Warning: this is a long, personal post!!
Read at your own risk!
Read at your own risk!
Garoverygood Full of Grace
When I joined the St. Alphonsus de Ligoury Music Ministry in 2004, I never thought that the girl assigned to be my partner would become one of the great constants of my life.
"Pia Garovillo will play the piano. Her mom just volunteered her," Anne Borgailly, then head of the Music Ministry said when I spoke to her on the landline. "Just make sure you practice because she's a little free-spirited," she warned.
Little did Teacher Anne, as we called her, know that I was just as. But at the same time, her warning did not prepare me enough for THIS:
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| College "bad" girl look. (Photo from Garov's Facebook.) |
Actually, wala pa yan. The second time I met her she was in red and white striped knee socks. Pippi Longstocking in the flesh!!
BUT I immediately liked her because she reminded of the days when I wore what I thought was cool, to hell with what the rest of the world without color or creativity thought!
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| 80s! "Versace" scarf, belt bag, Cybill Shepherd hair, TWO Pop Swatch watches, friendship bracelets (other arm), colored leggings, colored slouch socks, Keds. |
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| Photo from: http://www.zimbio.com/Kim+Kardashian/articles/E_AcHpLTCIf/Jessica+Alba+Hearts+Floral+Pants |
Meanwhile, Pia has metamorphosed from Pippi Longstocking to fashion icon in her own right, even being named Best Dressed by Preview Magazine - alongside Gretchen Barretto, Kaye Tinga and Aivee Aguilar. Not to mention becoming a Globe Tattoo endorser.
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| This girl can fly (in her Vivienne Westwood heels). Photo from Pep.ph: http://www.pep.ph/photos/1798/Preview_Best-Dressed_Ball_2010/165 |
But through the years, while the the color of her hair - and my boyfriends - changed, one thing remained constant: our 9 p.m. mass.
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| In Living Color. (Photos from garoverygood Facebook) |
So after almost ten years of music for the 9 pm mass (me on the mic and she on the piano), Pippipia holds the record of my longest relationship!
When I read the news that she was engaged (Facebook, where else?), I was happy although a little jolted. I thought that like me, she would never grow up! I had a mild separation anxiety moment around a week before her wedding when it dawned on me that she might leave. Where was she going to hear mass now? Was she going to get knocked up right away? Was she going to become one of those boring wifeys who don't have a life and do nothing but post pictures of their kids on Instagram?!
Thankfully, she lost neither spirit nor soul even as she got hitched.
And lucky Ryan Vergara, the other half of Everywhere We Shoot, met down the aisle the most beautiful bride. (Check out their wedding video here.)
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| The 9 o' clock church crew @ Everywhere We Wed. |
When she and Ryan settled down, they found blank new canvass to express themselves which they called EverywhereWeHouse.
Never dropping the happy ball, they have given true meaning to the term "home is where the heart is". Their love for art is in every nook and corner of their pad! Like the various tributes to Andy Warhol.
Or the art on the walls ...
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| Mike de Leon film poster. Warhol cake remnants from Little OC's Kitchen (wedding cake). Roses by Lola Mom Caridad Viana Magsino. Diamond thingies by Ryan Villamael. Oil profiles of Ryan + Garovs by Luis Santos (apo ni Malang!). |
They unabashedly display their fetish for tongues ...
As well as for quadruple-breasted creatures ...
But alongside this is a tribute to the Sto. Niño (a good thing) ...
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| Sto. Niño beside the wedding invite of Ryan+Garovs |
They have also proven that space is by no means a constraint to creative urban living.
And when you want a view of a fabulous skyline, well then make one!
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| This is their utility box! |
In her domestic frenzy, Garoverygoodchef has even started cooking and fried her eggs pink! I have been writing about food for ten years now and I swear it is the first time that I saw eggs so sunny they were blushing!
Since creating these pink eggs - she cooked this in a steamer that still had hotdogs - she has also cooked sinigang na baboy ... or so it seems! ... in her polka-dotted cozy kitchen ...
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| This is actually by Lola Mom. But SOMEDAY Pia will be also able to cook like Lola Mom Caridad Viana Magsino, just as she followed Lola Mom's footsteps in modelling (!) and make that to-die-for beef stew. |
I'm only glad she didn't serve us this silly can of sardines by political satirist/comedian Jun Sabayton:
They have also just recently launched their first ever gallery exhibit featuring photographs of food entitled (drumroll) Foods.
At a housewarming dinner they hosted, I was happy to note that in their home, the love for food art was apparent everywhere.
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| Coke collection, placemats, EWS mugs. |
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| Of COURSE I vandalized their fridge. |
With so much character and warmth, this ain't EverywhereWeHouse so much as it is EverywhereWeHOME. Good job Ryan + Garovs.
I swear there's nothing prettier on earth than free spirits finding their soulmates and soulmates growing up and building a life together. I think to find someone who will appreciate your crazy and want to make a world out of it is the greatest blessing in the world. (Well, that or an uncanny ability to embrace that you're not a zero if you don't have a plus one.)
So PippiPiaPianist is an absolute grown up now. MATURE, even. (Horrors!) But (whew!) she's the same, only better.
Now that she's older than me (she's 30 and I never grew a day past 25), when I grow up, I hope to be just like Pia aka Garovs. Someone who has the courage to keep her individuality amidst a constricted and conformist society. Someone who doesn't lose herself in spite of giving of herself. And most importantly, someone who has wherewithal to cook pink eggs.
Good job, Tita Mom. ;)
EverywhereWeShoot
They make art.
