Palm Springs

June 14th
Pictures Ahead

The past few days, nothing much has happened in my life. I've been planning fun things to do with my friends for the next two weeks, but I have not been actually doing anything fun. I have been reading, studying, going to the gym, and watching Filipino TV shows and movies.

Yesterday, however, my parents decided to go to Palm Springs (more like my mom wanted to, and she somehow convinced my dad literally fifteen minutes before we left the house). My mom has been having these moments where she feels the need to just "enjoy life," and "cherish every moment with [her] children." The three of my siblings and I are leaving the nest at least by the end of this year, so my mom has been trying to make the most of this year. These mother-children bonding moments always end up being fun.

So around one in the afternoon yesterday, my brother, little sister, parents and I hopped onto our minivan and drove to Palm Springs. The whole entire time, my brother would keep trying to direct my dad to McDonald's because he was craving a sundae. My dad would just say, "Sorry, muchacho!"

The ride there took about two hours, and when we got there the van started overheating. We weren't quite sure if the van was going to make it, but oh boy... once we turned off the air conditioning to help cool off the engine, we realized how hot and humid it is in Palm Springs. Hats off to everyone who lives there.

There were only two things we really did there: go on the tram, and hike. My mother is a huge fan of the tram... which she didn't tell me revolves. It is apparently one of the highest trams in the world, which did not make me feel any better. I am afraid of heights.

How afraid?

I can't even ride ferris wheels. The roller coaster rides at Knott's that are meant for little kids freak me out. I screamed on the Rocket Ships at Disneyland. When I was filming back in junior year, I had to stand on top of a table that's only about five feet off the floor. After filming, my friend told me to get off, but it took me about ten minutes to get off because I was too scared I was going to fall off.

So as you can imagine, getting on one of the highest trams in the world freaked me out. I just tried to calm myself down and distract myself, but once the thing started revolving, I started hanging onto my mom or the railings. It was terrifying for me, but totally worth it; the view was beautiful.

85,000 miles upwards later, the tram finally made it to the top. The view was beautiful. You could see the wind mills, the whole entire city, and the mountains from the top. My family and I then hiked around, stopping once a while to, of course, take pictures.

counting how old the tree was based on the rings

After hiking, we were all hungry. My brother kept saying, "Can we go to McDonald's now?" while my mother wanted to try the restaurant at the tram station. We sat at the restaurant at the tram station, saw the prices on the menu ($$$), and took off without telling the waitress. I really wonder what the waitress thought when she found our table empty. 

We exited the tram place, and drove around. We found this place called Rick's Desert Grill, and at first my dad thought it was just a regular American food joint, but then he found out that the place served Cuban food. He wanted to leave because he's never had Cuban cuisine (and he's picky), but we all convinced him to stay. 

Rick's Desert Grill

No regrets. 

First of all, the service was amazing. Our waiter was extremely friendly, very down-to-earth, and explained Cuban cuisine to my dad. 

Second of all, the ambiance was awesome. Walls were filled with old pictures, either of famous people or of a historic event that occurred in Palm Springs. There were a lot of families and older people in the restaurant, as well, which gave the place a very homey feel.

Lastly, and most importantly, the food was amazing. No complaints from my father at all, nothing from my mom either, and us kids loved it. Every time the waiter came around and asked how to food was, our mouths were either full or we'd say, "SO GOOD." 

Definitely try Cuban food. 

Cuban Picadillo Stuffed Tostones (or something like that)

Ditch the whipped cream - the flan is heaven by itself

Anyway, eventually the night ended, and we drove home. Once again, it took about two hours, and my brother kept on trying to direct my dad towards McDonald's. 

Don't worry -- my brother got his fix of sundae today.

If  you're off to college next year, make sure to spend some time with your family!

Also, plan on hiking this summer if you haven't gone! 

Much sun,

Annika. 

  

National Best Friends Day

June 10th

National Best Friend Day was on June 8th.
I can't say that I only have one best friend.

For example, I have two childhood best friends who I grew up with in the Philippines. We don't talk much anymore because we're a whole Pacific Ocean away, but we update each other now and then. The friends you grow up with tend to not forget you, and they'll always be there for you.

when I visited in 2013

When I moved to California in 2007, it was difficult for me to make friends in elementary. I could barely speak English, and most of the kids who bothered to start a conversation with me only did so out of kindness. Fortunately enough, I did met a couple girls who I ended up staying with all through middle school. 

Once high school started, the same group of girls got broken up. At first it was because of me going to a different high school, but then high school drama got in between us, too. Can anyone else relate? Thankfully, in that same group of girls, two of us survived the hurricane of crazy female drama. Gwen and I continued to talk, hang out, support each other, and stick together despite what everyone else said. 

It's been eight years, and I cannot describe how important she has been in my life. She's the main squeeze. Whenever someone asks me who my best friend is, I always say it's her, even though I actually have five of them.

Back in eight grade, there was also a seventh grader who tried so hard to become friends with my group. Bryan was in Science Olympiad with us, and we would ignore him because he was a scrub, which is what we called all the seventh graders. He once brought a rock to our practice, went to one of my friends and me, and tried to convince us that the rock knew how to talk. Then he would pretend that the rock was talking and he would say, "See, Annika. The rock said to be my friend. Seriously. The rock thinks I'm cool." 

Eventually, he stopped being desperate and my girl friends and I found him to be entertaining and nice enough to be a part of our group. He was our honorary scrub. He hung out with us all the time, and even got mingled in the drama that happened in high school. Thankfully, he chose to stay with Gwen and me, instead of the other ones. Bryan completes us in a way I cannot explain. He reaches out to us the most, especially when the two of us get busy, and he fills in the times where Gwen cannot understand one of my situations and vice versa. I do still give him a hard time about the talking rock, though.

Now, after eight years with her, and five years with him, the three of us are still going strong. We all text and call each other often, but since we're all busy and our schedules tend to overlap, we only get to see each other about once a month. That's good enough for us, though. Once a month and our friendship still stands as strong as an oak tree. 

Me, Bryan, Gwen in 8th grade

Last night, we were all actually able to go out for some Korean BBQ to celebrate Gwen's graduation. It was a nice way to catch up and talk about our summer plans. The two of them are going to Mexico (at different times), which I find quite unfair. I want to go, too! But it might be bad because I don't remember anything from Spanish class other than "Hola, me llamo Annika. Me gusta comida."  Can you believe I took three years of Spanish? 

Rose Water Macaroon

She really wanted those macaroons

KBBQ

Snow Station

Apart from Gwen and Bryan, I have three other best friends from high school. I talked about them on my first post about Disneyland. We call ourselves OG. 

Salma is the very first one I met from our group. We had Spanish 2 class together in freshman year (obviously this class didn't help me much). We did not become good friends until she quit band in sophomore year, and she decided to stay with me and the group of really dorky guys who I sat with at lunch (don't judge me). Ever since then, Salma dealt with my craziness and absolute hyperness and constant bipolarness in high school. She has been super patient with me (and sometimes violent) these past four years. We've been together through heartaches and failed exams and late night talks in the parking lot and all nighters.  

In junior year, I decided to migrate groups because of a guy. I decided to go to a Math classroom, where I knew two of my friends tend to stay at during lunch. I eventually took Salma with me as well, and that is ultimately how our group started.  

The main reason I went to the math classroom was because my friend Jacob was there. I met Jacob in sophomore year, and we did not become friends right away either. We had two classes together, but I did not know that until he approached me during break while we were standing in front of a kiosk. He was standing right behind me, tapped my shoulder, and said, "Hi, I'm Jacob. Annika, right? We have English and Chemistry together." I gave him a fake smile, and tried to ignore him until I finally got to buy my food. I thought that he was really creepy because he looked painfully awkward and uptight. We eventually became friends, though, after we watched Pitch Perfect together in Chemistry class towards the end of the year. To this day, he still gives me a hard time for being snobby the first time we met because it's actually very difficult for him to randomly approach anybody. I'm really thankful that he decided to man up on that one random day and suck up the awkwardness. Now, Jacob is actually the closest one I am to in our group.  

My other friend that was with Jacob in that math classroom was Adam. He's the last piece to OG. The two boys left their old group, just like Salma and me. Neither of us girls were close to him yet because 1) Salma has never even met him until I brought her to the group, and 2) I thought that Adam hated me up until sophomore year. There's no actual story to tell how Adam and I suddenly became friends. We met in freshman year, but we didn't start talking until I met Jacob. I don't even know how we became close friends, to be honest. He seems to just always be there. And man, am I grateful for that. He always lends me a shoulder to lean on whenever I'm down, and he keeps me sane whenever I go crazy.  

On the last day of our first semester of junior year, the four of us (and another guy who we brought along because I felt bad for him, but he's irrelevant) decided to go to Panera. That was our official day of becoming "OG." It's kind of cute because we call it our anniversary. 

Ever since then, these three have been my best friends. All of my favorite memories in high school were with them. I cannot tell you how many times I cried during our last two weeks of high school because I was so worried of losing them in college. I hung onto Salma so many times because she was the first to leave out of all of us. There was a point where all of them got fed up with my crying, but what can I say? I'm always hydrated. 

Now, I don't know where OG's future holds, but if I was able to last long with Gwen and Bryan, and I still keep in touch with my childhood best friends, then OG should be okay. We still are, so what can possibly break us? 

Jacob, me, Adam, Salma

Growing up, I thought that having one best friend is the most important thing. However, I eventually learned that it is absolutely okay to have multiple ones. Everyone has different personalities and interests, and there will always be more than just one person who will understand a certain part of you.

It's like FRIENDS. There are six of them, and they are all best friends. Sometimes Monica can't understand Rachel, so Rachel goes to Phoebe. Or Ross goes to Chandler instead of Joey. <I hope you have all watched the show... if not, then please do>.  

The most important thing is to surround yourself with people who love you, support you, understand you, and will stick with you through all your ups and downs. Of course it is also important to make sure that you can do the same for them! After all, isn't that how it is to have and be a best friend? 

Enjoy your summer, and create amazing memories with your friends! 

Much sun, 

Annika. 

A Fun Weekend, Indeed

June 6th & 7th
     *a lot of photos ahead

It has been a pretty packed weekend, which I suppose makes up for my uneventful weekdays.

On Saturday, a lot of things happened, but I'll just focus on my friend's debut (reminder: similar to a quinceñera, except for a Filipina 18 year old).

My friend's debut was at a fancy country club. Most of my other friends and I got there by 6 in the evening, which was when cocktail started. However, cocktail really means nothing for us, under-aged children. Honestly, all we could do was take pictures.

Thankfully, the country club was huge. My friends and I decided to wander around for a bit. There wasn't much to tell. My heels kept sinking in the grass... there were a lot of birds, flowers, bugs, trees, golfers...

balcony view

look at the ducks!

There was also a Vietnamese wedding...

Which we weren't invited to, but it was pretty much done, so we went to the ceremony. We walked through it and hung around for a little while.

Finally, it was time for the party to start. The venue and decorations were beautiful. The atmosphere was intimate and fun. The food was delicious. The daughter and father dance was memorable. The debutante* was absolutely stunning.

The thing I loved the most about the party was that the debutante went around and said hello to everyone and actually hung around her friends for a while. During most debuts, there are usually way too many people that the debutante is unable to stay with her friends for a long time because she has a lot of family members to entertain.

*a debutante is the celebrant. The birthday girl. 

It was a pretty good night.

As for today, it was just really one of my usual Sundays with my family. 

First, we go to church. We get there at about 9:30 in the morning because that is when Sunday School starts and I'm an assistant teacher for the two to five year old class. We had a family guest today, and they have two little boys who happened to both be in my class. They were not shy at all. It was cute to see how the younger brother would copy everything the older brother did. It was also a little amusing, though, because the older brother would stand up every five seconds and ask me, "Where the toys? Is it after class yet?" 

My family usually goes out to lunch after church. It doesn't matter where, really. It could be just to In N' Out, or to grab some sushi or KBBQ or authentic Filipino food. Today, we went to Capital Seafood, my first time at a dim sum place.

Dim sum is Chinese (Cantonese, I believe). It is basically where all of the food is ready to serve, and waiters and waitresses come around with small steamers and plates. Once you see whatever is inside the steamers or on the plates, they ask you if you would like to order it. If you say yes, they'll stamp a card on your table to keep track of everything you're ordering, and put the steamers/plates on a revolving center table. If you say no, then they'll leave and another waiter/waitress will come around your table with a whole another type of dish.   

i really liked the lights on the ceiling

egg pudding & fruit tarts

After lunch, my mom, sister and I shopped at Mother's Market. 

It wasn't really an important part of my weekend, except that I have got to warn you all about one yogurt product:

They look really cool and pretty, but they (personally) taste disgusting. My little sister likes them only if she drowns the yogurt with berries and granola. The jars really do look cool, though (the only reason I even bothered finishing it the first time I tasted it).   

Afterwards, I went to my friend's house to celebrate her 22nd birthday. I met her in acting class six years ago, and we don't really see much of each other, so we look forward to every time we have the chance. There isn't much to tell other than her family was extremely kind, she has a nice backyard, and has A LOT pets. 

this is just ONE of her snakes

I also left the party with a graduation/early birthday gift from her. Seriously. 

Who goes to a birthday party and leaves with a gift? 

(Thank you, Tina, if you're reading this).

The Tustin Street Fair, one of the things I wanted to attend this summer, was also today. I drove by, but I really didn't feel like walking around and eating a bunch of fried street food and smelling beer. 

Don't worry, I didn't really miss out on much. I go every summer.

And now, I finally have some time to relax.

My little sister is studying for her finals week, while I am sitting on the couch and watching FRIENDS. 

I was nice, though. I bought her ice cream.

Don't you wish your sister was cool like me? 

Good luck to all of you still taking exams. 

And CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who is graduating this June! 

Your summer is about to start! 

And let me tell you... this summer seems very promising. 

Much sun, 

Annika.