I love...

this online mag! God knows how I saw their first issue but I've been smitten since...

www.covetgarden.com <3

Aside from the gorg houses they feature (I swear I've vowed to be minimalist, maximalist and whatever-list each time they feature a minimalist, maximalist or whatever-list home!haha), the mag also has craft projects that are inspiring and that my inggitera-self covets (title plug!). It's a scaled-down version of lonny mag --which is kinda nice since I usually get frantic trying to absorb everything when I'm on a lonny rampage!:)

all this talk about DIY

..made me think of Martha and the gasp-inducing fact that she used to be a Chanel model!

Got the pic from here! *slow clapping non-stop* for Martha!

DIY+IKEA= love

I'm such a frustrated DIY girl. Not only are my countless crafting books (I have all of Martha's, for example) a testament to that, I also had a phase of stalking following design blogs like this one or this and omg, countless more! My friend Myra and I once seriously discussed headboard making during one of our marathon Skype sessions. I even subscribed to Anthology mag during this "design-crazed" period. *cough* cough* I think I've got the creativity and the imagination and I sure as hell have the time but zzzzzzzzz...laziness steps in and ok..i see a book and i'm off to read it ASAP or do the next task (i have self-diagnosed thy self to have mild ADD). Ok I know I'm rambling but I've got a point, promise!haha :)
Ok back to that design-mania--of course I'm over it now. From time to time though, during these lazy weekends when husband is playing his NBA game (emotional screams of "Come on, Ref!" can be heard as I type this right now)  and I'm happily surfing away, I stumble upon my old blog haunts and SIGH, feel the love all over again! Take ikeahackers.net for example! Love, love, love! Here are some of my fave's:

imagine from a measly hanger (I had one of these bulky things) to:

this cool glass hanging thingy

or this amazing transformation of the ubiquitous lack table (in red)  to this fun bench:

There are more ambitious ones though like this one below from littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com (another amaaaaaazing site I absolutely love!!!):

*sigh* These images make me wanna go to the nearest IKEA and Home Depot and start a project! Maybe I WILL (crossing fingers now)<3 Ikea's already a haven for creative basics for a start-up fam like mine and who knew you could even make it better!

Ooh, I almost forgot! I did do a home project successfully!!! See below:

Ok fine, all it took was buying the decal from Wal-Mart and cleaning the  bathroom wall AND pasting (a long process that required patience, ok) but it's a start. :)

How true!!!

I must be very clever (considering the hairiness of the beard)!haha


image from one of the blogs I love 

Sunny-day killers!

If you live in a freaking cold place like I do (ahem..today's temp: O degrees), sunny days are God-sent. And I mean, really prayed-for, blessings from up above. My pulse quickens, I scramble for decent clothes and within five seconds have thought of where to explore, where the sunscreen is and yeah, tell a living soul (a.k.a. husband) my plans!:) Lately though, Vancouver's lovely sunny days have been wasted on me because of these two culprits:

That's what I get for getting such great books from our lib! I've lamented the fact that SF's Public Library is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay, 2,000 times better than Vancouver's but lately the choices have been a lot better so I am now a convert.

First book's really thrilling and the twist is awesome! I swear I literally had to alarm and un-snooze my phone just so I could ration off my reading. The story's about a mom who's suddenly thrust in a major murder thingy (amazon.com has better reviews, ok!haha) because of a look-alike. It's interesting and heartwarming and a character featured was the worst mom ever (which gave me an insight on what NOT to be!!!).

Next one by Curtis Sittenfeld (she's a girl btw) was the MAJOR KILLER of the two. I could not move away from the bed/couch/lounge chair whatever and I admit, I was still thinking of what was going to happen next while at mass or at COSTCO (it's THAT GOOD since COSTCO is my happy place). It's not a mystery or anything like the first book and it's totally fictional but it's oh-so-juicy! It's supposed to be a fictional life story of a US first lady who is 98% like Laura Bush!haha! I was super imagining her while gobbling up the pages so that made it more interesting.  When I lived in the States, I often wondered what the H was going on her head while her hubby did all those horrendous booboo's (I did watch Fahrenheit 911 after all!!!) and this offered a good insight.

Speaking of Bush, I remember how when OBAMA won, we heard cheering--wild and manic celebrations--on the streets of SF! I got goosebumps and felt like I was witnessing part of American history (ok, a very very small part). And of course the "BUSH" street sign (we lived perpendicular to BUSH St. in SF then) was vandalized and now displayed a hastily scrawled "OBAMA". Ok I digress...as usual!

I was super sorry to get to last pages of these books! I hope I score great titles again soon! <3

My 7 year old self's dream visualized

As a little girl and my sis can super attest to this, I used to take things apart just to see what was inside. Maybe that was the breeding ground for my inner chismosa (haha!) but really, I was super curious.  It meant broken thermometers (mercury's really cool), torn-apart Sony Walkmans (super super cool) and so on. I was disappointed ALL the time--seeing the intricate network of wires and whatever components because I imagined something cooler and more fantastic, I guess. Come on, I actually  thought Heckle and Jeckle were inside our blender chopping/osterizing stuff!  I let out little gasp when I saw these rad works of artist Mads Peiterson!

*slow clap* slow clap! amazing! If only I could draw then, I wonder how I would have represented what I imagined what was inside a stereo! :)
fantastic pics from this site

Why weren't these around in 1979?!

So future spawn is now 4 months (168 days to gooooo!!!) and of course, the crammer that I am, I know the "baby area" won't probably be ready until I give birth or baptize my twerp so I wasn't really looking for stuff until...I *gasp* saw these:

 Sweaty palms alert!!! Gorgeous! I can imagine said spawn trying to creep out already! Of course it's not available in Canada (what's new).  So after having mustered the acceptance that my little one won't have a rad crib, I saw another fabulous one: 

Super cute! Crib, changing table and play house all rolled into one dream package.  It's called "Nina's House" by this genius named Dave Keune and I waaaaaaaaant it (note to husband). It can so easily be transformed if spawn turns out to be a boy (red paint...firehall!)

I love love love! I wonder with the abundance of crafty manong karpinteros in Manila who can conjure anything you desire as long as you have the dough and the picture why no one thought of this!  (I've been staring at Nina's house too long and I think if I had it I might just try to play in it myself.UH OH). Haha!



pod pic from this gorgeous Aussie site: http://www.ubabub.com
Nina's house pic from www.davekeune.com/product/ninas-house and babyccinokids.com/2010/07/22/ninas-house/