The Hollywood Bit

detail from mann's chinese theatre; famous for the handprints of stars from mickey mouse to mickey rooney... hindi ko nahanap handprint ni nicole kidman :-(

dirty harry ikaw ba yan?

Bahay ni Oscar. inside this theatre are glass panels on which are engraved the titles of every film that have won the "Best Picture" award since the beginning of the Oscars.

Hollywood! didn't have time (and had no idea how) to go closer to the sign so i just took a chance this picture taken from the kodak theatre (across the valley from the hollywood sign) would look okay. surprise, surprise, ok naman!

Escanso Gardens, Southern CA

with tito ignie and tita dinah, at escanso gardens. i am so grateful that they made this unexpected but very enjoyable trip POSSIBLE!!

"i wanna lay you down... on a bed of..." camelias?!! ;p
this smattering of dried leaves and fallen camelias is for me a thing of incomparable beauty. nonchalant and offhand, but charming and lovely nonetheless.

lilacs!... Dehin peke amoy nito ha... this is the real thing!

with tita dinah, kakampi ko sa paglalakad at pagamuy-amoy ng bulaklak. bilis kasi mainip si tito ignie, eh. hehehe.

Nagkita-kita din kami sa wakas!!

I spent Easter this year with my cousins in Southern California: standing from left to right, Kuya Chris, Kuya Arnie, Kuya Noel with his daughter Regine Heart; sitting from left to right: Kuya Noel’s wife Ate Grace, moi, Stephen’s wife Michelle who is also Nats’ cousin, and Stephen. This was taken Sunday night at the Alava-Lopez family gathering at Tito Ignie’s house in Placentia, California. The last time I saw all of them was in 1999, when we were all still single (except for Kuya Arnie who was already married to Ate Trish then). Kuya Noel was already with Ate Grace at that time, though. They eventually married in 2001, if I remember correctly. Kuya Chris and Stephen were both still unattached in ‘99. Now Stephen’s decided to settle down and is married to Michelle, Nats’ cousin.

People joke us about keeping our genes within the Alava and the Orillaza families. Stephen is an Alava-Ulangca, I’m an Alava while Michelle and Nats are both Orillaza’s. Hindi naman sinasadya ano, nagkataon lang. It’s not like we planned to marry the cousins of our cousins’ spouses. Malay ba namin na kami-kami ang magkakatuluyan? As for Kuya Chris, everyone in my and Nats’ families know na laging tinutukso si Kuya Chris at Ate Eunice when we were still kids and Kuya Chris was still in the Philippines. If Kuya Chris and Ate Eunice eventually end up together, then I would say it’s really all in the family! Sabagay, when we all get to heaven, we’ll all be part of one big family, di ba?

our dorm: cité universitaire belle beille... Home is where you make it. This picture was taken on a very nice sunny Wednesday afternoon in Angers just a few days before I left for the US for an unplanned 10-day vacation. Mikoy and I had a picnic on the grassy area a few meters behind the dorm. The window to my room is one of those you can see here—I’m just not sure exactly which one it is. Our dorm is a walk away from our school (ESSCA) and our grocery (Super U) so essentially, it’s a walk away from everything we will need while here. Everything that is, except the city center where our classmates live, the large stores are, and where the train station is. Pretty amazing how we can still manage to come in late to class when we live so near the school.

picnicking behind the cité

Myself and Mikoy on our picnic. Felt very victorious this day kasi nakakuha ako ng malaking discount for the train ticket to the airport from Angers! Dapat ang babayaran ko was 140€ pero dahil siguro sa mukha akong "lost" dito sa France eh binigay nung girl ang tickets for 80€ lang! Two-way tickets na yun ng Angers-Airport, Airport-Angers. Bait talaga ni Lord! Nagcelebrate ako by buying pains au chocolat (5 for 2€) sa boulangerie and sharing it with mikoy on this picnic sa likod ng dorm namin. Bumabaw talaga ang kaligayahan ko while on this trip. ;-p

Montmartre, Paris

hihintayin kita sa langit ang drama ng sacre coeur... witness ang gawain ng mga tao dito: basta lumabas ang araw, nagsisihilata sila damo ng parang WALANG BUKAS!

"i hope you don't mind, i hope you don't mind if i put down in words..." ;-p

entrance to the metro at montmartre