Horsey-horsey

Last weekend my dad made Adam a rocking horse.

Ok, so it doesn't look like a horse but to my son, it was! Iba talaga pag apo! To think that I was already contemplating on buying Adam a rocking horse... But of course, Lolo Dad said, you can't buy a rocking horse that's like the ones for sale before (before -- as in nung baby pa ako, nyahaha!), the plastic ones in the mall aren't that sturdy and may not be small enough for a 10-month-old baby. So my Dad bought wood on Saturday, and by Sunday... voila! Adam's very own horsey-horsey!

Adam's Baptism

Yesterday, aside from being easter sunday, marked my son's entry to the Christian World. The ceremony was simple and shared with 5 other babies at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Parañaque.  The reception was held at my parents home with the help of a caterer friend who gave us a huge discount and relatives who pitched in by providing the sound system and running errands for us.  The invitations were a project I played with using photoshop and then had printed in a nearby photo developing outlet.  I did several layouts and couldn't make my mind up which one to print for the final layout so I ended up having two different layouts for the invites:

I also made a layout for a tarpauline which I had printed for only 350 pesos:

Here are some of the pictures taken during the ceremony:

The food during the reception were:  Beef with mushroom and young corn, mixed vegetables with shrimp, chicken lollipops, pork hamonado and buko pandan.  My aunt cooked spicy shrimps to add to the viands layed out for the guests and I ordered a chocolate cake from Red Ribbon also to add color and sweetness to the mix.

The giveaways were miniature ceramic displays and glass pacifiers for the guests while the godparents received tumblers with Adam's photo in it with text saying "I am a proud godparent of Charles Adam"

And here's the new christian sound asleep after the ceremony:

To all our relatives and friends who were able to attend, Thanks so much!

Feng Shui of Colors

All this research about home renovations and interior decorating brought me to a lot of sites that I've never been to. While deciding on what paint colors I would use for the different rooms in our house, I came upon this concept: that colors also brings about certain energies and since Feng Shui makes use of the reflected energies from colors, there is such a thing as Feng Shui of colors.

Every association you have with a color contributes in some way to how you are. That is why colors play a meaningful role within the practice of Feng Shui. It is very essential for you to understand why toning down or playing up certain Feng Shui colors in your home will help you to achieve the goals you have set for yourself in your life.

Further readings made me realize that there are a lot of colors to choose from and which rooms these colors could work well with. Hmmm... I still have yet to finalize the look for the tiny space alloted for the kitchen but I know I want something red in it, if not a wall, maybe the trimmings for the cabinets or cupboards as Red is said to represent the energy of sun and life. Which means that the right amount of red in your home will bring joy, excitement and passion. Besides red is a color for celebrations and where else best to start a celebration than the kitchen?

Floor Tiles and Paint Color

Yesterday was quite a tiring yet satisfying trip to builders' stores for me and hubby. We only went to 3 stores but we chose the big ones known for their wide variety of choices and competitive prices. We were able to look at lots and lots of tiles, some of our choices were really expensive though so are still going to have a second canvassing trip before making any purchases. It's better na to be on the safe side, you know, renovating a house isn't a task one could take lightly specially if you're like us who are on a very limited budget. At least we have narrowed our tile choices to 5 na lang plus we've also decided to have a different tile design and color for the 2nd floor of the house instead of making it the same as the one downstairs. We were also able to look at different paint color choices and we've agreed that a scheme with earth colors in it would be best for our living and dining areas

I used the Sherwin-Williams color visualizer in the picture above and were able to choose the paint color from there too. The walls are going to be in Ivoire and Dapper Tan while the Trim is going to be Softened Green. This would go very well with our "wood look" tiles! I am getting more excited by the minute... hopefully we will be able to make our home look pretty with the choices that we are making. And although our home is not going to be as big as the one shown in the picture, we are going to try our best to make every single space count while making it cozy and comfy for us and whoever will be visiting us. Next up, I'll be posting pics of how I would like our tiny kitchen to look like...

Taking the First Step

Several posts ago I mentioned about our pending move to our new home (our own, this time) and now we are taking the first step to renovating this very bare house into making it our very own... Later today we will be visiting home improvement stores and building supply shops so we could canvass on materials we would be needing to at least make the basic improvements before we finally move in. Since we are working with a limited budget, we decided to be super hands-on with all the improvements and maybe even do some of the work ourselves. Our major objective today is to be able to find floor tiles that we would both like which would be easy to manage as well as last the test of time. Hubby prefers the "wood look" and I'm okay with that as long as it's not too dark. So, armed with the measurements we took from our last visit to our house, we would be visiting as many stores as possible and find the cheapest materials we could find without compromising the quality, of course! Our first stop would probably be Wilcon because they have lots of stuff to choose from and then we'll be store hopping from there. Also, we've decided that we would just be renovating the floors first and then make a division for one bedroom (the house has provisions for 3 bedrooms) and then the countertop and maybe even cabinets for the kitchen. This is our priority so that when we move in we would have the basic needs. Later on, when we have saved more money, we'll do the rest of the needed renovations. So keep your fingers crossed for us that we find something on our hunting trip today!

Belated Pictures

I have finished my decorating our house for Christmas as early as November 3 but for various reasons, I have yet to post a picture of what I did, but better late than never so... here it is!

Long, Busy Weekend

Thursday (Nov. 30)

I did not go to work, instead I went with Malyn (Charlie's cousin) to Zapote where we ordered bamboo blinds that we would line our cement fence with and a couple of cypress plants. I'm really focusing on making a small "garden" in front of our apartment before the holidays since most of our "parties" would be held outside. Then we went to Makro-Las Piñas to buy a couple of single sofa beds for guests who would sleepover. But when Charlie texted that they were dismissed early from work and decided to follow us at Makro, the sofa bed idea got junked and instead we bought a new mattress for our bed so the old one could be used by guests. Then my uncle Andrew (but we call him Tito Boy) texted us that he would also go to Makro so we met up there then our group convoyed back to our apartment, ate late lunch (it was already around 2pm) then used Tito Boy's car to go gift shopping at Alabang Town Center. We were not able to buy any gifts though since the Tiangge at the middle isn't complete yet instead, Charlie and Tito Boy ended up buying shirts that were on sale at Olympic Village. When we got home, my youngest sister Mae was already there (for her weekend sleepover) with Malyn. I cooked beef with broccoli and all five of us had dinner before Tito Boy went home.

Friday (Dec. 1)

Since it was a holiday, Charlie wanted us to go out (basically because our noisy neighbors were at their noisiest again) so we went to SM Southmall with Mae & Malyn. I was able to buy gifts for my some of my inaanak as well as several plant pots and a new cutlery set. Charlie insisted that I buy my Christmas gift to him already so I bought him a pair of rubber shoes. I also bought a cute red bag for Mae and other trinkets at Egg.

Saturday (Dec. 2)

I woke up a bit later than usual, I was feeling pretty tired plus I think I ate something that upset my stomach because I was nauseous for a while. Mae and Malyn were already up so I had to quickly prepare breakfast for them (pancakes, fried eggs & bacon) and fix Charlie's baon for work. The bamboo blinds that I ordered were delivered after lunch but we couldnt install it right away because it was so hot outside. We just lazed around inside the house and watched DVDs. It was already around 4pm when my dad arrived to pick up Mae but before they went home, he helped me install the bamboo blinds and the kitchen utensils holder above the sink. I was replanting the last couple of plants when Charlie arrived with his co-worker Bong to place a "stand" for our refrigerator.

Sunday (Dec. 3)


It was laundry day for me since I was not able to do the laundry yesterday. I was feeling tired and irritable by lunch time that Charlie asked me if we could go out again. I was trying to refuse and was telling him that I wanted to just sleep the rest of the day but he was so insistent that we ended up going to SM Sucat. It was there that I found out that I was going to get my Christmas present early too. He bought me a 21" Sanyo Flat Screen TV for our room. Hehehe! I was bugging him about a TV for our room for several months already but he said that we didn't really need it since we already have a TV downstairs. And just when I was already giving up on the idea, my wonderful husband buys me the TV! Thanks honey! I love you!

So that's that! Tomorrow's another work day... haaaay! Sana weekend na ulit!

Enzo's Baptism

It was raining really hard and we were running late in preparing to go to my nephew's baptism (Enzo's my cousin Tin-tin's son) but as soon as we were ready to go, the weather cleared a bit (haaay! salamat). My sister Lynne and my honey Charlie are going to stand as godparents to Enzo so we hurriedly went to the church (pero late pa rin!) at BF Resort in Las Piñas. It rained a little more while the baptism was going on pero when it was time for the reception the weather cleared again. And it was a good thing kasi the set-up was in the garden! Here are a few pictures from the event!



Here's a pic of the invitation that I made for little Enzo:



And here are a some more pics of me and charlie naman...

with baby Enzo Gabriel

kami lang...

All in all, we had fun kasi parang reunion na rin with my cousins. Tapos Charlie was like part of the family na din so masaya talaga. In fact, he even bought the souvenirs for the godparents and special guests so Tin-Tin and Elmer (Enzo's parents) were really gateful to him. Next event... Charlie's birthday!

Updates!

Ok, I know it's been quite a while since my last real post so this is going to be quite long... Let's start from what happened first...

August 13

Charlie and I braved the streets of Quiapo once again… this time we combed through Evangelista St. to look for bargain barongs and entourage gowns. Earlier on, we decided that we would first buy his barong and from there we would base the color of the gowns of the entourage. You see, he wants a specific type of barong… one that is colored green from the bottom and then the color fades or lightens towards the upper part. Anyways, we looked and looked but all we found were ordinary ones and one that has green leaves printed on it. It looked nice enough but we decided to look again in a couple of weeks in Baclaran or in Divisoria. And then we headed to Ongpin once again, this time to submit our wedding ring design to a shop owner that we talked to during our last visit. We gave her the printout of the ring we wanted and she gave us a quotation much cheaper than the ones we got from the other jewelers we talked to. She gave us her contact number and we promised her we’d call her as soon as we decide, besides, we have yet to finalize the date of the wedding and we want the rings engraved already before we get it.

****

August 16

• I was informed by ate Emma, my dressmaker that we would have to postpone our Divisoria textile hunt due to the influx of work load on her part. I agreed naman agad since I still have a lot of things scheduled for next couple of weeks
• My officemate and kumare, Rosebeth, informed me that my inaanak “Justhine” is going to have a party for her first birthday and Justhine and I have the same birthday, I offered to make her invitations in lieu of my not going to be able to make it to the event
• I found out from Charlie that he has overtime work on Saturday (my birthday) so he wouldn’t be able to accompany me to the church and the grocery to buy party needs for my celebration on Sunday. I told him it was ok as long as he would make it on Sunday.

****

August 17

• Charlie and I met up for our usual Wednesday novena and mass at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and then afterwards we went to SM Sucat to buy paper and ribbon supplies for the invitations I will make for Justhine
• We told my mom that we would probably have the Ongpin jeweler to make our wedding rings instead of her jeweler-friend because of our limited budget. She still insisted for a while that her friend could be trusted to make rings with higher quality but when we explained that the Ongpin rings would come with certificates and a “sort-of warranty” she relented.
• Having decided on who would make our rings, Charlie and I had to make the date final so I scheduled an early morning trip to the Church the next day

****

August 18

• Went to St. Andrew’s Cathedral office to have our date blocked but found out new rule: We have to provide our Baptismal and Confirmation certificates first and have the Canonical Interview before we could even reserve a date!
• Finished printing and assembling Justhine’s invites and gave it to Rosebeth for distribution

• Informed Charlie about the new rules and we decided that we would go to San Miguel Church next weekend with his Baptismal Certificate so he could be confirmed (or be scheduled to have a confirmation)
• Uncle Boy told me of the rates of Multinational Village Clubhouse and I thought that it was a lot cheaper than the other venues that we have inquired. Upon passing on this information to Charlie, we decided to have the reception there (yey! we have a venue!) But we have to move fast on our Church reservation first because I was also informed that there are already quite a number of 2006 events being scheduled in the clubhouse so we could have a date blocked there too!

****

August 20

Hmmm… I’m 31 na!

Aside from going to church, making some last minute party needs shopping and having a footspa/pedicure and hot oil at RHC with my youngest sister Mae, I spent the rest of the day just lazing around the house, finishing the latest Harry Potter book (which I have started reading a couple of weeks back but has not had the time to finish!) and watching DVD. Charlie called several times during the day and my cellphone went crazy with all the text greetings from friends and family… All in all, my birthday was very relaxed and peaceful!


August 21
My day started early because I still had to do some last minute cleaning around the house before my guests arrived for lunch. I was still on the last stages of my cleaning when my Ninang V arrived with my Lola and several of my cousins. Good thing my dad and I had started cooking early! I had to take a quick shower before entertaining my guests… By the time I finished dressing up, my friends Andrew and Jaybee has already arrived. The other guests started coming after that… I served them with Inihaw na Bangus, Beef Caldereta, Adobong Pusit, Grilled Pork Strips and Chicken Barbeque. Cheese flavored Ice cream served as the dessert. Charlie came at around 2pm… He came with a big red ribbon cake, a greeting card and a heart-shaped small box which contained our engagement ring! My birthday was perfect! Almost all the people that mattered to me were present (even Vhangie, my friend whom I haven’t seen in a long time and my inaanak and future flower girl, Leanne came!) Jheng, my officemate came even though she was late and alone and has not been to our house before. I couldn’t have asked for anything more… it was made even more special with my engagement ring! I’m so happy!

And here is one more picture of the ring on my finger!


Ok... one last shot! (is it obvious I love it so much?!)


And then of course, I have to post a picture of the person who gave me this really beautiful gift... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HONEY!