I am sharing photos that show why I love to run outdoors. This is my running route in Evanston:

As luck would have it I received a suprise invitation from a filipino neighbour to join their team in a Michigan 26 mile relay race next October. Since we bump into each other at the health club from time to time she must've guessed I would be interested. I claimed the shortest distance of 4.2 miles right away. I am pretty confident about that number since my regular route is close to 3 miles of which I can run comfortably but the question is how fast can I finish it. I don't want to be left behind in Michigan.

Btw, our team name is Voltes V. Cute huh?

Reversal Of Roles

Sometimes I would lay beside Evan in the big bed before he goes to sleep. The other night while lying side by side I turned my back to him for a more comfortable position. Then I felt a two tender pats on my shoulder and a "nuyt, nuyt".

Then yesterday afternoon while watching a video of Bambi, I brought out a mix of cereal, walnuts and dried fruits in a small bowl as our snack to share. Evan got up from his sitting position to kneel beside me on the coach, took a piece of cereal and proceeded to handfeed me. Again and again.

While he was having his favorite dessert of cantaloupe a couple of nights ago, his daddy stood beside him to ask for a slice of melon. I offered to bring Tom some from the kitchen but in an undertone my husband told me that he just wanted to see if Evan would share it with him. No protests from Evan. He appeared to be fumbling a bit while picking up a piece. Then we heard, "here you go" and were almost impressed until we saw what he was handing to his daddy - a tiny seed.

Early Friday morning, right after we woke up, I was giggling at my husband's numerous attempts to wink. This was because the night before while watching the RNC I commented how so out-of-style it was for John McCain to wink (3 times I counted) after giving his speech. Then my husband goofed around by blinking exagerratedly at me to which I retorted, "maybe that's why you didn't get married until you were 48 years old." Our playful early morning banter was interrupted when our toddler opened our door and asked, "what's going on here?" Thus we were properly chastised.

Currently listening to: Don't Stop The Music (Rihanna)
Currently reading: The Wrecking Crew (Thomas Frank)
Currently watching: Blood Diamonds (di Caprio)

The acorns have fallen. The sight of them on the ground makes me sad. Summer has come to an end. Labor day last Monday made it official. They have even started selling Halloween costumes in the stores. My husband consoled me that we still have 6 weeks of good weather left. But still...

Our labor day weekend. top photos: at the Renaissance Faire's petting zoo (with zebra too!) and pony rides (daddy's condition was only with parental supervision). bottom photos: at a lakeside playground in Madison and playing Ikea trains inside the Madison condo.

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I finally booked  our (mine and Evan's) flight to the Philippines for February yesterday. We'll be stopping over LA to spend 5 days with my brother and his family. 5 su-weet days! Disneyland, here we come!

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I have gone gaga over tofu the past few weeks. Tofu with cashew, Pad Thai with tofu, steamed tofu with broccoli and button mushrooms, spicy tofu with portobello mushrooms, peas and diced carrots, you name it. The best part? Evan now eats tofu and mushrooms too. True, he spat them out fast the first, second and third times he tried it. But what did they say about getting toddlers to try food they are initially aversed to a least 10 times? Well, it worked for Evan. My husband made a face when I told about this latest development.

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Tom and I have decided to take down Evan's crib this Saturday. He has long outgrown his playpen in Madison and has slept on the big bed the 2 weekends we were there. We let him continue doing so when we got home and hadn't had a problem. When we first contemplated on doing this more than 8 months ago, the time when he started climbing out of his crib, the thought proved too heart wrenching for me. "What? My baby is no longer a baby?" I protested inwardly. But now I am more than ready. I look forward to having a more spacious little boy's bedroom for Evan.

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Inside the car on our way back from Madison:
Evan, "yeeeaaaahhh....ah-mazing!". Now, where on earth did he get that?

Currently listening to: Paralayzer (Finger Eleven)
Currently reading: Teaching Our Children Values (Eyre)
Currently watching: Higher Crimes (Judd, Freeman)

Sunday Morning... was very much like the day before. The kids, Lanie, Judy were already downstairs. Donna and Kim were also there. Guess what Lanie was cooking? My favorite, fried shrimps. Hmmm, hmmm it tasted just like how they cook it in the Philippines only yummier. And I thought shrimps in the midwest could only taste like wet newspaper. Again, I debated whether I should go out for my exercise but Vanessa came down too and Gilda later followed. Not to mention the fact that my stomach was full all the time making running a very hard to do. So that was scratched out.

photo courtesy of Judy

In the middle of the fun and laughter I reluctanty realized that it was Evan's naptime. Because this was a new setting, I had to stay with him until he falls asleep in the room upstairs. Then I decided to experiment and have him lay on the sofa so I can keep an eye on him while still being a part of the girls' conversation. As expected, after a few minutes of trying to humor his mom, he would get up to fish a toy from the floor. And another toy. And another. When he saw me coming after him, he ran away, fell and grazed his face on the base of the coach. He got a rug burn on his cheek, which was nothing serious but was kind of painful to look at.

We ended up having his nap upstairs after all.

Sunday Afternoon... before we knew it, it was already 3:00 and we had a 5:10 train to catch. 4:30 and we were still inside the house having our group photo taken. This made John, Lanie's husband, nervous because on a good day the station was a 20 minute car ride. It was hard to be emotional in the midst of hurried good-byes but I got very sad hugging Lanie. I didn't want the fun and camaraderie to end. I was very grateful for our hosts' warmth and generosity. I was going to miss that long Michigan weekend.

John was right. We arrived the station at 5:05. But we were lucky (how could we not be when Gilda was with us?) because the train came 20 minutes later. The ride going back to Chicago was as smoothing sailing as the first although more crowded. We arrived the city at 11:30 at night and past midnight to our condo. But we didn't sleep until past 3am in the morning. No surprise there.

Post weekend... Evan was awake at his usual waking hour of 7am. I wanted to catch more sleep and had planned on playing one of his favorite movies The Aristocats after breakfast. But by the time he was done Judy was up too. It was too nice a morning to stay inside so we decided to get bagels and coffee at Einstein's downtown and left the ever sleeping beauty Gilda a note. It was a nice break to my usual morning routine of heading straight to the health club. Instead I was spending it walking leisurely, chatting with a friend. After we got our coffee we headed to Barnes and Noble where I unhurriedly browsed through books while Judy amused herself watching Evan play at the Thomas The Train table.

photo courtesy of Gilda

I originally planned on taking the ladies to Chinatown for dimsum unfortunately our car needed its' radiator replaced. But the auto shop was in a nice part of the town so it wasn't too bad. We had a birthday lunch for Gilda of egg noodles among other chinese dishes for long life. While waiting we spent it on a fancier than usual playground that Evan couldn't have enough of.

My special extended weekend had to end and it started when Judy had to go as her husband Wally picked her up. I also had to go back to work the following day but I picked Gilda at lunchtime to bring her to the same train station very near the airport. 

I am still a little wistful when I think about what happened last weekend. When I joined ASAWA, an internet forum of fil-west relationships, little did I know that I will be forging real time friendships with other filipinas in this side of the world. And for women who were uprooted from all things familiar to start a new life with men whom we chose to spend our whole life with, I feel that setting aside a few days, traveling a few hundred miles to reconnect with that little part of us we've left behind is one of the best gifts our husbands could give us. A shout out to my husband Tom, John our ever gracious host, Lorin for the ride to the train station, David for letting us celebrate with the birthday girl, Richard for being a stay-at-home dad to Mattie last weekend and Wally for making the adventure even more fun because of his wife's presence. Thank you, thank you.

To Lanie, Gilda, Judy, Kim and Vanessa, thank you for the gift of friendship. I miss you guys. I can't wait for next time.

Pop Quiz

How many dishes did our host Lanie cook during our 3 day stay?

Answer: 23, rice not included.

Count them yourself: Binangkal (deep fried sesame covered pastry), vegetable lumpia (egg roll), inununan (fish boiled in vinegar), leche flan (custard flan), fruit salad, chocolate fondue, lechon paksiw (roasted pig simmered in vinegar and soy sauce), humba (pork leg cooked in vinegar and soy sauce), ginamay (pork cutlets with vegetables), binagoongan (pork with shrimp sauce), brownies, cassava cake, turron (deep friend banana in lumpia wrapper), suman (sitcky rice wrapped in banana leaves), pakbet (vegetable with shrimp sauce), fried fish, chicken casserole, pansit (chinese egg noodles), putong puti (steamed rice cake), monggo (mung beans soup), biko (sticky rice with coconut flake toppings), fresh fruit cuts and shrimps. Whew!

Even Lanie didn't know she cooked that many. All these with 3 small children underfoot. This supermom is an inspiration.

Currently listening to: Tom's cd
Currently reading: Organize Your Life
Currently watching: Munich (Eric Bana)

After downing all that food I felt the itch to exercise and go running. But the talk and laughter was still going on I felt that if I leave even for 40 minutes I would be missing a lot. Then I rediscovered karaoke and I couldn't stop. I have forgotten what a great destressor it was. Vanessa's friend Donna and I took turns for sometime then Vanessa, a professional singer in her past life, joined us too. The microphone was continuously passed among the 3 of us until midnight, pausing only when I had to put my son in bed.

Evan and I shared a room with Lanie's 2 older kids Trish 8 and Jonathan 5. The last time I had seen Jonathan, he wasn't talking yet. Now he could put up a good argument with his older sister, american accent and all. I was amused listening to them in Trish's bedroom, plus Evan's own unintelligible contribution as well. I retired earlier than the other girls, but not after having had a heavenly massage from Donna. I swear it was the best I had. Unfortunately for Judy, she was the only one among the women who missed it because she fell asleep too early. She was lulled to sleep by my rendition of "Killing Me Softly".

Evan cracking up at tita Van. I did say he likes lovely ladies. Evan at 2 years and 4 months. Video courtesy of Judy.

Saturday morning...I was one of the first to get up. When I went downstairs, Judy, Lanie and the kids were already there. Evan was eating a breakfast of pancit, milk and cantaloupe with his buddy Garin. I ate my breakfast of suman, tsokolateh, pancit and putong puti (all home made too) as well. Lanie was also making the fruit salad for that afternoon's party, I excitedly lined up for it even if she wasn't even done mixing it. A few minutes after that I was finally able to do my run (the only one session for the whole week, the most sessions I missed 8 months), thanks to Judy who kept an eye on Evan. Not that my 2 year old needed that much supervision. He was enjoying himself immensely with the many, many "new" toys, books, movies and treats in Lanie's house. Plus he got along well with Garin, I was told that they even went down the stairs together holding hands. The sleepingiest beauty award was hands down Gilda, for that she only got 3 tablespoonsful of the tsokolateh that she requested several months in advance.

Saturday afternoon... Lanie called me upstairs to their spacious bathroom for a make-up session. I loved the results. It was interesting the colors Lanie applied on my face, they wouldn't be what I would normally choose but they looked great on me. Gilda was next. It was so much of a women friends type of bonding, not something I have done since I arrived here in the U.S.

Lanie told us that there were going to be 15 other visitors for the party. More like 50 really, excluding babies and children. There were more food (paksiw na lechon, dinuguan, biko, cassava cake, siopao) the half of a lechon as a centerpiece. I loved how the desserts were presented. Maybe one day Lanie can go into catering or even a restaurant business because it's very obvious where her gift lies. The taste of her food brings you straight away to our homeland the Philippines.

Finally, the last "missing filipina" of our group arrived, Kim. I've always known that Judy and Kim would hit it off and I was right. As Judy would later put it in our groupmail, "if there is a synchronized swimming in Olympics, our is a synchronized laugh". At one point during the party all 6 of us were huddled in one room almost rolling on the floor laughing. I have met so many really nice people here in the U.S., even made close friends with some but I believe it is only with other filipinas can we let our hair down like that and have us in stitches. There are just so many things we share in common and can relate with our experiences of living in a new country as filipina wives married to americans.

We capped the night (and early morning) with another round of karaoke marathon, with the kids dancing with Judy and Gilda, more talks around the big table, more eating... you get the picture. Bedtime was 2 o'clock early Sunday morning.

To be continued tomorrow...

Currently listening to: Upside Down (Jack Johnson)
Currently reading: Organize Your Life
Currently watching: DNC on tv

So many things happened last weekend that it's so hard to wrap them up in one entry. I racked my brains on how best to write and capture the fun, I decided to jot down how they unfolded from day to day. And it started:

...Thursday afternoon, when I picked up Gilda at the airport. I parked the car at the nearest train station and rode the train with my son to the airport. We were running 10 minutes late because, as what has been happening the past couple of weeks, I was neck deep with work and was beating a deadline.

Filipina friendships forged through the power of the internet. In Michigan last weekend. (From left to right) Trish (Lanie's daughter), Lanie, Gilda, Donna (Vanessa'ss friend from Canada), Kim, Judy, Vanessa and Geri.

When we were planning this Michigan trip many months back little did I know that I will be delegated with numerous new projects and the many times I was stressed out because of the looming deadline I wished I had backed out from the trip so I could've bought more time workwise. But somehow I was still able to make it albeit already sprinting out of the office to be on time for Gilda's arrival from Ohio.

When we reached the end of the train stop, I was engrossed in figuring out from the lighted map on the wall which terminal Gilda's airline was when I was interuppted by Gilda herself. I was distressed at having kept her waiting but she assured me that they arrived 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. She said she saw Evan first because she didn't recognize the slimmer me. Yep, I just had to insert that flattering comment here.

So the talking began, and together we took the train back to the station where I left the car and drove the rest back home. But first we had to stop at Steak and Shake for dinner since we were all famished (they have a very decent salad) and dropped by Pet Smart to buy our cat's food. Of course Evan enjoyed looking at the fish, bird, dogs and cats there. When we got home we headed straight to our downstairs neighbour's house where we were invited to a party. My husband was already there.

photos coutesy of Judy, Gilda and Kim

Pretty soon Gilda was already engaged in a conversation with several guests whom I've also met for the first time, I excused myself to put my son to bed and pack and left her there. I called up Lanie and Judy to finalize our plans and when they asked me where Gilda was I told them that she was already downstairs socializing with strangers haha

We called it a night around at 11pm because we had to get up early the next morning to catch 2 trains. One to downtown Chicago and the other to Michigan. The latter a close to seven hour trip.

...Friday morning, Gilda, Evan and I left the house at 6:30 to walk to downtown Evanston. With ample time to spare we had a nice morning stroll to the Metra Station. It would be Gilda and Evan's first ride in this bigger and faster train. We were even on time for the 6:48 train but we waited for the 7:10 trip because Judy was going to be there from another suburb around 30 miles from Evanston. Our plan was when we got off the Metra train we would just call each other on the phone. But wouldn't you know it, as soon as we embarked the car, who would you have peeking from the side of her chair was Judy! She excitedly scooped Evan on to her lap, while I sat beside her and Gilda across the aisle.

Around half an hour later, we finally got to see that familiar/famous waiting area of the Union Station for the first time (My Best Friend's Wedding anyone?). I also got to see what the inside of the Amtrak look like. I was told that it was like an airplane but roomier. Indeed, it was like an airplane and roomier. Evan was so excited that for a few minutes he just stood by the window to watch the scenery passing by. At some point he would look over the back of our chair to ask the 2 ladies who were busy talking and laughing, "what's so funny?" which would elicit more laughter from the filipinas.

The long trip wasn't as hard as I thought it would be Evanwise. He napped for 3 hours, watched DVD for 1 1/2 hours and my friends took turns in amusing him. Before we knew it we have arrived. At the Pontiac station we didn't have to wait long for our host Lanie and her husband John to pick us up. I was so happy to see Lanie after 3 years. I met 2 1/2 year old Garin for the first time. Lanie and I exchanged praises of each other's sons. Of course, that's what moms are for.

We were having our "merienda" of humba, binagoongan, inun-unon, pritong isda, leche flan, suman, pakbet, lumpia shanghai, monggo, binangkal, brownies, chicken with cream (all made by our host) when the last of Lanie's out-of-town visitor arrived, sexy Vanessa from Texas. With her were her college friends from Ontario, Canada. More talks and food followed.

To be continued tomorrow....

Currently listening to: Evan's Dumbo
Currently reading: Organize Your Life
Currently watching: Munich (Eric Bana)