Thai-cation

April 6-20 I'll be backpacking through Thailand with Aleks (my boyfriend), Paul, and Nate!  Words cannot even express how anxious and excited I am to explore!  I've only been to the Philippines in that part of the world so I'm very interested to see how it compares.  We booked our tickets at the end of November last year and I can't believe that the day is finally here!  I am so proud that I was able to fit all of my things in my cool new Osprey backpack from REI.  I'm notorious for over packing and at first I was like: are you kidding me? Two weeks in Thailand with only THIS much space?! *gulp. Alright, DONE! 

Peace out America because we're going to Thailand! First stop Seoul, Korea for our layover! [insert airplane emoji here]

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!

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!

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

Philippines Vacation 2011

My mom, sister, and I are going to the Philippines tomorrow for about 3 weeks!  I am so excited! This is going to be my third trip to the motherland. The main reason why we are going is because of my cousin Allen's grand wedding! (check out their awesome site: http://www.allenaileenluna.com)  I'm a bridesmaid, my sister is a junior bridesmaid, and my mom is sponsor!  I can't wait to see how the wedding is going to turn out and to meet his fiance Lhayne (pronounced like the word "line").   I know that she has been planning this wedding for so long and I've heard rumors that there are going to be fireworks!  So we'll see!

I am also really looking forward to going to Boracay!  I heard it's been voted as one of the best beaches of the world!  We weren't able to go during our last visit because there was a storm so hopefully we'll make it this time.  *cross fingers*

It's going to be a fun-filled three weeks and I can't wait to spend time and bond with my mom's side of the family.  I better practice speaking Tagalog!  I hope it'll feel more like summer when I get back too.  I better make sure I've packed everything and met the baggage weight requirements!  See you later Washington!

_melissa

Super8 Video Camera App

I love recording random videos on my iPhone and I was excited when I discovered the Super8 video app! The app is free for a limited time and promotes Paramount Picture's film "Super 8" which premiers on June 10.  The app has some awesome video features and can't wait to use them!

The iPhone App Store description says, "Using Super8 you can make your own vintage movies and add lens, filter and shake effects, arrange clips and scenes the way you want them; you can even add your own credits."

Here is a quick video I did at Pike Place Market a week and a half ago to test out the app!

Got any movie ideas? Let's make a video together! :)

_melissa

Celebrating 4sqDay as a Seattle Tourist

This past weekend was too much fun! I booked my stay at the Inn at the Market (@innatthemarket) for the weekend of April 16 not realizing it was also 4/4^2/2011 aka Foursquare Day (@4sqDay/@4sqSea)!  How perfect was that?!  Because of course I was planning to attend Seattle's 4sqDay celebration at Gordon Biersch! Meant to be!  I arrived at the IATM around 12:30 pm and the gentleman who took my car was super friendly and the ladies at the front desk were so warm and welcoming!  I also showed them my check-in and received a gift!  4sqDay was already off to a great start, plus I unlocked my 4sq 2011 badge for that check-in too! They handed me the keys and I was off to room 711.  I opened the door, walked in, and was blown away! Did I really win a complimentary one night stay here?!  The room was both cozy and spacious.  While checking out the view, I felt like I was in another city seeing 1st Ave through one window and Elliot Bay through another.  The city was alive during this partly sunny day and I loved the energy!  After taking pictures of the room and putting away my bags, I headed over to Pacific Place to meet up with Jen (@JenerationY) for 4sqDay!

4sqDay Seattle was packed with Foursquare users!  I didn't even get a shirt! I was so sad because I really wanted one and was hoping to win one during the raffle.  It was nice to chop it up with some peeps and tweeps but Jen and I left the event early and we gave our raffle ticket to our awesome friend Akvile (@hyph_en).  About half an hour later, she tweets us asking who had ticket #64 and it was me!  Whoo-hoo!  I won a gift certificate to Blue Star Cafe & Pub!  It's definitely always exciting to win!  #allidoiswin

After going around to a few places downtown and with Jen ousting our friend Andy as the Nordstrom Rack mayor, we decided that it was pretty much mandatory to celebrate 4sqDay to the fullest!  So we decided to play tourists in our own city and go to some Seattle hot spots!  It was totally appropriate for the weekend too because we were staying at the Inn that night which is kind of funny because Jen lives literally two blocks away, haha! And so we went around, asked around, and had so much fun venturing through the Emerald City!  Here are some pics!

Rachel the Pig!

Unlocked the "excELLENt fan" badge here! #4sqday

Can you believe I haven't seen that movie yet?!

We did not know there was a carousel at Miners Landing!

This is probably the only time we'd ride it haha!

Feeling curious about our futures at the Ye Old Curiosity Shop!

Infamous Gum Wall

Catching the monorail to Seattle Center!

Nothing was going to stop us from touching the center!

Jumping picture fail but we kind of look like ballerinas lol

Happy 50th Birthday Space Needle!

Didn't know it was that young and I've never been on top of the Space Needle!

Pacific Science Center Arches

Had to take advantage of any picture opp!

Got back to my room and it was set up for bedtime!

The night was still young though, Pintxo's for dinner!

Sunny Sunday! Wish I could've stayed longer.

After a fun weekend of living it up in downtown Seattle as tourists, I must say that it really did feel like we were just visiting!  Seattle had lovely spring weather and Pike Place was very lively that Sunday morning!  After checking out of the Inn, we went to breakfast at Local 360 in Belltown then went to Zumba at Twice Balanced in the U District and then stopped by Ballard's Sunday Farmers Market.  What a feeling good, feeling great kind of weekend!  We love you Seattle and we would definitely want to come back again! ;)


_melissa