Merry Christmas Everybody!

Doing a post about how we did the decorations for Christmas this year!  Nothing signals the start of the holiday season other than taking out box after box of decor from the storage cabinet. :)

First up, the tree. As you all know from last year, I bought the white Christmas tree of my childhood dreams but I wanted to veer away from red and blue from the previous holiday season.  Since I had a limited budget for new ornaments this year I had to resort to doing a layered tree!

I got the pink ornaments from my Mom's house since she wanted to go with the bronze and orange theme again this year.

Then of course the show cabinet is not going to be far behind.  We still picked up a lot of colors from the tree.

stuck extra santa pens together with the pink flowers in the blue vase

 I love my shiny disco balls!!!

the red bead garlands came from the tree last year

along with his and her stockings

Just in case you are wondering, how does this fair with the rest of the living room?  This is what's at the other end of the living room. Our crystal Belen (nativity scene) is at the table.

See still the same colors, blue, pink, red, silver and white.

And the same colors on the sofa tamed down by the neutral gray sofa.

I love love love this pillow. Just Php 39.75 from Uniwide!!! It gave the needed pop of holiday queer in our house.

Of course we also had a bit of Christmas outside too. I loved using Chalk Marker! Made writing on the chalk board soooo easy. A bit pricey though at 127.50 but I think you can invest in a couple of basic colors and still use regular colored chalk for the accents.  I used Uni Chalk Marker from National Bookstore.

 garland bought for Php100 at the palengke and recycled white balls from the tree last year

I took the easy route this year and used regular brown paper bags to wrap most of my gifts.  I wasn't able to buy gift wrapper at Divisoria.  These are typical called "Supot" at the palengke (market) usually at the section that sells paper cups in bulk and disposable plates and they come in different numbers (for example supot number 5, 6, 7 etc) and sizes.  I used supot number 6 this year and a bundle of 100 bags costs about Php 65! I used cut up edges from rectangular paper doilies (Php 37.50 for 100 sheets from Kyla Mae Party Needs Bacoor but they also have a branch at Divisoria) since I saw Ms. Benz of WaW and NaW use small round paper doilies for her daughter's school gifts this year.  A sheet of paper doily decorates 4 pieces of supot.

I also used washi tape to decorate bigger recycled paper bags gathered through the year and also to hold the paper doily strips in place.  I also added paper doilies to other gifts that had generic packaging just so they would look well together with other gifts and stay with the theme. :)

And then used two types of holiday washi tapes to decorate plain white boxes bought for Php 8.00 each at the local bookstore (Copenas!).  Much like how it was used in this Christmas Card.

I only wrapped the gifts for kids using free toy kingdom wrapping paper that came in with our toy sale purchases since they were in boxes or they could not fit in the brown paper bags.  So hooray for pretty but economic gift wrapping! :)

From my growing family to yours, Merry Merry Christmas!  May we all remember that Christ is the reason for the season and let us be thankful for all the gifts we receive this year, including love, health, happiness, friendship and family.

Blast from the Past

cobblestone paths and gorgeous buildings all around

This is a super delayed post about a place that I placed in my vacation goals.  Fortunately, I was able to visit this place last summer!  Here is Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar through my eyes!  All pictures taken using our Canon point and shoot.

First up, you will get to see a whole lot of pretty in this place.  You will get to see things in a grander scale especially in the morning light.

even the lamp posts are divine

a wall of windows in our loft

 

yung bahay sa kanto
(the house around the corner) 

 The place takes on a different mood at night for sure.  It may appear eerie at time but the details take on a whole new depth once the shadows settle around the resort.

who ever thought of making a chair like this has a wild imagination

ladies on the veranda

chandeliers even outside the buildings

UP represent!!! This is from the old Fine Arts Building from the Manila Campus

all the details are highlighted by night

imagine someone coming up these stairs to court the young lady of the house
or someone doing a harana until someone peeks from the veranda. 

 

the door to our loft look at the door frame! so ornate

 You won't run out of eye candy because of all the details of each room, house or building.

a beautiful mural made of tiles in the most expensive house in the resort

trying out what it feels like to be an "aliping sagigilid"

imposing lion's head fountain

someone is hanging out at the bed side lamp

fruits on the ceiling

amazing ceiling and moldings

ceiling shot! together with the ceiling fan

chandelier and ceiling shot

arch upon arch

tikabalang hanging out

manananggal literally hanging out

amazing callado details from verandas, look at how the light shines through

a fountain depicting different chores that were commonly done back in the day

the sarimanok boat

a fan shaped detail above one of the loft doors

beautiful pillars from any angle

grapes along the gazebo outside our loft

a cherub blows us a kiss

a giant face of an old woman in the lawn

we had to take a picture with the "locals"

Facundo! Nasaan na ang kape?!?

Our farewell shot

The beautiful sunset by the beach

I definitely want to go back to this place and I want to bring my Lolo and Lola from my mother's side of the family because two of the houses came from Jaen, Nueva Ecija where they grew up.  They actually knew the people who used to live in the houses showcased in the resort so I bet he can actually share a thing or two with the tour guides about those families. 

The place is welcome respite from the modern world.  You feel so fortunate to be a Filipino and to be part of a culture that was able to create and develop such beautiful structures.

H & M is coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes this post deserves all those exclamation points. (At least for me!) Let me explain, when I first went here I spent way too much time in the store that we ended up running along the streets to go back to the hotel because we thought we might miss the bus that was supposed to bring us to the airport! I totally lost track of time.

When you get an official contract signed and a target date of the opening then it most certainly must be true! Now I just hope they can keep the mark ups at a minimum. :)

Super thanks to manilafashionobserver.com for the breaking news! Now let's all wait for
Ikea! :)