August 20, 2019
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A New Season in Sydney | Winter Wedding, Part 1

I left 5 days before the big day to help with whatever my sister needed. That meant errands, crafting, and just being there for her as she was about to transition into marriage.
October 2, 2015
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September Surprises

Those last weeks of September just flew by, and I was kept busy by the remaining workouts of the Manila Throwdown, trying out Mystery Manila for the first time, and spending time with family and friends. Some of my best friends’ birthdays are in September, as well as my dad’s. For my dad’s birthday, we hosted a small dinner at home for his high school buddies. Mom, Yaya V, Yaya Rose, and I started cooking as soon as I woke up. On the menu, we had steak, eggplant parmigiana, sardine puttanesca, sweet and sour butterflied tilapia, and mom and I experimented […]
September 20, 2015
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A Part Apart

Getting tipsy at a wine fair, Christmases, graduation, family trips, and the long-distance runs we joined last year For the past weeks, since she’d finalised paperwork and itinerary, my sister has been out with friends having mini-despedidas for her #CountdownToSydney. The latter half of this week was spent at home, packing and arranging last minute details for her trip. During this time, I was priming myself for her departure, reminding myself that she’ll be back sooner than I think. One year might seem irrelevant to some, but this is the longest I’ll be apart from my “twin.” While it may sound like a […]
September 14, 2015
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Family Friends

Is the concept of a “family friend” one of those Filipino-isms? I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other nationality use this exact phrase as we do, oftentimes as modifiers instead of nouns. Others say, “she’s a friend of the family,” but we say, “she’s a family friend.” There is also a connotation that the relationship is much deeper than others: a family friend is someone you roll deep with, possibly spent endless summers with when you were younger; and no matter how far life has stretched your band of friendship, across years and miles, you just snap back together […]