Aissa Art

What do you do with a long break? Well, you of course visit your loved ones, take a breather in the province, do a television marathon, and take the time to do some DIY projects.

Last weekend, I started with this:

 

Played around with these:

 

and came up with this…

 

It’s a good activity for de-stressing. I also found out that oil actually dries up in 6-12 months (I mean really that long!). Chase also wants to paint. I’m still thinking about it. I read somewhere that oil painting is toxic, so I might just tell him to start with watercolor. We’ll keep you posted.

Dapitan Trip

I have finally convinced John to take me to Dapitan, famous for its crafts business, to buy our Christmas decorations. I thought we were going to save a lot by going there. Well, John correctly pointed out that I spent double of my initial target and ended up buying errr… stuff that wasn’t on my initial list. I found out that Dapitan is 20 km away from Pasig, same distance from our house to MoA, or to Montalban. It only goes to show that we live somewhere in the middle of Metro Manila and everything is not that far from us.

I was happily surprised to find that Dapitan is not as bad as Ylaya St. in Divisoria, which I will not dare venture without my Divi savvy friend Angel. It is much more organized with a lot fewer stalls. Also, the prices do not vary that much from stall to stall which goes to show that free trade is at work (I hope). I suppose things are still cheaper than in the mall, but not dirt cheap mind you. The other realization is that Christmas décor really costs money, come to think of it. For things that you use only a quarter of a year, give or take, they really cost a lot.

In any case, here are my purchases:

Santa Claus in a Parachute, White Parol, and white Christmas tree décor

 

A Blue Vase, Blue Plate, and a Blue Santa Claus

 

 

Favorite white trinket: reindeer

 

We also bought some trinkets for Christmas giveaways so I can say officially I’ve started our Christmas shopping. Also, I’ve come to realize (to John’s frustration) that I end up buying far more and in a less amount of time if he is not with me. To put it in a positive note, John’s presence is a good control mechanism for my shopping compulsion.

Trick or Treat No.3

Friday night, we had our own Trick or Treat in our village block. The kiddie costumes were the scariest here of all three events we've attended. Despite the rain, my neighbors had fun with some games and food. The youngest participant was just a few weeks old mind you.

 

Even AM went out last night. This kid rarely goes out and when she did, she was in full costume. Cool.

 

Gian in her piggy-fairy ballerina costume.

 

. Martin aka Frankenstein with his mommy.

 

And of course, since it was night time.. the Batmen went out of their caves.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Trick or Treat: Post No. 2

For Zib, we decided to recycle an old costume. It was still a hit with everyone, kids and mommies alike since everyone loves Blue. As for my initial fears that Zib will not wear it.. let's just say that he played a bit pakipot but when he was convinced to wear it, he did... even underneath the blazing morning sun on top of the school's rooftop where the pre-school had their annual Time for Treats bash. Blue up front, Zebastian on the back.

 

 

You think we are ready for playschool? I think we are..

 

Daddy, can I borrow your name plate?

 

At Mommy's office where we got a paper bag full of candies.

Trick or Treat: First Post

As I mentioned in fb, we are doing a semi-DIY this year. Well, the results are a bit of a hybrid between a turtle and an alligator. Judge for yourself.. regardless of the results, it was fun doing it.

 

Backside

 

Front side

 

Playing basketball...

 

and getting a face paint.

Mama's Birthday

My dear mother celebrated her birthday last Tuesday. We all trooped to Antipolo to eat bulalo, steamed fish, spaghetti, and cake. It was a simple dinner with my family and at the end of the day, I was happy to be home.

 

Papa and Mama sharing a camera moment.

 

Since they say that women can save the world economy through shopping, I did my bit by buying Mama her gift, a bag from CMG.. and some skinny jeans and oil painting stuff for me, shirts for John, and some child safety stuff from the hardware.

 

Paul also bought something for Mama. Some shea butter from body shop.

 

Ally's gift.. and that completes the pack.

I love you Mama!

Dress Me Up Zibby

We have some trouble dressing up Zibby. He would usually pick out his clothes and simply refuse to wear stuff that he didn’t choose. Yaya ends up bringing out several shirts for him to choose from and he ends up wearing his Sunday clothes all the time. Parang palaging paalis. The only time he ever wears his pambahay is when he is ready to sleep. I don’t mind it much, but of course I’m hoping it’s just a phase. I’m also crossing my fingers that he’ll at least wear a costume on Halloween.

 

I guess if you’re second born and you have to wear some hand me downs, you’ve got to put your foot down on some things. I guess my kid just figured it out early on.

 

Did I mention that Zib would very cutely wrinkle his nose when he wants to make a face? Just totally wins us over every time.

 

BTW, Zib dresses up everyday to take his Kuya to school. I guess it’s good practice to prepare him for play school next year.

A Danish Gift

If you ask me what has been our best bargain in terms of household furniture, I would have given you a different answer before last week. We have for the most part really invested on good quality custom-made wooden furniture, hence the reason why we only had so few. In the past, we’ve mostly asked Progetti to make our pieces. They would usually have their floor furniture on sale around May or December. It’s always cheaper to buy off the floor and ask them to refurbish. We bought our Narra bed at 50% off. Our Mahogany dining table had to be made especially for us since we had a very small dining area.

We’ve been putting off buying furniture for the most part of this year, mostly because we’ve used up our budget for such things with the kitchen renovation last summer. Imagine my glee and my disbelief when we visited John’s expat boss last week to see some of the wooden pieces they are leaving behind. They are now going back to Copenhagen after a year or so in our beautiful islands. John is taking over his role and well, he also offered some of their furniture.

We are actually not new to this furniture-giving tradition, when we first moved to our house my expat friend gave us a working table and two chairs which we now use when we have friends over.

I thought I was just getting a coffee table, but they offered most of the pieces since they initially just thought of leaving it with the movers to dispose or give to charity. We arranged for movers to take the following pieces home last night:

 

A book shelf that went to our bedroom…finally a place for my books!

 

A set of drawers that went to Zibby’s room… finally more space in our closet!

 

A console table that went to Chase’s room… temporarily houses most of their toys.

 

A coffee table that Peter swears weighs 100 kilos… the two side tables have not yet found their rightful place in our small house. We are thinking of bringing one home to Lipa since we have more space there and Inay would be thrilled with it, I’m sure.

All of the pieces are made of Mahogany, custom made in Pampanga. I’m grateful to Peter and Berit for their generosity. They even bought the pieces down from their 21st floor apartment since our movers were late! (dyahe!) I’m really happy because the best things in life are indeed free.

They also offered us a king-sized bed and when we couldn’t take it they then offered it to be raffled off to some of the employees in their office who had their furniture flooded by Ondoy. Shows how big and generous their hearts are.

My Favorite Pieces

Finally, my favorite pieces from the gift.. two buffet tables that fits the whole length of our dining room wall.

 

Don't they just complement our dining table? I loooove it! Big thanks again Peter and Berit!

 

Gin Cobra

As I may have mentioned before, my husband is a basketball fan. Aside from being a Blue Eagles fan, he is first and foremost a ka-Baranggay. As with most of the Ginebra fans, his love affair with that franchise started when coins still rained in coliseums and basketball legend (former Senator) Jaworski still coached and occasionally played. Well, that affair has now lasted for more than two decades and we still get “season” tickets for Ginebra games courtesy of our friend Tooper who is in charge of brand management. I have been an occasional guest to some of their championship games. However, I have never really warmed up to Caguioa and Helterbrand. Maybe, I am at times amused by Tubid’s antics…but that’s about it.

I heard that this year they’ve gotten a lot of players I am more familiar with, mostly players from my alma mater… but then again I mostly cheer for the Blue Eagles because they play for my school. See at heart, I am a Purefoods fan. It started that year that Jolas, Codinera, and Patrimonio all played for that team. Of course Jolas has made most of his career with Alaska, and only people my age and older remember him as part of Purefoods. Alvin Patrimonio is the cutest PBA Player of All Time, even Kris Aquino will probably vouch for that even after marrying James Yap. Alvin made several movies with Regal Films and I probably watched most of it as a child. In high school, we watched some Purefoods games live courtesy of Jona’s father. So in the past, I associated PBA and my little knowledge of it with a lot of Purefoods memories.

Last night, John took Chase to his first PBA game. I happily relinquished my ticket so my boy, who’s five by the way, can watch his first game live with my father-in-law and my husband. See, it’s so nice to have a mental picture of all three generations of the Largos enjoying a basketball game at the Big Dome. I waited for them until they came home at about 10 last night so I can share a very late dinner with my boy to ask him about the game.

It was a Ginebra vs. Purefoods game which ended with a Kings’ victory. All three of them agreed it was a good game. John said Chase was even standing up most of the game to cheer the teams. Apparently, the little boy was confused at times and even cheered when Purefoods scored. Finally Chase told me it was a good game with lots of popcorn, iced tea, and Tender Juicy hotdog.

He said, and I quote “Mom, ang galing nanood kami ng basketball. Kumain ako ng maraming popcorn at hotdog. Nanalo ang Gin Cobra”.

Jona

Belated Happy Birthday Superfriend!

If you were here we'll celebrate..

with a Mango Bravo cake...

massage at the spa..

and tons of swapping stories!

 

at Jona's wedding in 08

 

when she went home in 06

 

Mango Bravo

 

a complete Superfriend Family photo.

Powerpuff Date

It has been a while since I went out with the EUWM Powerpuff friends. We had cancelled our latest plan to go to Tagaytay (which reminds me I still owe Kurly some money over the cancellation fee) and well Mama Angel cancelled on us last minute for the movie date (some things are becoming a bit predictable, weirdly and sadly). Finally, we were able to catch Julie and Julia in Greenbelt 3 with the three of us girls plus Kid.

I suppose it is the movie for us to watch. It is about Julia Child, blogging, and cooking. Well, aside from traveling we all love to prepare food. Leah made baking cookies a fashionable Christmas gift during our earlier office days. Kurly has been posting her cake decorating adventures in here and well you catch some of my own cooking experiments on this blog.

Which reminds me, it’s been a while since I’ve hanged out in my own kitchen; I better make some time for that soon. It’s also a pity we weren’t able to spend more time together because of the supposed storm that never came. I swear everyone is becoming a bit more paranoid over the weather.

 

Superman Cake. Latest from Kurly's multiply site.

 

Eaglepoint Batangas, 2006.

 

Subic, 2007.

 

Macau, 2008 with Ira-girl.