on shit i’m diggin…

made of beer cans!?

in the desert

❤

oh daphne ❤

color!

cute

custom made coat

family food tour: DAY 5… (the last day)

this past monday was the last day for my parents’ visit. it was dreary, cold and wet that day but we still made the effort to find more food – bahahaha!

i took them to brunch at delicatessen.

i ordered their brioche french toast stuffed with raspberry cream cheese – I DIE – it was mouth-wateringly delicious!!!!

oh yea – i ordered a side of their yummy parmesan fries – bahahahaha! =X i shared, obviously

my sister and mom ordered the salmon capers plate:

my pops ordered the lobster roll:

and joey got the fish tacos:

after the yummy meal, we headed to DQM to say hello to pat and john =)

afterwards, we walked over to flight club so joey could drool over the shoes and then headed out to union square until finally going back to the hotel to dry up and wish my parents a dieu (mom cried… again lmao)

so we hung out in the hotel until it was time for some dinner (and for john to get off work). i took them to bon chon where we ordered some soy garlic fried rice, tofu salad, and rice – GAH, i could go back there right now!

oh yea – they were playing music videos from the 90’s and it felt like we were in middle school/high school again. BSB, skinny mariah carey (pre-slut), and boyz II men ❤

we still had serendipity’s in our hearts and room in our belly’s so we hopped into 2 cabs and went up to serendipity’s again to see if we could get a seat.

as luck would have it, our 45 min wait turned into 20 min and we were IN!

my sis and joey ordered the frozen hot chocolate, john got the mint chocolate version, and i ordered their broadway something something – basically a chocolate cake a la mode – aowiejfpaoweijfapwoeihfapoeif SO GOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD –

a perfect way to end the gueco and jao family food tour NYC 2011 =)

outfit post: sca ulven dress…

got this sca ulven off pixie market a while back… still trying to figure out how to properly wear it lol. i think this will also be a perfect dress for when it gets warmer – huge arm holes and light-weight material.

side-view makes me look like i have a baby bump bahahahha – i think i pulled it back too much and i kinda feel like a ninja, but i still love the versatility of it because you can wear the straps or not and tie it any way you please =)

look there are 3 of me!

outfit deets: sca ulven dress | sam edelman zoe boots

family food tour: DAY 4… (half marathon too – and yes, more food!)

this day was the day of joey’s half marathon and we all woke up early again to try to meet him at the halfway point which was at time’s square.

it was my first time watching a marathon in person so i really didn’t know what to expect. i was thinking, how the hell are we going to find joey among hundreds and thousands of people running? however, it wasn’t that bad – we actually spotted him without any trouble and he was able to stop by and drop off some of his gear to complete the rest of the race.

apart from watching out for joey, there were so many families and friends there supporting someone or a group – the reaction of the runners as they saw their fans in the crowd was priceless. there was a father and his 2 sons next to us at one point, and when they saw their mom turning the corner the boys yelled “mommy! mommy!” and she ran over and gave everyone a big kiss and hugs and then continued on. another runner saw her mom across the street and SHE was the one to find HER and yelled out to her lol – “mom! over HERE!” at which point the mom finally saw her and waved her arms across the street as they both blew kisses to another.

it was quite touching really… i think if it weren’t freezing out, i could have shed a frozen tear or two. it actually inspired me to get back into shape and possibly start training for a marathon! maybe. bahahaha! either way, i need to get my fat ass back into shape so this would be a good excuse.

anyway – back to the story. so we all hopped on the train to meet joey at the finish which was at battery park. on the way i took the family to see the WTC as it was close by and then finally walked/ran over to the finish.

my dad and i finally spotted joey… already eating away at the snacks they received at the finish and the first thing he said was: “meet me over at the tents – i’m gonna find more cookies!”

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA – typical ❤

after we let joey stretch it out and rest, john came to meet us as well and we headed back to the hotel to defrost and freshen up.

we were getting hungry so john and i took them to hill country for some hearty bbq – uhm… these photos don’t even do any justice because we ordered a hell of a lot more than what you see…

afterwards, we needed to walk off all that meat and we found a nice little flea market around the corner.

now, i’ve been watching a lot of american pickers and pawn stars lately, so you can say that i was on the hunt for some “good picks” bahahahahaha! and i came away with a few things that i was excited to bring home.

and here’s what i bought!

after the flea market, i took them to bloomingdale’s and then tried to go to serendipity’s but the wait there was 2 hours and we weren’t going to wait that long in the cold. so then we walked over to dylan’s candy bar that has a dessert bar upstairs but they were renovating and wouldn’t open til april!!!! WAH!

so what did we do?

we went back to the hotel then my sister, myself and john walked to shake shack in midtown and bought a ton of shack burgers, a couple of concretes, and a couple of milkshakes. OH YEA – we did. and we felt fat.

ps – the vanilla pretzel concrete is pretty tasty – the chocolate one was too chocolatey for me =/

family food tour: DAY 3…

last saturday we all woke up early, not sure why… oh yea, we were going to meet up with my uncle and his family in queens.

my sister, her hubby and their mom ended up staying in the city to try to catch a broadway show while my bf, my parents and i hopped on the 7 and headed out to 69th and roosevelt. we were gonna go to ihawan but my uncle ended up taking us to this other joint called tito rad’s filipino grill and restaurant right off queens blvd.

their specialty was tuna – tuna steaks, tuna jaw, tuna belly. i’m a fan of tuna, but these dishes were MASSIVE and kinda scary bahahahaha!

we also ordered the typical bangus, pork bbq, and some other dishes i don’t remember but i’ll google them for you. oh yea, we had adobo fried rice =)

Ukoy (Bean Sprout Fritters)

Crispy Pata - Deep Fried Pork Knuckles served with ginger and garlic

Fried Bangus (milkfish)

Nilagang Baka - Beef Short Ribs cooked with Asian vegetables in beef broth

Pork BBQ

Inihaw na Panga - Grilled Tuna Jaw

Grilled Tuna Belly

after a plentiful meal, my uncle drove us back to manhattan and we walked around central park where my sister caught up with us. we also window shopped along 5th ave pretending we were one of those rich asian families that drop dough on crazy designer bags and jewelry.

by that time we walked around just enough to work up another appetite. we decided to have some italian so joey could eat pasta before his half marathon the next morning. not wanting to travel too far, we opted to check out this one italian spot by madison square garden (by the hotel) called lugo caffe. obvioiusly i was in doubt when eating around msg, but when we walked in, i was very surprised to find a spacious and family friendly italian joint. the food was also very tasty.

chicken pesto pasta

veal braised in lemon and caper suace (yummmm)

and again, we had to call it a night after bingeing all day…

outfit post: jeffrey campbell lita’s…

i caved in and bought a pair of the JC lita platforms.

and you know what?

BEST PURCHASE EVERRRRRR!

ladies, believe it or not, these are by FAR the most comfortable platforms i own. even though i’m about 4+” above the ground, my feet feel more than sturdy walking around and the rubber soles give that extra padding i need to keep moving for hours!

i think i’ll have to buy more colors as soon as they re-stock more size 6’s =)

outfit deets: jeffrecy campbell lita platforms | h&m shirt (early birthday gift from my sister) | tripp jeans

family food tour: DAY 2…

the next morning after my sister, bro-in-law and his mom arrived, i took my parents to my new apt by prospect park. we went early in the morning so we could get it out of the way and spend the rest of the time in manhattan.

did a bit of touring around and gifted my parents and sister with some clothes and shoes hahahaha!

when we got back to the city, my aunt met all of us by union square. OH YEA! it was my sister’s 30th birthday! i passed by baked by melissa and bought 50 mini cupcakes hehehehe.

for lunch, we went to whatever place we could find along the way and ended up at japonica. it was friday and we couldn’t eat meat because of lent, so our options were limited. i was pleasantly surprised about a few things. 1) their lunch menu offered a LOT of food for a decent price, and 2) despite the tragedy in japan, the staff was more than pleasant – one could only imagine if they had family or friends who might have suffered in the earthquake or tsunami…

i digress.

back to food:

i ordered udon served "cold" and came with a choice of donburi (i got unagi)

 

"the parents"

after lunch, we all went shopping around soho. did a TON of walking since the weather was sooooo nice. i think we were all walked out and so we headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner =)

fastforward…

we were all still pretty beat and decided to have dinner close by the hotel – again no red meat sooooooooo… eff it, we ended up at bubba gumps (my mom kept calling it bubble gum).

i have to admit, as kitchy as it is the food – WOW, well i can only speak to what i ordered: shrimp chimichurri – IT WAS DELICIOUS! the dessert (we ordered 3 kinds) was also HEAVENLY. our servers were very very verrrrrrry nice – so props to them for keeping up the positive attitude for the whole night – lord knows i wouldn’t be able to do it lol.

mudpie

chocolate chip cookie a la mode

bread pudding a la mode

ah yes… we slept well that night… happy birthday to my big sister!

outfit post: megadeth…

i’ve always had a place in my heart for metal… my ex told me it was because i was (am) an angry person… yea. i can agree with that.

from rust in peace… polaris

but my personal fave is hangar 18:

…and trust: