It’s the end of the week again, and I’m sure at this time on a Saturday morning, you’re still curled up in bed catching up on sleep. Enjoy it, you deserve it! :) Me? Well, I don’t (deserve it). Because I’ve been oversleeping the whole week, and now, I have to force myself to be up early in hopes of correcting my body clock again (one has to keep trying, you know).

I’ve been doing night shift the whole week, starting my day really late and sleeping at past 5AM the next day. Not that I’m required to, but my days have become twisted and I just couldn’t get any work done when it’s too.. (uh) bright. (What a lame.) I really have to stop being like this. The effects are manifesting physically already, I seem to be so sickly lately.

OAN, I suddenly miss being forced to blog and take photos everyday! Hence this photograph I took 5 minutes ago, and this post. That’s how my desk looks like right now. I can’t remember when I moved those fake flowers from the coffee table to my desk, but I do remember liking the view of something — anything — pretty in a pile of mess while I work. That red giant button is actually my handy dandy sewing kit, I used it the other day to fix some items for the shop. And then there’s a roll of paper twine, some pearl and beaded necklaces, 5 peso coins, rechargable batteries, and my cup of coffee that’s already cold.

But enough about me and my boring desk and my boring Saturday morning.

Three of my friends have been doing the 30-day blog challenge and I’ve been following them closely, excited to see where their journeys will take them:

Reah’s 30 days is almost over. Hers is a collection of musings of a 26-year old wife and expecting Mom. I’m glad there are people like her who share their story. And then the rest of us can get a glimpse of how it’s like. ;)

I just love getting to know Tina more with her 30 days that is composed of just about anything that makes her Tina. I love the idea of finding one of those Switchfoot CDs she hid in random places. I’m tempted to go to Eastwood and look where the Starbucks bearistas are. It reminds me of what R thought of doing 3 years ago, leaving simple art pieces in random places for strangers to find. I’m inspired to do something similar. :)

Lastly, Lovelle’s 30 Day Love Challenge is just the perfect theme for her. She ends her posts with little challenges like, “Give a chocolate bar to your boss who you really dislike,” or “Give your mom a break this weekend, do the laundry,” — simple stuff you can do to spread teh luv. It’s brilliant, I love it. :) I did the laundry “challenge” yesterday, only for me, it involved putting the dirty laundry in a bag and carrying it over to the laundry shop and paying extra so they would deliver it back. Err, does that count?

Carry on, ladies. Keep us inspired. :)

Meanwhile, it’s drizzling again in this side of the world. Why isn’t the weather cooperating just when you’ve made a decision to be productive? Okay, scratch that. I’m going to get some work done, by hook or by crook. c”,)

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

DAY THIRTYONE. Lol. Just testing. I’m not counting days anymore now. :)

Anyway, let’s do some visual blogging again, because I’m drained of words after a long day of working and talking to people. How timely it is that my random bloghop to one of my favorite blogs surprised me with something that doesn’t need a lot of words ;)

Why hello, Leslie did it again! I’m constantly amazed how she would come up with this play of colors! I feel like I want to live in her photographs! Just recently, I also posted some of her purples and blues. Today, she went for pinks, melons and peaches.

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DAY TWENTYFIVE. I’ve had this photo on reserve for some time now, in case I run out of ideas. At one point I thought I wouldn’t need to get these cute skeletons out my closet anymore because there were just a lot of things I could blog about, however, I always knew that this little photoshoot I had with the pandas lying around my house would come in handy sometime. (I have 2 more stuffed pandas not in this picture. Why hello there, I’m 26 years old.)

Behold, the time is now.

Gone are the days when teddy bears are the cutest thing. For some reason, R has been showering me with pandas instead of teddy bears, and suddenly, these lazy creatures have become the most adorable in the planet, even if all they do is sleep, eat, and sneeze. Do yourself a favor and look around Just G boutiques in nearby malls. I tell you, the pandas. are. everywhere. The eco-friendly striped sling bag in the photo above is actually from Just G. (And I love it!)

Also, if these pandas at etsy didn’t make you smile one bit, you’re a freakin’ robot!

By the way, which panda are you?

R says he’s the last one, or the second one on top. Figures. I think I’m the one chasing a butterfly, or the one stuck in a mesh of Christmas lights. (Which reminds me, I still need to find twinkling lights to put up in my room!)

I’m sorry to be wasting your time reading this nonsense of a blog. I’m so boring. :(

OAN, these are what’s even more awesome about today:

• -Isms Used to be Awesome, by Mara
• Dalliance, by Jennifer
• Another Night at my Desk, by Tina
• Gimme Some Love, Riz, by Romela
• What’s On My Desk, by Joni
• Let’s Find a Beautiful Place to Get Lost in my Desk, by Maemae

Ohh there are more people who joined the giveaway, more than I expected actually, but I’m linking these girls who took time to write something on their blogs about the “contest” and what’s on their desks. It’s overwhelming how you all humored me and agreed to blog about something as mundane as what I asked you guys. Thanks, everyone, you’re all awesome! And now, because you all made me sooo happy with your posts, I’m giving away a few more earrings to those who took time to catch up.

(So yes, Romz, Joni, Mae, and Maia, I’ll send you guys earrings too.) Email me your shipping addresses, if you haven’t yet! (Or LOL, Mae and Joni, KAPE para tipid sa shipping!) :)

Plus, everyone gets to be part of the Camera Charm Earrings raffle! Watch out for the winner on Wednesday. :)

And one more awesome thing that made me jump up and down this afternoon when I found out about it. Time.com linked to our very own Cubao-X.com from one of their travel articles! Check it out! It’s a tiny little link, but it made me soooo happy. :)

Tonight I sleep a happy panda! *insert drunken panda here* zzz.

30 Days of Awesome, 25/30.

DAY TWENTYONE. It finally came. :) This red Sharpie, an office supply giveaway by Nyminutenow, was delivered to me yesterday all the way from the Big Apple. What a way to brighten one’s day. ♥ Thanks, Mariel. :)

I love receiving packages and snail mails — the excitement is just overwhelming, compared to receiving emails, texts, and twits that we’re so used to getting everyday, you know what I’m saying? It’s heartwarming to know that someone would take the extra mile to hand-write a letter, place a stamp, and drop by the post office (or the nearby mailbox) to send a little something to the other side of the world.

I guess that’s why I love the idea of typecasting. You’d rant the same random things, but the extra effort makes blogging a little more special. :)

And don’t you just love giveaways? I do! And I’m going to give away a few little things too, I just found the perfect giveaways tonight. So watch out for it, because I’m going to post it on Friday, in time for Day 23, same as her. :)

30 Days of Awesome, 21/30.

Oh noes, someone noticed I missed the July 27th post. I didn’t realize anyone would actually notice. Thanks Sharra, for (uhm) noticing. I fell asleep typing this post last night, that’s why. So, err, here it goes. :)

DAY FIVE. No, not 3rd time. 2.75th time, if I’d be more specific, because 3-quarters of the way through the second one, I suddenly remembered a deadline I had to catch, so we left somewhere in the middle of Harry and Dumbledore’s cave scene, which was okay, since I saw the movie already anyway.

But my brother and I had to watch it again last night because we’re fanatics like that. First 2 times (err, 1.75 times) with Rico, and this last one with Kuya Niks.

5/30. Watching HP and the Half Blood Prince for the 3rd Time

At this point, I’d say, it gets better the second time around, and gets even better the third time. I’m not sure though, if I’d still say the same thing if I saw it 10 times. Not that I would do anything like that, I think three times is enough.

I thought the first time I saw it was rather frustrating because the expectations were so high. I couldn’t stop comparing the movie to the book, and listing down in my head the scenes in the book that were taken off or replaced in the film version –

• Dumbledore picking up Harry from the Dursleys;
• Bill and Fleur’s wedding; Fleur hanging around the Burrow (I stand corrected, the wedding’s on the 7th book, thanks Mara!);
  
• Tonks secretly falling in love with Lupin, Lupin pushing her away;
• Harry inheriting the Blacks’ house and Kreacher;
• Voldemort’s roots, Tom Riddle stealing the ring from Morvolo, killing his father, working at Borgin and Burke, coming back to Hogwarts to apply for a job;
• the battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts!! (I really thought this one should be there);

I could go on and on. I hoped to see more of Fred and George too, their magical store was just soo fun to watch I wish there were more clips of that. And I thought it was totally unnecessary to set the Burrow on fire, that part was really sad (and totally not in the book!). And where is the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic in all of this? I missed Neville Longbottom, too, although I believe that his role will be more prominent in the Deathly Hallows.

At one point I thought the movie was an over-the-top marketing strategy for people to buy the book (or read the book again). It’s funny how those who’ve read the book would keep comparing it with the movie version that they end up frustrated, while those who didn’t read the book would have so many questions bugging them the entire film that they end up too focused on connecting the dots, and/or bugging the person next to them (who happened to have read the book) with questions throughout the film. You’ve read the book, you compare. You didn’t read it, you get lost.

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DAY THREE. I think guitars are not only photogenic, they’re also awesome decorative elements wherever you place them. Truckloads of photos, coming up! :)

3/30. Collecting Guitars and Displaying Them

[The guitars in this photo: Acoustic guitar -- the only one that is actually making any sound -- from Rico; the red toy guitar made in Cebu, from Ivy; and the two guitar magnets -- the bigger one I got from the Detroit Metro Airport during a stopover from last year's US trip, and the smaller one from my brother who got it also from Cebu.]

I have not played my guitar in a long time (and have stopped being guitarchic, too, if you haven’t noticed, lol) but I’m still fond of anything guitar, mostly because I like taking photos of them and seeing them displayed. And okay, playing them once in a while.

Collect and display, there goes a rule to live by. If you have guitars in your house, whether you’re using them or not, take them out of your closets and display them.

Let’s try visual now, shall we? Here are two ways to use guitars as decorative elements.

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I’m hitting two birds with one stone. Since I can’t possibly do 1000 Awesome Things because I’m not that patient and my attention span can only handle so much, I’m listing down awesome things the 30-day blog challenge way instead. ;)

30 Days of Awesome

I don’t know if you noticed it, but I’ve been practicing for the past 5 days (July 16-20), just to see if I can really post one blog a day. That’s how sigurista I can be sometimes. I want to make sure I won’t fail again, the way I dropped Project 365.

Oh you don’t have to point out that I wasn’t really successful in my 5-day trial, in case you checked, I know I missed a day. So maybe I can’t do it, maybe I’m a real failure when it comes to being consistent. However, the apprehensions only make me want to prove to myself even more that I can. Of course this is just 30 days, not 365. Besides, I managed to post one photo a day for 60 consecutive days anyway, so my hopes are high. I’ll do my utmost and breeze through these 30 days, the way she did.

“It takes 30 days to create a habit,” she keeps on saying. I think I’d like to see that for myself.

So I’m taking off my pessimist coat and putting on my happy, sunshiney self. For the next 30 days, I’ll be blogging and taking photos of (what I think are) awesome things. Wish me luck! :)

*Photo inspired by Kathryn and Julie’s tabletop photography. ;)