Morton Arboretum

On May 17, 2008, my husband and I together with my colleague Mark Janowicz went to the Morton Arboretum to have a photo shoot for an "engagement photo" that will be included in our wedding souvenirs. Morton Arboretum is about 5 miles from where we live and its a great place for bikers and joggers and for those who just want to enjoy nature.

The pictures taken below captures the love and happiness my husband and I share.

At the Grand Victoria Casino

After our chilly yet happy trip at the Noah's ark, we went straight to Grand Victoria Casino at Elgin, IL. This is not my first time in Casino, but it is my first time to play slot machines! We played $100..lost $50.. but my husband seriously believed that if I played the combination I did on the later part of the game, we could have won big.

Anyway I am just glad we did not go home bankrupt from the casino. The thing is, it made me miss bridge a lot.. not just the game but playing the game with friends. I missed my partner Andrew, my teammates (jop and eli) and also the funny discussions over bridge table. I missed my captain Albert.. and the treat Gerry Alquiros would give us at Gilligan's.

I could hear the shuffling of cards from where I was seating.. the poker table was just across where I was seated. I could picture myself playing competitively again. Oh well, I am playing this SATURDAY so what am I complaining about!

... to park this article, let me say that we will be back to the casino sometime this June.. My husband couldn't wait for it eheh, and hopefully this time we will win.

Noah's Ark

I forgot to add in my blog about the wonderful adventure we had on the third day of our wisconsin dells trip. Here it is.

On a not so chilly day in Wisconsin Dells, our last day for this trip there, my husband and I got ready for the happiest part of the trip.. THE WATER PARK!! We went there on its first day opening for this season, the wind was a little chilly still but the best part of it all was that there was no long cues for the rides.

Noah's Ark is the largest water park in the world.. YES the largest water park. See their site: http://www.noahsarkwaterpark.com/

Anyway, we took almost everything except for the following rides:

Point of no return - a drop to 5 floors in 3 sec! My husband is just too afraid to try it so I'd rather not try it too..

Slide Winders - we're just too tired to try it.

Endless River - this is closed

The Wave - also closed

The paradise lagoon - for kids only!

Everything else we tried!

Our favorite ride - black anaconda - which we took 6 times! Its a water-based roller coaster ride!!

I got my tan, my husband got his face burned but we were both happy after leaving the park. We were there from 10:30am to 4:30pm, just enjoying the chills and water and everything else. After the ride, we went straight to KFC - starving but happy.

Thereafter, I drove 2 hours to Elgin, at the Grand Victoria Casino...

Hybernated at the Dells

Okay so here is the story of my memorial day weekend...

On Friday, the following morning after arriving at Wisconsin Dells, my husband and I woke up late, enjoyed the nice comfy resort where we stayed. We were set to go to the inverted White House (hehe this is fun) and to see the grandeur of the Wisconsin river rock formations.

We left the resort at 11am, and went straight to the Original Wisconsin Ducks. We bought the ticket for $21.70 each, and got scheduled for a 2 hour boat trip which started at 1:15pm. In between those hours, we went to check out the inverted White house.. Yes I DID SAY INVERTED! Everything was upside down even the doors, windows and furnitures! Even the presidents eheh. They call this the TOP SECRET. It was fun and I can say I liked shaking the hands of Bush when he is upside down.

Now the boat ride which is ever romantic whenever I am with my HANDSOME hubby. It was BREATHTAKING! Thats it.. cannot further elaborate. Just see the photos.

After the awesome trip at the Wisconsin river, we ate at a great steak restaurant by the river, and went back to the resort and enjoyed the indoor pool. By night time we watched our favorite CSI instead of watching the water show right across our resort hehe!

Here is the link to our photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/annaliza.castro/WisconsinDells

My first road trip as Damian's wife

I am now at Wisconsin Dells, WI. Our trip took about 3 hours and 50 minutes, the trip here included the road repairs in route 90 and a 20 minute lunch-picnic at the rest area after Madison, WI.

Wisconsin is fairly different than Chicago, there are no tall buildings here, just farms. For the first time in 10 months, I have seen barns, cows and farmland again. We are set to go to the Noah's Ark - the biggest water park in the world, and also to ride the boat in Dells... to have a genuine Dell experience..

We are now staying at Cliffside resort.. with a great view of the Dells' lake! Awesome view. We just finished enjoying the indoor pool and nice warm jacuzzi.. Will post pics later. For now dinner time!

Unexpected Performance

This is to my colleague Fred Oh.

On my first mother's day here in US on May 11, 2008, I went with my mother-in-law and my husband to Fred's concert at the University of Chicago. It was raining and the wind was chilly, and my husband was bothered in the morning because he thought we would not be able to go coz his mom has prepared other plans for the day.. Nonetheless, we went..and I was glad we did.

Fred, the quiet uveitis fellow, was there on the stage, with a violin on his left hand, started to play a classic by Beethoven. I was mesmerized, everybody were! The piano played with his violin, and I felt like I was brought to a different dimension. The music went straight to my soul and I was seeing a different Dr. Oh. His alter ego was there.. or Fred was there.. it really did not matter. My husband was amazed as well, with how he played the instrument, and my mother-in-law who also played piano was in awe. The usual quiet Fred, that afternoon - a performer, gave life to the classics. This was beyond what I expected it to be, and being there was just a great experience for all of us.

After the performance, all we could say was... Is that you Fred??

Below are our pics..

Fred and Me

Damian, Fred and Me

After the wonderful performance

Fred and Margaret

Addicted to CSI

Okay I am a true blue CSI addict! What can I do I like Grisham!

Everyday after work, my husband and I would rush to the train, try and make it to our 5:09 train and be home by 6pm right in time for our favorite show.

Yes I did mention my husband again, I got him into this, he is now the prime lover of this show, and we watch this every night. My husband sits on the couch, I would prepare dinner and have my head turned on the TV to watch the night shift group solve the crime as the evidences show it. If we miss it, we go to this site: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/ and watch whatever we missed, or sometimes, we watch them ON DEMAND at COMCAST. By the way, COMCAST just made our lives comfy by having the ABC, NBC and CBS shows ready for our viewing...

Bad effects:

May be I watch too much CSI, it has gotten into me now, coz I have become a PARANOID! I am very careful now with my surroundings, am not being so trusting anymore, and just am more aware of whats happening around me.

May be its also the way I perceived US to be, not pretty much a safe place for me. My husband would laugh at me whenever I say this, and he would ask me how I survived Manila, and I would refute his thoughts of a dangerous Manila by telling him the rate of crimes here and how hideous they are..

Oh well CSI may even be doing me a lot of good by making me extra careful. In any case, it will not stop me from watching it.

False Alarm

At 8:30pm last night, I had one of those "only in the movies" experience... the fire alarm in our apartment went off and it was so loud and I got so scared!

I was in my pajamas and my husband was watching the hornets and spurs game when the alarm went off, the first thing I asked my husband was: What is that?? he peeked into the door and checked what was happening.. and then I asked him: are we suppose to go out?? Then it sank in to me that the alarm was a fire alarm, so with my bedroom sleepers, I pulled my husband, took my wallet and off we go out of our apartment.

Two minutes after, the sound of sirens were around and four fire trucks, two police car and an ambulance came. It was like a Hollywood movie, Ladder 49 of some type. The firemen were all equipped with their safety gears.. they stormed the building, checked for fire and gas leaks..

Outside the unit, a number of our neighbors were there too looking so worried wondering why the alarm rang.. I was so cold, the wind was still chilly for May, and my husband was hugging me to make sure I wont feel cold. Later on I realized, I was feeling chilly mainly because I got so tensed and worried...

After 15 minutes, the firemen came out, called it a false alarm, and a water leak from the washing machine from the tenant upstairs caused the fire alarm to ring. Thank heavens it was a false alarm.. but the stress was just too much it took me another 5 hours to finally fall asleep.. and my poor husband had to take care of me to calm me down and make sure I'll be fine..

Post mortem:

I envy the system here in America on how quick they respond to imminent dangers and emergencies. Imagine, in 5 minutes time, they firetrucks, a complete ambulance system and police cars were there in the site. The firemen were fully equipped.

In Manila, firemen could only dream of having complete equipments to combat fire. Firetrucks ran so slow that when they reach the place where the fire is, the place is almost burned down. Unfortunately too for the Filipinos, no ambulance would go with the firetrucks so if there are victims, most them end up casualties of fires.

Some of the good things in America..

Part of my survival

I am writing this not because my friend said she is getting jealous of my husband but more so because this is the reality that she has been there through out my survival here in US.

Her name is Jas, she is the loudest girl you will ever meet, but for me she is one of the sweetest. She is always online from July 11, 2007 to chat with me every morning and night, to make sure I am fine here in Chicago, to share my grievances, to share her funny "boys" stories, and to continue to be a friend I could cry on to.

I've met her in the University, when I worked for the European Union. Back then she was working for the alumni association - she was the director! She was loud as usual but what captures my friendly heart is her funny stories and strong personality. She is the iron woman... she is a picture of strength.. she cried though when I left on July 11.

I am lucky to meet such friends that are really strong... both in will and personality. Jas perhaps is one of the strongest willed friend I have. Now, she promised she will keep me company, and like all her promises, she kept it, and she stays up late till about 4am in Manila just to chat with me.

A "good morning mare" will start the typical morning conversation... and ends with laughter or tears and hugs that emoticons could only bring. Such friend is hard to find and I won't trade my friends for anything!

Now this is for Jas.. my girl and sometimes gay friend! That's her on the pic :)

HOUSE WARMING

This is a pretty new concept to me, but I did it anyway. We moved into our new home in February 28, 2008. That was one of the best decision my husband and I ever made. We had the housewarming last April 19, 2008. Although very few people came, it was all worth it. It was a rather intimate gathering of the few friends I have here in US. It makes me appreciate each and everyone I have here and I treat them as my family. Back in Manila during my single life days, I host a party and the house would get full - jam packed! My friends and their friends and their friends friends come, have some food and drinks and enjoy the night. I rarely have the chance to talk to each one of them, but what the heck!

Now, with a very intimate setup for my housewarming, I had the chance to chat to each and everyone of my guests. It was really fun and I believe my guests enjoyed it too.

On the MENU:

Pansit Miki

Lumpia

6 kinds of Pierogi

Beet Soup

Fruit Salad

Leche Flan

Vodka

Soda

Juice

And I chose Crate and Barrel to tag for our wish list.

We got:

Towel Warmers (My boss really takes care of me ehhe)

Electric Wok (Thanks Marcia..this is super)

My dream drinking glass (Rochelle inuman na!)

Paintings (Dzien kuje Mis and Tata)

Frame that says.. And they lived happily ever after (one of my fave eheh thanks VEE)

Spice Rack (Ate Maricel knows my hobby --- cooking)

Serving Spoons (from the bakers and great cooks - Sebastian and Kasia)

Plates

Cooking wares etc

and 10% off at Crate and Barrel

I am uber happy and so is my husband .. we got these stuff and get to watch the first matches for the first round of NBA quarterfinal matches.

Indeed our home warmed up!