Today, I am loving...

 

Today, I am loving... Patron Tequila's Facebook page. Patron celebrates weekends, holidays and the summer... with a cool cocktail recommendation.

 

Here's one of their summer posts in June: To drink a Patron Lemon Martini, is to drink summer. Shall we make them this weekend?

 

Patron Lemon Martini

Patron Silver 1 oz

Patron Citronage 1/2 oz

simple syrup 1 oz

fresh squeezed lemon juice 3 oz

soda and then lemon for garnish

 

 

In July: Excuse me bartender, can i add a little watermelon juice to my Patron Margarita? This is summer, right here.

 

 

And it is, right? It really looks like the perfect cocktail to enjoy the summer.

 

And when summer came to an end  in August: Today, we officially accept the nomination of VP of "Not Accepting This Weekend Is End Of Summer". We are not taking this prestigious role lightly so our first act is to present you with the perfect Patron cocktail to kick off an endless summer. We hereby table the Patron Mojito motion.

 

Patron Mojito

Patron Silver 1 1/2 oz

1 cut lime

simple syrup 1 oz

club soda

fresh mint leaves 6-8

sugar

lime wedge for garnish

 

 

I love the tongue-in-cheek way they say out loud every working man/woman's inner thoughts. Who wouldn't want to extend holidays and weekends? They acknowledge that we all work so hard all week and deserve a break... and a Patron cocktail treat!

 

But the post that got me to like their FB page was... This cocktail just looks and feels like a Sunday afternoon, right? They haven't got us til Monday guys. Sunday is ours. Cheers.

 

Patron White Russian

One part Patron Silver

One part Patron XO Cafe

One part milk/light cream

 

 

I have so many friends who start to get anxiety attacks on Sunday afternoons because they're dreading the beginning of yet another workweek. But Patron Tequila's right. The workweek doesn't start until Monday. So my working friends, claim Sunday! It is yours. Savor it!

 

And do it with these Patron Tequila cocktails. If you haven't tried Patron, you had better! It is the best tequila! If you are one of those who have sworn off tequila because of a bad Cuervo experience years ago, erase it with the wonderful tequila experience of Patron. Personally, I loooove Patron XO, their coffee tequila. But after seeing the cocktail recipes on Patron's FB page, I think I will defer picking a favorite for now.

 

Especially today, a Sunday, I am loving... the philosophy of Patron Tequila's FB page. They haven't got us til Monday guys. Sunday is ours. Cheers.

 

Photos from Patron Tequila's FB page.

 

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I Am Loving... series.



some polka dots i spotted...

I adoooore this chalkboard wall of polka dots! I wouldn't survive without a real mirror, but I have to say that that chalk-drawn mirror is incredibly pretty! Oh, and that toothbrush holder made me smile.

I can imagine changing the dots into stripes after a few weeks. Then maybe chevron after? And back to polka dots. Absolutely adorable!    
 

Photo from pinkwallpaper.

 

Click here for previous posts from the Some Polka Dots I Spotted series. Click here for a previous post about chalkboard walls.

scrap-cycling

I moved from paper to digital scrapbooking 4 years ago but I still have a whole stash of pretty scrapbook paper. They're so pretty (and expensive) so I could never bare to just throw them out. They're too small (cardstock is too thick too) to be used as wrapping paper. So they're rotting away, albeit prettily, in one of my closets.

But maybe I can put those scraps to good use... As wall art...

As a clever shelf-turned-dollhouse, if Isabella were still a young child...

Or as pretty tiled wallpaper for my workspace.

It's perfect! We have the exact nook in between the closets in our room. It is currently used as a dresser. But my mom has been bugging me to cover up the mirror: "it's bad feng shui", she says. I never sit down and use the dresser as it is meant to be with my 10-second morning regimen anyway. So that nook might be of better use as a workstation. And prettified with my old scrapbook papers! Ooooh, I smell a new project brewing...

Photos from here, here, acupofjo and amischmashedlife (photo cropped to call attention to the wall instead of the labeled trash bins. Check out her post on this & other pretty workspaces here).

Simple Trick: Iron-Disaster-Proofing

Many of my clothes have been ruined by ironing disasters. Am not really sure if the problem is our iron, our helper or the fabrics of the clothes I buy. The disasters have ranged from some shiny portions on a pair of slacks to tops that burned right through.

To avoid such heartbreaking disasters, I've learned to instruct our helper to iron our clothes inside-out. So even if the iron sticks to our clothes, it's the backside that gets tarnished. I've even had an instance when the underside of my collar got burned. To this day, I wear that buttondown shirt because no one ever sees the burn underneath that collar! It also serves as a reminder to our helper of what can happen if she forgets to iron our clothes inside-out.

Plus, I like the idea that the parts that touch our bodies are sterilized by the heat of our iron.

P.S. In case you're wondering, our helper isn't allowed to iron clothes in her underwear. :)

Photo from annnniegirl.

Click here for previous posts from the Simple Trick series.

Lego Tales: Instruction-Less Creations

Ever since Noah turned 6, he has been building Lego creations purely from his imagination. He didn't need instructions to create Batman and a Batmobile.

Or Transformers' Bumblebee.

This next one is my favorite of Noah's instruction-less creations. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to make Disney Cars' Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater out of whatever Lego bricks he owned. But Noah did it, with no instructions and no help from anyone - just pure creativity and imagination!

I find that lightning symbol on McQueen's side sooooo adorable!

And finally, a minion from Despicable Me.

Wasn't 6-year-old Noah's Lego talent just awesome? Stay tuned for 7-year-old Noah's Lego creations. Soon on this Lego Tales series.

Photos are all my own.

Click here for previous posts from the Lego Tales series. 

Color Obsession: army green

 

Lately, I've been charmed by army green.

 

 

Whether it be in solids like this Emerson Fry Fall coat... 

 

 

... Or in these oh-so-military camo print.

 

 

The only army-greens I have in my non-pretend closet is a set of tapered cargo pants and a button-down shirt. Inspired by A Mischmashed Life's Mikka's fantasy closet, I am excited to add more charm to my army greens with feminine pairings.

 

 

I just loooove how Mikka dolled up the manly vest with sequin shorts, a floral skirt, a printed maxi and bling. I adoooore that stripes+floral pairing and love how the army green vest pulls off the mix of prints just beautifully! (Check out more of Mikka's expert styling here. Am so smitten with her work-looks, am feeling a tinsy-bit sad that I'm on sabbatical.) 

 

What about you? Are you just as charmed with army green?

 

Photos from acupofjo, heritage and amischmashedlife.

 

Click here for previous posts from the Color Obsession series.

Mommy Mondays: my perfectionist child

Since am focusing on motherhood now, I decided to start a new series: Mommy Mondays. I envision talking about anything and everything related to motherhood.

First up, let me talk about my perfectionist child. For the longest time, Noah went through reams and reams of paper within a few months because he would start to draw and when it wasn't perfect, he would discard the sheet of paper and reach for a new one. Using an eraser was unthinkable for him. His standards were very high too. He would get frustrated (even angry) when he couldn't draw what he wanted, the way he wanted. I remember several instances when he wanted to draw people like say, Ben 10, and he would get really upset when his drawing didn't look like a real person with 3D depth - even though, in my opinion, it did look exactly like Ben 10 and my 5-year-old drew it way better than grown-up-me ever could. At school, he wasn't satisfied with stamps of Top Effort on his worksheets. He needed to get a stamp that read Perfect.

I realized that the earliest sign of this perfectionist tendency was when he was 2, maybe 3, years old and he & his cousin were working on their Copy & Color coloring books. He got so upset when his cousin colored Oscar the Grouch orange. For him, the only correct color was green. And now that I got to thinking of early signs, I wonder if his old obsession of buttoning his sportshirts all the way up to his neck was a sign? Could it be that to him, all buttons needed to be buttoned?

Late last year, when the signs were much more obvious, I started being more conscious of my language around him. I took out the word "perfect" from my vocabulary and replaced it with "excellent". Every now and then, I told him it was okay to make mistakes and I would even make mistakes on purpose then laugh at myself. I also hid my neurotic tendencies.

And he has come a long way since then. Now, 7-year-old Noah gladly uses an eraser and is comfortable using the back of his sheet of paper. He now knows how to laugh at his mistakes and no longer gets upset with less-than-perfect test scores. He is now comfortable using non-transparent tape as you can see with all the black electric tape in his super-paper-power crafts here. His attention-to-detail is still apparent. Just now, we were viewing a home video on my laptop and he pointed out that it was "tabingi" [lopsided]. He was right, but it was very, very slightly lopsided - hardly noticeable! He also got a bit upset when I gave him one of my airplane-freebie eyemasks because his assignment notebook read "Bring a handkerchief (to be used as blindfold)". He insisted he bring a handkerchief because that's what it said in his notebook. 

Yes, more motherly molding is still required from me. But I am proud of how far he's come. After all, perfection is overrated. Excellence is awesome enough.

Photo from heritage.    

Noah says...

During a Bisita Iglesia over the Holy Week, Noah started talking about Jesus. If I'm not mistaken, he was thinking of one of the prisoners on the cross beside Jesus on Calvary. Noah asked, "Diba one of Jesus' friends died?" 

Pursuing the conversation, the hubby asked Noah if he knew how that man died. Noah replied, "Maybe he followed Jesus when He walked on water and he drowned".

Photo by Michael Graydon from acupofjo.

Click here for previous posts from the Noah Says... series.

matchy-matchy

After all my effort resisting the urge to match here and here - just when I've gotten the hang of it - I start to spot some matchy-matchy ensembles again.

I have to admit I'm on the fence on this one...

But I absolutely loooove this denim on denim look...

Ooohh, am so smitten... Wish I could pull off this look!

 

Photos from pinkwallpaper, zara and acupofjo. 

little things, big adventure

Not counting work, company benefits and co-worker friends, here are some of the little things I will miss about my old job:

1 My delight at P20 and P50 change because I immediately think, "Yay! Pang-toll!" (see related post here)

2 The happy colors in my bag from my receipt-organizing-system - I got these flat (non-gusseted) pouches from H&M. They come in seafoam green, dark salmon and cream. The green one contains receipts for reimbursement at the office like receipts from meetings at restos. The salmon one contains receipts of personal expenses. I have a cardstock divider in this pouch to separate receipts from credit card tape to get those freebies my card offers. The cream one holds my receipts for liquidation like gas and health expenses. I have to admit that I loved looking in my bag and seeing the pretty colors of my pouches.

3 The winter-cold office temperature especially during the BER months - an excuse to wear pretty coats and clothes made out of wool

4 The carpeted hallways that make it easy to wear 4-to-5-inch heels all day

5 The calming nighttime drive home along C6 - For some reason, I find the combination of the many lampposts on that highway, the absence of traffic and my iPod music playing from my car's speakers very soothing. Now that I won't be working, I imagine I won't be driving at night nor alone so much anymore.

I will miss (a lot of the big things but also) these little delightful things.

But I am certain there will be a different set of delightful little things as this big adventure begins.

Photos from pinkwallpaper and here via acupofjo.

It's time.

Today is my last day of work.

It became a choice between being a mother or a marketeer...

... and of course, the former won out.

Since I've been working 10-to-14-hour days for 16 years, I am looking forward to the gift of time that my new adventure will bring.

Time to enjoy a weekday meal with the kids - something I didn't have because I could barely make it home before bedtime, what more dinner?

Time to enjoy several chapters of a book in one sitting - rather than a few pages every night before bedtime.

Time to fix & organize the house and find out where the string of helpers, that have come and gone all these years, have tucked away our things.

Time to just enjoy a cup of coffee - without also thinking about work or also actually tapping away on my computer to finish a presentation or also reading a book to cram more me-activities in the rare half-hour me-time windows I was lucky to get.

Time to have lunch with my girlfriends (Who doesn't dream of being one of those 'ladies who lunch'? I often wondered with envy how there always seems to be so many of them during the few times I am at the mall on a weekday. It doesn't help that I had to file a vacation leave to be there that day.).

Time to learn something new - like maybe photography?

Time to travel without having to schedule it when there are the most holidays or take red-eye flights so I can leave after work or arrive in time for work the next day. 

Time to surf & blog & scrapbook & maybe even write a book.

Yes, I look forward to the time I will have on my hands starting tomorrow. But today, it's time to say goodbye to the life I've known for 16 years.

Photos from everythingfab, playtimebreak, pinkwallpaper, annnniegirl and fromainsleywithlove.

my childhood playmates

I find this photo so adorable. I can so relate. I grew up with just my brother as my playmate. My grandmother (see previous posts about her here) didn't allow us to go outside & play with our kid-neighbors so we ended up pretending our stuffed toys were our playmates. My brother and I had 3 teddybears: a brown one named Wicket (yes, we are part of the Ewok generation), a chubby gray one named Wally with a tail that rattled, and a pink bear named Winnie. We would pretend we had a magic pill that allowed them to talk and join us on all our pretend adventures in our room. This is probably why I love Disney Junior's Doc McStuffins so much. I love the idea of having a magic stethoscope that makes her toys come alive and talk to her.

Wicket, Wally and Winnie (same starting letter! so Pinoy!) have become the heads of our pretend horses (see related post here), bears in an imaginary jungle adventure and even the audience of a few concerts.

Though these teddybears were not real, to me, they were real playmates in a childhood filled with fun, imaginary adventures and happy memories.

Photos from annnniegirl and ikea.

Click here for previous nostalgic posts. Oh, and speaking of grandmothers, Happy Grandparents' Day to my mom and Lola!

eggshell art

This is nothing short of astounding!

Artist Gary LeMaster creates beautiful intricate art out of eggshells.

Can you imagine the skill and patience required to keep from cracking the eggshell?

Aren't they absolutely amazing?

Photos from here.

Click here for previous posts from the Art series. Click here and here for previous posts on eggs.

secret-keeping dolls

I've always found these Japanese dolls so cute. In fact, ever since I saw one of these Kimmidoll pendants on my friend R, I've been checking Rustan's every now and then for new stock (sadly, they're perpetually out-of-stock).

They're also available as keychains.

And collectible dolls in various sizes...

I just learned here that another brand of Kokeshi dolls called Momiji have message dolls. The dolls have a small space at the base so when you turn them upside down, you will find a tiny folded card meant to contain a secret message. So adorable, right?

Then in the oddest of places - in the sanitary napkin aisle, I found these Japanese dolls!

Now isn't this the cutest packaging? Coincidentally, it's for their ultra thin napkins. To be honest, I had been a maxi pad user for the longest time. I always had to feel the bulk so that I would be confident I was protected. But about 2 years ago, I switched to Modess Ultra Thins because it promised discreet protection via microprotect crystals that absorb 100x its weight. 100x its weight! How amazing is that?

So now, no one has to know I have my period. It's my monthly secret-keeper! And with their new pretty packaging, who can tell they contain sanitary napkins?

Plus, the pouches are in polka-dots! Puts a delightful touch to dreary period days! :)

Photos are my own and from kimmidoll, here and Modess.