By mid afternoon, I was feeling a litle drowsy and needed my second dose of caffeine for the day. I work in the village and had the strong desire to sit and read in a proper cafe rather than sip a machiatto in Starbucks. I googled west village cafes and found one nearby, The Grey Dog. It wasn't difficult to find and I walked in. It was just what I wanted, a small dim cafe with brick walls, a large chalkboard menu above a counter bordered by a wooden picket fence. It had plants hanging above the front windows and Christmas lights glittered around. It was peppered with the sort of folk you probably wouldn't see in starbucks. I loved it. In my head, all it needed was a big red couch and a platinum blonde Barista named Gunther. I ordered a latte and a brownie and sat along the distressed wooden benches that lined the walls. I skimmed through their menu and found items like turkey sandwiches with apple slices and Brie and I knew I had to come back and try them sometime.

On my way out, I grabbed a cigarette and tucked it behind my ear (a habit I picked up from a man I used to know) and hoped to find someone with a lighter as I seem to have misplaced mine. One of the servers was sweeping out in front and was smoking as he did so, so I asked him for a light. He began digging into his pockets and I pulled my cigarrette from behind my ear.

"Did you just pull that out of your hair?"
I smile. "No, I had it behind my ear."
"Oh, I was going to say that was so bad ass."

Yeah, that would have been.

Crispy Chicken Sandwich

BBQ Steak Hero

Saigon Chicken Sandwich

Even if they weren't made from real meat?
HAHAHA!

I do work in a vegetarian place after all. I took photos of the sandwiches (obviously) to promote them. I will make a poster (a la Subway) to promote our sandwiches in the restaurant. Lily gave me cash to buy pretty produce just for this shoot. I only had my camera and had no lights so I had to improvise. I waited until mid-afternoon when the sun shone brightly at the back of the restaurant and taped table papers onto the windows to act as a giant softbox.

They might be all made from soy but they're good, promise!

Okay, really fast post...I have to be getting ready for work. Sunday was a long, beautiful day. Mica and I were at the center by 10am for the youth division meeting then we had brunch at Elmo on 6th Ave where we had, what else but eggs benedict but this time with salmon and turkey sausage. We made it there just before brunch rush because a few minutes after we sat down, the long line for a table began.

We walked around and bought a few stuff from Bed, bath and Beyond. She had to head downtown for a rehearsal at 3pm so I was left alone to wander. I shopped at Old Navy then got myself a spa pedicure. It was the first time I ever got a pedicure from a dude. One good thing about that was that he gave a better foot massage. I met up with Mica again at Union square park, got smoothies at Jamba Juice then sat on the park grounds.

Everyone was sunning themselves.

I can't wait for my next day off so I can bring a book and sleep on the grass. Will take more photos soon!

More photos.

It was 82 degrees in New York City today and everyone was out walking on the streets. I woke up at 11am with Mica all dressed up getting ready to meet her family in the afternoon. I was in no mood to make myself anything to eat and told I her I might just eat out before work. Then she had the brilliant idea of us doing brunch before she meets her family. I hurriedly got dressed and bust out my shorts from storage and we head out to La Petite, a few blocks from my work in the Village. It's been so long since I've worn light clothing and I felt like a fool bringing an extra cardigan out because I never found the need to wear it today. Funny thing happened while I was getting dressed, I was putting my make-up on and I had this uncomfortable feeling and I couldn't understand what it was. I kept readjusting my shirt until I realized what that feeling was...I was sweating! It took me a few seconds to realize I've forgotten what it felt like to sweat. It sounds ridiculous but I'm so serious.

Mica and I are planning on doing regular Sunday brunches so we can scope around and check out the best food in the city. Yey! I found another eating buddy!

We had a glorious meal of Brazilian style eggs benedict with a side of salad and grilled potatoes and a glass of mimosa. We walked to the my workplace where I left my heavy bag and window shopped along Bleecker St. We went to this sample sale store selling half price branded apparel. I got a cute little Ben Sherman purple dress for $50 (which I'm wearing tomorrow!) and Mica scored a juicy couture short sleeved peacoat for $99. We bought frozen yoghurt from Yoghurtland and sat by the stairs on the back entrance of the restaurant and chatted until my shift started.

Doing the tourist pose.

On the corner is Bleecker Street Pizza
where they make the Nonna Maria,
the BEST pizza ever!

The work day had a slow start but it quickly got busy as the night crept in. We were swamped and I was so tired. By 10:30pm, my body's batteries had begun to die and I was moving in slow motion. I dragged my feet to the subway and was only too glad that my wait for the train didn't take so long and I was home soon after that.

I have to be up in less than 6 hours since Mica and I are attending another youth division meeting at the culture center. I really just wanted to share the photos here since it's rare that I take photos anymore. Tomorrow's forecast will be 88 degrees. Another reason to stay outside and enjoy NY. I'll try to take more photos. Good night!

I tried reading cards for Mica today. I am so bad at it and will need practice. Jammi does it so well, can explain things much better. I made no sense earlier. I will need to take more time into learning my deck before I can properly read for people.

I got an interestingly good start to my day before heading off to work. I went to Bleecker Street Pizza to grab a slice since I haven't had lunch. A slice is $3 and I was given 2 for $1! Chea! Talaga nga naman. Exotic and beauty ko dito. Kung sa Pilipinas eh hindi ako pinapansin, mejo dito bumebenta and ngiti ko. Charing.

O sha, ako ay matutulog na. Pokpek, alas-3 nanaman at gising pa ako.

I say unofficial because this is only draft one and has yet to be approved. But I wanted to post here because it's very rare that I get to design anything anymore and this needs to be posted for posterity.

I'm so behind with me extra-curricular projects. My P7D post is a week late. I haven't even started on the flier for the culture exchange which was due TWO WEEKS ago. SHAME ON ME! So I made myself a full breakfast and will work on the flier today before work. I just need to finish the liquor inventory Lily asked me to make. OMG, parang TPC lang ano, gumagawa nanaman ako ng inventory at checklist. Pinaiiral ko nanaman ang pagkaOC ko, pokpek.

Napashopping nanaman ako kahapon bwiset. Hindi ko mapigilan eh. I bought a magazine to read while hosting yesterday and it made me want to buy makeup. I ran to CVS in the afternoon so I bought a couple of items. On my way back to the restaurant, I dropped by Pylones to see if they had anything on sale. They had nothing on sale but that didn't stop me from scoring a couple of items including a funny "reputation bag."

and a cute little piggy cellphone charm with a heart on its bumbum.

I'm naming it LOUIIE!

I really didn't want to spend another day off alone at home with no will to do anything else so I called tita Chon up the day before saying I will pick up Omee from school the next day. I slept late the night of 4.20 but woke up the next morning at 8:30am. I did laundry and washed my sheets. I had tuyo, eggs and rice for lunch (YUM!) and I was off to Queens to see my bebe. He ran and gave me a slamming hug the second he saw me from the school gates. We watched Cartoon Network at home while he scarfed down the box of donuts I bought him.

I took him to his Tae Kwon Do class after that where Tita Chon and Tito Mo met up with us. We watched him in class and we all headed to a greek place nearby for dinner. We had a LOT of food and they were all VERY VERY good! I specially enjoyed this dip called Tirokafteri which is like a spicy version of cheese pimiento only with feta cheese (how can you go wrong with feta cheese?). Tita Chon ordered me another side of it to take home and I may very well have that thing for lunch along with the leftover chicken souvlaki.

I promised to take him out when the weather gets better. I will take him to the restaurant so he can taekwondo the asses out of my mean workmates. I told him they were mean to me and he said he will take care of it. I will take him out for pizza and ice cream and we can play games in the park. Maybe I should buy a frisbee or a football or something. Tita Chon is planning a big barbeque picnic when the weather gets real warm and she said I could invite all my friends. Yahew!

Mama's in SFO until tomorrow and we were on the phone last night until I don't know what time. I was trying to convince her to come to NY next month. She said she will check her "finances" pfft! I found another item on ShopItToMe today and I just bought a Micheal Kors trench coat for $90 (hehehe) down from $200! S.C.O.R.E.

Okay enough shopping. I did say I was supposed to save up for lights. Ugh.

Small is all we have and it will have to do. Woke up early and decided to draw myself a bath while watching Bride Wars on my macbook. It was cramped but I really just wanted my lower back and legs soaked in hot water so it served it's purpose. I had nothing else to do in the morning and my computer was acting up a bit so I left for work early. Had lunch at the thai place around the corner from the restaurant and clocked in early. It was a boring day. Nothing much happened. Richard, Lily and I were in junk food mode and we infected everyone else with the munchies after I bought 6 bags of chips from CVS.

Got home and enjoyed roomie bonding with Mica and Benny and chatted about "interesting" things. I have one more work day tomorrow before I enjoy my two day off. I will really have to work on the flier for the culture exchange in May. I've been procrastinating on it and it can't wait any longer. I'm thinking of also visiting Omar since I haven't seen him a while and I really do miss him a lot. I'm getting him a box of donuts on Tuesday. I miss my Omee boy.

So we decide to eat lunch on the roof and get a bit sunned out.

She will STILL wake me up during the wee hours of the night.

This time at 4am toting two other dodoheads.
They called to tell me they just had a glorious lunch at Jatujak. Uuuughhh!!

Rumors are circulating that my best friends (charing!) Brad and Angie have plans on adopting a Filipino child after their efforts to adopt a child from Burma failed. There are reports saying they even flew out to Manila over the first week of April. Ugh!

I will fall in line and apply as the yaya. Sana pwede.

I named my printer DharmaPrint to add to my dharma family (DharMAC, DharmaHD, DharmaBud-the last two are my external hard drives). If you're wondering what is up with all the Dharma, well, I am a big LOST fan so there...

Printed photos when I got home from the intro meeting at the center. It took me a while to get the hang of printing my own photos since I've never done it before. But I'm glad I've finally replaced my vanity photos into real photographs.

Tomorrow I will print smaller ones for the lego frames I got from Pylones and the 5-sided cube frame that Mrs. Sison (TPC client) gave me before I left for the US.

I also discovered the postcard set I got from the Crumpler booth at the 2007 Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Its a full pack of postcards bearing artsy letters of the alphabet. I tacked four of them up on my wall above the bed.


I can't wait to buy more frames from IKEA and printing larger ones for the rest of the house. I am going to have my own gallery right here! Yahew!

I just finishing ironing just a few of my clothes and my arms hurt. Ang arte ko shet. I don't know how our maid back home can iron everyone's clothes in the house. BOW.

I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still last night before bed and when the movie ended, all I could think of was "WTF was THAT?!!?" The movie was ridiculous but the one good thing I got from it was the line Keanu Reeves said to Jaden Smith's character in the cemetery,

"Nothing ever truly dies. The universe does not waste anything. It is simply transformed."

Amen. este, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!
hehe...
That single line saved the movie for me.

I overslept today and woke up at 12:30pm. I did laundry, shopped a few groceries, washed dishes and made daing na bangus with tomatoes and onions for a very late lunch. I ironed my clothes after that and am currently infront of my mac for the first time today. It's already quarter to 6pm. That's SOMETHING believe me.

Oh btw, I forgot to mention that I bought myself an all in one printer yesterday! Yahew! Joyce dropped by the restaurant again for lunch and Lily gave me a two hour break so I can go out with her. We went to SoHo (omg, how come I never bothered coming to this side of the city? It's a SHOPPER'S HAVEN). I went with her to the Apple Store since she was getting herself a Macbook. One of the genius guys told her she gets a free printer with her Macbook purchase but since she said she didn't need one, I decided to take the offer instead. I added $30 to be able to get the model with wireless capability. I installed my sexy new printer last night. Mica bought photo paper today and I am on my way to change my framed vanity photos into my real photographs! YAHEW! NMRK!!!

Mica and I are taking Undrea to the center for the Introductory meeting at the center later at 7pm. Undrea (in case you didn't know, she's subletting Andy's room) has been exposed to our chanting since she moved in and she left this on our whiteboard on the fridge.

This house truly is the Filipino Buddhist Center in Brooklyn :)

That would be Nam Myoho Renge Kyo...and action!

Mica and I were BORED to death last night that we started calling everyone on our contacts list for kicks. Jordan was the only one who picked up and he said he will chant for us not to get bored. Right after that, I ran downstairs to the corner convenience store, scored a pint of haagen daz and 6 bottles of Smirnoff Ice. Mica and I called for pizza and calamares and put The House Bunny on. Then Undrea and her friend Brandon came by and the party kept on rolling. Benny came home from dinner and the dead evening turned out to be not so bad after all.

It's gotten a bit chilly again lately. The sun is out but the winds are relentless. Ugh...Bring on the 60 degree weather already! I want a tan!

*****

Yesterday's AWWWWWW moment...

Background:
From my November 3, 2008 post

We had dinner at a Friendly's nearby and it was hilarious how Tita Chon was so fascinated by the restaurant, the food and the menu. I couldn't understand why she was so amused by it at first until I realized why. You see, restaurants like Chili's, Applebee's, Red Lobster, Cheesecake Factory and IHOP which are in abundance in California, are sparsely seen here.

Tita Chon left a message on my FB wall yesterday...

Stopped by F----- on our way home from Montreal - The place that serves sliders, shirley temple, extra thick milkshake, fish 'n chips, rootbeer, and ice cream galore for dessert...the same place that gave me childlike excitement the last time we were there. Wished you were with us, Kari.

Awww...

Mica and I went to Ikea again yesterday to supposedly buy a few items for the house and for our rooms. I ended up with a cartful of stuff instead! I had to leave some items behind before checking out since I really didn't want to spend so much again. I got shelves, mirror, plants, a wok and other little items I needed around the house. Spent the day indoors drilling holes in my wall. I broke the power drill attachments while doing so but that didn't stop me from mounting my full-length mirror, two wall shelves and coat hook even if I had to manually screw holes in my wall. I'm SERIOUS. I was hungry and exhausted after all that, that I only had energy to make myself instant ramen.

Before.
Drab walls, cramped spaces.
After!
You can't see it in the photo but the box that the butsudan used to be on is gone which leaves me with extra floor space. Yahew!

I am not a huge Picasso fan but the framed art is pasalubong from Baby's trip to Madrid last February.

My Butsudan has a new home!

Mica bought me an orchid from Union Square today.
It's a wonderful addition to my new design space!
I framed a leaf I got from Prospect Park last fall.
It's my first autumn in New York and marks my arrival in the city.
I bought chayote from the asian store a couple of weeks back with intentions of making tinola. I never got around to cooking it and the vegetable began to sprout so I placed it in a vase with water and pebbles I got from Ikea yesterday and let it grow.

I stayed in yesterday and I didn't really want to do the same thing today no matter how much I wanted to save. I went out and watched Monsters vs. Aliens 3D. It wasn't as hilarious as people said it was going to be but I enjoyed it anyway. There was still light out when I got out of the theatre and I didn't really want to call it a day so I headed to Manhattan to shop! Went to H&M on 34th street and spent two hours going through stuff I don't really need but want. I had a $10 gift card from Christmas so I figured I'd use it. Of course I spent waaay more than that and got a pair of navy slacks, white blouse, grey denim skirt and a wool cardigan. Mica texted she was having dinner with her friend Nathan at the tapas place on Chelsea (Cafe Riazor) so I paid for my goods and cabbed my way to 16th st. We had sangrias again but this time drank only enough to look drunk but not actually be drunk. Took a nice, long, hot shower when I got home, steamed my new clothes which I am wearing tomorrow (naturally). I will finish watching Sabrina until I fall asleep. I have a long day tomorrow but I am actually looking forward to it because a friend from Manila is in New York (Joyce) and she will drop by the restaurant tomorrow. I haven't seen her since I worked in Podium (yeah, THAT long) and it will be nice to see her here. I'll be hosting tomorrow so I have free time to entertain guests while my boys do most of the hard labor. Hee!

I was cleaning out my harddrive and was looking through the old flip videos in my mac and saw this. It's a video I took of my mom in San Francisco when I saw her for the very last time before she headed back to Manila last September. I don't think I ever uploaded this but it was so hilarious just watching her talk I just have to upload it for posterity.

This is humor only her daughter would understand. I had to edit out a few bits of it because there was mention of he-who-must-not-be-named in there. The mindless joke may have been funny then and is still is now but it wouldn't be appropriate for my current state of buddhahood. CHARING!

I also found this video that I uploaded in this post last year. I can't believe it's already been a year since. Wow...So much has happened already!

Hahaha...

Ganda ng title ko. Pero totoo yun.

Anyway, I was early for work since Paul needed to go on early break. I was sitting quietly browsing through a magazine when Lily suddenly says, "Kari! Marc Jacobs is having a sale on rainboots! Only $28!" I jump up right away. Even with Paul gone and she'll be on her own, she sends me off to go boot shopping. I hurriedly walk a few blocks to Marc by Marc Jacobs and scored myself a pair plus a solid metal cuff for $5 and a monocle necklace for $11. Chea! On my way back I passed by the Magnolia Bakery which is FAMOUS for cupcakes. I buy me and Lily 2 each (red velvet + chocolate) and scarf one down as I walked back. I wasn't impressed. I can HONESTLY make better red velvet. Seriously! I can prove it! Come! Come! The chocolate was a little dry and the icing was too sweet. I had to scrape them off just so I can finish it.

I'm off for the next two days and I will need to tackle first and foremost, my laundry. Then maybe work on a couple of studies for a flier/invite I've been assigned to do. There's a Cambodia-Laos-Philippines Culture Exchange Event at the New York Culture Center on May 31st and I just found out yesterday that I've been assigned to design an invite and banner. I will be dancing the Tinikling alongside Mica for this event. On top of that, I am also the event's official photographer. It will be exhausting but it will be so much fun!

I'm kinda sad...

Louiie took off earlier and is on her way to Manila. She was the only one I can call and who relentlessly calls me during wee hours of the morning and night just to chitchat about the most mundane things. Who will call me now?! Louiie, you better bring me pasalubong or I will kick you. And you! YES YOU! If you are in Manila and and you're reading this, send me something! Give it to Grace (or Jammi) and she will hand it over to Louiie. Yes Ging, I just assigned you. It can be as small as a photo or a card, I don't care. It would be great to get something from home. Louiie will be in Manila for three weeks from the 8th of April so prepare you care packets soon! Yehey!

I was feeling bleehh at work today. This is my first working Sunday and my body felt like it was supposed to be on it's day off. I was hoping it wouldn't be busy but it kind of was. Although,we did get a surprise visit today. I served Joel Madden and Christian Siriano earlier! How cool is that?!? I did my best to act aloof. I didn't want to be a fawning startstruck waitress. I had another table of 3 filipinos and I told them about it and they managed to get a photo with Joel outside on their way out.

The rest of the people in the restaurant had no idea who these people were. Richard has a good working knowledge of Hong Kong movie stars but not of the people in this side of the planet. Go figure.

Update!

Halatang wala akong alam. Troy pala is Zac Efron in High School Musical. Louiie just corrected me. The Jonas brother dude is someone else entirely. Jeezuz, I am such a doofus. Anyway, Zac Efron still looks like a girl. The kid wears too much make-up anyway.

A little background:

A couple of months back, I was home alone with Omee and he was on the Disney Channel. (as always) I sat through CAMP ROCK while he sang along with every song. I kept making smart ass comments the entire time.

"Why are you making me watch this?"
"This is a horrible movie!"
"You've seen this so many times! Why see it again?"
"This is really a horrible movie."

When it got to this scene, I said,

"OMG, that Jonas dude (who's character is named Troy) looks like a girl. Why is he wearing super tight white pants?!?!?"

Fast forward to today. Tita Chon just wrote on my Facebook wall.

"Omee made a girl classmate mad because he said Troy looks like a girl. Well, he defended himself and said that his cousin Kari said so."

UH-OH.

This was the highlight of my day.

I love my new kicks so much I can't stop looking at them at work. I wore them straight out of the store. I woke up a little early and had time to go shoe shopping before my shift. I went to Shoemania at Union Square and was delighted to see they had a buy 1 get 1 at half off everything. It took me a good hour to look around and had to try on a few shoes before I settled on this pair of Nike Air Max. I ran to Foot Locker a block away just to make sure I was getting the a good deal. I didn't find anything there that I liked so I ran back to Shoemania and got these. The Puma flats are similar to the one in the photo above except that I have black suede as opposed to the patent leather shown above. They're great, light and casual walking shoes.

I was hungry and ended up having lunch at Saigon Grill. I was really in the mood for sushi but didn't really know where to go so I stuck to what I knew was good. If my family manages to come, I will definitely take them there. Kim absolutely adores the vietnamese cha gio (fried spring rolls) and she will love the ones they have there.

It was slow and boring at the restaurant today since the rain was pouring. Not a lot of people were out so we kind of expected it. My work schedule has changed yet again. I no longer have regular Sundays off. Paul said I've been hogging Sunday ever since I started work and he said he wanted a share of it this time. We compromised and said we can each take every other Sunday off. On other times, I will have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. I requested the Wednesday since I know Mica is off that day and we can finally do something together. Because of this change in schedule, I will have to wait until Tuesday before I get some rest. I will be exhausted but what the hell.

Oo nga naman.

So I will buy a pair of Nike Airs soon...maybe today.

Since Andy will be gone for a month for Japan or India or both, we have a subletter named Undrea. She's a 25 yr old african american fashion designer. She was sweet. The first thing she said to me when she met me this morning was, "OMG you're so pretty!" HAHAHA! So shempre okay na ko sa kanya diba.

You will NOT believe who walked by the restaurant yesterday! I was hosting so I was up infront the whole day. It was around 4-5ish and the restaurant was quiet. My eyes were roaming outside and I saw her from afar. At first I wasn't sure if it was her. She was walking her dog and she had shades on (she even stopped to pick up poop! Haha!). When she walked by infront of the resto I had my eyes on her and I knew it was her for sure! It was NY's original Carrie, Sarah Jessica Parker! I was too awestruck that my hands were too slow and didn't reach for the Flip on time. Oh well.