Celebrating John's Birthday and Balancing Blogging, Work and Home Life

I's true that sometimes I just want to sleep all day and do nothing. I don't know if I could ever do that with the zillion of things that are always on my list of to-do's that never seems to get finished.

Since that time that I got invited to tour Mines View Park in Baguio, to the SM Cubao blogging and shopping challenge, and the Focaccia Food tasting event last Friday, I seem to be saying yes a lot more these days to blog events than I used to before. Is it because I am getting better at managing my time? Or is it because I am getting bored just staying here at home, tinkering with my PC all day and all night, working like a dog?

Beach Chair in Our Bedroom

When I went shopping at SM Cubao last time, I was given this cute little beach chair. Good thing it was light and easy to carry coz I had to commute from Cubao to Alabang that day. I was thinking of just storing it away since it's the rainy season, meaning, we haven't been going to the beach for quite a while. But then I changed my mind and had it set up in our bedroom instead. I occasionally take it out to the balcony but since it's been raining on and off, it's stationed here in our bedroom most of the time.

At the corner where I placed it, I styled up the door with some colorful scarves and sarongs that match the color of the chair. I think it looks cute. It doesn't particularly go well with the rest of the furniture, but it's a comfy seat and the colorful scarves made it look nice and homey at least. ^_^

Work from Home, Fun and Relaxation

It was a long weekend alright, I was planning to do some windsurfing but because I was not feeling physically up to it, we made other plans instead. See, this is what happens when I am lacking Vita Plus in my life. It's been a month since I last had a glass of my favorite vegetable juice and not only am I gaining weight (see my fatty photos taken yesterday), I am not feeling like my usual superwoman self too. I just keep forgetting to buy and thank God for my group leader's reminders, a new pack was delivered at Peter's office yesterday afternoon. I can't wait to drink a glass! I expect to lose weight soon and be able to multitask again like before. I got some projects up my sleeve and I don't want to lose time oversleeping just coz I feel lethargic and overfatigue. I don't want to give up my chocolates, chips and ice cream too! ^_^

So anyway, since my Saturday was spent working for 14 hours straight, the rest of my leisure was done last Sunday. Peter cooked some really nice dish --- Baked Salmon, Eggplant Tzatiki and Japanese Rice.


The rest of the day, we had Greenwich Pizza --- Pepperoni Overload and Philly Cheesesteak. It's their buy one take one promo as long as you order a family size of any of the pizza overloads. ^_^ We also got to watch two of the DVDs we bought before --- Furry Vengeance starring Brendan Fraser and After Life starring Christina Ricci. Unfortunately, I didn't find them good.

Furry Vengeance, for me, was not well-made. I find the characters a bit annoying that I didn't finish the movie anymore.

As for After Life, it seemed interesting at first but it all got me so confused towards the end. So, was she really dead or alive?! I wasn't happy with the DVD movies that I ended up just hanging out at different parts of the house reading Deathly Hallows and finishing Paolo Coelho's Brida.


I can never stress this enough... I love our house. It's not that big but big enough for the both of us.


It has a lot of cozy nooks and crannies that we can hang out at, and even if I'm just by myself, with my books, magazines, beads, music or what-not, I never get bored.


We designed it in such a way that every corner contains some memento from some of our travels. Even the wooden furniture were bought from Antipolo and Tagaytay.

Home Sweet Home

I had a very relaxing weekend. Last Saturday, I finished my work early in the afternoon then I slept until around 9 pm. I've been paying my sleep debt for some time now coz last week has been super hectic that I was awake for a few days straight and maybe even more.


Anyway, last Saturday evening, there's not much left to do outside the house since all malls were closed by then. Peter was perceptive enough to cook some Pesto Pasta early that evening thinking that I won't be waking up until much later and he was right. So when I did wake up, his delicious dish was already waiting for me. Then I thought "Yay! It's the weekend at last! I can have my cocktails and vanilla cigs!" Teehee. I was excited to try out The Bar strawberry and lychee flavor. So exquisite and crisp! *hic!*

The Black Bat Vanilla flavored cigs were delicous too. Hehehe.


We had several new DVD movies but only got to watch a few of them (The Client List, Splice and Eclipse which was a complete waste of my time. Eclipse is such a stupid vampire movie. Anyway...)

Then, we just decided to enjoy the rest of our house. The way we designed our home, it's meant to look like a beach house during the day and a beach bar at night. We have musical instruments we can play with, we have videoke, Wii and tons of DVD videos waiting to be watched, we can simply hang out by the balcony if we want to, or spend some time at our backyard.

That particular evening, we dimmed the lights, lighted some incense, and played with the drums and bongos. I played some songs with my guitar too. I was amazed to find out that I still know the chords of my two fave songs, This is Me and Alone, even if I haven't been practicing much. Yipee.


When we got tired of playing music, we sang songs until I got a bit tipsy.

Hammocks at Home

I had a feeling that summer would be over soon because of the intermittent rain showers. Too bad, I thought. To think Peter and I bought two hammocks during one of our island getaways hoping that we still could bring them out of town and have them set up between coconut trees for our future camping trips.

House of Dreams - Living In My Childhood Dream Home

I grew up living a simple life. There were times I felt extremely lucky (thanks to my grandfather who is rich enough to help out my parents financially) and there were times I felt extremely hungry and sad (coz my dad didn't really have any stable job and my mom is working for the government until now). All I wanted was to finish my studies (thank God to my scholarships) so I can live the life I've always wanted, which means, have a place I can call my own, decorate it any way I want to, and be able to do what I want (like walk naked if I want to... which I used to do a lot of times even as a young kid inside my own room. Teehee. I remember one summer, I was 15, my cousins and I took a photo of ourselves naked. My dad was the one who developed the film and he went ballistic on us! Teehee. ^_^ Those were priceless times!).

Anyhoo, I've always wanted to live in a nice, cozy house with glass doors, and surrounded by beautiful things... my beautiful things. I'm fortunate enough to say that I've been living my childhood dream for a few years now. Thanks to Popsy, to Peter, and to God's infinite blessings! And recently, my hubby and I had some parts of my childhood dream home renovated --- I had the front yard fenced to stop the kids from turning it into their afternoon playground, I had the plants taken out since I don't know how to take care of them anyway, I had my bathroom tiles changed coz they were breaking away due to the extreme heat, and all those extra white rocks that were left, I decorated the balcony with. Now I realize that all the things I could ever need are just here at home. So don't blame me if I'm always lazy to leave the house (except when we go on out of town trips). Hihihi.

Mandaue Foam Furniture: Our New Memory Foam & Bed Foot Stool

Finally! After a month, our memory foam finally became available. Peter picked it up from Mandaue Foam Furniture Showroom at Ortigas extension branch last Saturday. Thanks to our dear friend John who bought us this wonderful gift, the quality of our sleep has been so much better ever since. Actually, since we started sleeping on the memory foam, Peter and I seldom wake up early now. I dunno if that's good or bad. Teehee. Anyway, what we got is the thickest they have which is 2 inches, just enough to feel its softness and comfort. It molds the shape of our backs, or whatever position we decide to do when we sleep. It's just pure heaven! And oh, it's sturdy enough for acrobatic sex too. Teehee. ^_^

Cebu - Beautiful House @ Good Shepherd Banawa

It’s been a while since we last visited Cebu. The last time that both Peter and I went tripping there was year 2005 as part of our Vis-Min Trip. Oh no wait, we did go there again year 2006 with Popsy to celebrate my 28th birthday. Then last January of this year, I went there by myself to visit my sister, Tita Anne and Tito Ped. And today, at 12:10pm, Peter and I will fly Cebu Pacific to visit them again. Since I’m in a hurry to post this, let me just share with you some photos I took of Tito Ped’s house. It has undergone a lot of renovations through the years and litle by little, it is becoming a sanctuary of some sort. Actually, it’s more like a mini mountain resort for me. This is where I get some of my inspiration for creating such a lovely home of our own as well. I heard  that today, it looks even more picturesque and feels more at home. Well, we’re about to find out as we visit them again. For now, here are some photos of their house for your pleasure.

The Main House

 

 

    

Home Decorations: Sneak Peek

This month, it's been a year since we transfered from Quezon City to Alabang. How quickly time flew by! And since then, we have done a few things to make the house more welcoming and relaxing...just the way we like it... a cute little townhouse that can be mistaken for a beach condo. Beach na lang ang kulang. Teehee. The initial redecorations / renovations are here including the before pictures. And here are the rest ...

The facade, before & after

A Sneak Preview Into Our Little Home

Renovations are partially over... I took pictures of them the moment our home tidied up a bit. Here, take a look:

The Lanai When We First Moved In:

The Lanai Last Christmas: Less spacious and open-air