Planning my Son's bear-y adorable Christening Party

Planning a budget friendly christening was a challenge to me because the media is so full of extravagantly styled parties; but in a sense that we wanted our event to be intimate as possible, we opted to have it bear themed (because we call our son Teo- bear) and invited our closest family and friends to celebrate in welcoming our son Liam Mateo to the Christian World.

We named our son Liam Mateo (Liam- meaning resolute protector, Mateo- meaning gift from God)

I'd like to share to you how we did it for less than 30k. Here's our supplier ratings to help you with your own planning too. Hopefully this would also be constructive to the suppliers we mentioned below.

I'm Baaaack!!!!

How have you girls been?! Yup, I'm back to blogger again! After realizing that I missed writing and sharing my vintage treasures and a bit of my adventures :)

Photo by my friend Raquel

I finally got married to my boyfriend of more than 7 years last February and my life is a bit of an exciting mess from preps up to now, and still adjusting from being single to becoming an Army Wife. We had a lot of fun celebrating our love with a couple of our closest family and friends who were there for us since day 1. And we were so happy that all of our hard work and planning paid off. ( If you want me to make a review of our suppliers, please do comment below)

Fast Paced

These past couple of months has been a roller coaster ride for both my family and I. Far from the constant lull of my life as an aesthetic nurse and an occasional fashion blogger.

Last February, my boyfriend of 6 years asked me to marry him. Though no formal proposal took place; his intentions and plans were already enough for me, so before his dad left for Saudi Arabia both our families had a little get together and discussed a bit about our plans. :)

Both our families during the "pamamanhikan"

More after the break :)

Budoy Today

Exactly a year ago, I blogged about some new additions to our family; four- legged best friends that became close to our hearts and were treated as true siblings. Its a great feeling to show you guys an update on how Budoy's doing.

This was Budoy a year ago,, the cute scraggly dog.

Look at Budoy today after the break :)

Light and Flowy

Met up with my closest college friends last Monday for  our friends' Carl and Drew's homecoming  and here's what I wore:

Lace top and Sheer Kimono- Ombre Vintage , DIY cut off denim shorts, nude pink bow flats- Jessica, Bracelets- Ombre Vintage

I wore this flowy Sheer Kimono on top of a lace blouse with denim shorts and flats for a sweet but stylish laid back look.

So near yet so far

My man in uniform

"Loving a military man is not hard. The distance is hard, the worry is hard, the sacrifices are hard. But loving him...that's the easiest thing I've ever done."

This weather's making me feel emotional :P let me tell you guys about our (cheesy) story and how it feels like to be a military S.O....

college days circa 2006

My boyfriend and I have been together for 6 years, I've known him since college and we were inseparable ever since, or so I thought. After college both of us were having a hard time getting jobs as nurses; he then decided to join the Philippine Army. At first I didn't approve his decision, I was all worried that he might be stationed in a far province and I might not spend the time with him just like we used to and I was also starting to worry about his safety when he becomes a soldier. In the end, He made me realize that he was doing this for the both of us, a secure life for his family.

My so called Quarter- life crisis and.. a New Phone :)

The quarterlife crisis is a period of life following the major changes of adolescence,usually ranging from the late teens to the early thirties, in which a person begins to feel doubtful about their own lives, brought on by the stress of becoming an adult. The term was coined by analogy with mid-life crisis.

-taken from Wikipedia

Hey girlies! :) I'm still alive :) just had to do a lot of re-thinking with the decisions I made in (my hormone- driven dramatic) the past. Sorry but I felt like I was experiencing a quarter- life crisis and I thought too much about myself at that time, I felt selfish. So.. now, to summarize; I am now trying my luck to go and work abroad as a nurse but Fashion will forever be in my heart. I have to be matured about what I really want in the future and just stick with the plan that my boyfriend and I had in the first place :P (oo nag drama lang ako for awhile, hehe..), and my/ "our" salary as a nurse/s here in the Philippines would not be enough to support a family.

Follow your Heart

Here's what I wore to work yesterday

Ikat print sweater- Ombre Vintage, rust jeggings- the Landmark, platforms- Parisian
Photo by my lil sis :)

Birthday man

You've just seen a trailer from a movie that my boyfriend and I watched yesterday. I must say that The Underworld: Awakening, lived up to the hype! I had me totally gripped from the first scenes from the movie. It was also nice to see Kate Bekinsale's character, "Celine" again; a femme fatale in petite frame in her sexy leather outfit fighting off the Lycans in action- packed sequences. Over all it was a great action movie, you'll never get bored with the fight scenes and special effects that's just better seen in a theater. Nice pick BF! ( I keep on picking the most boring movies kasi,hahaha!)

So here's what I wore yesterday:

Maxi dress- The Landmark, Cardigan- thrifted, Belt- The Landmark, Sandals- Rosanna Pena, beaded cuff- Bazaar, Ring- Ombre Vintage

More after the break:

New Addition

A couple of days ago, I saw this poor dog outside on the street near our house on my way home, it was still a puppy with its collar bit off. It was never aggressive. The next day, papa got so excited telling us how he was befriending the stray puppy over breakfast and how he wanted to adopt it and give the puppy a new home. awww... :) Meet "Budoy".

Papa giving Budoy his first bath in a long time.

Tables Turned

On my way home from meeting Ruffa and Mike, I got a text message from my younger sister telling me that Mommy (our grandmother) looked like she suffered a heart attack. I then called her phone but she didn't answer; so I just walked hurriedly home, anxious.

I saw my grandmother, awake but unresponsive, she was so weak that she can't even speak. A few minutes later the Paramedics came and gave her the needed medical attention. She didn't have a heart attack, she 

got hypoglycemic and her BP shot up.

My mom and dad opening the gates for the EMTs

My Challenge + Day 15 Sneak Peek

I saw this video above while I was logging in my Chictopia account. I know I have just been shamelessly plugging most of the time here in my blog just because I really don't have much interesting events happening in my life other than my shop; I'm really happy thrifting beautiful clothes and sharing it to all of you. But upon seeing the video I felt challenged that I need to put up more outfit posts than I should; no excuses. :)

Plethora's first flea market experience: Preparation

Noticed the clock ticker on the upper right side of my blog? ----->
We're joining the Brown Bag Vintage and Crafts market on December 9, 2011!

I received a text message a couple of days ago from Ms. Nori, informing me that they'll be having a vintage and crafts market on December at the Filipinas Heritage Library. Well, she had me at vintage! haha! My heart leaped with joy and I knew that I had to join this event because the location was very convenient for me. So I just texted her that I was interested to join, after 2 days I already got an email about the event and the proposal that they have for concessionaires like me.

Brown Bag Market's cool crafty poster

Everything happens for a reason

My boyfriend and I watched the Adjustment Bureau last Friday; it was a good movie...we gave it 3/5 stars ( we should have waited for it in DVD) the love story was sweet though. The moral of the story was that everything happens for a reason, not everything goes according to plan, we just have to trust what bigger plan is written for us. The moral of the story is really nice, its something that I live by whenever something unexpected happens that instead of feeling disappointed, I would feel hopeful of what would happen in the future. So any way, here's what I wore :)

Landmark printed chiffon dress and cardigan my fave archive brogues

Here's a pic of my boyfriend and I :) love love love!

I really appreciate the time that my boyfriend is giving me, despite of his very busy schedule. We might not be together during the holidays or even birthdays or anniversaries, but with his effort of always being there whenever he can, and making a day special even if there's no occasion, makes my heart melt and love him more every time.

Following a dream

I always wanted to make my own clothes since I was younger. By high school, I knew that I wanted to take up Fine Arts in College, I didn't want to study Fashion Design because I loved all forms of art, like graphic design and photography and I was interested to learn about all of them. But then my uncle, who had a fine arts degree, advised me to follow my family and take up nursing, and pursue my love for arts as a hobby. The obedient daughter that I was, I did what I was told and took up nursing, not because I was pushed or anything, I was also interested in science and the human body too. 

Four years after college and still a nurse, my childhood dream was always at the back of my mind. Not letting go of my love for fashion, I starting selling vintage clothes online. 

here's a view of the clutter of my desk, hehe...full of fashion books and my inspiration board

A few weeks earlier I celebrated my birthday; a year older and definitely wiser. I had a realization, that in my age of 26, I was already thinking and preparing for the future, and thinking of having a family of my own. But then I didn't want to have any regrets of not even trying to reach my goal of learning fashion design or even sewing. My mind was flooded with ideas, as I researched for different Fashion Schools that would be accessible and has reasonable tuition fees. And there it was, Fashion Institute of the Philippines. Where was it located? just a few blocks away from the aesthetic clinic I was working at, What a coincidence!!!!

Fashion Institute of the Philippines website

I bought books at the local bookstores and got myself familiar with the terms, I also found my lola's sewing machine :) vintage love!!! 

a close up view of my grandma's sewing machine, gotta love vintage! :)

my lola's singer sewing machine. revamped with a new wooden case and motor

All that was left now was thinking how I could come up with the tuition fee! haha!! I guess I gotta sell more clothes to help fund my dream! :) my gosh, this will be my biggest investment yet!

forum influence

I've joined an online forum a couple of months ago, in my quest of finding a reputable skin clinic that offers laser hair removal in a reasonable price. And boy, did I get more that what I asked for :) Yes, I did had my laser hair removal and I got really satisfying results (review to be posted later) I also had my beauty loot from Watson's because of the products that I wanted to try from the reviews of the Girltalkers that I read and hopefully I could write them each specific reviews later on.

Here's my Watson's Beauty Loot:

1. Asian Secrets Lulur Scrub

2. Opal Pink 1 minute deep conditioning hair treatment

3. Marrionaud Tweezers

and for the Make-up

4. Nichido over all stick in Sunset Glow

5. E.L.F. under eye concealer and highlighter

6. Maybelline Pure Water lipstick in P12

7. E.L.F. Eyebrow Kit

8. Wish lip and cheek tint

Lastly, Girltalk helped me get in a job!!! :) (this is a very interesting story, I even told this during the final interview and nailed it!) I'm still looking forward in getting accepted in a job through ODesk by the way, I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for the blessings God! :)

RING IN THE NEW YEAR

Yeah yeah, I know this is a late post, since January is practically ending, hehe... so let me start by telling you how I spent my New Year's Eve. Hmm...it was unfortunate that I got scheduled for hospital duty at 6am for January 1, so you could imagine my demise of not having to celebrate with my family, but just trying my best to sleep the night before. So, there I was trying to sleep at 10pm even though firecrackers are already firing in their glory. I just prayed and closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was off to dreamland..."clang clang clang" yes...my grandmother woke me up as soon as the clock struck 12!!! waaaahhh!!!! I was so angry, but because of respect I kept it to myself. I then quickly ate a hearty media noche with my family and went to bed by 1am.

And then, my phone rang. It was already 6am, and It slipped my mind that I was supposed to go to the hospital for duty!!! WHAT A WAY TO START THE NEW YEAR!

After that very tiring and toxic duty, I told to myself that this wasn't going to be my whole year. And an exciting series of events came my way :) all of these are to be posted very soon!

impromptu/rush date: explained

My college duty mates and I, my boyfriend's head on my shoulder (we we're not a couple during this time)

I met my boyfriend Bernard in nursing school. We became a couple actually during our third year in college, we had common friends, became close and we're inseparable ever since. We've been together for almost four years, had a share of our ups and downs but we still remain so crazy in love with each other.