(A) Typical Night

On a typical night my husband and I fall asleep on the couch and sometimes around 1 or 2 AM, we wake up and move to the bedroom. Last night was no different, except there were 3 of us sleeping on the couch - my husband, me and Lenny the bichon. Well 3 of us sleeping for a while at least. I was woken up but someone sniffing and licking my back. Ready to yell at my husband, I turned around and, of course, it was Lenny. Maybe he learned the pattern and he was telling us to move to the bedroom. At 2 AM, all 3 of us went to bathroom to brush our teeth (Lenny is very talented) and head to the bedroom. As usual, Lenny positioned himself at the top of of the bed right next to our pillows.

This is us on typical night - in a living room

On those same typical nights I also get awoken numerous times by my husband's snoring (sometimes he even wakes himself up!) Well, on this Saturday, as I was about to fall asleep, I was once again woken up by loud snoring. But this time the snoring was different...it was..in stereo! Not only my husband is snoring, but so too was Lenny! And their snores were synchronized and seemed to be getting louder and louder. I couldn't help but laught out loud which woke my husband who thought I was dreaming.

He fell back asleep and I moved towards the edge of the bed to escape the cacophony. Suddenly, as I was drifting closer towards sleep, I was woken up once again but a funcky burst of air. What's this? Someone farted. Not necessarily an unusual occurence in our household, but could this be? Yep...it was Lenny! The worst part is was, his butt was basically aimed directly at my face. Ugh! What an awful night!

Eventually the smell dissipated, as did my consiousness. Around 8AM Lenny started making noises again. This is his was of telling us that it is business time (his business time, not the Flight of the Conchord's business time.) I asked my husband to get up and walk him so I could be alone and catch up some sleep. When they got back around 10 AM, I was surprised to find Lenny carrying a rose. My husband followed with a bouquet of daises. How sweet...After keeping me up, the 2 men in my life vindicated themselves.

Two sweet men of my life

As you can see, I was still wearing my robe when they got home :-)

25 Random Things About Joanie

I've been tagged in Facebook to write 25 random things about myself So here they are...

1. I can't write! Thats right. I have always had great ideas to write but I have very low confidence with my writing skills. The reason for that is....
2. I skipped English 101 when I studied here in US. I begged my college dean of admissions to accepts my English credits from the Philippines because I had no money to pay for my tuition fee. I wanted to graduate so bad so I could start working.
3. I can't drive. Yes you read it right. But you can't blame me; I've lived in the city my whole life (except for when I lived in a rural community in the Philippines)! And besides, parking in the city is a bitch!
4. I have terrible sense of direction. I guess it's a good thing I can't drive
5. I love to drink wine, but don't ask me to recommend anything....I have no idea what to tell you
6. My mom convinced me to study nursing so I did. But I quit in half a day of my internship. I couldn't stand the smell from the nursing home
7. I study Hotel and Restaurant Management in the Philippines (PWU) for 1 semester but when I came in the US I couldn't find a school close to home that offered that degree. Frustrated, I looked at the school list of courses and saw A for Accounting
8. I love coffee and hazelnut....coffee is my life support and hazelnut is my flavor
9. I was teased in high school for being really fat and quite. I was fat but don't think I was REALLY that fat :-D and quite....little they did know
10. I like my husband's cooking but I hate it when he cooks. He makes a huge mess in the kitchen and even all the way to the dining room. He uses every utensil around. And since he cooks, I have to clean. I hate cleaning!
11. I have 2 brothers and one of them is a US Soldier. I'm very proud of him
12. I love Judge Judy. I like it when she says "You are not a good witness. Because a good witness answers a Judge's question directly, and my question to you was a very simple one. A SIX YEAR OLD COULD ANSWER IT!!"
13. I do not get football. I've tried to figure it out and my husband and his friends have both tried to teach me, but I guess I'm just not into it
14. One of my close friends is Haitian and she is a sweet, smart & strong woman! I love her even though we don't see each other ofter....but hey that's why we have Facebook right?
15. I re-connected with my childhood crush, thanks to the wonderful world wide web. Unfortunately, he turned out to be jerk and pretty creepy. Glad he was just a crush
16. When I was young, I had a huge crush on Joey McIntyre of NKOTB, Hugh Grant, Bret Michael of Poison and John Cusack (because JC reminds me of ex bf)
17. One of my bridesmaids was a guy. I've known him for 12 plus years. He is a vegan (a.k.a. pain in the ass) and I call him my brother from another mother because his b-day is the same as my older bro and his mom and my mom has the same name and b-day too
18. I love shoes, handbags, the spas and the beach, but I can only afford one at the time
19. I love to read books but if I don't like the first 10 pages, I drop it like a hot potato
    
20. I seldon go to church/attend mass because I'm tired of some priest bashing other religions during homily, especially since...
21. My husband is a different religion from me. But it's never gotten in the wa of our relationship.
22. I’m not a big fan of one of my friend’s husband because he likes to talk big like he know this person and that person…I’m thinking “dude, if you really know the owner here, why the heck are we getting up to get our drink? Can’t that person you know hook you up for a 5 star service?” I guess talking big compensate for something he is….short of. ;-)
    
23. I hate it when someone only calls me because they need to vent. But as soon as everything is lovey-dovey, they have no time for you
24. Like my friend Mimi says - I really, really hate talking on the phone. If I don't call you - please don't take it personal. It's definetely the phone, not you! Text or IM me instead ;-)
25. Sometimes I want to kill my dog because my dog doesn't go to the bathroom when I'm around (or when walking him). He will hold it for 2 days or until my husband walk him. I know that he is just a dog, and he had really hard life for 5 years. I need to have more patience, but it can get frustrating.
    

24 Days Gone

I can't believe it is the second week of February already. It's been 24 days since my last visit to the Blogosphere. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update my blog lately or check out what is going on in everyone else's world. However, I have been very busy these last few weeks and haven't even had a chance to think about updating. To catch up, here are the four major things happened that I'd like to share with you

1.) Not Another Goodbye
Some of you may remember our aborted attempt to adopt Henri the bichon frise a few months back. Well, hope springs eternal and we tried again:

Meet Lenny, a 5 years old male bichon frise that we adopted about 3 weeks ago. He was rescued from a "breeder situation" (aka puppy mill) in Pennsylvania. After our experience with Henri, I was reluctant to blog about Lenny until we were certain he was going to stay.

Well, the vet check-up revealed his medicals were fine, with the exception of slight anemia, which the vet said was most likely due to a poor diet. It's been a tough road to be sure....after living in a cage or 5 years, Lenny wasn't properly socialized or trained. He came to us knowing next to nothing except how to live in a cage. We even had to teach him how to walk on a leash!

There were some hiccups to be sure: He is very picky about when and where he goes to the bathroom. He does ok walking with my husband, but with me he just refuses to go - very frustrating when I was walking him in the below freesing weather of the few weeks. He would sniff every tree, hydrant, and plant around, but nothing! However, we got some wee-wee pads, and he is doing terrific with them.

In addition, he is afraid of other dogs and men, including my husband. He is warming up to my husband, but he still sometimes runs and hides (in his crate or under the bed) when he comes home. However, just this weekend, he started jumping up on the couch next to my husband (mostly because we had to blocked all other access to the couch, but still, he stayed there for a while.)

After 3 weeks, he is starting to warm up and get more comfortable in his forever home, and we are confident that over the next few months he will continue to improve more and more. Today he even flashed that trademark bichon smile:

if that doesn't make you happy, then I don't know what will

2.) She Finally Opened Up
When we found out that my mom's big c had seemingly come back, my mom didn't want to talk about it.....she just shut down to us, her family. The worst thing about it was that she was able to talk about her situation with her friends, but not to her family.

Perhaps my mom doesn't want us to worry, but she needs to understand that it makes us worry more not knowing anything. Thankfully my friends whose mom my mom had spoken with was kind enough to share me some info that my mom had told her. This gave me strength to confront her. It was hard to approach her but, with the help of my husband, we spoke about everything. And just the act of talking about it make things a bit easier.

I'm not going to lie and say it ended all neat and tidy like an episode of Growing Pains. There were some tears and struggles, but we said what we needed to say. I hope she understand that no matter what happen, we are her family and we support whatever decision she makes. So far according to her she is big c free. I pray she remains like that.

3.) Meeting Duncan Sheik In Person
On a much happier note, we met musician Duncan Sheik in person! Yeah, how awesome is that huh?

Joan with Duncan (photo taken from her phone, hence, its a bit blurry)

Duncan may be best known for his hit back in 1996 called "Barely Breathing" or for the musical "Spring Awakening" for which he wrote the music. However, he has done much more that that. My husband has been a big fan of his ever sinc e 1996. My husband introduced Duncan's music to me, and I became a fan just like him. On Jan 26, 2009, we saw Duncan Sheik perform on a new small club in out neighborhood called The Bell House (cool place by the way.) The band was mostly the same as the Town Hall show we saw in November which I blogged about. This was the official record release party for his new album/soon to-be musical Whisper House. After a second hearing of the new songs, I can say that I really like them!

My husband bought the cd at the show and, afterwards, we went to backstage door in hopes of getting his autograph on the cd. The person standing gaurd at the door told us that he would be coming out to sign autographs afterwards. When he began shutting the door, I quickly told him that we've been long time fans. The guard took the cd and handed it back to Duncan who signed it, saying it was, apparently the first copy of cd he had signed!

Even better, a little while later, Duncan did come out to sign autographs. We already had ours, but my husband spoke with him for a minute or two. Duncan was very friendly and way cool! Now, how do we set about becoming friends with him?

Duncan's signed (new) album "Whisper House"

4.) John Legend's Concert
On February 5, 2009, my husband and I saw John Legend's concert at the Radiocity Music Hall. All I can say is.....it was an awesome concert. John Legend is truly a great entertainer/performer and I love him (sorry hubby)

Ok...I promise not to be away so long next time. But Lenny really does take up a lot of my time...I forgot how owning a dog was so much work!

Cheers!

Give me Blog-erty or Give Death

One of my normal routines in the morning before I do anything else is to read the newspaper online. I start with the NY Times and ends with Filipino News from Inquirer or Manila Bulletin. Today, I was reading about high school students who were suspended because they blogged about their principal.

What? Suspended because they blogged about their principal? Now, I don't know what they blogged about exactly, but in my opinion, what is wrong with blogging about another person? I think everyone has a right to practice their freedon of speech. Unless those kids threatened the principal, which I have not seen evidence that they did, then I don't think they should be reprimanded for stating their opinion.

As an avid blogger, I, myself, was criticized by a friend for blogging about my mother - they scolded me about my writing things about my family and posting them for the public to read. My answer to that is....why not? How is my blog affecting your life at all? And if I mentioned something about someone, that's my opinion. And besides, I can write better than you :-D

For that principal in the Philippines...grow up! I think you should be proud of your student that they have learned how to express their opinions. It's just a blog, so who cares -- unless what they wrote hits a little too close to home. If the president of the United States can take all the insults and jest that he gets everyday, you should be able to take that as well. But again, maybe, just maybe, you have a reason to be upset?

I wish I know about blogging when I was in high school. Here are the following things I would have blogged about:

1. I would blogged about my teacher (Ms. Vivo) who caught me chewing gum and asked me to spit it out and put the gum on my forehead. When I refused, she told everyone that she would not come to the Christmas party. I was devastated given my fragile age. I blamed myself (maybe others too) for having the only class that didn't have a teacher at our Christmas Party. But when I think of it now, I realized how immature my teacher was to use me as an excuse for not showing up to our Christmas party. Very Immature!
2. I would have blogged about our principal who in her tenure did not allow us to have Junior and Senior Prom. That was just MEAN. Junior and Senior prom are high school traditions. It's a time that, when you are all grown up, you look back and say "I had the best high school life ever!" (Well, in theory that's what you would say.)
3. I would have blogged about fellow high school student who would only talk to you when you were eating chips. As soon as they finished them (like vultures), they all split and acted like they never knew you at all...that is until they saw you eating chips again. Talk about USERS!
4. I would have blogged about fellow high school student who questioned me about my US vacations and asked me for proof and pictures. Why so INSECURE?
5. And last but not lease, I would have blogged about my wonderful high school friends -- Cynthia, Dorothy and Emily. Although, I lost contact with then when I move here to America, I still treasure their friendship and will always remember their kindness. I MISS THEM and hope we will meet again someday.

So HOW ABOUT IT? Are you guys out there un the blogosphere?

If I Ever Lose My Faith

I grew up believing in God. Believing that someone is watching over you and taking care of you. I grew up believing that God would never give you any challenges that you can't handle, as long as you keep that faith, and thus, that no matter how much difficult the challenge put in front of you, God believes you can overcome them. Having grown up believing that, having had those beliefs constantly ingrained into me, can it really be that how I can find myself starting to lose the faith?

Last night after I hang up the phone I felt that heaven and earth was collapsing in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it. It was my mom on the other line informing me that her big C had showed up again and she needs another treatment. This was too much for me to take. Two year ago, on my birthday, just as I was about to go out for dinner, she called me to let me know she had been diagnose with big C. It was my worst birthday ever - not because she told me on my birthday but simply because I knew what she had. We kept positive outlook, and after treatments and an operation, the doctors diagnosed her as big C free. She remained that way for over a year.

But last night was a different story.

What the fuck is this? Why her? If God is really is watching us, then why would He let this happen to her, a good, faithful person, and not to the worst person on earth? Why are criminals and molesters and perverts priest and terrorist and murderers and the financial criminal who have ruined so many lives with the current economy allowed to go on with their lives? I cried the entire night asking this questions. I am worried for her. And I am scared of losing her.

I hate to lose my faith in Him but I'm really scared. I may be the best daughter, we may not have the best mother/daughter relationship and there may have been many strains between us, but I love my mother and I don't want to lose her. I hope that she will defeat this again, just like she did two years ago. I HOPE. But can I pray?

New Year - New Cooking

As we start the New Year, we plan to start eating healthy, cooking at home more to save money and maybe (just maybe) start exercising. Every night before hubby comes home, I ask him what he wants for dinner. Last night he sent me a link to a great recipe of Snapper Vera Cruz. To my surprise, the recipe was courtesy of the chef at Sailfish Marina Restaurant on Singer Island - a favorite restaurant of ours that we dine at every time we visit Florida. The Sailfish Marina is a quintessential "Floridian" restaurant, featuring great fish and seafood in a very casual, unpretentious, marina-front setting.

The recipe was featured on one of Bobby Flay's shows on the Food Network. Now, I'm not really a big fan of Bobby Flay's TV personality. I find him to be more than a little cocky (especially when he disrespected Kitchen Stadium in the original Iron Chef when jumped on the cooking/cutting tables.) However, I have to give it him a credit that he is a great cook. I remember dining out at Mesa Grill, one of his restaurant in NYC, and I truly enjoyed his food and couldn't wait to go back there again. So if it is good enough for Bobby Flay, I'm sure its good enough for me. (Although, in the interest of full disclosure, hubby had had fish prepared "vera cruz" style at other Florida restaurants.)

Here is my version of the Sailfish Marina's Snapper Vera Cruz with Couscous. Please note that my version excludes certain ingredients such as brandy, cheese, butter and coriander. But, it turned out great and delicious! And even better, the dish was perfectly paired with 1999 Riesling Auslese (which surprisingly enough, had not gone off despite our less than ideal storage conditions). Bon Appetit!

Even Santa Likes the Beach

Happy New Year Everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't logged in for a long time. My husband and I went away for the holidays, somewhere far from the chaotic work and miserable cold and gray in New York City - to sunny South Florida. Although, I promised myself I would not open my laptop while on vacation, I must admit to checking my personal emails periodically to read some of my friends greeting, status reports, etc. What can I say...even in paradise there is a wifi.

But before heading down to the warmth, first we made a stop in not so sunny North Jersey. As I previously mentioned, I am grateful I don't need to worry which family I go to because we go to both. We started with Christmas at my brother's house in Jersey. My mom was busy cooking all day preparing variety of Filipino foods. I was planning to help her but my husband and I got a terrible stomach virus on December 23rd and we almost didn't make it to my brother's house at all. Luckily, we were feeling a bit better by Christmas Eve and both of my brothers and my mom convinced us not to worry about spreading the bug. So we went and had a wonderful dinner followed by coffee and a variety of desserts.

We moved to the living room to starts the fun that we had all been waiting for - the secret santa gift exchange. (well, it was supposed to be secret santa, but everyone ended up giving everyone else a gift, so there went that idea.) As usual my hi-tech brothers gave me new gadgets. My younger bro gave me a portable hard drive which I have no idea how to use it. But it is 400 gigs and usb powered, so my husband thinks its pretty cool. My older bro gave me a new Ipod Nano. (although I already have 3 Ipods, this is the first new one I ever had - all of the rest were hand-me-downs from my bros). Just like every Christmas, my older bro loves to wraps his gifts in anusual and surprising ways. This year he wrapped the ipod in a plastic kitchen bag, which he cleverly tied the handles to make into a bow. The boy should work at Bloomingdale's.

I remember a couple of years ago, he gave me a huge box. When I opened it, I found another box inside followed by another until I finally reached the box of watch that I really wanted. Excited, I opened the box to find...nothing...just the box. He the gave me the watch separately. He had just wanted to see how I would react. I was disappointed at seeing the empty box, but thought it was funny afterward.

As for my loving husband, I guess he was reading my blog (imagine that) because I got one of my wishes. He gave me a gift card from Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas, as well as a gorgeous dress from Max Azria BCBG. Who khew he had such a good taste in clothes?

As for me, I gave everyone else a gifts as well. -- Gift cards for my brothers so they can buy more hi-tech stuff that I haven't heard of yet and for husband a tennis racquet. Well I was told it was a tennis racquet by the guy at Paragon, but we found out that it was actually a squash racquet. I thought it looked weird for a tennis racquet, but the guy at the Paragon insisted that it was the new style for beginners. Looks like I will be returning the racquet for a proper tennis racquet (possibly ratting out a salesperson in process.)

We ended the celebration with my mom and me going to mid-night mass (thanks hubby for driving)

New Year
The next day, my husband and I left my brother's house to go home and pack for our holiday trip to Florida. We sepnt the whole time at the beach (the trip, not the next day). Although the weather got cooler at night, it was still much warmer than cold, snowy NYC.

The year 2008 went so fast and I am thankful for all the wonderful things that happened as well as all the blessings that my family and I received. And hopefully, I will not make the same mistakes in 2009 that I did this year (although lets be honest...there's bound to be some repeats). I am grateful to have two wonderful families who loves me unconditionally and all my friends who care for me.

Happy New Year to All!!