Take this quiz to see how well you know Pierriana. Cindy and Sasha put this together for my bridal shower last weekend in San Diego. My lovely sister has also included some fun, little known facts about Pierre and Ariana =)

1. Ariana and Pierre met while attending University of Michigan. Where at U of M did Ariana and Pierre first meet?

a. Commons

b. Football Game

c. Environmental Science 101

d. Library

e. Protection of Amphibians Club Meeting

f. None of the above

2. How many matching pairs of t-shirt/outfits do Pierre and Ariana own?

a. 3

b. 5

c. 7

d. 9

3. Where did Pierre and Ariana go on their first date?

a. A movie

b. A coffee house

c. An Indian restaurant

d. A concert

e. None of the above

4. What can Pierre do, that Ariana cannot – select the one that most applies?

a. Drive in traffic circles

b. Match clothing

c. Go clothing shopping unsupervised/alone

d. The Worm

e. Drink any type of beverage out of a straw

5. How many dances have Pierre and Ariana learned & performed together? (Extra Credit,

if you could name the dances.)

a. 2

b. 3

c. 4

d. 5

Name Them:

6. On Halloween during grad school, Ariana and Pierre dressed in matching costumes, what

were they?

a. Beavis & Butthead

b. Cow & Milkmaid

c. Superman & Superwoman

d. Beaker & Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

e. Dog & Cat

7. What sport did Ariana and Pierre both do on a school team?

a. Ultimate Frisbee

b. Academic Bowl

c. Gymnastics

d. Soccer

e. Rugby

f. Interpretive Dancing

8. Where did Pierre propose to Ariana?

a. Walking in Rego Park

b. In front of the Washington Monument

c. On a lookout point in Puerto Vilamil

d. On a Ferris wheel at South Pier (Chicago)

e. During a romantic trip to Target

9. For Pierre’s birthday, Ariana made her cousins & sister learn what dance?

a. The Lambada

b. The dance from Flashdance

c. The dance from Napoleon Dynamite

d. The Thriller dance

e. The Milkshake

10. Which of the following statements is false?

a. Contrary to his name, Pierre is not French

b. Ariana was named after a country song about a man-stealing woman

c. Pierre, like Ariana, enjoys Grease 2

11. Who is Preston Tyrone?

a. Their neighbor

b. Their pet goldfish

c. Pierre’s best friend

d. Their pet cat

12. What gifts were exchanged when the two matriarchs met one another?

a. Calendar/box of chocolates

b. Homemade cookies/seashells

c. Incense/ Bag of pan de sal (Filipino bread)

d. Charm bracelet/travel book

e. None of the above

f. No gifts

13. Where do Ariana and Pierre plan to go on their Honeymoon?

a. Technotronic trip to Europe

b. Jaguar Preserve in Belize

c. White-water rafting in the Amazon

d. Visiting an isolated guinea pig farm in South America

e. Biking trip down the West Coast

f. Where ever there are no traffic circles!!!

14. Pierre and Ariana won the coveted title of what?

a. Longest Amount of Time Wearing Matching T-shirts/Outfits

b. Fiercest Couple

c. Champions of the American Museum of Natural History Scavenger Hunt

d. Highest GPAs in University of Michigan

15. In which New York City borough do Pierre and Ariana currently reside?

a. Brooklyn

b. Queens

c. Bronx

d. Manhattan

e. Staten Island Answer key:1. a2. c3. c4. d5. a (Napoleon Dynamite and Michael Jackson's Bad)6. b7. c8. c9. c10. c11. d12. a13. a14. c15. b Count up your number of correct answers. 11-15: Pana (Kichwa word for best friend)10-6: Friend5-0: Facebook friend

Hilarious skit from Saturday Night Live

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

For Christmas this year, Pierre and I went to southern California to see his parents, my parents, and my family and friends. We spent the first four days in Beaumont with his parents and the last four days in San Diego with my friends and family. I got to visit with my favorite kitties in the world, Shnowy and Chessie. They are living with my mom now, and they are going to turn 17 in March. They are content senior citizens, and spend all of their time laying on the couch and demanding attention. Chessie is the orange tabby. She is getting senile in her golden years, and will just cry at everyone and everything.

Here is the plump and cuddly Shnowy. He still follows everyone all over the house and purrs constantly.

Shnowy putting his face in Pierre's camera.

I got to visit with a few of my Peace Corps friends when we were in San Diego. We met my friend Mike for breakfast in Ramona. Mike is helping us plan our honeymoon trip along the Oregon coast. Pierre and I are going to bike from Portland down to Florence or something like that. Mike is helping us plan our route and loaning us equipment. He might also be available to drive us to our starting point and then pick us up when we're done! Woohoo! Mike has also volunteered to DJ our wedding. He is a very talented musician and we have similar taste in music, so we know he will be the perfect MC/DJ =)

My mom wanted to go to the Wild Animal Park when we were in town to see their Holiday Lights display. Whenever we go to the Wild Animal Park, we always have to see the marmosets, since they are my mom's favorite animal.

The meerkats are also adorable.

Lots of egrets hang out at the Park too. I liked the crest on this guy's head.

Here's Pierre seeing how he sizes up against a gorilla.

My mother doing her best gorilla impersonation.

The famous cock on the rock! You can see these guys in Mindo in Ecuador, but I never was able to get up early enough to see them whenever I stayed in Mindo.

Another star attraction at the Wild Animal Park is the hyacinth macaw. I had never seen a parrot that large. He was a brilliant blue and seemed to enjoy all the attention he was getting. Look at all those cameras!

We visited Lorikeet Landing, where people can buy a cup of nectar for $3 to feed to the rainbow lories. The birds are pretty friendly and will land on you even if you don't have any nectar. This guy landed on me as soon as we walked in, and stayed for a bit even though I didn't have any food for him.

This poor little boy got mobbed by the lories. I don't think he liked that one bird sitting on his head!

Pierre and I near the cheetah exhibit.

My friend Michelle from the Peace Corps and her boyfriend Eddie met us at the Wild Animal Park. It was a meeting of the half-Asian club! From left to right is the half-Filipina girl, the half-Chinese guy, and the half-Japanese chica.

The Holiday Lights exhibits were cool, but hard to photograph. I really liked this tarantula because it seemed like it was lurking in the bushes, waiting to strike.

Pierre and I met up with four different groups of people on the day after Christmas. Breakfast with Mike, Wild Animal Park with Michelle, dinner with my aunt, cousin, and her boyfriend, and then karaoke and clubbing with some of my high school friends. My itinerary is always jam-packed when I am in San Diego because I like to see everyone when I'm in town. Here's us at dinner. From left to right is Addam (Alex's boyfriend), Alex (my beautiful cousin), my Auntie Ging and Pierre and me.

Me and Kristin singing Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl at the Whiskey Girl bar and club in the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. Next time we go there I am going to sing Shut Up and Let Me Go by the Ting Tings with Cindy. I love the Ting Tings!

On Saturday night we went over to my friend Jamie's house for dinner with all my high school friends. My friend Carla just had a baby 3 weeks ago. Here's Cindy holding little Everett.

Kristin sitting with the new mommy Carla and Everett.

Our host Jamie excited to give out wonderful Christmas presents!

Pierre singing the Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. He did a good job, better than me!

Pierre and I discovered that we really suck at karoake and will probably only do it when we are in San Diego.

When we were with Pierre's parents, we visited Santa Monica to meet one of Pierre's friends. We happened to be near the boardwalk when a fire hydrant got busted, leading to a geyser in the middle of a downtown street. It was quite a sight!

I hadn't seen something like that since I visited Yosemite and saw Old Faithful!

Lots of fire trucks and other emergency personnel showed up to fix the fire hydrant. Many people crowded around too to watch the free show.

The very wet firemen eventually got the geyser under control.

I liked this cute little frog on a lilypad decorating a drinking fountain in Santa Monica.

Pierre's friend Chris Ruth is an Illini but is now working in L.A. Chris is 6'6"! I look really short in this picture. . .

Here are some other random pictures. I dressed up as a Nanny for our annual Nanny Night at work. A bunch of volunteers and staff dress up as Nannies and kids visit Westbury House for games, arts and crafts, activities, Santa and songs. I kindof liked my Nanny outfit. Sasha thinks I should wear it for all family functions.

Last month I also ran my first 10k. I've been wanting to run a 10k for the past 7 years, but I finally had the motivation and time to train for it this year. I ran in the Jingle Bell Run in DC with one of my grad school friends Carrie. Pierre and Rakhi came to cheer me on but then unfortunately missed seeing my cross the finish line. I just ran too fast! I was happy with my time. At best, I am a 10 minute miler, and I finished the 6.2 mile race in exactly 62:05. Maybe next time I will try to finish it in under an hour!

The Jingle Bell Run is fun because all the runners get jingle bells for their shoes and people wear santa hats, antlers, elf costumes and othe crazy get-ups. A bunch of Carrie's friends ran with her too. Here are all the lady runners at the end of the race.

Happy New Year! Thanks for reading =)

Lately I've been going to a lot of tv panels. Last month, Pierre and I went to an event at the Paley Center for Media called Daily Show Writers speak! A bunch of the writers were there and a couple correspondents. Pierre and I learned lots about the show. Did you know that John Oliver is not the voice of the Geico gecko?

James Blunt's parody of "You're Beautiful" called "Triangle".

Feist's "1234"

Norah Jone's "I Don't Know Why Y Didn't Come"

It occurred to me last night that my children will be born under an Obama administration. That makes Pierre and I very happy. Pierre and I are both biracial, so our children will be multiracial (half white, quarter Filipino, and a quarter Chinese) and they will be born when a biracial man is President of the United States. Obama is the first African-American to be elected President, but he is also the first biracial person to hold the highest office in the land. Three cheers for biracial/multiethnic people! I hope that all children born in the next 8 years will be called the Obama generation and my children will be amongst them. What a great time to be born! Pierre and I must have kids in the next 8 years =)

I'm sure everyone has a story about where they were and what they were doing last night when Obama was declared the President elect. Pierre and I tried calling our family and friends after the announcement was made, but our cell phones were not working because everyone else in America was on the phone, sharing the moment with their loved ones and celebrating together. I finally had to use our landline to call my brother's landline so that I could talk to my siblings. Obama supporters don't seem to be gloating or acting mean-spirited about the win. I don't think there will be any talk of "political capital" that will be spent. Everyone just seems really happy and proud to be an American right now. Most people seem to already be focusing on the challenges ahead.

One of my friends told me a truly heart-warming story about a family that was determined to vote yesterday. And I am sure there are lots of stories like this one, and I would like to hear more of them. Please tell me any good stories you've heard! Here's my friend's story:

One mother said she just came home from voting - she was going to go in the afternoon after we left, but her 8 year-old son woke her up at 5 am all dressed up in his Sunday best because he wanted to vote and "make history". So they waited in line from 6-10am! I almost burst into tears when she told me that!

Isn't that so cool? I almost started crying when I read that email. I don't have any personal stories like that, but something funny did happen to me on my way to work this morning. Pierre and I now have 3 Obama decals on the back of our car. That's because we donated multiple times to the campaign and got a bunch of goodies. Also, we got bashed a little in the Michael's parking lot the other weekend, so we added an additional bumper sticker to cover up the scratches. We have a car magnet on the left, a bumper sticker in the middle, and a different Obama bumper sticker on the right. As I was driving to work today, another driver honked his horn repeatedly at me, smiled, and gave me a two finger salute/wave. It was sweet!

I have to admit that I am going to miss all the campaign coverage. It was my main form of entertainment these last few months. Now what am I going to do? Does anyone else feel this way?

This past Sunday was Dog Day at Old Westbury Gardens. I did not attend because I had been at the Gardens on Saturday to do a program with a Cub Scout troop. Pierre helped me out with that, lending his Eagle Scout and tree expertise =)

Anyway, Dog Day seemed like a lot of fun, so I'll try to go next year. The above video is from Newsday.com, the local Long Island newspaper. My colleague Lisa talks a little about the event in the video. I love all the cute dog costumes!

Earlier this month, the Gardens where I work at were featured on the local news as a good spot to visit to enjoy the fall colors. The reporter interviews Maura Brush, our director of horticulture.

I am finally adding captions to some of the photos I added earlier, so scroll down if you wanted some context to those pictures!

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

My Review:

review rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this story in preparation for a visit to the Village of Sleepy Hollow, which is just north of the Bronx. They had a Halloween event there, which included a narrator retelling the story and several headless horsemen riding around. The horsemen were silent, just like in the story, and I got quite a fright when one of them snuck up to Pierre and I. It's pretty scary to turn around and see a headless horseman looming up behind you. The actual story was good. I really enjoyed Irving's description of Ichabod Crane. He also did a nice job of explaining the difference between the hearts of coquettes and "normal" hearts. I also enjoyed learning more about the history of that part of New York.

Today, my niece Malaya was held by the Future First Lady Michelle Obama! Here's the story: Nathan and Julia were attending a fundraiser for the Congressional Black Caucus where Michelle Obama was the keynote speaker. She was eloquent and inspirational. After her speech, she shook hands with some of the attendees. Michelle was slowly making her way down the line, and when she spotted Malaya, she yelled "Baby!" and then grabbed Malaya. The above picture is of her shouting and grabbing Malaya. Malaya is perfect and adorable, so you can understand how Mrs. Obama could not resist her =)

Everyone surrounding Michelle Obama started taking pictures of Malaya. You can see in the above picture all the cameras pointed at the two of them. I thought we were bad in all the pictures we take of Malaya!

Look at Malaya's cute little giraffe outfit.

All those flashbulbs upset little Malaya and she started crying. Then Michelle gave her back to Julia, but not until after Nathan and Julia took their own pictures of the two of them together.Who else can claim that they've been held by Michelle Obama? Malaya is only 3 1/2 months old and she's already mingling with the powerbrokers of the world! She'll probably be invited to regular teas at the White House for other great photo ops =)

In August, Pierre and I spent a week in Chicago checking out wedding venues. Julia's mom Charlene hosted us and we had a wonderful time hanging out with her and visiting some beautiful spots in Chicago. The above photo is from the Morton Arboretum. The Arboretum was pricey and not very easy to get to, so we nixed that option fairly quickly.

We also checked out the Brookfield Zoo. That seemed fun and a good back up option. Here's a baboon playing with a smooshed plastic bottle.

Me posing in front of the Amphibian Ark and Year of the Frog poster at the Brookfield Zoo.

A photo of a lovely butterfly at the Morton Arboretum.

Bug sex!

Practice wedding shot from Promontory Point. Nice and cheesy!

Dorky kiss pose =)

We've decided to get married in Oak Park, one of the first suburbs just outside of the Chicago city limits. You can get there by two different L lines, which is very convenient, and it is close to both O'Hare and Midway. Here's a picture of the Oak Park library.

Pierre looking goofy. We were so excited about finding a venue that we spent the day cavorting amongst the flowers! Pierre is trying to express that sentiment here.

We want to get married at the 19th Century Club, which is located in the heart of Oak Park. It is right next to the Frank Lloyd Wright historic district and a few blocks from the Ernest Hemingway birthplace and museum. The Frank Lloyd Wright studio and home is a few blocks north of the Club, so our wedding guests can all make a trip up there if they want. Here's a picture of one of the houses in the Frank Lloyd Wright district.

An example of a Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass window.

Crazy mass of ants on the sidewalk.

Another Frank Lloyd Wright home.

Across the street from the 19th Century Club is Austin Park. We were thinking we could have our wedding photos taken there.

An apartment birdhouse in Austin Park.

Bust of Frank Lloyd Wright on the corner of Austin Park.

Wildflower area in Austin Park.

Another shot of the Frank Lloyd Wright sculpture.

Me paying my respects to Mr. Wright. =)

Front driveway of the 19th Century Club.

Pathway in Austin Park.

Front entrance of the 19th Century Club.

Another shot of the front of the 19th Century Club. This is where our smart cars will pull up!

Parking garage located next to the 19th Century Club. We don't have to worry about parking!

Beautiful ballroom where we'll hold the reception and dance party!

Bring your dancing shoes =)

We also visited Millenium Park while we were in town. They were having a dance festival with free performances by some of the Chicago companyies. Here are some flamenco dancers.

The Crown fountain.

Some of the dancers did a contemporary routine in Wrigley Square. We enjoyed that piece, because they really utilized all the features of the space.

Cloud Gate, also known as "the Bean". Nice reflection of the Chicago skyline.

I took this picture for Jamie since it is of King Lear. That is Jamie's favorite Shakespeare play.

Pierre in front of a metal moose.

Shot of beachgoers on the Lake Michigan waterfront. We had lunch in the Signature Room at the John Hancock tower. We are thinking of going there for our rehearsal dinner.

The Gold Coast and waterfront. We are getting married in June 2009. Woohoo!

Pierre and I both started new jobs in September. I am the "Environmental Interpreter" at Old Westbury Gardens. I think that title is pretty long, so I usually refer to myself as the "Environmental Educator" or "Education Coordinator".

Old Westbury Gardens is a historic house and gardens that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was once the home of John Phipps and his family. It has been open to the public since 1959 and docents offer tours daily to the house and gardens. Many movies and tv shows have been filmed there, like North by Northwest, the Age of Innocence, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, 8MM, the remake of the Manchurian Candidate, Cruel Intentions, Hitch, Wolf, Love Story, American Gangster, and an episode from Sex and the City. Also, the final wedding scene from Kal Ho Naa Ho was filmed there. Apparently there were a lot of fans of Shahrukh Khan who showed up and tried to sneak on the set to wave at him or get a glimpse of him. Shahrukh Khan is a big movie star. I think he is like the Tom Cruise of Bollywood. As some might recall, Rakhi taught my Peace Corps friends and I the Mahi Ve dance from that movie.

Old Westbury Gardens is also a common spot for wedding photography. The above picture is of the West Pond, with a wedding party just visible in the background.

Here is a picture of the gigantic 150 year old American beech that shades the west porch, right next to Westbury House.

Pierre's new job is with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He is their clean technology analyst, working on renewable energy and energy efficiency. He has his own blog on their website, devoted to energy issues. Pierre is really enjoying his job. He likes the work that he is doing and his co-workers and supervisors are great. Three family (or extended family) members have worked at NRDC so far, which is pretty cool.

An all important polliantor doing its job in the Garden.

Another wedding party in the Walled Garden. The Walled Garden is an Italian Renaissance Garden. It is an herbaceous, perennial garden with a fountain and a lotus pond. The displays in there are changing constantly. In May, there will be thousands of tulips. Right now there are mostly mums.

View from the north entrance into the Walled Garden.

I think Pierre saw this pretty flower in the Walled Garden.

Another picture from the Walled Garden.

Central fountain in the Walled Garden.

The spider flower. I like to point this plant out to the kids, since they can see that the plant does look like it has spider legs.

More pretty flowers, probably from the Walled Garden.

Lotus Pond in the Walled Garden. There are lots of goldfish and frogs in here.

Final picture of the Walled Garden!

Front driveway of Westbury House.

Another shot of the American beech and the West Porch.

The interior of the house is decorated with antiques and art work.

I am also volunteering at the Bronx Zoo on Saturdays when I can and volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). I work full days at the Reptile House, helping to feed, water and care for the animals in their collection. The AMNH work is mostly stuff on the computer that I can do from home. The perks for volunteering are great! The only problem is that I have less free time than I would like. I am not blogging as much as I used to.

For example, I have been meaning to blog about something that happened in the beginning of September, and I haven't been able to do that until now! When my friend Carrie visited Pierre and I in New York City, we decided to see if we could get tickets to the Colbert Report. We waited in the standby line and got in, which was super exciting. I knew the schedule of the show, since I had gone to one taping earlier in the summer (I am not a stalker). I knew that before the show started, Stephen Colbert would come speak to the audience out of character. This was our chance to ask him questions. I was too shy to ask him the first time I went to the show, but I was ready to ask him something this time if I could.

When he came over to our section, I shot up my hand and he called on me! He said, "Yes, young lady?" And I said "What's your favorite dance move?" He said "This" and then he threw up one arm and kicked back one leg, and said "Now I've probably broken my spine demonstrating that to you". It was magnificent. Me and my crush connected. Communicated. Shared a moment together. And Carrie and Pierre were there to witness it! Carrie said I did a very good job asking my question =)

Last month I bought myself a stylish Stephen Colbert bookbag. Isn't it wicked cool?!?!

One of my good friends from high school, Jamie, visited me this summer. We did a rock'n'roll and eating tour of NYC. We also went to some touristy sites. Here we are in front of the Bethesday Fountain in Central Park.

During the summer, Central Park had a hot air balloon display. I think you could actually take rides up to see the surrounding area.

I think this is another picture from the Bethesda fountain.

Last picture of the fountain!

We took Jamie to Coney Island and wandered the boardwalk on Saturday night. We came across a British guy and his friend who were singing Beatles songs. We stopped to listen and Jamie shouted out some requests. The singer insisted Jamie come up and sing with them. Here she is making her singing debut on Coney Island with the song "I Am the Walrus".

Very nice performance! I am going to try to learn this song so I can sing it to Malaya. She likes to say agoo and goo, so I think she will appreciate the Goo goo kagoo ka goo goo kagoo line. At least I think that is what they are saying.Jamie and I also visited the Joe Strummer mural in the East Village and stopped at Strawberry Fields. I forgot to point out Mermaid Avenue to her when we were in Coney Island. Woody Guthrie lived on Mermaid Avenue in the 1940s. Apparently he wrote a lot during those years on Mermaid Avenue. In the 1990s, his daughter Nora Guthrie approached the British singer Billy Bragg and asked him if he would be interested in writing the music for some unpublished lyrics written by Woodie Guthrie. Billy Bragg then asked Wilco to be a part of the project. The result of this collaboration are the two excellent albums Mermaid Avenue Volume 1 and 2. If you haven't heard this album, I recommend you give it a listen! I was obsessed with the song "One by One" for awhile. Another thing Jamie and I did in New York City that I hadn't done before was stand outside of the Today show to try to get on TV. We both made brightly colored signs. Mine read "Pierre Bull Have My Baby!" on one side and the other side said "I'm Kindof a Big Deal in Ideal, South Dakota." That side was a shoutout to Trent and his hometown. Pierre, Trent, and Jamie's husband Eric said that they saw us or part of our signs, but I haven't seen a recording of the show, so I don't know how visible we were. But now I know where to stand the next time I go so I'll definitely get on TV! However, it was really tough getting up that early in the morning, so I don't know if we'll be doing it again any time soon =)

This past summer, Pierre and I went to two weddings, one in Indianapolis and the other in Framingham, Massachusetts. The Indianapolis wedding was for his cousin Amy. Here we are standing with Pierre's parents Dennis and Ellen outside at the reception.

The bride and groom rode from the church to the reception in horse-drawn carraiges. I liked the glittery paint on the horses' hooves.

Nice and green!

Amy and her husband (I already forgot his name) greeting their guests after the ceremony.

In between weddings, Pierre and I went to Kansas City. Pierre was born in a suburb of Kansas City and lived there until his family moved to Chicago when he was 12. We visited the art museum, which is free! There are a bunch of cool sculptures outside the museum, like these shuttlecocks.

We also visited Union Station, which houses a children's museum. It reminded me of Union Station in DC.

There was a railroad model in Union Station, and we had to stop and take a picture of this particular line, since it is the one that my dad drove when we lived in Chicago.

Over Labor Day weekend, we went up to Framingham to attend our friends Matt and Rachel's wedding. The day after their wedding, they hosted a 5k fun run. Our table assignment cards were also running bibs, which we were encouraged to wear for the race. The rest of our table were a bunch of bums who slept in, so only Pierre and I represented for table 3. Go table 3! Here we are with the bride and groom, wearing our special running/wedding t-shirts.

Before it got cold here, Pierre and I were trying out different bike paths around town. My favorite bike path is the Hudson River trail. We also tried biking along the East River and in Queens. Here's a picture from the Triborough bridge which we biked over to get from Manhattan to Queens. We also tried a tandem bike, which we didn't really like. I rode behind Pierre and he is so tall that I couldn't see anything other than his back the whole time.

The fountains around the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park were turned on for the U.S. Tennis Open. We didn't go to any of the meets this year, but maybe next year.

Another trip I made this summer was to Philadelphia to hang out with Nathan, Julia, Sasha and Malaya. We amused ourselves in a walk through a park by posing Malaya in front of animal statues. Here she is facing off against a venomous snake! She doesn't look very happy with us. . . But how can we resist posing her and taking lots of goofy pictures? She's so cute!

Pierre and I just got back from the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) for their Fall Preview Parties. Pierre and I are members of the Paley Center, thanks to a gift membership from my brother. We go there about once a month to watch shows from their collection. This week and next week, they're showing pilots of new fall shows and season premieres of other shows. It's free! Tonight was the Fox night, so we watched Fringe, Do Not Disturb and Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. The Terminator was bad, Do Not disturb was okay, but Fringe was incredible! We really liked it and I think we are definitely going to watch it this year. Since we are members at the Paley Center, we also got to attend a members only reception before the previews, with wine and cheese =)

Fringe is the new show from J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost and Alias. The series premiere is next Tuesday on Fox from 8-9:35pm. Everyone should watch it! The show has everything: a great cast, good writing, scary moments, humor, family tension, a love triangle, Harvard, Bob Esponja, and a cow. The show is anchored by Anna Torv, a newcomer. She's great. Tough, relatable, smart, and gorgeous. Pierre and I also really liked John Noble, who plays the mad scientist Walter Bishop. He's funny and gets some of the best lines in the premiere. It was also nice to see Pacey (Joshua Jackson) as Bishop's estranged son. I'm glad he still has a career! Since we watched it in a big theater with lots of other people, it felt like a movie, and I would have paid money to see it in a theater. I even have to admit that it was better than the recent X-Files movie. It sounds like X-Files, but it's not entirely the same. Yes, the main character is an FBI agent, and she is investigating unexplained phenomenon, but I think there will not be all the alien drama that made X-Files unwatchable at times. The pacing is fast, with just the right amount of action and character development.

So that's my review of Fringe! Stay tuned next week when Pierre (on his blog) or I will review some of the new fall offerings and/or season premieres from NBC (Chuck, Life, Lipstick Jungle) and ABC (Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Eli Stone).

It's been awhile since I last wrote a blog post, and that is mostly because Pierre and I hosted some visitors and traveled for pretty much all of August. I need to write an update on everything, but for now, I thought I would just post the Bill of Rights I wrote for myself when Pierre and I visited the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum in Chicago.

The museum is free and is located right along Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile. It's a really cool museum, with exhibits on the the Bill of Rights, varying historical interpretations of the First Amendment, censorship, and elections. There were some computer kiosks that let you play some computer games and write your very own Bill of Rights! My Bill of Rights states the rights I have in my relationship with Pierre. The museum let you print out your Bill of Rights on nice, official Freedom Museum paper. Here's what my legally binding document looks like:

Ariana's Bill of Rights:

1. Pierre shall not make a stinky under the covers.

2. To live without oppression of my right to listen to Bjork.

3. To be free from watching Crank.

4. Has a right to the plush office chair when working on the computer.

5. To live in a straw free house.

Some of these rights might need some explanation. The second right refers to the long standing debate between Pierre and I about whether the Icelandic artist Bjork is a great musician (what I say) or if she is the Greatest Musician ever (what Pierre says.)

The third item is about the awful movie Crank. My brother actually bought that movie! I refuse to watch it ever again.

The fourth right is being violated right now as I am typing this because I am not sitting in the nice office chair. Pierre says I should buy my own office chair. Well, in about a year from now, we will be married, and all of our assets and property will be shared, so the chair will be mine! HAHA! (evil laugh)

The final item refers to how Pierre occassionally drinks from a straw. Sasha says this is not a manly habit, and has tried to get him to stop. I thought by banning straws from the household, Pierre would not be allowed to sip away to his heart's content. But he bought a box of straws last month, so Sasha's efforts have been thrawted.

Pierre also wrote a bill of rights, but he only had two items:

1. Bjork shall not be played, listened to, or spoken of.

2. A limit of 10 sentences between the hours 6 PM and 10 PM.

Rule number 2 is very difficult to live by. But anyway, he just emailed his Bill of Rights to me, and I printed mine out and hung it up in the apartment, so mine is the rule of law.

I realize that any proper Bill of Rights should have 10 rights. Pierre and I have been together for 5 years now, and I could only think of 5 things to include on my Bill of Rights. Maybe on our 10 year anniversary I'll have a complete Bill of Rights! I know Pierre is looking forward to that =)

My mom was just here, visiting Pierre and I and Malaya, Julia, Sasha and Nathan in DC. My mother loved hanging out with Malaya, and I knew that she would rather spend time with her granddaughter than do anything else. Nevertheless, Pierre and I tried to keep her entertained when she was here for her 4 day stay.

On her first day in town, I took her to a memoir writing workshop in Bryant Park. I thought I would share some of the tips from the workshop just in case anyone else is interested in writing a memoir, or documenting family history. The instructor was Miranda McLeod, a local author and lecturer. She first talked generally about memoirs, and then gave us 30 minutes to write up something from our lives. Some people then shared their stories and Miranda gave them constructive feedback. My mom and I didn't share what we wrote. Some of the stories people shared were really good! I was impressed. My mom thinks some of them must already be established authors.

Here's some of the instructor's advice:

Memoirs can take various forms. They can be informal family histories, or a more traditional memoir focusing on the experiences of one person. The purpose of a memoir is to preserve.

My mom, Pierre and I are now thinking of trying to get the older members of our families to record their memories for future generations. We were thinking we could just record their stories with a tape recorder and then transcribe them to share with the rest of the family. Maybe I could get my Grandpa to record some of his stories!

Steps to writing a memoir:

1. Be yourself – capture the way you speak.

2. Speak freely – editing comes later. Don’t worry about hurting someone at this stage.

3. Think small

Identify a specific time period. Find small, vivid, concrete, self-contained memories to write about it. These memories are the stuff of memoir.

What you write does not have to be literally true. Memory does not work well enough to hope for complete accuracy.

You do not have to overexplain or describe every thought and detail. Let the reader figure some things out for themselves.

Your memoir can be written in an adult voice (your present self) or the voice in the time the instance occurred (your childish self).

Consider using humor writing. Self-deprecating sarcasm can allow you to get at uncomfortable truths.

Now, how do you go about actually sitting down and writing a memoir? The instructor suggested writing on a daily basis. Write down vivid, clear, concise memories. Do that every day for six months or so, and then take those memories and look at them all. You should notice themes, identify what’s interesting and figure out what can be deleted. Through these small, concrete memories, you can build a book.

Recommended reading:

On Writing Well (30th Anniversary Edition) by William Zinsser; HarperCollins Publishers

The Elements of Style by William Strunk; Allyn & Bacon

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; Anchor Books

Here's what we wrote:

Mom’s vignette

The tropical heat was upon us. We were packed in my sister’s private jeepney. I looked around me and saw the faces of my loved ones, deep in their own thoughts. There were my three offsprings and my son’s girlfriend. We had planned an outing – a picnic that would include snorkeling at a local beach. My sister and her family had planned it along with my brothers and their families. My older sister who was visiting from the US was also with us. I wanted to savor this moment in my mind, keep it forever in my inner photo album, never to be taken away from me by anyone. When you find a treasure in your life, it’s yours to keep forever.

My vignette

Sasha was always there for me. Always looking out for me, taking care of me, for as long as I can remember. We’d fight and say cruel things occasionally, but we’d always forgive and love each other again. She would try to protect me from any hurt the world could throw at me. And while she tried to shield me from disappointments, she also knew when to push me and encourage me.

The summer before my senior year of high school, I attended a workshop to help students prepare their college applications. We were working on our admissions essays and the instructor had given us examples of successful essays. I read those essays and felt intimidated and overwhelmed. There was no way I could write an essay like that. I tried writing, became frustrated, took a break, then tried again. I soon gave up again, and started to think acceptance to the college of my choice was impossible. I emerged out of my room crying and told my sister that there was no way I was going to be able to write an adequate essay. My sister listened patiently to me, then put a record on our turntable and played “Don’t Give Up” by Peter Gabriel. That was all it took. With that simple action, my sister told me that she believed in me and that she knew I could write a decent essay. I returned to my room, soothed, and churned out a first draft. I still cannot hear that song or think of that moment without getting a little weepy.

I really enjoyed the workshop. And it was free! I had another I love New York City moment, thinking about all the great, free stuff to do in the city.

We also took my mother to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Admission is free on Saturdays from 10-12! Pierre took these pictures. He takes the photos, I write up our adventures =)

A lovely purple orchid.

We thought the plant above my head looked wicked cool!

Here's a tree from the garden's bonsai collection.

My mom and I posing near the reflecting pool.

I was aiming for a silly, dramatic pose. This just looks stupid. Oh well.

A giant hybrid oak!

Along one of the pathways was a Walk of Stars for famous people from or who've lived in Brooklyn. This leaf was for Barry Manilow.

The Japanese garden.

There were lots of fish, turtles, and even a loon in the Japanese garden. Here was a turtle sunning himself. He looked like Superman, extending his front and back legs as far as he could!

Lovely waterfall.

Last weekend, Pierre and I headed to Brooklyn to go on a wild parrot safari, organized by a local parrot expert. There is a flock of wild green Quaker parrots (Myiopsitta monachus, also known as Monk Parakeets) that live in a soccer field in Brooklyn College. The story is that they were accidentally released when a crate from a shipment was opened at the airport in 1970. They were able to establish themselves and thrive in the urban environment. Here's a nice shot of one posing for us on a fence.

This is a video of the parrots feeding at the bottom of a tree.

I was interested in seeing these local wild parrots after seeing the movie the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Apparently there is another population that lives closer to where we live. Pierre and I are going to check out that spot soon.

The parrots like to nest in really high spots, like the top of this lamppost for the soccer field. Each lamppost had its own parrot nest, hosting up to 20 parrots, their eggs, and hatchlings. No other species nests in such a high place, so they have no competition.

They do not compete with the other birds. Here they are foraging peacefully amongst the pigeons and starlings.

Another shot of the parrots feeding in the grass around the soccer field.

We saw the parrots flying around, perching, and feeding. We also saw a crow fly toward one of the parrot nests and land on top of it, in search of some parrot eggs. The parrots freaked out about that and flew out of the nest. Eventually some flew back to defend the nest and we even saw a mockingbird become aggressive and attack the crow! It was really cool.

Here's a shot of the soccer field where the parrots live. See how tall those lampposts are! The parrots don't have to worry about anyone climbing the posts to steal their babies or eggs.

The parrots blend in perfectly with the leaves on this tree. Apparently you get more dramatic pictures of them in the winter when there's less cover.

For the most part, the parrots' human neighbors like having them around, although some people have complained about the noise. But noisy parrots seem like nothing compared to the noise pollution of a big city! A nearby playground honored the parrots' place in the community with these metal silhouettes on the fence. The wild parrot tours are free and take place every month, so check out the wild parrot website if you've interested in seeing the parrots for yourself!

Although Preston, our new cat, is very sensitive about having his belly touched, he likes to sprawl out on the couch like this. You are only allowed to touch his head, or scratch his belly with a back scratcher one of my aunties got me from the Philippines. He's a good cat, most of the time =)

For Pierre's birthday last week, we went to a Mets game, which was fun. On Sunday, we went to Yankees Stadium for All-Star Sunday. We watched the Futures game and the celebrity softball game. That was entertaining. For the All-Star game, there are statues up around town for all the major league teams. I found the Padres statue in Union Square, so next we were on a quest for the Cubs statue. We finally found it after calling my lifeline, Julia. Here it is, in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

Last night, Pierre and I went to a WNBA game at Madison Square Garden. The New York Liberty hosted my team, the Washington Mystics. Unfortunately, the Mystics lost 56 - 77. So far, we've seen the Padres lose to the Yankees and the Mystics lose to the Liberty. I think the next sporting event we'll go to is the Yankees vs. the White Sox. Hopefully the White Sox will win that game!

My brother bought me an annual membership to the Bronx Zoo for my birthday. Pierre and I went to their special Members' only evening to check out their new exhibit, Madagascar. The lemurs were really active and fun to watch.

Here's a video of the lemurs, looking like they are about to jump out to where all the people are standing.

Other than those adventures, I also went to Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday to hang out with my siblings and baby Malaya. Hopefully I'll have some pictures from that trip soon. Oh, and I also went to some free film showings at one of the New York public libraries. I saw a silent film, Smilin' Through, from 1922. There was a pianist who accompanied the film. That was new to me, and really cool. Then I saw a Doris Day movie from 1951, the Lullaby of Broadway. I really enjoyed both films, and it made me want to watch more classics. Something I bet my Grandpa would like to do, so I'll wait to do that until my next trip to Michigan!

As some of you may know, one of my good friends just went through a horrible breakup last month. I have decided to share part of the story of their breakup because I find some aspects of it unbelievable. I will change the names of everyone to preserve their anonymity. My friend will be referred to as la pana, which is Kichwa for best friend. The ex-boyfriend will be referred to as Redenbacher.

Mi pana’s ex-boyfriend’s reason for the breakup was callous and shallow. And this happened after he had jerked her around for 2 ½ years. We were all, understandably, upset with him. Then he did another mind-boggling thing: he wrote an email to all of her friends and her brother. Who does that? Here is his email, which essentially says nothing:

I simply wanted to apologize to those of you that I met through la pana. Her recent emails showed me that I didn't just hurt her, but also her family & friends.

I know my behavior lately seems strange, and it is. I seem to be even more naive & thoughtless than I knew myself to be.

Please note that I did *not* include la pana in sending this email, since I don't think it would do

her any good to hear from me...or to hear from you that I wrote you.

If you have any questions or just want to release your anger about this, feel free to respond.

Otra amiga--I sent you an email last Saturday b/c I wasn't sure la pana would tell anyone right away that we'd broken up & I wanted someone to call her often. Not that it validates my behavior, but I thought it may have gone to your junk mail so I figured I'd tell you.

Hermano--please forward this on to your mom: she is one of the main people I need to apologize to.

Thanks (not only on my behalf, because I understand if you don't want to do me any favors, but on la pana's & for all you'll do for her in the weeks & years to come). Again, I apologize--

Redenbacher

Simplemente quise pedir perdón de ellos de Uds. que conocí por la pana. Sus correos recientes me mostraron que yo no solo le hice daño a ella, pero a su familia y a sus amigos también.

Sé que mi comportamiento recientemente parece extraño, y lo es. Parezco aún más ingenuo que yo me sabía que era.

Por favor dáte cuenta que *no* incluí a la pana en mandar este correo, ya que no pienso que la haría ningún bien oír de mi...o oír de Uds. que les escribí.

Si tienen algunas preguntas o solo quieren soltar su enojo sobre este tema, por favor, háganlo por

responderme.

Otra amiga--Té mandé un correo el sábado pasado porque yo no estaba seguro que la pana le diría a nadie en seguida que hayamos terminados y quise que alguien le llamara frecuentemente. No es que esa acción le hace válido a mi comportamiento, pero pensé que tal vez el mensaje fue a tu folleto de basura (direcciónes de correo extrangeras?). Entonces, pensé que te lo diría.

Hermano --Por favor, pasa este correo a tu mamá. Ella es una de las personas principales que le tengo que más pedir perdón.

Gracias (no solo por mi parte, porque entiendo si Uds. no me quieren hacer ningún favor, pero a favor de la pana y por todo lo que harán por ella en las semanas y años que vienen). Otra vez, les pido perdón--

Redenbacher

Redenbacher translated his dumb ass message into Spanish so that all who read his email would be able to understand it. I cannot say that I was “hurt” by Redenbacher’s actions, which he was apparently concerned about. I think most of us were angry and disappointed in him. One of our friends wrote him a brilliant response (there’s some curse words in here, so stop reading if you’ll be offended):

Dear Redenbacher,

Fuck you. How dare you take it upon yourself to contact la pana's friends and family with your lame excuse for an apology which was really nothing more than an attempt to clear your own conscience. We don't care about you or how you feel - this is not about you, and, therefore, I do not accept your apology. In no way should you feel absolved of the cruel, unconscionable, inhumane way you treated someone we love very much (and, for that matter, someone who you claimed at one time to love) just because you sent this ridiculous email. You are nothing more than a chicken shit coward. You handled this situation poorly and immaturely and you should feel embarrassed and ashamed of yourself. You are 31 - GROW UP. Furthermore, you should do us all a favor and stay out of la pana's life. We all know that she is way too good for you.

Sincerely,

Amiga of la pana

PS. Don't ever contact any of us again - as far as I am concerned, you no longer exist.

We have all been doing what we can to support my friend during this tough time. My sister and I both sent her break up packages, and Sasha’s might have been better than mine because she included chocolate. I was also thinking of trying to get my mom to stand on Redenbacher's front lawn and give him the finger. Sortof like a reverse Say Anything. Then Redenbacher would have to call up my friend and say, "Um, there's this crazy little lady in front of my house and I can't make her go away."

I made my friend a break up mix, as did another friend of ours. I think my breakup mix was most excellent, although my brother disagreed strongly with some of my selections. But what does he know! My friend said it was perfect, so that's all that matters! Here’s what I included:

Fighter - Christina Aguilera

Beautiful Liar - Beyonce and Shakira

5 Years - Björk

Rootless Tree - Damien Rice

As Cool As I Am - Dar Williams

I Believe - Chris Isaak

Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morisette

Smile - Lily Allen

Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars

Tear In Your Hand - Tori Amos

Not Today - Mary J. Blige and Eve

Walk Away - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - David Gray

Sometimes It Be That Way - Jewel

Heart's a Mess - Gotye

The Rain - Oran "Juice" Jones

I realize that Heart's a Mess is not a breakup song, but my friend said she liked it, so I included it. Janet pointed out that I forgot I will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. That is a bad omission, but the truth is that I just don’t have that song. Let me know what you think of my mix and if I left anything crucial out! I wonder if this is the new thing to do when a friend is going through a break up: make them a breakup mix cd. I’m curious about what other songs people have included on their breakup playlists.

Alright, that is enough gossip for one post. I found the whole episode rather interesting. So much drama! I wanted to make this post like Gossip Girl, but I don’t really watch the show. I think maybe Gossip Girl includes a lot of OMG! and signs her posts like this:

XOXO

The above line is from a play Pierre and I saw over the weekend, the Marraige of Bette and Boo. The cast included Julie Hagerty, the stewardess from Airplane, and Heather Burns, Miss Rhode Island from Miss Congeniality. We got our tickets for only $10 through hiptix! They were regularly $60. Our seats were great too!

Pierre and I didn't really love the play, but there were parts of it that were good, like the priest's speech in the second act. He was talking about how frustrated he gets with the couples that come to him for marraige counseling. He said that the troubled couples he sees are usually people who got married before they really knew each other, and then they come to him and expect him to be able to solve their problems. Which is why he asked the question: Why did God make people stupid?

Pierre and I are becoming regular theatergoers. We saw Avenue Q with Mike, and next we're going to see Damn Yankees with my mom.

The other highlight of our 4th of July weekend was adopting Preston Tyrone Bull-Rickard from a local animal shelter.

Here he is enjoying his new digs.

He has the prettiest green eyes! He's 3 years old, declawed, and spent 8 months in his cage at the animal shelter before we adopted him. He seems to be pretty content now, demanding attention and then promptly ignoring us.

For the 4th of July, Pierre and I went down to Coney Island for the International Hot Dog eating contest!

Here are the "warriors", getting ready to see how many hot dogs (and buns) they could eat in 10 minutes.

Chowing down! The red-haired guy in the center is Takeru Kobayashi from Japan. He had won the competition six years in a row until Joey Chestnut from California took the title from him last year.

The commentators from ESPN were hilarious! The whole thing was rather disgusting, but I couldn't see anything from where I was standing because I'm short =( Here's the ESPN clip, which includes great insight like: "Lance Armstrong will perhaps date Jennifer Aniston. It's gotta be in the cards." and "Whatever happens here will change our world."

The top 2 leaders, Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi were tied at 59 hot dogs at the end of 10-min, so they had the first-ever "dog-off" - whoever could eat 5 dogs the quickest won. Joey Chestnut, the crowd favorite, won. This clip includes some more funny comments, like: "I'm sorry, I'm so excited here!"

Here's where we were in the crowd. There were over 40,000 spectators! So that is why I couldn't see anything.

Here's Takeru Kobayashi showing off his engorged belly after the contest. Gross!

We went down to a pier in Brooklyn for the big Macy's fireworks show. That was cool, because the lights from the fireworks would reflect off of the buildings in Manhattan and make really sweet patterns. After the fireworks, we wandered around a little bit. Pierre tried out different exposure times with his camera.

Here's a shot of the Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

I got some unpleasant news this week that I did not get a job that I had interviewed for. I really wanted that job, so I am a bit bummed. I suppose getting rejected from a job you really wanted is just another one of those self-esteem crushers everyone has to deal with, like a breakup, or a college rejection letter, or losing your job. So, I guess in the grand scheme of things, this is not so bad and everyone goes through it. I also wanted that job because I am really tired of looking for a job! But I will continue, for lack of anything better to do =)

In happier news, I went to a taping of the Colbert Report last week, which was very exciting. I was in the standby line, so I got the last pick of the seats, which meant that I actually ended up sitting in the aisle on the end. Here's a link to the episode I attended: http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=174852. I think you might be able to see me in the audience when the camera pans out after Colbert introduces the guest, Representative Robert Wexler.

Colbert was even cooler in person. Before the show, he came out for a Q&A with the audience. That was the only time he was out of character. He wouldn't explain how he got those weird marks on his face. There was an tape outline on the floor in front of his desk from where he slipped and broke his wrist. Someone asked him if he still got butterflies in his stomach before doing a show, and he said that he does gets nervous. He also said that the only time he had trouble staying in character was when Jane Fonda was sticking her tongue in his ear!

In between takes, they would play really cool music, like Peter Bjorn & John, and Neutral Milk Hotel, and Colbert would dance around a little. He also threw out lots of wrist strong bracelets and chocolate to the audience. He messed up a couple times, but the recorded version only showed one mistake. The second time he messed up, it was because he had eaten a piece of chocolate during the break. He said something like, I guess I shouldn't eat chocolate right now. . .

One of the writers came out before the show to warm up the crowd. He told us that Cookie Monster was super popular when he visited the set a couple weeks ago. Everyone came down to meet him and take a picture with him. Apparently one staff member was so excited that she hugged Cookie Monster and was actually told to back off!

So that was the big excitement of last week. Cindy swears she could hear me =)

Pierre and I finally managed to unpack all our boxes and fix our apartment! Which means that we are ready for a pet, whom we are planning to get this afternoon. I'll put pictures up of our new friend soon.

Here's the hallway, where Pierre and I are putting up all our numbers from our races.

The lovely, spacious bathroom.

The living room. Honey Bunny is sitting on top of the TV.

The bedroom and our wonderful air conditioner!

Our cozy kitchen.

On Saturday night, Pierre and I met up with our friends Suzanne and Barry for dinner in Hoboken. We checked on the train terminal and Pierre and I discovered that we had seen this train station before, in the movie Kal Ho Naa Ho!

Isn't that a gorgeous terminal?

Suzanne and Barry in front of the Manhattan skyline.

The Empire State Building blazing above the city.

Panorama of the skyline.

Daytime shot of skyline.

New York City has some waterfalls this month, thanks to Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. There are four waterfalls up along the waterfront on East River. The waterfalls will be up from now until October 13. Pierre and I walked to the middle of the Manhattan Bridge to get a look at the waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge.

I had to stop on the middle of the bridge to get a handstand picture for Megan. Pierre thought this picture looked very urban, with the grafitti on the ground, the chainlink fence, and the skyline behind me.

Another handstand picture for Megan, underneath the Manhattan Bridge sign.

Staring up at the supports for the bridge.

Pierre, sporting his Ecuadorian manpurse.

After checking out the waterfall, Pierre and I headed over to Little Italy for their summer festival. The streets were closed down to traffic and the place was packed. You can just barely see the Empire State Building in the background.

The next day, we headed to Central Park for the annual 5 mile Gay Pride Run. Here I am showing off the funky running tag we attached to our shoes to record our finish time.

Pierre and I looking sweaty and gross. I think I ruined that shirt. Probably not the best idea to wear that kindof a shirt for a race. My time was okay, but I was able to run the whole thing, which made me happy.

Here she is, my niece Malaya Dulzura! She's modeling a Tiny Democrat onesie in this photo. =)

Here's an unhappy Malaya. She's got some lungs!

Malaya was born at 11:55am on June 9. She weighed 7 pounds, two ounces.

Malaya with her dad. Most people say she looks like Nathan.

Look at that head of hair!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful, preciosa baby?

Pierre and I are now in the middle of our baby tour of America. We took a break between seeing babies to hang out with my high school buddy Mike. Mike works for the Padres, so he was able to get us tickets to the San Diego Padres-Yankees game. Hoorah!

Pierre and I wore Padres shirts and cheered loudly for the Padres during the two innings they were doing well. We were sitting with the other Padres employees, so that made me feel a little braver. Pierre said I was the loudest person in our section. One Yankees fan yelled at us: You suck! The Yankees won in the end, but it would have been really exciting to see them lose.

Here's Pierre's panaromic shot of Yankees stadium. I don't really want to go to any more Yankees games. I've already decided that we are not going to adopt any NY teams. Well, we'll root for the Mets. But otherwise, we are going to remain loyal to the Mystics, the Bears, and the Cubs.

Pierre and I went to St. Louis last weekend to meet baby #3, Avery Rose, the daughter of Pierre's best friend Aaron. While we were in St. Louis, we drove up to Springfield to visit Pierre's grandma. On the way to her retirement community, we spotted a street named Rickard!

I had never been to St. Louis before, so we went to all the touristy spots. There was a cool exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden by the artist Niki de Saint Phalle. I really liked this fountain sculpture of serpents. It is so colorful and bright!

I like how this elephant looks like he is just emerging from the jungle.

All the kids loved climbing on the Nikigator. Interactive public art is so cool!

Here's my friend Priya and I in front of a state prizing winning tree. Priya was the mastermind behind the Rakhi birthday dance of 2004. Now she and her husband live in St. Louis.

Pierre of course had to take a picture with the bull totem pole. He wore his Cubs jersey to try to start trouble with Cardinals fans.

The Dome in the back is the Climatron conservatory, which houses the Garden's tropical plants. We found the toquilla palm there, which is from Ecuador and used to make the misnamed Panama hat.

I'm not really sure what is going on in this sculpture, but it looks like this couple is walking their black widow spider. Did you know that you are rarely more than six feet away from a spider? I just learned that from the American Museum of Natural History.

After the Botanical Garden, we headed down to the Arch. The river was unbelievably high. You can see in this picture that the stairs are flooded and water is up to half the length of the lightpoles.

The sky was partly cloudy, which was perfect for taking lots of photos of the Arch. We were too cheap to ride to the top!

Rakhi called me when we were at the arch and told me to sit at the bottom of the Arch, put my feet up, and look up. She told me it would look like I was on the race track for Mario Cart. Here I am, as per Rakhi's instructions. =)

Pierre's feet and mine.

It does look like Mario Cart! Though actually I've never played Mario Cart, so I'll just take Rakhi's word for it. =)

One last shot of the Arch.

Most things in St. Louis are free, which was sweet! We made a brief stop at the zoo, and got to see all the bears being fed. The grizzly bear was super cool.

Brown pelican hanging out with the penguins.

Our favorite was the polar bear. He caught a bunch of fish as his keeper threw them in his enclosure. Some of the fish ended up in his pond, so he swam in to get them.

He dove and ended up with four fish in his mouth! He was so cute in the water. He did a headstand and stuck his back feet up out of the water. He moved too fast for Pierre to get a picture of that.

I loved this picture of the polar bear right after he got out of his pool. You can see all the water pouring off of his body.

Saturday was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and also my birthday! I got lots of birthday calls, emails and text messages, which was very nice. Pierre surprised me with a delicious ice cream cake from Maggie Moo's.

Pierre, Megan, Aaron and I all loved the cake. It was a nice little birthday celebration. Their baby, Avery, turned 1 month old that day too.

Here's Pierre's friends Megan and Aaron standing in front of their lovely house.

Little Avery Rose was not happy about posing for pictures with us. Here she is screaming in Pierre's arms. This always seems to happen to us. . . I guess we are not quite ready for parenthood. =)

The only other exciting thing that has happened recently is I had another interview. I should hear back about that one soon. One cool thing about going to that interview is I discovered an Ecuadorian restaurant on my way to the meeting. So I had Ecuadorian food for the first time here in America! Nothing too special, just arroz con pollo. I was hoping for some encebollado or ceviche, but they didn't have any. I also found a little Latino grocery store, so I got some guanabanana juice, which was delicious. I didn't think that I could find that here. I spoke in Spanish at the grocery store and restaurant, which was great.

People keep speaking to me in Spanish, so I'm hoping I'll be able to maintain my Spanish. I'm trying to volunteer regularly, and doing that usually allows me to speak a little Spanish. I think there may also be some other unexpected benefits of being bilingual. For example, I think I got a free piece of cheese last week. =) Mike and I went to the American Museum of Natural History to see the Squid and the Whale (from the excellent movie, the Squid and the Whale) and we stopped in the food court to get lunch. The guy cooking the hamburgers asked where I was from and if I spoke Spanish. I told him si, so then I heard all about where he was from, how long he's been here, his thoughts on the City, etc. He also gave me an extra piece of cheese on my turkey burger! Woohoo! I am beginning to think that looking Latina and being able to speak Spanish is opening up a whole new world to me of secret advantages. Last week: free cheese, next week: who knows!

Oh, and just in case anyone missed it, Cookie Monster was on the Colbert Report last week. It was awesome! Just click on the sections of the show with the Cookie Monster (2 segments): http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=173610

Last weekend, I made Pierre go with me on a Wilco tour of St. Louis! From what I remember in Learning How to Die by Greg Kot (an excellent biography of the band), Wilco got their start in St. Louis. They mentioned a couple places in St. Louis in songs from the album A.M. and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. In the song "Heavy Metal Drummer", Jeff Tweedy sings about going to see shows on the Landing in the summer. The Landing in St. Louis is right near the Arch and Pierre tells me is a popular place to see concerts. I think Wilco had some of their first gigs there. So we had lunch there and took pictures =)

The next stop on our Wilco tour of St. Louis was the Casino Queen. Wilco has a song called Casino Queen. So it was exciting to see it in person! And then I made Pierre listen to the album version and the Jeff Tweedy acoustic version of the song.

I'm not sure if you can see in this picture, but a bunch of birds had built nests in the letters of the sign. We didn't actually go into the Casino Queen, we just walked around it a bit.

Here we are across the river, looking at the Casino Queen boat. I know that no one else will care about my Wilco tour of St. Louis, but I was very excited! And Pierre humored me.

Last weekend, I headed down to Central Park to cheer on my college roommate Alexis in a 10k race. Some famous runners participated in the race, including the U.S. women olympic marathon team. Here they are, walking around after crossing the finish line. The winner of the race was from the Netherlands and she won $10,000! Alexis finished with a great time, and looked awesome crossing the finish line with a big smile on her face. She and I are thinking of doing a 10k together next month in Central Park that ends with a swim in Lasker pool with all the other race participants.

I've bailed on the 10k in DC this weekend because I thought I was going to be attending a training weekend for the Obama organizing fellowship in Michigan. I've decided not do that because none of my expenses were going to be covered and I didn't really want to spend 6 weeks driving around Michigan, guzzling gas and running up my credit card bill. And I have to admit that I'd rather spend 6 weeks in NYC rather than in Michigan, since there's still so much for me to explore here. My brother is calling me a quitter for bailing on the race this weekend. Oh well. I'll just have to find some other race to do in DC some time later.

After the race, Pierre and I wandered around Central Park, checking out places we hadn't seen before. Here's the famous Bethesda fountain, which I recognized from movies and tv shows.

I think this area of the Park is just called the Lake. You can rent rowboats for $12/hour, which I think is just way too expensive.

We also stopped by Strawberry Fields, since Pierre hadn't seen that before. I definitely have to take Jamie here when she visits!

I loved this plastic walrus since "I am the walrus" is my favorite Beatles song. =)

Another shot of the Lake with some buildings on the west side of the park in the background.

It was really hot and humid on Saturday, so after Central Park, we went to one of the museums that we knew would not be crowded: the Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television and Radio. My brother got us an annual membership, so we can go whenever we want and watch old episodes of lots of tv shows! Pierre and I watched Get Smart in preparation for the movie, the Muppet Show, Frasier, and Square Pegs, which is a very bad show and also kindof weird. I am definitely going to take all my visitors to the Paley Center because it is so cool!

Not too much else going on. For Memorial Day weekend, Pierre and I went to Michigan to visit with friends and relatives and pick up some of the stuff I had left at my uncle's house. We also met the first baby on our baby tour of America! We saw Lucy, the daughter of Joe and Melissa. She's 6 months old, and adorable. Another one of my friends in DC just had her baby yesterday!

Pierre and I got the chance to listen to my Grandpa preach when we were in Michigan. He told lots of jokes, which Pierre and the rest of the congregation loved. Here's Pierre's favorite: The length of a sermon should be like the length of a woman's skirt: short enough to keep the interest, but long enough to cover the subject! Pretty risque for an 87 year old guy!

I liked this one: I'm planning on living to 100. They say that women live 7 years longer than men, so when I turn 93, I'm going to have a sex change so I can make it to 100!

Grandpa also likes to introduce his family members to the congregation when we attend his services. He was very sweet, telling everyone my whole bio. He likes to mention that I finished Harvard in 3 years and that I just got back from the Peace Corps. He also introduced Pierre and told everyone a little bit about his background. He also talked about how he is going to marry us next summer in Chicago. We waved and smiled like celebrities.

Grandpa Tex Rickard doesn't preach regularly at any churches, he just occassionally subs for other pastors or gives seminars. Pierre and I were thinking it would be a good idea to try to get him to record his memoir or something. A project for our next visit to Michigan!

As soon as we got back from Michigan, I headed down to DC for an interview at my old employer, the EPA. That seemed to go well, and it gave me the chance to hang out with my siblings, Rakhi, my friend Amanda from my early days at the EPA, and see Carrie before she moved to Baltimore. Carrie is starting nursing school in John Hopkins. I realized that she, Rakhi and I all seemed to be on the same career track until Carrie abandoned us to go to nursing school. All of us got natural resources graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, we all worked at the EPA, and we all have international experience or want to have some international work experience. Oh, and we've all been to Ecuador and Cedar Point. =) It's so nice to live near them again.

My sister gave me her Ecuador soccer jersey when I was visiting, so I wore that one day in DC. One man called out to me when I walked by him "Hola Ecuador, como esta?" Lots of people have been talking to me in Spanish in DC and NYC. If I'm wearing my Ecuador shirt or a Che shirt, people are definitely more likely to start talking to me in Spanish. But even when I'm not wearing those shirts, some people will just start speaking to me in Spanish before even trying English. I'm not sure if this has been happening to me my whole life, but it is nice to be able to answer them in Spanish.

Pierre and I got heckled last week when we were running in our neighborhood park. Some teenage girls yelled, "Corre, corre!" Pierre had no idea what they were saying, but I turned around and yelled something back in Spanish. Aah, being able to yell back at people is one of the nice benefits of serving in the Peace Corps. . .

In other sister news, Sasha's friends got her an adorable little kitty from a local shelter. Sasha has named him Mishi, which is the Kichwa word for cat. He is 4 months old and black and white like a cow. He is super playful and affectionate and sweet. I got to meet him before I headed back to NYC. The newest member of our family!

I now have a new crush: Stephen Colbert. He is so geeky, hilarious, dreamy and brilliant. Every time his show comes on, I sigh and say "I love him". Pierre tells me, "You always say that!" What can I say? I love geeks!

I realize that many other women feel the same way as I do, which is why he was named sexiest something or other recently. So I will not go on and on, but just in case you missed it last week, here is a link to his clip spoofing O'Reilly's freak out video: http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=168140

It's hilarious and wonderful, just like Colbert =)

My sister visited us for Mother's Day, which was great! Poor thing, we dragged her out of bed early on Saturday morning to come with us as our official fan for our first race in Central Park. We did Miles for Moms, a 4 mile race that raises money for cancer research and other related programs. To honor my mother, I made a sweet t-shirt with a picture of her on the back. The photo I used was from a canopy tour she did in Costa Rica.

Here's my sister and I trying to throw up signs for East Coast and West Coast. I don't think we quite managed it. . . We were late and missed the start of the race, which was my fault. I will not let that happen again! We joined the race a couple minutes after everyone else started, so it wasn't a big deal. I did better than I expected, which made me very happy! Those races are so addictive. I can't wait for my next one. Pierre and I are probably still going to do that 10k in DC next month. After that, maybe a 5 mile race in Central Park. We still need to find some races for July, August, and the fall. Some other fun things we've done recently in NYC is attend a talk on Latin American politics at the Harvard Club and eat at a Filipino restaurant. Pierre and I really enjoyed the lecture. It was our first visit to the Harvard Club. The Harvard Club was nice, but not as swanky and exclusive as the Harvard Club of Ecuador. I had never seen anything like that! The talk was given by a Harvard professor who has lived in various parts of South America. He talked about Ecuador and Correa and the leftist governments of other countries. It was good to hear someone put the politics of Ecuador in the context of Latin America as a whole. We learned a lot!With the help of our trusty Time Out New York magazine, Pierre and I found a Filipino restaurant located in the little Manila neighborhood of Manhattan. This was the first time that Pierre ate at a Filipino restaurant! After 5 years of eating Chinese food, finally we got to eat some food from my mother's homeland! We got chicken adobo (a signature dish), lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) and halo-halo (a dessert made from ube ice cream, shaved ice, beans and some other things I can't recall.) I was very proud of myself for asking for the lumpia by name rather than just saying egg rolls. Pierre and I liked the food, so maybe we'll go back and get some pancit canton (noodles) and look for a Filipino bakery so I can get some fresh pandesal! I am still looking for a job. I think I am going to start temping soon because I guess Pierre expects me to pay rent =) I went to DC last week to attend a career conference at the Peace Corps headquarters. I thought the sessions were really useful and I'm glad that I went. We got to practice networking and interviewing, which was interesting. During the interview session, we broke into groups of 5-6 people and all watched as each person was interviewed by a Peace Corps staff person. After the 10 minute mock interview, we all critiqued the interviewee. I was picked to go first, and I was pretty nervous. When I give presentations or get nervous, I tend to talk really fast. I also say "like", "so", "okay" and probably "um." After my interview, the interviewer told me that she could tell I was from California by the way I talked! No one had ever said that to me before. I had mentioned in the interview something about talking to Cindy's class in San Diego, so that might have been a clue for her. But she said that she was also from California and that my overuse of "like" and other valley girl terms might be okay in Cali, but not on the East Coast. Oh well. I guess you can take the girl out of California, but you can't take the California out of the girl. . . I am also keeping myself busy by making mix cds for people. I've sent out 5 so far! My brother had a good idea for another playlist: Songs for Killing Vampires, a la Jessica Biel's character in Blade 3. If anyone has any good suggestions for what should go on that list, let me know!I am thinking about volunteering for the Obama campaign as an Obama organizing fellow. The commitment would be 30 hours a week for 6 weeks this summer. It would mostly be registering new voters, canvassing, and phone banking. I figure it will be fun and a good experience. And after Obama is elected and the world is a better place, you can all thank me =)

This video is from Pierre's birthday dance in 2005. I convinced Sasha and my cousins Alyssa and Cassie to learn the Napoleon Dynamite dance for Pierre. I even made us all Vote for Pedro t-shirts! Napoleon Dynamite is Pierre's favorite movie.

My sister was visiting that week and we had made plans to all meet up at my aunt's house. Pierre showed up wearing his Vote for Pedro t-shirt (which he loves) and was not happy to see that I was also wearing a Vote for Pedro t-shirt. But then we all got up and danced and he understood that I had done it all for him! My relatives and their friends loved the dance so much, they made us do it a second time. Pierre, being a good sport, decided to join us. This clip is from the second run-through of the dance.

I'm not sure what choreographed dance we'll do next, but it is my birthday next month, so someone else has to do the planning. We'll be in St. Louis for my birthday, so maybe someone who lives there can think of something for my bday celebration/Wilco pilgrimage. . .

I'm back in NYC now, after trips to DC and San Diego to visit friends and family. Pierre and I aren't going anywhere for awhile, other than Michigan for Memorial Day weekend. He and I are now focused on enjoying NYC as cheaply as possible! We are also trying to avoid all the huge crowds at the touristy spots in Manhattan. Our strategy is to go to bed early, wake up early, and get to places before anyone else. And then we pack a lunch to save money =) This past weekend the weather was perfect so we headed down to my favorite free spot in New York, Central Park. We walked almost five miles, exploring the park and discovering places I had never been to before, like the Conservatory Garden. Pierre took a bunch of pictures, including this cool shot of an egret hunting for fish in Turtle Pond:

Here's a link to the rest of his pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pierrebull/CentralParkNYCSpringtime

My trips to DC and San Diego were really nice because I stayed long enough to spend quality time with lots of people I hadn't seen in awhile. I also seem to be doing a tour of American baseball stadiums. I went to a game at the new ballpark for the Nationals in DC and then a Padres game at the Petco stadium in San Diego, which was new to me. Next, I'll go see the Mets in Shea stadium, our new neighborhood team!

While I was in San Diego, I took the train up to see my friend Katy. The train from San Diego to Los Angeles is really nice because it runs along the coastline, so you can watch the beach almost the whole way. Plus the seats are really comfy and each row has its own outlet, so you can watch movies the whole way! I realized that I have ridden trains in lots of parts of the world; in Europe from Geneva to Berlin; in Peru to get from Cuzco to Machu Picchu; in Ecuador from Riobamba to Alausi, down the Devil's nose; and in the Midwest and East Coast. I love the train! I wish America had a more extensive train system.

Katy took me to a beach in the O.C., which was very exciting for me since I'm a big dork and love that show. We saw lots of things with the words O.C. on them, which was very cool =) Another fun thing I did in San Diego was visit the elementary school where my friend Cindy teaches to talk to her kids about Ecuador. Cindy teaches bilingual 2nd graders, so I got a chance to speak in Spanish again, which was nice. The kids had written me letters when I was in Ecuador, so this was my opportunity to answer all the questions they had sent to me. I did a brief PowerPoint presentation with lots of photos from Ecuador. The kiddos seemed to really like all the wildlife shots. I also showed them some arts and crafts from Ecuador. Most of the kids are familiar with the Mexican pop group Rebelde, so Cindy said I should dress up like Rebelde for the presentation. I guess I wasn't a very convincing Catholic schoolgirl, because none of the kids seemed to get it. Oh well. I also demonstrated some Ecuadorian gestures, and made them all imitate me and then quizzed them on the meaning of each one. That seemed to go over well. I asked them some questions about my presentation and gave them stickers for correct answers. Then I ran out of things to do, so I taught them the Thriller dance. I realize that has nothing to do with Ecuador, but I did learn the dance when I was in the Peace Corps. . . The kids all seemed to really like that!

Going to San Diego is always wonderful because I get to see all my old high school friends. We are all still really good friends, which I know is rare. I am really grateful to have such a tight group of friends who have always made time for each other and supported and loved each other for almost 15 years now! We always have fun together, no matter what. I usually end up laughing and getting giddy whenever I see them. I am always sad saying bye to them, which made me wonder why I keep doing it. Plus my parents are in San Diego and my mom's relatives, and my lovely geriartric kitties, Shnowy and Chessie. I always miss all of them when I leave. When I was living in southern California, I wanted to see the rest of the world. Other than my four years in Boston, I've been living in places for two years and then moving again. Which means I now have friends all over the country, which is nice, but I also think maybe I should settle down some time. And I think I might just have to eat my own words and say that I want to live in southern California again.

I've said ever since I left San Diego that I don't think I could ever live there again. But I think I took a lot of things about San Diego for granted. On this last visit, I did a lot of more touristy things with my parents, like visiting Sea World, the Wild Animal Park, and the zoo. We all also went to Earth Day, which used to be my favorite day in San Diego. The fair is so big, I've never seen anything like it in any other city. Booths cover all of Balboa Park, and there are so many people who attend every year. Almost too many people, but we just waited until the end and then the crowds were more manageable. Anyway, visiting the zoo and Earth Day reminded me about all the things I do love about San Diego. I also miss going to the Del Mar Fair (now called the San Diego county fair). And I want to share those things with Pierre, but we can probably only really afford to go to San Diego once or twice a year. So, it would just make more sense to live closer! Plus, our parents all live in southern California now.But I don't think we'll be moving out there any time soon. We are enjoying New York City now, and there's still so much more to explore here. And we might still want to live in the Midwest for a bit. Maybe we will make our way back to the West Coast via Chicago or something.

The only other new thing to report is that Pierre and I are training for some races this summer. The first one we're going to do is Miles for Mom over Mother's Day weekend. It's a 4 mile race in Central Park. We are going to make t-shirts with our moms' faces on them. Then we're going to try to do a 10K in DC in June. It's called Lawyers Have Heart, and I was thinking I could make a shirt with pictures of all the lawyers in my family for that one. I don't know if I'll be ready for that, but I'll try. We're also looking for some race to do in the fall, so let me know if you hear of anything that looks good!