So my daughter, Tracey gives her heart and love... She is engaged!

The smart and lucky man is Josh.... :) He is a great man. They are lucky to have each other...

So happy for both of them!

I am not too sure where I found this photo. I saved it because my daughter is a children's playground designer and I wanted to send this to her... but haven't yet.

So here is an interesting photo... made of steel. This is for you, Trace.

If anyone can tell me where this is from, I will appreciate it!

Let me introduce to you my " Older sister from another Mother" - Manang Glor! (Manang is the term we use for older sister, root word is the Spanish word, Hermana...)

She has always been so special as she helped take care of us as we were growing up. She lived with my parents for as long as I could remember.

Now, she is a retired teacher and celebrated her birthday with almost her entire family there...She has a fun and supportive family too. Lucky her!

When I was on an extended visit to the Philippines, there were so much to see and do. One of the things I saw were these beautiful miniscule bananas. They were cooked (boiled in their skin).

You can see how small they are... compare it to my thumbnail!
Peeled and ready to be eaten. Delicious.

My home away from home. Haven - Casey and Glenda's home by the sea in Samboan.

Flowers around the home, an upside-down hibiscus -

... poinsettia that grew way up to there - the height of the second story of the home !

sea out front... Life is good.

One of the reasons for this trip to the Philippines at this time is to help my Mother "ADD" another number to her years.

Played with her numbers

Mama Inday is a New Year birthday celebrant. So on January 1st, she added another year to her age... making it 92!

Many relatives showed up.... her former co-teachers, her gal-pals back in the day...

Her relatives who show up and celebrate with her every year....

And the next generation....

Fun! It was also wonderful for me to see many faces... most of whom are not even in these photos... Adding years can be fun!

Tracey took me to the San Francisco Airport. Then it hit me that I am not too crazy about flying. But, there is no other way to do this... So I endured the 13+ hours above the skies on Cathay Pacific. That was SFO to HongKong and another 2.5 or so hours from HongKong to my home island, Cebu!

Those of you who are not on FaceBook were spared by belly-aching about the long flight. I am a wimp!

When I finally got to Cebu via HongKong, I was met at the airport by my GodChild who is a Godsend for me, for sure. She was with her Hubby, her bro, Ritchie, and niece, Reese. What a great welcome.

Showered and sort of fresh, we went out for lunch then off to my Mom's.

Mom is known to everyone related and sort of related to us as Mama Inday. Ma Inday is two days short of 92 years old. She did not remember me. Heck, I don't remember a lot and I am not near 92... well almost but not quite. So I was ready for that.

Here is the group who went with me to see Ma Inday. My Godchild is the one in yellow. Her Mom and my "sister from another Mother" is Manang Glor who is celebrating a birthday herself today. Nang Glor is on the far right and next to Bem, my Godchild.

Of course, Mama Inday did not want us to leave before we ate, so we ate... before we went back to Bem's house to eat dinner! It seems like that is basically what I have been doing so far... eating!

WyWy is a darling boy, cute little one, and I just love him to pieces.

Sorry, I miss celebrating your 2nd birthday, WyWy... Sending you birthday hugs from across the Pacific Ocean.

Yummm. One of my very favorite food group! No, not one of ... but The most favorite....

Peanut Butter and chocolate (Reeses like) cheesecake!

Y O L O! So enjoy!

Every club, every bar - a story! :)

No, we did not go on a pub crawl... maybe I or we should have... :)

Indiana Club - When Tracey learned that we were booked at a hotel in Montparnasse, she said that she and her older brother, Shawn, stayed in Montparnasse on their first visit to Paris. (That was so many years back...) Tracey also told us that they used to go to a bar / club with so many American Indian pictures and objects.

I had visions of some Politically Incorrect establishment! I used to run the Native American Studies Program in my school district so I was interested in checking this place out.

Anyway, we got to our hotel and Lo and Behold! The Indiana Club was NEXT DOOR! OMG!!! LOL

We must visit sometime! We did.

After a long day. Where's my drink? :)

Club Coste

Tracey's boss gave us some vacation treats. One of them was this visit! Such a treat! How lucky we are.

Drinks at Club Coste! After touring with Michael, we stopped at Tracey's boss' favorite place for drinks... on his company card! How great is that!

Club Coste ... It is the place to people watch. Not having to pay for our drinks even made the place more special, wouldn't you say? I was reading something about this being the place to people watch esp. during Paris Fashion Week!

I had my Coco Chanel drink ... it was delicious, not really sure what it had but ... hey, I liked it.

Tracey and Katrina had Side Car and French Martini. They pronounced them delicious! They better be at about 27 Euros a pop! Good thing we are not paying...

Hemmingway Bar

Hemingway Bar is at the Ritz in Paris. This is the first time that I have visited the Ritz. It is due to be closed for renovation, so I thought and Michael suggested also that we better go and visit before it closes. I wanted to go to the Hemingway Bar anyway, so off we went. The drinks are more expensive than some of the dinners I have had in Paris. Drinks at 30E - 35E were realy A LOT on a teacher's purse... but I need to be nice to myself and my loved ones every now and then! .... or so I justified the expense. :)

Le Vue: I wanted to check this club out even before we left for Paris. I talked to Tracey about taking Katrina there for her birthday celebration!

Le Vue is on the outskirts of Paris... felt like the outskirts... located on the top floor of Hotel Concorde... Tracey's navigation skills got us there.

Our drinks:

The girls had Rive Gauche - Cosmopolitan - The French Way. I had Taitinger Brut. Yummm, It seemed like I am now getting used to the price of the drinks at these expensive "watering holes"... hmmm, C'est la vie!

Bar La Vue is one beautiful place. Panoramic view of the world - ok, ok, panoramic view of Paris from the bar... A must visit!

http://www.concorde-lafayette.com/en/panoramic-bar/la-vue.aspx

Check out the website above. I really like this place. :)

Out there is the Arc de Triomphe... You can see it from the bar windows as well. Check Bar La Vue next time you find yourself in Paris. Better still, take me with you and I will take you there. :)

The girls at La Vue.

The drinks are about the same price as the ones at Club Hemingway... Before we left for Paris, I thought I needed to save up for this night out... But after paying for the drinks at Club Hemingway, I thought ... WTH, you only live once! And it is Katrina's birthday! :)

Taken at Sabor Del Valle - A fundraising event in San Jose to benefit non profit organizations. Sabor del Valle is an evening of wine tasting, art and cooking demonstrations, music and dancing under the evening sky. This year the event showcased Latino vitners from Napa and Sonoma Counties. I enjoyed the gourmet appetizers and desserts, watching people dance, and the songs!

Michael picked us up from our hotel in Montparnasse. I told him I wanted to go to the cemetery which happens to be right behind the hotel. I was thinking I would see Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrisson, Chopin perhaps! ... DUH! They are not in Montparnasse Cemetery! I did not tell Michael that those were the reasons I wanted to see the cemetery! Well, it was still an interesting stop.... and now there is another place to check out next time, next visit!

Instead we saw this... the "titted fish"! That's what Michael called it! haha....

Jean Sebert, some writers, singers... etc!

Then off we went to visit Notre Dame. The lines were terribly long! But Michael, being the accomplished tour guide that he is, skipped the lines and we were in! I love Michael and his finesse! Sublety in action! I love this church!

From there we visited a beautiful albeit small Greek Orthodox church that was pretty close to the magnificent Notre Dame cathedral.

We trekked over to Luxembourg Gardens. This is always a pleasant place to visit. I do not get tired of the beautiful gardens even in this drizzly Paris morning.

Midnight in Paris!

Church of St. Etienne and the steps near the church where the Midnight in Paris auto scene was filmed!

I guess the car only comes at midnight in Paris... not even if it is midnight in San Francisco...

Waiting for the car to come at midnight! ,,, in the blowing wind, even!

If you saw Midnight in Paris, you'll recognize this view... If you haven't, call me I will loan you my copy. :)

We stopped at Joselin Petit for lunch. Yummmy! Butter and more butter on those crepes! Delish!

Off to Montmarte. Sacre Coure. Always beautiful with view of Paris!

Moulin Rougue in the rain! I love this photo of Katrina!

At the end of the tour, we were off for drinks... but this is getting long so that will be another post. :)

P.S. I really need to finish blogging about Paris !... Almost there...

Scoop! This was a scoop of coconut sorbet... on top of fried custard... Leche Fritas as the restaurant BocaNova in Jack London Square near Oakland, Ca. calls their dessert item. . The name of the dessert was interesting to all of us so we ordered it... $8. Thinking that we really do not need to be eating dessert, we planned to share the item.

When what came was a surprise to all of us. TINY!!!

Another shot with my thumb to put some perspective on the item. :) The fried custard was about less than an inch cube each. The scoop of sorbet was that of a small melon baller. The four of us had half-a-teaspoon each to taste the delicious treat! :)

Positive spin on this - it is difficult to overeat at most high-end restaurants! :)

Eiffel Tower for closer encounters...

Eiffel Tower... we gawked at people... marveled at people's patience as they stood in very longgg lines to go up the tower... only one elevator was working.... us? no patience to stand in line...

Tracey studying the famous structure.

The three of us - we talked other tourists into snapping this shot of us. Merci!

Then Notre Dame, crepes with Nutella ... and explored the area.

We found the Love Bridge... Yes, the one with all the locks! Pont de Arts. Lovers engrave or rather scratch their names or initials on the lock. Hook it up to the bridge and throw away the key in to The Seine. Romantic, eh?

Walked and browsed Les Bouquinistes (book stalls along the Seine) , found Shakespeare and Co., walked around the Latin Quarter to shop for gifts for some folks we love at home. :) Scarves, beret, or whatever else we took a fancy on.

We went to shop at Champs Elysees... mostly window shopped ... esp. at Louis Vuitton.

Inside LV ... stole a photo of Katrina before I got caught and was told " No Photos".

We wanted to have tea at LaDuree but that was under construction so we bought macarons. (More on food later.)

The girls found and H & M store and had a field day there.

I checked out this shoe store but could not get myself willing to part with my Euros...

180E for a pair of shoes? Ok, they were Italian shoes, but still! That was "ON SALE"... ouch! Oh perhaps another day. Or the next trip... There is always a next time.

Next: A tour with Michael.

I am so glad that my girls get along very well... 8 days together, "living" in the same hotel room, eating, sleeping, sight seeing, shopping, etc. and they still managed to play together. (We missed Jessie.)

After The Louvre and lunch at Le Nemours, we stopped here... Palais Royal