meet the superstars

when D generously offered to book two hotel rooms for our group's Christmas Party, everyone cleared their schedule to make the overnight possible. this group is a busy lot: one lawyer, one doctor, one store manager, one operations manager, one with crazy UK schedule, and two in upper management - so i was quite surprised when all replied with a resounding "yes!"

the only problem was some didn't want it to be a Christmas Party, not just yet. the reason: they haven't started shopping for gifts yet! hahaha. they know me so well! party = presents!!!

so this was our non-Christmas party. after all, we were celebrating their birthdays, so it turned out to be one belated and one advanced, with an uber yummy cake and a pile of food (as you can very well see on the picture) to share among good friends.

sometimes i can't help but wonder what i did to deserve such an amazing group of friends.

tiny trees

it's december! which means it is officially christmas territory. next to my birthday, christmas happens to be one of my most favorite days of the year. there's just something about the cool air, the carols, and the presents that bring out the kid in me.

when i was a kid, setting up the tree was something that my mom and i did together. she'd put on the record (as in the vinyl long playing kind) at the turntable and we'd sing carols as we trimmed our tree. then, as she wrapped presents, i'd be her human tape dispenser.

when i went off to college, i stayed in a dorm so that meant not being able to see our tree on a daily basis. you know what my mom did? she got me a tiny tree to take with me! so this tree right here is 18 years old. (okay - did i just reveal to the universe i went to college way back in 1994? i guess i did! now it's your turn to say, "you don't look that old!")

{is there such a thing as way too many pink balls? uhm, yes!
and i just noticed now but my tree appears quite lopsided!}

a couple of you remember the martian, and this tree here was his gift to me when i went off to law school and ... you guessed it, had to spend a whole lot of time in the dorms. originally this tree came with a whole lotta lights. and, as with old christmas lights, they eventually burned out.

{faux lemons!} 

i will admit i was sorely tempted to buy a tree + new decors especially when one of my friends ended up decorating her condo with christmas finds from divi for only P1,700. yep - P1,700 for a 5ft. tree, 2 5ft. needle pine garlands, and a whole lotta decors (balls, flowers, leaves) in pink and gold. another friend scored a whole lot of decors + a tree as well when she went the following week. me - i went - but i was able to stop myself since kuya ef pointed out that (1) i already have way too much stuff and (2) i hardly set up the tree anyway.

bah, humbug! hahaha.

scrooge issues aside, he is right. i have a full-sized tree in the maids-room-turned-into-laundry-room, and there are bazillions of decors hidden in various nooks and crannies. the pink christmas balls i think i got off season last year (used them to fill a huge bowl + the cake tray last christmas) and the faux lemons were from two or three years ago when someone from the st. james bazaar sold all of them to me for a little more than a hundred bucks i think (the white ribbons i added myself). i also found the christmas solar lamps my dad gave me last year (which will be brought out once the yard is cleaned!) so i am, without a doubt, amply covered in the christmas decor department.

what about you? how's your christmas preparations coming along?

from this family to yours ....

... A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

the gifts i've bought have been opened and appreciated, and the noche buena feast has been devoured to put it mildly. i've "recouped" my investment by cash gifts from family members who love me enough not to deprive me of the usual cash gift despite me nearing three and a half decades. tita nilda opened her luggage and bequeathed me with new and not-so-new clothes, including this lovely calvin klein dress i'm hoping to wear on the first day of work for 2012. i think i've had a perma smile on my face since i woke up this morning.

but the biggest blessing, more than all the little things and the big things, is the fact that our family is almost complete this christmas, and with tito mau arriving tomorrow, all that's missing is my mom. i miss her dearly, but i am thankful that the universe (aka GOD) made it possible for this wonderful Christmas to happen.

so, from the entire Villanueva clan, wishing you a very Merry Christmas and praying that your Christmas weekend will be every bit as blessed as ours is turning out to be.

on shopping at ace hardware, turning into a domestic diva, and receiving a step ladder for christmas

a year or so ago, i told my cousin that i'd stop sleeping at the top bunk when i turn 35.* apparently, she thought i would be cause i was afraid i'd break an ankle or something going up the steps, so she gamely offered to sleep on the top bunk so i could take her bed instead. i had to explain: it's not the going up that i'm afraid of, it's the fact that i still hang out there pretty much the same way i used to do when i was still in college.** i'm hoping that by the time i'm 35, i'd be married to some fabulous man (read: man, not boy) who, for obvious reasons, can't sleep on the top bunk with me. we'd probably take over the sleeper sofa in the basement or something like that.

yes, i dream a lot when i'm awake.

anyway, i'm thinking that notwithstanding my oh-so-persistently-single status, and my penchant for hanging around my aunt's place like a college student, i'm making great leaps and bounds by "taking charge" of my home and just "working it." hence, the numerous repairs around the house, the buying of appliances instead of shoes, and learning stuff like organic cleaning solutions, microfibre cloths, and how high a towel rack should be from the floor. it's fun, i must admit, and yet scary. after all, the persistent question on my mind right now is whether or not i am learning all of these things now cause i'll have to take care of these things, by myself (read: no spouse) from now till forever? oh no.

so yesterday, tita mayu and i hied off to ace hardware to buy her christmas gift for me. i love it how she's so generous that she gamely agreed to cross off one item from my christmas wish list. now, i'm the proud owner of a step ladder -- here's to being able to easily change lightbulbs, clean the chandelier, and remove the curtains for washing! in the process of going around, i also bought this, this, and this. so they weren't exactly in my budget, but i thought, hey my lola gave me christmas money, and wouldn't it be soooo smart of me (yes, i love patting myself on the back too) if i just bought something that would be useful, rather than a new bag or a pair of shoes?***

the trip to ace hardware was soooo fun ... i'm actually tempted to spend more money, like on garden pavers (yes, garden pavers!!! like spike could accommodate them, right?) and laundry hampers (buti na lang, wala yung gusto kong kind) and brass house numbers. the array of faucets, as well as shower heads made me salivate, and i can't wait till i have enough money in the bank to actually renovate my bathroom and kitchen and actually replace the existing ones with uber gorgeous fixtures. *sigh*

anyway, today's the last working day of the year, and i'm not sure how efficient i was over the "working break".**** i have the car, though, and i've a mind to go to sm after work and buy some of the stuff that i want to get. or maybe go home to tita mayu's first and then go to work afterwards. i dunno. what i do know is that it's crazy fun to be living ten minutes away from work. sigh, i wish it were like this everyday.

happy new year, everyone. i hope to see you again tomorrow. mwah. mwah.

*i sleep on the top bunk in my cousin's room whenever i sleep over at tita mayu's house.
** i graduated from college in 1998. you do the math ☺
*** in the interest of full disclosure, maybe the reason why i didn't think of buying a new bag or a new pair of shoes was cause i just got a new bag from my uncle, not the mention i got to borrow a previously unborrow-able bag from tita celia, and i've splurged on way too many shoes in the past couple of months. yes, that would be the reason. hahaha.
**** officially, there hasn't been work since the 23rd. while i was able to go on leave on the 23rd (i previously worked on a holiday), i couldn't afford not to work from the 28th to the 30th, especially since they've deducted bazillions from my last pay for this year to cover taxes and what not. so i've been at work. and i've done some work. but not as much work as i would've wanted to do. sorry boss.

a belated very merry christmas to my five readers :)

belated merry christmas everyone!

the entire week has been hectic and stressful. as some of you know, i had scheduled the plumber to come in last sunday and again on the 23rd to complete the minor repairs i wanted in my bathroom, the kitchen, and the dirty kitchen. i had thought they were minor, except that there's still stuff to be done and the list just keeps growing. i guess that's the stressful part about house ownership (or in my case, house sitting for parents who don't seem to want to sell the house but have no plans of coming back to manila). i had a major tiff with the first plumber whose only goal was to get the better of me, so i changed plumbers mid-job. the second guy was so much better - i guess he didn't have much of a choice since he works where i work too and you don't crap where you work, right? - but it turns out he was a carpenter who just knows about plumbing so that's a bit of a bummer too. still, he did a great job (at least to my limited plumbing knowledge) and he was so agreeable that i want to contract him to do more repairs around the house. well, more repairs as soon as i find the money to pay him with.

anyway, the repairs that absolutely needed to be done were completed by the 23rd, just in time for the party. funny cause while i usually hate latecomers, i wanted all of them to come late on the 23rd since i got home from a mad rush to ruins/sm/bring home theo at around 8 p.m. already and i still had to wash the dishes and cutlery we were going to use, clean the bathroom of debris, and wrap some gifts. anyway, the party started at midnight -- yes, we're a late bunch -- and ended at 5 a.m. and it was everything i hoped it would be. lots of laughter, lots of food, lots of good cheer. i'm blessed to be surrounded by amazing people, and i just can't help but be thankful that i've got these people to call my friends.

the 24th meant cleaning up after the party (a chore i don't mind now that i have lots of water, thanks to maynilad!), wrapping up more presents, and going home to my dad's family in cabanatuan. our christmas fare was lovely, except that the lady who made paella made something more akin to biko instead, which was a huge disappointment! and yesterday, we all went to bahay ni san jose, a place my tuloy thursday friends and i visited for KAP 10 which, by some miracle, turned out to be a place where my lola and aunt have been doing their own mini outreach for years. it was especially touching that the kids still remembered me, notwithstanding the very brief moment i shared with them. i just hope that i'll be able to do more for them in the future. they're sooo special, and they deserve so much more.

the plans for the next couple of days are up in the air. funny how i've always wanted to spend time away from my home during the holidays, staying either in nueva ecija or quezon city, but recently, i just want to hole up in my house. maybe it's cause my bathroom sink's finally back on the wall, or maybe cause i now have running water. maybe it's cause of the book my mom and dad sent (book 13 of the wheel of time!!!) or maybe cause my car aircon's broken. a lot of maybes.

but if there's one thing that's for sure, it's that i'm having the most wonderful holiday season ever.

a christmas wish list from a newly-minted domestic diva

so i'm now addicted to all things martha and young house love.

and after having spent what i would have spent on shoes and clothes on an automatic washing machine, and now that i can replace my own faucets, thankyouverymuch, i've realized it's time to revamp my typical christmas wish list with the new stuff that i now desire.

like a cordless power drill.

and a step ladder.

i also want my own continuity tester,

as well as a level

as a matter of fact, a gift certificate to true value or ace hardware would be very welcome, thankyouverymuch.

sometimes, even i can't understand this transformation that i'm going through. the other day, tita mayu gave me a set of shower fixtures to replace the one i had at home and i was extremely overjoyed and immediately placed it underneath their christmas tree. i'm tempted to replace the shower fixtures on my own soon, except that i don't think i have the skills to do that just yet.

then again, the word yet implies that i'll eventually get there. why not, right?

in the meantime, i'll go internet trolling for more stuff. there's this extendible rain type shower head that i'm majorly crushing on at amazon.