Buhay Bahay-Bahayan

When I say beautiful, I just don’t mean my wife.

Since she’s so into paper and notebooks, which was why she was sooo ecstatic when we visited a Muji store in Singapore, for this year’s V-day, instead of flowers, like I did last year (read here), I thought of giving her a hand-made notebook.

So I paired up with one of the craftiest persons I know to come up with my gift, i.e., Glenda of Oodles of Goodles and Paper Atelier. We edited her laundry note card design, which I really liked, to serve as front cover for the notebook to something more us. The blue PJs to depict me look alright, but the dress was chucked. Instead, I asked Glenda to replace it with my wife’s favorite PJs with pink polka dots. Then, to highlight our coming baby, the onesie was pimped with an argyle design from one of the onesie designs I sent her. Printed using Gocco, the resulting design of the notebook was so much more than I expected. It measures 4 1/2 by 6 inches and comes with 50 pages of pale peach paper inside. Not too big and not too small either! Just as I specified. Perfect! Beautiful!

In addition, she generously added a few notecards and a bookmark that my wife has been eyeing! Coolness!

So excuse me if I gush over them for a bit. And in case you’re still looking for a wonderful V-day gift, why not try your luck visiting the Paper Atelier shop. You might find something you like. Contact them too if you have ideas. They’re very sweet and accommodating. Just look at how mine end up. I’m sure you’re wanting one too!

Can you believe that this is the first real furniture that we ever bought? And it took us more than a year.

Initially (for two or three months), my wife and I were living in my parent’s two-bedroom unit in Manila, which we shared with my brother and sister. Despite subtly telling (through word of mouth, my mom’s to be precise ) our wedding guests that monetary gifts are preferred as the said unit where we plan to stay is already quite full of stuff, we still got A LOT (great) (again, thanks a lot). The “gifts” ended up taking more precious area in that already tiny space. So one night, feeling terribly claustrophobic, I (we) decided to get our own space. Thus our current apartment.

When we moved to our apartment, we hurriedly filled it with stuff that we need. And since we already spent so much for new TV and ref, not to mention the one month advance, two months deposit for rent, we became quite stingy and bought two, just two , plastic chairs, much like that pictured on the right, only it’s green.

My wife and I were talking the other one night about our dream house and what we want/need for our current apartment. You know, stuff that matters. Wifey was saying that she wants (read we need) some nice cutlery (silver cutlery) and maybe a good set of China (think Corelle). And when she asked me what I want, I said:

Alam mo, gusto ko lang, upuang may sandalan!

So yun na. Bumili na kami, kahit pa used. We’ll be picking that two-seater sofa (love seat) tom. Hay salamat!

Happy weekend!

I was minding my own, working my ass off (yeah right!), when my wife rushed to my side and pulled me to her PC, where she happily declared “Look how pretty!” and “I want one too!” There on the screen was a site called Etsy that features necklaces, lockets, earrings, and other girly accessories. My wife goes on saying that the shop owner lives in the Philippines, which makes it a plus (really? ) since we won’t pay much for shipping. Being the good husband that I am (not to mention cute and good looking all at the same time, thank you very much ), and true to the mantra of Happy wife = Happy life, after browsing and deciding which particular item she wants, we went ahead and purchased a necklace. So in the spirit of making one person you know (that’s my wife) and one person you don’t really know (the shop owner) happy, here’s a feature of the necklace, along with a few other trinkets that we ordered from the beautiful Etsy shop of Wiyomu. Wiyomu, or W, because you were kind and so generous, this feature is for you. I wish more people would see and take notice of your creations. You made my wife so happy. Thank you.

Clockwise from top left: Sunkissed tulips earrings, Petit Locket Doux (Gold) necklace, Simplicity earrings, and Minted Rose Locket.

If you’re looking for a great gift for yourself, a friend, or your wife, I strongly recommend that you check out her shop. These photos were taken from Wiyomu’s Etsy shop.

This is my entry for witsandnuts’ birthday contest.