Chelai @ 20ish

One of my girlfriends celebrated her birthday yesterday! And since she is enjoying London now, we cannot meet-up. So Lara and I decided to make a card for her.

 I'm getting better using Photoshop eh? Admit it! hahaha

Happy Quarter-of-a-Century Birthday again Chelai! (Ooooppps! :P)

K-pop Lunch

I declare Chicken and Beer as our favorite lunch venue. hahaha!

I like how big their servings are. But the price is not too high. Just the right value for your money.

But what I like most about the place is the ambiance! K-pop peg! Uhmm shabby chic korean style if you ask me.

Check this out for yourself. It's in Burgos Circle in BGC. 

some of the cute things there!

 Order anything from the Set Meals. All are good. Go there during lunch for the free iced tea.

Paper Stars!

Unexpectedly, I discovered one cute thing during one of D's hangout with friends. It was in the office of our friend Leo. I saw these cute things in his brother's desk. Isn't these cute?

Stars made from colored paper! I wanna learn how to craft this!
I posted this in Intagram and my MOH said that I know how to do this back in college. Really I knew? But why did I ask if I knew? Ahhh I remember now! It was Allen. He was doing this stuff during of vacant periods in college! Yey! I can ask him to teach me.

I'll put this in a clear bowl and put it as centerpiece. Sounds great right?

Thrift Shopping!

Days before our 6-month mark, we dragged ourselves to do some thrift shopping in where else but Divisoria!

Equipped with our kodigo of what to buy, we drove to UST. Oh yes yes we were really going to Divisoria. But D had a traumatic experience (im exaggerating!) parking in Isetann Recto. We parked there when we bought my DSLR in Hidalgo two years ago. Before we checked-out of the parking, D saw a sign posted in the walls. It says - 'Check you plates before you leave' Waaa so apparently, plates are usually stolen even in the mall's parking. So my scaredy-cat boyfriend decided it's either we park in UST or we commute. I chose the first one.

Oh well, It's like hitting two birds with one stone. Because D hasn't done  his assignment of checking out Gardini! So we parked our car in UST, ate some footlong and headed down to Gardini. Sadly, all their vests were black. No gray. aww. We can always have it tailor-made, they said. As for the prices, it seemed like Bonnie's prices are lower. So no! we were there for rentals. Or for First-use. But sadly again, Freddie said they do not tailor vests for rentals anymore. Disappointed!

inspired by LeoDavid Photography

DIY: THe Holy Things

As mentioned in my previous post, I planned to do my own wedding cord. So after 5 days of twisting wires, I finished one! Hmmm it is not mine actually. I volunteered to do my friend's cord too. She had no idea that it can be customized. She only knew the white rope kind. So since I will be her MOH, i feel the need to give her something special. And this is my idea of special. Of course! I still feel the soreness of my hands two days after I rest it from all that hard-wire-twisting. haha it's not that I'm complaining! On the contrary, I totally enjoyed it. I learned a bunch of new tricks. Which I think made me more ready to do my own cord. Yey!

So guys, hold and behold - my first creation!

Blue and Yellow Cord for PAC!

It is not exactly the rosary kind as you can see from the sequence of the beads. I initially wanted a freestyle cord but in the end I want it to have a tail. hehehe. And it doesn't have the initials yet - need to find cute letters.

Oh BTW, I told you that I had a hard time finding the yellow beads I want right? Well I found a pale one. I used it on Pac's cord (see picture above). But I found it too weak. So I browsed through some other stores in Villalobos and I found another yellow. Much better than the pale one. I made a rosary to see if it'll work. Let me know what you think. Here it is -

our rosary

I will be doing my own wedding cord next week. I just need to restock on some items.
Will sure be updating you guys with it. And a tutorial maybe! :)

My Kind of House

I always wanted a white house.

I want high ceiling. To make the room look huge and airy. I want a portion of the ground floor to be seen from the second floor. That makes it easier to see everything.
I want black and white or subtle-colored furnitures. And a bit of colors for accent. But not the ones that hurt the eye. Something like dark red, burnt orange, navy blue or golden yellow. 
I want a big kitchen. With a spacious counter like that of the cooking shows. I want a well-lit dining hall. A sliding door where the sun can peek perhaps?
I want a versatile bathroom. A closed-portion for the shower to keep everything else dry. So that I can sit on the throne while I read the morning paper.
I want an entertainment room with acoustics. For my dose of in-your-home movie marathon. Or a full-blast SIMS3. Or just a quiet time with all my books and crafts.
I want a soft king bed for my bedroom. With curtains that are dark enough to filter the harsh sunlight or light enough to let the sun shine through. A double-padded curtains maybe? I want a full-length mirror also. And a walk-in closet.
I want an over-looking top-floor. Where I can watch the kids play at dawn. Or where I can lift up my kite. Or just watch the retiring sun.
I want a bit of green in my front porch. Where I can grow flowers and spices. Remind me to put my cute dogs' house away from it.
I want an ample parking slot. For all my cars!
I want it white and simple. And someday it will be mine..

Ahhhh the dream. Until now, it is still my dream. I'm a bit closer to the day that I need to make this a reality. But in terms of the resources, I guess I'm still as far as before. That's why it stunned me to see my dream in someone else's facebook wall. Just this afternoon, I saw my dream house photo tagged to a friend. I stared at the picture for minutes thinking how could it happen? How the hell did he manage to read my heart's desire? Slowly, my senses got into me. I realized that maybe it was something everyone wants. Maybe my dream house is that common? Everyone share the same dream I have!

Given that realization, I guess it's ok to share it with you guys. So behold my dream house.

Design 1
grabbed from Ruel Vinarao

See that? That is my minimalist home. Everything is exactly how I want it. Well, maybe I'll just replace the window in the dining hall with sliding doors.

Another option! This one has a lot more rooms. And apparently, more stairs. A bit crowded if you ask me, but still my kind of house.

Design 2
grabbed from Ruel Vinarao

BTW, the designs were grabbed from Ruel Vinarao's facebook page. I don't really know him, but I totally love his works! I should thank Chris Gatan for the connection. :)

Well well Wellmanson!

Bilang inggiterang froglet ako, it is never a wonder that I was lured into making my own wedding cord. Gone were the days where couples were binded by a rope-like wedding cord. Apparently, brides nowadays chose to do it more creatively. Some preferred to adorn the simple white rope, while most modern brides chose to use crystals and beads. I guess i'm one of those modern brides. And as you may have noticed (if you read my entire blog), I am a frustrated artist. So I will not have the opportunity to customize my own wedding cord pass me by. So DIY wedding cord it is!

With all the learning I got from w@w, I braced myself for some dirty walking in Quaipo to find Wellmanson. I was told that this is the best place to buy all the beads and stuff. So after alighting LRT2 Recto Station, I walked down Evangelista Street all the way to Quaipo Church. The walk proved to be very challenging on a wet and muddy Saturday. After reaching the church, I instantly recalled April's instruction - 'Punta ka sa tapat ng quiapo church, tapos about face ka. Lakad ka sa kalye na yun at makikita mo na wellmanson sa right side'. Easy! Thanks April! :)

I entered the shop at 10:30am, just an hour after it opened. I must admit, I was impressed by the store. I wasn't expecting something as organized at that, specially that it is located in the very busy Quaipo. Salesladies in brown uniforms were all-over the place to assist you. I left the shop around 2 in the afternoon - more than 3 hours since I entered and hours past lunchtime. I was so engaged with all the fancy beading stuff I saw. I started designing bracelets and earrings in my mind already. I found it really hard to choose when everything's so cute! However, I was a bit disappointed that they do not have yellow crystal beads. Well, all I saw was either pale yellow or sepia brown-yellow. Not the lively yellow color I wanted. I saw my kind of yellow in the swarovski area, but the price was way beyond my budget. In the end, I still bought more than what I needed.

As soon as I got home, I immediately unpacked everything and put it in the bead organizer I bought.

Look at what I have accomplished so far (picture below). I know I'm slow! I'm still getting the hang of it. Masakit kaya sa kamay! BTW, this is for my bridesmaid. She is getting married on October (inunahan pa ako ng bakla haha).

I promise to post my finish product. Both for this one and mine's. And the tutorials too!

Wrong Grammar?

Who has tried unintentionally posting something private on facebook? Like you set the filter option to let it be viewed by a selected audience only and then after a few minutes you realized that it didn't work? I hope i'm not alone.

Just last Sunday, I posted our Save-the-Date card on facebook. I chose that day to post it because that marked our 200-day countdown. Unfortunately, like I said earlier, the filter didn't work. So for a very long 2 minutes, my artwork was out there for all my friends to see. And believe it or not, in that short span of time, it has managed to attract 2 likes and 1 comment. All from people I do not plan to invite! Yay! And with a silent sweep, I deleted it.

But the curious cat in me got puzzled by one comment. It said: '122 Sino gumawa nito? May comment po ako.' I was so thirsty for comments that time because first and foremost, it was my first time to edit a picture using HDR style. I'm not very comfortable in it, but I wanted to give it a try. I didn't know much about the sender, so I thought maybe he is a photographer and he wanted to tell me that my editing sucks. But boy I'm sooo wrong. He made a criticism alright, but not on the picture. He commented on the wordings I used. 

BTW, my wordings went like this - WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER **th, AT HALF PAST *****? blah blah blah

Honestly, I was stunned. I truly appreciate the comment but I was in denial. I personally did not see anything wrong with it. He continued on giving his points why I was wrong. He said something about Present Progressive should have future tenses. I researched right at that moment to prove that I may be right also. But he blocked me with 'Soooo wrong! San mo nakuha yan? hahaha Ang tanong mo kasi ay.. "What are you doing...?' yun ay present progressive na interrogative. Formal invitation kasi eh, so dapat formal din. Tsaka mas maganda na ako ang nakasita kesa yung mga magiging bisita mo. Ganito lang yan eh, kagaya nating filipino, mali tayo gumamit ng sariling wika. Same din sa kanila, dahil language nila yun, they usually don't care about sa grammar nila. Pero kasi tayo, bilang mas pinag-aaralan nating ang english kesa filipino, mas technical tayo kesa sa kanila pagdating sa grammar.'

I let him know that what I'm aiming at was just conversational english not formal english. But anyway, I saw how confident he was with his point so I thanked him before letting go. 

But I won't give up without a fight! Specially when it comes to written english. I was so worried about it, people knew that I always find wrong grammar annoying. So how could someone like me do that? NO WAY! I messaged a few people, specially the ones I looked up to in terms of english language. I messaged Paul, our highschool valedictorian. But when I shown him my issue, he said that I was right. I also texted my MOH, she said I'm right also. And if ever I'm really technically wrong, it is always socially acceptable. I posted it also in w@w so I can get more comments from my sisters. Some said it's right while most said maybe I should improve the sentence construction but the grammar is correct. They suggested I put it this way: 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON DECEMBER **th, FRIDAY AT **:**pm? To make the focus be on the date and not on friday, which most people will think it's this coming Friday. Or better: 'WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING ON DECEMBER **th, FRIDAY AT **:** pm?' That made sense for me.

So I guess I found my solution - either I reconstruct my sentence or just put less words in it. The 200-day essense was gone, so I have more time to redo it till the 150 maybe?

And so for everyone's reference, here is the picture I posted in facebook. Just blurred a few details here. But i'm gladly accepting comments. :)

Hotel Hopping

Gone were the days of wedding preppin' in the house. Well for most modern brides. Because apparently for some people this is still practiced. As for us, it is impossible. First, my house is too far from our church. Second, it is not big enough. So one sunday morning, we drove to Makati to do hotel occulars. At last!

The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences
This hotel was the first on my list. I've been wanting for so long to go to this place because of Sis April's rave about it. The rates are cheaper as compared to other hotels in the area, considering that the floor area of the room is 88sqm (for the Barcelona suite).Their website is pretty impressive too. But as we all know, pictures can be deceiving so I better check it out first.

the facade

I was impressed by how Picasso looked like from the outside. The name is not like hotel-thingy so I'm expecting a simple condo-like look. Well, it looks like it but better! I'm particularly biased about it because I love everything white with a bit of colorful accents. Somewhere in the wall of each window are colorful abstract paintings. Love!

modern staircase

Medida Day

Amidst all the issues I encountered just to set a day to have mine and my girls body measurements for the gowns, it still happened. So last June 2, we waited for the rain to subdue a little and then we went to Grace Gown. That was a little different from what I have planned. My original plan was to get all my girls in my house for the measurement and to celebrate my mama's belated birthday as well. Mel from Grace Gown will just go over my place. Unfortunately, some of my friends didn't make it to the last minute so I just tweaked the plan a little bit.

measuring the bustline :)

Mel explaining the details

Oh well, the other girls can still get measured until end of august. But my gown should be in production now, so no delays!