Hi once again. Well, I'm now recovering from my east coast trip! It was so sudden and so fast! To be honest, two weeks in the east coast wasn't enough for me. I should have stayed longer! There were just too many places to see in such a little amount of time! But I had fun! I truly did! If I ever want to go back to the east coast, I would for the second time around! Besides, I didn't even get to experience the Bahamas in all its entirety! I only went to Coco Cay and not even a bit of Nassau (due to wedding), but it's okay! I'm hoping that once I have enough money to save me a trip, I would definitely go to the Bahamas first (and Florida second to experience ALL of Disney World and not just the Magic Kingdom). Well, here is my recap for the last few days of my trip.
Every picture deserves an explanation.
On Thursday night, my family decided to go to Old Bridge, New Jersey to say hello to a relative we haven't seen in such a long time - my grandfather's sister from my mother side. We stayed there for a couple of hours remembering the good times they had shared and the "oh wow! you look so grown up now" compliments that many aunts offered. I saw my second cousin for the first time (although technically it was the first but I didn't remember much when I was a young toddler when we first met). We exchanged contact information and took pictures before saying our goodbyes and leaving New Jersey behind for New York the next morning....errr afternoon.
On Friday morning, our eyes widely opened from the nonstop chitter chatter by the adults in the kitchen. I was sleeping in the living room, by the way! We immediately got our things ready (clothes for wedding, heels, clothes to sleep over, cell phone) and managed to leave to New York some time in the afternoon. What was sucky was the fact that the GPS brought us to another place in New York instead of the main site, Our Lady of Snows in Floral Park, New York. That OTHER Place was none other than a simple corn field! A CORN FIELD! That has nothing to do with a church at all! At least we were 20 minutes away from the site once we fixed things with the soon-to-be bride, my cousin! After arriving at the place, we had only an hour dress rehearsal and then we went to my future cousin-in-law's sister's house for a BBQ. The weather was starting to become gloomy, but food was always good. Ron's mom makes the best food ever! You gotta try it sometime. Anyway, didn't felt like playing Guitar Hero III because all of the little kids were playing it. After that, we left for the Red Roof Inn where we stayed for the night. =]
Saturday was the big day for most of us, but most importantly for my other cousin - Rachel! We took time to put our clothes, makeup, and hair together and then left for Rachel's hotel to take family portraits and other pictures! I didn't eat for many hours! Had to wait forever to eat dinner. But anyway, back to the point. Raj was kind enough to give us some of the fries from McDonalds while waiting to go to church for the wedding. Weather was getting better from there. Once we arrived at the scene, the wedding took place...and all I can really remember were these words from the priest.
"What God had joined, man MUST NOT break."
It was such a powerful phrase to be heard in a wedding because it truly signifies how powerful marriage can be!
Anyway, after the wedding we went to a nearby park to take more pictures. Took almost forever.I was already complaining from walking so much in my heels. But this only happens once in a while. =P Once pictures were done, we headed off to the Chateau Briand, a very expensive restaurant in Bellerose, New York. This awesome and unique place can only take me into the mind of Gossip Girl for everyone in that show lived in upstate New York! It's amazing how an open bar was OPEN FOR EVERYONE, a cocktail party had a buffet of food that were MORE than just appetizers even though they were only appetizers, a pianist and violinist playing nonstop, and a reception hall with MORE food, MORE DESSERT, and more drinks. =D I had a Long Island Iced Tea (how funny that I had one near Long Island), white wine with strawberry on top, amaretto sour, and s** at the beach. Reception went well with random dancing and performances in between eating for dinner! There was one part where the groom sang a Filipino love song to his bride! So cute! After midnight, we went home and it took at least an hour to get home, fighting off NYC traffic in the process. Oh! Here's another thing about New York! Drivers were mean when we were driving to get to our destination. It reminded me of L.A. drivers and how they cut off other drivers without having their signal lights on. Not cool for foreigners when they are the ones driving.
On Sunday, I pretty much did nothing. Just watched "Stardust" and printed out boarding passes for the flight to L.A. Said goodbyes to everyone. I know I will see them again, so it wasn't that bad to say goodbye! But I got sad once I went to the airport and it was just the family now....the six of us. No more the twenty three of us in the house! It's going to get lonely once the Canadian people finish their vacations and leave for Canada. Anyway, we were in the air for five hours with little delay and BARELY any turbulence at all. =] Arrived at LAX safely and after getting our stuff and riding the taxi, we finally went home at exactly midnight, ending a chapter of my trip in 2008.
Thank you for reading my journey to the east coast and back.
Good bye for now.
Always,
Jerryl
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