Shelves and Shadowboxes

Ze hubby has been on a real nesting kick recently, what with putting up picture frames and buying shelves. He's painting our shoe cabinet right now and wants to learn carpentry. Soooo I can't help but be swept away with his fervor that I decided to do a project that I wanted to do a couple of years ago haha.

I read about shadowboxes in YoungHouseLove and I knew I wanted to do that with our ring bowl. I searched high and low for shadowboxes and salespeople seem to not have heard of one everrr. Fortunately, I saw these deep picture frames in SM North and I realized, hey, they could be shadowboxes or maybe they really are shadowboxes.

So I first cleaned our ring bowl from Paloma's Nest. This is one of my favorite details from the wedding. We almost did not have one because they don't ship to the Philippines anymore. Fortunately, my friend in the US asked me what we wanted and I immediately forwarded her the link to the website. I threaded two camera charms that I found in Etsy. The nest-like stuff came with the bowl and I just spread it behind. I didn't glue anything because it was already a snug fit with the nest. I'm actually worried it might break because it was a bit snug, so I'm crossing my fingers with this one. I hid some silica gel in there so the charms won't rust.

Betty Bright

Back in elementary, I liked going to a classmate's house because (1) her room was airconditioned and (2) she had a library of Archie comic books. I think she wasn't allowed to lend them out so I tried to read as much as I can whenever I was in her house. Sometimes, I won't even talk to her because I was reading haha. Back then a comic book costs P50 or so and that was expensive-o already.

My youngest sister is lucky because our parents bought her the comic books which she promptly destroyed through the years hehe.

So I was excited when I read that MAC was coming up with an Archie's Girls collection. Not a fan of make-up but currently collecting lipsticks. I settled for the Betty Bright lipstick because I've always wanted to rock a coral shade. The lipsticks are sold out in Trinoma so I ordered through the @shopHK Instagram account.

I tried it just this morning and while I adore the shade, I find it difficult to apply. It's Satin but I use Brave which is also Satin all the time and it's so easy to apply. Oh well, at least it's cute. :)

Birthday Dinner at Bistro Filipino

For his birthday, hubby treated me to dinner at Bistro Filipino, Chef Laudico's restaurant at the Fort. It also served as our Valentine's date. At first we thought that the prices would be insane but there's this uhm, not exactly a promo, but a scheme wherein you pay P799 something for a four-course set. This dinner happened a month ago and I've conveniently forgotten those details, sowee.

I managed to take pictures of my food only haha. For my appetizer, I chose the trio of lumpia cone, wagyu salpicao and kilawen. The lumpia was a hands-down winner, my eyes literally rolled in ecstasy. As a wanna-be cook, I was trying to reconstruct the ingredients in my head. It still tasted like lumpia but much much much better. Try this, I tell you!

I chose the Hot and Cold Sinigang soup mainly because I was intrigued how it can be hot and cold at the same time. While it was still yummy, I prefer my soup hot, so I think my stomach was kinda shocked with the cold soup. This had two pieces of shrimp in it and after the appetizer, I was already feeling quite full.

I knew I was eyeing another dish for my entree but it wasn't available and the waiter recommended the Wagyu Kaldereta. The beef was tender and flavorful and served on a bed of silky sweet potato mash. I was really really full by this time, the serving may not look much in the photo but it was more than enough for me.

Thankfully, I still had room for dessert. This was the Trio of Desserts: Tsokolate Oh!, Yema Bicho Bicho and Flourless Chocolate Cake. I didn't mean to order two chocolate desserts, I think the Maja Blanca Cheesecake was not available. The desserts were also yummy but it was kinda overwhelming to have two chocolate desserts at the same time.

 

This four-course set is really worth the price. I'd go back just for the lumpia alone! :)

Bistro Filipino
Net One Building

Bonifacio Global City

 

While waiting...

I'm prone to crying fits when I'm frustrated. And lately, I've been very very frustrated. During one of my crying episodes, hubby - the less emotional one - said something like I should learn to accept so I won't get frustrated.

But I can't simply accept how something seemingly basic can be so difficult. Heck, people do this without thinking.

It used to be that when I want something, I usually get it - 90% hard work and 10% luck. However it seems in this case that I need 100% luck. And I seem to have used up my quota on luck.

Recovery Food

Sometimes I wish I live or work neare Fort just so I could try the new places popping up over there. I'm no foodie, I just like new stuff.

We happened to be in the area yesterday and hubby remembered me mentioning Recovery Food to him. He was planning to go to MC Home Depot anyway and Recovery Food is just across it, so we decided to have lunch there. I ordered the Spicy Sweet Tuyo while hubby ordered the Tapa De Morning.

We ordered the "half recovery" bowls because the waiter said a "full recovery" bowl was good for two. The spicy sweet tuyo was good and generous, and it's not everytime that a restaurant offers tuyo. The bite of tapa I had was also good, sweet and tender. Our only beef (pun intended) was that the rice was kinda bitin - serving-wise and price-wise (our orders were P180/each). And this is coming from me who was a bit full from breakfast that time and who does not eat much rice anyway. Their side salad was also good, too. I read that Recovery Food is by the makers of Mamou - a fixture on Instagram posts which I have yet to try. I also saw from Instagram posts that their ramen is good, maybe we'll get to try that next excursion to the Fort.

 

Eye of Horus Mascara

I subscribed to Glamourbox PH back in November because I liked the idea of receiving a box of samples every month like I'm receiving a gift (though I paid for it myself!). However, since I'm no make-up junkie, I am getting kinda swamped with the samples. Maybe I'll stop after this month.

Anyhoo, one of the items I received for November was the Eye of Horus mascara. I don't use mascara because I'm in eyeglasses all the time. I decided to use this mascara for T+R's wedding just because hehe.

Now I believe my lashes are long and curly enough already, but look at the effect of Eye of Horus!

 

Excuse the under-eye area, I'm no beauty blogger.

Here's the official description:

If you’re after perfect natural mascara that won’t run, smudge or clump, Eye of Horus natural mascara is exactly what you are looking for. Formulated in the style of the ancient Egyptians, Eye of Horus mascara uses natural, non-irritating ingredients. Ideal for sensitive eyes and Eye of Horus Mascara strengthens and lengthens for ultimate Goddess lashes. Being formulated with nourishing waxes, removal is easy with a cloth warmed with water as the heat melts the waxes, cleaning lashes, making it gentle on the eyes.

 

Unlike other mascara I've tried, this one's really lightweight that I forgot to remove it one time before going to sleep (whoops!) It retails for P980.00 so maybe I'll pick up a tube after using up this sample.

Unfiltered

Who else loves Instagram? My social media hierarchy is presently Instagram > Twitter > Facebook. Instagram has made taking pictures more fun because of the wonderful filters. But sometimes, there are scenes that are best left unfiltered.

 

P.S. I've been using the Blogger app to upload pictures from my phone to well, Blogger. Then I edit on the laptop because the app keeps all the photos on the bottom part. However, I hate it that when I choose a bigger size for the photo, it skews up the resolution. Le sigh.

T + R

We attended T + R's wedding a couple of weeks ago. I think that this was the first wedding where I knew both the bride and groom well - T was my classmate in law school and a kababayan and while I first met R through T, she is also my office mate for a year now. I was placed in the office mates' table which was beside the law school table so I was table-hopping throughout the reception.

I am in love with carnations. Our wedding centerpieces also had carnations. I plucked a few pieces to bring home, though I wanted to take a vase-ful. The couple loves John Grisham.

 

Eternal bliss to T+R!

Twilight

One of the things I like about my job is that I get to go home early. I'm out of the office by 4:30pm and I'm home 6 to 6:30pm at the latest (yes, I waste 2 hours on commuting).

When I arrive home at the right time, I am rewarded with these sights:

'Tis my kind of twilight.