11:16 p.m.

a cleansing down-pour to start the new year
it's so nice to have a day off...make that two days off including the weekend.
I woke up this morning at about 10am to the sound of
rain outside our window.
the bf didn't want to get up yet, so I decided to stay in bed
a little longer to keep him company.
'said a little prayer for auntie and then
'started reading Tuesdays With Morrie, which my brother dropped off
yesterday.
this kept me busy for a good hour.

then around 11 am, me and the bf couldn't help but get out
from under the covers to look outside our bedroom window.
it was pouring like crazy by now and we just had to see for ourselves.
as we looked on, we were both on the same wavelength as we
simultaneously thought about the homeless people that
may be caught up in all of the rain.
suddenly I felt guilty for the roof over my head.

then, we walked to the living room and opened our front door.
i got tired of looking at the deluge through our crummy screen.
the storm reminded both of us of the bagiuos in the Philippines.
I remembered the house we lived in in Makati with the tall concrete
barricade you had to walk over
in order to reach our front door.
as odd as it was, it made sense to have it there
since there was apparently a lot of flooding on our street.

we eventually closed the door and cuddled
in our blankets on the couch while we watched the
J. Timberlake concert on our DVD.
our new year's breakfast consisted of a chimichanga
(those ones that come 20 a bag at Costco)
and water. how original, huh?

we finally pulled ourselves away from the tube to
carry on with the rest of our plans for the day.
ironically, by this time, the rain had ceased.
i think the downpour literally lasted for at least 4-5 hours.
maybe more.
i decided to start on balancing my checkbook
but ended up having a long discussion with the bf about what
health insurance we should purchase.
it sucks to be an adult sometimes as i'd much rather be discussing
what new color to paint our master bedroom.

but the day went on anyway.
i didn't finish paying the bills or balancing my checkbook,
but I did manage to go to the gym,
watch a little bit of "Gone With the Wind" on TBS,
go to the grocery store,
and blog.
hmmm...sounds like a pretty full day to me!

ringing in the new year
unlike last year when me and the bf decided last minute to
watch the fireworks display from Treasure Island,
this year, we had a nice quite evening together.
we needed it badly!
it has been a challenge to spend any quality time together
over these last couple of months.
both of our brains have been consumed with things other than eachother.
and it doesn't help that I've been working too many hours
or that each of us has been sick and injured.
I'm telling you, this year has been wayyy too real.

we decided on having a nice dinner at Venezia Cafe in Berkeley - my favorite restaurant.
we got there at around 5:30p just before the crowd.
we were lucky to have even had a chance to eat dinner at their bar area
because they were booked solid.
as usual, the food was delicious and cooked to perfection.
I ordered my usual: linguine with prawns and the house salad.
the bf ordered their ravioli with pesto, which was damn good.
I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with anything you order there.
we also had their fried calamari for appetizer.

it was so good to be able to spend quality time
talking, reminiscing, laughing.
made me realize that nothing was worth missing this kind
of time with my bf. nothing.

instead of stuffing our faces, we had our extra food packed up
and made room for dessert. you HAVE to make room for dessert
at Venezia, particularly for my favorite: torte gelato.
it is heaven. plain heaven.
i secretly wished for my own piece instead of sharing one with my bf. ;)

we talked more on the ride home.
we stopped off at Blockbuster and rented a couple of DVD's:
- Office Space (one of the most hilarious movies I've seen) and
- The Royal Tenenbaums (liked this one a lot, too. I like how it flowed like a book.)

we had planned to do our usual tradition of welcoming the new year, but were too tired.
then for some reason, i had a sudden surge of energy and changed my mind.
so, with 2 minutes before midnight, me and the bf rushed to open all of the doors, lights and windows.
It was quite the workout for me as I haven't set foot in a gym for weeks.
we accomplished our feat with 45 seconds left and then we counted down with Dick Clark
and his "Rockin' Eve" crew on the tube: 10-9-8-....1...happy new year!!!!
We both jumped up and down (in hopes that I would grow...even a couple more inches) and
later called our families to wish them a happy new year.
as suspected, both of our parents were asleep. thank goodness my brother woke up our parents 10
minutes before the countdown.

we called a few other friends and even received a nice call from my
drunk cousin who was as happy as a clam.
thank goodness for that.

wow...can't believe it is midnight again as i type.
it's amazing how quickly time passes sometimes.
there's still so much more to write, but guess I'll save it for later.

happy new year to everyone who reads this!
may you all find peace, happiness, love, wisdom and hope in the coming year. :)