Tuesday, December 23
Home for the holidays
Wednesday, December 17
The tree tour!
this is one of the first ornaments i made when i was still pretty clueless and just getting warmed up with the christmas spirit. i cut out little chinese children from a vintage - placemat that i
next i wanted to make felt ornaments like the ones i saw on design*sponge, but i couldn't find felt that was thick or stiff enough. (moment of silence for all the "thick and stiff" jokes that are going through my head right now.) i tried, anyway -- they were cute, but i still wasn't too happy.
then i found an english-chinese dictionary in my paper collection -- and made word nerd ornaments! i used silver ribbon, glue and the words joy, reindeer, happy, celebrate, and Christmas.
as i was flipping through magazines for pictures to collage, i noticed that there seemed to be a surfeit of red shoes. so, with a bit of red felt and green paper, i made his and hers shoe ornaments! i was obviously not taking myself very seriously at this point.
so you think everything i made was along these nutty, kweng-kweng lines... think again! ito, career na!
following a how-to from the domino website, i made my absolute favorite and most labor-intensive set of ornaments. i started by printing and cutting out the handy template from the domino website, then gluing each piece on to thicker card stock for more durability. then i cut those pieces out and covered both sides with yellow and red-and-gold handmade paper that i bought on insa-dong street in seoul -- gorgeous, gorgeous printed paper that i've been saving for months. i only made eight of these, but with all the double-siding and reinforcing, i must have cut each individual piece eight times!
and here they are... the reindeer and the dove! i'm already thinking of how to unassemble and pack them so that they survive till next christmas...
we rounded off the tree with store-bought baubles and wide swathes of wired ribbon, as you can see from the photos. the store-bought ornaments are nothing to write home about... except for this super adorable ditzy angel. when i saw the completely clueless expression on its face, i knew our tree wouldn't be complete without it...
and that concludes the tree tour! which one was your favorite?
now let me see if i can get a good enough photo of marlon's masterpiece tree-topper...
Tuesday, December 16
Kamustahan
now let's sit down for a cup of tea, for what paolo would call kamustahan...
1. Now, would you like chamomile, jasmine, Earl Grey or English Breakfast?
i'll stick to my mug of milo powder. when it comes to milo, i am the papak queen.
2. How’s your health?
i may actually be in better shape than i have all year, thanks to muay thai. i can do at least ten pushups now before stopping to rest, and i survived robert's hour-long grueling circuit training last friday as the only girl among guys, with only four one-minute rest stops. but right now i feel a tickle in my throat which i hope will not turn into a cold or fever.
3. Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?
happily, yes! marlon and i did our christmas shopping in one blitz at plaza singapura and the cathay yesterday. i just have to get a gift for my sister, sir jojo, marlon's dad, bitchik, dada and binky.
4. How are you dealing with the economic crunch this Christmas?
5. What Christmas tradition are you carrying through this year?
in a year where marlon and i begin to find our own christmas traditions, one thing i am keeping from my family's traditions is having lots of little gifts to unwrap... and giving basic necessities like soap and shampoo!
i think that's a tradition we picked up from my mom's ex-fiance uncle david, who would literally put mountains of gifts under the tree on christmas day... even if they were just little things like toothpaste and soap! i only realized that this could be seen as a little bizarre when marlon gave me this funny look when i said i had to go to carrefour to buy soap for my tita.
my own spin on this tradition is that the maid's gifts can't look better than my tita's gifts... and that all the toiletries have to be terno!
must not forget: elaborate giftwrapping... something that i have enjoyed every christmas since i was nine. that year, we spent christmas in brussels and i fell in love with how salesladies at the department stores wrapped packages with scads of gorgeous curling ribbon, feathers, the works!
it's not part of the question, but i have to say it anyway: my most-missed christmas tradition is singing with acs! i've been so desperate to sing, i sang along with the video of the nordic chamber choir singing lauridsen's o magnum mysterium that gp posted on facebook... more than once! i also miss acs's fantastic and totally out-there themed christmas parties where everyone is so game.
answer these questions! it'll be fun!
p.s. yes, that's our finished and fully trimmed christmas tree!
Monday, December 8
Our first Christmas tree
i got to do girly stuff like cut out shapes from felt, figure out how to use bits and pieces of paper from my collage collection (placemats and dictionaries, anyone?), think of cute color combinations and tie ribbons...
and this is how the tree looked at the end of the first weekend.
Sunday, December 7
In shock
Friday, December 5
Promaxination
Thursday, December 4
Making a list (and checking it twice)
- spend time with mommy (hmm paano kaya 'to with all the stuff i wanna do)
- omygod... UKAY UKAY!!!!!
- stock up on fresca homemade scents at the legaspi market... come to think of it, a visit to the salcedo market might be fun too
- eat at bellini's and schlep around cubao x
- chocolate buffet with the kiddies at manila pen
- see my beloved acs again! but i am so bummed that i'm not going to hear them sing or get to sing with them at all this year!!!
- meet mimi's fiance, the famous pete
- visit friends at gma and eat chicken inasal at jt's manukan on sgt esguerra after
- eat bibingka at via mare
- eat corned beef sinigang at sentro
- eat at cyma (or manos greek taverna)
- celebrate our first year wedding anniversary (one year already! time does fly when you're having fun!) in tagaytay -- i hope t house or the boutique still has an available room for us though
- buy cinnamon rolls and stock up on kapeng barako at bag of beans
- get a cheap manicure, pedicure and color job at azta on katipunan
- buy tees and funky christmas gifts for my officemates (i know, very late, but hey -- bulk christmas shopping at home will be so much cheaper) at team manila
- check out the shoes at janylin and landmark
- stock up on rogue, preview and cheap books at national bookstore (i read somewhere that the domino book of decorating sells for only Php950!)
now, the only thing i'm wondering is: this list really it? i could have sworn it was so much longer in my head....
Wednesday, December 3
Pakiusap
please, please please -- stab me and cut out my heart with a dessert spoon if i ever sign any correspondence with the first letter of my name.
Hi.yun lang.
This is what I mean.
Later,
D