Updates

Thank heavens for progress, i.e. the free wifi at the Manila Domestic Airport. I'm waiting to board a flight to Boracay for our third wedding anniversary (yes! Three years!) and thought I'd use the downtime for some quick updates.

Marlon and I are home for the holidays and so far it's been great. I didn't realized how deprived I was of any sort of Christmas spirit in Singapore until I got home and saw the crowds gathered at Ayala Triangle for Simbang Gabi and the light show. Pilipinas, iba ka talaga mamasko.

Our big move has finally started to feel real, now that we've locked down important details like our final departure date (January 13), where we will be living for the first three weeks (we chose a serviced apartment 35 minutes by tram from the city centre over a hotel smack in Dam Square, simply because the former seems more livable for a longer period), and what will happen to our beloved cat (she's on the same flight as us, yay!).

Still, it hasn't completely sunk in yet. But I figure there will be plenty of time for that. It will probably really hit me when I am freezing on the streets of Amsterdam.

That's it for now. Hope you all had a fun Christmas and have a great New Year ahead! And maybe the next time I blog will be from Singapore right before we set off for this next big adventure.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear readers. May the joy of the season be with you today.

Christmas Dinner

HO HO HO. I can feel the Christmas spirit coming.

Went to Christmas Dinner at Church. Last minute thing, glad I went. :) Got some extra tickets from Victor. Wooo, brimming with people this year. Church is always super active during Christmas.

James and Sim Kuan came to church. :)) Would be fun to see Bestarians overtaking FGT. Come come come! A lot of BSD 2 people there, too!

We were supposed to wear cultural dress... but I have no culture, so I came in some non-cultural red dress. I don't know, Santa's partner, maybe? Louise looked very cute in her yukata. Tracy was the only Hawaiian chick. And surprisingly, quite a lot of people have japanese clothing.

Tommy said I looked emo sometimes. I think I have a sad neutral face. :( I don't know. Pah. I don't want to look pissy and snubbish. OK, when I look sad, it's my normal face. Unless I only give some odd one word reply, which probably means I'm sulking. If you don't want to see my emo face talk to me and I'll smile. :) Hohoho.

Feliz Navidad~~~

The home stretch

Here we go, folks. I'm officially hitting the home stretch: my last seven days in Singapore. After that, it's home for Christmas and to wait for our Dutch visas to be issued at the Dutch embassy in Makati. 

We have no idea what date we'll be starting our new lives in Amsterdam, as Marlon's new employers won't book a flight until the visas are issued, which puts us in a kind of travel limbo. But I'm confident that at the end of this limbo is Europe, and you can't imagine how that thrills, scares and excites me.

The euphoria has been derailed somewhat by a nasty fever that has knocked me out for the past two days. I've been mostly zonked out on paracetamol, but in between naps I got into mini fits of paranoia and panic.

The first one was about finding an flat. "The flats are tiny and expensive! Everyone will be out to stiff us! We don't have money to burn like every other expat! We're not on some giant expat package! Zzzzz."

The second one was about getting things done before we leave. "I don't know what to buy Marlon for Christmas! I need to go Christmas shopping! And buy a steamer! And the Eames chairs! And Sally Hansen wax strips! And have lunch with Maya, dinner with Sila, a barbecue with office friends, and squeeze in yoga everyday and... zzzzzzz."

I had a whole list of things we wanted to do before leaving Singapore, which included finally trying Buddha Jumps Over The Wall (a mysteriously named and very expensive Chinese dish), dinner at Cocotte, brunch at the Botanic Gardens, and one last black pepper crab at Jumbo. (Is it obvious what I'll miss most about this country?) But with the clock ticking, I think I'll be content to simply pack up all our stuff, get some exercise, and say a few goodbyes. Anything else will be a luxury!

Dress up

I camwhored.


In your face. :O

I am in the shopping mood. The mood to dress up and be materialistic. Why, it's gonna be Christmas soon. Yum, I'm wondering what to get. Handbag? Loewe? Chanel? Juicy Couture charms?

Sigh. I'm one of those kids who pry on Christmas and Birthdays as a golden opportunity to spend. Mostly because there's seldom such opportunity.

Bought some accesories from Diva. I hope they don't rust. :/ Spent a little more than hundred on them, but hey, I got 25 bracelets. Got a black dress thingy from Kitschen. Never went there before, but ooohhh, it's pretty cheap. Less than a hundred. :D

Church was nice. I don't like manning the camcorder, though. It's miserable. I don't like sitting at the station. I feel isolated. I should help the church, but I wished I had something else. And honestly, I can never listen to sermons well. I always end up doodling some stuff on the question paper.



Some of the bracelets from Diva. Was arranging accessories. Used to neglect them because I'm already preoccupied with what clothes to wear. Dunno. But sometimes accessories are what sets you apart from plain jane to glamourous babe. And Xuan kept wearing those pretty bracelets to church. I like gold and pink bracelets. :)



Bought charms for Christmas before. Juicy's charms are horribly overpriced, but that also makes it more precious(in a sordid way). Very cheap in Singapore though. They had discounts. 60% discount!

See the empty spot there? Am ashamed to say I misplaced that charm somewhere. Still looking for it....

More Juicy charms. So cute! :D

Not mine, though, unfortunately.

Kay, that's all. Waiting to go out. Pavillion! Juicy Couture!

C is for Christmas

A few days before Christmas, Marlon gave me a choice. Did I want something:

a) Young, up-and-coming
b) Classic and sophisticated
c) Mature, chic and understated

I am at an age where aging is already beginning to scare me, so I ruled out B automatically. It sounded too old. So I let him vacillate between A and C, although I told him the only reason I would probably lean towards A was because the word "mature" makes me leery. Then he warned me that A was pretty close to something I already had. So I said, ok fine, C then.

On Christmas Eve, I found out that C was actually a B.

Actually, to be precise, C was a B.V.

Say hello to my newest black, buttery soft baby :-) A fantastic choice by Marlon and my favorite Christmas gift of all!

Ho ho ho

Merry Christmas everyone! How was your Christmas weekend?

Mine was full of laughter (thanks to the ACS part and my first Sesqui Tandres gathering ever!), sleep (thanks to the cold, lulling breezes of Sta. Rosa, Laguna!), gifts (thanks to my thoughtful loved ones)... and pork!

Yes, pork. I think I've consumed more porcine delights this weekend than I have in the last six months. But how could I resist the spicy crunch of chicharon on Christmas Eve and the sodium-laden cured goodness of our family fave, Majestic Ham? Forget Purefoods Fiesta Ham -- in the Paul household, Majestic is the real star of the Noche Buena feast!

Speaking of gifts, Marlon opened his last Christmas gift from me when we got home from the airport last night. I was worried that it might turn out to be a cop-out (cue the wek-wek-wek sound effect) but he really loved it! I got him a Zwilling J.A. Henckels set of Four-Star kitchen knives. :) He was so pleased with it that he straightaway tossed his old Ikea knife block and began paring an apple... even if it was past midnight  and neither of us was hungry.

I also got him the "Ondoy" series of paintings by Lotsu Manes from West Gallery, which we had been eyeing a few months ago. I thought it was also a perfect gift for our second anniversary, since the subjects of the series came in twos.

I bought the paintings without having seen the actual canvases, but when Marlon unwrapped them in Manila I was happy to discover that they looked even more wonderful then they did online. Plus, Sol from West Gallery wrapped them really well, and didn't even charge me a delivery fee! :)

Sadly, though, the holidays are over for me (way too soon!) and I'm back in the office. It feels awful to be back here while everyone is on holiday. There are a grand total of three people here and even my boss isn't here though I didn't hear anything about him going on leave today!

Good thing I have some holiday souvenirs with me -- three unwanted pounds, a mild case of gout in my finger joints and a box of coffee butterscotch squares from Conti's in the fridge (which got squashed in the plane so now it's a giant wonky slab of pastry!).

Oh and not to mention my absolute favorite gift this year... from Marlon of course. More later ;)

Some Interesting Facts about Christmas!!

Christmas is both a sacred religious holiday and a cultural and commercial phenomenon celebrated worldwide. For about two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature. Christians celebrate Christmas as the anniversary of birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Read More>>

Sweet and Colorful Christmas Gifts for Little Ones

Christmas is best day for spending time with your family, sharing great food and fun. And of course, giving glorious presents to those you love. When deciding what gifts to give, it's important to remember sweet kids because receiving presents on Christmas morning is something they think about all year long. Read More>>

Saving Tips For Shopping Holiday Gifts and Toys

As holidays are quickly approaching, many people have already turned to Internet for their Christmas Holiday Shopping to save time, money, gas, and avoid crowds. Online shopping is not only convenient, it's safe too. If you are planning to undertake a frugal holiday shopping without a big hole into your pockets, then take advantage of these tips that will enable you to shop economically for Christmas gifts and toys. Read More>>

Home for the holidays

my flight home is tomorrow morning at 9:45 a.m. i've just finished packing, and have never packed so light for a week-long trip. well, light in terms of clothing that is -- i have two large plastic bags full of presents for family and friends, and that was my biggest motivation to keep my outfits down to a minimum. the presents also serve as placeholders in my suitcase -- for all the things i plan to shop for and bring back to singapore!

i've been in holiday mode since yesterday, a condition allowed by the surprising lack of activity at the office. this year's batch of clients, miraculously enough, celebrate christmas and are thus all on leave. apparently last year, the company was deluged by hindu and muslim clients, forcing everyone to work through the holidays. luckily, this year has allowed me to pretty much bum off. anticipation for my trip home has been building steadily throughout the day -- an anticipation that i've never ever felt before. after all, this is my first year away from home. the rush of excitement is a new and welcome feeling. 

marlon and i exchanged presents this evening after a very lazy dinner care of mcdonald's. i know, we should have some kind of elaborate christmas dinner, us being such foodies and this being our first christmas together, but i guess "holiday mode" has taken over at home as well. nobody wants to cook and clean -- not when there's a flight to catch tomorrow!

anyway, we agreed to do our gift swap (i hate it how they say "swop" here, hahaha) tonight because we were both giving each other something heavy and bulky. i want to do a show-and-tell with pictures, but suffice it to say we both loved each others' gifts! and marlon is playing with my gift to him right this very minute and has been doing so for the past hour. :-)

right now i'm a teeny bit apprehensive about the weight of my check-in luggage, and an itty bit sad about leaving rogue by herself for the next seven days, but all in all i am happy, content, at peace, and sort of full and buoyed up inside. just the way i want to be the day before christmas.

and so before i disappear into my internet void (i'm leaving the laptop here since all we have at mom's is a crappy dial-up connection), i just want to say: merry christmas everyone! i hope we all have a joyful, loving and peaceful christmas!

The tree tour!

it's time to take a mental break from work... which means it's time to take a tour of the paul-plazo christmas tree!

this is one of the first ornaments i made when i was still pretty clueless and just getting warmed up with the christmas spirit. i cut out little chinese children from a vintage - placemat that i shook-ed spirited away from the mint museum of toys cafe many months ago. i glued the cutouts on green paper, drew curlicues around it in gold ink, and stuck it on fuzzy red felt. i'm not too happy with how this turned out, so it's at the back of the tree.


next i wanted to make felt ornaments like the ones i saw on design*sponge, but i couldn't find felt that was thick or stiff enough. (moment of silence for all the "thick and stiff" jokes that are going through my head right now.) i tried, anyway -- they were cute, but i still wasn't too happy.


then i found an english-chinese dictionary in my paper collection -- and made word nerd ornaments! i used silver ribbon, glue and the words joy, reindeer, happy, celebrate, and Christmas.





as i was flipping through magazines for pictures to collage, i noticed that there seemed to be a surfeit of red shoes. so, with a bit of red felt and green paper, i made his and hers shoe ornaments! i was obviously not taking myself very seriously at this point.


so you think everything i made was along these nutty, kweng-kweng lines... think again! ito, career na!

following a how-to from the domino website, i made my absolute favorite and most labor-intensive set of ornaments. i started by printing and cutting out the handy template from the domino website, then gluing each piece on to thicker card stock for more durability. then i cut those pieces out and covered both sides with yellow and red-and-gold handmade paper that i bought on insa-dong street in seoul -- gorgeous, gorgeous printed paper that i've been saving for months. i only made eight of these, but with all the double-siding and reinforcing, i must have cut each individual piece eight times!

and here they are... the reindeer and the dove! i'm already thinking of how to unassemble and pack them so that they survive till next christmas...






we rounded off the tree with store-bought baubles and wide swathes of wired ribbon, as you can see from the photos. the store-bought ornaments are nothing to write home about... except for this super adorable ditzy angel. when i saw the completely clueless expression on its face, i knew our tree wouldn't be complete without it...


and that concludes the tree tour! which one was your favorite?

now let me see if i can get a good enough photo of marlon's masterpiece tree-topper...

Kamustahan

i liked toni's cup-of-tea questions. napaisip talaga ako. i thought it would be a nice quick update for one on things that i don't normally blog about -- or even really think about too often.

now let's sit down for a cup of tea, for what paolo would call kamustahan...

1. Now, would you like chamomile, jasmine, Earl Grey or English Breakfast?

i'll stick to my mug of milo powder. when it comes to milo, i am the papak queen.

2. How’s your health?

i may actually be in better shape than i have all year, thanks to muay thai. i can do at least ten pushups now before stopping to rest, and i survived robert's hour-long grueling circuit training last friday as the only girl among guys, with only four one-minute rest stops. but right now i feel a tickle in my throat which i hope will not turn into a cold or fever.

3. Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?

happily, yes! marlon and i did our christmas shopping in one blitz at plaza singapura and the cathay yesterday. i just have to get a gift for my sister, sir jojo, marlon's dad, bitchik, dada and binky.

4. How are you dealing with the economic crunch this Christmas?

honestly, i don't feel it. as i said to marlon and a few friends recently, we're lucky to be high enough in the corporate ladder to afford some of the things we really want, and low enough to not to really be affected by any retrenchment plans or salary cuts. if anything, we seem to be recessionistas in reverse -- we finally cleaned off the credit card debt, have the enough to help out family members in sudden emergencies, and even had a brief shining moment this weekend when we felt like millionaires. we spent sunday evening planning a budget for 2009 and it was a fun exercise. the challenge now, i guess, is keeping to that budget and saving smart.

5. What Christmas tradition are you carrying through this year?

in a year where marlon and i begin to find our own christmas traditions, one thing i am keeping from my family's traditions is having lots of little gifts to unwrap... and giving basic necessities like soap and shampoo!

i think that's a tradition we picked up from my mom's ex-fiance uncle david, who would literally put mountains of gifts under the tree on christmas day... even if they were just little things like toothpaste and soap! i only realized that this could be seen as a little bizarre when marlon gave me this funny look when i said i had to go to carrefour to buy soap for my tita.

my own spin on this tradition is that the maid's gifts can't look better than my tita's gifts... and that all the toiletries have to be terno!

must not forget: elaborate giftwrapping... something that i have enjoyed every christmas since i was nine. that year, we spent christmas in brussels and i fell in love with how salesladies at the department stores wrapped packages with scads of gorgeous curling ribbon, feathers, the works!

it's not part of the question, but i have to say it anyway: my most-missed christmas tradition is singing with acs! i've been so desperate to sing, i sang along with the video of the nordic chamber choir singing lauridsen's o magnum mysterium that gp posted on facebook... more than once! i also miss acs's fantastic and totally out-there themed christmas parties where everyone is so game.

answer these questions! it'll be fun!

p.s. yes, that's our finished and fully trimmed christmas tree!

Our first Christmas tree

the first weekend of december was reserved for bringing all things christmas into our home -- which in the case of marlon and myself was basically buying a tree and a couple of wreaths. we had decided to get a plastic tree despite the surprising availability of fresh trees here (wait, why am i surprised -- this is expatland!), and i had decided to make my own trimmings this year.

first, the tree...

the search for the perfect tree took several days of shopping. we saw sad, sparse $29.90 trees at carrefour, a momentarily stunning glossy black pine tree at paragon (which very quickly went from cool to TEE-AYCH), lush but exorbitantly priced trees at tang's ($259 for four feet of plastic!), and finally settled on a moderately priced ($95), decently shaped five-foot tree at novena square, where marlon works.

the most irksome thing about buying a tree here: salespersons attempt to convince you that every tree is a foot taller than it actually is. marlon is taller than our supposedly six-foot tree. the good thing is that salespersons actually seem knowledgeable about trees. when marlon and i were contemplating an all-white tree, the salesman at actually advised us against buying it, even if it was more expensive than a green tree. apparently customers who had bought white trees in the past found that it looked dirty yellow under certain lights, and that it was hard to keep clean. who knew?

next, the trimmings!

as we scouted around for trees, i looked at store-bought trimmings as well -- and quickly confirmed that i was making the right choice in choosing to make my own ornaments. you have two choices, basically: expensive or generic. i don't know what was a worse prospect: pay $8.90 PER PIECE for a faux venetian tasseled bauble, or having a tree that was identical to the rest of the population. 

my resolve strengthened, i trooped to art friend in takashimaya for some DIY supplies. while i was there, i picked up a dozen red and gold balls since i figured i wouldn't be able to make enough ornaments to actually fill up an entire tree. we also picked up some ribbon for the tree, wreaths for the front door and holly garlands for the window at tangs.

to work, to work

setting up the tree took two weekends. on the first weekend, marlon got to do manly stuff like unpack the tree and assemble it...

i got to do girly stuff like cut out shapes from felt, figure out how to use bits and pieces of paper from my collage collection (placemats and dictionaries, anyone?), think of cute color combinations and tie ribbons...

... and rogue got to do cat stuff like sniff around the new tree and wonder how to destroy it with the maximum amount of fun.

we also did couple-y stuff like take pictures with the self-timer documenting this historic first in our newly joint household.

and this is how the tree looked at the end of the first weekend.

our biggest achievement was just having the tree up! the second weekend though was when the real transformation took place with all the lights, ornaments, and a special something that marlon cooked up to top off the whole shebang.

but that's something for my next post! it's cold and rainy, it's a non-working holiday, and a book and a cup of coffee with cinnamon and nutmeg await my attention...

Making a list (and checking it twice)

twenty days to go till i fly home from christmas! and i am just raring to go! being on probation (well technically) at work, i have a limited number of leaves... which means i have only december 24th to january 1 to cram in all of the things on my holiday to-do list!

• spend time with mommy (hmm paano kaya 'to with all the stuff i wanna do)
• omygod... UKAY UKAY!!!!!
  
• stock up on fresca homemade scents at the legaspi market... come to think of it, a visit to the salcedo market might be fun too
  
• eat at bellini's and schlep around cubao x
  
• chocolate buffet with the kiddies at manila pen
• see my beloved acs again! but i am so bummed that i'm not going to hear them sing or get to sing with them at all this year!!!
• meet mimi's fiance, the famous pete
  
• visit friends at gma and eat chicken inasal at jt's manukan on sgt esguerra after
  
• eat bibingka at via mare
• eat corned beef sinigang at sentro
• eat at cyma (or manos greek taverna)
  
• celebrate our first year wedding anniversary (one year already! time does fly when you're having fun!) in tagaytay -- i hope t house or the boutique still has an available room for us though
  
• buy cinnamon rolls and stock up on kapeng barako at bag of beans
  
• get a cheap manicure, pedicure and color job at azta on katipunan
  
• buy tees and funky christmas gifts for my officemates (i know, very late, but hey -- bulk christmas shopping at home will be so much cheaper) at team manila
• check out the shoes at janylin and landmark
• stock up on rogue, preview and cheap books at national bookstore (i read somewhere that the domino book of decorating sells for only Php950!)

i know, it's all shopping and eating -- and i'm supposed to be in a country where the shopping and eating is among the best in the world. but hell. nothing like manila.

now, the only thing i'm wondering is: this list really it? i could have sworn it was so much longer in my head....