HAPPY HOLIDAYS! :)

Happy holidays everyone! The however many people that read this! :)

As I type, all I'm thinking about is how lovely it is FINALLY to have some cold air coming in for this tropical country. 

I have recently fallen in love with Instagram and have been taking pictures all over the place.  Here are some of them ;)

This is my lovely boyfriend. He took me to my favorite steak house for Christmas eve lunch :)

This is me eating a load of foie gras. SO bad, yet SOOO GOOD.

 

These are my dorkats. The one top is my boy, Panthro and the one in the bottom is my girl, Katara.

I decided to paint my toenails red to get all Christmasy. And put up my feet ;)

And I painted my nails too. This got a lot of comments on my Facebook, with people thinking my boyfriend proposed. He hasn't.

Ok so this, I love. Fantastic white Christmas :)

I love these pictures of the sky and space.

And to get ready for next year! :) Get these awesome calendars!

Anyway, back to being horizontal and hanging out with your love ones! :)  HAPPY HOLIDAYS! :D

Sunday in December

Today I made chocolate chip cookies. Today was the Sunday that I woke up feeling changed.  I ticked off another concert off my musical bucket list when I saw Sir Elton John last night here in Manila!

It was awesome!! And may I say, even as a fan, I completely forgot just how many songs he had!  He almost went to three hours and he's what? 67?  Fantastic.  Had the best time! :)  Sadly I was in the nosebleed seats so no real pictures to speak of :( But he sang "Candle in the Wind", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Rocket Man" back to back which made me cry like a little little girl.  Someone was nice enough to put it up in youtube.  Here it is :) 

Today, apart from making the cookies, I've just been home, looking through the different blogs and putting a culinary challenge to myself, of what I can make that can last the week.

So far, I've gotten, STEW, CHILI, and RAGU BOLOGNESE and some other Filipino dishes like adobo which is my fave and I need to refresh myself with.  I used to be able to make such a kickass one :)  If there's anyone out there reading this, please feel free to send me any suggestions or indeed, RECIPES! :) It would be appreciated very much! And thank you in advance.. :)

Anyway, some things I saw online today that caught my interest, apart from all the recipes I've been reading!

I would really like to get one of these rings:

This is cute for my initials (my initials are ARM... which makes me ineligible to have married Brad Pitt)

Black triangle ring

And a cute one with little dots and a small diamond :)

Love this MUG

This picture is my reminder of a stamp I need to have made :)

 

I really and truly want this robe. Actually there's a scarf too. It's so pretty.

I must remember this.  It is hard to live in with someone.  It is inevitable that you fight and there are some days that you will piss each other off.  This is a great article on how to combat that :)

I love this living room! It is super minimalist and the colors are beautifully muted.

A downloadable 2013 calendar! :)

What brilliantly WHIMSICAL pictures! :)

I would love to have this. I just need lavender!

I would love to try and make this.

I WILL try to make THIS deep dark chocolate.

Another Christmas idea! :) Based on the high I am on today as I've successfully made my first batch of cookies, this seems like a doable idea :)

What a great dining room!

Great natural stuff for your skin!  Who knew it was all in your food bin?

I need to pull up my boot straps and get ready for the up coming Monday in a few hours :)  Here's the hope that this week will turn out more productive than the last couple of weeks. I must also find time to start doing my articles and find my Christmas party dress! 

Fingers crossed.

For now I will leave you with one of my favorite songs of Sir Elton :)

Sunday Musings

Tonight I have had more than enough food in my gullet. I am of enough mind to sit and read and write an entry. Anyway, some things I found interesting on the web tonight.

I absolutely love this. LOVE THIS. 

I love these earrings, even more so if they were emeralds ;)

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CAPES CAPES CAPES CAPES! :)

It is nice little gifts for the men in your life.

I love this dwelling. I wouldn't mind if I had something like this for myself.

What a dress. Valentino is wonderful.

Love this page.

I am loving all these cozy spaces!

And one last thing, this dress is incredible.

Now to look forward to the week ahead. Here's hoping for the best! :)

My life as of Wednesday the 14th

So the whole day today was gloomy.  For someone living in a tropical country, that is saying something.  Oh but I love the gloom! I love that feeling that all you want to do is creep under the covers, grab a flashlight, put music on repeat and read that book that has been silently dogging your peripheral vision for the last few weeks. 

I want a day that didn't go by so quickly.  

I'm slowly figuring out soundcloud, mixcloud and 8track. I love them all because of the diversity of the music that can be found.  Anyway, on soundcloud I finally uploaded my first track. It's not MINE per se, it is from the Soundtrack of  Pride and Prejudice (2005).  So now, as you read my blog, you can have a little track for your listening pleasure :)

  Dawn by Drummergirl2578

Ah well, moving on. I read this article today and it touched my heart strings as a coffee lover.  Not that I will be getting any of her gear soon (come on now...) but I will do what she says, to basically grind fresh, and right before using, and to try to use more of the dripper, like the Vietnamese use, which incidentally, is my absolute favorite way of making coffee.

 As art goes, I am simply in love with Alphonse Mucha (read up here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha).  This blog entry reminded me just how much :) He had a lovely beard too, if I do say so myself.

Though we do not particularly celebrate Thanksgiving here in the Philippines, we do however love turkey and all the trimmings.  These are some recipes that even if it isn't Thanksgiving, I think I will try my hand at :)

I love all the jewelry here! The fragile and fine look of the pieces make it all the more enticing to me.

These bookcases are crazy. I'm not sure I can keep one without having a small heart attack every time I walk by.

Great tips to keep a nice pretty fridge.

I don't know if I would give people bulbs of onions, but I do think this is a fantastic idea. 

This just blew my mind. And made me hungry.    I mean, LOOK AT IT: http://www.natalieluder.ch/shop.htm

Another thing that blew my mind, was THESE little 3D figurines.  Oh my word. I want this.

Seems like an awesome thing to do, with or without kids :)

And because I am of the paranoid disposition, THIS IS AWESOME AND PERFECT for me. HAHAHA!  I think I'll look to have one made locally.

Lastly, FANTASTIC PICTURES :) 

So far, not a bad hump day.  Hope all is well wherever you're hailing from :)

Vision Board: Travel

I've decided that the more I send it out to the Universe, the more it has the chance to come true :)  So here we go, places I want to go to and see.

1) Egypt - mostly because of the history factor.  Of course the pyramids....

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...but I would love to see the temples of Abu Simbel (to read up on them click HERE)

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2) Greece - There has always been a soft spot in my heart for Greece because of the myths I used to love as a child and the food when I first started eating it.  Oh and the olive oil. And ouzo.  I love this :) 

 Look at the Pantheon.

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And I would love to go to Athens, because Athena was and is my favorite deity.  Next would be Poseidon.

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3) Turkey - This one is easy. I want to see where Troy is.

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Troy's Walls :)

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4) Estonia - It is supposed to be gorgeous there... 

 

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 ...and I've always just wanted to see Tallinn the capital.  Look at how beautiful it is.

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5) Prague - This is because it is the gateway to Eastern Europe.  And the vodka.

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6) Beijing - Again, a little obvious but the Forbidden City and its history is a fascination of mine...

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And the Great Wall.

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7) Laos - I have just never been there and I've been to Vietnam and Cambodia already.  It is the last place in South East Asia I haven't seen yet. 

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I want to see this!! It looks fantastic :)

8) Iceland - Reykjavik I heard is lovely.  Also the whole aesthetic of the Netherlands makes me happy.  

 

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9) Finland - I've just always wanted to go to Helsinki.  Also, I want to see the aurora borealis (Learn about the Northern Lights HERE).  I heard that they have a fantastic summer music festivals too.

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10) Russia - I would love to go here because of my personal fascination over the last Czar and Czarina, vodka and caviar. :)

And I would like to see the Moscow Cathedral.

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Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! :)

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Friday afternoon

This is the Friday afternoon of the first long weekend we have this month. Yes, we have TWO.  And not only do we have TWO, they are BACK TO BACK.  So next week is also another long (I think it is actually even a long-er) weekend. YAY!!! :) 

So here I am, picking up where I've slacked off with you my poor, unread blog and I'm here to give you some necessary attention :)

Saw the usually fantastic stuff online today that I want to share! :)  Here we go :) Oh and as I write, here is a little SOUNDTRACK for you to listen to, if you feel so inclined :)

I know that somewhere in my city (Manila, Philippines), I can do this...  Though when I will need a sweatshirt, considering it doesn't get colder than 25 degrees Celsius, is beyond me. I know! I can do this to tshirts :)

Hilarious "theory" :) 

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I am technically not a fan of table cloths, but I think I may do this DIY one for the cats, like a little curtain for the litter area. 

I love how these bookshelves go into  the wall. I'm still trying to think if this is how I want mine. Maybe in a bigger space and not this current apartment.

For those really bad days.

I wish we could do things like these here in Manila.

I have a feeling I will be using THIS SITE A WHOLE LOT.

Pretty cool unfinished art.

When I have kids, I have a feeling that I will do my own version of this :)  Pretty neat :)

A brief history on Human Communication :)

I want to do this to whatever house/apartment/condo I am in, which is to set apart a space, whoever small, just to BE. These are great examples of that.

AND! These stamp-like wall rollers are giving me ideas too of what I can do in my own home :) OR you can just go straight into their website, http://the-painted-house.co.uk/

I WANT THIS SKIRT SO MUCH I COULD CRY.

Ok and these leggings too :) hehehhe :)

Fun Halloween stuff :)

I am loving this HOUSE PLAN, but maybe not the same exact stuff... and not the same colour definitely.

And THIS is just an overall great reminder :)

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This weekend, I am planning to bank articles and do some research on a secret project I'm doing.  I owe my tito this for a very long time.  But next weekend, I'm going on a baking spree. I haven't been able to do ANY baking in a long time, so this will be fun.  

I also need to start brain storming on what to write about in the other blog with the boyfie. 

Until then my dear blog :)  *hug*

Questions

I love Inside the Actor's Studio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_the_Actors_Studio) and tonight it was one of my favorite celebrities, Ricky Gervais was on.  Fantastic. And after every interview, James Lipton asks the same ten questions from French television personality Bernard Pivot, that is based on Marcel Proust famous questionnaire. 

I've decided that I will try and answer it, since there is no way I will get interviewed by James Lipton. Ever. 

1. What is your favorite word? IMPOSSIBLE, FANTASTIC
2. What is your least favorite word? IRRIGATION
3. What turns you on?  DETERMINATION, DRIVE AND CREATIVITY
4. What turns you off? IGNORANCE AND ARROGANCE
5. What sound or noise do you love?  ROCK N'ROLL, BLUES, JAZZ, CLASSICAL
6. What sound or noise do you hate? SOMEONE HOCKING UP A LUGIE
7. What is your favorite curse word? FUCK
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? MUSIC AGENT, GENETICIST
9. What profession would you not like to do?  ANYTHING INVOLVING PEOPLE'S FLUIDS, LIKE SEWER.
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? GLAD YOU MADE IT.

Sunday Post

In an effort to start the new week right, I found this weekly cleaning list and I want to now make it a part of my every day life.

Small spaces are the hardest really to maintain. There are no nooks and crannies I can use for storage. So I make my own by building up. 

But oh we saw the loveliest townhouse today which is way beyond anything I can afford. I am still bringing and putting good vibes out with the hope that somehow I still find a way to get it. It is a corner townhouse. Sigh. Here's to looking and hope. 

Since it is October already and it is the month of Breast Cancer awareness month, a friend of mine got involved with his Mushroom business (http://www.ministryofmushrooms.com) and put up a website with all the information on it: www.mushroomsgopinkph.com

Their love story gives me hope about the institution of marriage.

I AM LOVING THIS COLLECTION. All the white makes everything look so sleek and clean.

I love the dotty dots.

And as always, my soul is yearning for this city. *sigh*

 

And so now I need to get back into cross stitching as well. 

Anyway, back to writing :) Here's to a great week ahead.

Frustrated Friday

Today I am a little frustrated with my job situation.  I'm actually thinking of moving to a new one, but I gave my word I wouldn't.  Thing is, though there are all sorts of other usual, job related problems that I can more or less handle, I can't see why the finance team keeps docking my pay. I have had more or less the same absences since the last time, and it is now 2/3rds of what I'm supposed to be getting. 

URG MONEY. I hate it. 

On to better and brighter things :)  

There is this: I never realised we owed so much to William Shakespeare.

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Things I would like to incorporate in my wardrobe.

 

I especially love the bottom left hand outfit of pure white. So clean and lovely, perfect for sunny days in this tropical temperatures.

An interesting idea for jeans :) It's the fit that is the hardest part anyway.

I will use this as inspiration for my own closet :)

I love everything in this collection.

I love this collection too...

Then, there is Serge and Jane :)

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Gray and white, white and gray :)  Heart heart heart it.

Loving the contrasts of these materials.

Beautiful concrete fixtures :)

Using the following as inspiration for my own home as I have so many old posters and hings I want to keep.

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I need a picture / art wall. :) Must clean up my toys and old piles and organise it this weekend.

Anyway, a happy Friday everyone! :)

5.30 on a Tuesday afternoon

So today was filled with work and yes, music.  I've decided that I will go on a limb and change it up here, and post music that was my soundtrack for the day.

Chronologically, the sounds went like this :)

Of course the BEATLES:



Then there was this duo that I love:




Then this afternoon I saw THIS (THE XX streaming their new album online) but I haven't listened to it completely... Steady sounds for the beginning of the afternoon :)

Then this mix is fantastic. Way to end my working day :) Please do click on it, and there is a mediafire download for your continuing listening pleasure :)

FOR STREAMING: http://www.mixcloud.com/angelomendez1/pizza-and-rocket-fuel-live-part-1/

FOR DOWNLOADING: http://www.mediafire.com/?z3o5ft2qki43bin

And this is a Filipino band I love... :)



Hope your day has been as musical as mine!!!

Oh yeah, the boyfriend and I are coming up with a blog that is full of our notes :)  Should be fun :D

Sunday Afternoon

Today I'm taking a break from fighting back writing deadlines... one article in particular I should be in the process of editing. Suffice it to say that I'm nowhere near editing.

So whilst I wait for my water to get hot before I brew some coffee, I decided to tell you about my trip to Singapore and about some stuff I've seen online.

YAY! :) So, we went to Singapore and saw STUFF. Lots of STUFF :)  Stuff like this lady:

If you don't know who this is, well... I dunno if I should tell you. *sigh* I've had a girl crush on her for a good 16 years.  Her name is Shirley Manson and before she ever played a Terminator on TV, she was my 16 year old self's answer to girl power.  She sang about dark, deep stuff, singing things I never thought I could say out loud, or indeed, could not have be able to define.  And why I've always wanted to have red hair. I realise now that it is all because of HER.  NO joke. 

And I got her set list.  My boyfriend has a weird picture of me clutching it once I got it.  A weird picture because he likes to take pictures underexposed or with some sort of special weird setting like "pixelated". But, I got this. This ladies and gentlemen, is the set list of MS. SHIRLEY MANSON. Yeah. She LOOKED at this sucked the entirety of the concert, of which we were in front of the mosh pit and standing (ok fine, I sat for a while) for a good 5 hours. We shit you not. 

These two were the ones we were with in the Garbage concert. That's one of my bestest friends in the world, Emrys and his other best friend, the weirdo Mike. I love them both vewy much.

 Then we (boyfriend and I) saw the Beach Boys.  

 

Unlike Garbage, there is no moshing or pit to be had in this concert as we rightly assumed, most of the people going would need the chairs provided.  This was our view of them,from the seats we bought, BUT we moved to the back part of the stadium and eventually watched the whole thing from there because all we did was dance and sing :D

This is Brian Wilson who is considered the songwriting genius behind the Beach Boys.  I felt so bad for him at some points of the concert because it looked like he was about to keel over on his keyboard.  But then he'd open his mouth to sing and it would be magic. YAY! :)

The boyfriend. Doesn't he look SO EXCITED?? :) hahahaha! 

All the food shots will follow. I'm supposed to write about it first for a publication here and can't really show the shots I got.

So... Moving on.

Found these gems today online trolling :)

Technically we don't have a fall here in the Philippines, it's just HOT or WET. Do not insert the dirty joke I have on the tip of my tongue here... but yeah, that is why we are a tropical country.  But that being said, I still want all the dresses in this link :)

I would like to go to Utah just to see this:

Isn't that beautiful? It's the 2nd one I've seen in the last 36 hours. It's a sign.  

Oh also... since the wanderlust bug has been sort of satisfied, I still want more. HAHAHHA!  I am determined to see the Aurora Borealis before I die.  And that I go on a cruise.  Apparently, I can do both, according to my friend, Adam. He used to work for a cruise ship before and he said that it is an awesome experience.  

And I agree. Doesn't this look AWESOME?? :)  I am currently researching on the best deals to get on a cruise for this.  YAY! :)

 

I want to do this just because I am one of those people who like clean things. And baby wipes usually aren't as strong as those alcohol based ones which wreak havoc on my skin. If you want, here's the recipe for your own baby wipes :)

I am hoping that this awesome blog entry will be the catalyst that will kick my butt into being more organised. That being said, I need to find organising doo dads for my office desk. I tend to keep it sparse but need to have things such as a pen holder, stapler, incoming and outgoing paper tray, etc.

In other news, I finally got meself a cello. FINALLY.  YAY! Since it looks like a handsome fella, I've named it Bowie. Cool, and collected with a little bit of punk. HEE :) And my sister recommended a teacher for me, so I'll start on the 18th. I am hoping this thing (apart from work and exercise) will start taking over my life. 

What HAS taken over my life already are THESE:

Top left is the big boss man Panthro and the one sprawled out beneath him is Katara. They simultaneously seem to want to kill me and love me. I love them dearly.

Leaving you with a track this Sunday afternoon/early evening. Have a good one :) 

Sunday nights

I see that it is now becoming a habit of mine to write at night, which I think is better anyway as I believe that I write better at night. 

Life is going on full speed ahead, with a trip to Singapore in two weeks one of the biggest footnotes of this year to see two bands: 

Garbage and  

The Beach Boys.

I can't wait to see them and travel again. I can't wait til I see the food, taste the food, smell the smells, all that.  A new experience, with good friends and lovely new things to learn :) Do YOU guys have any suggestions of where to eat? I know the hawker centers are awesome and cheap, but anywhere else we should check out on a budget? :)

This is a great desk.  This is so awesome and cute.

These are really cute idea for phone booths.  It is awesome idea to put art on the streets.  Go Brazil!!!

What a cool idea.

This is crazy too, and this would be nice in the forest. 

Wearing a bubble bath.   This is amazing.

I love this it is amazing. 

I love this, especially the owl cup :) 

Thought this was really sweet. 

The psychology of color. COOL.

Cute boots!

Roald Dahl's Cookbook  and there are other recipes here.

And I love all the little spaces here.

Farrah Fawcett *sigh*

Found a new project for me to do. We can make this for the home office ;)

I love this video. Restores my faith in humanity. 

Now to go back and watch the  new TV series I love, SUITS!!! :)

 

 

 

Midnight again!

Ah the beginning of the month. The beginning of anything is exciting really, isn't it? I've just stated on twitter that I need a bigger vision board, and a friend offered that I should get a vision wall. 

I may just do that.  

I have a deadline looming so I will make this fast!

The nerd and geek in me LOVES THIS.   So so cute!

I love that this blog has a Fiction Friday.

I love Wes Anderson's sense of style, the tone of his movies, the momentum, everything.  So this is awesome for me.  I still need to watch Moonrise Kingdom. And boy, I love Bill Murray :)

One day, I will be in THIS BLOG.  HAHAHA! :) Bucket list! :)

I miss hanging out in libraries, coffee shops and all these other places. This should be my reminder.

I think I will do this very soon ;) Such a great idea.

I miss Britain. PERIOD.

I honestly love everything in this picture. Even the blondness. I've been thinking about going blonde actually, like WHITE blonde. Hmmm.

I too will now take on exercise again. My body is craving for it. And also because I want a whole new wardrobe hahahaha :) 

Until the next time....Goodnight cyberspace!