I know, I was away for quite some time. *doesn’t make eye contact*  – Haha. I was actually nursing a tummy pain problem and when I eventually got better, it was this design journal’s turn to experience problems of its own. Anyhow, I’m very very happy to be back. (Insert megawatt smile here).

What better way to start this month than by sharing an experimental concoction I came up with? Cool beans!

During the beginning of the weekend, I was told that they got some fresh scallops for me and I can do whatever I wish with said scallops.  The thing is,  I get really excited when I experiment with cooking. It reminds me so much of designing, you can play around with different ideas and apply creativity. I also like taking advantage of fresh ingredients because the flavor they possess is simply awesome.

I definitely had a lot of fun doing this and I knew what I wanted to come up with – a savory scallop dish. Though I wanted to use some cooking wine that was especially good for seafood, I decided to just go with an alternative so that in case my mom will eat it, it’ll  be completely safe and non-alcoholic.  Also, I won’t do a step by step thing but will instead discuss how I sort of did it (i.e. a paragraph or two). On to the cooking!

 I do love ratios and stuff but with this, I made my own proportions in a sense. I decided to steam the first half of my scallops (I want to try something different with the remaining half. Perhaps do a play on oriental flavors for the next batch). Steaming is actually a good and healthy cooking option. To start things off, I seasoned the scallops with some salt, pepper and garlic beforehand. I then infused the steaming with some fresh lemon grass and a lemon for some subtle zest. Quick note, cooking time for the scallops is about 8-10 minutes when you steam them.

Do take advantage of the natural “fresh-from-the-sea” flavor of the scallops (I wanted that particular flavor to be the focal/base flavor) and keep things simple. Use the remaining scallop juice/drippings from steaming and make a thick, rich gravy of sorts. On low heat, add some evoo and mix in a couple of cloves of garlic (chopped finely), stir for at least a minute. Add in the drippings and simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken. You may add some cooking wine at this point to deglaze the sauce  but since I wanted this alcohol free (even if its just wine), there are wine alternatives that work as well (examples include white grape juice, water, etc.). Add some fresh herbs (think of herbs that would complement the taste that you are going for) and some fresh chives towards the end. Don’t forget to season with some salt and pepper. Plate your dish and acquaint with your tastebuds.

This is quite a rich and savory dish that is really good (I loved how it turned out) and would also be perfect for Lent. Have fun in your kitchen and make some art of your own!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I’d like to consider this year as a fresh start and would love to share this with all of you as well. It’s the lyrics of another personal favorite/best-loved song (it wasn’t  a song to begin with, it started out originally as an article from an awesome lady’s column) for many years now actually (I used to listen to it in the car after school) and I would love to use it as a guide for this year and the years to come hopefully. I wish all of us an awesome 2012! Enjoy!

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’97

Wear sunscreen.

The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded.

But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are not as fat as you imagine.

Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Sing.

Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind.

The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults.

If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives.

Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t.

Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t.

Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.

Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it.

Dance – even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions., even if you don’t follow them.

Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old.

And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

P.P.S. I’d like to ask a favor from all of you. Please do pray for my mom, we continue on with our battle. She has a challenging procedure and we will be at the hospital on the third. Thank you.

Today's guest post is from Susi, a writer for Arcadian Lighting (a fantastic online resource for gorgeous light fixtures and lamps for the home).


There is an interesting mix of contemporary and rustic styles in design these days. Have you seen it? Do you love it? Hate it? Rustic walls give contemporary spaces, especially minimalist spaces, added texture and pattern. Using reclaimed wood, barn doors and wood paneling in new ways, these rustic walls in contemporary spaces feel very chic. Here are some of our favorites:

This rustic wood wall feels contemporary in this minimalist bedroom. The simple colors and linear lines of the wall are in keeping with the contemporary style of the rest of the room.

This reclaimed wood wall is a DIY project. Love the simple lights as wall sconces that add illumination but keep the space feeling contemporary. The headboard project could be continued over the entire wall for an even more rustic feeling.

Barn style doors in this contemporary farmhouse kitchen add rustic style while hiding storage. Barn doors are great in contemporary design for their simple lines and functionality.

An all white contemporary space gets some color and texture with this barn door to the bathroom. It almost has an industrial feeling to it.

An old barn door makes for a rustic accent wall in this contemporary nursery space. Reclaimed wood is a great way to add rustic style to a contemporary space.

This contemporary foyer has natural stone walls that are more typical in a farmhouse style space. Natural elements, wood, stone, plaster, that are more typical of rustic décor look fantastic when paired with contemporary furnishings and light fixtures.

This contemporary bathroom has gorgeous wood paneling that is more chic than rustic. Wood walls, typical of rustic style, give warmth to sleek contemporary spaces.

This chic contemporary bedroom has a cool rustic wood wall that almost looks like pallets. The horizontal slats have a fantastic graphic look to them.

These contemporary spaces with a touch of the outdoors are clean, classic and cozy. If you’re looking for more inspiration, visit Arcadian Lighting’s website for design ideas and a brilliant array of lighting fixtures to choose from.

Images (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

P.S. This is The Sea Green Journal’s first ever guest post. Thank you very much to Susi for putting together such useful information. I do love rustic walls, they add texture and a certain character to any space.How about you?

P.P.S. It’s a rainy friday for me. Georgia and I saw a couple of birds and their nests in our front yard today. How cool! ♥

Have a great weekend ahead, everyone!

My dearest three-year-old, Georgia. *A Mummy’s sigh*

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

For those who have been reading this design journal, you might have an inkling (or more like an in-your-face-big hint) that I love to chronicle Georgia’s birthdays and I try my bestest to celebrate it the best way possible. Though it really breaks my heart chambers, I was out of the country still when Georgia had her third birthday (this was beyond my control, believe me). Nevertheless, I called home to make sure that a mass service was arranged as a thanksgiving for her day and that she gets fed some ripe mangoes (she just loves them!).

Fast forward to the happy part in this post -

When I eventually got home,  I made sure that Georgia got to blow her birthday cake (this has become a yearly tradition which I hope we will continue to observe in the years to come). I got her a yummy dog cake  (from the same baker for all of Georgia’s cakes). She is able to eat said cake only during her birthday so that she’ll (hopefully) associate the taste and the cake itself as something that she gets to experience on the most special day of the year (and she really loves it! The other doggies, yes you too Max darling, love it too!).

A couple of pictures below (By the way, this is a long overdue post. Georgia’s birthday was last month.). Sweets, don’t grow up too fast *Sniff*

I love you, Georgia (my little lady)! ♥

P.S. Curious about Georgia’s first and second birthdays?  Yupyup? Then click here and here respectively.

Hello Everyone! How I have missed all of you and this darling design journal. My family and I are still fighting an ongoing battle, do pray for my mom (thanks!).

On a more lighter note, its August and I love this month ♥

The Sea Green Journal turned a year old a few days ago (thus I wanted to make this post extra special) and I can hardly believe it. This has been a lot of fun and I do plan to continue on writing and pouring my design thoughts here.

More randomness, here are a couple of things I love (I have a lot actually, stuff that I love I mean) -

Lunch (Something I whipped up, it turned up to be quite tasty actually. Cool beans!) Egg white Omelette with Oregano and Basil, Lean Beef Sausages with Herbs and some fresh English Baby Spinach. Yum!

Definitely someone I am grateful for, a really cool friend over the net – Belinda! She was kind enough to do an interview  with me  about what I do (this mention is long overdue), it was a lot of fun. If you wish to check it out, you may do so here.

Yup, it’s the little one. I believe she’ll be in all of my lists (haha) and in lots of my future posts. Its my little Georgia – I love her ♥

P.S. Advanced Happy Birthday, Nikko Biko!

The last time I got full bangs like this was when I was really small (probably around like six years old) so it’s definitely something new. Yes mister, it is.

It might seem silly or mundane to some, (Come on, Pau. Just bangs, dude. Just bangs.) but this new “blanket for my forehead” definitely empowers me in a sense. It’s not just the fluff of hair per se, it’s the thought behind it – the thought of you embracing something new, a change and finding that even something as simple as getting bangs can turn things around (may it be just your day or your week).

I definitely look more  and more like Georgia every single day. Haha.

It’s not a bad thing actually – Georgia is gorgeous ♥

What do you think? (I think it turned out alright.)

P.S. Now, let me see if they have essay-making powers too. Hahaha.

I’ve been up for a few hours now (Good Morning!) and let me tell you that it’s still quite early (and I’m not even a grandparent yet! I kid. Haha.)

The little one (Georgia) is awake now as well – I just hand fed her, gave her some vitamins and some water.  She just needs to do her morning poop and weewee before we are good to go (I apologize for even discussing this. I guess it’s still too early for my brain to work. Haha). Basically she’s settled and good which is great since I have an appointment in a few hours and this will be a crazy (good crazy and busy) day for me so I want her to be comfortable while I’m gone for the day.

Back to business/ serious mode on

This post will include snippets about how the design concept for the gallery exhibit took shape. Let’s get into everything. I sort of did an outline so that it’ll be more comprehensive. Enjoy!

Design Concept Options

Here are a couple of options that we initially came up with. You will get a clear picture of how the design played out and evolved.

We provided two color options for our own consideration – You can see the effect of color and how it projects a certain feel/atmosphere (For this particular example, it’s settle but it’s there.)

These are more recent revisions made by taking certain aspects into consideration (ex. availability of resources, budget, art center management requirements, what would really work for the space and it’s intended use, etc.)

Prior to Ingress

While securing everything and making sure all the necessary  parts comes together (amazingly of course – we had our fingers crossed). This involved lots of long hours, meetings, sun/the elements/heat exposure, meal deprivation, coordination, etc. We also had to work with the management and the hours the mall keeps – this translates to paint works being done after mall hours (think 9 pm to beyond 2 am and a few more hours for drying) and installations done before mall hours (think 6 am to before 10 am).

When working on things like these (or being in this profession in general), you (have to) expect that a lot of things will definitely go wrong (it might even be frustrating to a certain extent) before it’ll be alright.  Things will definitely go wrong – only cream benches are available at the last minute instead of the black ones you requested and one of those is at a  really far away branch, wines weren’t coordinated properly with catering, lighting fixtures aren’t available,  no delivery truck for the freestanding lamp, lettering in the wrong color, you have to pick up platforms and be back in time to see to another delivery (this time for the console table, the plants, etc.) – I can go on (haha) but we’ll end there for now. You just have to take things in stride, squeeze in a meal  at some point and focus on what can be done – on how problems can be solved.

Exhibit Floor Plan

Painting customized wall panel installations in the shop with brushes on hand (Original Artwork by Paula and Bernie – haha.) This was definitely messy – paint in your hair, everywhere (but a fun stress reliever). I am very proud of how the wall paneling turned out, they are definitely awwesssooommee *surfer dude accent* (Haha)

After sixteen hours – you can definitely do some smiling already because things are starting to come together quite nicely. Haha.

Above all, this is an entirely amazing profession and the exhibit was great. I felt a sense of fulfillment watching the gallery (and your design concepts in general)  take shape and seeing the potential of the space being brought out and executed – interior design and all it entails amazes me still and I think it always will. It is possibly the nearest thing to giving birth we suppose (for Bernie and myself that is. Haha). I am also very grateful to everyone who helped out one way or another. Thank you!

If you wish to see pictures of the launching and exhibit (part one), you can find it here. If you have time, do drop by for a visit. The exhibit runs until today. Cheers!

I love doing gallery/exhibit design.

In my previous post, I mentioned an exhibit that we are having at the moment (it’s still ongoing) and I’m providing details (and pictures) in this post and the upcoming posts as well. Bernie (another interior designer and a good friend) and I are the gallery design and launching coordinators. We were basically swamped (we did the interior design for the gallery, sourcing, customized paneling which we painted ourselves, etc. – basically everything down to the execution) and this does take a good amount of preparation, people. It was a lot of fun though. (haha. it’s true!)

Cocktails Night

To formally launch the gallery, we had cocktails night which included the ribbon cutting ceremony and blessing and a formal program. Have fun viewing the pictures below.

If you have time, do drop by for a visit. The exhibit/gallery is at SM Cebu’s Art Center from the 6th of March until the 19th (don’t forget to sign the guestbook).

Please stay tuned for part two! I’ll discuss design details and feature some behind the scenes insight. Rock mode (translation: stay put please).

P.S. A couple of pictures with me in them (i.e. work mode and cocktail night pretty mode. haha.). Balancing – there is a certain art to it.

Note: Bernie and I have been working on ingress for 16 hours already when this picture was taken. We don’t look too shabby if I may say so myself. (haha)

P.P.S. Our launch advertisement in the local paper.

I am now a proper Godmother (english accent). Yup, its officially (for a few days now actually). You might all wonder why it’s such a big deal for me. I mean, why wouldn’t it be?

Before delving more into that, I want to wish everyone a happy new year (let’s pretend that it’s still the first week of january with regards to the prior statement). What better way to do that than to post a couple of pictures from new year’s eve, I say. (We have fireworks every year and it’s amazing. I advocate safety when dealing with fireworks and being responsible.)

I just took a couple of shots since I was busy watching the fireworks, making sure that Georgia was ok and basically just having fun. I love how these shots turned out.

Back to being a Godmother – I just thought that my first ever post for this year should commemorate something meaningful and I believe that welcoming and celebrating new life is the perfect way to go about it. I unfortunately do not have pictures during the baptism ceremony since I wanted to focus more on godmother duties and just take pictures during the after part (they had a photographer on hand which is a plus – I’ll get pictures from him).

I had to take pictures of little Andi’s cakes – they were really pretty!

With the little one (Yup, this is her. Meet the little darling.)

Can I keep her? Please? (Welcome to the world, little Andi! You are Mommy Pau’s little darling. Aside from Georgia of course. Teehee.) Congrats Mommy Shaki and Daddy Nico!

“A child is the greatest gift that our lives can bestow, it brings the most exquisite joy that we will ever know.”

P.S. On an interior design-related note, here are a couple of pictures from the Hafele Presentation and the Green Architecture forum with Archt. Miguel Guerrero as one of the speakers.

Häfele Presentation

This featured the debut of their state-of-the-art kitchen systems as well as a background on the company. For those who aren’t familiar with Häfele, it was established in Germany and evolved from a local hardware business into a global company. Häfele Philippines was formally founded in 1995 and Cebu got its own sales office with a smaller warehouse in Mandaue City.

Not only do they provide architectural hardware and furniture fittings but they also have home appliances (with constant innovations).  I developed an affinity for their sophisticated coffee center – it produces creamy milk foam and can make coffee, espresso, latte and even cappuccino! (Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take a picture of the coffee center but I do have a couple of shots of the fittings – below.)

Green Architecture Forum

The forum started out with a talk from Dr. Glen Martin Green (he has a degree in petroleum engineering and a Ph. D. in Earth and Planetary Science from the United States). I especially found his talk to be one of the most comprehensive ones I have been to (to date) and it was certainly insightful. One aspect of his talk was about the Peak Oil Crisis which is still widely unknown to most of us. He basically defined it as “the point in time when a region’s oil production is at it’s maximum, when production reaches its all time high and then begins a relentless and irreversible decline as depletion progresses”.

Archt. Miguel C. Guerrero III, fuap, APEC architect, assocAIA, Green AP was also one of the guest speakers for the said forum. He is a member of  Green Architecture Advocacy Philippines, Inc. – they promote the practice of green architecture in the built environment. He discussed his ten steps to sustainability. A quick rundown – 1. Keep the sun out, 2. Let light in, 3. Catch some breeze, 4. Insulate roofing, 5. Harvest rain, 6. Recycle wastewater, 7. Efficient lighting, 8. Thermal comfort, 9. Renewable materials, 10. Alternative energy.

P.P.S. Upcoming Post Teaser

Here is to a promising 2011, Everyone! Cheers!

Hello. I miss writing in this journal and I miss all of you.

Yes, I have been back in Cebu for awhile now and the year has already come to an end. I am grateful because the last few months have been good for me and I had learned a lot. December was awesome and though it sort of just came in passing through this entry, a lot has been going on and I have been working on some stuff as well (perhaps I’ll expound on this someday but for now, I don’t want to jinx it). This entry will just be sort of an update but its more of a snippet update – if there is such a thing. Haha.

By the way, I hope your december was amazing – mine was simply awesssooommmeee. Haha. The Sea Green Journal is already four months old and it has been amazing so far. On to the next month and beyond. Woohoo!

Some of the stuff that I had done so far included – participating in the crossing bridges event. We had the chance to take pictures and spend time with photographers and photography enthusiasts from other neighboring countries (such as Singapore and Malaysia, even Africa!). We walked and went to the seedy (I seem to like that word – seedy) downtown area, took pictures and learned from each other. Check out a few of my pictures from the event below.

I was able to attend a seminar on green architecture and sustainable construction (the speakers were very insightful – they discussed the potential of the Philippines to come up with sustainable resources, the present state of our environment and the economy and even how to practice green architecture in the simplest ways). I was able to drop by the Hafele presentation as well (I’ll try to look for the pictures). Their products are certainly “technology forward” and the designs are streamlined.

I’ll delve on those serious topics next time. For now, I leave you with some pictures from my special december. (big smiles, heart bursting with love)

I spent the holidays with the people that I love dearly. I am thankful to have them – Mr. Wonderful, Georgia and my lovely family. I certainly couldn’t ask for anything more. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all the best for the new year. Happy New Year Everyone!

Before I go, the bestest present that Santa and God could ever give me (aside from family and friends) – Mr. Wonderful and the time we were given (though how limited it was). No complaints, it was magical.

“True love stories never have endings.”

- Richard Bach

How did Halloween start exactly? This once a year festivity which involves dressing up (as ghouls, witches, etc.), eating toffee apples, going trick-or-treating is definitely interesting and a bit scary if I may say so (haha).

In the Philippines, Halloween is not widely celebrated. The main focus there is to go to cemeteries and pay our departed loved ones a visit. In the recent years however, halloween costume parties there are growing in numbers.

In whatever way we celebrate it, we do have one thing in common – the scary aspect (horror documentaries and all things bloody). This year’s Halloween for me is different but fun as well

History (A quick Background Overview; an excerpt from Ken C. Erickson and Patricia Sunderland’s Article)

Halloween is a very popular annual celebration infused with it’s own set of recognizable symbols, stories and rituals. In 731 A.D., November 1 was declared All Saints’ Day (All Hallows Day). October 31 thus became All Hallows Eve, in time shortened to “Halloween.” Even with the encouragement of activities such as masquerading pageants of saints and the further, complicating step of adding Nov. 2 as All Souls Day to the church calendar after the year 1000, some “non-Christian” elements survive in Halloween.

The quintessential symbols of Halloween fall into three major categories. Symbols of death include graveyards, ghosts, skeletons, haunted houses. Symbols of evil and misfortune are witches, goblins, black cats. Symbols of harvest are pumpkins, scarecrows, corn shocks and candy corn.

The first two categories tap deep, irresolvable, pan-human dilemmas. Ways of dealing with and symbolizing death and evil are represented in some of the earliest archaeological remains of human ritual activity. One traditional means of facing the reality of death is to view it as a transition and to continue a relationship with the dead.

Scary Pictures (Please be warned that these set of pictures are bloody and might make you squeamish, they make my insides flinch too! They were pretty scary! These were taken during a recent event to gather zombies and the like for Michael Jackson’s Thriller commemoration.)

Yup, I look like a retard but it’s all good. (Haha )

Trick or treating and Cupcakes (I didn’t participate in the trick or treat part per se. Ate Tatie and I were part of the “control group” for the kiddies. Yup, we are a couple of muscular girls. Haha. The cupcake contest was super fun as well – I love cupcakes. Ate Tatie and my cupcake won as well! It was sheer genius – the cupcake! )

This is Imee’s cupcake.

The entries.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Have fun and be safe

P.S. Here I am! By the way, I didn’t eat some of the loot (candies) since I had a sore throat. But that is definitely not a reason to not put a smile on one’s face.

P.P.S. Good luck, Mr. Wonderful! You’ll do great

(Photo Credits – Paula Cañete)

There is this one thing that I wanted to get done for Georgia for the longest time – I initially wanted it done during her first birthday. I am very thankful that the other day we were able to get it done finally and at the same time experience it together

What am I talking about? Georgia was finally blessed during the annual blessing of pets! It was her very first and it saddens me however that we don’t have a picture together or a picture of her during the blessing. *sad face* I brought my camera with me but I was juggling a lot of stuff (literally) all at once and I was cuddling the little one as well. (If anyone has a picture, please do send it to me and I’ll get you a cupcake for your trouble. Thanks!)

We were running late but we were able to get there before the blessing. It was heaven – there were lots of other dogs, of all shapes and sizes! If by any chance you don’t know, I love animals and pets. There was an adult shih tzu sleeping on the pew (super cute! haha.) and an overweight golden retriever had a heat stroke. (poor doggie *sad face*) There were little puppies playing and a couple of chihuahuas as well. Another cute moment was during the “huddle part” of the owners and their pets – some doggies were growling at each other and some had to make sure that they had a tight grip on their pets (and the leash) or else it would have been a highly exciting scene (haha).

I was very happy that Georgia was able to experience it – as her mummy, it is my responsibility to make sure that her spiritual guidance is not neglected (I sound so serious).

I also got Georgia groomed and brought her a present – a hearty roll (bacon flavored). What do you think of her new haircut? I had it cut shorter since the weather has been really warm lately and I didn’t want to make it difficult for the little pumpkin. Adorable (referring to either Georgia and her new haircut and also both), yes?

P.S. The Sea Green Journal just turned two months old! Yey! Thanks a lot for dropping by and we will continue on having fun (and thinking about cupcakes, dumplings and such). Cheers!

Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. Day

Today is declared as a non-working holiday in Cebu City since it commemorates the 132nd birthday anniversary of the late president Sergio Osmeña Sr.

A few tidbits as we remember him today -

1. Don Sergio Osmeña’s Sr. forty-two years in public service began in 1904. He also served as the youngest governor of Cebu at the mentioned year at the age of twenty-five.

2. He was the fourth president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (1944-1946). He assumed presidency when President Manuel Quezon died.

P.S. The Sea Green Journal is already one month old! I can hardly believe it – it is Lé Cucumber and tres magnifique! (Haha). I am having a lot of fun and I hope you are too. Cheers! I can hardly wait until we turn another month old.

Yey! The Sea Green Journal is already one month old

One, Two, Three ♥

The countdown has come to an end. Yup, tomorrow is the best day ever (big smile).

Hello Best Day Ever

These beautiful pictures (specially chosen) are for – 1. All of you, 2. My Birthday Acclamation.  I wanted this post to be filled with festive and beautiful pictures – lots of colors and elements that reflect my personality. I would love a “Princess Party” for all my birthday parties (slash) forever. (Forgive me, I am a girly girl.)

I envisioned something like the pictures in this post but different in a sense because I’ll be conceptualizing the design and doing pieces to make it my very own.

This day is very important to me and the promise this one (the next one and the one after that) holds is amazing. They are definitely right when they say that when you turn another year older, you start reflecting on things and reflecting about life. I am doing that by certain bits, I am thinking in the sense of the present (just preliminaries, full-on mode hopefully during the day itself) and the future (being a year older).

I am a bit tired and I don’t feel as eloquent right about now but I am contemplating in a sense. I love making lists but I don’t like the limit aspect part of certain kinds. Let me expound a bit – I love making lists and writing stuff I have to do or work on but I can’t make lists that have limits. “Limits” in the context of numbers, i.e. “Your Top 5 Favorite Dishes,”  “_ Things You Should Do On Your _ Birthday”, etc.

When it comes to that, I become sort of indecisive (but it is selective, don’t worry). For example – if someone asks me what my Top 5 Favorite Dishes are, I’ll certainly say “pass” because I love food, there are a lot of food dishes I love and I don’t want to hurt a certain dish’s feelings if it doesn’t get included in the list (haha). Thus, I can’t make a list of things I would do for this birthday (I do know I am simply rambling on – please let the birthday girl be).

A few things are for certain however (even though “limited lists” aren’t), I always get a birthday cake and I get to blow the candles before the night ends.

I also get presents. I love, love, love presents (falsetto voice).

Quick Trivia – 1. That is why I make it a point that Georgia gets a birthday cake during her birthday as well, (Our Mum  always made sure we had cakes and presents during our birthdays, my siblings and I, while growing up. Thus, being Georgia’s Mummy – I wanted to do that for her as well.), 2. I had different cakes throughout the years, good examples include a Little Mermaid Cake and a Mulan Cake (I love them! haha), we get to choose the design we want (except when we were really young of course – really cheeky, Pau).

P.S. Making a pasta dish experiment at 11 P.M. on a whim is the best way to start out one’s birthday (in my opinion). Knocking on your sister’s door (since you made her some as well) is definitely the best, best way as well. I am proud to say that the experiment turned out good.

Hello Yummy Pasta (Unbiased)

P.P.S. Goodnight Thursday. I have to wake up really early later (eep). It is gonna be the best day ever! Yey!

What I’ll be doing in a couple of hours – with vengeance (haha).

(Photo Credits – Beautiful Party Pictures by Cary Pennington)

I just moved in. Hello world! (waves hand)

I have *finally* (falsetto voice) gone ahead and took the bull by the horns.

Reference to horns and a bull being – I got myself this nice little virtual journal (slash) online home to call my very own.

The internet has always been fascinating to me and blogs as well because I get to read stories that people want to tell. I get all these diverse thoughts laid on the table from people of various shapes, age, sizes (I can go on, I tell you). I decided to try my hand at it, be the yarn spinner and tell my own stories and share my own thoughts. This is also my way of giving back and paying my respects to the design industry and the community (For posts that are – 1. about about Interior Design and design-related, 2. sort of serious).

This being my very first post, I decided to make it a preface of sorts. I will be writing about the following (more or less):

1. Interior Design (interiors, furniture, art, design – related, inspiration, photography, etc.)

2. Georgia and being her mummy (I will write a post about her soon. Don’t worry, I foresee a future of a gazillion entries about Georgia. Yey! But to those who will be irked by this, please don’t hurt me.)

3. Food (I may write about food cravings for that day. This varies every single day and can be very detailed and specific – i.e. quantity, paired with what, from what place, to be followed by, etcetera. One particular person can attest to this. I love food pictures as well. I love to eat!)

4. My Random Thoughts (According to a favorite definition, “Thoughts are made up of ideas, facts, experience and dreams. In order to have a thought, something had to exist before the thought – in order to trigger the current thought”.  Note: I’m not trying to be cheeky by including a definition, it just seems appropriate as a form of explanation.)

5. Other ( I like to make this default / category so that I am covered in a sense. This category will be for  things that I might venture out in the future. I want this journal to unfold, follow its own natural course *hopefully* and see which direction it heads. Thus, in case five-years-from-now me might like to talk about gardening  for example – it will fall on this category.)

I hope I didn’t freak anyone out – I like to be orderly at times (Yep, it is selective) and I like to make lists.

It did take me awhile but here I am. Show some love. Be kind.

And oh, it’s nice to meet you. Hello.

P.S. Thank you to Mr. Wonderful for being a computer genius (starry-eyed facial expression).

P.P.S. I also love traveling in the world of design and writing about lifestyle and all happy and beautiful/pretty things.

(Photo Credits – First Photo from Pixelkuss)