Sharon's pictures from PSA (Philippine Student Association) Alumni Weekend @ University of IL Urbana-Champaign -- Oct 24-26, 2004.

after a long weekend of partying...
...front: sharon, arlene, juvy, me, p.j.
...back: john, jay, antoinette, liss, paul, chris

WHAT birthday TREE DID abby FALL FROM?
September 13 to September 22
Lime Tree (Doubt) - intelligent, hard working, accepts what life dishes out, but not before trying to change bad circumstances into good ones, hates fighting and stress, enjoys getaway vacations, may appear tough, but is actually soft and relenting, always willing to make sacrifices for family and friends, has many talents but not always enough time to use them, can become a complainer, great leadership qualities, is jealous at times but extremely loyal.

Sharon's pictures from the September Babies Birthday Bash @ Funky Buddha Lounge for Paul, P.J., Cedric, Abby, J.P., Arlene, Christine -- Sept 18, 2004

drinkin' and dancin'...
...fatima, sharon, me

i got a few more birthday presents.
after work, i flew on the metra to the burbs and my parents took me out to dinner. house of tokyo. yummy. spider roll (soft shell crab) and dragon roll (eel and avocado). my dad ordered noodles so i had a bowl of long noodles (long life). i love my parents. when we got home, my mom made me a huge batch of lemon bars. they got me 4 happy birthday balloons (representing the 4 people in my family: papa, mommy, kuya, me) with stars on them (my mom knows that i love stars). the balloons in itself was enough for me. i love my parents. they got me a cosmetic bag and new perfume. if you know me, the only "makeup" i wear is chapstick so its more of a toiletries bag for when i travel.

i napped. then i met up with Jen, Mike, Antoinette, P.J., Sharon, Katie, JR, Steve and Joel @ Bamboo Room. i was a rock star.

steve: beer
pj: jaeger
sharon: amaretto (my faborites!)
mike/joel: liquid cocaine
jen: a green looking shot
pj: kamikaze
jen: another green looking shot
some boy: another shot w/ jen

i wasnt planning on getting crunked last night but i did. gotta love my friends. and i do. when it was time to go, i told pj. he's always there for me. so he held my hand and led me out to the parking lot. i puked while walking to the car. i puked on pj's shoes and my shoes. oh gosh. ive done this to pj twice already. antoinette drove my car home and i managed to give her directions to my parent's house. then i puked some more (quietly) in the downstairs bathroom. passed out. texted jen a few times. passed out. talked to my guy. passed out again.

im so hung over right now, but i had a blast. saturday's party at funky for all september babies is going to be wild.

today @ 6:35am (i think) i turned 24. 9/16/1980. last night we played volleyball and at midnight everyone (Maureen, Katie, JR, Mike, Jen, Joel, Joel's sister, P.J., Antoinette, Steve) sang to me...strangers too. jen gave me a blow job shot. heh.

when i got into work, my team decorated my cubicle with balloons and streamers (we do this for one another). one of the ladies i work with on the PepsiCo Asian Network employee resource group got me a beautiful bouquet of orchids. my teammate baked me a cake (yellow cake w/ dark chocolate frosting -- my paborites) and my teammates, senior manager, manager, a few other managers and directors sang "happy birthday" to me. as i blew the candles, i made a wish -- a good wish too. :) for lunch, my team took me to ben pao. its the most white-washed chinese restaurant i've ever been to. don't get me wrong, the food and ambience is great. you can't go wrong with cherry-bomb shrimp. the waitstaff found out it was my birthday so i got a cup of coconut taopica pudding (gag). i blew out another candle and made another wish.

what impressed me the most: throughout the day, i got emails, text messages and phone calls from my family and friends wishing me a "happy birthday". my birthday greetings started at 12:01am. [Volleyball Peeps, Juvy, my brother, my dad, Liezl, Ian, Chris M., P.J., Liss, Henson, Sharon, Jeff L., Antoinette, Terry, Steve V., Richie, Rhoda, Fatima, Maureen, Jen, Joe, Bernard, Chris B., Dave K., Junior, Romel, Justin, Terese, Norway, Andrew]

i got my 2nd and 3rd birthday present.
last night, my cousin/ninang/roommate, her boyfriend and our family friend/roommate took me out to dinner at Cafe Iberico. sangria and tapas...yum...yummmy...yummylicious. our family friend/roommate got me a gift certificate at Mario Tricoci so that was really nice of him. dinner conversation was great. we chatted about many things but the convo was focused on me and my new beau from Manhattan. its nice to know that people care for you...it really is. i love the relationships i have with family and friends. im so lucky.

i got my 1st birthday present.
last night, my brother took me to a cubs game vs the pirates. it was a great game (of course) because the cubbies won -- 7-2. seats were sweet cause i got to oogle at prior, ramirez and grudzielanek. but the best part was that i got to spend time with my brother. im glad we can share sports activities with one another. either it be baseball/softball, tennis, bowling, basketball, football, soccer, etc. even though im not a fanatic about baseball (stats, history, etc), i know how the game is played. let's see...what did we do: we ate at demon dog; arrived at wrigley around 6ish; watched batting practice; he bought me a beer; the game started at 7; he bought us cotton candy; he bought me another beer; CUBS WIN!; he bought me a foam cub claw.

if you know me, you know that i love buying paraphanelia when i go to musicals, concerts, sporting events. i know you can preserve memories through pictures, but pictures sometimes get lost in albums. at least my foam cub claw will be on display in my room.

im turning 24 and my other friends are turning round and round too.
come party with us.
evite.

oh my gosh. im still at work.

Katie's pictures from P.J. and Cedric's 25th Birthday Get Together @ Le Passage -- Sept 8, 2004.

chugging down the mojitos...
...me and maureen

*new* Sharon's pictures from Romel's Graduation Party @ Bamboo Room -- August 28, 2004.

Katie's pictures from Romel's Graduation Party @ Bamboo Room -- August 28, 2004.

partying in the burbs...
...me, pj, romel, sharon, antoinette, marina

Pictures from my trip to NYC to visit Andrew -- Sept 2-6, 2004.

sightseeing cruise of manhattan island...
...andrew and me

taking a bite of the big apple with andrew yesterday, today and tomorrow.

thur: arrive, nyu, times square
fri: wander, sushi, times square
sat: 3hr manhattan island tour, mamma mia
sun: tennis us open
mon: central park, depart
tues: chicago

how sad is this. im just eating lunch now and its 4:45pm.

i cant wait to start my weekend already.
manhattan here i come.
andrew here i come.
mamma mia here i come.
tennis us open here i come.
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

after work i headed over to his hotel. watched tv and talked. cabbed over to greektown. ate at santorini. walked by the sears tower. cabbed back to his hotel but before we headed up he got me some ice cream at cold stone. watched more tv and talked more, but -- once again -- the rest is for my enjoyment. all in all, it was a great time and we're doing it again...someday.

too bad we're states apart. but we both know its not good-bye...