My Granddaughter Turned Ten

On the first day of summer vacation, my granddaughter called her Abolita, her paternal grandma.  

"Lita", she said on the phone, since she couldn't pronounce Abolita in full when she was younger, so grandma remained as "Lita".  

"It's my birthday on Monday, Yana (her cousin, the same age as she), and I want lunch at the Town, then let's shop for my gift".  she said.  Can Abolita refuse?

The next day, we also brought her to lunch.

"Do you like to go to Buona Vita, so you can eat your favorite pasta, ala vongole?", I asked and she was quiet on the other end. 

"How about Le Petite Cherrie, the French restaurant?"

"I love Le Petite, haven't been there for quite awhile and I like to eat the chicken.  But .... wait, it has mash potatoes, can't eat that since that's my Lenten sacrifice", she said. 

"Then have then change that to fries or veggies", I said. 

We ended up at Chili's.  

"What gift do you want, money?", my husband asked while we were having lunch. 

"No, Papa. I like to shop at Peppermint".  That's a brand of girls' apparel.  I gathered she did not like money this time since that will go to her bank.  Her gift from her uncle had that fate.

"Can I get one item here and one accessory at Claire's?",  she asked.  

"Ok", I said.  She got two shorts, and even though I asked her to get a top as well, she refused, "I already have lots of tops Nana".  

"Do you want one more shorts?"

"Try and feel this Nana", she said as she crumpled one, "it's rough, but these two are soft and smooth", pointing to the two she selected.  

Times have really changed.   When I was her age, we my mama bought me dresses at Cinderella herself; I didn't get to choose. 

Two shops from Peppermint, the salesgirl at Claire's greeted her:

"Weren't you here yesterday?"

"Yes", I replied for her.  "She was with her other grandma". 

It took her quite sometime to choose.  She got another costume bracelet almost similar to what she got yesterday. 

When her parents asked what she wanted to do on her birthday, she said she wants to stay overnight in a hotel.   They often bring her traveling, she loves hotel life.  When she turned 8, she celebrated her birthday in Paris.  This was taken on her 8th birthday. 

 This time, her parents took a day's leave from work and they spent the eve of her birthday at the Peninsula hotel.  Here she is having dessert after dinner. 

After lunch the next day, her birthday, they invited her two cousins and her two sets of grandparents for snacks at Stackers.  Here she is blowing the candle on her birthday cake.  

She was sitting beside me, while her mom was ready to take a shot, I saw her hesitate blowing the candle,  instead she closed her eyes about a second or two, and I thought, maybe she made a wish.  Here's more pictures with her parents and also with us.

With Dada and Mama

With Abolita and Lolo

With Nana and Papa

After snacks..

"Mom, can we go to Claire's for awhile, then can we get two cupcakes at Vanilla Cupcakery to bring home?"  Today, her parents are indulgent. 

Happy birthday again, granddaughter!  I'm sure you had a great birthday. 

Forever Friends

In my very first blog, "making old friends gold", I wrote about how we remember or tend to forget friends we meet at the different stages of our lives.  I picked this title from a song taught in grade school.  In part it goes like this:

"Make new friends... But ke-ep tha-a o-old.... One is silver and the other gold....."  

This first blog was inspired by a childhood friend living in the US who came to visit me at that time.  I remember us being very good friends in grade school and high school but did not see each other again after we hugged and cried at our high school graduation.  We recently reconnected on facebook and she came to see me on her next trip home as promised. 

 I wrote that friends in grade school are the ones we remember the most, as we go through life's twists and turns.  I even asked: 

"Are we too pre-occupied in college that we tend to forget friends we made along the way?"  True, isn't it?

But I can't say the same with my three BFsF from college.  They are like family to me.  While I stayed at a dorm all through college, they lived with their parents in the city.  During weekends and holidays their parents would invite me to their homes, and most of the time it was a sleep over.  Dinners at their homes were always a treat to me then, after having enough of dormitory food. I recall one of theIr Moms used to wrap big chunks of cheddar in foil for me to take back to the dorm  to eat with crackers and coke.  I also recall that I was able to entice them to come to my hometown to meet my parents on one occasion. 

  

Last week I learned that they are all in town and they wanted to catch up.  They all live in the US, they left after college, they worked, got married there, raised their children and only came home occasionally. Having been preoccupied with career, marriage and raising kids myself, we hardly had time to meet up when they were in town. 

Though I was initially reluctant to miss my weekly bonding time with my granddaughter to meet their schedule, I felt better after my daughter assured me that it was fine with my granddaughter to miss one bonding day.

"I'll be a bit late", I said as I wanted to take advantage of the first two hours on the first day of a big sale at the mall near us to get my cosmetics supply for the year. 

"Any restaurant you can recommend?", Gee texted.

"Haven't been at the place myself, though my daughter recommend three options, but it's really up to you, after all, it's not the place, nor the food, but the company", I texted back. 

While we were along C-5, Gee called: 

"they wanted to go to NIU Vikings", she told me. 

So lunch was at NIU Vikings, a buffet restaurant that claims to offer the best spread in town. 

They are March celebrants, their birthdays are only a day apart. 

After much eating, drinking, chatting and laughing, we thought we'd walk everything down and we eventually found ourselves at the Skypark on the fifth floor, complete with plants around, a water feature and plant boxes to sit on. 

Not to be outdone, the husbands also asked to take their pictures. 

While at the park, we had more catching up, here we discussed more serious matters, some very personal but since we are best friends, it was okay.  

There was a 3-day sale at the mall as well, so we proceeded to the shops.  I'm at another SM mall regularly for my daily walk so I have lots of opportunities to shop but I surprised myself this time that I bought two dresses.

After shopping around, we went to the Prestige Lounge to rest our weary feet, did more catching up until we felt it was time for dinner.  

"We're still full",  some of us said.  "Let's go to Lugang Cafe and just have dimsum", one of us said. So, back we went to the restaurant row on the fifth floor.  

Dimsum, is it?  But we ended up with a full course meal.  

"Let's just diet tomorrow", Lornz said happily.  Look at this enormous fish, isn't it BIG?

We headed home past nine, tired but happy,  we had a wonderful day!