My friend Olivia and I were just talking over YM about how frequent we’ve been receiving wedding invitations from friends these days, and how many people our age are, at this point, settling down and starting their own families  — another obvious indication that we, indeed, are coming of age.

While I don’t have any plans of tying the knot just yet (and this post has got nothing to do with getting married), I admit that I like browsing through wedding blogs lately because let’s face it, weddings (excluding all the marital shenanigans that come after the wedding) — the color motifs, the photographs, the flowers, laces, and ribbons, the diamonds, the giveaways, the letterpress-ed invitations — are just so pleasurable to look at.

Check out these two unique wedding invitations that caught my attention while weddingblog-hopping. Promise me you’ll read ALL OF IT.

Hannah and Lee’s Save-the-Date (Source: A Day in May):

“Confused, she opens it to read, ‘Will You Marry Me?’. Lee is on one knee. She says yes.”

And Jill and Matt’s Wedding Invite (Source: Share Some Candy):

“(Dinner and dancing and eternity to follow)”

I’m really digging the vintage-inspired wedding effect (okay, okay, I’m digging vintage, period). I find letterpressed invitations with layouts that look like they’re from some advertisement from the 70s so chic and classy. But vintage aside, I like wedding invitations that tell a story. There’s got to be more to a wedding invite than date, time, venue, map, and seat numbers, right?

Lastly, I’m not saying go and be inspired to get married. I’m saying, go and be inspired to do something out of ordinary. ;)

Let me interrupt our regular programming to make way for this awesome vintage-inspired wedding I spotted over at HelloLucky’s blog. Ohh this needs no words. For the next couple of (uhm) scrolldowns, you’ll be seeing some of Hollin and Eric’s wedding photos that sent off my vintage radar full blast. I think I’m gonna dream of laces, funky vintage bridal gowns, gramophones, and floral-printed neckties tonight.

On another note, Hello Lucky’s got some of the best vintage-inspired greeting cards and wedding ideas I’ve ever seen anywhere. We may all have gotten used to digital but letterpress is back, and it sure is the way to go baby! But okay, this deserves a separate post for another time, methinks. Ta-ta! :)

30 Days of Awesome, 28+/30.

DAY SEVEN. It’s becoming more and more difficult blogging about awesome things, not because I’m starting to get lazy already, or I can’t think of anything to blog about anymore. Nope. It’s kindof the opposite, actually. Since I started this 30-day challenge, everyday would seem to be bursting with awesome things that I’d find it hard to choose just one.

7/30. Typecasting my awesome things.

Like yesterday, for example. I thought I’d blog about thrifting, because I seem to be doing that quite often lately, whether online or offline. The pretty vintage dress *points to picture* was delivered to me yesterday from UkayManila (Thanks, Lauren!), and I have another one coming from InTheFishbowl tomorrow. OAN, I thought it would also be nice to blog about this book I just started reading, The Virgin Suicides, and a bunch of other books lined up for me after I finish reading this one.

(You know what, I might just blog about these next time!)

Now, you see, I’ve been typing about these things with my Olympia, too. (I know, what a nerd, right?) I initially wanted to type something coherent, only I ended up typing random thoughts throughout the day. Oh well.

Anywayyy. It’s Henry’s turn to speak now. Check out my second typecast, twitter style, just because typecasting is awesome like that. :)

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DAY TWO. Tonight, as I walked away from Office Warehouse with my brand new Olympia Traveller Deluxe, I was momentarily in deep thought: how was it possible that I have been in and out of that place, unaware that I was sharing a room with a shelf full of typewriters? How, Riz?

Let it be known that today, July 24, 2009, I found my first typewriter. At Office Warehouse. In the same shelf where the printers, calculators, and USB gadgets are. Right beside the office desks where I’d usually hang out checking out stuff I need for my home office. How come I didn’t notice the typewriters there before?

2/30. Meet Henry, My Olympia Traveller Deluxe

It wasn’t love at first sight though, mind you. You see, a few hours earlier, I was able to get my hands on an actual, oh-wow-I-can-feel-it-in-my-fingers vintage Hermes 3000 at the Grand Thrift Shop at Cubao Expo. The guy was selling it to us at PhP 2900, waaay cheaper than the $250 (+$150 shipping) unit I’ve been considering to purchase from an Etsy store. But the Hermes 3000 at Cubao-X was old and rickety and unmaintained. It could type a bit, but it kept getting stuck. The owner said he was selling it mostly as a decorative element.

But I wanted a typewriter I can use!

So we left, had dinner, and passed by Office Warehouse because I still couldn’t get over the fact that I almost got myself a Hermes 3000. And there it was. The Olympia Traveller Deluxe. It wasn’t eyecandy as the other typewriters I saw online, but I had to try it. The moment I started typing, and heard the clickity-clackity sound that came with each press of a key, I knew I found my first typewriter.

I have to forgive myself for breaking the habit and posting 2 hours late (MNL time), on my 2nd-friggin-day into this 30-day challenge. I prepared a different post for this day, but that was before I knew I was going home with an Olympia tonight.

July 24’s awesome thing has got to be this: finding a typewriter in the most everyday of places and finally getting myself one. A close second would be, finding out that a typewriter ribbon costs 16 pesos at Office Warehouse. That, ladies and gentlemen, was how much technology costed in the yesteryears. Awesomecakes.

And so, my first typecast. (Whut? You don’t know what typecasting is? Hello, Strikethru.)

Reference to the novel by Audrey Niffenegger, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”,
where Clare is the Wife, and Henry, the Traveler.

Jody says she’s a dinosaur for getting attracted to typewriters. So what am I now, giving names to typewriters and writing typing them love letters? A trilobite? Awesome.

30 Days of Awesome, 2/30.

Since that day I discovered (apologies for making it sound like I found cure to cancer) that typewriters still exist, and that people not only collect them for decorative purposes but still use them these days, I have not stopped surfing, searching, subscribing to feeds, and drooling over typewriters online.

This new hobby/interest/addiction of mine is starting to make me crazy, I even dream about it sometimes. But I shall not stop until I find a typewriter that has my name on it. I need just one, and then I’ll shut up.

Some of the typewriter shops online that I frequent recently:

Poetictypewriters.com

Poetictypewriters.com is actually kind of new, I just found out about it today through Uppercase. I’ve been eye-ing one of their typewriters already (the 1950s Hermes 3000), have found my way to their etsy store, and have messaged the owner to know if they ship to the Philippines. That’s my main problem, actually. Most online shops that sell typewriters ship only to the United States and Canada, I have yet to see a local site selling typewriters.

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Last Thursday, I went to the mall to look for an extra rack for my clothes because my stuff won’t fit in my closet anymore. The intention was pure, I needed to de-clutter before snakes would start nesting on clothes that were scattered on the floor and in the corners of my room. Clothes rack, check.

What I failed to do, however, was to resist looking around and buying a few more things that I don’t really need.

And it all started with this wall clock. (Isn’t it the prettiest thing?)

I don’t know how it started, but this crazy obsession with typewriters and anything vintage (-looking) came to me with this sudden fondness of wall clocks. (Not too long, I also took home an old Coca Cola Wall Clock from Vintage Pop’s clearance sale.) So yep, this vintage-inspired clock found its way to my shopping cart in no time, as if I needed more reminders that time is ticking away.

This was shortly followed by the floral printed curtains, which were on sale. The huge floral pattern look like something my grandmother will appreciate, which is exactly what I love about it. And I like how I didn’t have to take down my old red curtains because as it seems, the printed pattern looks perfect against the two-toned red anyway. Surely, red and olive green look lovely together, Christmas or no Christmas.

And then there were just a few more things: fake flowers on a porcelain pot, scented candle contained in a jadeite metal pail, and a cheapo table cloth with orange and red stitches. Voila, instant living room overhaul.

I got home from the mall yesterday feeling a bit guilty for splurging (again) on things that were not in my budget to begin with. Tonight, however, as I spend time in that little corner of this place I’ve come to know as “home”, I knew that I could justify my impulse buying again and win in court.

I needed this change.

For freelancers like me, who spend most of our days confined in such a small space, little changes like this spell a lot of difference. Work places affect productivity, after all.

Old items: (1) Love seat/two-seater couch from SM Departmen Store; (2) Red throw pillows from Our Home; (3) Red two-toned curtains from some supermarket, I can’t remember which one; (4) Lamp from Ikea; (5) Red adjustable round table from Dimensione; (6) Vintage make-up kit and coffeeholics mug from Vintage Pop; (7) Accounstic guitar from Rico.

Recent additions, all from SM Department Store: (1) Floral printed curtains (P375 each x2); (2) Vintage-inspired wall clock (P299); (3) Red table cloth (P35); (4) Scented candle on a pail (P239); (5) Fake flowers in a porcelain pot (P149).

P.S. Daily doses of Decor8, plus the habitual bloghopping through her blogroll, did this to me. Thanks, Holly. :)

I’ve never been good at spontaneity, I’ve always been the type to stick to a schedule, and do things at my own pace. I’ve proven many times, however, that something beautiful always comes out of unscheduled trips, and plans that materialized out of sheer impulsiveness, for which reason I’ve been little-by-little learning the art of grabbing opportunities as they come.

I don’t want to sound as if I’m justifying my *unnecessary* shopping sprees, but you see, sometimes, even my impulse buying leads me to stuff that are worth every dime.

So there we were, R and I, off to Cubao-X because we felt like it’s time. I’ve always wanted to go, but never got around to scheduling it. And you know how the best way to deal with being obsessed with having plans laid out first is to just go on a whim — that’s what we did.

Apparently, Vintage Pop is closing, and last night was their last — how fortunate of us to be there. Bong Salaviera, the owner of that awesome store that embodied what Cubao-X is all about in every way, gave us discounts on whatever’s left there.

If it isn’t destiny that lead me to this lovely vintage make-up kit, I don’t know what is. (I haven’t stopped smiling since last night.) Also, the Coffeeholics mug and the miniature videoman doll are just the perfect Vintage Pop souvenirs.

I’m pretty ashamed to admit that I’ve only been in Cubao-X once my whole life, prior to last night’s trip. I remember falling in love with the place (and burning a good amount of money over the street bazaars, and the fashion and furniture boutiques and shoe stores that are just to-die-for), but Cubao-X is really just out of my way. (Lame excuse, I know.) That, however, will change soon. Cubao-X, that place that someone once called our  ”local version of Soho”, will now be part of my map.

Xai and I invite you to visit our little project, a result of some late-night brainstorming sessions on stuff that we both love and can do together. It’s a soft opening, and a lot of things are still being conceptualized.

Meanwhile, if you’re interested to be a part of this project, drop me a note and we’ll see. :)

VISIT CUBAO-X.COM

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!