Two Things I Dislike About Children's Parties


No, no, this is not some rant by a single childless woman about how horrid children's parties are (though some of them CAN be pretty terrible). It IS possible for me to have a good time at these events. However, there are two things that prevent me from being a great fan of these occasions.

But first, some details of the party which brought these thoughts about. Last Saturday, my childhood friend Toytoy, now more fashionably known as Corina, held a party as her baby Nicole celebrated her first birthday. Nicole is super cute (she's the baby in the background) and already has a bag of dog tricks that she readily performs for anyone her rightly-proud mom wants to show her off to. Nicole is good-natured, fresh-smelling, pink-and-chubby-cheeked, and all those good things that make babies adorable.

It was nice to see Toy again, especially since she is now based in the US. Toy is very artistic, and she certainly made a production number out of the party. It was a garden party, with a pink-and-green-and-ladybugs-everywhere theme. She even asked Liz and I if we could wear either pink or green in keeping with the theme. As I would say; "Career!" But being an old friend of hers, Liz and I complied with the dress code.

Anyway, on to what I don't like about children's parties (things which I encountered in this one). First, they make me VERY sweaty. Since these parties are usually held outdoors (if the weather permits), to make room for the kiddies' games, it is usually very hot. Always hot in the Philippines, and hot here as well in sunny Cali. I am not usually one to whine about the weather; I guess last Saturday was just particularly humid and uncomfortable. (Rabidly cheering my nephew on during the games probably didn't help, either.)

Second, and more importantly, I often end up having nothing to eat. Children's parties usually have a menu composed of spaghetti and meatballs, hotdogs, chicken lollipop, and the like. Things which I don't eat. It's a good thing I was already well aware of standard children's party grub before I came to this particular party, and so I had some fish for lunch. (Kuya asked me why I was eating before going to the party, and I told him I probably wouldn't have anything to eat there.) The party had a great menu (there was even a taco station!), except it was not so great for me.

In fairness to children's parties, they do have one thing that consistently saves the day. Birthday cake.

These are observations I've made in many children's parties I've gone to. I don't expect my friends to accommodate my whining (it's your party and you can sweat if you want to), I just hope they understand if I am less than enthusiastic about going to their little darlings' birthday shindigs. Now... when their kids are old enough to drink and serve alcohol during their birthday parties, that's a different matter altogether...

Bye, Biljana!

Last Sunday, I was very fortunate to have another chance to see Biljana, my Serbian (party girl!) friend. I was very sad when I said goodbye to her in Columbia in May, right before I left for California. It occurred to me then that I had no idea when I'd ever see her again. Luckily, she had a reason (wink wink, nudge nudge) to go to LA last weekend, and so I was able to meet up with her one last time before she heads off to Serbia in less than two weeks. We picked her and Temi up in the afternoon, then proceeded to the boardwalk of Santa Monica Beach.

We had a late lunch at Bubba Gump, where we all had to help Biljana eat her huge mudpie dessert (with pleasure!). We walked around the boardwalk to burn off what we ate, and of course, Biljana and I updated each other with what had been happening in our lives. The boardwalk was a great place to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. The sun was out, the wind kept the place cool (a little TOO cool at times), and the smell of the sea and the sound of the waves were relaxing. Time flew by so quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to bring Biljana back to the hotel, since her flight was at midnight. It was once again time to say goodbye to her, and just like before, a wave of sadness washed over me. I don't know when I'll see her again, but I'm so glad we met in Columbia. I had so much fun with her, and I'll definitely think of her each time we have all-you-can-drink $5 cups at Deja Vu. I'll miss you, Biljana! Take care, and I'll see you again!

Five Pounds in Five Days

Kuya, Liz, Aidan & I drove to San Francisco from LA (a 7-hour drive non-stop) for the long weekend of the July 4th holiday. Our plan was, leave Friday early morning, visit some relatives and friends, then start the drive back home Tuesday whenever we woke up. We ended up following that schedule. We also ended up gaining tons of weight in the process. When we arrived Friday, we visited Tito Alex (Mama's brother) and Tita Thelma. They prepared enough food for a Filipino fiesta for each meal we had at their house.

Saturday morning, we drove off to Ferdie, Kuya's high school classmate. He brought us around Pier 39 (which was PACKED with tourists); then we had the usual photo-op at the Golden Gate Bridge; then he brought us to look at the redwood trees at Muir Woods, which is a National Monument. The highlight of the day for me, however, was dinner, which we had at Patio Filipino. EVERYTHING we ate there was good- the Crispy Tilapia, Bangus Sisig, Coco Loco Shrimp (something like Ginataang Hipon), super garlicky rice, and the desserts! There was some variant of halo-halo in buko, ice cream on a sylvana with mango balls in syrup, etc, etc. I think I personally ate enough for five normal people that night.


Sunday, we were off to visit Ate Agnes in Daly City. She brought us to Gerry's Grill for dinner. Gerry's just opened in the Bay Area a few months ago, and is set to open in the LA area in August, which has Kuya and Liz excited. We ordered the dishes we usually did back home, and though they were a bit Americanized to appeal to a larger market, we still enjoyed them. Again, I polished off a meal that would have been enough for the average Filipino family of six. Our gluttony seemed endless that evening, because we immediately hied off to Ghirardelli, where we did not content ourselves with a mere scoop of ice cream. Each of us had an ice cream concoction with at least three scoops of ice cream. At this point I had to unbutton my pants since my stomach was very much overextended.

The next day, we had another big dinner at Tribu, yet another newly-opened Filipino restaurant, where we had another meal that we really shouldn't have. I won't give you the gory details, but I do have to mention the bagoong rice, which was topped with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mangoes, and some pork (which I removed). It was sooo good, I intend to replicate this (sans pork) when I get back to the Philippines since it's easy to prepare.

So, we said our goodbyes to beautiful San Francisco, and drove back to Southern California the next day, which was the 4th of July. We saw some fireworks on the way home, because we ended up arriving home around midnight. People have been asking me what I did for the 4th of July weekend. I tell them I went to the Bay Area, not for sightseeing, but for weightgaining.

Happy 4th Birthday, Aidan!

Aidan celebrated his 4th birthday on June 24, and since this fell on a Saturday, he had his party in school the day before. This was Aidan's first real party with his friends, so Liz wanted to make sure he was happy. That means the menu had to include his non-negotiable requests, which were a cake bearing the logo of the movie "Cars", pizza, and lots of candy in a pinata. Liz and I spent the whole morning running around buying things for the festivities, and it was more hectic than we anticipated. Murphy's law was in effect the whole day, and we had to deal with missing membership cards, almost-lost pastries, and the like. Liz and I survived mostly on nervous/hysterical laughter, as we anticipated arriving at Aidan's school when all his guests had already left.

Despite the little foul-ups, we managed to get to his school in time to start the party; pizza, cake, and pinata in hand. One thing that amazed me about the party was how well-behaved the children were while they ate. I've attended quite a few children's parties at home, and they are invariably marked by hyperactive, overstimulated children running amuck on all the sugar they consumed, yayas in hot pursuit. In contrast, the ten or so kids in Aidan's class raised their hands to ask for food, and ate quietly in their seats.

But kids will be kids, and everyone was ready to go wild over the candy that the Ninja Turtle pinata was ejecting from its back as it was being hit. The pinatas here, unlike the "palayoks" back home, took quite a while to crack open. All the kids had their turn at whacking at the pinata (you just had to feel sorry for Ninja Turtle after the beating he took), but it still took some help from the adults for it to finally cough up its last piece of candy. The whole party, from setting up, eating, and pinata-bashing, took all of one hour, exactly. That was another amazing thing. That was probably the shortest-running party I'd ever seen.

The Sight of Seal Beach

Before I start this entry, I would like to apologize to Kuya Bong for the lack of Gil stories in my blog. I've wracked my brain but I can't seem to recall those priceless gems at the moment. Don't worry, I promise to write them as soon as I remember them.

Moving on... Last Thursday, Liz was off from work so she, Aidan and I made plans to hie off to Seal Beach. (Kuya was envious because he had to go to work.) We were so excited about our little excursion that we overdid the preparations. We went shopping for different kinds of sunblock, and of course, SNACKS! We bought chocolate, chips, cookies, and soda that would have lasted a week (and they did). After a half-hour drive, we got to the beach. But before we went to enjoy the surf and sand, we had lunch at Walt's Wharf where, as usual, we ate more than we should have. (This explains why the snacks we brought were not immediately consumed.) We had seafood dishes which we topped off with Turtle Pie. Yummy!


After our overconsumption of calories, we were finally on our way, beach paraphernalia in tow. We first saw the sand, but because the sand rose a bit in a way that concealed the sea, we had to go closer to actually see the water. This induced strange behavior in me. When I heard the sea, I ran up the sand to see it, and tears actually came to my eyes. Well, I didn't exactly bawl like a baby, but I have to admit my eyes became a bit misty when I saw the water. I REALLY miss the beach, more than I ever expected to.


After my brief brush with sentimentality, Liz and I sat on the beach to catch some sun. Aidan enjoyed playing in the sand with his shovel and pail, and I just enjoyed hearing the waves and feeling the sun on my skin. The water was a bit cold so I was hesitant to go in. But shortly before it was time for us to go home, Aidan persuaded me to play knee-deep in the water. After a few moments of playing in the waves with Aidan, I was convinced that I could handle the water. Next time we go to beach, I'll try swimming, even if the water is not as warm as I am used to.

If I lived in California, I would probably find myself on the beach pretty often. Then again, I was pretty near the beach back home and I didn't go there as often as I would have wanted. When I get back to the Philippines, I'm going to take a few weeks to decompress from my stay in the US at the beach. Being near the sea will recharge me and prepare me for my re-entry into the real (working) world. That's a year from now though, so in the meantime, I'm going to soak up as much California sun as I can.

Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

Last weekend, Kuya decided to bring all of us (us being, of course, Liz, Aidan, and myself) to the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival. Temecula is about an hour's drive away from Buena Park, and it's smack in the middle of nowhere, the better to view hot air balloons from. According to the brochure, we would see balloons glowing, so that sounded pretty exciting. When we got there, we went crazy with country fair food. You could buy any kind of food you wanted, sausages, cotton candy, funnel cakes, etc. It brought back memories of the school fairs I went to back home, where my friends and I would gorge on all the different kinds of food that you could find at the booths.

After getting ourselves shrimp balls, fish tacos, and other picnic food, we settled on the grass to wait for the balloon show. Kuya checked out the wine booth, where you could taste seven glasses of different kinds of wine for $15, a good deal all around. Unfortunately, the deal was so good that half of the people in the fair were lining up for it. So, we nixed the wine idea, and just waited for the show while listening to bands playing all sorts of music. We got all excited when the balloonists began setting up their balloons. There were five balloons set up where we were sitting. They were firing them up so the balloons lit up. We were waiting for the balloons to launch into the air and glow, but apparently, the glowing was all we were going to get. Aidan was shouting at the balloonists to fly, but apparently the show was to be held purely on the ground. Though we were disappointed that the balloons didn't actually fly, it was still a pretty sight. No wine, no flying balloons... but the glowing balloons were pretty cool, and we did get to stuff ourselves with fair food. Aidan and I also had fun running around on the fairgrounds. Liz and I amused ourselves by laughing at people who were trying (unsuccessfully) to dance to the music. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening.

Lovely Cali

I've been spending my 3-month summer vacation in Buena Park, California with my Kuya Jerick, Liz, and Aidan. The weather's great over here. It's warm but not humid. No wonder land is so expensive here- the gorgeous weather is probably factored into the price. In Missouri, summer is both hot and humid, so it almost feels like home (on the plus side, less chance of getting homesick). It also feels so strange to not be in the minority, in the sense that there are more non-white people around here. I believe whites comprise less than 50% of the population in California, so they are technically the minority.

There are Filipinos everywhere, so we have to be careful about saying bad things about people. Kuya told me of their friend who rode a cable car in San Francisco. It was very crowded and she said to the friend she was with, "Ano ba 'to, natutulak na tayo palikod. Napatabi tuloy tayo sa mamang mabaho." She was referring to a man standing behind her, who looked to be African-American. Obviously, she was confident no one else could understand her. After a few stops, the man said, "Excuse me, dadaan lang po ang mamang mabaho." Which is why I don't speak ill of other people I see around here. Well, at least not too loudly.