I Love These Girls!

Yesterday found me going all over Divisoria, helping my daughter E get stuff for the various bazaars she's joining this Christmas season. She's been at this bazaar thing since October, and she's not stopping until the 22nd of December. Wow!

Erika definitely got that whole entrepreneurial thing from my mom, who can sell just about anything. E is resourceful, unrelenting, and quite ferocious frankly. It's not surprising then that she has friends who share the same entrepreneurial spirit: Paige and Andre. Just the other day, Paige went to our house and they talked business: two girls in jeans and shorts. I love it!

This season, Erika is selling her dainty ready to wear, Paige clothes and little trinkets, Andre bags and shoes. And if they eventually volt in and form some fashion empire to conquer the world, I would be the proudest mom and tita ever!

Visit Erika's site at The Dainty Shop
Check out Paige's blog at DueOnMonday
Go to Andre's Facebook page at Algo Tienda





Eka and Paige





Eka and Andre

The New Rattan

My mom used to love rattan furniture. Like most of you, I grew up with all sorts of these brown furniture. They weren't really very comfy, and they were very often cheesy. And when they age, they split and splinter. Butt ouch!

Kenneth Cobunpue's take on rattan is anything but cheesy. At his showroom in Maxilom, I couldn't help but touch everything. His pieces were, for lack of a better word, sexy. I like the way he transformed the rattan into a sensual piece of material, its lines swerving this way and that, seemingly quite organically. And because I am looking for lighting fixtures, I went crazy taking photographs of the Hive line. Really lovely!




A cream puff of clouds





A twist on the walis ting-ting





Little men





Organic





Modern Chinese lanterns





Noodles





So pretty!! I love yellow, obviously!





Fun!

Spaced Out

My work involves a lot of figuring out; a lot of tinkering with words and phrases and paragraphs, shaping them up into a cohesive whole. When I need to unwind, I park myself in front of the television and just veg, watching one mindless thing after another. In one monumental veg out session, my son F and I put on season 7 of Kiefer Sutherland's 24 in the DVD player, and never left the couch until Jack Bauer's complicated day was done. It was awesome! I was pumped up for hours!

That was a couple of months ago. These days, I just cannot seem to find the time to veg. There's always something going on, and with the impending move, things have just gotten a little crazier. And so instead of vegging out, I've found another way to give my brain some downtime: I space out. Yes, sometimes, on my bed, I just lie down and stare at the ceiling. No music. No TV. No nothing. It's really relaxing.

On a recent trip to Cebu, I spaced out in more congenial surroundings. At Z Bar, I found myself sinking in one of the couches, burrowing under a lattice of bamboo twigs. A couple of minutes later, I would be drinking wine with the designer Kenneth Cobunpue, trading jokes with him like we were old friends (I blame the wine and the tasty salpicao). It was all so surreal. Now, that's the kind of spacing out I'd like to have more of.


P.S.This one's for you, V! :)





To the swanky bat cave!





Bat cave take 2





Chilling out





OK, this is not exactly a flattering picture but look at those mirrors! Love!!

Taking Measure

Yes, the earth has swallowed me whole again. The past week was a blur filled with deadlines and boxes, lots and lots of them. I've finally managed to put all my books away (except the ones I'm currently reading), including the big coffeetable ones with all those gorgeous photographs.

Today, we went to the house to see how things are going, and I am thrilled with the progress. The bedrooms have been painted, the extra sink demolished, the living area tiles laid in. The kitchen is shaping up nicely. And though there's a big blob of a mess in the middle of everything, I could already see where everything's going to be.

And so, I started measuring. These days, I always have a measuring tape in hand. I measured the dimensions of the walls to see where the couch could fit in. I measured the oven stove that I wanted so that my Dad would know how much space it would take. This afternoon had me measuring tiles, the ones they'd place on the kitchen counters and the kitchen floors.

I've never been very particular about measuring stuff. I've never been particular about getting the best grades, just as long as I wasn't failing. I've never been adept at getting the best deals, just as long as I could afford it. I've never been particular about who gets what when, just as long as everybody's happy. But, in construction at least, every half inch counts.




Tiles for the kitchen counter





Stripping the stairs of its ugly dark paint; they'll be tearing down the handrails shortly

To S

I could still hear his voice telling me that I was going to be OK, saying how beautiful I was, assuring me that everything was going to be alright. I had just gotten myself into a traumatic, almost gruesome accident; I was in a state of shock. And here was this guy who dared not leave my side: soothing me, comforting me.

That happened more than two decades ago.

For the better part of the year after that, I had to work with S on a regular basis. He was a charming guy, very easy on the eyes, but I always thought that he was a lightweight. It wasn't surprising to find us arguing about one point or another; I can be quite stubborn, you see, and I don't like losing very much. But at the back of my mind, I never forgot that this was the guy who was there for me when I needed someone.

Today, I found out that S wasn't such a lightweight. Reading about him on the pages of a book, I found out how utterly trustworthy he was, what lengths he would go in the name of friendship, and how his easygoing demeanor may have masked problems I never thought to ask.

I am very sorry that I had to find out about this in a book; I should have asked.

Stuffing Boxes

I started a couple of weeks ago. I got one empty box, filled it with my books, closed it up, taped it tight. I am now on my tenth box and I have still to pack all of my books!

Yes, we are moving. In a few weeks, we would say goodbye to this house which has served as both a refuge and an escape. It was here where I ran to when my marriage broke up many years ago, here where my boys grew up to become tall, handsome teenagers, here where my daughter grew up to become a responsible mother. It is here where F cooked many chicken dinners, where K learned to play basketball, and where S played like mad on the PC. It is where E started her online business and where Baby S grew up to be the lively little chatterbug that she is now.

It is also here where I started writing again, and here where I started dreaming again; dreams of bright, vivid colors with many happy thoughts. My heart is brimming with gratitude and joy, and I will be forever grateful to my fairy godmother, my mom, for making things happen.

For now, I am dreaming of beige, almost eggshell walls, a red chair, an ottoman, maybe in black, a silver oven stove, a giant garden umbrella, and a bedroom that's pristine white. Don't wake me up! :)




The still empty home

Say Anything

"The inability to articulate what one feels in any satisfactory way is one of our enduring tragedies."

That's what Annie was thinking as she tried to make heads and tails about how she felt about this man she only met through the Internet. It's a scene from Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby's sixth novel.

I fell in love with Nick after reading High Fidelity; that beauty was so spot-on about the male psyche that I found myself laughing again and again throughout his story about a guy who, as he tried to make sense of his latest breakup, revisited all his relationships past. And that's what happened again this time. In between my lunch of Ensaladang Bagnet, I poured over the pages like mad. So if you saw a forty-something woman hunched over a book at Via Mare laughing out loud every so often, that would have been me.

Anyway, the novel is about this forty-something couple stuck in a relationship of convenience. There is no passion here, just comfort and maybe a bit of resentment because Duncan, Annie's partner, is more interested about the whys and wherefores of a one-hit wonder eighties star than about the little details of her.

In part, this is about Annie and all the things she wanted to say and never could. And sometimes, I wonder about all the things I want to say and never could. I maybe a writer, true, but sometimes, words are difficult. Call me wacko but all I could think of right now is Jackie Chan in one of his Rush Hour movies, and he goes in his Chinese English accent, "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" Well, sometimes, I can't understand those words myself Mwahahaha

The Inevitable

Was on my way to a meeting, stopped by a McDonald's for some hot chocolate, when I heard the sound of the inevitable. Yes, Virginia, it's almost Christmas!!

Christmas is definitely one of my favorite seasons. Never mind the mad scramble for gifts a day or two before the 25th. Never mind the traffic. Never mind the almost customary opinion pieces about how Christmas is becoming more commercialized every year. Never mind all that! Christmas is fun!

I love the Christmas lunches and dinners hastily thrown in between parties and programs. I love the mad rush to connect with all the people in your carelist. I love hunting down that one perfect gift with half the city prowling the stores with you. I love most of all, wrapping those gifts in shiny, beautiful paper.

This Christmas is destined to be even more special. For one, we would have moved into our new home then, and while decorating it for the holidays would definitely be a tad too late, I am excited to welcome the new year amidst the smell of freshly painted walls. And of course, our little Baby S can now appreciate all those little bright lights. And I am pretty sure that she would love opening presents. Here she is in her Christmas frocks: her mom just got too excited! :)

MomShare

I love, love, love my bestpren Janice because she's always coming up with fun things mommy. She's doing freezines and directories, support groups and events, and all sorts of stuff that would make life easier for mommy.

At one of her events, Janice said she was looking for an art teacher to facilitate a workshop for the orphans of the House of Refuge Foundation. Her growing Mommy Mundo world recently came out with MomShare, a venue for moms who want to share and care. I volunteered immediately. OK, I am no art teacher but I love making things with my hands and have actually taught art classes for young kids many summers ago.

The thing that I learned from those workshops: Kids love to play with paint. And that's what we did that afternoon: gave those kids a bunch of brushes and sponges and rainbow colored paints and a canvas bag to decorate. They loved it! Truth to tell, I didn't really have to do anything much; I just went around, made sure they weren't getting stuff on their clothes, drew a flower here and there, and helped the little ones with their project.

It was a fun afternoon! Thanks, Janice!





Janice and her lovely kids, who are always with her in practically all her events.





We started off by asking the kids to make little storybooks.









And now, the paints!





Mark paints his name.





Finished!





Pretty!