Confession of an Endangered Spinster - Part 2

Okay, so I dreamt of my Prince Charming. I planned for my happily-ever-after. And I chose to be pro-active. I was on a "mission". Big time!

Now, what do you think I did to lure Prince Charming to the "happily-ever-after" trap? You wouldn't believe what this Endangered Spinster did to twist her fate and escaped singledom. Read on.

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CONTINUATION:
If you missed PART 1,   CLICK HERE.

I was not really picky nor did I set high standard on choosing my future partner. I just thought I have enough time in my hands. And I do have a different taste in men. There I had to admit it!. Then I got torn between the past and the future, and the present is in limbo. "Where the hell am I going to find the right guy now?", I asked myself as I kicked in to my early 40s. Most of the guys I know are either married or gay... too young or too old... uninteresting or "never-mind".

But one thing I love about myself is that I am not a quitter and I am very creative with almost everything. Never under estimate the power of positive thinking so they say. It is another life line I could hold on to in case I am really destined to singlehood. But then, if there is one thing I am thankful about aside from my faith in God [because I was also into novena, pilgrimage, and more] it is the gift of technology.

A Day in Boston

Boston, Massachusetts is just a couple of hours away from Maine. However, it's not very often that I get the chance to visit it. I can come up with 2 reasons -  traffic and traffic.

It's a good thing that I have a friend who loves to drive and doesn't really mind traffic. Well, not as much as I do.

Filipino Forever

When I left My Philippines in 2007, my connection with my Filipino friends and family have been limited in more ways than one.

Living in Maine for over 7 years now, I somehow learned how to downsize and that includes my circle of friends. I'm not saying this in a bad way. In fact, I love it. Having just a couple of Filipino friends who I can call and visit anytime I'm having serious Filipino food cravings makes my life simple and uncomplicated.

Bringing Sunshine on Friday

Friday is my favorite day of the week because every Friday morning at work we have free breakfast.

It's one of the Sunshine Committee's projects to recognize and show appreciation for the staff's hard work.

Steph's Bridal Shower Candy Bar

Last May, my step-daughter married her long time love-of-her-life boyfriend in an intimate family wedding at the Barn. But this post in not about it. (Spoiler ALERT! I will have a separate blog for the said wedding.)

This is about the bridal shower that we secretly planned for her. Her favorite sister H (she has only one sister. LOL) and most of her loved ones conspired to throw her this party. It was well-planned and as expected memorable.

I originally set up the candy bar by the window. But since it was around 4 in the afternoon and the afternoon sun was directly shining through that window, I had to find another place to set the bar up because the chocolates started melting.

And I realized the arrangement is too boring.

The first set up.

I made the tags/labels myself that match her Wedding Invitation (Another spoiler ALERT! I will have another blog about the invitations. So watch out!)

 The apothecary jar is a DIY that I found in Pinterest.

Who wants melted chocolate? No one, right? Unless you love chocolate shakes. So, I rearranged the dessert tables where all the goodies are placed and found the perfect space for my DIY Dollar Store apothecary jars.

Setting up the candy bar at the dessert table is perfect since everything sweet and yummy are at arm's length.

And most importantly, the table is placed against the wall so no melting happened.

Hmmmm... that tag is upside down. Didn't notice it until now.

Now, the tag was fixed. I did notice it after I took several photos. LOL

And the poor chocolates were saved from melting. And if ever they did melt... they melted in our tongues. LOL

Between Shopping and Bonding

It was a night before Christmas... and I was exhausted. I wrapped presents until 12 midnight. I had to wrap a minimum of 5 different presents for Hubby, Brandon, my 2 step-daughters and my in-laws. I already downsized the number of presents I would be giving to each one of them this year because budget is really tight. However, it was still taxing just to wrap the presents.

It was Christmas Eve and earlier I was with my only Pinay BFF here in Maine, rounding up some stores in town for the last minute shopping for our Christmas presents for loved ones.

Christmas Eve is always the best time go shopping. No panic [that is at least my personal opinion] and no rush. I get what I get and that's all about it. Well, I already did a few shopping right after Christmas last year and I was just really there to drive my friend because she needed a ride.

Oh well, what do you expect? It was a nice balmy day, the sun was out, with no frost... and BFFs like us surely need to bond to strenghten their friendship. And there is no other way to do that than... shopping!

Early Halloween Party with Filipino Friends

Last weekends, Medy and I (together with Maya and Rich) attended an advanced Halloween Party with Filipina friends in New Hampshire. It was the very first Halloween Party I ever attended in my entire life here in the United States.

Just Kids and Adults in their Halloween Costumes.

I am not a party girl anymore but the fact that I will have a rare chance to have fun with some amazing Filipinos friends is indeed a rare opportunity to pass on. Not to mention that having to eat lots of Filipino foods that I have been craving for since I left my home country is a bonus.

Just a part of the dessert table.

Just part of the long buffet table.

The long line of pots containing Filipino Dishes.

The gracious hosts, ate Malou and Kuya Jude opened their home to us. Kuya Jude cooked up a lot of fun activities for the kids while ate Malou prepared lots of yummy dishes and treats for the adults. wink***

Kids helping Kuya Jude set up the Pinata.

Having fun hitting the poor witch head pinata.

Paparazzi moms lined up to take photos of the kids.

Spidey and Bat Girl taking a break.

Finally, picking up the rewards of hard work. Sugar rush alert!

My friends taking a break from eating for a photo opps.

The party I had to admit was fun and the food was delishhhhh! Good thing the weather cooperated. It was kinda chilly and cloudy but at least not rainy. It's Fall so I can't be whiny. We left with a couple of doggie bags from the dessert table and a heavy tummy. I need to go back to gym. Seriously!

A Birthday Party in NH

This is already a long-over-due post. I have been too lazy busy doing tons of stuff here and there and just knowing that alibi fact made me feel guilty beyond reasonable doubt. I've promised myself again to be more active on blogging but I guess I'm set to fail again one way or another. Hey, the sayings "History repeats itself" was coined for a reason, wasn't it?

Anyway, last September (tons of Older-Posts-Coming-Soon ALERT!) Medy tagged me along to a Filipina friend's birthday party in New Hampshire. I was a little reluctant to go for 3 reasons. 1. I only know a couple of people she mentioned that might be there. 2. I'm on a strict diet. And 3. I don't want to drive.

But Medy knows how to talked me out into doing things I don't want to do. 1. She insisted that I should come since the birthday celebrant Mhel asked her to bring me with her and that she will introduce me to other Filipinas there. I have been here in the U.S. for over 6 years now and I only know a handful of Filipinos whom I consider friends. I get invited to parties and get-together a lot of times too but I usually turned them down because I'm usually busy during the weekends due my races. Good thing I have no race that weekend.

When Filipinos get together, no matter what part of the world they are... parties will not be the same without food. Well, yes any race or nationality for that matter when it comes to parties food is always involved. But we are not talking about hotdog, burger and ice cream here. 2. We are talking about TONS of FILIPINO FOOD. A whole table of deserts of all kinds (high sugar level ALERT!). A long table of Filipino dishes that I craved for so long. And another table for additional dishes that kept on coming and kept on cooking. In short, all the food I miss so much!

And 3.  New Hampshire is a neighboring state. It's pretty much like Maine in almost all aspect except in "taxes". Yes, we love to go shopping in NH because - no taxes on goods. wink* The venue was about an hour drive from Maine. And Medy said the magic word - You are not driving! She knows I hate driving and she knows that the only way to convince me to go anywhere she badly wants to go to is to NOT make me drive. Poor Richard, good thing he is kind enough to drive us to NH. We got there just in time for lunch.

Well, we had fun eating, chatting, laughing, singing and crooning to our hearts desire. We all enjoyed belting our lungs out to a popular OPM (Original Pinoy Music). But the American husbands beat us in points singing TAGALOG songs. That one was really funny. We all had a laugh and enjoyed listening to their American accented version of Filipino music.

And of course, it will not be the same if we are not going to have a group photo. wink* We Filipinos are very camera shy. LOL.

So yeah, that was one fun weekend that I had last month. I went to a birthday party and glad that I did.

Window Shopping with my BFFs

Last weekend, Lerna - a Filipino friend from Massachusetts came for a visit. Medy, Lerna and I were kinda tired of just hanging out at home cooking and eating Filipino food so we decided to go "window shopping" in South Portland.

Since Medy nor Lerna can't drive, I assigned myself as the official driver of the day. And since I am the only one who knows South Portland (where most of the stores are) by heart I was also the official Tour Guide.

Our first stop was the Nordstrom Rack. We browsed all the designer brand items but there was nothing we really liked. Or shall I say, there was nothing our purses liked. But Medy was happy to find out that they got our shoe size there - 4, 4 1/2,  and 5. We didn't buy anything and that explains why we went out of the store without shopping bags on hand.

Next store was Target. Since it was literally just a stone throw from Nordstrom Rack we decided to check it out too. Medy and I liked a pair of red boots but we were not too crazy about it. So we left the store without shopping bags too. We were so proud of ourselves. Two stores in a row and we were still in control.

From there I drove straight to the Mall but we didn't go in the Mall. We went to TJ Maxx which is right outside the Mall. We met some Fiipinas there browsing on some clearance racks too. And no we didn't get anything too so no shopping bags either.

From there, we went to visit TJ Maxx's big brother, Marshalls. We spent another 30 minutes browsing and checking out clearance racks too but we didn't find anything worth spending our money on. So no shopping bags too.

Then off to the Christmas Tree Shops. We didn't spend a lot of time there but we did buy something. I bought  Pringles and a pack of cough drops. Lerna bought tea and Pringles too. Medy didn't get anyhting but at last we finally left a store with shopping bags.

We ended our window shopping galore at Marden's. Lerna found a nice backpack-style bag and did not have second thoughts on buying it. She purchased that baby in a heartbeat.

She paid $2.99 for that cute thingy. Woohooo!!! We got a great bargain. Mission accomplished. And we left the store with shopping bags.

It was indeed another day of shopping adventure. On our way home we planned for our next shopping escapades in another shopping town. wink*

My 1st Football Game ever

I learned to love football when I came here in Maine but I have not watched a real football game till a couple of weeks ago.

Maya, Medy's daughter is in the cheering team and that gave us an opportunity to watch a real football game.

Maya is cheering for the Hawks. It was indeed fun to see the cheer leaders doing their routine in their blue and white cheering outfit. I think they are cute.

The game started with a brief ceremony with the National Anthem being sang.

The game started and we watched how the players tackled each other. It was an intense game but not as intense as the way the professionals do.

But for my Filipina friends and I, we were more excited for Maya and not for the game. We enjoyed watching Maya did her routines. She was a natural in the field.

The Hawks had a hard time with this game I guess. The ball was was intercepted a couple of times during the first quarter. And they remained zero point till the "half time".

Still Zero for the Home Team.

My friends getting bored watching the game. LOL

Maya with Mom - Medy.

Maya with Me and her Mom, Medy.

My Filipina friends.

We didn't finish watching the game. After Maya's presentation we left to... what else - eat! LOL. It was fun though. Too bad Hawks lost to whoever it was they playing against with. Yeah, we didn't bother to ask who their opponent was. We were there for Maya only, so why bother. wink*

-------------------------------Maine Attraction-------------------------------

 

This is a SPECIAL POST for MAINE Attraction... a regular blog that features everything and anything about my home - Maine.