happy birthday, choyeba.

sophie calls his cousin, cristobal, choyeba for kuya (older brother) bal.

p.s. i made this denim bag.

finally got to this. i've been wanting to take pix of this bad i made. a week ago, sophie and i made our very own denim bag from p.s. i made this. so. easy. and i finally used my sewing machine! and my brand spanking new rotary cutter! woohoo. wasn't planning on doing this project because i didn't have a long chain. but what do you know i was at home depot and it's chains galore. this is my second hardware-bought diy from p.s. i made this. just so you know, i was in the middle of a diy bathroom renovation. hence the hardware errands. (yeah i am not a crazy person who frequents hardware stores for fun.) my first one was this which i still have to take a pic. oh nevermind, i gave it to my niece, angel. this bag is so much fun! and so many pockets!

jcrew spring lookbook and red lipstick.

it here already! gosh, i'm just starting to gett comfy in my sweaters. well anyway jcrew is probably my most favorite brand. and you can see why. the orange ensable is def my kind of style. i just picked the one on the right because i want that hair and lipstick - gosh i wonder what i would look like as a red head. i've virgin hair and i don't think i'm ready to color my hair. but the lipstick!! yeah it's time to go to pick up my very own red lipstick. there's tons of good brands out there not to mention the shades. i hear that mac lipstick in ruby woo is good.

a&a.

awkward
starting a conversation with neighbor by commenting about the weather and realizing he didn't hear you. and people seeing your oh-he-didn't-hear-me face
ordering chinese food for lunch and forgeting to ask sis in law if she wants to order anything. it was a late lunch. thought everyone ate already
when parking spots are messed up and cars are parked over the lines. and you end up parking over the line too and way too close to the cars. and then the car on the left leaves and the driver of the car on right arrives thinking you're the dummy who can't park
missing sophie's doctor appointment after telling them we were definitely coming
over-eating, yet again

awesome
shovelling! i love shovelling snow esp when the snow is fresh
hubby working from home again due to weather condition
chinese food for lunch. boneless spare rib tips baby!
picturesque kissena park - like staight out of a calendar
winning pusoy (13-card poker) 4 times
kendi's 30 for 30 winter edition and yes i am in!
ancient aliens on the history channel
scratching my hunter - that means it's "broken in"
new ayazine banner and button. sort of, too lazy figure out the html stuff
cuddling with j after a long day while watching far and away. definitely on my top 1- favorite movies of all times

very tempting.

i've been reading kendi everyday for some time now. she does this challenge (open invitation btw) where you pick 30 peices of clothing including shoes and you wear it for 30 days. of course you have to document it. read more about it here. sound very exciting and i'm so up for this challenge. def right up my alley. the only prob is i stay home most of the time. i love dressing up and remixing! my hubby and sis always make fun of me when i'm all dressed up for the supermarket. so?! hmmm what to do. my niece, angel is up for it! can't wait to see all her outfits. she's got style that's for sure! and she blogs too!

p.s. i love what she wrote on her profile. "People think that when you get married and move to a small town, that you should get pregnant. i started a blog. (it's a girl)"

my diet.

so i bought a box of crackers. i had a a great idea of dividing them into bags of hundred calories to snack on. guess what i finished the entire box. ew. but they're so good with my greek tomato salad. damn.

indoor fruit plant.

this. is. so. cool. indoor meyer lemon tree. i was breathless when i saw this page from martha stewart mag. she recommends fourwindsgrowers.com and you can get all kinds of citrus! even some berries i think.

a&a.

awkward
- being in the car with dad in law while my fave radio morning show (elvis duran & the morning show) plays animal sex sounds. make that really awkward.
- stressing out and changing my mind for the 100000000th time on what to do for sophie's birthday cake. she wants a yellow, ice cream cake with ice age theme.
- booboo on my right thumb
- blocking a sanitation truck who's trying to make a turn and trying to plow some snow
- blocking an intersection by accident - see this is why i don't like driving in snow
awesome
- finally took sophie to play in the snow
- love my hunter boots and so glad i got it in navy
- playing pusoy (13-card poker) with my crazy family
- sophie turning 3 on sunday! really!!? whoa slow down little lady
- diy projects from p.s. i made it
- finally used my sewing machine
- western beef's chicken wings 1.69/lb baby!
- free wood and tile samples at home depot

clawfoot tub.

sometimes i miss apartment living. i miss my apartment. my bathroom was soooooo tiny but it had a clawfoot tub. it also had the honeycomb patterned tiles that i love now and subway tiles on the wall (unfortunately  black and mint green). as you can see, just enough space for my water plants (which btw i still keep in our bathroom!)
i love watching sarah's house - sarah richardson is one of my favorite interior designers. i can not get enough of her. this bathroom reminded me of my old bathroom. not a big yellow fan but don't you just love this shade!?! love the fabric that she used for inspiration.

i agree.

random thoughts.

1. i have a wierd high right now. not sure if it's hormones but i just love a lot of things right now! i love tequila! i love my brown leather boots. and my hunter boots.
2. i love hubby's beard esp when they're long - not caveman long but just rough and unruly. i wish he'd let me photograph him more. like seriously.
3. took a long hot shower and actually didn't mind that sophie's in there with me. shower time is my thinking time - "was" until baby sophie became a toddler and wanted to always be in the shower with me. wow she's getting so big that i can actually close my eyes in there.
4. i gotta sew something already! like seriously. just get it over with. i'm not nervous or anything but it's one of those things. just like my notebooks, i can never write on the first page. so that makes the second page kinda like the first page but not really. anyway it takes me awhile to get comfortable with something.
5. i've been staring at the snow outside. it's so clean and pretty with the shed in the background. i've  been planning to take sophie out and play but never got around to it.
6. i made my very own copper necklace yesterday. wasn't planning on doing it but i was sent on a hardware run to get some white tile grout. i am in love with it and can't wait to make more for everyone.
7. once again, i've been watching to much ancient alien. now we're all aliens. great. i think j is on to something. one of his many nicknames for is "humanoid" and sometimes "starchild". i know! so mean.
8. i am craving for all the christmas dishes we had because i was sick and my taste buds were messed up that day.
9. max is 5 human years old already. 37 dog years!!!

20x200.

omg i just discovered this amazing website called 20x200 kinda like etsy for prints. so many great artists and lately i've been obssessing wendy macnaughton. this particular one by her caught my attention and i love the statement (caption) she wrote. this piece speaks to me. 

"I make diagrams to help make sense of things that are incomprehensible and overwhelming, too big and complex. In this case, love."

and then there's lisa congdon. i love the fact that that she's a collector of everything (like meeeeee). she also loves wooden spoons (like meeeeee). she is also smart enough to do something with her stuff. (unlike me)

meet ponyo.

sophie's beta fishie.  

hot seat in the morning with j.

so it turns out that i discover a lot of things about me that bothers me in the car. in the morning. when i only have 10 minutes to actually explain myself. (that's when i drop my hubby off at the station) well actually now that i think about it that makes a lot of sense - that way he can escape avoid a very senseless conversation. (between me and myself lol).
today we talked about how i never wear black and that i only have one pair of black shoes. in my defense, i do own a few black shoes from my days of wearing heels. that is one of my resolutions - to wear more black. i finally decided to get my hunter boots in black and ended up ordering it in navy.
the other day j said that i am "uptight". like what does that mean? me? uptight? i actually googled it (i know humor me) and it says tense, nervous, jittery and stiffly conventional in manner and attitude. so not me. i just know that when we're with people outside our family, when i start to speak the room suddenly becomes quiet. yep. very awkward. that's when this whole uptight thing came up. i am actually pretty outgoing and funny. ooooh i always think of something funny to say and i never say outloud. so i tell j and then he says it and everyone laughs.

book shelf - literally.

i came across this amazing home decor on my to do list. i totally forgot all about this. don't even remember which website i got this photo from. so. cool.

latest steals.



i am so excited! i scored these lovelies for $3 each! i love old navy. and i love ruffles. perfect for all the cardigans i got for christmas.

p.s. i'm so gonna make this.

i was so inspired when i saw this at p.s. i made this. i kinda had a similar idea a long time ago using different colored buttons but had difficulty finding same size buttons. this is genius!! and taken entirely to a different level. i love esp. the ornate and vintage buttons.

it's awkward and awesome thursday!

i know it's friday and i'm late but sydney over at daybook has an open invitation to join her in posting our own awkward and awesomes! yikes! btw, i have been stalking daybook since november! just in time because my christmas wishlist was pretty much inspired by her 30 for 30. and man i can't get enough. love, love her style! anyway here goes...

AWKWARD
- awkward, yeah i had to spell check that one. lol
- psyched to use my new and first sewing machine but something was missing. thread.
- finally solved the mystery that is causing my headache. new toothpaste!! who knew?
- watching sophie's favorite movie, ice age 3 for the 100000000000th time
- leaving my camera on and draining the battery after uploading pix
- putting fully charged battery back and forgeting to check if cam is still on. of course it is. another drained battery
- 2 days of not being able to use my camera

AWESOME
- going to century21 and finding out that they are having a sale or just being out of the house after 2 weeks at home with flu
- thick, soft, fluffy snowflake in your lashes
- finally ordered my navy hunter boots!!
- finished my new year's resolutions and goals. i love lists!
- finally got our lampshade to work (thanks dad) i can read and write at night again while hubby plays his video games.
- sophie finally back to her normal self! so is her appetite! byebye flu!
- ina garten's lobster pot pie!
- comfy sweats, oversized cardigan, warm slipper booties and my favorite tiedyed shirt on a cold, snowy day

hunter wellies.

i've been secretly wanting hunter boots since forever. $125 is too steep for me to pay for rain boots. mind you i've never owned a pair before. so i bought one from walmart for $20 and never thought i'd say this but i *love* them. i don't know how i survived without them. it's the best for snow too.

for my birthday, my sis in law bought me a brown one from shoes.com. so happy to finally own a hunter! but i spoke too soon. their sizes run a little big and the website recommends to to buy one size smaller. i am normally 9.5 i don't know why i got 8. 9 would've been perfect. so i returned them and between all the holidays i guess they were pretty busy for returns. which is fine because i couldn't make up my mind on what color to get. sheesh! if i didn't have my hunter green it would've been an easy pick. so i decided on brown original.

a month and a half later i finally got the gift code i need to purchase my exchange. and of course they're all out of 9s!! i've been checking everyday to see if they got some new ones. they have aubergine which is not bad, but just not my color. at this point, i will take cream, black or navy. i think i own too many brown boots already.yesterday, i discovered that they have another style and it's driving me nuts!!!! not available at shoes.com. that would look so good with the red shoelace i stole from my sis.

dear friends, happy new year.

i can't believe it's 2011 already! it's like a new decade - i don't know what it's called yet - i guess 2010s! (like the 60s, 70s, 80s) i wish everyone lots of luck! and i'm sure that there's a lot in store for us! this year is extra special for me because i am turning 30! (and i think double digit is always special)

i just want to look back over the past year. around this time, i did my first post. one of my new year's resolutions for 2010 was "to express creative side more and share". i know it's kinda lame. but anyway that's one of the reasons ayazine was born. here are a few posts that i hope you enjoyed reading as much as i did writing them.

thank you 2010....for good food, like roasted lemon herb chicken, hotwings, roast beef... wow just realized that i started liking spicy food last year!for handmade stuff, like boco bags, colorful bracelets, greeting cards... for funny things, like resolved, fish gone wrong, netflix...
for family affairs, like j's 30th, garet in new york, toyd's book launching...
for sophie of course, like i need you now cover, halloween...
thanks again 2010 for a worderful year!