Santi missed out on the next round of classes for his usual Music for Aardvarks class (www.musicforbrooklyn.com) but we still get to enjoy some weekly musical fun. The new apartment is now closer to the cafe that hosts a kiddie sing-a-long every Thursday morning. Led by the ashy blonde haired Lloyd (below), he sings, dances while playing both the guitar and harmonica to a group of enthusiastic younglings.

We've transitioned Santi to taking one longer nap in the afternoon as opposed to having one in the morning and another one later in the day. I've been pushing his nap time a little later than he's used to so he's usually groggy around 11am. Here he is after music class:

Mica texted me early morning yesterday asking to have some of the bangus I had in the freezer and that got me craving for bangus myself. Instead of the usual fried fish however, I decided to put a slight spin on my meal by cooking it like sisig, with onions, garlic and chili. I haven't had bangus sisig since 2008 back in Manila. Might have been late at night with Jammi after a closing shift at TPC Fort or after a late night drinking sloshfest with my Pilar buddies. I've missed eating at Gourmet, a late night cantina in the middle of BF Homes. If I ever find myself back home again, I shall pay a visit to this little hole in the wall.

I'd like to assume that Taco is sleeping off his Friday in preparation for a sleepless yet exciting weekend ahead of him. But really, it's me who's about to get no sleep this weekend. Nothing to complain about though. Vien and I have been excited for tonight's event. My fabulous Tita B from the UK, scored both of us tickets to Sleep No More, an interactive theater performance. I've been hearing and reading so much about it and I can't quite contain my excitement.

Tomorrow, I have lunch with both Omar and Santi and their respective parental units. For now, the plan is to have another pinoy feast in Queens as we usually do when we all get together. In the evening, I get to be V's plus one to his friend's birthday. However the rest of the evening pans out, I am anticipating another foodtrip trip on Sunday to help nurse the aftereffects of the previous night.

Birds have begun to fly south

Friday night.

Vien takes me to a ramen joint deep down in the recesses of Alphabet City.

It was sooo good but it oddly reminded of La Paz Batchoy,

which is NOT a bad thing at all.

9:00 am Saturday Morning at Carl Shurz Park

Waaaay up at the Upper East Side for the early morning shoot for Koyuki.

Midday coffee break with Mica

Monday morning madness with Santi.

Dressing him up is like playing with dolls.

He's such a hottie in this denim shirt.

Taco gets silly and rolls around on the sidewalk.

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.

Yes. Did not do what I originally planned today. I hope to have better luck tomorrow. I'm not in museum mode today so I may not go to the Brooklyn Museum. I might buy Twilight at Barnes and Noble and read in Prospect Park. Gasps fill the air! "You have NOT read Twilight?!?" No I haven't. I'm sure I'll love it. It took me until the 5th Harry Potter to come out before I started reading it. Why did it take me this long to start reading? I dunno. I just wasn't feeling it and I didn't want to start a book I didn't plan on finishing. Despite my unemployment, I never did have the luxury of time to sit down and read a book. I haven't even started reading my copy of Wicked which Chriselle gave me as a going away present. I decided to read Twilight now because the movie is coming out in two weeks and I want to read it before then.

I had my first NY Bagel today. I've been hearing all this hype about New York making the best bagels in the world and it was, well...a BAGEL. I dunno. Maybe I'm supposed to try the ones in Manhattan, rather than in Brooklyn. They were alright. I had mine like I always do: Onion bagel with cream cheese and tomato. It was good. Just not worth the hype, not yet anyway.

Ana took me to this thrift store on Park Slope called Beacon's Closet. From the moment I walked in, I knew it was a place where I'd need a whole day in. I didn't want to go around too much because I wasn't in "shopping mode," meaning I'm not dressed in clothes that I can easily take off and I had way too much stuff in my bag to lug around while rummaging through racks. I will go back there tomorrow. I found a couple of amazing dresses and tops I want to try out. I hope they're still there tomorrow. I did buy one thing though. I found this really cool chunky ring that I had to have right then and there.

Ana and Poy's apartment:

Please excuse the mess. It's not theirs, its mine. The air bed against the wall is where I slept. The pillows on the dining table are mine. The bags by the coffee table are my kalat.

Ana in the kitchen checking on the spaghetti sauce.

The stuff hanging on the back of the chair are mine too. :(

Ana is designing a line of women's golf apparel which she will release on Fall 2009. She has a website at http://www.anadivinagracia.com which has nothing yet. On the right side of the photo are some of her designs and on the left by the window are her and Poy's golf clubs. They are die hard golfers (I don't get it) and are actually thinking of moving to California just so they can play gold all year round.

Also, do you notice the stripes on the wall? That's not wallpaper. Ana used masking tape around the surrounding walls supposedly to paint over but she ended up keeping it. You won't notice it unless you stare close. haha!

We stayed in the rest of the day and Poy made pasta. They also let me try their favorite cake called Red Velvet which we bought earlier from Cake Man Raven. It's a chocolate cake that's red with cream cheese frosting. It is one of the best cakes I have ever tried! At $6 a slice, it better be good!

They also have their own baby who's just under a year old. Meet their corgi, Taco. He's so very cute and playful. Watch him on the video below.

Taco and his new bandana.

Currently chatting with my very, very, very old (my very first ever in nursery school actually) friend Candice, who calls herself Candy now. It's 2am and we're chatting and laughing about the countless times she slept over at my house when we were 13 and spent the entire night taping Jonathan Brandis and Joey Lawrence posters on my entire wall. And all the guys we stalked in highschool. Haha! Such great times. I miss her so much I wish I can fly to Sydney to see her. Sigh...Anyway, I sleep soon..long walking day tomorrow!