Five Things #6: December in instagrams

Slice’s make-your-own hot cocoa

Lantern festival, December 21

Milk + cookies + Pitch Perfect with Kristine!

Party weekend

Christmas eve with la familia! :)

Hong Kong: January 2013

So blessed to have spent New Year’s Eve and the first few days of 2013 in Hong Kong again with the family and some friends. The weather was amazing. At one point, while waiting for the countdown, I curled into a ball on the ground because the temperature had dropped considerably. But it was such a relief to finally be able to dress in leather and tights and boots without looking ridiculous. HK is best this time of year! :)

More pink in the bag

Saying goodbye to college one term at a time. This one’s going to be the last one with formal classroom lectures because next term will be all thesis and OJT. So what better way to make the most of my classes than with pretty notebooks and pens! Also got a new iPad case because I broke mine haha. (Lea, lookie we’re twins!)

Fam Bam Thursday

While the girls were at school, the ‘rents and I went over to Uncle Cheffy at Molito for lunch. We ordered chili garlic prawns, ribs and all meat barbequed panizza! I just ate the pizza itself though. Teehee, forever choosy. So crispy thin! I think I’ll be craving for them again all weekend.

And then we found some little people at home:

Room Revamp: Paris is always a good idea

I love being on the move. After staying in Singapore for five months and along Taft Avenue for a year, I’m back home. I now have more time with the fam - kulit sisters, yummy home-cooked meals and fresh air! 

Moving back felt like the perfect chance for a room revamp. And being the hoarder that I am, the things that I’ve accumulated over that time called for it too! My room is now full of Paris, Audrey Hepburn, my childhood, and pops of color amid black and white. :) 

I swapped beds with my sisters after getting used to a single bed and the soft mattress. (Goodbye, chocolate bar headboard.)

More space for a chair (from the living room teehee) recently upholstered in a beautiful houndstooth!

The bed brought with it so much space that I also took the bookshelf from my sisters’ room haha! They used it for their toy boxes. I arranged my books by color for a neat OC feel. 

The mini mannequin that I will never regret buying from the Cuenca bazaar for P100. And my little mermaid thingamabob that I brought home after watching its Disney on Ice show about ten years ago. :)

My beloved Little Mermaid (from my dear friend Kye) and Anastasia wind-up musical jewelry boxes! :)

Finally hung the little Paris frames on the wall. 

My first tile painting from an art class in elementary, thus the huge ‘Bea’ signature.

Nic got me the red Keep Calm for my birthday, not knowing that I bought one a few days before. They only emphasize how much I want to see the world! 

Here is the before of my room. Plus my first dorm and second dorm. :)

Goodbye, second home

Last week, I said goodbye to my dorm (-see how much stuff my desk had accumulated over the year) and hello to staying back at home down South for next school year - my last! (I’ll miss you Via, roomie. Her bed up there is already stripped for the summer she’s out haha.) And moving back home, meant change once again. I need a new room look! :) I’m still in the process now of spring cleaning and arranging. Making a new home post once it’s done, yey!

Here’s one corner of my room earlier today. :)

Today, I

• Made crepe de nutella for Andrea. (But she wanted it plain. So I ate it instead.)
• Shifted all the furniture in my room.
• Cooked dinner with mother. 
• Begged dad to eat the last Magnum because I was tired of being constantly drawn to the freezer.
• Miss the beach.
• Miss surfing.
• Miss skimboarding. 
• Miss snorkeling.
• Miss diving.
• Miss kayaking.
• Miss just floating away in the ocean. (Two more weeks, Cebu!)

Finally over finals

8. Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
9. Room by Emma Donoghue
10. Paper Towns by John Green
11. Extremely Loud and Incredible Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
12. Divergent by Veronica Roth
13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

With finals week behind me (sort of), I now have some catching up to do because some books are half read (11th). But of this batch, I would have to say I got a thrill out of Paper Towns and Divergent the most! I suggest you read them over the summer (and grab them while they’re on sale)! :D

Five Things #5: The past few weeks in munches and pages

I just couldn’t detach myself from The Fault In Our Stars, even if I had read it almost a month before. I think it’s partly because of its pretty cover.

Johnny Rockets’ opening night at ATC. Milkshakes to die for!

A late friday afternoon with chocolate milk and the last few pages of Paper Towns.

With Ana and Andrea, having our own dinner date on the night of our parents’ anniversary.

The perfect breakfast at Gram’s: bacon, sunny-side up and sweet baby pancakes!

hearty breakfast

At 10 in the morning, I woke up to the smell of pancakes wafting into my room and then knew I wouldn’t be going back to sleep. I haven’t been not used to breakfast as an actual meal anymore ever since I moved to the dorm (unless you count the occasional ten-minutes-before-class-shove-bowl-of-oatmeal-in-microwave-faster-im-late breakfast) so it was a treat being home early for the weekend!

Mom took out the heart-shaped cutter and we all took turns frying our own pancakes. And of course there was bacon. Bacon.

Project 52

Yet another of those sudden lulls have come upon this blog! I remember I rarely posted anything this time last year too heehee. But I began 2012 with a desire to learn and travel again (without having to hop on a plane). And I’d find myself spending hours in bookstores and picking up a new book each week. I think I should turn it into a 52 project. :) The list so far:

1. Mockingjay by Susanne Collins
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (#tears)
5. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
6. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

One year ago today

I flew to Singapore and began one of the greatest adventures in my life so far. And I want to believe it’s only the first of many. God is beyond awesome! His surprises never fail to amaze me! Thank you God for 2011! :)