The Big Move!

YAY! An internet connection! Now I can upload photos!  I won't be able to write much of anything about our move because Javi and I will be getting ready to go to bed soon.  The move has really tuckered us out, and we are still adjusting to the commute and having to prepare dinner and doing laundry when we get home.  Still, we have our own house and our own washer and dryer!  Woohoo!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's get back to the actual move...

For the rest of the move, join us on my new blog at http://kishome.blogspot.com!  See you there!

Home Sweet Home

One of the few setbacks of moving is having to live without an internet connection. Moving to a new place makes you realize just how dependent you are on wireless technology. The good thing is, I still have my Blackberry to keep me connected (phew!).

I mentioned in my previous post that I would document the whole move with my camera. I did manage to take some pictures, but not very good ones since the sun wasn't out in Manhattan (hence, not very good lighting for photos), and Javis SLR had been packed away. Oops.

Regardless of the lack of photos, we still have a story to tell friends and family about the day of our big move. I'll expound on it once I have an actual keyboard to type with, but suffice it to say that Murphy's Law happened over and over again yesterday morning that I nearly got into a fistfight with a girl, and if it hadn't been for our friends Eileen and Vic around to help us out, Javi and I would probably still be conked out this afternoon from all the obstacles we had to endure. Boy oh boy!

Still, we are done, and had our first dinner with our friends. I cooked the "Javi Meal" (picture of this to follow). This morning, I woke up to a symphony of birds chirping, which was suddenly (but endearingly) interrupted by a duck quacking. It was the cutest, funniest thing.

I also went out into our back yard and counted that we have 12 trees. TWELVE trees! Growing up in Virginia, I was used to seeing nothing but trees, with an occasional red fox running through the woods. So going back to suburbia to live in a house of my own with my husband is such a dream come true for me.

I cooked breakfast, too- turkey bacon and eggs with "sinangag" (fried white rice with garlic, aka. Garlic rice).

Now, we are on our way back to the apartment to clean it up and pick up any other small items that may have been left behind. There's really no rest for us until Thursday, since we have Friday off for 4th of July weekend. Thank goodness for that!

Tomorrow, we return the keys to the apartment, thereby closing another chapter in our lives. But we're not quite onto the next chapter just yet! I still have to upload pictures of the move for my 50th and last entry!

Homeowners!

Last Friday, Javi and I played hooky from work (well, not really, but it's nice to think we did) for our Closing - ie, the part of the homebuying process when you sign several documents until your lawyer gives you a copy of your DEED, deeming that you are officially a homeowner.

And so, June 19, at about 3pm, the "deed was done!"
(I know - I'm corny like that sometimes :D)

Below are pictures of our new house. For security purposes, I didn't post a picture of the front of the house, but you're welcome to take a look at the pictures that the seller's realtor took of the inside.

My friend, Patti, gave me a brilliant idea of documenting the whole move in B&W photos. I'd like to try to do it so the photos can later on be shown to our kids and we can tell them, "this is the day we changed our lives so we could have you" :)

I think it's a fantastic idea also because I've been thinking of doing something special for this blog. Now that I own a home, I can't still have a blog entitled "K's Apartment." So I'll be moving on in the blogosphere as well, to a new and improved blogsite.

So here's the deal: my 50th entry will be a farewell to this blog, featuring a documentation of our move to a new life, new house, and to a new blog. No longer will I feel transient and without a home... Javi and I have bought a house, and in time, we will be able to make it our home.

Our Apartment, Revisited

Some more never-before seen shots - this set, of our apartment while we were moving in.

These were taken on my Blackberry (I never got to upload them), the day of the move. It looks so nice and clean here, without all the clutter. Soon, it will look this way again (with slightly less shiny floors!)

San Francisco!

Christmas on the West Side

I never got to post the pictures from our San Francisco trip here. I think it was because for a while, Javi banned me from using the computer at home because I had gotten so addicted to surfing Realtor.com for hours! And then when I was allowed to go online again, the excitement of having gotten back from SF had faded, until I totally forgot that we even went. Oops! I guess it wasn't that much of an exciting trip, then! But San Francisco certainly has a lot of character!

Still, it was great to have been able to leave the apartment and go on a vacation together. More importantly, Javi and I got to go to the West Coast during Christmas, when it becomes very lonely for us since we don't have family here, and most of our friends go home to the Philippines for the holidays.

Out of loneliness, I was bawling in front of the computer one evening in early December, and on a whim decided to book us tickets to San Francisco - Javi's birthplace, and also where his cousin currently lives. It's also somewhat of a joke among Filipinos who migrate to San Francisco - because of the large Filipino population in this city, we always say it's as if they aren't really going anywhere far from home.We also took a city sightseeing tour bus and went around downtown San Francisco and saw the famous Transamerica building.

Below: Transamerica

The clocktower at the Ferry Building:

Aside from touring the sights and eating local food, what else do tourists do? SHOP! So Javi took me to someplace he was quite familiar with - Union Square (the San Francisco version).

With two cameras handy, we took several pictures, so I won't narrate the whole trip. What I will say, though, is that I enjoyed the movie tour the most, while Javi enjoyed our trip to the aquarium. If I'm lucky, I'll find the videos we took of a stingray smiling at him ;)

Another highlight of our trip: Alcatraz!

The tour guide locked us up in this pitch-black cell!

Gar and Carina (Javi's cousin) at the Crab House.

Oh, their food was soooo gooood!

Of COURSE we had to see the Golden Gate Bridge!

San Francisco victorian row houses: "Post Card Row"

Which one belonged to Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen's character in Full House??

A photo from atop the tour bus.

I wonder if those clothes are part of the artwork?

Dimsum time!

Below:

Jim, one of our tour guides, shows us the alley where they filmed "The Pursuit of Happyness"

Which is also where a fortune cookie factory is located.

So obviously, you know that this is the part where we are in Chinatown! ;)

A cafe near Fisherman's Wharf

The F-line street car... which leads to the famous Castro District

Javi and Carina at the train station

Little Italy (aka North Beach)

The Financial District

Aquarium of the Bay

And here you go - I found that video!

Momofuku NYC

As a continuation of our farewell to Manhattan, Javi and I decided to go to one of our favorite Asian restaurants one Sunday. The weather was gorgeous, and this restaurant was only a walk away from our current apartment, so off we went to order our favorite chicken buns at Momofuku!

Now before I talk about Momofuku's chicken buns, let me tell you why these are so important to Javi and me. Pork buns, chicken buns, even beef buns, are really originally from China, but the Philippines adopted it as its own and called it the Siopao. (In Chinese: Sio=Hot, Pao=Bun).

Most Chinese take-out places will sell you the American version of the pork bun (using bread as the outer shell), while only a few will sell you the kind with authentic dough.

Momofuku, on the other hand, gives you the yummy nummy dough, with an Americanized twist to the stuffing that goes inside it - instead of just shredded beef or chicken with sauce, Momfuku adds (in this case), fried chicken skin and cucumber slices - making it a refreshing, yet sumptuous dish!

This restaurant, which name actually means "lucky peach" in Japanese, aims to cater to a wider audience by adding special dishes, such as the ravioli, below:

There are also several branches within the city, such as the Momofuku Milk Bar a few blocks away from where we finished our pork bun + ravioli lunch (they actually went well together!).

At this milk bar are the most delicious deserts - and they taste like they just came straight from Mom's oven!

Above: the Banana Crunch cookie - it gets more banana-er in the middle of the cookie! YUM!

Javi and I will definitely miss enjoying the Village on weekends. Just take a look at the view outside the Momfuku Milk Bar - what a building with character! There are so many buildings like this around Manhattan. Still, I am also excited to move to the 'burbs... no more ambulance sirens in the middle of the night, or rushing to the subway to get away from the strong gusts of wind coming from the river during winter.

And as long as Momofuku stays in town, Javi and I will always have a reason to come back to NYC - for those steamed buns!

The Time Traveler's Wife

By Audrey Niffeneger

First of all, credit is due to my other future sister-in-law, Celine, for sending me the link to one of the most anticipated movies by those of us who love romantic narratives. Thanks, Celine! After a crazy day at work and an even crazier evening taking care of personal items, seeing this trailer lifted my mood!!! *I'm so excited!*

I wrote a short book review about The Time Traveler's Wife back when I was still using my Multiply account, so here's an excerpt:

The two main reasons why I like this book: there are so many themes to analyze, and the book is so awesome to study from a narratological standpoint.

The novel is based upon the premise that some humans, such as its protagonist, Henry, have a chronological disorder that causes them to time travel in (or, to) times of stress or despair.

To be honest, I am only halfway through this narrative, but I find it extremely intriguing as to how the author has managed to spin the tale of Henry's two different lives (his present self and his self as a time traveler), along with that of his wife, Clare. Henry, at around 40, travels back in time to when Clare is 6, where she meets him for the first time. Does her meeting him at such a young age change her future completely in such a way that 40 year-old Henry predetermined the fact that they would later on get married? If 6 year-old Clare had not accidentally seen 40 year-old Henry, would she have been as keen to see him when she was 20 and he was 28?

It's an interesting premise, and I'm sure Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana will do the novel justice in their movie. Check out the trailer here:

Batter-Up!

Yankees vs Orioles 5.21.09

Since Javi and I will be moving to NJ soon, I requested that he take me to a Yankees game while we're still official New Yorkers. Thanks to the help of his friend Michelle, who is a BIG Yankees fan, Javi was able to get us reasonably-priced seats at a really good spot... especially for someone who has never been to a baseball game before!

I never thought green grass could be so breathtaking!

And in this stadium, as long as you're a Yankees fan, you're considered part of the family.

Above: I think this was taken right before Swisher hit one of the two home runs in the same inning. It was definitely an exciting game! 3 homers in one game!!! Go Yankees!!!!

We stayed for the whole game because I didn't want to miss a second of it! Now I understand why baseball is called "America's favorite pasttime" - more than the actual sport itself, ball games are a venue for people to get together to root for the same team, and for families to spend time together while eating peanuts and cracker jacks. And if their team wins... well, that's certainly a bonus ;)