Hello, Mama! Greetings from California! It has been a whirlwind
of a few days, but an amazing one. I was fortunate enough to be able to fly out
here for a trifecta of good things. First and most obviously it is great to be
out here to spend time with Aunt Muffy and the rest of the family. I always
enjoy getting to spend time with them. It is especially nice to see them without
you here. Being with them manages to fill a tiny bit of the void in my heart.
Beyond that I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to come out this
way for Staci and Deb’s big day! I was excited enough to be on the invite list,
but it’s really wonderful that I’ve been able to make it work for me to
actually attend the ceremony. As if those two reasons for being in California
weren’t already exciting enough, I got to top it off by spending time with my
dear friend, Ligaya, by bringing her as my plus one to the wedding! I have
missed her dearly and it seems like forever ago that we were together in the
Philippines. You would love her, Mom. Staci and Deb too. I’ve got incredible
people in my life. I’m lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people.
My visit to California began, as always, with a trip to my
favorite restaurant, Reagent Thai, for some pad thai. Delicious. The next
morning Aunt Muffy took me on a shopping adventure to find me an outfit for the
wedding. After many stores and many failed attempts, I felt like I was not
going to find anything special enough and simply have to resort to wearing
something I had brought with me. We decided to make one last stop to a cute boutique
called Ambiance on 24th street where she has taken me many times
before and after trying on about 10 dresses, I found the one! It is a really cute
short navy blue dress with long sleeves. The dress is made of lace, and I love
it! I know you would too! I’d have to say, though, as much as I love the dress
the hit of the day was the pair of sparkly gold pumps were managed to find for
$10! They are very bling-bling and slightly over the top, but I love them and
they’ll be nice to offset my monochromatic dress.
Staci invited me to come to a wine tasting out in Saratoga
that was just for closest friends and family today. I felt honored that I made
the cut. I brought Aunt Muffy along as she and Staci had met last summer and
really liked one another. It was an enjoyable afternoon. The wine was nice and
it was also neat to get to meet some of Staci and Deb’s nearest and dearest. In
the evening we went to pick up Ligaya from the BART station as she was
traveling into San Francisco from Berkeley. We both screamed and had one of
those dorky reunited moments you see in movies of screaming and hugging and
jumping. It was great. We all enjoyed a nice dinner together. Ligaya fit right
into the family and that made me happy (not that I was surprised).
We are currently reminiscing about our time in the
Philippines and listening to music. In the morning we will be doing some last
minute errands to prepare for both the wedding and my trip to ENGLAND! Talk to
you soon, Mama! Time for me to go spend some more time with my dear friend :)
