella and the short-but-effective abdominal muscle tightening exercise courtesy of Mr. Manny Poohquiao himself, I guess it wasn't as bad. I just have to maybe run everyday for the rest of the week. Yeah, right. Let's see that happen!

Meanwhile take time to spare five minutes of your precious time to try this thing I call the Laughter Work Out. You never know, it could also be the highlight of your day. Well, let's hope not! :D

Bucketful of Sunshine

When I woke up today at 7am-- a feat, considering I've been getting up at around 10 on normal days recently-- I didn't mind so much that I was losing at least 3 hours' worth of sleep. Why, you ask? Because today I was coming home with a bucketful of those sweet round pretty yellow Rainier cherries!

The 2-hour drive from Chicago to the Jollay Orchard in Coloma, Michigan was bearable. Because we own a large SUV all the kids in the family (six in all) usually prefer to ride with us. It was a lazy Sunday morning and the highway was near empty, thanks to high gas prices! Cholo also rode with us and we chatted the ride away until we reached our destination. I loved the scenic small road we took. Lovely homes, wineries, orchards and a fine chocolate shop were just a few pleasing sights to behold.

At last we get to the farm. Not only was the place abundant in parking spaces, it was also..... unusually empty. We momentarily find out that we are two weeks late from the picking season. I guess that's better than being just one day too late! Unless, they said, we'd be interested in tart cherries. I guess tart cherries are better than no cherries.

Or not! The cherries were so bitter none of us could tolerate them. We are not a baking kind of people either, so there really wasn't any use for these fruits. I thought they looked cute though--they reminded me of my old Louis Vuitton Speedy 25 Cerises! LOL.

So I guess we're unlucky this year. Which, by the way, would've been my little family's first. But that doesn't mean we couldn't pick raspberries! So picked we did. That's me, taking it very seriously :) However, my husband, the two boys and my 8-year old niece had a different idea about having fun and used the Radio Flyer wagon to coast down the hills. As expected, it ended with pleas and screams from the two-year old who didn't want to stop.

Even though I didn't expect this kind of conclusion to our family outing I was very glad that we did go. Part of that is because when we left Chicago this morning it was kind of cold and gloomy (it was pouring throughout the day yesterday). The Michigan weather was beautiful, and while some people are just okay with a pocketful of sunshine, we got bucketfuls! :)

Congratulations, Cholo!!!

Yesterday Cholo (my husband's cousin) dropped by our place to show me a few sketches of the room he is decorating for his friend and ask for little tweaks here and there. It is pretty exciting to help out with the project, as I would love a chic girly room myself if it weren't for my uberminimalist husband, who, if it were entirely up to him would simply have a bed in the room. Nothing more, nothing less (sheets optional!).

But yesterday was a special day because at 2pm Cholo found out that he passed the NCLEX that he took two days ago. So as late as 9pm (pretty late if you have 3 little ones in tow) we hit our neighborhood Applebee's to celebrate. Also because I messed up my pasta dinner (too salty!). That's hitting two birds with one stone! Back home we watched the Bucket List which stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, just the perfect way to call it a night.

Congratulations again, Mr. Alberto Alvarez Villamiel, BSN, RN (music to Tita Susie's ears)!!! Congratulations too, Tita!!! :)

Bringing Home the Birkin

A few weeks ago I requested a book entitled "Bringing Home the Birkin-- My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag" by Michael Tonello to be brought over to our library from another Chicagoland location. Unfortunately this library won't share their copy (hmmmph!) probably because it's so new. So what's my library got to do?

Buy it just for me!!! See the "NEW" sticker? :)
And today I am Bringing Home the Book.

Oh I love the Elmwood Park Library! My kids do too, and they all have their own accounts (well, not the 2-year old). Co-workers would always ask me if I've read the book (I was the one who first found out about it but they grabbed copies as soon as they knew about its existence) and I would just say, "I'm still waiting for the library's call" and I get the "You actually use the library?!!" look. I don't care! I'll borrow it and if it's worth keeping I'll grab my own copy. Meanwhile I'm going to start reading and if it's a worthwhile read you'll hear about it again. Oh I just love the smell of new books! And old ones, for that matter <wink>.

Brookfield Zoo

Unaware that the weather's going to be in the mid-90s today we decided to visit the Brookfield Zoo. We were so excited we decided we wanted to be zoo members. For $101 we get unlimited number of visits in a year, with free parking, 6 free guest tickets (plus we can bring one guest for free each visit), 4 tickets to the dolphin show, 4 tickets to motor safari tour and discounts to select shops and restaurants. I told them that I have 4 kids because I know one of their cousins would always want to tag along, so that's what my membership card says. Perhaps I should take offense that they actually believed I was mother to four! LOL.

It was a lot of fun. Kai saw a lot of babies-- a term he uses for anything cute, big or small. Dolphins, elephants, chipmunks, monkeys--even his dad!--they're all babies and equal :) A little tip for those who want to visit: bring food and tons of beverages, as they're allowed. Their bottled water and soda run for about $3.25-$3.75 each! Also, make sure your camera's battery is full. Because it's so impromptu I didn't even think of that, so five photos later (all shown) our battery's dead. Luckily we're members now, so all we have to do is come back again! Yay!!!!! :D

Sun Cheaters

About a month ago (or maybe longer than that) Corporate decided to let our little store carry a few models of the very exclusive, hand-assembled-in-France, and of course, pricey spectacles of Louis Vuitton to let us get to know the line a little better before moving to the new store (in October). We all got excited to see the sunglasses and try them on ourselves, but we were a bit overwhelmed about selling them, as they are so different from the leather goods that we're so used to showing customers.

Part of selling your products well is knowing what goes with what face. So with the print-outs we were given we tried to determine whose face is what. While some of us were obviously round, and some square, it was particularly hard for everyone, myself included, to determine what shape my face was. To be honest I can't even remember what we decided on, but I know some thought I had a diamond face. Who knew there was such a thing?!

All of that was settled tonight when a friend from Sunglass Hut confirmed that I, indeed, had a diamond face because of my prominent cheekbones-- "a model's face." Haha. Funnier yet is that a customer agreed when she heard this comment.

So tonight I am researching what shapes go with a diamond face and I am finding out that oval, square and rimless are the best frames to go with. So will my next Louis purchase actually be sunglasses, and not a handbag? We'll see :) But for now here are the contenders.

My first entry!!!

This month, the 26th to be precise, marks my 7th year here in the US. While I did live in Florida for a while and New York for an even shorter while, Chicago has been my home of choice for nearly 7 years now. Or not! I will probably elaborate on that later but for now let's focus on my introductory blog.

Growing up I've always tried to keep a journal whenever I can, but life happened and it became a major task. Lately, however, whenever I get those days when life does not seem to not make sense at all I wish that I had somehow written something, anything, that I could go back to and tell myself, "Ahhh...life is beautiful!!!" So this is the very purpose of this blog.

Rekindling my love of writing would be reason number 2. And for this I'd like to specifically thank two people in my life who for some reason would not lose faith in me, and would always encourage me to write again. Geda and Les you know I always hold a place for you in my heart. Thanks for being true amazing friends all these years despite the great distance!

Reason number 3 is to reconnect with family and friends, meet new ones and hopefully provide inspiration and entertainment to everyone who happens to stumble upon my entries. So please read away! :)