3,455 miles of fun & love

what vacation bliss with the boy i love.
max took me on the roadtrip of a lifetime!
it would take a million words to tell you lovies how much i looooved each moment with my bf.
so instead, a few pics and my top 5 moments of each City?:

first stop: Atlanta, GA
1. Grandparent's house & seeing old family pictures like below [that's my sweet boy in his momma's lap]
2. Maxham Rd.- they seriously have a road!
3. GA Tech- seeing where my boy went as an undergrad
4. eating at Varsity
5. Sharing a pitcher of blue moon and pizza that reminded me of Italia at felinies

Lynchburg, VA
1. His family. I do believe my boy comes from a good one!
2. They were so sweet, trying to accomodate to my vegetarian ways- like taking me to the charming Farm Basket. I was in love.
3. Watching Max interact with his cute 3 yr old nephew (who's name is Caleb and thought my name was MiCaleb)
4. Monticello- how smart was our 3rd President!? i was blown away. *side story: we played with writing with a quill- below is Max's love letter to me. It says, "It [quill ink] stays forever. I hope you do too."
5. Max driving me out to the top of a hill to see the City lights. I couldn't stop smiling, i was so happy in that moment. Happiness, you had finally found me.



Washington D.C.
I could not contain my happiness to FINALLY see our Capital!

1. Hitting the tourist stops, but esp. the Vietnam Wall. My pappa is a vietnam veteran so I HAD to enscribe the name of my Pappa's best friend growing up. It was a sad moment.
2. Hanging out with my Nagita and meeting her friends (who were also in town from Texas for a conference)
3. VAN GOGH- we only had time to hit one Smithsonian, so I chose the Museum of Natural Art.
4. Nagita giving us a personal tour of her workplace, The Washington Post
5. Walking everywhere with my bf, who didn't mind taking a pic of tipsy me making out with Barack... on a wall


Memphis, TN
this was a surprise unplanned stop on our way home so bf could surprise me with...

1. GRACELAND!!!
2. Beale St.
3. Dancing to the blues with Max
4. Getting our charictures done
5. buying matching Gold Elvis sunglasses at Graceland

Dear Max,

Thank-you with ALL my heart for an amazing time.
Thank-you for sharing your wonderful family with me.
Thank-you for getting us everywhere safely and for letting me nap while you drove.
Thank-you for sharing your childhood bed with me. *wink
Thank-you for making me feel loved, and closer than ever to you.
I love you! and miss you already. (even though I will see you in a few hours when we both get off work)

love you mostly,
Chunga xo

MJ.

hello lovies!!! I'm still on vacation with my wonderful wonderful bf, but I couldn't NOT blog on today.

Me and Max were having lunch at the Post Pub (waiting on our personal tour of the Washington Post) when he turned my attention to the screen showing CNN, announcing that Farrah Fawcet had died. I gasped, out loud. This gorgeous sex symbol of a generation had died. It seemed unreal. I told Max that they say it comes in three's... first Ed, her today...

he said, "they always say that" kind of shrugging off me believing that. I did not know I would be talking about my MJ a few hours later.

I LOVE michael jackson. I always have. I even joked with Max that I would let our kids stay at Neverland lol I loved each of his songs, and watching him dance/perform was a favorite of mine and twinkie's. On our ride back to his parent's today we listened to CNN's coverage on Sirius Radio and my heart broke.

It's unreal isn't it? An icon, the King of Pop, A LEGEND, a talented and gifted artist set to go on tour for his comeback died today. With Farrah, we knew it was coming and I'm glad she's not suffering anymore, but my MJ?

so i cried.
real tears.
and sweet bf put his hand on my leg, knowing how upset I was at this breaking news.
After all, one of the first birthday gifts he gave me was MJ's 25th anniversary CD of Thriller.

Michael Jackson, whatever they said about you over the past years that weren't so good... and whatever medical reports will come out about why your big heart failed you today... i still and always loved you. And i KNOW i'm not the only one. You will be missed.

So please sing to my Granddaddy.

My twinkie will sing "American Pie" for me like she did today on the phone with me when we discussed this still shocking news.

The day the music died.

Happy Friday!!! I'm off on vacation bliss!!!!

lovies, i hope you all enjoyed a wonderful week!
mine was so so, and that's probably because I was too excited about this: late tonight (like the usual time Darling Friend goes to work, in the early a.m.) me and bf are leaving on a week vacation!!!! and... wait for it.... staying with his parents!

we are Roadtripping it across the states. Our first stop-off will be in Atlanta (Max went to school there- GA Tech), then Virginia where his parents live. I would be really nervous (i still am BUT it could be worse...) but I've already met them when they visited him here. (we were best friends, remember?) Still, they will meet me as his girlfriend. And we'll stay there together with them. Wish me luck girls!!! I'm really nervous about meeting his sister because i seem to be such the opposite of her.

I even did the crazy thing of asking Max if he thought they'd like me more than his ex gf. (I know right? like he'd tell me the truth. *wink)

I am just sooo excited about getting away with my boy. and on an actual road trip! he's also going to take me to D.C. and i am SOOOO EXCITED about that. i've never seen the Capital!!!

i am going to miss my twinkie :( and my puppy Maverick! omg, you have no idea how much i'm sad about not being able to take her. I just don't think she could handle that long in the car, plus she's still so much a puppy i'm afraid she would drive Max's parents crazy. Sigh, I miss her already.

i'm also going to miss reading your blogs and posting, but i will be sure to catch up when i get back. So until NEXT Monday my lovies....

big kisses!!! xo

and wish me extra luck with his family !


*couple pic via le love.

being surprised with flowers at work by your bf is the best.

he got me two cards: one was to celebrate my 1 year at my current job (i can't believe it's been a year already) and the second one... well we got in a minor misunderstanding yesterday. That's our saying, "I love you, you know." We always say that to each other after a fight. Now it's our thing.

THANK YOU for making my Friday bf!!!!

I love you, you know.

our friday picture exchange

some of you have met my lauren by now from her new cute-as-her blog.
we (along with twinkie) constantly email each other while at work. I like to think we're keeping each other company.

our emails are pretty entertaining. Leave it up to twinkie to send us the PostSecrets every Monday and the latest Perez Hilton Gossip about our fave celebs.

On Fridays, we have TGIF Friday pictures, where we snap a pic of ourselves on our cell phones and email them to each other. We're dorks like that, but i love it!!! Twinkie's cell camera is messed up, so she was left out this week. Here's lo's and mine.

I look queasy cos of the color in our stockroom lol and my blackberry doesn't take as good pics as Lo's cell (weird right?) but i was trying to show lo my nails. At first i hated them- i don't do color cos it makes my fingers look even chubbier, but my sweet nail lady talked me into it. I'm a sucker and she was telling me about these new kits they were excited about and i could tell no one was using them and felt bad. I thought my whole nail was going to be red, not just the tip. They've grown on me now... i suppose it's trendy.

i love my girls. love them!

"Where We Will Sparkle Forever"

-author Amy Tan, about being in love.

*seen on swish & swanky

my weekend last weekend.

pappa's art work in an art exhibit:
the first 2 are his. I have been coveting the 1st one. It's of Benazir Bhutto. He even used real lace on the clothing that i wished i had taken a picture of to show you.

My parents were so cute looking at other art work together.
me and little seester outside the Mane Event projects- local artists painted horses around town with their own designs. My pappa has one over by the college i went to.

Friend's going away party:
Jermaine Ferrell was the Sports Anchor at the station I worked at (the one bf currently works at). He's on his way to Mississippi. Small world moment: Max's first job was at the competing station that Jermaine's going to. The picture of the drinks raised is pretty much how the night went.

the bitter and the sweet.

"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.”

-Jeremy Irons

*pic via Restart My Heart

i want a pet fawn.

Audrey Hepburn had one. A pet fawn she called Pippin. How cute is that? i think i will ask darling friend for one...

and he would tell me that i would do the exact same thing audrey is doing in this picture below.

i know him, and he knows me.

for now, i do love puppy kisses.

*see rare pics of audrey hepburn here, via english muse.

i was in need of serious laughs yesterday...

me and bf had a movie date with the Wilsons and saw


pretty raunchy hilarity!!! but i laughed the whole way through.
it was fun and crazy
made me miss vegas

oh and can i just say? mr. upcoming- BRADLEY COOPER. I know he's been around the movies (and recently wasn't he linked to my girl Jen Aniston?) but this one- he had the leading role. i kinda like him there.

sometimes for no reason at all i feel like this:

and i think, i should have handled that better.
or... i should have kept myself a mystery.
or haven't i learned enough heart-ache?
haven't i learned a lesson?

because if i keep at it...
i will end up alone, on a step
reliving my mistakes.

i'm happy. i really am.
i need to tell you this a 1,000 and one times.
i need to let go.

but for tonight, please let me be a mess.
please let me listen to sad songs.
please let me have a good cry.
please let me pour another glass of wine.
please let me feel pathetic.
please.

because tomorrow is another day.
and i will be better.

but for tonight... just for tonight... let me FEEL.


*pic from the english muse.

the perfect accessory to any of my outfits

When i saw these on Belen's Boutique, i HAD to have them!!!
truth be told, i really wish i was the girl to pull of jewelry with every outfit.
most times i have my spoon ring and that's about it. Belen's jewelry may have changed my mind.

when i saw these, i was in love and knew they would work with anything!!!
aren't they gorgeous? beautiful detail?

i was sooo happy to get them after a sucky end of my work day.
i wasn't expecting them and so it meant even more to open up a package containing beautiful earrings and a sweet note from Belen. She said these would look good with my pretty eyes and smile. Belen you are a darling girl and becoming such a great friend to me. You made my day and you didn't even know it. Thank-you!!! xo



if you haven't visited Belen's Boutique on Etsy, well why haven't you? *wink
you can find her adorable blog here.

ps. she's a filipina like me, except she's full filipino. That makes us sisters :)

It's Magical.

Anyone who's ever meant anything to me has read this book, because I've made them. I loved it that much. I dreamt of meeting my Henry, and as you know... I have a thing about time travel.

I have been waiting for this movie for years.
Thanks to Marisa, I FINALLY saw the trailer:



could they have found more perfect actors to star as my Henry and Clare? nope, I don't believe they could have.

I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!

my sun-kissed weekend

The Wilsons (twinkie + Husband + Logan) invited us to his Mother's house while she was out of town to lounge at her pool.
Lounge we did! day & night, because how fun is night time swimming?!
i call Philip's Mom, my mother-in-law. She told me to help myself out to her liquor cabinet, and although i didn't, i couldn't help but pose with my ex love Jose (me and tequila broke up in college).

me + twinkie had our babies with us, her boy Logan & of course, my baby girl Maverick.

i lost my top twice, once to diving and once to the sun. *wink
i felt like i did when i was in italy. [sorry for the kind of risque photos- it's just my back!!!]

i love the picture of twinkie & my darling friend... it's a picture of my two favorite people.


THANK-YOU to the Wilsons!!!
we love the fun we had under the sun and i love you! xo