The Big Apple, the Bull and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Ah! New York... still the best of times, but to my feet it's turning out to be the worst. The last time Karla was here, we'd always come home with very sore, aching legs from walking for 9-11 hours daily (insert extra weight from shopping bag*s* by the 180-minute mark). Yesterday, my Mom arranged for us to be pampered, and secured us a spot for the 6pm massage w/ mani-pedi ...  my nails are now in a gorgeous shade of OPI's Russian Navy and my limbs & muscles, relaxed as if they're on a marijuana high (note that I've never done nor do cannabis ... things just seem extra legit/extra dope when you compare it to drugs, lol).

When K & I had a Korean-slash-Brooklyn-themed day, the air was musky and there were gazillions of people in the streets. There wasn't an ethnic group, class, age or sexual orientation I could point out as dominant; which leads me to my next thought : being granted access to travel freely between two very distinct countries gave me an almost perfect opportunity to compare one from the other. And well, silly as it sounds, it's the smallest things that really differentiate each - people here have a really weird obsession with small talks! Whether it's waiting in line for the bus, to having your waiter ask "Everything ok?" in regular intervals or simply just passing each other on the street & complaining to each other about the weather ... the possibilities for casual conversation are just endless. youthology

To semi-end my gobbledytalk, let me share some photos from that day :-)

"Love padlocks are a custom by which sweethearts affix padlocks to a fence or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. They are most commonly placed on the railings of bridges."

"Koreaway" on 32nd St. THEY HAVE THE FACE SHOP HERE!!! (I got nail polishes & face masks <3)

My first Red Mango experience. I only get my froyo fix from Pinkberry! The verdict? Pinkberry FTW, hee.

We've been CRAVING for Japchae's & Bulgogi's since forever and a day ago and Miss Korea (restaurant) surely delivered! We ate A LOT A LOT A LOT and still ended up getting billed for only $50ish! Definitely coming back!

The next group of pictures were taken from the time we explored Lower Manhattan ... we didn't take much so I'm just condensing it in with this entry:

View from The World Financial Center where we had breakfast with Karla's Uncle (he works there and DANG IT I WANNA WORK THERE TOO! THE PLACE IS SO BEAUTIFUUUL!). Can you spot Lady Liberty? :P

"Charging Bull, which is sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull is the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity; leaning back on its haunches and with its head lowered as if ready to charge. The sculpture is both a popular tourist destination which draws thousands of people a day, as well as "one of the most iconic images of New York" and a "Wall Street icon" symbolizing "Wall Street" and the Financial District."

Lol, to end this, here's something cute and silly we saw at Dean & Deluca, heh. :P

Tales as old as Times Square.

Two of my closest cousins, my favorite Aunt and my grandfather are coming over to visit 4 days from now. They've been very adamant in asking me about what I would want for them to bring over / things they could buy for me from home, but I can't seem to think of any. Goods from the Philippines aren't as difficult to find here as one might think. All it takes is one trip to the oriental store! The only request I had for my cousin was that she brought me back some of my Sweet Valley books. I told her to gather up everything she could find in my old room and take pictures of them so I could choose what I'd like to get. I completely forgot that most of my collection was lost in the fire we had back in 2000 (*sadface* if only we had home security ridgeland back then / which reminds me, I need to check this site out : Localtv-Satellite.com ... anyways *end sadface*), so all she was able to retrieve back were the books I read during grade school (SV Kids, Goosebumps, Full House) and the silly ones I swore I could "relate to" in middle school - junior high (Love Stories <3, SV's The Unicorn Club), lol. football gift

I FEEL SO NOSTALGIC, HEEHEE! <3

Ooh, also, here are some more pictures from the time we went Karaoke-ing (with Kari, Hero and Bryan) 'til 4 in the am, chyeaaah. There are also some taken from when we strolled around Times Square and inside The Disney Store & Forever 21, and one stolen shot of me while we ate dinner at Tad's Steaks.

Sunday Fun Day

Guest post from: Kent Lara

My family and I go out for desserts every single Sunday, and we always try to change it up and go somewhere new. (We even like to take the short trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and when we do we always set our Security Companies.) The great thing about going out for desserts on Sundays is that it gives us one more chance to relax and have fun before the weekend ends; Before we have to go back to work and back to school we can all share some good food together, and talk about the exciting things that we did all weekend. If you are looking for a great way to spend some time bonding with your family, this is a great way to do it. No one is going to turn down ice cream or candy, and everyone is going to enjoy eating it together. Make Sundays fun days like I have and get your family together.

It's loud. It's really busy. There are cabs and bicycles zooming in to and fro, and pedestrians manifest rebellion by their refusal to respect the lights; "jaywalking ... what jaywalking?"

The last time we met with Mary before she left for the Philippines was when she had to come to the city to pick up her security deposit refund from when she used to live here. She used to go to NYU so her apartment was located at the East Village, or the epicenter of hipsterdom, as I'd always jokingly liked to call it.

Here's me with Karla. We were outside the renting office, waiting for Mer.

For a typical Spring weather, that day had been pretty warm. Perfect for walking outside! So after eating lunch at Cosi, we headed towards SoHo to check out the shops ... but not before stopping by Pinkberry first.

Karla, being the shopaholic that she is, had made a list of all the stores she wanted to look at. Among others, it incuded DASH, Longchamp, Uniqlo, TopShop, Muji, Tory Burch, Urban Outfitters and Cath Kidston.

It's so quirky, the things they sell at Urban, haha!

Mary still had to go back to Philadelphia so we needed to head up Midtown so she could make it to her scheduled train in Penn Station. Karla was sleeping over my place so after saying goodbye to Mer, we had some more cupcakes from Crumbs, ehe. treasure metal detectors

YUM! NOM!

The next day, it was just me and K so obviously it became a 'local-takes-the-tourist-around' kind of day. This time we focused on Fifth Avenue : Apple Store, FAO Schwarz, Bloomingdale's, The Trump Tower, Rockefeller Center, NBC Studios, St. Patrick's, Bryant Park (etc)

Madeline!

NAdeline! :P

The best thing about New York is that there's always something interesting, something different to look at. (Streets almost always congested that no velvet rope, crowd control, even barricades and stanchions can hold the public). It's full of women, beautiful, at all ages. Men, so metrosexual, I have no idea who's gay or not, lol. But srsly! It's still amusing to me how this city manages to completely sweep me off my feet. It's just so awesome, so electrically-positively charged that it pulsates me - tells me that everything is possible - and I believe it.

<3

Day at the Museum (of Natural History) + Cupcakes!

I love how polished and chic circle/infinity scarves look when paired with blazers!
You know what, I take that back... I love everything scarf-related, period! This one belongs to my friend, Karla, but I also have the same exact one in mustard yellow. Don't you think it's purdy? <3

The next group of pictures I will be posting have been taken two months (give or take a few days) ago. This just goes to show how backlogged I am with this whole "documenting my life" thing; I currently have four more drafts filled with albums and such, so let's get this thing started! :P

This entry will be a really quick & simple one. And I bet you already have an idea of what it's going to be, judging from the title... Yup, it's about that time that Karla and I spent the day in the city! We met really, really early - 9 am - by the Post Office near Ground Zero because she had to be dropped off, and subsequently picked up early, by her Uncle (they live in New Jersey). The weather wasn't very cooperative so as much as we wanted to just stroll around outside & be all touristy, we couldn't - that was how the museum ordeal came about. womens sandals

Here's the visitor, all toasty and snuggly in her coat! 

And the tour guide, heh. 

Here's 6th Ave looking dreary...

We actually spent 5 hours inside (lunch included)! You would think for that amount of time we'd have covered everything, right? Nope! The place was just overly huge that it's impossible to cover everything in a day.

DUM DUM!!!

O_O

This makes me want to live on the Red Giant Star...

Tickets! It's actually the pay whatever you wanna pay kind - fares are not fixed!

The friendly dino from the movie! :)

The lions looked so real! :3

After our very intellectual-stimulating date, we headed to 34th and 6th. You know that my friendship with Mary started because of our common love for Mark Feehily (of Westlife), right? Well, me and Karla are bound by cupcakes... Lol, not really. But we do enjoooy eating them! :P