what a girl wants...

traveling with a rather spoiled perfectly charming and brilliant 9-year-old has me thinking about what it is a girl wants. and naturally, that makes me want to make a list. because what a girl wants is....

~ regular pedicures

~ to be listened to and appreciated.

~ an entirely new wardrobe.

~ pretty headbands.

~ pampering and recognition in a luxury hotel.

~ fabulous dresses.

~ and shoes.

~ a really good mobile phone case, preferably with lots of bling.

~ apps.

~ a very deep, very bubbly bubble bath.

~ to swim for at least an hour a day.

~ room service.

in general, all of this, plus conversations with old friends, has me thinking about how every season of life is the best one. what you've got is here and now. this is it. live it to the fullest, laugh your way through, love every minute of it. and hold onto it for all you're worth. right now really IS the time of your life.

stop overthinking and just enjoy

i apparently have theory on the brain...yesterday, cultural capital, today, orientalism.

you may have gathered that i love the philippines. the warmth and genuineness of the people, the food, their creative use of vinegar, the climate, the shopping. i love it all. but in my tendency to overthink and over-analyze, i wonder if i end up, in my deep and abiding affection, in fetishizing a whole nation?

nearly every time i've been to the philippines (and last week was my 17th trip), i have had the opportunity to see a performance like the one depicted here...magically lovely young girls enacting traditional dances from one of the philippines' 7000 islands. hotels almost always have such a show - and i wonder if such shows feed an expected stereotype...a taste of the exotic, served up to hungry tourists.

taal volcano - batangas, philippines

this show, on a friday afternoon, at a lovely hotel overlooking the taal volcano, was performed in a restaurant full of filipinos. looking around, i think myself and my colleagues were the only tourists in the place. which makes me feel a bit less like i'm orientalizing, as i'm sure they hadn't put on the show just for our sake.

maybe sometimes i need to stop over analyzing and just enjoy, because the girls were graceful and lovely and their silhouettes exquisite. and it's undoubtedly perfectly ok to simply enjoy that and not worry too much about it.  when i go back in a couple of weeks, i'll think i'll just sit back and enjoy the show.

going on about the philippines

the last time i was in the philippines:

~ obama was elected.

~ i bought a really big ring to celebrate.

~ i bought a 14-year-old chocolate and champagne.

~ i stayed at the manila pen.

~ there was no coup attempt. (tho' frankly, if i was going to stage one, it would be there.)

~ i spoke at a conference.

this time, i'm going to:

~ see old friends.

~ start new projects.

~ visit old haunts.

~ get a pedicure.

~ eat tapas and fried tofu and wagyu beef

~ drink in the energy it gives me to travel.

~ love every single minute of it.

~ take a zillion pictures.