nashville....

Went to Nashville the past weekend. It was a short trip on my part given that I was going to be in Chicago by the end of the week. hehehe! I flew in to Nashville in the late afternoon of Thursday. It was a rough flight given that there was a lot of turbulence. It didn't help that Jetblue had cable tv which made me watch tv, which by the end of the flight left me with a splitting headache!

It was lovely being able to spend time with Tito Willie and Ninang Irene. Even though I had initially met them during our wedding last year, it was really an experience being able to be with them for an extended period of time. They really crack me up with their behavior and their lovely way of looking at things.

Bridget then came Friday evening from Chicago. It was really going to be a short trip cause the next day we picked up her new car, a black Toyota Rav-4. Personally, I prefer the Toyota Matrix. =) One day...

The Rav-4 was a great drive. We had no problems during our trip along the I-65. Oh yeah, that was the plan. We got her car Saturday afternoon, and the next day we drive all the way back up to her place in Chicago. There were some parts along the way where it was raining and snowing, but it wasn't the type where you really had to slow down considerably. We were really fortunate with the weather. It wasn't that bad, it took us around 8 hours, just as mapquest said the drive would take us.

I really didn't get to take that many pics. Not only that, but I know that some of my cousins live in Nashville, unfortunately I never got to meet up with any of them. I tried getting in touch with them. Maybe next time I then.

the Parthenon where inside ...

... you find the Goddess Athena!

Vanderbilt in downtown Nashville

bridget's new ride!

I should have taken some pictures while I was in Chicago.

a few more visitors...

It's been a nice few weeks since Franny and I got back from Florida. We had a few visitors in town, Ron, my dad and my brother which of course meant us going around town and me taking pictures. Also had a quick weekend trip to Nashville which was very pleasant. I'll talk about that trip in another entry.

Pretty much we just walked around town while Ron was in town. Luckily for us, the weather was perfect for us to just walk around and enjoy the sights of the city. I also got to meet another friend of Franny's from high school who's working here in the city.

Not much else to say. Hope the trip helped you greatly in making your decision Ron!

at the M&M store in times square

at the mall in central park

on our way home on the 4

another pic of the mall, i just love this area of the park

on our way to ikea!

back from florida!

We had such a wonderful time in Florida! I can't really explain it but nothing really beats spending the holidays with your family. It was lovely spending 2 whole weeks with my mom, dad and brother (the last two having flew in from Manila).

The first few days were surprisingly cold, my mom kept joking that we brought the cold with us. Fortunately the rest of our trip featured milder weather which allowed me and Franny to take advantage of the tennis courts that were right next to my mom's apartment.

Originally we had planned to go to Orlando, similar to last year, where we went to Universal Studios to enjoy the fireworks. But we decided to just have a nice quiet dinner instead since it was our first new year together in the U.S. A funny thing happened to us when we were on our way to SeaWorld. On our way there, we missed the exit that we needed to take. So we then took the next exit to to get back, but since it was already noon, we decided to get some lunch first. While there we found out that we were next to an outlet area! Would you believe that we then ditched our original plan and ended up spending the rest of the day shopping. Hahaha!

And to top it all off, when we were in Jacksonville airport on our way back to New York, one of the airport personnel asked if anyone was willing to get bumped off. Well since Franny and I weren't in any hurry we allowed ourselves to remain behind and for our trouble they gave us a voucher to be used for future flights. We only arrived 5 hours later with a good sized compensation. =)

Below are some of the pictures that I took during our 2 week stay there. If you want to see more, feel free to check out my flickr account.

see that gator, it was just a few feet from the sidewalk on campus

the playground just outside the apartment when I was still a baby

inside the devil's millhopper (it's just a huge sinkhole)

welcoming the new year at home

at some park a few miles northeast of gainesville

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to all January celebrants! God bless and take care. May the Lord continue to guide you and fill your lives with His blessings!

2 - chilai b.
6 - jo-an c., sam c., honeylyn b.
8 - terry r.
12 - kavita d.
13 - arbee b.
15 - mara s.
17 - marco s.
20 - tito paul h., pattie p-g
21 - pia m.
24 - allan l., gervin k.
25 - deedee t.
27 - kris a.
28 - erika l.
29 - lola rita
30 - franny!!!

God bless to all.

a Happy Happy New Year!!!

May the new year be a prosperous one for all of us! God bless and take care.