Updates + Spring Bazaar

I've been one busy bee huh. Yep, that's me. Moving, celebrating, waiting for the cable guy, waiting for the internet guy, selling on etsy, unpacking, buying furniture, studying, I could go on!

Our place isn't quite photo ready yet (I admit, that photo of the bedroom took ten minutes of tidying up.) But I'm hoping to make headway in the dining room soon as we just bought a new buffet table! (Well, not really new as it came from Craigslist, but new to us anyhow. Don't you just love Craigslist?) 

As for the bedroom, the husband has to build his Pax wardrobe closet from Ikea before we can put away most of his clothes. AND we still need a dryer. We bought a washer from the Sears Outlet the other week but no dryer. So I've got a huge amount of laundry waiting to be done and the pile is growing every day!

Oh the every day nuances of married life :D. So with all this going on, I realizes it's a little over a month until the SPRING BAZAAR that I'm joining! I'd better get a move on it, designing products to sell. I hope my new box of printer ink arrives soon!

In the meantime, if you're in the bay area on April 16, please do check out the Spring Bazaar which is going to be held at the Winery, on Treasure Island, San Francisco. I do sure hope to see you there!

P. S. I've also been studying blog designing. "Chocolate" (as I fondly called this blog) is due for some design tweaks. I've made the switch to Wordpress on "Studio" as I like to call my "professional" blog, Studio Alcantara. Please do stop by!

Birthday Weekend!

My 2011 birthday marked:

1) My first year of married life and living in the U.S. (it's our anniversary next month!)

2) Two moves, one to an apartment in the U.S. and last week, to a townhouse!

3) My first Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Black Friday Sale! Scored a super affordable drafting table from Michael's.

4) My first Christmas with my in-laws and away from my family. But I'm going home twice this year!

And that's all I've got off the top of my head.


And now for my birthday weekend:

A humongous chocolate cake from Costco to kick it off

A delicious dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (I am now a sweet potato casserole convert) 

and a movie The Adjustment Bureau

Gorgeous flowers from my family delivered by my cousin

A drive down to Half Moon Bay and yummy lunch at the Ritz Carlton

And shopping at the Sears Outlet. We were looking for a Dryer but ended up with a bag of clothes because everything, I literally mean everything was $7 or less. Clothes and shoewise at least.

Now if only I could get this placed cleaned up enough to invite people over for dinner!

I fondly remind Gerard, next month is our first year anniversary. Teeheee!

Today is my sister's birthday too! (I miss celebrating with her.) And if I'm not mistaken, the birth of my new nephew, Lael, as well! Can't wait to meet him!

On Internet Connections

We've been internet-less for a week since we moved, aside from sporadic bouts of wifi and mobile use.

When Comcast finally gave us the green light, and I literally mean the green light on our modem, I cannot begin to express the joy I felt at being connected. Then it took a good hour to get our wifi up and running for some reason. Mind you, this is with a techie-geek couple both working on it and arguing about what we weren't doing right hahaha. Oh the stress of no connection.

When did I become this person? I can't help but chuckle and shake my head in wonder.

Now that we're finally back online, I can't seem to remember what I used to spend hours doing. 

It'll come back to me.

Let's start with a birthday weekend post!

Home Sweet Home (At Least Partly)

I must say, I love our new bedroom.

Bedrooms have always been sacred space to me, a place to relax, unwind and just me. I'm something of a self-proclaimed homebody, I love nights at home, just reading or watching TV.

All of our bedroom furniture is the same with the addition of two pretty side table lamps (a wedding/housewarming gift from two friends.) But this new space is bigger, less cramped. (Even with all of our clothes and suitcases on the floor, waiting to be put away.) This room feels so much more comfortable, even with the whir of the BART running every few minutes. It's so relaxing that I haven't had trouble sleeping since we moved here and it usually takes me a few nights to adjust to a new place.

I love soft, freshly washed sheets and mountains of pillows, pretty comforters and quiet spaces. Course the new sheets don't hurt either, white jersey cotton sheets, a steal at $24.99 for 4 piece set from Target.

So here's a peek at our new bedroom. Not very different looking from the old one, but it just feels so much more like home.

 

P.S. Stylists must spend an awful lot of time prepping bedrooms for a shoot! I wasn't about to bring the steamer out just for those wrinkles.

The Birthday Wishlist

In the midst of unpacking and arranging our new place, I'm taking a break to celebrate my birthday! Or even better, my birth month! Hey, nothing wrong with milking it for what it's worth. Any excuse for a mini vacation with the husband, a shopping spree, or to indulge in all my favorite food. Plus dinner parties! Looking forward to hosting small dinners with close friends in our new home, just a few at a time to keep it cozy and intimate.

But the day before my birthday, I'm thinking of my gift wish list. These are my big three:

1) Plane Ticket to Visit the Family and attend Rhoda's Wedding (Check! Thank you Mom and Dad!)

2) New, Bigger Place to live in, complete with home office/studio for me (Check! Thank you Husband!)

3) I really really miss having a DSLR. Not that I don't love my Canon G11 but I'm seriously contemplating going into freelance photography. Plus I've got to photograph all these new products for Studio Alcantara right? So third on my birthday wish list and what I'm trying to save up for:

Photo from 60dcanon.net

A Canon 60D.

And there you have it. Would love a few more odds and ends like:

Red Round Placemats like these from Crate & Barrel.
(I see a trip to the Crate & Barrel outlet in my future.)

Becky Higgin's Project Life Scrapbooking Kit.

I'm not really a scrapbooker per say but it's an all included kit wherein all you do is place photos in pockets and write on "journal" cards. I thought it would be a great way to document, well, life!

And later on, when we have time and the weather's better, I'd like a mini vacation like these from Living Social Escapes.

Ok time go get back to unpacking. I'll never be able to have people over to celebrate with me if I don't start cleaning this place up!

Moving Math

20 Something Boxes
17 Car Trips
10 Days
5 Awesome People who came over to help
5 Bruises (Cause I'm clumsy like that)
4 Plastic Bins Reused Several Times Over
3 Moving Van Loads
2 Paper Cuts (From Cardboard Boxes and Dry Hands.)
1 Hand Truck

= Gerard and Maita now happily living in a two story townhouse.

Photos soon!

On Riding Trains

I’m sitting on the BART as I write this and I can’t help but marvel about how my life has changed.

My wedding ring winks at me from my left hand and from my window I can see the sun setting over San Francisco, where I’m headed to for my first graphic design class.

Growing up, I could never have fathomed that this would be my life someday.

In fifteen weeks (I only know that because I’m headed home as soon as this class is done) I will be on a plane headed back to the Philippines, for the first time since I’ve moved to the US. I will have been gone for a year and I wonder how things will have changed there.

Life’s a funny thing like that. Never thought I would become a teacher. Never thought that I would marry Gerard and we would end up living in the Bay Area. (Ok fine, maybe I did have thoughts of marrying Gerard haha.) Never really thought about what leaving home would be like and how much I would miss my family every day.  (Working in media and design, not so shocking since I did major in communication.)

Yet, here I am, on a train, amazed by my reflection and location, in the window.

I guess sometimes, it’s when you’re forced to sit down and wait to get somewhere that you realize how far you’ve come.

On another note, poor Chocolate, Vanilla, and Then Some has been sorrily neglected in favor of hellowhimsy and etsy! I’m hoping that once life settles down a bit, I’ll have more time to write here again.

But on the other hand, I have loved the fact that I’ve been living life offline, and not just writing about it.