we've moved!

Hi guys!  First of all, Happy New Year to all of you, very late I know but its only been just now that I got a breather from moving houses.  The pre-planning, the actual move in itself and not to mention the preparation of the new house was really very tiring, both mentally and physically for both me and the mister.

I have not been going to my favorite shops as well :(  but I've been busy DIY-ing around the new house :)  I love creating new stuff for the house.  Oh the things I would want to do but ...i feel its just limited because of the fact that its a flat (apartment) and not a house.  I can't even spray paint inside the house :(

Anyway,  my first DIY was this geometrical art work I put on a section of the living room with a faux brick wall.

I got this idea from this video found in YouTube.  I just used ordinary white A4 papers of differing sizes and stuck them on the wall with double-sided tape.  Voila!  No more drab walls!

Good to be back!

flea market finds: shoot em up

there was a carboot sale the other day and of course i was there early.  been anticipatin' this carboot for two weeks now and so i came prepared with my sturdy shopping bag and a pocket full of change ;)

here are my lovely finds:

(1) a tiny Delft stein buried under a mound of souvenir mugs from all over the world 

(2) a Canadian pewter whale "piggy" bank - isn't he just sooo cute?

(3) a functional 1960's Fujica 35 ee camera (my favorite find!  perfect for my collection plus i really, really like lomography)

(4) a vintage photo album with a brown leather cover - i bought this because of nostalgia really. when i was little i remember all our photographs were 

neatly arranged by my mom in a similar album

(5) a square monkey pod salad bowl and guess where they were made?  the Philippines!

*linking to The Penny Worthy Project @ hey what's for dinner Mom? :)

who do you want to share a Coke with?

recently, Coke UK launched a "Share a Coke with..." campaign where they personalize bottles with our names on it...for free!

its a brilliant marketing tool of course because there's nothing as sweet as sharing a tiny bottle of Coke with only 105 calories as seeing our names on anything :)

I am not much of a soda fan but its our names that did it for me.  

so who do want to share happiness with?

i miss my family and i got them one each so i would "see" them all the time

my BFFs 

soufflè hurray

i've never had a souffle ever.  they look so airy and delicious that, on a whim, i decided to make some.

those cooking madmen and mavens on tv are right!  they are soft and melts in your mouth and tasty and savory.  they are also fairly easy to make provided that you don't get disappointed a few milliseconds after you take them out of the oven (because they deflate so easily).

i followed the recipe from Dulce Delight :)  trust me you won't be disappointed with her decadent creations :)

right after i took them out of the oven

exactly 4 seconds after i took the first picture... i literally saw them go down, down, down

good luck charm

we have a new addition to the house :)

presenting "el macho"! (the mister insists he shall be named "Finch" henceforth, but i digress)

"el macho" is a common gecko who decided to one day live in our bathroom.  i discovered him one night a few days ago when i was about to do my nightly ablutions.  i slightly freaked out when i saw him.  

house lizards are pretty common in the Philippines... but not in Gib!

they are also considered to bring good fortune to the house. so bring it on!

Roman Holiday: design inspirations

let me start with the hotel we stayed in.  

the Rome Times Hotel just opened a few months ago and we were among the first guests.  the amenities were very modern and the rooms have dark wood flooring, crisps sheets and pillows, spacious bath and the safes are free (we've never stayed in a hotel where the safes were free, ever!).  the mister is delighted at this because he can shove all his gadgets in there without fear of it being nicked in a foreign country.

it was one of the best hotels we've stayed by far!  here's a pic of their bar below.

inside the Vatican Museum, i also saw the contemporary art of Henri Matisse defined by "gouache cutouts" made of special paper in their designs.  i love the color palette that he used! 

as we were nearing the exit of the museum, we had to go down this beautiful spiral staircase and into the Vatican post office where i mailed ourselves a postcard back home :)

in the streets of Rome:

spotted a Space Invaders street art near the Vatican! i don't know if this is one of his but sure looks like it :)

they are big on Audrey H. there by the way :)  before going to Rome, i actually watched the movie "Roman Holiday" and now it is one of my favorites :)

ahhh who wouldn't want to sit under that bougainvillea portico and sip some capuccino, eh?  la vita bella!

don't miss the shop windows!  they have the most interesting displays!  like this sea-themed one with ceramic fishes galore :)

or this leather gloves shop in all the colors of the rainbow and then some!

a beautiful stained glass display that caught my eye just as when the light of day was about to fade...

 and who could ignore CoCo Chanel?

and so, as a result, i bought these:

i saw her quietly sketching away in a corner where i found all manner of Audrey Hepburn kitsch...  she was a true artist and i could not help but love her Underground System of Rabbits!

while waiting for our coffee, this little number occupied our weary minds... made of a few different kinds of beans and a pretty little cactus, we were heady with the scent of rose in the air... 

sip, sip, sip...

flea market finds: on a silver platter

recently, i just sold my Polaroid P.  it was just sitting on a shelf gathering dust and so I was happy i sold it to someone who needed it more than i did.

i must say i am loving selling my stuff!  with a tidy profit to boot!

the thrift shops have now closed for the summer so i am frequently imagining all the different new stuff they would have once they open again in September.  a billion things would fly through my mind at any given moment.  

but i never imagined this:

a French glass serving platter in a silverplate basket with a twisted handle

bought for a song in an online buy and sell page, this would make a lovely present to a hostess with the mostess ;)

*linking to The Penny Worthy Project @ hey what's for dinner Mom? and also to The Nifty Thrifty @ a living space :)