I take a lot of photos (you know that already), and sometime ages ago, I got hooked with digital scrapbooking too. But lately I enjoy doing traditional scrapbooking again. There’s something about putting together patterned papers, instant photographs, and library sticker labels that make me fall in love, in the same way I love keeping and writing on journals.

Here’s something I did last December. I wish I have more time doing non-digital stuff like these.

I love browsing through a completed scrapbook project, but the process is long and can be really frustrating (because it takes time, something I don’t exactly have so much of.) You know what I’d really like to have in the Philippines right now? I want Project Life to be available in local art stores and specialty stores here. Is that even possible, Becky Higgins? I could really use a hassle-free way of preserving photographs. Project Life would have been a breeze. :)

Oh well, in the meantime, I make use of whatever we have in this side of the world. Here’s what’s inside my little scrapbook project:

Sometimes I wish I could live inside these pretty things.

Picking up my first Peter Pauper Press journal was random. I got the first blue floral-printed journal that caught my attention from a pile of stuff at a FullyBooked counter at the start of 2011. Since then, I never bought any other brand of notebook other than PPP.

I had a total of 7 journals last year, including the one I’m writing on right now. Allow me to share photos of them because they’re just too photogenic! And they’re actually prettier in real life than the ones you see on their product catalog!

It’s difficult finding them here in Manila, so when I was in New York, I hoarded a couple of pieces from Barnes and Noble. Later on I learned that if you looked hard enough, you’d find them at some National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked branches. I love them so much I started buying them not just for myself but to give to some friends as well.

To make it sweeter, I’ve so far made sure I didn’t get the same design twice. (Hover over the photos to see the captions.)

Their paper is usually plain white and finely-ruled, but once in a while you get yourself a little surprise. Some of these notebooks come with dainty little prints like these:

Cute no?

I’ve made myself visible online all these years, blogging, twitting, posting here and there; but nothing still compares to writing things down old school way—paper, ink, and heart. My journals are the keeper of my most honest thoughts and musings, my most daring prayers, and even my dried-up tears on its pages.

I love the thought that long after my blog sites are abandoned, my eyesight too blurry to see the computer screen, and my hand too shaky to type on a computer keyboard, I still have trinkets of my life preserved in a box-full of journals, which, hopefully, I’d get to hand down to my kids.

Anyway, enough about things we can’t anymore change. (:

Imagine my restlessness when I was choosing fonts to use for our wedding invites. I must have changed the layout and the fonts ten thousand times. In the end, agreeing that we want the invites to look simple and modern, we settled with Avenir, Chapparal Pro, this pretty (and not to mention free!) sans serif Bebas Neue, and a vintage script, BallPark Weiner. Those fonts are all over our love story too.

And.. I have nothing more to say today. :P

Last 3 photographs, coming up!

The idea was to give them something they can keep wearing long after the wedding day is over. True enough, once in a while I’d see my girlfriends wear them even in ordinary occasions and it makes me really happy when they do. (:

It’s been almost two months since, but I love that our wedding left little traces of love here and there. It’s like being reminded in random moments that yes, it really happened.

“You saw me wear white by pale candlelight, I said forever to what lies ahead.” 
~I Am, Nichole Nordeman

My wedding gown was custom-made by my friend Ivy‘s Lola, who, for the record, was also the one who made the dresses I wore to my JS Prom, Graduation Ball, and Debut. There were just too many bridal gowns and couturiers out there, too many choices off-the-rack too. And trust me when I say that I looked far and wide for the perfect dress (and dress maker). At the end of the day, I just knew that Lola Doming was the only one I can entrust my wedding gown to, and I was right. Empire cut, halter-strap, laces and beads, and a flowy, A-line chiffon skirt — the dress was everything I imagined it to be.

It’s amazing how God takes care of even the smallest of details in His grand scheme of things, you know? (:

Photo on the left was taken by my dear friend, Sheila Catilo; and the one on the right was taken by my brother, Nate Sanchez.

Case in point, one day I was soo happy that even David had to twit about it,

..and the next day I was throwing a fit at my poor defenseless fiance, and asking a friend to pray for me at some random convenience store in the middle of the night. (Thanks, Xai.) Barely a day after, I’m up on my biorhythm scale again and posting happy twits and status messages here and there. Haha. It’s a lot of work being hormonal, yea? Tell me about it! And what a relief to be surrounded by people who never seem to get tired praying for me and loving me even in my most twisted of days. :P

Anywayyy, the hormonal attacks are over, at least for now, and I’m back to my sunshiney self! And yay, my email inbox is pretty happy this morning too with my regular dose of FreePeople and Anthropologie email newsletters announcing that, woohoo, SPRING IS HERE! :)

Ahh, the maxi skirts and dresses and floral prints are just plain love! <3

I mean, sure, I sometimes wish there’s an excuse to wear boots and coats in this tropical lalaland once in a while, but I have to say, I love being able to wear sun dresses all year round MORE.

When I went to New York last November, I brought with me a couple of floral printed pieces, but it was just too awkward to put them on when everyone else was wearing wools and coats and plain, dark-colored knitted tops. While there, I had to buy stuff I could wear to keep me warm, but I had to leave them behind because not only would they cost me excess baggage fees, there’s also just no way I could wear them here.

And duh, yes, thank you for pointing this out in your head and being polite enough not to say it out loud: Anong ‘Spring is here’ sinasabi mo eh Spring is like, ALWAYS HERE in the Philippines anyway! I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t you just love it when it’s ALSO Spring in the other parts of the world? Coz hey, that also means our favorite designer labels are launching stuff we can actually wear where we are! :D

And yay, I feel like wearing a dress today to match my mood!

When my friend asked me what to pray for last Saturday, I had but one prayer request — that I’d be so happy with whatever comes my way that there won’t be any more room for negativity. I think our prayers were answered, indeed. Now I just have to remain in this frequency.

How about you? What can I pray for you today? :)

My first weekend in New York has come and gone. An Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship concert at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan (where David’s family was invited to render a special number), home-cooked dinner by David’s mother, and a live viewing of the Pacquiao-Margarito fight welcomed me on my first day, with the rest of the weekend spent with David’s church friends and relatives in Jersey City. It was pretty hectic, but how can I complain?

Besides, no jetlag for me. My body clock loves EST. :)

This is us in front of CBCNYC at West 57th street on my first night.

OTD: Romper – Trunkshow; Cardigan – Landmark; Shoes – Cinderella

Because I was heading straight to the concert from the airport, I had to change from my 18-hour-flight-friendly get-up of jeans, t-shirt and slip ons, to a more presentable outfit. Isn’t this romper pants the prettiest thing?? I got it from Trunk Show just before I left Manila. The fabric’s a bit too thin for the chilly autumn air, but the legwarmers I was wearing underneath did the trick!

And yes, those were Starbucks drinks we’re holding. :)

And just because they’re awesome, here’s a poster I helped Trunk Show with, to promote the launch of their new store at the Powerplant Mall. Check out their FB page to know more about their promos!

Trunk Show is one of the local brands I’m totally digging right now,
go check out their stuff at their Trinoma and Rockwell branches!

(OTH, if you’re from the Europe side of the world and want awesome designer clothes, I think I may be able to point you to the right direction, too!)

Finally, some Photo Booth camwhoring, reposting from my Facebook wall. (I’m still too lazy to transfer image files and sift through the photos on David’s SD card, heh.)

Together again, yay :)

With Abi, David’s pretty sistuurr.

Happy to be in the same timezone as he is. :)

Okayy I’m going back to work now, I’m in a public library somewhere in Staten Island, squatting for the free wifi. Will post more pichures later, if I find time. :)

I work here *sometimes*. (Haha, I think I spend more time working in bed, or in the couch.)

My mirror is duuurrty, but it’s like, one of my most favorite things. Ever.

It was Mom’s idea to have my bed built in, totally saves up space! Love it!

This is what I wore to Bible Study last Thursday.

OTD: Sundress – Some tiangge, Robinsons Timog; Leggings – Kate Torralba’s Leg Love; Cardigan – Nui Clothing; Bag – Girbaud; Shoes – Payless; Necklace – arbored from a friend’s mom

+ + +

Two months ago, I took this photo while he was getting ready to serenade me with one of his love songs. <3

THIS ROOM IS NOT THE SAME WITHOUT YOU, YOU HEAR??

+ + +

Vanilla Twilight is playing on loop, first on my iTunes, now in my head. I wish I thought of writing these lines first.

The silence isn’t so bad
‘Til I look at my hands and feel sad
‘Cause the spaces between my fingers
Are right where yours fit perfectly

But drenched in vanilla twilight
I’ll sit on the front porch all night
Waist-deep in thought because
When I think of you I don’t feel so alone

Owl City is seriously making me want to paint stars and clouds on my wall.

Okay that’s it. Mornings are, without a doubt, not the best time for me to blog. :))

Happy Sunday, y’all!

And that, my friends, is why I will never trust a man’s judgment again on matters like this! :))

So yeah, I practically lived in this ridiculously expensive Zara coat the whole week I was there because none of my other jackets/blazers were good enough, and this pair of Blowfish booties I bought at Macy’s because I had to replace the pairs of shoes that gave up on me. Even so, there were nights when David had to insist on me wearing his coat on top of mine because I probably looked so pale he thought I would faint or something. Don’t get me wrong. Wardrobe issues notwithstanding, New York City treated me well, and I wouldn’t mind going through it over again even if I die of hypothermia haha.

At this point I would just like to acknowledge that one of the things I love about my job is how I could browse through pages and pages of fashion and style blogs to no end without feeling remorse. Being in the designer clothes industry sure does come in handy sometimes! :P

Anyway, my eyes are all over the Fall-Winter trend these days. Here are some of Zara’s, Promod’s and J.Crew’s Fall 2010 look books:

Dresses, skirts, and leg warmers are love! I’m just not sure everyone can really survive 5°C like this, I probably won’t, but I love how one can wear so many pieces of clothing at a time!

Jeans, sweaters and coats.. Made me realize I haven’t worn jeans in more than a year that I suddenly started panic buying on denim!

Also, boots. And lots of scarves! Suddenly I’m checking out scarves I wouldn’t have paid attention to and knee-high boots I wouldn’t even try because it’s just not possible to wear them here in Manila.

Meh. Fall fashion is too pretty. Can we ever justify wearing wool and knee-high boots and thick knitted scarves and leather jackets here in Manila? Why do other people get to experience fall and we don’t? Life can be unfair sometimes.

..like a shoebox of photographs with sepia tone lovin’.

Forgive me for overusing that line from a Jack Johnson song all over my social channels, it’s been playing in my head the whole week, no thanks to you! :P

Anyway, hey hey. I’m alive! I know I said I’d post a blog as soon as I’ve settled back home, but September came and overwhelmed the life out of me, and blogging *here* was the first thing that got pushed down the bottom of my list. Although that doesn’t mean I haven’t been typing my heart away elsewhere, I have! Actually, I have been journalling nonstop, unable to keep my thoughts to myself. Somewhere in Tumblr, in case you’re curious, just because Tumblr strikes me as the social blogging platform where mush and cheese are very much accepted, appreciated even. LOL.

Obligatory explanations out of the way, I’m here to post some photos! To start with, can I just say I’m in looove with my blue walls and the sight of polaroids and instax photos all over my room? <3

I wasn’t sure where to put these polaroids (600). I used to just keep them in a box, but they’re way too pretty to be kept in the dark. So I got this photo holder from Ikea courtesy of my friend Olivia, but I have to screw it on the wall and I still haven’t found time to drill holes, pff. Ergo, I resorted to just putting the photos up with (ta-da!) magic tape, for now. I kinda love how it turned out. :)

Ohh, I just looove this side of my desk. <3

LOL. Isaac was in my room the other day, and I was in the mood to take photos. Haha check out the result of our little pictorial. :)) Mehh, I hope he knows that one Polaroid sheet costs about 250 pesos. That means, this failed photo session just costed me P500! Isaac you are sooo kyot!

And yay more instax on my cork board, too! Can’t get enough of these instant film photographs! (You want? Visit Polaroid Philippines yo!)

One last thing, the guy in the photos? Ask and I shall make kwento. <3

Okay that’s it. Ta! :)