Las Angelitas

We're here now in Los Angeles, California. We arrived Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007, 10:28am (L.A. Time). Hmm... almost all of my friends asked me these questions in their IM/call: "How's L.A. compared to Chicago?" Actually, I'm still in the process of comparing the two. I will take this opportunity to answer this question so by the time I get back to Chicago, I hopefully will no longer hear this question:

(1) The ratio of Filipino: Non-Filipino is probably, 5:1. This is the number one difference I noted. Wherever we go, I can always recognize familiar language. It feels like I'm not in America...parang nasa Dubai din kami... which really feels good. In Chicago, I'm craving for Filipinos, haaarrr... bwahahaha!
(2) Because of #1, filipino stores sprouted here, there and everywhere! You will never miss Filipino goods here... where in Chicago you will unlikely find filipino stores... at least within our suburb.
(3) The roads are much nicer to drive. Although they have bigger lanes, their roads are more clear. (Andaming lubak lubak sa Chicago!)
(4) The best of all -- They have no snow! This is the number 1 aspect that I really enjoy. I can just wear rubber shoes (not boots), 2 layers of clothing, and I can go outside without ear muffs and gloves. The temp here feels like summer in Chicago.
(5) Houses are not made of concrete. I don't know how they call that bldg material, but it's a non-concrete. The reason being is because california is very prone to earthquake.
(6) But I find the people in Chicago much nicer. You can build friendship in train stations, trains, buses... wherever you go. Here in LA, it seems that people do their own thing.
(7) And of course... the shopping is cheaper! Although most of the brands here also exist in Chicago... LA has more thrifty stores which you will not find in Chicago. Hopefully, I will find more in the days to come!

So far, those are the only things that I observed. And so far, I am still enjoying the place. Our first stop was the Hollywood and Kodak Theatre...Yes, with all the stars and name imprints along the street. I had fun watching and taking pictures with the different hollywood "costumed" characters... but the sad part is you have to pay them for taking picture of them or with them. So, I was acting like a paparazzi when I was taking pictures of them... :(

Yesterday, we watched "I am Legend" in Burbank City and did again some shopping. We're scheduled to go to Las Vegas on 27th and 28th then proceed to Disneyland on 29th and Universal Studios on 30th. Other than that, we have no plans yet. So, I'm really looking forward for the days to come. I've been wanting this kind of vacation...eventhough it means having empty pockets when we go back to Chicago.

Merry Christmas to all and may we have a prosperous new year ahead of us!

Here are just some of our pictures:

With Tita Ledy at Kodak Theatre.

A picture taken by Randy while me sipping a hot coffee... reason for the funny face here... :)

From the airport, we went to Asia Buffet to have a sumptuous lunch. That's me with Tito Fred and Tita Ledy...

We just came from the airport and now travelling going to our place of lunch...





Syempre, ang palaging pose ng mga nagpupunta ng hollywood, hehehe. I sooo love Will Smith...

Advance christmas gift-giving/Being nostalgic

I've been thinking so hard for the past few days what to give to my husband as a gift. It's really not a challenge for me as I've been used to this kind and I consider myself as a creative creature in giving gift to my partner. However, at this time, it suddenly became so hard. Ang hirap talaga pag may austerity measures kang kinoconsider, hahaha! At first, I was planning to buy him PS3 (sana naman wag nya mabasa to...kasi may iba pakong plano). Actually, last thanksgiving holidays, we were supposed to buy PS3...but then something prevented me from buying. First, wala pa naman kaming sariling TV dito. This is somehow tearjerking for me, I'm missing my HDTV which was just 3 months old when I sold it at the lowest price you can imagine (See related post --> http://lvillanera.multiply.com/journal/item/116/Updates...updates...updates). We had no choice but to sell it since it's very hard to bring it here. Before, people would say "Ang ganda naman ng TV nyo! Pangmayaman!" Ngayon, parang dukhang-dukha ang feeling kasi we don't have our own TV yet... everything is still provided by the hotel. haaayyyy... Iba pa rin pag sarili mong pag-aari.

Since, I'm being nostalgic here, here's some of "her" first pictures...huhuhu!:





O diba, ang landi landi ko pa sa mga pics na yan! Actually, may isa pa kong namimiss dyan eh...yung TFC!!! Now, all I can do is to treasure all these pictures... *sigh*

Now, back to why we decided not to buy PS3... secondly, it's not really a necessity at this point, may PS3 pa naman na full packed with games. Third, ssshhh...baka wala nang atupagin si Randy kundi PS3 gaya nang nangyari dati sa PS2 at PSP...buti na lang ngayon, parang ginagawa nya na lang pampatulog ang PSP. Dati, halos di ako pinapansin kakalaro nya! Bwiset! Kaya dapat pag bumili kami ng PS3, may katumbas din yun na camera accessories para may mapagkaabalahan din ako while he's busy playing. :)

So, I ditched the idea of giving PS3 this christmas. My boss gave me this link which has lots of gift ideas at cheaper prices plus the shipping (including return) is free. Oooopppsss, this is not a sponsored post ha, hehehe. So, I browsed the site and I reserved this piece of clothing for him:



http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/18367000/c/25276.html

Since the site offers overnight shipping, I was planning to have the jacket shipped on Dec 19, to arrive to him on Dec 20 (also our 11th wedding monthsary).

You might be wondering why this jacket. The reason is simple, it's winter here and I do think Randy needs additional jackets because when I begin to count how many jackets I have and compare it with his... I feel so guilty of dominating our shopping spree, hahaha! And what's so special with the brand? To tell you honestly, I never had an inkling that the people in the US give so much attention to this brand. When we were still in Pinas, Randy would just pull me in this brand's boutiques in Glorietta 4 or Power Plant/Rockwell. But I usually sit there and just wait for Randy to finish his window-shopping. In short, I was not really interested in this brand...it's sooo damn expensive plus I can just only see few people in the Philippines wearing it... I just thought it's not a quality brand. But when we went here, everything changed, everyone is wearing this brand! There must be a reason why they're wearing it and why it's so damn expensive! ...oh, I get it (by reading lots of buyers' feedbacks).

Last Saturday, we went to downtown (once again) to complete our chrismas gift list. It was already 7pm when we just decided to visit once again "The Northface" since Randy has been salivating with their products from the very start. I was just trying out some jackets but had no plans of buying one. But when I found this particular jacket, my mind suddenly began changing. As I was happily trying out the jacket and mix matching it with various caps/beanies while still thinking if I should buy it or not, Randy suddenly uttered, "Gusto mo ba talaga nyan? Gift ko na sayo yan." ...and the rest is history.

However, before we left the shop, I asked him, "Gusto mo dito na lang din kita ibili ng gip?" hahaha... and that was it! Parang nagexchange gip lang kaming dalawa. Pero di naman, kasi mas mahal ang inabot ng binayaran nya, hahaha...mas lamigin kasi ako so I need sturdier type of material. But when you look at our jackets, you will think na same model/style lang sya... pero hindi.

We chose the style of the jacket because we're planning to use it in LA/Las Vegas Trip. There, we don't need down jackets or coats, we just need a typical windbreaker. So, here's how mine look like:



...and here's the picture with my gift to Randy:


(Side note: Nagtest drive kami last Sunday and we both wore our jackets and my beanie...ang cute namin tingnan, para kaming members ng Universal Motion Dancers hahaha...joke lang! We went to McDo for coffee/brunch and guess what...nakuuu, natapunan ako ni Randy ng coffee! Take note, 2 tall cups ng coffee ang tumumba in my direction! Akala ko malalapnos balat ko...pero you know what happened? Ang galing! Waterproof nga ang jackets... nagfloat lang yung coffee sa jacket and patak patak na lang ang natira...hindi rin sya namantsahan. Yun lang, tumapon sa pants ko ang coffee...pero ligtas pa rin dahil sa thermal pants, hahaha. Yan ang nagagawa ng ginawing bata...super protected! hahaha...)

hahaah...so para talagang nagexchange gips lang kami, bwahahaha...pero mas ok na rin yan kesa wala... (yung iba dyan alam ang sinasabi ko, hehehe!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! And for all OFWs celebrating christmas away from their families, MABUHAY ANG BAGONG BAYANI! anyenye!

...now, I'm starting to feel that indeed christmas is just around the corner...

Midnight shopping hang-over

My lips are soo dry...My eyes are drooping...My body feels sooo depleted... My wallet thickness slimmed down...but nevertheless...

I'm HAPPY!

As the clock struck midnight (November 23, 12am), we went off our place and hit this "place".
We were all new to the place but we never cared (Thanks to the irritating GPS voice that guided us in all our maneuvers and to the untiring effort of QOSMIO) . The traffic was brutal...believe me! And there was no available parking space by the time we got there. The place was full-packed with people and cars. No one cared about the 15-degree Fahrenheit temperature and some ice (and I mean ICE here) on the road. And here's the best thing -- they endured the long queue for each of the brands while freezing in the coldness of the early morning. And I said "they" because I never attempted to enter these brands with long queue.
What did we buy? (The question that keeps on popping in my screen from my IM window...information that my friends want me to divulge now since there are still 2 days more of shopping). Well just pieces of clothing for the winter season...with the killer boots, winter office attire and all...but mostly are for Randy. Why? Because I had to draw his attention to some other things rather than being pushy to buy PS3, hahaha! If you want to know the great deals (with prices) that we got, just send me PM. Hurry -- there are still 2 more days!

We haven't hit the electronics shops (of course!)...but I don't plan to buy anything spectacular. I tried buying online this morning a 1 TB external hard drive (because this is what I really need right now and I'm too tired to go outside) thru this site. But the hell...all the things that I want are already "sold-out"! Tsk...tsk...tsk...

At 5am, we hurried off to have our breakfast at the nearest ihop. And at 8am, I started to close my eyes and doze off.

Though the shopping is somehow tiring and exhausts our savings... the activity becomes more meaningful when shared with friends. See you again in LA, qosmio, our all-time travel buddy! 'Twas nice to meet your wife!

So, that's how we spent our Thanksgiving...how about you, how did you spend the holidays?