Prins Charming

Every girl dreams of meeting a dashing prince who will sweep her off her feet. Well, friends, it finally happened to me. 

His name is Prins Henrikkade. You could say he had me at hello. 

A listed historical building on the Prins Henrikkade facing the water, a few minutes' walk from Centraal Station and the public library, this apartment got my heart beating from the moment I walked into the perfectly preserved, shared entrance.

Being on the first floor (or second floor to us non-Europeans), even the dreaded staircase was transformed into a delightful confection. Kulang na lang ang yellow gown ko and my Beast waiting on the ground floor. Or, since I have a short bob and no yellow gown, baka dapat ang naghihintay sa akin sa baba ay si Captain Von Trapp.

The front door opened into a spacious kitchen, a full room instead of the little strip that is common to all the apartments I've seen so far. We could probably fit a decent dining table inside. I knew Marlon would love it.

And the living space. Exposed beams, herringbone floors, a gas fireplace... swoon.

*SHOOP!* Your Highness, pardon the sound of my panty falling.

This huge front room was linked to the back of the apartment by a small hallway...

... that looked out into a small light/airwell. The Prins was pushing all the right architectural buttons. Naughty naughty.

A decent-sized second bedroom for our many future guests, and at least one future baby.

Connected by an equally decent-sized bathroom...

... to the most stupendous master bedroom in the history of all house-hunts!

Fall to your knees, peasants! Behold!

I may have seen one too many episodes of So You Think You Can Dance, but it made me feel like breaking into a Viennese waltz. When the housing agent opened the original built-in closets, I simply melted into a vaguely girl-shaped puddle on the floor.

The best part about this handsome Prins? He's well out of the heavily touristed area, but just one or two streets away from the classic city centre views. With a "negotiable" asking price just a hundred Euros away from our budget range, I thought I had found my happily ever after. After seeing the pictures, Marlon gave me the go-ahead to tell our agent to make an offer.

But...

Like many modern-day fairy tales, this one does not have a happy ending.

Choosy pala si Prins Henrikkade. After my agent made the offer, the owner's agent nosed around into Marlon's salary, length of contract and tax status, then requested soft copies of his employment contract and both our passports. Mayabang ang lola mo at muntik ko nang sampalin ang kontrata sa mga mukha nila. But of course there is no way to make sampal with a soft copy, jejeje.

Yesterday I got a call from my agent. The owner rejected our offer. Not because of our income. Not even because of our nationality. But because of... our cat.

Unwanted :( :( :(

"The apartment has been newly carpeted, newly curtained, blah blah blah..."They didn't even want to put in a standard clause holding us liable for all pet-related damage. My agent was pretty pissed (his commission just rode off into the sunset!), declaring this truly unfortunate and unreasonable.

Lesson of the story: don't give your heart to the first Prins you meet. He just might turn out to be another frog.

The End.

Melt like butter

I just woke up from a five-day stupor called "my birthday celebration," orchestrated by my previously highly secretive, wonderfully indulgent and all-around amazing husband. There are so many things to blog about, but for now let me just squeal like a girl.

CRUSH ALERT!

This tattooed pastry chef made and personally served me two desserts, a handful of chocolate bonbons and the most precious, pearlescent chocolate egg on my birthday. Each bite was unforgettable (and I don't exaggerate), but the hotness serving them was one of the most unexpected birthday treats ever.

This is a two year-old clip, but we mustn't look a Google gift horse in the mouth... that there's video of this guy at all is something to be thankful for. Watch him in action and melt like butter. Or chocolate. Or both.

Front Burner: Andrés Lara from Chicago magazine on Vimeo.

Mmmm. Sarap!

... ng tsokolate.

That's the thing

i'm trying to get this guy (who thankfully not represented by a talent agency) to come in and audition for my sports spot. his face is cute but this is really what got me. you could say he had me at "ugat".


forearms have always been my "thing". one of my high school crushes was a guitarist who had the most maugat forearms and manly hands i had ever seen in my fourteen years of existence (due to all the guitar playing). kalimutan na lang natin ang fez.

later on, when i got into my first relationship, i developed a thing for butts. di bale na kung malaki, basta nakakagigil. my ex had the most whackable butt in the world. thankfully i married a man who perpetuates my butt fetish to this very day. another ex-generated fetish is my love of plump lips. thin kissers are just not my thing, except if they happen to belong to this guy.


each of us has her own thing about guys. justine and i used to notice very clean batoks in college, which is one of the reasons i love marlon in a very short haircut with a nice clean nape. then there are girls who fall in love with fingernails, go into a tizzy over toenails, swoon over shoulders and go bananas over backs.

what's your thing?

update: so nakausap ko na siya. akala ko nung una nagmamaganda siya. pero ayaw niya palang sumubok hangga't conFEERMED na yung petsa ng shoot. may laban daw kasi siya at baka mag-iba ang itsura niya pagkatapos ng laban. oo nga naman.

anyway, gamit ang maikling usapan naming iyon ay nasiyasat ko na siya. at eto siya, mga kaibigan! hindi lang pala braso ang kahanga-hanga sa kanya.

Urquiola preshosha

i was flipping through an issue of home and decor (a local mag that i buy a few times a year) when i came across this gorgeous stand-alone bathtub by patricia urquiola for axor, one of the brands under hansgrohe. every time a bathroom fixture is so pretty/luxurious/unusual that it makes me take a closer look, it turns out to be made by hansgrohe.

the dream home marlon and i are building in our heads most definitely contains a bathtub, and i think this is the one. it's sleek and pretty, with a slope on which you can rest your head or neck while soaking and a built-in slot for hanging towels. whether both marlon and i will fit in it at the same time is dubious, but if we lose enough weight... who knows?


patricia urquiola is one of the few furniture designers who i actually keep an eye on. i first saw her t-table for kartell in rustans shortly before i got married and i fell in love with it. when i showed it to marlon, he said it gave him the itchies.


it was enough to get me interested in her work. i like a lot of her pieces, like this frilly chair (yes that's really what it's called), also for kartell.


i was instantly drawn to her crinoline chairs for b&b italia -- they reminded me of those woven rattan peacock chairs that were so popular in the seventies, but reinvented in a cool and modern way.


then i found out that the weaving was actually done in the philippines! how cool is that!


i wonder if i can actually own one of these pieces at some point in my life.


i can just imagine myself breakfasting on this re-trouve chair and table, enjoying a fresh pot of coffee with the crisp morning air and lush greenery from my open-air patio.

ting! truly preshosha!

Hello there little lady

for the second time in as many days, i say: well, that was quick. less than 24 hours after checkout, my new baby showed up on my doorstep.


amidst my hushed reverence and tempered euphoria, matanong ko lang: when did my sony ericsson phone cam become this crappy? this looks more like a newspaper print from the mid-1800's than an image of the pinnacle of modern personal computing.

now if you'll excuse me, i believe a bit of getting-to-know-you is in order.

This was NEVER gonna happen

zambales. august. midnight till about two-thirty, three in the a.m. a couple of beers, a bottle of ginebra, and two bottles of a mountain dew-alike called sparkle. one glass, shared in turns. (ika nga ng mga tao sa opisina, parang naka-lips to lips ko na siya. at guilt-free pa!) peanuts, i think, and some leftover chicken wings. porch steps. the ocean to my left. the most unexpected, amazing, fun, surreal conversation ever. ("magkaka-despedida ka ba? imbitahan mo naman ako.") a goodbye that someone in the office, when i told them about it, described as "lingering."

a new friend -- one who would pass by me the next day and stop me for no reason at all except point to both our shirts, and point out: "terno tayo!" one who would pull up a chair opposite me during a lull in the workday, and share a bar of dark chocolate with me.

my all-time work crush for two years (!!!) and me.

definitely a first, and maybe-hopefully-not an only.

i love my job!

You had me at "verbal barrage"

with me in charge (more or less) of the wedding, the boyf has been tasked with planning the honeymoon. it took us the greater part of a year to decide, but we finally set our sights on a couple of days in boracay, a short visit to the family in kolkata, and a week-plus roaming the wonders of rajasthan and agra. (palace of the winds! taj mahal! amber fort! gorgeousness!)

yesterday, marlon forwarded me a lengthy missive from a mr. tapas banerjee of trinetra tours in delhi. and by lengthy, i mean three pages when cut-and-pasted into a word document! within seconds i knew this was going to be interesting.

'Namaste' & Greetings Mr. Plazo !!Good Morning !!Many thanks for your mail. We take this opportunity to confirm our best intentions and knowledge to the cause of your trip. It is a pleasure to welcome you & your traveling partner to our country.

Before I serve my verbal barrage on to you, I just wish to inform you that I would be delighted to offer you references from All Over The World including Singapore too.

kapow! you've got me mr. banerjee! something about the self-deprecating, candid and enthusiastic tone just got me. and so i read on.

more choice excerpts:

For your entire journey, we are upgrading your transport to a fine Toyota MUV (Innova). This car will substantially add to your traveling comfort, especially on some bumpy roads where the top quality suspension would not let you feel any discomfort. However, the biggest and the single most achievement of this car is its Air-conditioning, [natawa talaga ako dito! omigosh! this is so true! especially in india!] which ensures that you are cool and fresh even if you are traveling under the mid day sun in warm country.

Besides the car, your driver would be special. He would be your 'Man Friday'. You would of course have local guides conducting your city tours in each city, but, besides that, your driver would be your most invaluable friend. He would not only be knowledgeable about places of interest in between journeys as also in cities, but, he would be a very nice human being with a pleasing personality for whom nothing would be trouble.

pero dito talaga nahulog yung loob ko sa kanya:

I apologise for my unending chin wagging, Mr. Plazo. I love the business and the gossip opportunities that come with it. Actually, the home dinner that I am proposing is in my house. Both me and my wife, Krishna love meeting people and making friends. I got into the business primarily because I could travel with tour groups making friends and sharing experiences. However, with the business expanding in the last 7-8 years, I am more or less now confined to my office ensuring standards that we are so paranoid about. Hence, whenever possible, I invite clients to our home for a meal with myself and my wife, Krishna. Home dinners are my major personal interaction with clients and I look forward to this eagerly. Little do the visitors realise that they would be subjected to my verbal diarrhea!!

ang sweet diba? anyway, i checked out a couple of the hotels and sites on his itinerary. and. oh. my. gawd.

behold rohet garh, a gorgeous 17th century home-turned-heritage hotel in jodhpur. swoon.

i may have died and gone into a taschen book.

and check out the luxe desert camping digs in manvar.

and one of the client references describes their driver as "a prince among drivers."

i do believe we have a winner.

Make way for the king (3)

this is the last post of its kind. i promise. it's just that -- that -- *collapses into trembling, frothing puddle of fanhood*

hindi ba pag closeup mukha siyang totoong tao????



okay. now back to the rest of my life. ;-)

Make way for the king (2)

now, now, what have we here?

i actually smelled him as i lifted him out of the box. oh, the depths of depravity.

Make way for the king

he is now enthroned in his own little kingdom, ebony wood under his slim, black-shod feet and a light beaming on his tawny-colored head. it isn't the labyrinth, it isn't escher, but for now, it's the only dominion he can ever have.

he has a new slave too, who ran around the entire morning like a panting, lost puppy rearranging everything for his arrival, and whose heart almost stopped when his crystal orb fell from his gracefully posed little fingers to the floor thrice.

the kingdom is my desk, the slave is me, and jareth the goblin king rules. literally.

to be continued (with pictures!)

You remind me of a babe

babe with a power!

i got an email from my boss today with the subject heading: "my next new toy". this photo of the jareth figure from neca was attached.

you could say i've waited twenty years for this.

i don't remember this cape from the movie, pero di bale na -- the pointy, flipped-up leather collar (which i do clearly recall) and the distinctive 'do is more than enough to inspire all-consuming lust.

now if they came out with a figure of david bowie as he appears in his final scene in labyrinth, i would not stop going ape freaking sh*t until i had it in my hands. that flowing cape with the owl feathers and distressed floaty hems. that deep v-necked puffy shirt. those white tights. aaaggggh.

"just fear me, love me, do as i say, and i will be your slave."

oh YEAH.

Looks familiar

i have recently crawled out from under my rock and discovered heroes. i have lots to say about it, but at the moment all i really want to say is this.

i love nathan petrelli/adrian pasdar. the slash is their because his/their gorgeousness renders me unable to separate the two at the moment. maybe someday.

way back as a boy-crazy little girl, i also used to love adrian pasdar . i saw him in solarbabies (just like labyrinth, you'll never know what kitschy eighties movies will stick with you) and never forgot him. so much so that when i saw his name in the opening credits of heroes, my heart skipped a beat. then i started really liking the character of nathan petrelli, and put two and two together with some help from imdb.

at eto pa. i also used to be in love with someone who bears a disturbing resemblance to adrian pasdar.

separated at birth? sorry, i have no better scanned photos of this man

this fact just hit me over the weekend, stunning me into spending a good twenty minutes or so of my sunday sitting in a wave pool at a water park in pasir ris (yes that's in singapore), blabbing about my imagined past with this man to marlon. (who by the way is so wonderful and loving that he readily validated said imagined past.)

parang gusto kong manood ng top gun. but wait i gotta finish off episodes 13 to 18 first! argh adik adik adik!

running home now. bye bye!

Heath is the new Jun-Jun

hi folks. just a quick post to say that i'm alive (just barely -- long weekend = death by plug), my favorite account is back in business, and that heath is the new jun-jun.

meet heath. not his real name of course -- i don't want the hordes at my door just yet.

okay na ba 'to, ate?

i do believe the naughty boy was trying to sneak a peek down my shirt the other day. but then that could just be too much notes on a scandal. or pure wishful thinking.

if this sixteen year-old, six-foot, adorably cocky adolescent heath ledger doppelganger is not famous by the time this season is done, i will eat my desk so help me god.