peninsulares library cafe if i wanted to sum up today's first half, it would be that life is dotted with small little highlight things. redundant because they're like chocolate: you can't just have one. hehehe.

i crossed michigan avenue bridge craving chocolate. somehow i knew that today fannie mae candies on wacker drive and michigan avenue is giving out chocolate samples. i swiped one each from the coffee pile and the white chocolate pile. mmmm. swallow all that guilt down with the lady's, "hello, feel free to try the samples on our counter," echoing in your memory. it's not shameless, it's not taking advantage of, it's sampling, and so next time i will have to buy something. ahahaha.

it got colder in chicago today - it's one of those laze around the cafe with something warm day, sunny but windy, and not too cold. but i didn't want to spend today at just any cafe, it has to be somewhere i can feel new in, one that's open enough so i can spend some time there without feeling like i'm invading in cafe space. or sucking in ambience.

today on email someone forwarded a neice's happy thoughts about succeeding in opening a cafe in her home province of bicol.

I opened the cafe last December pa. Its called Peninsulares Library Cafe. Its a library with a full menu and coffee. A conference room good for 20 person and a massage room.

Im here in manila now to get contacts for books and coffee, but Ill be returning to bicol tomorrow morning.

Last Dec 17-23, we launched the Storytelling Nights for children. The theme was Stories from different parts of the world, with a discussion on new vocabulary words and Moral lesson of the story. This January though, I discovere that we have a new line of Filipino Childrens books that are surprisingly competetive with imported Childrens books. Its Called LAMPARA books. They feauture filipino authors and flipino illustrators. If you could only see some of these , its really beautiful in glossy sheets and original forms of drawings/sketches. ... I made the 2 hour session more comprehensive though. ... Parents register their children 30 mins before the schedule... and my storyteller is dressed in gypsy clothes complete with a CRYSTAL BOWL... only well, I dont ave a crystal bowl so I made use of a Fish Bowl. (hehehe)

Oscar, I really wish I could have a POET GUEST to launch a Poetry Reading Night........... Do you know of anyone willing? for a low pay> hehehe... Im just starting and Legaspi is really new at this kind of activity. Their all used to Cockfighting and drinking (lol)..... I am slowly tapping into the Filipino Artist here in Bicol..... but well, I guess I cant have everything in a rush.

Oh by the way... did you know that Amorsolo used to live at the very same Ancestral home that I mae into a cafe? interesting isnt it?

Before I forget.... do you know of any organization I can work with in getting books or helping out in an essay or poetry writing contest for the bicol region? Id really like to launch some sort of a contest that can be more meaningful for these folks here...at the same time have publicity for the Cafe.

gotta go and go cafe hopping here in Manila. Ive been trying to check out new bookstores and cafes.... and checking out coffee beans!

how wonderful to read about someone's hopes about something new in her life. hehehe. bicol means a lot to me because it's the first philippine region i travelled to on my own as reward for my efforts at writing. the bus ride was 12 hours, and it was worth every moment of my time. hehehe. i hope no one in that listserv reads this blog.

today in the mail arrived a subscription from a story company based in brooklyn, n.y. hehe - talk about perfect circles. i was just there this past weekend! blogged all about it all week this week as well, and i'm not yet exhausted about it. truly an interesting place, and we didn't even try to make it interesting ourselves. we just visited some key cool places where people lived, and that was enough.

although i knew one in our party felt our trip was a tad bit lacking. he wondered if really there were any other entertaining spots in brooklyn we could have gone to. the brooklyn botanic gardens. the children's museum. other landmarks featured in "a tree grows in brooklyn," at least, i think there are landmarks in that book, i haven't read it yet, hehe. but in the end, he and i accomplished what we came for in visiting new york.

and chocolate - while stopping in indiana, we purchased a pound of chocolate-covered blueberries from the south bend chocolate company. mmmm. that was by far the best small little highlight thing that weekend.

next time, i will have to savor those fannie mae chocolate bites slower. i just gulped them both down like i always did when i was a kid. ahahaha.  ¶ 1/19/2006 06:53:00 PM