The last event of the 2022 is with USK QC at UP Diliman. Hannah and Shine were not able to join, but Kathleen (@deartoourhearts) was! She’s one of my botanical art friends in instagram, and apparently Aira’s classmate from high school. What a small world! We met up at UP Diliman, Sunken Garden.
I’ve visited UP Diliman a number of times before. This is where Inggo spent half of his life. He also accompanied me that day as a moral support/body guard lol. He was supposed to jog but changed his mind. When we met up with Kath, we spent our first painting session near the benches. We tried painting the whole sunken garden. I hated my fist painting HAHAHA.
It started to rain so we looked for cover. I found a cluster of birds of paradise under the pavilion area and started painting those. I really liked this one because I got to do negative space painting. My talented friend started another painting, this time she painted the library:
Then it was latag time! Sadly didn’t get some pictures. I had a lot of fun that day. Inggo and I walked all the way to Maginhawa after. Plein air and landscape art isn’t really my thing I’m still game for future events! I think that I’ll learn something from joining more of this type of events.
Multiple events made me unstable/depressed (not diagnosed) last year, which led to me buying 3 VIP tickets to Bini’s album showcase concert. I wanted to be happy so I spent money. No regrets. Bini is an all-girl pinoy pop group. I love all of their songs. Plus their vip ticket was around 1250php, so it was really worth it. We got an album + random photocard + a poster.
It was held at SM North Skydome. It was a good thing we went there immediately after work. The rain was pouring!
The fandom name was Blooms. I was a baby bloom. I LOVE their songs “Na na na”, “Lagi”, and “Feel Good” – I can sing them by heart. But I couldn’t memorize their names and faces at first. Inggo and Hannah weren’t blooms. The goal was to convert one of them into a fan. It was also Inggo’s first concert experience — not sure if it was a good or traumatic experience though HAHA. The energy of the other blooms singing the commercials while waiting for the main program tired us out. It was a good thing that this concert had chairs.
After the event, I finally managed to memorize Bini’s names HAHAHA. Can I also just say that the SM Skydome acoustics were great?! Finally happy that I could hear them live.
I assisted Hannah (@hmb_urger) on her mural projects this year. One was in Tagaytay, and another one was just in Metro Manila. The Tagaytay one was an experience. Inggo accompanied us and offered his cooking skills for the trip. We stayed at Hannah’s client’s house over the weekend.
We were planning on having bulalo, but surprisingly we couldn’t buy beef at the grocery. It seems like you have to buy from the butcher or palengke, but this was a few towns away from where we were. Actually, I’m not even sure if we were in Tagaytay?! The landmark was Twin Lakes, we were in Amuyong, Cavite. Huh.
It was a whole day of painting for us. We first sketched the design using colored chalk and started filling in the colors one by one. We both had one wall each to sketch and paint. Thankfully Hannah gave me a cheat sheet/print out of the design. Also since we couldn’t find any beef we took a picture with a cow instead:
The Metro Manila one was a quick mural. I assisted once again painting the flowers. I should also note that we attempted to do a mural last April, but went to Starbucks instead due to the heat.
Overall it was a fun experience. Will definitely assist again! If you want to check out the finished murals, please check our her instagram page @hmb_urger
Our exhibit “Natural Heritage in Focus: The Philippine Flora and Fauna Art Exhibition” at the Upper Courtyard of the National Museum of Natural History ran from May 24 until October 3, 2022. This is in partnership with Philippine Botanical Art Society and Philippine Fauna Art Society in celebration of National Heritage Month and International Day for Biological Diversity. We went to the exhibit opening last May 24, 2022.
I went to work in the morning that day and bragged about the exhibit opening to almost everyone in the office HAHA. I was proud of myself and my officemate Trisha as we both got accepted in the exhibit. This was a juried exhibit where 3 botanists judged our artwork based on accuracy and talent. After work, Inggo fetched me from there, and we both went to NMNH in the afternoon.
Hello to Lolong! One of the largest crocodiles in the world.
It was our first time to visit the NMNH after renovation. National Museum visits are now free to public for a long time now, but we didn’t have a chance to visit because its too far from us. When we got there, we were treated as VIPs in the exhibit opening. It was a wonderful experience. Ms. Bing’s speech, even though I’ve heard it numerous times already, had more impact at that time because it felt like all of her hard work came into fruition with this exhibit. I also got to finally meet Sherilyn again! Here are some photos of the exhibit opening. Thank you to Inggo for being our photographer!
Definitely one of the highlights of this year! âĨ
Around November last year, I had the privilege of volunteering for MovEd Org: a non-profit organization that advocates for early childhood education. My friend Airawas the main artist who designed the proposed murals for their classrooms in Navotas. She asked Hannahand I to help in painting the murals. We thought we were supposed to paint a wall each. Nope! Instead, we each got a classroom HAHAHA.
As volunteer artists, we were asked to sketch and translate Aira’s designs to the walls so the volunteers can easily color them. Sort of like a giant coloring book.
We used the org’s readily available paints. I think the paint was already old since we had a hard time applying it to the wall. So we had to reapply another layer for every flower.
The first layer
First layer for my classroom
A second coat and some progress
The back of the classroom. It was a flower explosion!
Some of the volunteers were from MovEd PH, teachers, parents, and some students as well! It was a community effort to help improve the classrooms in Navotas.
Hannah’s classroom
Progress
Hi Bebs
Aira’s classroom
Huge sunflowers! âĨ
It took us the whole day, but we finished all 3 classrooms!
Teacher, bat nakapikit ako?
Because I love sunflowers. (Excuse the bangs lol)
Congrats to Aira for the beautiful design concepts! And thank you to MovEd PH for the opportunity! We had a great time. Thank you for inviting us. âĨ
A few months ago was my first ever exhibit at Pineapple Lab. Inggo and I went to the exhibit after our work. What we didn’t expect was the heavy traffic since it was a Payday Friday. So we walked from my office all the way to Rockwell Guadalupe.
There’s not much else to say, really. I felt proud and giddy when I saw my paintings up on the wall. I wished my bbs good luck, and we went to Rockwell for dinner. I bought an XL watercolor pad as a reward for myself. And then we went home.
I think its because I’m just writing this now that I can’t remember all the details of that night. After a month in Pineapple Lab, I had a Lalamove driver pick up my paintings. Nobody wanted them, so I proudly display them now on my office desk.
2021 Edit: latest wordpress updates botched up the photo sizes. I’ve been trying to fix this but to no avail. Not sure if I would still bother fixing it.
A few weeks after Sticker Con MNL 2019, 3/4 of the January Makers PH team went up north to Baguio for the Baguio Craft Fair 2019. Jean participated in this fair a year ago and said it was a good event. Since Hannah and I wanted a quick vacation, we went with her this year.
Baguio Craft Fair is on its 4th year. It was held at Mount Cloud bookshop, near Brent International School Baguio. When we arrived on Day 1, it reminded me so much of our Metro Manila version – 10a Alabama Arts & Crafts fair. It was held at the open area of the place, with different crafters selling their wares under the huge makeshift roof, or even under the pine trees.
Pretty banderitas!Weaving workshop!Amazing work!I met someone famous! Meet Pacha the mountain dog. âĨ
What about us? We were located under the pine trees HAHA. No worries though! Since we’re in Baguio, where the weather is cool and the sun is not that hot.
Our table! âĨ seamountainco’s handmade watercolors, clay palette, and a bit of my stickers.Some of her sample works.Her stickers.My flower stickers. âĨ I find it funny that they’re more interested with the bird rather than my stickers lol.Hannah’s stickers and post cards. âĨ Cuties!!!Hannah’s mom also asked us to sell her handmade knitted booties. They were our best seller HAHAHA. I also brought some of my printed bags! (This was during Day 2)Monique’s food stickers.
We took turns manning our booth. Sometimes I’d wander off and get coffee (they encourage everyone to bring their own utensil/tumblers). Or sometimes I’d take photos of the place and just breathe the fresh air.
Coffee! âĨI was mimicking bemzenit’s post card HAHA.My lunch. Hannah took this photo. I have no idea why HAHAHA.
We also had an extra task for this trip – which was to take decent photos of our products. Thanks to the huge space, we had lots of areas we could take photos from. It was also in our aesthetic – which was nature. Reasons for these photos to be announced hopefully soon!
It rained in the late afternoon, so we had to pack up and cut our bazaar time earlier than expected. For Day 2, the organizers moved the vendors located in the open area to inside the house.
Our table!We had more space to display our products. More space for my postcards! âĨ
Anddd that’s it! Thank you for sticking around until the end of this lengthy post. Based from this experience, I would conclude that this event is really similar with 10A Alabama. The crowd prefers more handmade items rather than stickers. My postcards and bags were a hit here, I should have bought more original works for sale lol. Oh well! Here’s to another good experience. âĨ
A day after Christmas, Inggo and I went to Las Casas Quezon City. The reason is that I saw an appetizing food photo from a friend on Instagram and asked him the resto’s name. He highly recommended this resto to us and pushed me to get a reservation asap lol. And I did! On this blog, I will write about the interior. Check out Inggo’s food review here.
This place was previously a mansion that was sold to the Las Casas group. They are famous for the resort Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan where they take old houses around the Philippines and rebuild them on their grounds. Any damage found on the houses, they do their best to repair or preserve it.
Dining area.
Art nouveau inspired foyer.
Sitting room that’s not open to the public when we visited.
The focal point of the sitting is a beautiful Amorsolo portrait. Must be the previous owner?
Ceiling design with wood carvings.
Wood details near the stairs.
Mosaic detail on the wall panels all over the ground floor.
Stairs.
Second floor houses the function rooms. More art nouveau inspiration with Alphonse Mucha paintings / concealed doors.
Gustav Klimt replicas of his works “Mother and Child” and “The Kiss”.
A peek at the back of the building.
Fishermen art installation near the pool.
They’re building additional houses for future use. Apparently they’re planning on making Las Casas QC a boutique hotel.
I find it a bit weird that the interiors of the main building is in French style, yet the rest of the buildings are in Philippine style. But nevertheless, we had an amazing yet expensive lunch here. I look forward to their boutique hotel offerings in the future.
Last month, Rico’s Lechon finally opened a branch in Manila. We’ve tasted the original Rico’s Lechon in Cebu way back in 2013 (when I wasn’t blogging yet and the food blog was on hiatus at the time). So when we heard the news, we immediately scheduled a trip to BGC.
But before going to the said restaurant, I asked that we stop by first at a coffee shop that’s recommended by people I follow on IG lol. We attempted to try this cafe the last time we went to BGC, but we learned that they close WAYYYY TOO EARLY on weekends.
This Japanese coffee shop specializes in Arabica beans. They offer their drinks with either a Blend (two different varieties of arabica beans) or a Single Origin which comes from one source. You can learn more about them on their website.
You can buy your own beans here!
We ordered a tall Single origin Spanish Latte (190php) and an Americano (150php). I asked what’s the difference with a Spanish latte with a normal one and the barista said a spanish latte is sweeter. How’s the taste for us coffee lovers? Hmmm. The interiors look nice though!
The Japanese Minimalist aesthetic. âĨ
Wood. White. Soft lighting. âĨ
The second floor offers benches only and an exhibit of their beans from around the world.
A blog post that is long overdue is about my interior design freelance project last year. My classmates from High school contacted me late July 2017 to do an interior design proposal for their restaurant project in Zambales.
As with any interior design project, this didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted. A lot of problems were found on site and with the travel time of 4-5 hours, it was difficult to monitor the construction progress.
The expected final outcome.
Nevertheless, we did the best of the situation The restaurant had their soft opening on September 2017 and grand opening around November 2017. Their food is about comfort/happy food. And not being biased here, their food is delicious!
HS classmates effort.
I was also requested to do the mural outside of the resto. They asked our classmate Kat (leftykatletters on Instagram) to do the lettering. She was also my seatmate back in 4th year! This was actually our first time to do a mural. For first timers, I think we did great! âĨ
