I've gone to Cheryl's for brunch, took Taco on his morning walk and gone produce shopping at the farmers market and am sitting on the couch watching Independence Day on ABCFamily while munching on frozen grapes...all before 12 noon.

I have GOT to move into this neighborhood. I was excited to shop the farmer's market at Grand Army Plaza today since I could go nuts on shopping without having to worry about hauling all my goods home since Ana's apartment is just a couple blocks away. I scored beefsteak tomatoes, fresh basil, cilantro, fresh picked blueberries and cherries and a loaf of olive ciabatta bread. I've been so into late night homemade salsa lately. They're just so damn good and so much better for you than those canned crap you get at the grocery store. Plus ever since I discovered the fabulousness of frozen grapes, I'm trying to figure out what else I can freeze.

I can already foresee what life would be like if I had my very own place and I was equipped with all the amenities available to me here. I would probably never leave the house. Hahaha! That's why it's so much better to live in a house with other people and not own a TV (we don't have one at the apartment) plus not having an AC in the common areas gives you a reason to get out of the house and do something else aside from sitting on the couch.

My movie's done. Time to flip the channel.

or somewhat close to it anyway.

As I type this, I'm sitting in a couch next to a 42" flat screen watching No Reservations, the AC blowing a cool breeze and an adorable corgi named Taco lying next to me.

For the next two weeks, I'll be housesitting Ana and Poy's house while they fly off and join the rest of my family in Manila. Everybody shall converge in Davao on the 1st of July for my great grandmother's 100th Birthday celebration. Family from all over the world are flying in for the big event. Well, everyone except me anyway.

It's me and this little guy for two weeks baby!

For the next few days I get to pretend I live in a one bedroom apartment in one of Brooklyn's good neighborhoods, in an apartment building equipped with their own laundry room, a doorman and close to all the good restaurants I love going to. Cheryl's Global Soul is just TWO BLOCKS AWAY NOW!

Yesterday was such a HOT, HUMID, and STICKY day in NYC. I walked over here to Ana's early in the morning to take photos of Santi's 3rd month before they flew off to Manila.

When I got home, I took refuge in my room, turned on the AC and refused to get up and out because the heat was just too overwhelming. Eventually, I decided to shower, get dressed and got out of the house. I had no destination in mind but I just wanted to take advantage of the AC in subway cars and wherever I might eventually end up. I ended up in K-Mart in the east village. At 6pm and the sun still blaring, Michael calls me asking if I wanted to head down to Coney Island before the sun went down. It took us an hour to get there but the sun was still up and there was a nice cool breeze blowing on the beach. We laid on the sand and got up only to dig through our bags for snacks and eventually to walk towards the pier to see the sun set.

This was the pier where a dream sequence in Requiem for a dream was shot.

When the sun set and night kicked in, we decided to walk through the carnival and trip out on 25-cent mechanical entertainment.

Michael tried to get me to go with him into this spooky house ride for a full 10 minutes. I repeatedly and firmly refused because I am a GIANT scaredy cat. Places like this seriously FREAK.ME.OUT. The Haunted House in Disneyland totally traumatized me as a child.

We ended up riding disco bump cars instead. We drove in the dark with neon lights overhead and bouncing disco music.

We then visited Ana and Poy again since I needed to send some stuff over to my mom in Manila. Mike got to meet Taco and discovered his pet peeve.