1st DIY Project: : Distressing Wood

If there's one thing I love, it's the look and feel of old, antiqued furniture. I wouldn't want my entire house (as if I have my own. lol) to have nothing but antiques though, but just a few great pieces here and there would be perfect! However, as rare as they are to come by, they are ridiculously high-priced as well!

I've been going to this unique shop that sells vintage furniture and honestly some of the stuff they sell look like they were only forged to look antique and they price them at $300! For a teeny-weeny side table! No way I'm going to pay that amount of money for a hand-distressed furniture! I realized then that what I CAN afford to do right now is to go to a thrift shop, get a wooden furniture for, say, $20 and repaint and antique it myself. Sounds like a plan. :)

I found this mirrored wall decor for $2.99 (notice that I chose a smaller piece to work on. I guess I wasn't as brave as I sounded. haha). I will save the bigger furnitures for when I'm already a pro.

This is what I did with it.

First, I sandpapered the entire surface. That's supposed to make the paint set well since I won't be using a primer (I don't know, okay, I just don't want to. LOL).

I chose the color turquoise because I'm hanging this mirror on my bedroom wall. The theme there is white and turquoise. I got the spray paint set at Michaels. They carry tons of Martha Stewart products!

This is after I painted it. Love the color! I only applied two coats of paint so that the paint looks "faded" in some areas.

Next thing I did was sandpaper the edges to give it that aged, distressed look. I'm tempted to sandpaper inside the egdes but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I'll just go for the subtle vintage effect for now.

I added a tiny yellow vase, snipped a flower from my bathroom vase and voila! It is now pretty enough to be part of my bedroom. :)

Next time it will be a real furniture I'll work on. Can't wait for summer!

Sweet Spring Surprise

I arrive home from my night shift still shivering from that cold walk from my car to the building entrance. I think again about what I was thinking when I gave up the basement parking and let Lauro have it. I remind myself again that I already took the bigger room and the bathroom so he should at least have the indoor parking. You have to be fair, I tell myself. This soliloquy will probably go on until summer arrives and I no longer need to brace myself for that freezing 30-second run.

I remove my favorite navy blue sweater and hung it in my coat closet. If I wasn't such a lazy person I would have taken the time to bundle up in warmers, put on a scarf and a thicker jacket. Then I wouldn't be shivering now. But, me doing that is like acknowledging that it's still winter and I won't do that.  I remove my 3-year-old pair of leather gloves and kiss them. They never fail me--not once. I have lined them with fleece gloves last winter and I have never needed a better pair since. After changing into my favorite pambahay shirt and pyjamas, I poured myself some chocolate milk and I sit at the breakfast bar. I like to sit there and think. Mostly I just stare blankly and wait for Mr. Sandman.

I stare at my chocolate milk and wish it was hot cocoa instead. If only a cup of hot chocolate doesn't require boiling and waiting and stirring, my shivers would have been gone by now. I can't drink any more so I pour the rest of the milk in the sink and I start heading to my bedroom. Crawling up in bed underneath all those sheets and blankets and comforter sounds even better than hot chocolate.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, just as I reached for my bedroom door, I see something. Sitting there on the window ledge, is a potted miniature orchid. And I know just who it came from. I then remember Lauro telling me he'll get me a houseplant I can take care of for spring. A warm feeling washes over me and I laugh. Suddenly I'm not shivering anymore.  I sit on a chair next to it and put my feet up on the ottoman and stare at the mini orchid in front of me. It will get my by these last days of winter. A potted flower to remind that spring, along with its warmer weather, is coming soon!

I think about how I must be favored by the gods for having been given someone so sweet and thoughtful. I think about all the things he does for me and how he never forgets about me. And now I think about how glad I am I let him have the basement parking. It may not be much, but if every day I feel inconvenienced because outdoor parking is, undeniably, a pain in the arse then that's just perfect. Let me get soaked when it rains. Let me shiver in a snowstorm trying to scrape the car windows. Let me be umcomfortable. I want to do things for him too. :)

Bathroom Conundrum

Pristine and all white, or audacious and bold colors?

That was probably the most difficult part of our moving process--deciding on my bathroom theme. It did not matter that I have bare walls in my furniture-less bedroom, and the living room and kitchen can have the same old, ratty rugs and curtains for all I care. But my bathroom has to be the best room in the house. It's my only indulgence in life. Okay, I'm lying. That and Tim's coffee. lol

I don't know but I just have a thing for bathrooms. It's my favorite room to check out and admire when visiting a friend's house and the deciding factor when choosing an apartment. I want a bathroom I would be comfortable living in if it's the last living space on earth. lol

I spent the first couple of days in the apartment just setting up my bathroom. It was the first room I cleaned and shopped stuff for.

Finally, it's done and I must say I'm happy with the color I chose. Turquoise, but not quite. Aged turquoise, if I may call it that.

Here are some pictures of my bathroom.

 The lighting, or quite possibly the camera setting, made the color of the ceramics look powder blue but I swear they're that "aged turquoise" I'm telling you about. Believe me please? LOL. I found them at Walmart, after I've finecombed all major home furnishing stores in the city. I never would have thought Walmart would have what I was looking for--and way cheaper too. 

This guy! This is my Hedwig. Cutest thing I have ever owned. It was on sale when I bought it at Urban Outfitters.

Look at him!!! How does he not have a Pixar movie!? 

It took me a while to decide on a shower curtain. At first I wanted a solid design to make up for the subtlety of the color scheme. That way the color turquoise will visually occupy the room. But in all the stores that I've gone to, this was the only one I could find with the shade of turquoise that I want so it had to be this one. (Argh.. again, the colors look powder blue-ish than they really are.)

Amazingly enough, I spotted this lone painting at an aisle and could not believe how spot on the colors are. I was on a roll at Walmart that day. lol

And will you look at this... prettiest plastic flowers I've ever seen. I bought this at the local thrift store for ONLY... *drumroll*... $1.99!! Yep, *gasp!* is right. lol

 It's amazing the things you find at thrift stores. Like this makeup-applying-girl's bathroom must-have which I got for just $4! Seriously, they sell these for 50-something bucks at other stores.

And this vintage-design vase that only cost me 99 cents. CENTS, people. Cents!

A bathroom must have a radio.One must sing in the shower. lol

This is a tweaked wall art. It was actually a single poster of Audrey Hepburn, you know, those Warhol art photos. I added a little pizzazz and cut them into 3 different posters, glued them on black cardboards and secured them to the wall with purple crystal push pins. I love looking at it, although sometimes looking at her makes me feel like I'm a dowdy mouse. lol. She's just so, so beautiful.

 These baskets make the room feel more like home. A touch of mom. :)

And last, but not the least.. the final detail..

TSARAANNN!!!

A distressed chair!

Would you believe that this was just someone else's piece of junk? Well okay, I guess it does look like it's seen  better days. lol. But I was so thrilled when I saw it that I was incredulous that someone had wanted to get rid of it. The boyfriend just happened to stumble upon this at our apartment's basement refuse and he thought it would be a nice 'project' for me. Turned out, it cannot be made more beautiful than it already is. It is as antiquated and as rustic as I want it to be. 

 Well, that is it I guess..a photo tour of my bathroom which I probably won't ever redecorate lest I get sick of the color turquoise. :)

Love Day

As long as everybody's posting pictures of flowers and professing their undying love for each other on facebook and instagram and probably everywhere else, I am doing the same! Yes, I'm just cheesy and mushy like that. :)





I woke up that day to the sight of fresh tulips on my bedside table. My favorite flower in pink and purple, and with the apple green colored leaves, it is the exact color scheme we were thinking of going for for our wedding. I just couldn't stop staring at them coz they're too pretty to not have eyes staring at them until they wilt and die. But, it was 12 noon when I woke up and I've gotta get up and eat and get ready for a whole day of datin' and lovin'. Lol

Of course, I had something for him as well. Nothing fancy, but it took me hours to finish it. I baked him a personalized cupcake and though I did not enjoy the process, I was satisfied with the end result--- a Grammy trophy cupcake for the best boyfriend in the whole world. It is indeed cute, yes?




The baking part however wasn't much fun. Too many steps, too many stuff in front of me and too many things that went wrong (including the taste). Lol. Needless to say, I won't try baking for a really, really long time.

Anywho, we planned on watching The Vow but before that we went to a kids' science museum which, albeit expensive for what it's actually worth, turned out to be a lot of fun.

We went out with Itine, who lives with us and this is her floating head. Lol



This is Lauro showing off his non-existent biceps.


And this is me levitating.. No tricks I swear to you. Lol



There was one weird exhibit there where you squeeze a plastic bulb and you guess what that gross smell is. I got underarm, Lauro got feet and Itine, hands down, got the best one-- anus.

Then we headed to McKelvie's and stuffed our faces with steak and seafood.

And look what I found on my scallop. :)



At the movie theater, the whole place was packed and we ended up getting crappy seats--2nd row from the screen. I'm surprised I didn't go home with a stiff neck. What I went home with instead are puffy eyes coz either it was a real tearjerker or I'm just a sucker for sappy movies. :)

All in all, it was a pretty nice valentine's day. As always with my sweet and thoughtful and just about perfect fiance. Okay, go ahead and throw up in your mouth while I bathe here in my mush. Haha :)

Hope you had a good one! Ciao.

Joining the Bandwagon

            Yep, this is me losing the battle against outfit posts. haha. I'm never really that crazy about clothes and fashion but it's fun to play dress up once in a while. 

          This is what I wore to a children's party that I helped organize. I wanted to wear something fun and bright and, well, ain't nothing brighter than the color orange. ha!

Resolutions 2011 - A Personal Audit

For 2011, I put my resolutions in writing and for some time stuck it on the fridge in hopes that if I see it every day, I'll fare better with following through with it. Well, I am proud to say that it worked---a little. haha

Here's the list that I made for 2011.

1. Photography & Photoshop

         What I had planned on doing this year was learn more about photography. I wanted to attend photography classes and take formal lessons but when I realized how expensive they were, I told myself I could just watch video tutorials on Youtube. I managed to watch a couple of videos but no sooner did I realize that I have no patience for any of it. It just wasn't in my nature anymore to sit through a lecture. Then I thought of joining a photographers club because I heard it's the best way to learn but I wasn't yet willing to drive 30 minutes to get to the meeting place so I had to give up on that idea too. So I had no other choice, really, but to try to explore my camera. I realized that you learn on your own too, albeit very little.  Last year, I discovered a love for portraits and child photography! I've been lucky to have had great opportunities to take pictures of adorable little kids. I wish I had more time to spend with them though but, work gets in the way! haha.. here's a few of my favorite photos of 2011:

This is Joshua.. my filipino friend's stepson.. He has the most amazing pair of eyes I've seen!

Callie.. my co-worker's daughter..photo taken at a wedding.

Dominic at 6 months.. photo taken during a party..I placed a white throw  on a couch that was directly by the window. I love working with natural light.

 .

Dominic.. i like how Cookie Monster's color complemented the tone of this picture. :)

Mischa and Dominic.. a friend on facebook commented.. "already the male is doing something to upset the female".. LOL

See what I mean about Joshua's eyes?...

Aiden... my suki (regualar customer)... His grandmother was my co-worker and every summer she asks me to take a photo of him..I happily oblige of course. 

Aiden's cousin, Matthew.. 

I swear he looks like a young Chris O'Donnell..

Spanky and Alfalfa.. don't you think?

2. Blog

       I've always envied people who keep blogs. I have regrets and self-loathing about why I'm never diligent in keeping one. I think I have 3 or 4 blogs created in the past and now I don't even know what the account names are. They were created out of envy and were soon forgotten as soon as I got busy with something else. However, this blog was created out of dire need to document so I'm hoping this will be the last one. I have set a personal goal of one blog entry per week (my friend's idea, since she knew me well enough to think that I needed to have something I have to adhere to).

yes, my buck teeth really do look silly it makes me laugh when I look at myself in the mirror sometimes .. lol

3. French & Spanish

      I have always been interested in foreign languages. I think it started when I was in elementary when we studied about a priest who was so accomplished. When he was 30 years old, he had already taught himself 5 different languages, including Latin! Since then I swore to myself that by the time I am 30, I would have learned to speak at least one foreign language. In college, I took Spanish classes but boy, was the teacher ever so terrible! I learned nothing. Zip, zero, nada. So, I bought workbooks and self-studied. I think I know basic Spanish now. And by 'think', I mean delusional thinking. haha. When I arrived in Canada though, I realized that what I should have been learning was French and not Spanish. Everything from groceries to public signs to movies has translation and versions in French. I thought I should take advantage of this and study French. But of course, what with being lazy and all, I managed not to learn any French except to count from 1-20 and say "Comment se vas?". I'll do better in 2012.

Look, I even borrowed a textbook from the library.. I read the first 3 pages and then it sat on the desk for a month. Untouched. lol.

4. Learn a new musical instrument

       I intended to learn how to play the piano and just as I was unwilling to spend money on photography lessons, I was no less willing to pay a piano teacher for lessons that would take forever! I learned to play the guitar on my own, I'm pretty sure I'll learn to play the piano on my own too..easy peasy---NOT!! It is 100 times more difficult--for me, that is. It takes patience, one thing I do not have, and a lot of time and effort. I won't give up that easy though so just to keep me going, I learned to play one piano piece. I chose Canon in C because it reminds me of this tearjerker scene from the korean movie, My Sassy Girl. In 2012 I promise to learn to read notes and memorize chords!

5. Geography

         By geography, I do not mean travel. I mean actual learning more about countries and cities and its people. I have always been interested in geography. Several years ago, I memorized all the countries of the world and their capitals and I knew them by heart. Last year, I wanted to kick my geeky side up a notch so I planned to know all the flags of the world. I was not successful. LOL. I was too busy lazing around. haha. I have made efforts to start though.

These are small fridge magnets made out of clay and baked in the oven. I started with countries where I have lived --Philippines, UAE and Canada. Notice my mad skillz in scuplting, especially the maple leaf on the Canadian flag? haha

I have an app on iphone called 'World Facts' and whenever I have time I try to read about different countries. Amazing app, it's got everything you need to know and I mean everything including what percentage of the population is affected by HIV..haha

Another favorite app is a flash card quiz on countries and their flags and capitals.

6. Sketch

             Okay, I just realized that apart from realizing that I don't really have a talent in sketching, I apparently lack the interest for such as well. I might finish the 30-day Drawing Challenge though.

In 2011, I started a '30-day Drawing Challenge'. Naturally, I did not finish it. I stopped at day 3. haha. Note to self, continue challenge in 2012.

I even bought a journal, but again, I stopped at day 3. I am terrible.

9. Write a song.

           Bygad, I don't even know what 'writing a song' is doing on this list.. hahahaha! Seriously, I have a bad case of delusions of grandeur. Trina, Trina, Trina.. you can't even carry a tune to save your life. Write a song, my arse. LOL.

10. Drive.

           One of my biggest accomplishments in 2011 is getting my driver's license! I can't even begin to tell you how I felt that day but I'm sure you know what I mean. I am now enjoying the liberty of coming and going anywhere, anytime without worrying about bus schedules and ridiculous taxi fares. Not to mention, singing to my heart's content when driving alone!