Sunday morning was met by a sudden craving for Pho and Vietnamese Iced Coffee. Vien was particularly craving them from one particular restaurant in Queens so we hauled our asses all the way from Brooklyn and braved through the mad subway service changes and track work being done over the weekend. About an hour and a half and 4 subway rides later, we were snarfing down hot bowls of pho and spring rolls with iced coffee. Very few words were exchanged while we nurse our hangovers with steaming, delicious broth.

After lunch, we hopped on a cab to go see Omar, who was expecting us for the day. As soon as we walked in the apartment, we were greeted by a tray of multicolored cupcakes with a special note attached...

Now Vien knows why Omar will always be my #1. 

We took him to go see Real Steel (which was blah and doesn't deserve more space in this post). The movie was followed by a quick dinner with Tita Chon at Jackson Hole Diner because Vien was craving for their huge 7oz burgers. 

Benny is back from his 3-week european tour so we met up with him and other friends for a drink before we called it a night.

Vien hung out with Santi and I the next day...

V looks extra chinky here because I pretty much forced him
to get out of bed to hang with us.

We missed the $1 oyster happy hour at Cornelius after work but that didn't stop us from ordering a dozen of them to share and enjoyed with a bowl of fries and beer. I must remember to go back there on a weekend so we can make it to happy hour and chug down a lot more of those. Yum!

The whole purpose of going on a Facebook vacation is to do more blogging, among other things. But I haven't been writing as much and I'm feeling a bit sheepish because I've been kind of busy.

This is why...

...and I shall leave it with that for now.

In an effort to lessen Santi's TV time, we've started on afternoon dance parties after his afternoon nap. Like today, I played these songs and we both just started moving in the living room while passing around his mom's body ball. Play them and see if you don't start moving.

I'm referring to this blog post from 2009. I stumbled upon it while browsing through my tags and it caught my eye because it was labeled "life is good/and sarap mabuhay." I can't help but be jealous of myself then. I wish I could go back to however I was feeling. Re-reading that post got me feeling hopeful and motivated to feel that way again. I've been a bad buddhist since. Not chanting as much as I did...or even at all. Maybe I will tonight. I should get back on it again to see if I can relive that same feeling I used to get when I first got into it. 

My life so far has been good to me lately. I have had nothing to complain about, been in good spirits, good company, overall everything's been peachy. But I can't shake the feeling of a slight emptiness somewhere in the back of my head. I suppose, deep down somehow, we all feel the need to be spiritual. The need for something else out there that gives depth to our lives and not simply be satisfied with the material, emotional and mental "good" that our day to day lives bring. I'm not getting all religious here, that is the last thing I want to be. I think I will always have an aversion to organized religion but I can never let go of faith. A belief that there's a point to all of this somehow. The motivation to WIN EACH DAY. 

Lately I've been feeling the need to be thankful. As I've mentioned earlier, life has currently been on the upside and I've felt the need to thank something or someone somehow. Because nothing good or bad lasts forever and it's moments like these that keep you moving forward, regardless of how it pans out in the end. We look forward to the next big thing the universe hands us and as the cliche goes, we make lemonade.