chair love

while staying with friends in SFO last year, i fell in love with an IKEA chair they owned that sat quietly beside their silver-satin sheeted bed.

in true IKEA fashion, it was a simple chair with clean lines. didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. but once settling your tush into it, you would NEVER want to get up. firstly because you needed to exert extra effort to hoist yourself out of it due to its shape, but more importantly, because it was just so damn comfy. perfect for reading or typing away on a laptop (when i still had mine *sob*).

i was obsessed with getting one for myself and day dreamed about it. no need to punch-in-shape the tower of pillows supporting your back while reading in bed, or sweating up a storm (ew) in a plush leather lazy boy (though i'd like to get me one of those one day too) to icky for Manila weather, or tossing and turning on any other chair to get into the right position. i remember a night months ago where i scoured the net looking for it and figuring out ways to get it into Manila at a decent cost. i had let it drift away into my wishlist of "i-wants" and forgot about it as other curios and daydreams quickly replaced it in my head.

driving (ok.. not driving.. hitching) to rehearsals with a friend the other day, we drove by a small side shop where my friend said in passing "oh look.. a new store selling furniture...". i looked out her window as the stoplight turned green.. and saw an "IKEA furniture" sign stuck on the door. WITH MY BEAUTIFUL CHAIR SITTING PRETTILY IN THE DISPLAY WINDOW. i flipped!

needless to say, i stalked them online yesterday in hopes that they would have web presence and to my delight, they did! i got a response and pricequote from the sellers today and am pleased that it wasn't as extravegently priced as my interior designer friend had ceiling-ed, and much closer to the price i estimated.

i have since then, reshuffled my list of priorities of things to purchase when my income becomes steady and abundant.

excited!!!!

pride on the line!

back in february, a friend and i had a sarcasm-laced exchange about smoking.

while the initial phase of our friendship literally evoke smoke-filled days of bar-hopping and hanging out with cigarettes and booze in tow, we were at that very moment, non-smokers.

he went almost ten years before lighting up again. and after another half year of smoking heavily, stopped again.

i on the other hand, have had a more erratic relationship with smoking. i've started and stopped smoking almost as much as i've started and stopped dieting - which is, ALOT. just in the last year, i've stopped and started 3 or 4 times? and this isn't just holding out for a few days then breaking down and lighting up.. i've stopped for months and even years at a time, before again, breaking down and chain smoking like crazy. not that it makes too much of a difference, but i do feel the length of time one can stay away longer says, well, a little bit more about your will power. just a little bit more :)

long in the short, he doesn't believe i've stopped for good. in fact, he doesn't believe i'll last three years. me and my smug attitude pushed it to five. while there's a small amount of money at stake, my pride is on the line!

all of THAT aside though, i've totally convinced myself that i've stopped for good, as a result of my declaration to live a healthier life this year. so far so good - 6 months and counting with no cravings.

check in on me again if you know i'm harrased at work, or partying on some beach somewhere.

wish me luck :)

cupcake crazy

i was channel surfing recently & i chanced upon this lady guesting on martha stewart. she has this book called "hello cupcake" and was showing martha some of her creations. they're basic cupcakes but they create things using other candies ontop of the cupcake base. perhaps i'm going crazy due to sweets withdrawal but i was super tickled when i saw it, that i had to google it myself. i'd buy the book just to see the pictures! CUTE!!! kinda like "ace of cakes" for cupcakes :)

if my products weren't in danger of being eaten before being sold, i would totally do this as a business!

(photos credited to Alan Richardson of Hello, Cupcake! www.hellocupcakebook.com)

SUNFLOWERS


POPCORN


RETRO GAMES: MARIO & PACMAN


TV DINNER


SEASIDE THEME


HORSIES


YORKIES


ALIENS & CORN on the COB


SLUMBER PARTY


STARRY STARRY NIGHT


(right photo): BAGEL with LOX & CREAM CHEESE


SPAG & MEATBALLS

Miraculous Money Matters

When the gold bars under my bed have melted away (damn manila summer!) and polly has flown away with all my doubloons (arrrr..), there is nothing like:

• finding a bill in a "secret" wallet compartment or stashed away in a junk drawer
  
• a generous friend
  
• having enough change (5 & 10 pesos please..) to purchase something relatively substantial & necessary
  
• someone returning money he/she previously borrowed
• surprise payment for past performances / services rendered

Sure money doesn't make the world go round (daw!), but in times of world and well.. personal financial crisis' - these serendipitous events become almost miraculous.

wedding watch

having been singing with a choir for YEARS, one can only imagine how many weddings i have attended. ok.. let me rephrase.. not attended, but sung for :)

there a lot of variables in my experience singing for weddings. there is venue of course: out of town weddings in intimate chapels, and massive city weddings in airconed churches. there is costume: official costume with full make-up, suot bisita, or combini's. there is the singing of course: from a list of popular wedding choices to specially arreglo-ed songs, instrumental, accapella, in dry or wet accoustics. hmmm.. and perhaps several other elements that do not come to mind right now due to the crazy summer heat that has my brain making sense only in blurts.

there are a lot of fun things about singing for a wedding. a miss universe comment would be that its a wonderful feeling to be able to soundtrack that special day in a couple's life. a practical comment would be that it is also an opportunity to earn a bit of transpo / after wedding gimik / shopping money. a useless but perhaps most "in the moment" relevant and amusing answer would be the running commentary on wedding fashion.

many of us crane our necks to catch glimpses of the outfits of guests, entorage, wedding organizers (a favorite) and of course, THE dress of the moment, the wedding dress. in hushed but excited whispers, exchange of eye contact and small but telling gestures inbetween songs (ok.. sometimes during the song), my choir becomes a forum of opinionated fashionistas. its always a thrill to see fabulous ensembles, but even more thrilling sometimes is to see some agreed upon faux pas milling about. hehehe :)

bump its

I went through a phase where i loved wearing my hair in a fake "teased" half ponytail. Very Indonesian Ibu actually :) Or as sir jojo called it.. the "siopao" in my hair. Nothing I like better than a poofy crown of hair!

I saw this today mentioned on a show and I had to google it. It's a product called "bump its" (kaineezzz) - hair volumizing inserts. You insert it under a portion of teased hair to create that volumized "siapao". I WANT!!!!!! :D

http://www.bighappiehair.com/

Colored Pencil

During rehearsals today, I noticed Ate Staly using one of those colored pencils that instead of having single colored lead, had instead a pinwheel of rainbow colors. Back in the day, I probably had a few of those pencils at several points in my life. It also reminded me of this really random "multiple-colored-face-paint-in-one-crayon" crayon that I found in NB recently, where in one crayon it had stripes of different colors as well. I was so tempted to buy it, tear it open, run to the nearest bathroom and draw a line down.. heck.. i dunno, my arm.. just so i could see the stripes of color transfer and adhere itself onto my skin.

Anyway.. drawn to colors, I had to compliment Ate Sta on it. She then gave it to me! Flabergasted as I was.. I accepted. I was so giddy the rest of the rehearsal.. I kept thinking of what to doodle on my music pieces. Ironically, couldn't think of anything to doodle for my new possesesion's virgin voyage.

Thanks Ate Sta! You made my day :)