When Words Fail

Hullo All,

I'll tell you: as much as I would like to consider myself a virtuoso with words (okay, maybe virtuoso is too superior-thinking of me--"good" with words, instead), sometimes the truth is that words aren't enough to tell a story, to evoke a feeling or to communicate an emotion. 

So, when words fail, the aid of other senses seems necessary.

And with the lack of words that I've published in the past month or two, hopefully this gives a glimpse of the good that has happened since. Mostly food. And family.

Tuttah,

Mishie

The Wicked and I

Hullo All!

As you can see from my excited expression, I had an exciting day recently!

Going with a predominantly green theme today with hints of pink and blue! This is one of my favorite dresses of all time that I got for a steal at Forever21 over a year ago!

My mom gave me this nice dark grey knit cardigan. It kept me warm enough so I didn't have to bring a jacket with me that day.

Green gradient pashmina scarf that I actually gave to my mom as a gift. I borrowed it for the day.

We took some photos by the waterfront while waiting for the bus. We haven't been able to take a daytime shot of the city since arriving.

Panoramic shot!

Cute little girl in her windbreaker! Her older sister didn't look too thrilled about the cold.

Our bus stop. It was toppled over by the hurricane. :(

Our destination!!! :)

My brother and I were so excited to watch this! I've heard so much about this and I'm halfway through the novel of the same name. We bought the tickets only the day before and purchasing online was a breeze!

The view from our seats! Pretty sweet, right?

The map of our almost 3 hour journey through Oz!

We actually weren't allowed to take photos during the program itself, but I'm a ninja and sneaked some photos of the curtain call! I'm sad the the glare prevented me from getting a good shot of Alli Mauzey (Glinda) and Jackie Burns (Elphaba).

The interior or Gershwin Theater. It's dedicated to the showing of Wicked (which runs until May 5, 2013)!

The dragon clock of Oz!

Off topic: My hair is so orange in this photo!

No, don't make me leave! I want to watch again! :(

But guess what I saw outside the theatre guys?! *insert foreshadowing moment here*

Then it was time to meet up with some of my favorite people in the world. A few blog entries ago, I talked about my awesome cousins. Well, a couple of my cousins have been in the US since 2009 and this is the first time I'm seeing them in three years!

I also got to meet my cute little half-Italian nephew for the first time! He looks worried, I hope it isn't me haha!

Interesting tidbit about my nephew: whenever he sees the red light from the camera, he knows the flash comes right after and his photo is taken--so he smiles! CUTE!

Quaint pizzaria we ate at in the city! I had so much fun with my cousins, I totally didn't catch the name of the place.

Awesome day: check! :)

Tuttah,

Mishie

PS. The title of this post is a derivation of a song from Wicked: "The Wizard and I" :)

Cousinology

Almost all of us have them: a first set of playmates apart from our siblings. All things considered, they may as well be our brothers and sisters. Growing up is usually not without them: cousins.

I can say quite confidently that I am closer to my cousins than some other people might be--particularly with my mother side cousins. Because my mom and her siblings were very close to each other, we always found reasons to get together and have fun. 

My family (cousins and all) at a trip to Tagaytay Highlands around 11-12 years ago. (we aren't complete here). Can you see where I am?

Without getting too mushy, I feel very blessed to have a set of almost-siblings that I can also look to as friends. If it's a rarity to be close to your cousins, then it might be almost endangered to hear of cousins that can be looked to as a barkada (group of friends).

I say barkada because while most cousins met up and update each other on their lives (this is now that we're grown up), my cousins and I still manage to joke around and make fun of one another. We more or less know the important things that go on in our lives, minus maybe the mundane stuff that we skip over. We bond over the same things and reminisce about times when we were ye young. 

The Loanzon Kids at our cousin's debut! We managed to fit!

Growing up, our parents even came up with a Quarterly Get-Together where celebrants of that quarter could expect gifts from other cousins--there were even assignments! These were things we loved because we looked forward to seeing everyone all the time!

So from Get-Togethers, birthdays to debuts, we always enjoyed ourselves--despite a small age gap with our older cousins. 

And so from Flower Girls to Coin/Ring Bearers we became Groomsmen and Bridesmaids (for one of our cousins, he became the groom himself)! We're incomplete here but, man, we're a wacky bunch!

Hey-hey! We still fit in the photobooth! Check out the photo at the bottom-right! We're all singkit (chinky-eyed)! There's no denying our relations!

(Congratulations again, by the way, to my Kuya Omar and his new wife Tinj!)

Amongst ourselves, we have cousin-to-cousin secrets that we probably even have yet to tell other people in our lives that might seem more important. But one public not-so-secret knowledge is that I love them so much! There are only a few, really important, things that continue to leave me hesitating about the change at home--they are all definitely one of them. 

- Mishie