Annika's 10th Birthday

Annika's Birthday Party last January 19 was a dance party. Dance obviously is not one of my passions, so I'll quote from Tessa's Inquirer column of Sunday, February 24, to describe it:

"The freedom of expression in dance is liberating. I’m so hooked on the series, “So You Think You Can Dance.” In fact, for my eldest daughter Annika’s tenth birthday party, we chose a dance theme. As she enters her pre-teen years, Annika and I have started enjoying more girly activities together.

As with any party, preparations start with the invitation itself. Talented graphics couple Norman and Mye Cruz of Adworks (tel. 688-0085 or e-mail adworksgrfx@yahoo.com) artistically creates both the invitations and the giveaways; always perfectly done despite the limited time I give them. This creative duo does everything from wedding invitations, baptisms, birthdays and debuts. For an artistic twist to your own invitations, check out Adworks and have a really personalized and wonderful memento made.

Once the invitations and giveaways are settled, my next appointment is at Cupcakes by Sonja (tel. 856-0308 or e-mail at socampo77@mac.com) in Serendra. For two birthdays in a row, Sonja Ocampo has made Annika’s cake along with a smaller version for Athena. And so all the kids get a bite of the delicious cake, there are matching cupcakes for all to enjoy.

And what’s a dance party without dancers! Dance sport champion Ednah Ledesma, one of the world’s best ballroom dancers, was our very special performer. Ednah had training in almost all dance varieties from ballet, jazz and hip-hop, but not ballroom, until entering the sport in 1997. Her performance was graciously captivating.

To date, Ednah has won over 5 major titles, including the championship in the prestigious Senior Latin Division of the Blackpool Competition in 2005. To those in the know, this is considered the Holy Grail of Dance Sports, held annually in England.

At the Ginajane Grey Dance Show last year, Ednah did a Latin Tango number with her partner Cecil Go. In her own show last month at the Music Museum, she showed off her skills accompanied by other dance sport champions. Entitled “Adventures of Dancing with The Champions 2,” the show’s theme was Hollywood Silver Screen musical scores. The show featured celebrity guest performer Regine Tolentino reprising the role of Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago.

After watching the highly entertaining show, I congratulated my Assumptionista friend and Dance Sport Champion Anna Marie Periquet for her action-packed samba with heart-stopping stunts, performed to the theme of Mission Impossible. She was so kind to reprise her act for Annika’s party at Bykes Café, along with Ednah’s Catwoman number and a special Cheetah Girls dance by Margie dela Rama.

To those who want to venture into the exciting world of dance, Ednah gives lessons at Studio 116 at 116 Building, V.A. Rufino Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City (tel. 813-1549 or 0917-628-2477). I will be taking lessons soon, but honestly, I am just excited to try on a Catwoman costume and other outfits.

Adding to the high-energy at Annika’s party was the break dancing of the hip-hop group, All-Stars. These international champions can spin on their heads, balance with one hand and defy gravity all together!

The girls at the party were also interested in Nail Art, a digital airbrush painting by Creative Party & Balloon Design. All girly parties should get this feature. Call Cory Marquez at 0917-624-2679 or e-mail creative_party_design@yahoo.com to ask about her other party activities."

I sure wish Annika would take up underwater hockey. Then I'd have more to write about!

Feng Shui Sudden Death

The quick news: 3rd place for the Metal Team.

We had one more game left in the round robin; unfortunately we lost a squeaker to the Fire Team 2-1. When the standings were done, Air and Earth played for the Championship, with 3-1 win-loss records. Fire and Metal had 2-2 records and played off for third.

Our medal match turned out to be really exciting. Fire scored in the first half and we were unable to match until the closing seconds of the second half. With 10 seconds left, we managed a goal. On to sudden death OT and in the ensuing play, we stayed down long enough to find Center Forward Cesar free, and he scored the winning goal.

All in all, a good tourney!

Our Feng Shui Hockey Tournament

I can't believe it. The "old men of hockey" are both on the team that's leading the tournament.

We started our Feng Shui Underwater Hockey Tournament last night at the rejuvenated, crystal-clear Army Pool. I was on the Metal Team, together with Boying Santos-Viola, a fellow diver from the echoes of the U.P. Divers past in the late '70's. I'd known that Boying and I were some of the last remaining dinosaurs still playing but I hadn't been in a pool with him for at least a decade.

We also had stronger and younger players, of course, but when I was looking at the team line ups, I couldn't help smiling that the two of us "olds" had somehow been put on the same team.

The five teams are playing a round-robin over two nights, and we just happened to play 3 games last night. In the first game, we beat Water 5-1. That got the adrenalin flowing and we managed to squeak out a nailbiting 1-0 over the Air team in the second game.

Perhaps age or conditioning was starting to show, as we lost the third 2-3 against a fired up Earth team.

So after the first night of games, Metal leads the tourney with 4 points (2 points per win) and 8 goals, followed closely by Air with 4 points and 7 goals. Earth and Fire have 2 points a piece, although the former has the goal differential lead. Water has a way to go, what with its 0-2 record for no points.

Let's see if we can hang on for victory tomorrow night!

Another Day, Another Cover

It's amazing to me that Athena is not yet three and can hardly speak a complete sentence, and yet, this is the fourth time she will be on the cover of a magazine. She must truly be lucky!

Here are the other three:

From the Mouths of Babes

Children, it is said, cannot lie. T and I got a huge kick out of Annika's English test, which we just got last night.

In Section B, the test asks her to write a sentence for the preposition "after."

Her answer: My Mom always comes home one hour after the time she said [she would].

T and I could only tell Annika, that's so true!

Being the wanna-be editor that I am, of course I also went through the test and cringed at the grammatically challenged portions (like the rule redundancy "Follow grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation rules in spelling.")

My favorite "gotcha" in this test though has to be:

6. The Titanic sank because it sailed towards an enormous iceberg.