Week 45 of 2017

                 I am so thrilled this week because we are currently experiencing a very long weekend. The ASEAN Summit is being held in Manila so classes and work, both government and private are all suspended from November 13, 14 & 15. Five days of rest including Saturday and Sunday is just awesome. Heavy traffic is advised since a lane for the delegates of ASEAN were created, so instead of spending hours at the traffic, why can't I just stay home and enjoy five days of no work.

                  I am about to do some important chores in the house like washing our clothes and dusting, so while I am still conditioning myself, a blog post won't be so hard. I am checking the gifts I recently received from my friends who traveled. Here it is;

Rosary. My friend who traveled to Portugal went home with a scented rosary direct from Fatima.

Pouch. A cute floral Estee Lauder pouch is a gift from a friend who now lives in Canada.

Cath Kidston. I was too lucky to be using a new wallet since I am yet to buy some serious looking                              one. Something that matches my age.

Scarf. I'm lovin' the print and colors of the scarf. Butterflies, flowers and ribbons.

Lippie. I like the color of this moisture lippie.

          I am also tending the garden when I noticed one of a small tree already bearing fruits and lots of reddish flowers.

Kamias Tree.

            A tropical tree which produces sour tasting fruits can be a great addition to our local sour soups such as Sinigang, can also be sweetened and preserved but I most like this as a dip along with fish sauce or salt paired with rice and anything fried. I'm excited to harvest the first fruit of our young Kamias tree.

 

                  I have some shots too at my celphone during my recent trip to the City of Pines that I'd like to share.

Shoefie. I always like taking photo of my feet (though it's not pretty) whenever I see a beautiful                         flower.

Pink Flowers. I don't know what it is called but it's definitely lovely but sadly I doubt if it will survive lowland.

 

Selfie. Leave me alone for a moment and I swear, I'll have a selfie.

 View.  A lovely view from the upland takes away a week's worth of stress. Cool and clean breeze                  dumping on my face. Luh!

             Anne Curtis destination wedding at the beautiful, scenic New Zealand has taken a lot of my time too. An intimate, fun and relaxed wedding at a very beautiful place. No big cakes, beautiful wedding gown, but was so fun and full of love. New Zealand is now included in the bucketlist, thanks to Anne and Erwan and best wishes to them too.

             To my fellow Pinoys from Bulacan, Pampanga and the NCR, let's enjoy one more day vacationing! xxx

Blue Knit Top + Floral Pants

                I've recently been getting addicted to wide pants, I already bought a few that I've been wearing too frequently. They were in fact competing with my dresses when it comes to comfort. As I said before as you grow older, you would opt to wear clothes that are loose and comfortable, and also to hide some bulges here and there. lol. 

                 The latest addition to my culottes is the floral one I'm wearing paired with a sleeveless knit top and red flats. I am not much into expensive clothes because my reasoning is that we, women like to have a lot, so in buying less expensive things, I can frequently buy many sets of clothes and dresses and shoes. This pair are only brand less items from LandMark. The shoes are locally made I bought online from Marikina. But it looked good, don't they and I'm lovin' it. 

San Rafael River Adventure

            We found a beautiful paradise in our province, San Rafael River Adventure. I came here with my colleagues and we pretty much enjoyed a lovely day not too far from our home in a quiet, relaxing haven.

Weekend at Home

               So many things to do, so little time. Did the laundry, cleaned the house, cooked the meals, did a few things in our yard and ate my favorite Ube Tart from Rosalie's Tagaytay. That made up my Saturday and now the day after it, is for church and groceries. I wanna make a little blog post before cooking lunch, we plan to leave early to watch a Filipino movie, Seven Sundays.

                I wanna share how I spent my Sunday taking photos of my beautiful surroundings. Little by little and with some help, I hope I can transform my own home to a beautiful haven.

Fave TV Series

               Since my teens, I have been hooked up to some TV series. I'm like an obsessed fan always waiting for the next episode. Am I the only one? Maybe I am such a weirdo? Ehmm probably but you know being obsessive with movies, hobbies, books and TV shows, including my gardening I guess is very therapeutic because I can't remember being depressed except only of course when I am facing real problems that requires life and death decisions. Trust me, getting your mind into something helps a lot.

So lezz go to my list. Let's start with my teenage years. Ooops, don't count my age!

Beverly Hills 90210

             I've been in love with the idea of rich beautiful popular "barkada" high school kids. I have only missed a few episodes of this show. I buy notebooks, posters, cassette tapes and magazines which have them on cover. I am like dreaming I am like them in real life. Lol. My favorite character is Kelly Taylor, although I love all of the original cast. I can vividly remember it being shown every Friday night on our local channel and me being so excited, I would eat early so in time for its intro, I could concentrate watching.

Colorful Coleus

             Sunday is almost ending. And I'm stock at home. No mall or grocery for us today. Don't get me wrong, I am born a home buddy, maybe because I'm a hobbyist, I will never run out of things to do, to fill up my day. Be it the artsy things, gardening and reading (I've got three unread novels on the shelf) but of course before doing these things there's the laundry basket to kill my hours.

             So, what is so colorful then? Well, say hello to my Coleus! 

              A typhoon passed by our region and it brought a whole day of rain. The following day I noticed them so lively and lovely. They've grown about an inch or two too. It definitely brings color to my garden. I've got like five varieties as of now. I hope to add more of this vibrant beauties to my not-so-little garden.

The Secret to a Fruitful Papaya Tree

                Papaya is an easy to grow tree here in the Philippines. It needs minimal care. Mostly, you will just see it at the side of the streets growing on their own, but has one or two fruits only. Currently, I have four Papaya trees inside my yard. We call the fruit bearing "female" and the one that just flowers through out its lifetime a "male". So, I've got two females and two males planted close together. I did not actually plant these trees, one pair just grew from the plant my mom gave me and I transplanted it to a larger space where it can grow bigger, and the other was planted by our native birds I assume, lol. It just grew there, so I suppose it came from the birds which live inside our yard.

Red Lady Papaya, I suppose!

           I am surprise myself that every flower bud the female tree produces developed into a fruit, look how plenty each female tree bears.

190 Artist' Gallery in BF

   My Aunt and Uncle celebrated their 40th years of marriage this year and their kids arranged a surprise celebration for them. It was held at 190 Artists Gallery in BF Paranaque. We came from Bulacan and we were not just happy because of the celebration ( a few tears when they came in really surprised) but also we were amazed at how lovely the restaurant is, not to mention the good food as well.

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar: A Place of Historic Beautiful Houses

                This is where my father-in-law's been suggesting we go. Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar. A place of historical century-old houses brought from its original place to this park of beautifully restored ancient homes. Filipino elders would love visiting here, but of course the younger generations must also go because in an hour of heritage tour they are offering, one will see how our ancestors lived during the old days.

Thrift Find: Gray Dress

            It's a gloomy Tuesday morning here in my side of the planet. I wanted to go out to take a look at my garden and wash a few laundry before the laundry basket gets as tall as a bamboo tree. But because it's raining, I end up back to my bed and to my new laptop. My husband bought this for me because my old one won't work anymore and he knows I love to blog. So here, I am trying my hardest to be active again, because as I have read from some other popular bloggers' posts, consistency is the key. I was not very consistent the last two years, and I feel that I have wasted enough time.

            Anyway, I'd like to share with you a thrift find. My husband and I once goes on a weekend to our Public Market here in my town, and we were able to buy some cheap but good clothes (doesn't look cheap at all). My favorite among them is this comfy gray dress.

Lovely Caladiums in my Little Garden

        Last summer my mother has given me Caladiums in pots but I transplanted all of it in some places in my garden because it is such a lovely accent. But then I realize summer is not their season cause they all just died in a week. However, during the entry of our rainy season, the leaves starts popping up from where I have replanted it. I realize they love water and hate too much heat, and they did not die, it just became dormant, I guess.

Landscaping Design: Before & After

          It's the hump day! How could the week passed by so quickly? I'm designating this day to be my gardening post day. So probably, you would knew well what this blog will be all about.

        I started a mini garden just before our stairway last May. So I could de-stress even in a few seconds before entering my home and upon leaving. It will also be such a good view for the passers.
This is how it looked like then. Sorry, I can't all give the name of the plants I planted, but the thing on the pots that bears beautiful flowers are called Adenium while the green is being called locally as "espada" or Mother-in-laws Tongue.

               After four months, and the entry of the wet season, they look like this now. 

Birthday Month

         My life isn't perfect, but these imperfections has made me who I am today. Thank you dear God for these trials and more so with your blessings pouring in everyday. Thank for surrounding me with family and friends, who would bear me and love me unconditionally. So much for being cheesy. Happiest birthday month to me!

Great Time with Good Friends

         You know how it is when you stopped for too long and you want to be back. It's quite hard starting the first few lines and afterwards it gets natural already. That's how it is I suppose, when you really love writing, you will always come back to it. My husband actually asked me how my blog was because I suddenly stopped, lol. I guess when you've got too much in your hands, you'll get to spill a few then just pick it up later.

          This is quite a throwback since this happened sometime March when summer was just starting. T'was a birthday treat from a good friend spent at a condo overnight then we came malling the next day.

           This was a fun-filled day with my two bff's. Because we are girls-at-heart, we enjoyed swimming, malling and chatting 'til midnight.

Love Online Shopping? Try It with StyleWe and JustFashionNow

              The busy people of the new millennium finds comfort in online shopping. Less hassle. Just one click and soon you will find it on your doorstep. StyleWe is one store that offers affordable but stylish online experience. They offer fab items from dresses to shoes, to bags and other accessories.
They also have a nice selection of cheap bikinis. Here are some of their designs.

                   Summer is almost here. These stylish ones will make up a chic but inexpensive beach OOTD.

Lovin' My New Plates

           I'm going to need several sets of dining wares soon and I am so glad to have found this at a surplus shop near my work place. These are cute plates of similar designs although not exactly the same. I bought six of them.

      Aren't they cute? This has just cost me a few bucks. Good thing I'm really going to be needing this soon.

          I've also found a few others that has cute prints too. I'm excited to use them in my Nipa Hut soon.

Happy Monday everyone!

My Little Pots

            Cacti is not my thing. I know now, cause I love watering and they just die. LOL. So, I'm back to some indoor plants I can take care of.

          I bought this pot (it's actually a serving dish) while walking home with a friend at the market but I decided to put an indoor plant in it which I hope will live long. hehehe.

Kapwa Toilet Necessities

             My husband has been given last Christmas (packed as a gift) some toilet necessities that I found very useful. It was actually the first time that I've seen such product or was I just too behind?

              This was a gift from Maynilad packed with a hand towel. I was glad when I've seen it cause we all need this especially when we're traveling on a crowded place and we can't evade the call of nature.

31st of 365

          January has gone by pretty fast. I'm almost done with my day. The 31st of 365.  We have not moved on yet with the Miss Universe coronation yesterday. News feeds on social media and news on TV are still mostly filled with the scenes from the pageant. The questions from Miss U's Top 6 Q & A have been a hit too, lol. If you were to be asked, how would you answer this. 

          "What is the most significant change you've seen in the world for the last ten years?"

          If I were in the competition, honestly, I could have just fainted there. hahaha! Good thing, I'm not tall enough for pageants. But seriously my answer would have been, "Advanced means of communication. You can easily call anyone, anytime just as long as you have an internet connection, much so with video calls. Messages thru different social media accounts are very easy too. These have helped a lot of people all over the world especially those who are working far away from their families or home communicate. It's a big advantage too for businesses. Thank you."

          So, now I've got my own answer. I can move on.

Thinking of a Post Title

         Happy Monday everyone! The weekend is over and I could not believe January is almost ending. It's the payday week (which apparently will go to the bills) and a four-day work week only here in Bulacan because a local holiday this February 3 is coming. 
         
          I can't think of a post title this time, hahaha! But since one of my New Year's resolution is never to neglect my blog anymore, I'm still posting, even if my mind is blank for a post title.  

         I seldom had (in fact none) an OOTD post. But why should I not try something different. So, I'm having one this time. This was a quick shot by my husband while we were about to leave for the grocery. hahaha!

       

                A few photos I've had at the front of our unpainted gate. 

This was a comfy casual outfit for our sunny yet cool weather.  

Cutie Finds at the Lowest Price

      I recently discovered a thrift store that sells furniture, wooden items, vases and kitchen wares at the lowest price. I saw a wooden furniture that I’d like to buy for my new home which only cost Php5,000.00 but I’m still thinking.

        I bought a few items that I thought were too cute to let go.

        The darker wood will be used as chopping board.