Monday, November 12, 2012

25 Years Young



I  am a quarter of a century old as of November 7!  Thank you to all my family and friends who celebrated and/or greeted me a happy birthday!

Now that I am a year wiser I plan to be smarter about money saving, filter my apartment and stop being a hoarder, and really push to pursue my dreams/career.

I am learning more about myself and the world as I get older.  I value every experience and interaction and try to take something away that I know will help me grow.

HELLO 25, I'm ready for you!

Monday, August 20, 2012

I Kissed a Dolphin And I Liked It

Aloha! August is family vacation for us and this year we went to Hawaii to visit my cousin who is stationed there for the Army!



Sunday, March 4, 2012

My 18th Birthday Debut Cotillion Celebration

Six years ago on this day I celebrated the big 1-8!  My parents asked if I wanted a new car or a Debut as my present and of course I picked the Debut!  I only turn 18 once and I know I'm going to get a car eventually!  (By the way, a Debut is a Filipino coming-of-age celebration.  It's like the Latin American tradition of a Quineanera.)

Planning for my grand celebration was like planning a wedding- seriously, my 18th birthday was actually on November 7 but my dad was in Kuwait so we pushed it to March so he could be part of it and so we can have more time to plan!

Here is the break down of the main parts of what a Debut entails:

-Choosing an Escort (he would be the one presenting me to society)
-Selecting my entourage: 9 guys and 9 girls to be in my court and do the special cotillion dance which is a waltz (and making sure they can come to practice every Wed. for about 3 months, good times)
-Picking another 18 guys to be part of the 18 Roses dance (each guy presents a rose and slow dances with me for a minute)
-Picking another 18 girls to represent my 18 Candles (each girl had to give a speech to me about our relationship, memories, wishes, etc.)

And the rest is pretty much like a wedding with finding a dress, dress maker for the dress I designed for my the ladies in my court, venue, decorations, flowers, give aways, programs, invitations, choreographer, tux place, cake, DJ, slideshow, entertainment, food, hair/make-up stylists, videographer, etc.



The night went something like this:

Introduction dance of the Debutant, escort, and court
Prayer & food- performance, slide show while eating
Father Speech and Father/Daughter Dance (I started crying when I danced with my dad!)
The Cotillion waltz to "Only Hope" - Mandy Moore from A Walk to Remember
Speeches from my court
Dancing
Candle speeches, dances with my Roses
Cutting of the cake
My thank you speech
Crimson Haze step/dance performance (our high school dance team that I was a part of)

All in all, the point of this post was to share my grand cotillion waltz!

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE:


Such a magical and amazing night.  One of the best nights of my life!  I am so blessed for the family and friends I have in my life.  They are all wonderful and have impacted me in some way.  I will never forget and will always be thankful that they shared this special night with me!


_melissa