Marriage License by Norman Rockwell
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Monday, August 28, 2006

Celebrity Look-Alikes

Current Mood:

Hazel finds the coolest stuff :-)...


If you want to see who *you* match, go to www.myheritage.com :-).

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Saturday, August 26, 2006

Renewing My Philippine Passport

Current Mood:

My Philippine passport expires in a few weeks, so I went ahead and applied for a passport renewal. To my friends who've married and settled in the States, if you need to do the same, you'll need to go to the Philippine Embassy website to find out the process for your particular state (I had to mail my application to Washington D.C.).

The good news is that it only takes about 5 days to renew your passport. The bad news is that they ask for all sorts of documents. Thank goodness I only needed to renew my passport. If for some reason I *lost* my passport I would have to fly to Washington D.C. because a personal interview was going to be required.

Let me run through the list of things I had to mail to the Embassy:
  • my old passport
  • a photocopy of all the data pages of my old passport
  • a completed Passport Application form with 3 passport pictures attached. This has to be notarized if you're not applying in person at DC.
  • a cashier's check (they don't accept personal checks) for $50 for passport processing fees
  • a completed Report of Marriage application form (which had to be filled out in quadruplicate--yes, quadruplicate), with 4 picutres of me and 4 pictures of Steve. This form ALSO has to be notarized.
  • a cashier's check for $25 for Report of Marriage processing fees
  • an original or certified true copy of my marriage certificate (it's supposed to be returned)
  • 4 photocopies of the original or certified true copy of the marriage certificate
  • a completed Information Sheet on Filipinos Marrying Foreign Nationals form (thank goodness it didn't ask for pictures)
  • 2 stamped, self-addressed US Post Office Express Mail envelopes for them to be able to mail my new passport and Report of Marriage back to me

How much did the whole thing cost? Let's see...

  • 4 passport pictures of Steve and 8 of me: $66.00 (and these were the instant passport pictures taken at Walmart)
  • Passport application fee: $50
  • Report of Marriage fee: $25
  • $12 to issue a cashier's check at the bank ($6 for each check)
  • the self-stamped, self-addressed Express Mail envelopes: $28.80 ($14.40 each)
  • postage to send the whole packet to Washington DC: $18.80

And the grand total comes to... $200.60. That's over P10,000.00.

...Hear that? That's the sound of my Filipino friends laughing their heads off at the sheer expense of it all :-).

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Thursday, August 17, 2006

Dog & Cat

Current Mood:

You Are: 80% Dog, 20% Cat

You and dogs definitely have a lot in common.
You're both goofy, happy, and content with the small things in life.
However, you're definitely not as needy as the average dog. You need your down time occasionally.
Are You More Cat or Dog?

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Sunday, August 13, 2006

It works :-D!

Current Mood:

You may have seen the video that Steve added to his blog--it was of a polar bear reacting to a Japanese girl wearing a sea lion hat.

Steve and I thought it would be neat to try it out at OUR zoo, so we went to one of the zoo stores and bought a brown sea lion stuffed toy. Here are the videos we took:


Lots of people got great pictures because we did that :-).

Steve's the one wearing the cap. He was pretty calm about the polar bear wanting to charge through the glass, but every time *I* wear the seal I end up wanting to run away when the bear gets too excited. I mean, I don't know if you've ever seen a polar bear close up, but those things are HUGE! One time the bear got up on a big rock slab, backed up to gain momentum, and then LEAPED at me just like in the video on Steve's blog. It was scary :-).

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Friday, August 11, 2006

I could never be a vegetarian

Current Mood:

Yesterday I had this unexplainable craving for a Big Mac. I've been avoiding big-calorie foods and have been opting for salads and chicken instead so I haven't had a Big Mac since May.

But man, once in a while, you just want MEAT. And not just meat, you want a nice, guilt-ridden, greasy burger :-). So after my workday was done I called Steve to tell him I was coming to visit him at work, and I was getting a Big Mac on the way. He liked the idea of a greasy burger so he asked me to get *him* a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

You should've seen me scarf down my Big Mac. It was like I hadn't eaten a meal in DAYS :-). Steve was picking out the onions from *his* sandwich, and I was constantly grabbing whatever he didn't want and putting it on my burger. My hand was like those freaky lizard's tongues you see on Animal Planet when they're catching their food--blink and you'd miss it :-).

I could never be a vegetarian. I enjoyed eating that Big Mac too much :-).

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Monday, August 07, 2006

Wedding Pictures

Current Mood:

Saturday Steve and I went to a wedding. It's Steve's niece's boyfriend's brother's wedding :-). Put another way, Steve has a niece named Sam. Sam has a boyfriend named Blake. Blake has a younger brother named Caleb. It's Caleb's wedding :-). Blake and Caleb's family are very good family friends :-).

This occasion gave Steve a chance to wear the barong my family bought for him while I was in Manila. We didn't want to get one of the expensive barongs because the expensive ones are made out of either raw silk or pineapple leaves (that's right, pineapple leaf fiber) and is too much trouble to maintain. So we got a more low-maintenance barong but still looked nice :-). It fits him really well :-).

I took some pictures at the wedding. I wish the pictures were clearer--I did use a digital camera, but it's not professional grade. There wasn't much light and the shot starts to get grainy when you zoom in. I figured it would be nice to post the pictures anyway though :-).

Caleb and Ashley cutting the cake

Naturally, there was cake smooshing :-)




The garter toss. Blake caught the garter. He caught the garter at my wedding too :-).

Girls waiting for the bouquet

Ashley helping Caleb take his necktie off. It must have been getting uncomfortable :-).

Their first dance as husband and wife

The father-daughter dance

The mother-son dance

The groom's parents dancing

Caleb with one of his guests

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Thursday, August 03, 2006

Yum :-)...

Current Mood:

Ah, McDonald's Asian Salad with Crispy Chicken... how I've missed you :-)...


I doubt this'll ever be sold in Manila. Not enough Filipinos buy salad at a fast food joint. But with less calories than a hamburger and small fries, it's a godsend to dieters :-).

What's in it? A crispy chicken breast filet, iceberg and romaine lettuce, baby red leaf, baby green leaf, baby red Swiss chard, baby red oak, baby green oak, lolla rosa, tango, tatsoi, arugula, mizuna, baby spinach, radicchio, frisee, carrots, edamame, snow peas, red pepper strips, mandarin orange segments, almonds and orange glaze. Have it with low-fat sesame ginger dressing and you're all set :-). It comes in a HUGE bowl and it's only 460 calories (even less if the chicken was grilled instead of fried). A burger and fries is 510 calories.

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Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Back home :-)!

Current Mood:

I'm back in Memphis now :-). I absolutely loved my stay in Manila, and at the same time, I'm so happy to be home :-). Steve even went through the trouble of making the apartment all extra-clean for me. It felt like walking into a hotel room. And there was one thing that I noticed as soon as I stepped into the apartment, and my Filipino readers will identify with this...

Amoy States!

Before I moved to the US, Steve would send me packages--and it was always such a treat to open the box not only because of the goodies in it, but also that the inside of the box SMELLED like the States. You don't really notice it until you've been to the States and you come back to Manila. It brings back so many memories of US vacations.

It smelled just like that when I came into the apartment, and there was a huge grin on my face when I recognized it :-).

Let's see, the Manila trip. Apparently all that exercise and dieting paid off, because out of all the people I saw, I only got three "You've gained weight" comments :-). I got several "You look younger!" comments from people at work, which was cool :-). My dad said I looked bigger, but not overweight. I guess he meant that I bulked up, which is just fine by me :-).

I didn't get a lot of time to spend with my family, but I'm grateful for whatever time I DID have--it's been so long since I've seen them :-).

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