15 July 01. Barrio Fiesta Restaurant, Glendale CA.

Marela Mijares Flick's scoop:

Thanks to those who came to Maribel and Bebet's baby shower Sunday, July 15, at the Barrio Fiesta in Glendale. Your presence certainly made it such a fun and memorable event.

Front: Bebet Abiva, Maribel Garcia, Marela Mijares, Malu Sanchez.

Back: Mayette Aquino, Ana Balboa, Pilucci.Gonzales.

Maribel is due in about two weeks, and Bebet is due Sept. 5. As you will see in the pictures, these two moms-to-be are absolutely glowing and look fabulous. Their skin looked great and you should see Bebet, she hardly even looks pregnant. Kawawa naman, she was having allergies, and I felt so bad because I kept thinking if she just took one antihistamine, tapos na yan. Kaso you can't when you're pregnant. That's what being a mom is all about. Hay naku, the sacrifices we make for our kids.

You'll also see a face most of you haven't seen in ages - Malu Sanchez's! I met with her and Kat for lunch when Kat was here in late May, and I called her a few weeks ago about the shower.

Although she lives near me, in south Orange County, she was in San Diego the night before with her husband and kids at a relative's place. But she practically moved heaven and earth to be at the shower. Imagine, she drove all the way back to Lake Forest from San Diego on 3.5 hours of sleep just so she'd be home on time for me to pick her up for the shower. Hooray for Malu! We were all so happy to see you. On our drive home, she told me how glad she was to be there.

So I told her, but of course. As always, basta we get together, we always have a good time. From the time I picked up the three girls, Malu, Bebet and Maribel, to the long drive and lots of kwentos, and until we got to Barrio Fiesta.

They kept laughing nga when we got there kasi I kept missing the tiny entrance and making mura (my famous malutong na mura) and I kept having to make u-turns. Natural, we were the first ones there. Because you know how those bruhildas are, they like to make grand entrances. That maldita Mayette even told Ana the day before, "Hay naku Ana, let's not show up at 11:30 because alam mo naman yan si Marela, she'll be late na naman." Well guess what? We were there 10 minutes early. Bruhas.

Finally, after we got there, we were hungry na so we ordered krispy pusit and sago, just for appetizers. I have to tell you about that place. The food is great, the place is nice, but the waiters are so atribido. Frightfully bossy!

Imagine, we were giving this one waiter our drink orders. Etong si Maribel (aka Cutie Pie) was trying to decide what to drink because, being as health conscious as she is, she didn't want any canned drinks. She wanted some kind of fresh juice.

So this waiter says, "Puro canned yung juice namin." So she's thinking, in that case, eh di mag-sa-sago nalang siya, because that's what most of us where having. Biro mo, he takes a look at her kabuntisan and decides for her. "Mag-calamansi ka. Mas mabuti sa yo yun." End of story. Natameme kaming lahat. He brings her a calamansi.

Maya-maya dumating na si Pilucci. I don't know what's going on with this girl but she's soooooo thin lately.

Tapos, around 12:30 Mayette and Ana arrived. Ana is looking better and better these days. Congratulations on your weight loss! Si Mayette, sexy pa rin. And does she live in a beauty salon or what? Everytime I see her, bagong hairstyle na naman.

Even though they weren't there in body, both Rica dela Cruz and Lisa Cendaña were there in spirit. Bebet and Cutie Pie both know you two would have been there if you could. They were truly so pleased with the gift certificates we jointly gave them (Maribel ended up joining us for Bebet's certificate). We're still thinking of going to San Fran, you know. So Rica, please try to join us. Next year pa yun, so we're not sure when. The gifts were so nice. Bebet got a nice car seat from Pilucci, Mayette and Ana; and Maribel got a breast pump and other important items on her registry. Malu got them some adorable infant wear and accessories.

Ay, oo nga pala. Here's the story of the other atribidong waiter. Okay, so let's backtrack before the opening of the gifts. We were enjoying another session of lamonizing (kare-kare, grilled bangus, chicken/pork adobo, pinakbet and tortang alimango) and Ana is stirring her sago, but decides she should have really ordered a calamansi.

So she says to the waiter, "Excuse me, puedeng isang calamansi juice?"

He points to her sago and says, "Me sago ka na, tapos mag-o-order ka pa ng calamansi?" And proceeds to disregard her order. Unbelievable. We were laughing so hard we couldn't get mad. What's the world coming to? Tapos, because there were so many people waiting for tables, we kind of felt guilty about the space we had. So we gave away one table. About an hour later, we gave away another one. By the time we left at around 4 p.m., there weren't too many diners anymore, but they sort of jumped at our table to clear it quick.

So feeling somewhat bitin, we drove to Starbucks, where Maribel insisted on making us libre. Thanks, Cutie Pie. Eventually, we parted ways, and I took the girls home. We stopped at Maribel's to use the bathroom, and she has such a nice house. The baby's room is all painted, and she has this huge backyard with an avocado tree with the fruit dropping off, so we took some home with us.

Anyway, we're thinking of getting together again sometime in Sept., when Jenny Lee comes for a visit. We'll see how it goes as Bebet is due on the first week.

(Narrative and photos are courtesy of Marela Mijares-Flick, SPCM HS'78 egroup moderator. Thanks, Marel!)

Latest page update: 2001-09-01

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