24 days to Christmas

24 days until Christmas.

To welcome the Christmas month, here's a heartwarming Christmas ad.

Can you wait?

Photo from adverblog.

Whimsical Wednesday!

Remember Tom Hanks on the giant floor piano in Big?

When I saw the same giant piano at the FAO Schwarz flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, I was sooooo tempted to make like Tom Hanks and skip around to hopefully play Chopsticks or Do-Re-Mi. But the piano was filled with kids and I was embarrassed to be the only grown-up hopping all over the keyboard.

If only someone would do this with some of the staircases here...

Isn't it great how whimsical, fun stairs can get people to choose the stairs over the elevator?

Have a whimsical Wednesday!

Photos from here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Whimsical Wednesday series.

road trip

Am going on a road trip for work today.

I am anticipating there will be work sessions in the midst of beautiful greenery...

And time to rest... relax...

To take a dip in the pool...

To maybe explore the crater of Taal Volcano...

Or some ancestral houses...

And party all night...

At least this is what I'm hoping for... Because I helped plan this almost-impromptu short trip for the team... Without having seen the place (Club Balai Isabel in Talisay, Batangas) first-hand... So I am fervently hoping everyone has the most fabulous time!

But for now...

Ciao!

Photos from sparklesandpretending, everythingfab, fromainsley, i'mjustsaying and jcrewing.      

endearing gestures of love

This photo booth proposal is harder to accomplish than you think. Pete needed to get the order of the letters right. It wasn't as easy as spelling out the words. The first photo booth set needed to spell W - Y - M - M. And he needed to grab the right letter in the milliseconds between each shot. 

This prenup photo of an engaged couple holding up their parents' wedding photos is also so charming. 

I like the idea of a newly-married couple taking a quiet walk by themselves after their wedding.

And finally, a marriage that lasts. Grandpa's hand over grandma's. In a church. Maybe the church they got married in? What could be more endearing than that?

Have a love-filled Sunday!

Proposal story and photo from acupofjo. Other photos from imjustsaying and sparklesandpretending.

jellybean art

I looove candy. But it took me a while before Jelly Belly caught my attention. Sure, I love their cotton candy & tutti-frutti flavors and the feast of colors every box brings. But it was only when they came out with their Harry Potter Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was I wowed!

It amazed me because grass really tasted like grass. And earwax and booger really seemed like what they would taste like, if someone ever dared taste the real thing. Vomit and sardines were the most awful for me! I hope I never have to taste them again, but I was impressed! I was thinking that the flavor guys at Jelly Belly are true artists!

And they are! See how they made a Harry Potter artwork out of jellybeans!

Peter and Roger Rocha made more art out of jellybeans.

And recently, director Greg Jardin created Kina Grannis' In Your Arms music video with 288,000 jellybeans.

Watch the incredible video here.

The behind-the-scenes video starts with a wall of translucent containers filled with the truckload of jellybeans donated, of course, by Jelly Belly - segregated by flavor. I just love the idea of so many jellybeans organized by color! It took 22 months to recreate 2,460 frames out of differently colored jelly beans with 1 still camera, 2 ladders and a jellybean animation team of 30 people. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the process. Absolutely amazing!

Who would have thought one could make amazing art out of jellybeans?

Have a wonderful, colorful weekend!

Photos from here, here, here, here and here. First discovered via adverblog and now, Kina Grannis has guested on the ellen show!

Click here for previous posts from the art series.

Noah says...

I love it when Noah is freshly-bathed. One night, after his bath, I inhaled deeply to get a whiff of his freshly-bathed goodness. I told him that he smelled sooooo good. Puzzled, he asked, "What do I smell like? Hotdog? Do I smell like chicken? Barbecue?"

It's funny how 'good smell' for Noah are the scents of his favorite food. Maybe if they were made out of dessert like these fried-chicken cookies, burger cupcakes and butter-pound-cake fries, then they could connote a sweet smell.

But actually, he smelled of his Johnson's Baby Tropical Burst Cologne. I absolutely love this scent on him. From the bottle, it doesn't seem all that special -- an ordinary fresh-smelling citrus fragrance.

But on Noah, maybe mixed with his natural scent and his Johnson's Baby Powder, it smells like... home. And because Johnson's Baby Cologne scents are characteristically substantive but with a light, sheer quality, I am able to appreciate Noah's scent up close! Practically like I'm breathing him in as I hug him! I just looove the smell of freshly-bathed Noah.

Photos from lushlee, designeditor and imjustsaying.

Click here for previous posts from the Noah Says series.

vintage rulers

Who would have thought vintage rulers could be this beautifully incorporated into the home?

Even as a child, I loved the clear, plastic rulers because being able to see through the lines on my notebook helped me make sure lines weren't slanted. But am starting to rethink the clear rulers. They simply do not measure up to this.

I cannot imagine my clear, plastic rulers looking as beautiful as these wooden ones...

Of course, that ampersand gives it an even nicer touch (see related post here). 

And what about these steps?

So pretty! This will definitely be the new yardstick by which I will measure any upcycling project.

Photos from here, pinterest and here.



technology today & tomorrow

 A recent episode of How I Met Your Mother talked about how nowadays, the internet has everyone's wall of information.

Even dogs'! Haha!

Anyway, it reminded me of this video of Microsoft's vision of the future. It shows walls on the thinnest phones & laptops that integrate with the message board in your kitchen from thousands of miles away, with your airport car's window to show you the building of your meeting the next day, and with your hotel for your digital room key (no need to check in at the counter!). 

And since I am preparing a presentation for work right now, I love how you can copy something from your research to a slide in your presentation with a touch of your finger. I love how you can edit bar charts & add new variables and bars without having to input data - with just swiping your finger or dragging the bars with a stylus! I wish I could do this now with my presentation.

Photos are screencaptures of the HIMYM episode while it was playing on my VLC Player. This is soooo cool... You just need to pause the video at the shot you want to capture, click on Video on the toolbar then on Snapshot. This gives you a high definition screenshot! How's that for the technology of today?

Today, I am loving...

There was something about the Hermes FW 2011 Collection that captivated me. At first, I wasn't sure what it was. I looked at the clothes more closely. Sure, there were some striking wearable pieces with leather trim details that I loved, but that didn't seem to be what I was drawn to.

As I clicked on the detail photos of Vogue, I realized it was the caps that captivated me.

Today, I am loving... these leather hats Christophe Lemaire used to style Hermes' FW 2011 collection.

I love the very Hermes, equestrian feel. I find the slightly lopsided tilt charming. And how it subtly covers a part of the woman's face... mysterious.

And as I was trying to figure out what was so entrancing about this collection, I chanced upon some alluring color-blocking stripe details. Styled not-so-monochromatically, I can see myself with this clutch or this wrap-jacket.

This one, I absolutely love...

The simple cape with the leather trim... The fun yet sophisticated pop of print & color... And the simply elegant hat! Today, I am drawn to... the leather hats in the Hermes FW 2011 collection.

Photos from Vogue.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am loving... series.

some polka dots i spotted...

Aren't these polka-dotted animals on Etsy absolutely adorable?

I can't even pick a favorite! What about you? Which one is your favorite?

Etsy photos from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Some Polka Dots I Spotted series.

Color Obsession: white

This Christmas, for the very first time, the iconic red Coke can is wearing white as part of a campaign to raise awareness and up to $4M for World Wildlife Fund's polar bear conservation efforts. Donning an image of a mother bear and her two cubs making their way across the Arctic, Coke's campaign aims to help conserve the Arctic habitat of the polar bear - a beloved Coca-Cola icon since 1922. The white packaging - allowing American and Canadian consumers to make a $1 donation per can (which the Coca-Cola Company intends to match) - will be in stores from November 2011 to February 2012.

Even the Fall/Winter 2011 Collections showed that white, generally associated with Spring/Summer, will brighten up Christmas just like Coke's white cans.

Off the runway and on the streets, white capes and envelope clutches are also making the scene.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Photos from here, Vogue and streetfsn.

Click here for previous posts from the Color Obsession series.

Whimsical Wednesday!

I am chuckling at how this drug company describes the unique benefit of their sleeping pill. "No pain medication, and no pickles." Hilarious!

Help is a drug company with a clever philosophy of promising less in the midst of competition that talks about more, bigger, faster, maximum strength.

They talk about taking less gibberish as each Help product is named after the specific symptom it can help - which is extremely helpful right?

Had they NOT thought out of the box and just created fantastical words that are ownable, marketable and memorable (read: brands) like all other drug companies do, they would have looked like this...

Pretty awful compared to their pretty packaging today, right? I just love that Help's crazy sense of humor and curiousity got them to go to the trouble of renaming and repackaging their products as if they were an ordinary drug company.

I am chuckling at the wit and sense of humor of Help. Clever out-of-the-box thinking really does lead to wonderful things!

Have a whimsical Wednesday!

Photos from helpineedhelp.

Click here for previous posts from the Whimsical Wednesday series.

a different perspective



In his book, Attitude 101, John Maxwell tells the story of two shoe salesmen who were sent to an island to sell shoes. The first salesman, upon arrival, was shocked to see that no one wore shoes. Immediately, he sent a telegram to home office saying, "Will return home tomorrow. No one here wears shoes." The second salesman was thrilled by the same sight. He wired home office saying, "Please send me 10,000 shoes. Everyone here needs them."

Maxwell also tells the story of how in ancient Israel, when Goliath came up against the Hebrews, the soldiers all thought, "He's so big, we can never kill him." David looked at the same giant and thought, "He's so big, I can't miss."

Isn't it amazing what seeing the glass as half-full can do? It's really about perspective: seeing things differently.

Finally, Maxwell talks about his friend in Ohio who drove eighteen-wheelers for an interstate trucking company. Knowing the hundreds of miles he logged weekly, Maxwell once asked him how he kept from getting extremely tired. "It's all in your attitude," he replied. "Some drivers 'go to work' in the morning, but I 'go for a ride in the country'"

So on this first day back at the office this week, hope you see beyond just 'going to work'.

Photo from sparklesandpretending and everythingfab.

Click here for a previous post about seeing Mondays differently.

Noah says...

Over 2 years ago, I was trying my hardest not to laugh out loud as I watched Noah play Twister. The then-little Noah was stretching himself as best he could to reach the right circle with the right body part. It was the most amusing sight! Then suddenly, Noah didn't want to play anymore. When I asked why, he said, "Eeeets [It's] so bery [very] ouchie. Ma-be-break na yung leg ko [My leg will get broken]." Poor Noah! If only he could just pull out his leg like the Potato Heads in the photo, right? 

Then a year later, while trying to do the yoga pose from Jaden Smith's Karate Kid movie, "My foot is makulit [importunate]!" as he tried to pull his foot towards his body.

Hilarious photo of the potato heads playing Twister from here. English translation for "makulit" from Google Translate. :)

Click here for previous posts from the Noah Says series.

sweet serendipity

Am loving the music video of Lee DeWyze's Sweet Serendipity. He leaves typography cut-outs throughout the video on the night before... which his girl picks up as she goes through the same streets in New York the morning after.

The song is also a pretty good feel-good song. :)

Photos are screenshots from the video. Layout by moi.

The cut-out letters remind me of the mystery T from 101gramsofeyecandy. Click here for previous posts on typography.