Custodio Family

One of the people who found me on facebook was my Uncle Joe (aka "Jun" Custodio). He and my papa are second cousins... (Filipinos have big families and they are all pretty close to each other-- as in, not just immediate... not just extended... but waaay extended!). Uncle Joe is younger than my Papa... i think 10 years younger, actually.

Anyway, Uncle Joe lives in San Jose and his sister Joyce lives here in Hemet! It was her 40th birthday on Sept 25th and they invited us to go to the party! I was nervous and excited! Even though I don't remember Uncle Joe, they remember me and it's nice to find people who were close to Papa. It feels like I'm finding pieces that bring me closer to him (Papa). So anyway, Jacob and I drove up to Hemet with Mama, Keith, Aaron and Camille.

It was nice. I got to sit and talk with Joe and he told me about how he and Papa used to hang out and Papa would play his guitar and sing. He asked me if I played guitar and sang. And I told him yeah! ...That's how I connect to Papa :) It was fun. I hope I get to meet more family...

Family

So for the last few weeks, I felt prompted to find people from my biological dad's side. Roberto "Bobby" Rosales was my Papa. He died in August 2003. He was killed by gunshot in front of his home in the Philippines. I fell apart when I found out. The father who I barely knew and only spent 4-5 years of my life with, was gone. I'll never get to see him alive again. Since I left the Philippines in 1989, I wasn't able-- no-- I wasn't ALLOWED to go back. I was promised I would go "next year"...and after I turned 18, I told myself I would save enough money to go back "home". I never saved enough in time.

Life for me wasn't the same. I wish I had real grieving time. After Papa's death, I resented my parents-- the ones who adopted me... the ones who never let me go back to the Philippines.... the ones who wouldn't even let me go back for my Papa's funeral. I needed closure and they did nothing to help me. I am still upset with them about that.

Anyway, I had an idea! I figured the only way to increase my chances of finding family on facebook (that I didn't know existed or didn't remember) would be to change how my profile name appears! So for a while, I was Krischelle Fernandez Rosales Stockwell Nielsen. Yeah, it's long... but you'd be surprised how many relatives starting sending me messages asking if I was Bobby and Gigit's (Geraldine) daughter! I also changed my profile picture to a picture of my Papa and me. I tagged some of my family members from Papa's side (so that way, their friends would see it, too). Well, that helped out a lot! So far I have found over 20 people that are either relatives or friends of Papa! I'm so happy! I can't wait to find more. This'll definitely help me out with my family ancestry

Good Times

I got to have lunch with one of my best friends. Irene Tran. She recently got engaged to Steven Manabat (he's Filipino)! They have been going out since we were in high school-- it was a secret then-- her parents didn't know! Anyway, I am so happy for them! I have known Irene since we were 9 years old. We met in 4th grade in Miss Edelstein's class. Miss E. used to get us mixed up... and everywhere Irene and I went, people would think we were twins... and then say, "oh, so not twins... but you're sisters, right?". Hahaha... no

Anyway, Irene and I have a tradition of going to Taco Bell! When we were kids, we used to walk to the Taco Bell by our house, in the gateway center off Via Fabricante. It's not there anymore :( It hasn't been there for the longest time. Anyway, Irene plays on a roller hockey league in Corona and she stopped by the house here before her game! We went and had lunch at-- guess where? Taco Bell! :) Just like old times. We talked and laughed and joked and reminisced about the good 'ole days. Irene is a great friend. We don't hang out and talk as much as we used to back in our grade school days, but whenever we see each other again, we just pick up where we left off! That's what true friendship is :) To be able to grow separately without growing apart. Congratulations on your engagement, Irene! It's about freakin' time!

We use to pretend we were Tia and Tamera (Sister, Sister). My dog Brute was also part of our "pretend"! And my cousin Dan would just follow us everywhere haha

We did the dumbest things at my house after school. Every day. :) It was fun!

Mamiya C33

So Robin, one of my co-workers, came back from a trip to Boston and Pittsburgh. She brought in an old skool camera! Her friend who is a photographer just GAVE it to her! For those of you who know, I have a growing collection of vintage cameras! I particularly have a fetish with twin-lens cameras! ...And I want the kind Robin has! Someday, I'll find one

The Fab Four

Tonight Jacob and I went to Pearson Park in Anaheim to watch The Fab Four! They are a Beatles tribute band and boy, do they sound awesome! Not only do they LOOK like the Beatles, but they sing like them (REAL singing), play instruments like them, talk like them, and have the same mannerisms as them! Talk about impersonators!

Dave Bledsoe, one of the guys that Jacob used to work for, hooked us up with some tickets. We went 2 years ago with Dave and his family and it was so much fun! We were suppose to go last year, but completely got tied up with my cousin Liza's wedding (Grunkemeyer).

Anyway, it was pretty cool this time because we got better seats! And we ran into our friends Kendra and Stuart (Campbell)! They sat 5 rows in front of us :) Here are pics of the concert!

we parked our car in this neighborhood! it had some old, cute homes

lovin the guitars!
a little ambient lighting...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club

$400 poorer...

Jacob and I picked up the Prius today. We had to get new tires. A little costly for ME... but I'm just glad we have the money-saving Prius... hmm.. ironic.

I got to drive it home while Jacob drove the Jeep home. So glad we have it back! But driving in that Jeep sure reminded me of how fun it is to be higher than most cars! :D ...and being in that Jeep also made me learn to appreciate air conditioning... since the only a/c you get is from outside!

I don't have Prius pictures since I'm the one driving the Prius and taking the pictures!

I love this picture. It's pretty sweet
Jacob driving the Jeep home

I Hate Flats!

So Jacob and I were driving to work on the 15 last Wednesday and some stupid truck dropped a bunch of stuff out of his cab and we ended up running over what looked like pieces of wood. Well by the time we were at the bottom of the Ortega, our "low tire" light came on so we pulled over and checked our tires and everything seemed fine! Thankfully, we got over Ortega safely and Jacob dropped me off at work and headed for his work. At the end of the day, Jacob's co-workers were telling him that his right tires (both front AND back) were flat! Jacob had Triple A come out to put air in them and drove to pick me up. Then we went to the gas station AGAIN to fill up before our Ortega route.. THEN after Ortega we fill up AGAIN! Anyway, luckily, we have 2 other cars we can drive! phew!

This last Saturday Jacob and I filled the tires up again and drove the flat-tired Prius to the shop so they can replace the punctured tires with brand new ones! We are suppose to be picking our car up today! Jacob is at work with the Jeep and I am home with bronchitis... and no car! (My Maxima is at my parents-- we leave it there because I usually drive it to work when Jacob drops me off at their house).

Anyways, we ordered 4 new tires-- why 4? Because every 30,000 miles you are suppose to change out your tires! And since we have already driven 35,000 miles since we bought the Prius in November 2009, we figured we might as well change all the tires out. And yes, we actually have driven that many miles in that short amount of time! ...we drive a total of 3.5 to 4 hours EVERYDAY. :( sucks.

Coco And The Pheasant

Yesterday Jacob and I went to Target to buy eye liner :) We were in the pet section and found a squeaky toy-- it's suppose to be a pheasant. I thought it was a duck! Anyway, we brought it home and Coco loved it! She loves squeaky toys so much that every time we get her one, the squeak is gone by the next day. ...Or maybe she doesn't like them???

We Got Bored!

We were pretty worn out from sitting around (lol) trying to figure out what color(s) we want to use for the living room/piano room and how to decorate them. I bought a couple of long linen curtain panel thingies from World Market and Jacob somehow opened the package and then...

Yellow??

So our living room and dining/piano room share a wall that is GREEN. Its like a minty seafoam green. ...And we don't like it. The picture isn't horrible. It's uglier in person! We were thinking of painting it some kind of yellow... We picked out Havana Cream and bought a sample from Home Depot to try out on the wall. It came out too light and too yellow. Almost like highlighter-yellow. So now we are back to square one. We just want a nice muted yellow! Who knew picking out colors would be so hard???

we should have painted before we moved in.
The picture below is too bright. It's not really what the "yellow" looks like at all. Jacob is trying out the Havana Cream sample