Love week: A simple note will do

I'm a simple gal. I love the simple things in life. Although it is nice when my husband gives me a dozen red roses or prepares an elaborate dinner for me, but what really makes my heart aflutter is when he gives me a simple note or card with a handwritten message. It makes my heart melt in a thousand different ways.

When that note comes at an unexpected time it makes it that much more special. I remember getting into my car during a normal, stressful work day and finding a simple post-it note on the wheel saying "I Love You, Pumpkin." Needless to say my day went a little bit better and that post-it note is now hanging in my cubicle.

A card with someone else's saying works if it expresses your thoughts, but when you take the time to also write your own message it gives that card a little more heft and heart. Try it and watch your loved one's face light up more. 

Love week: Unlikely date place

One of my favorite places I visited in Paris, France was the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. The cemetery is located on Boulevard de Menilmontant and is visited by thousands every year. It is a beautiful cemetery that inspires awe in it's history and the many famous people who lie in rest there: Maria Callas, Frederic Chopin, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Marceau, Moliere, Modigliani, Edith Piaf to name a few. Outside the cemetery they even give you a map that you can use to locate the tombstones of the famous.

(photo by Alexandre Buisse)

The oddest thing is that the cemetery is becoming the place to go on a romantic date (Hottie and overall cool guy, Ryan Gosling, took his gal, Eva Mendes, on a stroll through the Pere Lachaise). The place is intriguing with it's sweeping trees, beautiful and elaborate tombstones and overall serene feeling. 

(photo by Rose Wood)

Most romantic tombstone? Oscar Wilde. You can't miss his lipstick covered tombstone that his admirers over the years have kissed (although I read that his tombstone is now encased in glass because the lipsticks are starting to damage it). 

(photo by Charmaine Yambao)

Most odd legend? Victor Noir. He was a journalist who was apparently unjustly killed by Prince Bonaparte. His tombstone depicts Noir lying down with his hat by his side, possibly a recreation of his death. The statue has a "protuberance" on the front of his trousers that legend has it if you rub this part of his statue, kiss him on the lips and place a note in his hat, you would either be granted fertility or find a husband within a year. Needless to say, the "protuberance" part is quite worn down. Is it true? well, my sister rubbed this part and later that year, she and her husband found out they were pregnant - honest Abe! (as for me, I didn't rub it and it took me another 7 years to get married and have my first child).

(photo by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin)

Most romantic story to tell your date? Abelard and Heloise. Abelard was a philosopher and Heloise his student. They fell in love, had a secret love child and then secretly married. Heloise's vengeful uncle ended up having Abelard castrated and Abelard urged Heloise to seek refuge in the nunnery. They continued to send letters to each other until their deaths. They are both buried together in the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Now granted, it will cost you money to fly your date out to Paris, France (unless you live there) to walk through a cemetery, but come on, imagine how impressed they will be!

Love week: Favorite Romantic Movie

I'm dedicating this week's blog posts to love. For those out there bitter about Valentine's Day being a Hallmark driven thang, I say poo on you! There is nothing wrong with a day dedicated to love and you don't have to be coupled to express your love to those you care about. 

Monday's post is about my favorite romantic movie:

There are those who may find this movie sickly sweet or blame it for derivative movies like Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve, but I honestly love it. Screenwriter/Director Richard Curtis has a way with british romantic comedies like Notting Hill, Bridget Jones Diary and Four Weddings and Funeral that keeps it this short of sugar by infusing it with just the right amount of wit.  

This movie weaves together multiple story arcs of people moving in and out of love around Christmas time. You don't have to be in a relationship to enjoy this movie. You have your stories involving bromance, unrequited love, young love, troubled love, sibling love, prime minister-household staff love and Colin Firth. 

For us geeks, it's fun watching this movie now and seeing a young Andrew Lincoln using his real english accent before he became southern zombie ass-kicker sheriff Rick in Walking Dead. Martin Freeman, pre-Bilbo Baggins, playing a body-double in sex scenes. Little cutie, Thomas Sangster, as the boy in love with his schoolmate before he became the voice of Ferb in Phineas and Ferb.  

Of course, there is also my pretend, British boyfriend, Hugh Grant. There is no one, NO ONE, who does british romantic comedies better than him.  That great hair and that dashing wit can only be exhibited by Mr. Grant. I miss him on the silver screen...come back Hugh Grant!

But I digress...enjoy this movie with your loved ones and remember what it is all about: Love, actually. 

The Majestic Butter Creature

My five-year old son, Milo, is obsessed with the game Minecraft. Those not in the know, Minecraft is a popular pixelated game that many boys (and men) love playing. You can build worlds out of these pixelated blocks and you also protect yourself against Creepers and Zombies. 

For the past week Milo has been bugging us to post him on YouTube playing the game. His aspiration at five is not to be a superhero or a firefighter or a cowboy, but to have many people on YouTube watch him play his favorite game! Who are we to deprive him of his goal.

As for the title of my blog post? That's the name Milo refers to himself when he fights the evil creatures - "The Majestic Butter Creature" (because he loves butter so much). 

So if you can, like-share-view his video and maybe one day he can be the new YouTube sensation like the Biebs and PSY. 

(Minecraft image via moddb)

Chocolate Hills

I am Filipino-American. Both my parents were born and raised in Cavite City, Philippines. The first time I visited the PI, I was quite young and I have no recollection of it. The second time I visited the PI, I was 12 years old and about to enter Junior High. My memories of the Philippines were not, to be honest, pleasant. It was too hot, there were a lot of mosquitos and my mom had us cut off our long hairs for fear of getting lice and promptly got us perms (I will not show you photos of this perm, because it literally looked like a poodle attacked my head).    

When my husband wanted us to visit the Philippines for our honeymoon, I was hesitant. My husband, like my parents, was born and raised in the PI. He is the most out-spoken proponent of all things Filipino. He loves his native country and it showed. I agreed because I wanted him to show me the beauty of the Philippines that I did not see in the past. I do not want to get too political on this blog about the state of the Philippines, but I do want to show what I learned during my trip back in 2007 - that the Philippines is a beautiful country and there are places that are worth visiting and admiring. 

I will be talking about various places I visited on my trip throughout this blog. Today I wanted to focus on The Chocolate Hills.

The Chocolate Hills are a geological formation in the Bohol Province of the Philippines. There actually is not a clear consensus on how these hills (which there are at least 1260 of them) were formed, but most believe these are marine limestones which overtime have been eroded by rainwater. Majority of the year, these hills are green, but during the dry season they turn brown thus earning their nickname. The Chocolate Hills are one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bohol and for that matter in the Philippines. Currently there is an application to protect them as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

There are several Filipino legends on how these hills were formed, some involving carabao and fecal matter! but I prefer the tragic story of unrequited love of a giant named Arogo who fell in love with a mortal girl, named Aloya. When he found out Aloya was to marry another mortal, he kidnapped Aloya. Aloya got sick in his care and she died. Arogo was so devastated that he cried giant tears that dried up and became the Chocolate Hills.

Our tour guide was a adorable Filipino guy named Joshua, who told us this story in his broken english. He said Aloya "got so sick, that it was so fatal, you see, that she died." Classic.

Just remember to bring some good walking shoes if you decide to check out The Chocolate Hills, because the best way to see them is to climb all 214 steps up the observation hill.

Landmarks

Landmarks can be places, buildings or structures that are easily recognizable to others and sometimes hold cultural significance. The world over knows the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, even the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles. I myself stand in awe of some of these landmarks when I see it person.

But the odd in me likes the landmarks that hold more of a significance to the locals. These landmarks are treasured for being unique to their city, a tad bit weird, and shall I say charming.  

(via flickr by gfpeck)

The Smiling Face Water Tower in Grand Forks, North Dakota is adorable.  One side of the tower has both eyes open, but the other side is what gets me: the sly wink and the dapper blue bow tie. Almost makes me wish they would build another Smiling Face 'Girl' Water Tower next to him so he'll have someone to flirt with.   

(Franck photos/Alamy)

The smiling Jimmy Carter peanut in Plains, Georgia is a little creepy to me with his big Jimmy Carter toothy smile and absence of any eyes--but after awhile I'm sure he grows on you and he becomes a bit cute.  And if you know me, I like me my creepy and cute.

(photo by Jeremy L Wilbur)

Okay, the Fremont Troll in Seattle, Washington, is not that cute, but he is odd in a charming way. He was built in 1990 under the George Washington Memorial Bridge. He is clutching a VW car (which we will assume he grabbed from the bridge) and has a hubcap for an eye. Apparently in Fremont, there have been "troll sightings" ever since the bridge went up in the 1930s. I guess now there is a permanent troll sighting. 

Which brings me to my own town.  I grew up in San Diego near a community called Lemon Grove that had this big yellow lemon near the trolley tracks. 

(via San Diego blog)

The giant lemon would definitely be considered a distinctive landmark in San Diego, but my heart actually belongs to another landmark in Lemon Grove that has stood the test of time and still captures my attention when I pass by it: The Lemon Grove Lips.

(via Flickr)

The lips are actually natural formation of rocks on a hillside off route 94.  Legend has it that in 1977 a teenager named Steven Garcia saw lips in this rocky formation and painted it bright red. Over the years, the locals have maintained it's plump lips and on occasions the lips would be painted for special occasions (I still remember when they painted Charger bolts on it when our football team made it to their only Super Bowl in 1994). 

Any local landmarks you know of that are a bit odd, but beloved?

Top Five TV Shows I can watch as re-runs

To be honest, there are TV shows I watched in the past that I loved back then, but now if I see them as re-runs I don't love them as much. For some reason, I cannot watch an old episode of The Cosby Show anymore or even Growing Pains. I'm embarrassed to even admit I watched Joanie Loves Chachi, The Love Boat, and Alf.

Guilty pleasures like Beverly Hills 90210 or Melrose Place, are shows I probably cannot even watch one episode now that I can still enjoy (well, maybe the whole Kimberly Shaw comes back from the dead thing on Melrose Place is still enjoyable).

But the following TV shows were my favorites when they were on the air and I can probably still watch them now and not get bored. These are not, I repeat, are not guilty pleasures.  They will gladly be in my time capsule.

Felicity (1998-2002)

I'm a sucker for love triangles and Felicity had it in spades. You were either a Ben fan or a Noel fan. You either liked guys who were troubled and a little bad or you liked guys who were safe, sweet and reliable. Where did I lean? Let's just say I was happy who Felicity ended up with because he was the one she traveled across the country for in the first place.  Besides the love triangle, Felicity had some of the best side characters in TV-land: Javier, Sean, Meghan and even annoying, little Richard. Just watch the first two seasons of Felicity and you'll see what this show is all about. 

Dawson's Creek (1998-2003)

Told you I'm a sucker for love triangles. The mother of them all was the whole Dawson-Joey-Pacey saga. I still can't imagine why someone would root for Dawson. He was always a tad bit too whiny and over-analytical for my tastes, so it made sense she chose the more interesting side-kick who ended up not being such a side-kick after all. Dawson's Creek also had Michelle Williams, who brought the gravitas to this show and deserved the Oscar nominations she got later in her career. Dawson's Creek was also ground-breaking in it's day with the first male gay kiss aired on national television - way to go Jack!

My So Called Life (1994-1995)

This gem of a show lasted all of one season, but it's still cool in my book and doesn't show it's age. Angela Chase and her friends were real and there was nothing precocious about them. The awkwardness and angst of Angela was what made her such a good character. She acted how a teenager should act. Angela's troubled gay friend, Rickie, was heart breaking, but was eye-opening to what a 15-year old gay teen goes through when dealing with his sexuality. And let's not forget Jordan Catalano - Jared Leto at his most beautiful. The fact this show ended too early is still frustrating, but then again maybe that's why this show is a cult classic now - the mystery of what could of been is still there. 

Angel (1999-2004)

I like the fact that the show Angel took three characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer that were a bit one-dimensional and rounded them out and showed other sides to them other then the nerdy Wesley, the stuck-up Cordelia, and the brooding Angel. The nerdy Wesley became the tough-ass Wesley with his own tragic love-story with Fred; the stuck-up Cordelia became more caring and wise and would make you believe that Angel could fall for her; and the image of the brooding Angel was shattered during season 1, episode 13 when...gasp...Angel dances. The last season ended on a high note for me by bringing on Spike as a regular cast member and having Angel still fighting the evil forces yet leaving his fate unanswered. 

Lost (2004-2010)

Is it too premature to include this show on my list? After all it's only been two years since it went off the air. But I know when re-runs are shown, I'm going to watch it and still try to get clues on what it all means. The ending was a tad bit disappointing for me, but the ride to get there was exhilarating, fascinating and enjoyable. Every character had their purpose (except Nikki and Paolo that is) and you actually came to care about their fate (the episode where Charlie dies still makes me teary-eyed). As for the love triangle that shows tend to have and I tend to enjoy, this particular triangle became a quadrangle where both the bad girl and the bad boy ended up with the good doctors and Sawyer remains hot (I had to throw that in there).