vacay high: cherry blossoms park

Over the next few months (too many photos, hard to sift through all!), I will be sharing some highlights of our recent vacation. This is the first of this mini-series: our trip to the Essex County Cherry Blossom Center.

I had never seen cherry blossoms before. My travel buddies and I were planning a trip to Japan 2 years ago but our work skeds conflicted with the uncertain cherry blossoms peak so we didn't get around to going. Little did I know I would witness their beauty during our trip to New Jersey.

Being surrounded by pink foliage was an incredibly pretty sight!

Quite surreal too that they will only be that way for a week or so and we were lucky enough to catch it! They hadn't completely peaked actually. See the buds that have not blossomed?

But it was breathtaking nevertheless.

Isabella gushed at how beautiful they were.

Noah, on the other hand, was busy climbing every single cherry blossom tree in the park.

I love how the branches cascaded downward so we had a lovely fort (which Noah calls a jail, hehe!) under the tree.

Such a pretty canopy, right?

There were also white cherry blossom trees...

... which the kids couldn't resist climbing.

And dark pink ones too.

But I much prefer the light pink ones.

Truly a captivating sight!

Photos are my own.

all our bags are packed...

... we're ready to go...

... on our 5-week-long vacation!!!

See you when we get back!

Photo from deliciouslyorganized.

Click here for the down-in-the-dots version of this post.

more than just flowers

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I found the prettiest bouquets at Bungalow 300! They're pretty not just because of the flowers, but, I have to admit, more because of the pretty packaging. After all, it isn't Bungalow 300 without pretty prints! How lovely are these fabric wraps? They're available in orange, white or blue. You can also choose your type of roses (1 dozen local long-stemmed for PhP2,750, 2 dozens local long-stemmed for PhP3,500, and 1 dozen Ecuadorian for PhP4,750). Then your rose color - red or fuschia.

But the pretty doesn't end with bouquet wraps. Bungalow 300 also offers these cute bouquets in fabric-wrapped take-out boxes!

Aren't they adorable?

These bouquets-to-go cost PhP1,500 each.

Hmmm... now, the question is how to get your Valentine to order these prettily-packaged flowers for you.

Check out Bungalow 300's FB page. To order, email bungalow300@gmail.com or call 0947-6108616. Free delivery within Alabang or Makati; small delivery fee for other areas.

Photos from Bungalow 300.

Today, I am loving...

The kids are back in school so my new year officially begins today. Am back to "work" on my errands & projects today. The date & days of the week are again important to note unlike during the Christmas break when it really didn't matter what day it was (it just seemed to be one loooong happy weekend!).

So today, I am loving... these free 2013-calendar printables! Just click on the colored links below...

Love the cheerful colors of the letters of each month, especially against the gray typography of the spelled-out 2013 of The Tomkat Studio.

These polka dot calendars from The Twinery are pretty too!

You can even download them in a mini-calendar size!

Here's a gray & yellow (remember this combo from here?) full-year calendar from L@u's Notebook.

Notice the washi tape holding up the calendar? :)

Here's a whimsical option from The Ink Nest.

If you adore owls, try this one from My Owl Barn. 

You can customize your calendar with artworks of owls from many different artists.

My favorite of all is this candy-themed mini-calendar from Eat Drink Chic. Of all the printable calendars in this post, I chose this set and had it printed at Kameraworld for PhP7.75 per sheet (you just need to convert the pdf file into jpg).

Am not really sure what I will use it for (Perhaps a desk calendar? Eeep! Should I have just printed the other polka dot calendar, the one from The Twinery? But...) I loooove the pretty striped & dotted patterns of this sweet calendar!

Plus, you know how I love candy here & here.

Isn't this the most adorable calendar set?

Today, I am loving... these free 2013-calendar printables all over the web. I am amazed at the generosity of the artists who designed these pretty calendars and made it available to everyone for free! 

Not all, but most of these, I found via deliciouslyorganized.

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

happy new year!

Straight from this Kate Spade book, Things We Love, I am wishing you a year filled with just that!

May you have a year filled with celebrations...

The courage to chase your dream...

Everydays filled with the little things that delight you - like stripes and lots of kisses!

Curiosity and destinations to be curious about...

And a whole lot of sparkle!

Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

Photos from heritage.

Today, I am loving...

Today, I am loving... my early Christmas gift from my buddies K & C! It's not exactly from Tiffany's, but it's in a lovely Tiffany blue color - my purrretty Matroyshka necklace!

I was already smitten because as you know from here & here, I have a thing for Matroyshka dolls. To my wonderful surprise, it didn't just look like a cutely fat Matroyshka, but it was an actual nesting doll!!!

I was in love!

So I wore it everyday after that.

To a friend's birthday dinner...

To the Sting concert...

On errands the following day...

Today, I am totally loving... my adorable Matroyshka necklace present! Super thanks K & C!

Photos are my own and from annnniegirl.

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

style inspiration: stripes + florals

Since I went on sabbatical, I've kinda lost my shopping mojo. I was used to a constant stream of trends that were appropriate for my pretty laidback office (It wasn't a business-attire type of office). I'm not sure if I just haven't gotten in the groove of casual clothes trends yet; since my shopping mojo has been wired for office clothes for years. But I haven't come across many new trends in my current daily uniform of shorts & shirts.

So these style pegs of mixing stripes & a floral print has been really inspiring. Will definitely try this out this week. I, and probably every single one of you, have a similar striped tee from H&M (yes, the one that comes in pairs, with a plain white tee). So all I need to do is pair it with floral shorts, scarf or shoes!

Ooohh, excited, style-wise, for the week ahead!

Photos from annnniegirl.

divi finds

My friends M & C went to Divisoria a few months ago to buy stuff for M's son's 7th birthday party. So I tagged along and stumbled upon these pretty & uber-cheap finds in 168 Mall.

These stamp sets were being sold for less than PhP200 (less than US$4.50)!

I got lowercase stamps in typewriter & handwriting fonts. Love the wooden box with a clasp!

Can you believe these nesting dolls were only PhP70 (US$1.70)?

Was of course delighted to see the flower design made out of dots on the smallest doll. I immediately found a spot for the dolls on my shelf between my photo box here and scrapbooks here.

These fabric tapes were a steal at 5 for PhP100 (US$2.45)! Notice the bume-Burberry tape?  :)

I didn't really know what I'd use them for when I grabbed a bunch. But I was killing time one day and dressed up my blue Pilot ballpen with my polka-dotted tapes!

Isn't it much prettier now than a regular ballpen? 

Then my friend C brought us to a giftwrapper store. Minimum wholesale purchase is 25 pieces per design to get these glossy wrappers at PhP2.25 (US$0.06) per sheet.

And thanks to this (non-Divi-find) tape dispenser that automatically cuts tape into small even strips (which I discovered via Jen of Next9Baby. See reviews of the tape dispenser by 101gramsofeyecandy & ocmominmanila.), I'm almost done wrapping Christmas gifts with my Divisoria-bought striped & dotted wrappers!

Oooh, I just looove my purrretty Divi finds!

Photos are all my own.

Click here for a previous post on Matroyshka dolls.

some polka dots i spotted...

Pat of 101gramsofeyecandy sent me a goodie bag of her printed items way back in August. The label plates were so pretty...

... that I couldn't bring myself to waste use them. Until her Candy Shop opened and I realized I could get new ones anytime I wanted (and at affordable prices at that!). I started with organizing Noah's activity books. They used to be bunched together on a shelf with a bookend. But since they were mostly thin books (spines weren't thick enough to have a title), Noah couldn't tell them apart and was never enticed to use them. So I segregated them like this...

And he now picks out the books according to the activity he wants to do!

Using these materials...

... and by placing the nylon cable ties (which I got from Japan Home Store) on just one side of the labels, I turned the label plates into a sort of door on my silver magazine file rack. So Noah just opens the "door" to pull out his activity book.

After Noah's label plates were done, I (took a deep breath and) used one of the non-kiddie pretty, patterned label plates from Pat for my things. And of course, the first one I picked was the pretty polka-dotted one!

Love how our shelves look now with these pretty label plates! Thanks Pat!  

To get your own pretty label plates and browse other printed eye candy via The Candy Shop's online catalog, just email:

Photos are my own.

Click here for previous posts from the Some Polka Dots I Spotted... series. Watch for tomorrow's post here on what's inside my box of photos.

P.S. Someday, I'll tell you more about where that Matroyshka doll set came from. :)

style inspiration

I've been so obsessed with Spring's pastel colors and prints this whole summer, that I've decided to take a break from a color-filled wardrobe. I've decided to slip into some classics with a twist. They look quite plain at first glance. But I like that there is a detail or two that makes it subtly stylish.

Because it still doesn't come naturally to me to mix black with brown (though I've come a long way from struggling to resist it here), I find the nude shoes with black trousers above chic-ly unexpected.

I also gravitated towards this look. It's just a classic white button-down with khakis. But I think the lace camisole gives the man's shirt a soft feminine vibe. And the knotted belt (vs. the traditional inside-the-belt-clasp) gives it a nonchalant hard element.

And finally, this striped shirt with the orange cuff.

Don't these little details give classics a chic subtle twist?

Photos from pinkwallpaper and 101gramsofeyecandy.