first of, I would like to apologize for posting this late. I wasn’t able to go home early as planned (darn the traffic), and frankly speaking, I was at a loss on how to scrap again. the latter eating up the time I spent looking at my scraproom’s ceiling. geez, the last layout I made was eons ago. so anyway, I did post in my facebook wall that the birthday RAK winner is giving me a headache… in a major way.

how?

she suggested I use the colors aqua blue, brown and olive green. whle applying the masking and distressing techniques. so okay it’s easy, I said to myself. hmm… not! I didn’t have much aqua-colored patterned papers pala. my browns are too brown, and the green? well. it had to be specifically the olive green according to the entrant. so I dug into my cobwebbed stash and there it was, a few pieces of the winning color combo. the distressing part was a breeze. but when it came to masking, I hit a clogger. quite literally, my atomizer has clogged up. I had to transfer it to a new bottle so I can get to work. okay, fess up. here’s the winner via random integer. 

drumroll please…………………………………..

TIMI! 

and here’s what I came up with:

my eyes does look funny here. but it’s better seen live. promise.

hey, timi! thank you very much for helping me create my birthday layout this year! I am loving the end product! please send me an email here so that I can have your loot sent to you right away. I would also like to thank all the wonderful girls who joined my 3rd birthday RAK. I did ask for great colors, right? and by golly, I got some posh-sounding ones! take note, some of which I can’t even spell without doing a once over  

super thanks, everyone! let’s do this again next year!

s 

hindi ako ganito kumain ng birthday cake, pero…

thank you very much to all the sisterettes out there who sent in their entries! I got a total of 18! and some of you really artsy ones even presented me with actual ideas on how to execute the ”technique” part. very detailed ones, even. taraaay.

so when I got home from a business trip to lipa last night, I got to work on the random integer software and drew the winner. and the winner is…

bukas na lang! the LO and the winningest scrapbooker who will get the sing kit edition 3 will be revealed!

here we go!

;

go figure.

oh hello there, peeps! I’m blogging (uy, blog-bloggingan). and what better day to resurrect my haplessly evaporating blogging skills than today, mi cumpleaño.

funny how as you get older you expect less and less from your birthday. gone is the super planning mode like what to wear (must be new, of course), where to eat, who to invite, who from my invitees is going to gift me with something, will anybody surprise me (and if they do, will I be really surprised?), will they notice I plucked my eyebrows, shaved my legs, put on lipgloss, etcetera? but most important of all… will anyone actually remember? I kept my expectations low through the years. heck, even my mum asked me why I was dressed casually and hanging around the family compound today. “but mum, it’s my birthday!”, I exclaimed. take note, nanay ko na ‘yon, ha. 

thankfully, there’s facebook. where all your networked friends doesn’t have a single excuse not to greet you. ok, maybe they weren’t able to log-in that day or whatever. so thank you, right sidebar notice. haha. odabah? hanep sa segue. 

so anyway, just like last year and the year before that, I am giving away a RAK to one lucky, philippine-based reader of mine who is willing to play along in order for me to create my birthday layout. the tradition lives on!

please help me by suggesting:

1.  three (3) great colors to go with my favorite color PINK; and

2.  two (2) easy techniques I can apply (please, BE GENTLE with the techniques – I’m tools deficient)

should you accept the challenge, please PM me your suggeations here then go back to this post telling me you did just that. actually, gusto ko lang batiin niyo ako ulit dito sa comment section. needy ba? hehehe. and since today is my actual birthday, deadline will be on wednesday, august 11, at 11:59pm. layout reveal and the announcement of the winner will be on friday, august 14. that’s it! so easy.

here’s the exclusive sing kit:

this kit is huge! with over 25pcs of patterned papers and some cardstocks. I also threw in some minimally cut pps, but you know us scrappers, we find ways to still use those pretty leftovers, right? see if you can identify these manufacturers: CP, MM, SR, TI, RP, BG, FP, SEI, TC, JB, CB then there’s k&co, q&co, glitz, marks paper, harmonie and prima! tucked in some alphas too! care for some stamps? meron din! and if you are in the mood for some embellies, I have ribbons, flowers, domino blocks, chinese character chips, cooking twine, lots of journ spots, sheer chorvah, prima crystals, ribbon brads, sticker quotes, doileys, pre-cut whatnots and yeah, a piece of vintage dictionary sheet. threw in some pages of the MR sheer album as well. and speaking of ribbons and flowers… piglas (hindi pigsa), my 18year old italian glass cookie canister carried those:

and that’s not all! also for the winner, this buzz & bloom loot could be a kit in itself:

ok na ba? so we’re set! really, really appreciate it if you can join in the fun!

a

manila, may 2, 2010 – tonight, my kuya, SIL and my bestie cheche watched the dynamic duo tears for fears at the araneta coliseum. oh boy, they did not dissapoint. save for a few songs from their latest album that I didn’t quite dig, the trouble was all worth it.

we left kawit at exactly 5:00pm so that we have ample time to get to araneta for the 8:00pm show. since there’s the megamall sale, we figured it was good enough allowance for travel time. well, the trouble began when we reached guadalupe. traffic suddenly turtle-paced and it was horrific! nagtaka lang ako bakit ganun ang gapang namin. turns out, the yellow ones are having a miting de avance at the white plains. kwenta byahe, guadalupe to white plains was freaking 1½ hours. during this time, the four of us practically covered all the burning gossips going around our town. good times. haha.

parking was another problem when we got to araneta. so my kuya said that the three of us better just go inside the dome and secure our seats while he waits for an open slot. maybe I was just so worried we were going to be late, I mistakenly fell in line where the posh tickets are - eh, gen ad lang kami. anyway, we found our gate, got in and settled. 

pupil was on. ely was great, oks pa din but my heart belongs to the original eraserheads band. anyway, we were famished so my SIL ate kerol got us bonggang siopao and iced tea from the in-house food stall.  there was this big burly guy right infront of me who kept on nudging my knees with his elbows. I think he did that about 100 times during the entire show. but I got my revenge when cheche accidentally whipped him with her fan. he soon expired, as I can now smell a whiff of “asim” emanating from his multi-folded nape. but that’s okay, I was having fun!

they sang a fitting encore, as the song shout brought the house down. I had a hoarse voice after the show. roland orzabal said the word “mabuhay”, a pre-requisite for every foreign act coming to the philippines. my kuya was so glad he watched his favorite duo, to think that he always hesitated everytime I asked him to come watch them with me. he can’t stop raving about it on our way home. so. am I a great sister or what?

then he asked: “si mia prats from bagets yung nasa likod ko kanina, napansin nyo ba?”

us: “oo.”

kuya: “kapatid ba siya ni john prats?”

me: *snicker*

oh, brother.

m

mum: “anak, gusto ko pumunta ng bohol.”

me: “eh mum, kung pandilatan ka ng mata ng tarsier, mamasamain mo ba?”

g

it’s been 90days since my last blog post… that’s 3months in total. time flies when you’re having fun – NOT. it’s just that life, death and the in-betweens happened. and I’m not even speaking figuratively. still, the blog neglection is unforgiveable. so I am slowly easing my way back, and praying to high heavens I still have my readers and try to help them to get out of  their “catatonic-state-because-they-hopped-and-still-I-don’t-have-a-blog-entry” coma.

so anyways, today my sweet doxiebabe bailey turned one. but according to some experts, that’s actually fifteen in dog years. two human years more and I already have a college freshman. haha.

aah, this dog. I never thought I can take care of another creature, really. she grew on me, she has my heart. everyday I look forward to coming home because I am sure that she’s waiting for me, excitedly wagging her tail and letting out a pitiful wail (more like a demad to make her pansin, really) if I dare ignore her. she’s licks my feet like it’s nobody’s business, doesn’t mind if I spread her ears from end to end, let’s me scratch her tummy and count her eight small boobs repeatedly (ok, too much information), she hops onto my lap and sits there comfortably while she snuck her head in between my armpit. aah, love. 

thanks for making my heart bigger, bailey girl. mummy loves you.

f 

“well hello, 2010. it’s a pleasure meeting you. are you a jolly, good fellow? I hope so. because 2009 treated me quite well last year.”

okay, fess up. I have to stop talking to the new year like it’s a real person. but you knowww (ala-pacman intonation), I have to do it to make some sense out of this blog post’s opening line. haaa. alright, let me break down my 2009 to you:

a benefactor-cousin gave me a new puppy, my first. it’s a 2month old dachshund I named bailey. never thought a four-legged creature can make my heart ache and flutter at the same time. I know it’s corny. but it’s the truth.

click to view larger image

and at 8mons, bailey had her first estrous cycle last december. 

sorry it’s gross. hehehe.

my old company got sold. but the good news is, I am doing pretty comfortable in my new capacity under the new company that bought us. thank God for that.

I was able to do combined (facepainting + emceeing) gigs that totalled to 9, and a couple of pro bono emceeing stints as well. not bad, I should say. my weekend moonlighting helps me milk out grocery money from it from time to time. so, not bad at all. I was also commissioned to do a promotional write-up for a pest-control company as well. 

I did paid pro-blogging for a bit and enjoyed it tremendously!

met a former president and did the thumbs up thing…

paid it forward to make some 400 indigent children from my town merrier during the holidays:

and finally, on the scrappy front.

I made a total of 97 layouts. 3 layouts short from my goal of 100 last year. I was also able to buy a 9-cubed shelf for my scraproom which will be painted a happy yellow cab shade! super mura from makro. panahon na para ayusin ng seryoso ang scraproom ko. promise.

my buzz and bloom™ DT stint was renewed for another year. so you’ll still see me at the blog this 2010. I did get accepted to design for a challenge blog. pero nagka-aberya. I won at this local kit club’s anniversary challenge (non-kit category). I did not get pubbed in any magazine (but online, yes). well, I didn’t submit any of my works to begin with. hahaha. on the flipside, I was lucky to be a product tester for GCD studios. so I wait for my turn soon!

I also snagged a prestigious title

was featured in a newspaper. a writer-friend interviewed me about the beauty and madness of scrapbooking and memory preservation (all together now: aaahwww…)

then there’s a big dream in the horizon that I’m trying to reach… but I’ll stop right here.

I have made small accomplishments here and there, kaya definitely a lot to be thankful for. I hope to continue not to practice gunny-sacking. I am proud to be able to realize its importance very early in my life. it’s good for my body, my heart and my soul.

there will be no long list of resolutions for me from hereon out. at the age I’m at, the so-called resolutions are but a list of things you just love writing and reading. I will just take it nice and slow, and pray along the way that I may be able to reinvent a better version of myself this year.

amen? AMEN!   

oh, I almost forgot to share. there’s a fat chance I will take up a beginner’s painting lessons this year. crossing my fingers and toes I do just that.

“manong under the tree” - oil on canvass. one of my earliest pieces. super raw.

I hope your new year is starting to rev up your lives as well. have a great 2010, everyone!

m

so much to look forward to in 2010.

here’s to change, positivism, and a forward-thinking attitude!

takam na takam ka na. pero pagdating mo sa kenny rogers, sabi nila wala pang delivery ng manok. pasado tanghalian na…

ano ang gagawin mo?

s