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Our Home in Real Living Magazine
Eight (!) years ago, The Hubby and I were living in a “run-down 70’s style apartment’ in UP Village in Quezon City. It was just an ordinary and very, very tired-looking apartment when I first moved in. Good thing I was able to bully my cousin Pet to help me paint the walls and later on, The Hubby, to do a lot of home improvement projects. By the time we were done, I guess the place looked good enough to be noticed by our next-door neighbor who happened to work for Real Living Magazine. One thing led to another and before we knew it, Ocs Alvarez was photographing our apartment and poof! we were on the pages of a magazine!
Notice my short hair? By the way, the Van Gogh reproductions were from Vietnam, not Malaysia. And The Jimi Hendrix Experience IS a band. 😉
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The Weekend List: A Place To Call My Own
I’m on panic mode. My two-week holiday will be over tomorrow. And yet, it seems that I haven’t accomplished even a third of my To-Do List! Good thing I’m almost done fixing up my lanai. And it turned out to be such a relaxing place I can truly claim as my own!
For years, the lanai has become the tambakan/bodega/sampayan of sorts. But I’ve cleared the trash out and installed a few things to make it feel more homey. I’ve also ‘borrowed’ furniture from the house. Above: the Mother of Pearl-ingrained occasional table is from Davao, the French Bistro chair, from Ikea and the Batibot chair, from Kamuning. The chairs actually come in pairs but I like them mismatched this way.
I bought these adorable birdhouses from Dapitan for 30 bucks apiece. They were left on the sidewalk, discarded like trash. But here, they don’t look too shabby at all.
Meanwhile, I had almost forgotten about this Moroccan pendant lamp which I bought years ago, also from Dapitan. I stashed it away somewhere and just remembered that I had it when I was about to buy a pendant lamp in Dimensione! Buti na lang!
My Nanay designed and had her karpintero make this rustic vine chair. It came all the way from Aklan. Sitting here on sunny mornings makes me feel as if I’m at home with my parents… cocooned in their love.
I was walking down a street in Makati some years ago when I spotted this cable spool coffee table on a sidewalk garage sale. It was selling for 500 bucks but I managed to bring the price down to a hundred! I’m not the Queen of Cheap for nothing. The assorted Christmas decors are resting on an Ugu Bigyan bowl. (Well, that one was not so cheap 😉 )
I love drinking my morning brew here. I did a lot of gardening on this side of the lanai as it used to be a bit overgrown and dreary. My daily challenge today is to keep the cats away from my pocket gardens and plant boxes. Not an easy task, I must say. Can you guess where I got the ‘Noel’ twig from? 🙂
As expected, I’m not the only one who’s enjoying the newly improved lanai! Mayo and Midnight hang out here as well, especially on lazy, windy days like today.
All I need now is a daybed! Or a Kenneth Cobonpue lounge chair. And of course, more weekends. Lots of weekends…
PS. Credit goes to The Hubby who has helped me with this little project with such good humor. Also to my father in law for installing the pendant lamp.:) I’m a lucky girl that way.
Food for Thought:
No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
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New Year’s Eve in Fairview
I made plans to document the whole day yesterday. It was going to be the last day of the year and I wanted to take photos of our preparations for our Media Noche. It started well enough when we woke up to a beautiful morning. One that was made for a breakfast of Grilled Cheese French Toast and bacon.
Afterwards, we did a little sprucing up around the house.
Then we started our preps. First on my list was Potato Salad, a wonderful side dish for the Hickory Baby Back Ribs that my mother-in-law was going to cook.
Then I made Onion, Chorizo and Cheese Dip which was quite a hit. (I will share the recipe with you in another post.)
Unfortunately, this is where my little project ends. By late afternoon, I was too busy to take pictures. And when I finally remembered my camera, it was too dark to shoot anything. Let me assure you, though, that we had a simple yet very tasty spread. A wonderful dinner shared with our loved ones was indeed the perfect ending to a wonderful year.
Here’s to a happy new year, everyone!
Food for Thought:
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.”
– Benjamin Franklin
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A Dose of Simple’s 2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for A Dose of Simple. How cool is that!
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 14 years to get that many views.
Click here to see the complete report.
adoseofsimple.com 
