12/31/08

End of the Year Newsletter 2008

I really was not looking forward to 2008 in the beginning of the new year for reasons that may read morbid.
Both Bill's and my parents are all octogenarians and were undergoing some health issues in 2007.
I have friends who also have some major health issues.
So, as you can imagine, we were dead scared that 2008 had the potential to be a very sad year.
Fortunately, we still have his mom, Mabel, and both my parents alive and healthy.
Now, they all are stable and doing very well.

Besi, miraculously, with medication, exercise, and lots of love, is somehow better than ever and acts like a 12 1/2-year old puppy. Birdie turned 10, but still acts like a puppy. We also found a new puppy Maltese (who got lost during the L.A. earthquake), Sachi, for my niece to adopt. This year marked 10 years since we lost Koko in that tragic drowning accident.

This year also marked the start of my last year as a 30-something, and Bill had his big birthday. We celebrated 13 years of togetherness.

We decided to postpone our decision to get married or not until the end result of the elections.
As a 2-year old U.S. citizen, I was very excited to vote for the first time in my life.
The election result was bittersweet. We cried with tears of joy & hope with Obama's win and
cried with tears of sadness & disbelief with the passing of Prop 8.

Since 2007, I had already saved all my vacation days mainly for a trip back to my homeland, the Philippines, towards the end of the year 2008. We were planning to have a family reunion for X'mas back home to also celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday and my parents' 60th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, for various reasons, the family had to postpone all plans.
So at the last minute, I planned our main big vaca-sean this year to Ecuador and Peru. I mainly pushed for these destinations, since I gathered that their respective tourism boards were looking into limiting tourist access to the world wonders, the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu by the end of 2009. We had a blast! We also made some domestic trips to Chicago, Monterey, San Francisco, New York, and San Diego.

With the crashing of the market/global economic crisis, Bill was extremely busy, since all his clients were naturally in a state of panic. My company unfortunately had to lay-off some people. I am grateful that I was not one of the unfortunate few.

Here's wishing that things will turn out okay and be better for all of us in the new year.

Happy New Year 2009!

Ended the year by going to the doctor to get my annual routine physical exam results and to find out what is up with this cold that I've been nursing for 11 days now. I received a clean bill of health (Whohoo!) and antibiotics for this cold. Being drugged up with codeine, I really didn't feel like partying like it was 1999 earlier in the day. But since we were entertaining friends visiting from Canada & Mexico, we felt compelled to go out and party. Ended up getting all split up from each other during the countdown...Sigh. Forgot to jump up and down so I could grow taller for the new year...Double Sigh. Then had to bribe the bouncer to get in the club without having to wait in line. I guess, "face value" has also gone down with the economy...Triple Sigh. The bouncer then did not card me to check if I was over 21 years old or not...Quadruple Sigh!...LOL

Happy New Year!

For Besi & Birdie's greetings, please click HERE.

12/25/08

Happy Holiday Greetings 2008-2009


From my family to yours,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!
Feliz Navid
ad y un Próspero Año Nuevo!
Joyeux Noël et Une Bonne Année!

Make the Yuletide Gay!

Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Kwanzaa!
Happy Boxing Day!
Advanced Kung Hei Fat Choy!

iPostcards from Survivor X'mas


For the past few years, we've hosted Christmas gatherings for both sides of the family living in California. This year was different. With Bill's mom now in a retirement home and not fit to travel down from Oregon, and with my sister & niece celebrating with my siblings in the east coast, we were left not knowing what to do. It was our first year that we didn't go out to buy our live X'mas tree. We entertained experiencing X'mas in Hawaii, the Caribbean, or with friends in Paris. But we then felt guilty about parting with our "girls", Besi & Birdie, so soon after our trip to South America. So, we decided to go on a road trip and take them skiing. But at the last minute, we got an invitation from a friend to go up to her home in Tehachapi. As soon as we arrived, it started snowing. Yehey! It was the "girls"' first white X'mas. The guests were composed of Americans, Scottish, English, Brazilians, and a Filipino. Talk about conversations filled with different accents.
Just as we were getting ready for dinner, the power went out. With the outage, that meant no gas for the stove, no hot water, no heat to keep us warm, no phone line, no cell phone signal, no Internet connection. We were snowed in - no way out! Dinner was delicious, albeit cold, and in a way romantic, with the candle light and fireplace as our only source of light & heat. It was actually very nice and refreshing. Kinda like Jesus' first night in a manger...LOL.
Then all of a sudden a family argument developed right in front of us in the dark between our Brazilian host and her spoiled 31-year old son. I've always found Portuguese to be a very sexy sounding language. Not this time. I guess the holidays wouldn't be complete without any family drama. Ayayyay...LOL


or please click HERE for a bigger slideshow of the album.
If you prefer to view the thumbnails, please click on the link below:
iPostcards from Survivor X’mas 2008

Todo Azul's "Santa Baby" - Tribute to Eartha Kitt


My niece, Czarina and her band, Todo Azul, performed their rendition of "Santa Baby" at Molly Malones, exactly a week before the sultry diva died at the age of 81 on Christmas Day. Spooky...tehnahnahtehnahnah...The Twilight Zone.

12/21/08

Happy Hanukkah 2008!

Our friends, the Boroditskys invited us, once again,
to celebrate
the first day of Hanukkah.
It was a lovely festive affair at their beautiful home.

Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends!
If there was such a thing as a Filipino Jew,
this is how he may look like...LOL

12/20/08

Jack & Me

We feel very sad.
Jack, our Black Labrador goddog, passed away today.
We treated him like our very own third dog.
If our
Besi, as a pup, was rambunctious like Marley,
Jack, on the other hand, was like Beau.
He was a very
good dog all throughout his 12 1/2 year life.
Please click on the title or HERE to be directed to the posting.

12/14/08

iPostcards from Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade 2008



or please click HERE for a bigger slideshow of the album.
If you prefer to view the thumbnails, please click on the link below:
iPostcards from Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade 2008