Memorial

Memorial to Gabriela Silang in Makati City, Philippines. Gabriela Silang was one of the Philippines' first Power Women -- she led an insurgent revolt against the Spanish in the town of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, after her husband Diego was killed. She was eventually caught and hanged, but she continues to be a symbol of heroism to the Filipino people.


This photo was inspired by this week's Photo Hunt theme. Feel free to leave links to your own Photo Hunt entries below. And for more Memorials, click here.

Celebrity who?

My aunt in New York is an amateur celebrity stalker. Every time I visit her, she regales me with stories of her latest celebrity sightings. She and her husband love taking me on nighttime drives around Manhattan, showing me "celeb locations" like JFK Jr's old apartment, or where Jerry Seinfeld lives or Madonna's new brownstone. She's the type of woman who will stand in the rain across the street from Maddox Jolie-Pitt's preschool in the hopes of seeing Brangelina.

My aunt would be proud of me.

My sister and I wearing our Cafe Press idol shirts!

I've just arrived from my American Idol Season 9 Finale trip, and I've got lots and lots of photos of AI celebrities.


Here are Season 1 runner-up Justin Guarini and Season 7 finalist Brooke White. Brooke is absolutely gorgeous, and rake-thin, even more so than the regular Hollywood celeb.



Here I am with Season 7 finalist Kristy Lee Cook. Note how the photo is strategically cropped to disguise how much bigger my hips are than Kristy's.

Now I have a confession to make. At the time, I had no idea who these people were. I recognized them from past Idol seasons but I couldn't place their names. And in true celebrity-stalker mode, we took photos of starlets we didn't even recognize. I told my sister, "Who cares? We can find out who they are later! Just keep snapping!". The important thing is that we saw them....... right?



Gorgeous, leggy Fox news reporter -- who is wearing, like, 6 inch heels. Are killer shoes a Hollywood prerequisite? How does anyone walk in those things?


I can't believe that I got to stand right next to one of the few Season 9 contestants that I actually knew... and I didn't recognize him! I was so focused on trying to take a photo of Justin Guarini that I didn't really notice the big guy in front of me. My sister was gasping and pointing... him... him... him! I assumed she meant Justin. I just tought the guy was a bodyguard or something. I got tired of snapping Justin so I walked away. When I turned around, the big guy was beside Justin, and something just clicked. Michael Lynch! Aaaaaargh!

Thirty-eight can be great

You know how it is: the older you get, the less of a deal your birthday becomes. Then you get older, and gradually people start celebrating your birthdays again, and as each birthday becomes more and more of an achievement, the celebrations become ever more of a grand affair.

I think I must have passed that minimum birthday fuss level this year and started climbing back up the slope, because I had a really special 38th birthday celebration. Over the last 4 or 5 years my birthdays have been such non-events that I started declaring month-long celebrations for my birthday (it helps that Mother's Day is also in May) so I could squeeze more attention and good behavior from the kids. But this year I can't complain, because the 22nd was really all about ME:



Last Saturday I woke up to my first-ever birthday banner. Usually I stay up all night before the kids' and Alfie's birthdays, blowing up balloons and taping up streamers to decorate the kitchen wall for their special days. This time The Pea actually remembered to make one for me. It's a good thing we never got around to taking the balloons down from The Pea's birthday banner last month.



Here are my lovely cards and flowers on display. Okay, I had to buy the roses myself, but I did reach into Alfie's wallet to pay for them :) Joking aside, I'm still beyond ecstatic at the mobile broadband card he gave me for my laptop, which is way better than flowers. I also received lots of nice greetings online. Gotta love Facebook!



It seems a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake has become our family's traditional birthday cake, and my birthday was no exception.



And since my parents were in town, Alfie and I were also able to celebrate with a fun night out. I decided to make "New' the theme of the night and do things I had never, ever done before. First up was the restaurant: I chose one that serves N'awlins-style food and it turned out to be a great decision. Roux Louisiana restaurant had live jazz music, a hip crowd, and great food. How can you not feel Scarlett O'Hara Special when you're surrounded by red walls, velvet curtains, beads and fancy chandeliers?



I wore the brand-new top that I'll be wearing to the American Idol finals. It's ruffly and flirty and fun! (and thanks to all the readers who gave their suggestions on what to wear on BlogHer and on Bonggamom Finds!) You can't see it very well since I'm skulking in the ladies' room to take this photo and the light was low, so you'll have to wait until I post my American Idol trip photos to see it better. Stay tuned!



I ate alligator for the first time. These alligator strips were delicious, not stringy or tough at all (they use the meat in the alligator's tail)! And no, they don't taste like chicken; actually they taste more like calamari, and if I ever get the chance again I'd definitely order these again.



I had some Sex on the Bayou (the drink, not the act).



In fact, the only thing about the night that wasn't "new" were the two grownups who were celebrating. I had fun from the moment I stepped into that restaurant till the moment we collapsed into bed and had some more Sex on the Bayou (not the drink...) I can't think of a better way to Celebrate Thirty-Eight!

(But I'm still keeping my month-long birthday celebration).

I'm an Ad!

Those aren't my kids, and that's not my Flip camera.... but that is my name on the ad! I stopped by my blog this morning and was greeted with this nice surprise -- a BlogHer ad network spot featuring yours truly and the $200 giveaway courtesy of Flip Video that I'm currently running as a BlogHer Reviewer. I know it's silly and self-centered, but I can't help feeling tickled that this ad is running on millions (okay, maybe thousands.... or maybe hundreds.... or tens?) of blogs and people get to see my lil' ol' blog.

Which reminds me.... I'd better go and make sure that there aren't any typos or funky graphic glitches for people to point at when they land on that post!

Monthly

The monthly task we all dread.... paying bills! Thank God for automatic payments and electronic transfers. Even if I had to write out the checks manually, since today is my birthday, this is ONE task I am NOT going to suffer through today :)

This photo was inspired by the latest Photo Hunt theme. Feel free to leave links to your own Photo Hunt entries below. And for more Monthlies, click here.

Girls have a xxx and Boys have a yyy

When genitals of either gender happen to come up in our conversation, Alfie and I rarely use the proper terms. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they sound so clinical. Maybe it's because neither of our parents used the proper terms when we were growing up. Maybe it's because there are so many other interesting, colorful terms available that not to use them would be a shame. Alfie could rattle off ten names each without even pausing to take a breath, and, I'm guessing, so could you. I'm not going to print the obvious ones or the nasty-sounding ones, because if I do my site might start appearing on all the wrong Google searches, and I'd turn off my family-oriented readers and advertisers. Besides, those terms are the boring ones. I much prefer the creative names, like

Family jewels
Tackle
Wee Willie Winkie
Meat and Two Veg
Frank-n-Beans
The Old Pork Sausage
Peach
Flower
Loving Cup
Kiki

(it's up to you to guess which ones are male and which ones are female)

I'm sure no-one but Alfie and I cares about which terms we use when we talk among ourselves -- but I've heard it said time and time again that parents should use the correct anatomical terms with their kids. And I have to admit, we don't do that. Whenever we talk to our kids about their private parts, we say Winkie and Pee-Pee, not Penis and Vagina. They do know those words are nicknames, and they do know the correct terms. They hear me use the proper terms when I take them to the pediatrician. And we do consider ourselves to be pretty open when it comes to our bodies (we're not self-conscious about appearing naked in front of the kids). But somehow it feels weird and overly formal to call a "Pee-Pee" a vagina -- kind of like saying "phalanges" instead of "toes", "rectum" instead of "bum" or "butt", "excrement" or "waste" instead of "poop". Am I teaching my kids to be embarrassed about their private parts? Do you have nicknames for your private parts (or is that already a nickname)? Or do you find nicknames annoying?


This post was inspired by the Silicon Valley Moms Book Club's May selection, the Body Scoop for Girls: A Straight-Talk Guide to a Healthy, Beautiful You. It's a down-to-earth guide to feminine health written by an ob-gyn who specializes in adolescent gynecology. I received a free copy of the book to review, and I do think it's a great book, one that I will probably give to The Pea when she's old enough. Click here to see what the other SV Moms have to say about this book!

Christians, muslims, and other mythical creatures

My mother is a very religious person, and she likes to go to mass every day. We have a church within walking distance of our home (it's actually the church that Alfie and I got married in), so when she visits us she likes to walk to and from the church for daily mass. Yesterday was a rainy day, so I offered to drive her and my dad after we picked up 3Po and Jammy from school. After we dropped them off, 3Po and I had an interesting theological discussion:

3Po: Lola (that's what he calls my mother, it's the Filipino word for "grandmother") is a Christian, right? Do Christians believe in God?

Me: Yes.

3Po: What about Muslims?

Me: Muslims also believe in God, but they have a different name for God -- they call him Allah.

3Po: So what do you call a person who believes in mermaids?

Why I volunteer at school

Since I'm a stay-at-home parent, I'm lucky enough to have enough free time on my hands (or to be more precise, the ability to juggle my schedule around) to spend time volunteering at the kids' school. I don't have quite the organizational skills or the energy or the drive to take on any major leadership roles in our school's PTA; I prefer to be active in a supporting role, lending a hand at PTA functions or managing tshirt sales or organizing smaller events like ice skating parties.

But the volunteering I enjoy most involves getting down and dirty in the classroom with my kids and their classmates. I like signing up to help with art class, math labs, recess and library. I'm a room parent who helps organize class parties and collect money for teachers' gifts and recruit other volunteers. And when time permits, I'm a driver and chaperone on field trips.

It's a win-win situation for everyone involved: the teachers get the extra hands they so desperately need, which frees them up to give more one-on-one attention to their students. But the biggest winner is probably yours truly. Here are just some of the ways I benefit from the volunteering that I do at school:

* It gains me lots of points with my kids. They love the attention I give them in class, and they just about burst with pride whenever they see me there. I don't know how long it will be before they they start pretending they don't know me, but for now I'm enjoying them enjoying me.

* I get a glimpse of my kids' lives in a universe that doesn't revolve around me. I get to see my kids interact with their teacher and their classmates, and I get to check on them and make sure they're thriving and learning (the control freak in me really likes that).

* I get to know my kids' teachers a little bit better. After all, they are my kids' mom-away-from-home. Their teachers are molding my kids' little minds as much as I am, so I want to establish a good relationship with them.

* I get to know my kids' friends. I get to know their names, so when 3Po comes home with stories of playing with Evan and sitting at Anna's table, I know who they're talking about. And I get to know their personalities -- who are the quiet kids, who are the live wires, and who are the ones that 3Po really, really likes playing with.

* My kids' friends get to know me. After spending so much time breaking up fights, opening their yogurt tubes, admiring their artwork, checking out their library books, they become comfortable, even affectionate with me. There's nothing nicer than having one of their friends run to me and say, "I know you! You're Jammy's mom!".

Volunteering in class is not all sweetness and light. Some days I find myself on a blogging roll, and I hate to break the momentum and head to school for volunteer duty. Some days I just don't feel like doing it, and I feel like a naughty kid who wants to play hooky. Being in charge of five loud, hyper-excited kids (four of whom aren't related to me) on a field trip is guaranteed to raise anyone's stress levels, and when I'm on playground duty I find myself checking the time every five minutes, hoping the teacher rings the bell so I don't have to ask yet another kid to walk, not run. But, as Martha Stewart would say, it's such a Good Thing that you can bet you're going to find my name on that volunteer sign up sheet year after year.


This post was inspired by the Yahoo Motherboard's topic of the month, Volunteerism. Click here to read more posts by the other amazing Yahoo Moms.

My AI Wardrobe Dilemma

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that I'm headed to LA next week to watch the American Idol finals. Last week I received my ticket confirmation email for both the final performance and results shows. It's going to be held at the Nokia Theatre, and everyone has to be in their seats by 4:30PM since the telecast begins at 5:00PM (8:00PM EST). I forgot about that East Coast delay -- it's going to be weird knowing who the winner is before Alfie and everyone else in Northern California watch it!

The ticket confirmation also had some wardrobe restrictions printed on it: No logos, t-shirts, hats, or shorts. Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to save my "Simon is my American Idol" shirt for the daytime. But I'm still undecided on what to wear. I'm hoping people will give me suggestions, so here are a couple of bribes for you:

* Leave a comment with your suggested outfit here and you could win an American Idol tshirt from CafePress.

* Leave a comment with your vote for the best outfit here and you could win $100 from BlogHer.


What are you waiting for? Help me out!

The Moment that Got Away

Have you ever shot a video of your kid and felt like a great parent for capturing those precious memories, only to find out that the video was less than perfect? We do it all the time. Sometimes it's because we screwed up and ended up with unwatchable videos. We have videos that are too blurred, or too dark. We have videos that are so jumpy that watching them gives you motion sickness.

Check out this video done in "portrait mode". I took this one with our regular point-and-shoot camera, and turned the camera on its side, forgetting that I was shooting a video, not a photo. So we've got a cute video of Jammy, learning how to jump, but not quite understanding how to keep both feet in the air at the same time -- but you need to turn your head ninety degrees to watch it.



Check out this video of a great indoor soccer game when The Pea was five. Alfie We must have pressed the "Record" button without knowing it. Then, when things started happening and we zoomed in to capture The Moment, we pressed the "Record" button thinking we were turning it on.... not turning it off. Hence this lovely video of a basketball parquet floor.



But the most frustrating videos are the ones we never get to capture. Do you have a video moment that you missed? Share it with us, and you could win $200! Click here to go to my Flip Video post and enter to win a $200 gift card.