Saturday Project: Fix My Desk

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, and I had nothing to do. So I decided to clean my room and fix my messy desk. My room is just small, but there are a lot of surfaces to wipe and dust off because of the open shelves. Plus, I also need to wipe my books clean before putting them back to the shelves.

My desk is probably the area in my room that is most prone to mess. It's right beside the door, so I have the tendency to just dump things on it when I enter. I also tend to just leave bills and other pieces of paper on it, despite the fact that I already assigned storage boxes for them. So what I did was keep all the bills, which have piled up on my desk, inside the storage box (it's actually a tin can from Kamiseta. The tin can is the packaging of the clothes or shoes bought from the store) and put the storage box on the shelf under my desk. I transferred a plastic storage box, which was originally on the shelf, on top of my cabinet (you just have to love that space between the cabinet and the ceiling) to make make way for the Kamiseta tin can. Other little storage boxes (full of letters, notes, and other causes of clutter) also went with the Kamiseta tin can.

I then placed a framed portrait of me, drawn by my dearest, on my desk, together with a few books and magazines, and my little Matryoshka doll collection. My laptop stayed on my desk along with pencils and other writing materials placed on a mug. Here is my desk:

It's still far from "Whoa!" levels, but at least it's orderly. I'll spruce it up soon, but I'll fix the other areas of my room first. Next project: my dresser. 

How about you? How did you spend your Saturday? 

Hats Off!

I have a thing for hats. I'm fascinated with them. It started with buying a bonnet when my cousins, my sister, and I were in Baguio five years ago. I don't have a photo of myself wearing that bonnet because the photo is in my Multiply account and as we all know, Multiply is already gone. Anyway, that bonnet is a knitted one and it has alternating rows of yellow green, pink, white, and blue on it. It looks so sweet, and the colors are girly-girl. It's best worn with a smile.

Fast forward a few years later, my fascination for hats has not diminished, yet I don't think it has progressed to the next level called love. Whenever I see hats piled on a shelf in a shop, I try one or two on, but most of the time, I don't end up buying. Maybe I just don't want to spend money, but I think it's because the style isn't something I would fall in love with. So even if I'm fascinated with hats, I own just three: one is the bonnet I talked about, one is a hat with a colorful fabric (a gift), and another one is a red hat with a rolled up brim, which is my favorite as of the moment.

Here it is:

That's an Instagram photo of me having fun at Hong Kong Disneyland with Chip n' Dale. And the red hat I'm wearing? I bought it specifically for this Hong Kong trip last February. I do think that the hat is stylish, and it goes with almost any outfit in my closet. It's quirky and girly without being overly sweet. And the best part? I bought it on sale! I forgot if it was 50% off or what, but I did save around 200 pesos more or less. 

Here's my other hat: 

That hat is a gift from Wilmer and Thor of the furniture store Space Encounters. The gave it to me for Christmas I think three years ago. I love the colors and I think it's good to wear during summer. In fact, in the photo, I was wearing it last May (a summer month) on a trip to Tagaytay with my boyfriend and his family. The sun was so high I had to wear a hat and sunglasses. The only negative thing I can say about this hat is that I should wear plain shirts with it, or those with minimal prints. The hat itself already attracts enough attention, and unless I want myself to become a walking hodgepodge of patterns, it's better to keep things balanced. 

I want to learn how to rock a hat. But before I can do that, I must first find hats that I would fall in love with---stylish hats that are also reasonably priced. Until I can find them, I'll be happy with the hats I have, and when I do find ones that I would add to my little collection, feel free to call me the girl who wears many hats. 

Real Living's 10th Anniversary Issue is out!

Words cannot express how joyful I am to share our magazine's July issue with you. It's out 10th Anniversary issue, and with this milestone comes a new look that I hope everyone will love:

I can say it's a packed issue; each section is filled with tips and ideas on how you can spruce up your home, whether you're getting professional help or not. Plus, the photos are to-die-for. Flipping each page will surely be a visual feast. 

So what are you waiting for? Head to the nearest bookstore, newsstand, or supermarket and grab a copy. It's definitely worth reading and keeping. :) 

Planning to Invest

Today's trip to the mall led me to buy these from Fully Booked:

I was originally planning to buy just Eats, Shoots & Leaves, but after getting it from the shelf, I browsed through the other shelves and Kiyosaki's Rich Dad's Guide to Investing caught my eye. I'm familiar with Rich Dad, Poor Dad's success even if I've never read it, and a lot of people say it's a good book to guide you in money matters. I should probably read it, too. Haha. Anyway, Rich Dad's Guide to Investing caught my eye because I've been wanting to have a source of passive income, and investing is one way to do it. Sure, I have savings and I can say I'm saving pretty well, but I know it's not enough to just have savings. Money that's just kept in a bank won't last. 

I don't know a thing about investing. The word alone makes me picture graphs, charts, percentage signs, money, numbers, and everything Math-related in my head, and the universe knows how much I hate Math and how much Math hates me! When I hear people say how it works, I can't understand it, but I know I need to understand it because I need to invest. I'm turning 25 this year, and my dad always tells me that it's best to invest while one is young because once one starts a family, priorities change, and family, especially the kids, will always come first. 

I'm turning 25 this year, yes, but time flies so fast. Before I know it, I'll be 50, and it won't do me good if all I have are a few pesos saved in the bank. I've started reading Rich Dad's Guide to Investing while waiting for my mom, sister, and nieces at the mall, and so far, I like it. I like how the book explains how investing will help. In the next chapters, I'm hoping to learn how to invest regardless of how much money you have, and by the time I finish the book, I hope I know how and what to invest on. 

How about you? Are you keen on investing? Do you have sources of passive income? Would you mind sharing how you're doing it? :)

Voting

It's just noon but I think my day has been eventful already. Today is elections, so it's a non-working holiday. My parents and I planned to go to the polling precinct early, but we ended up leaving our house at 10 a.m (well, I woke up at 9.15 am haha!). But despite our being late, there was no queue at our assigned polling precinct, so it only took us about 15 minutes to finish voting. That's good for us, but I can't say the same for the other polling precincts. Others have voters queuing up for hours under the heat of the sun. Not to mention election-related violence, cheating, missing election paraphernalia, and other problems which I hope and pray wouldn't happen (even if that's shooting for the moon).

Some people do not vote because they're already jaded with the system. They say nothing will change anyway, or that the same trapos (traditional politicians) will just end up getting elected. While there is a lot of truth to these, I don't believe these are excuses not to vote and to just set aside this right and civic duty. Yes, nothing might change, but all the more nothing will happen if we will not vote.

My vote has been cast, and I believe along with my accomplished ballot is my contribution to change this nation. And every election day, we are given that power--the power to help make a difference. To overhaul this system and create a new one that would benefit the poor, the marginalized, and everyone, not just the rich and the powerful. We may be miles away from achieving the Philippines we envision as ideal, but with every intelligent vote we cast, we get closer and closer to that.

Pixie Cut

Because I've grown fond of my short hair, I decided to go for a shorter hairstyle. Yesterday, I went to the salon to have my layered bob made into a pixie cut.

My New Hair

I love it. I never knew I could rock short hair, and ever since I had my hair cut short, I don't think I'll ever go back to having long locks. Short hair is easier to maintain. All I need to do is to have it dried in front of the electric fan (using the hairdryer is fine too, but the heat makes my head ache) before going out and apply some hair product (Vitress works for me!) to control the frizz. On a bad hair day, I just have to put on a headband and I'm good to go. Plus, Manila's heat and humidity aren't hair-friendly, and I neither have the time nor the money to have regular hair treatments. I only go to the salon for a haircut. 

As I've said earlier, I love my pixie cut, and I plan to keep this for quite a long time. Or if I get tired of it, I'll probably go back to my layered bob. But definitely not the long hair that I used to have. How about you? Have you found the right hairstyle for you?  

The Long and Short of It: My Hair

Today, I'm going to blog about something trivial:

My hair.

Hehe. I've been sporting a short hair since late December last year. I had my hair cut last December 30 so I could welcome the new year with a new hairdo. How profound, isn't it? Haha! I've been wanting to cut my hair short for a long time, but I was hesitant because my hair is wavy and it has a sponge-y texture. I was afraid that it would mushroom if I cut it short since there would be nothing to weigh it down. So I would just tell my stylist (not my personal one, but the salon's. Haha. I'm just one of his regular clients) to just give me a haircut that would suit my hair condition, something that wouldn't make my hair mushroom. And he would give me a layered hairstyle, which looked great.

But I really was longing for short hair. So one day, I decided to tell him to cut it short, but not too short that I would have a "big hair". So he gave me a shoulder-length bob.

It's great. I loved it. After a couple of times of having my trimmed to that length, I decided to really go for a short hair. So I asked my stylist if it would be possible for me to have shorter hair without it going big. And because my stylist could work miracles (haha!), he gave me a short hair sans the mushroom-like look:

How my hair looked like right after having it cut

When I saw myself at the mirror, I was like, "Wow!" I loved it! Even my officemates, friends, and relatives said it looked good on me when they saw it. And so I've been sporting this hairstyle since December. My hair grows fast though, that's why I now regularly go to the salon for a trim (I used to be a salon-slacker. My hair trims were months apart haha!). I don't mind doing that though. Having regular trims are cheaper than having my hair undergo treatments like hair spa and others for maintenance. I've never had a hair spa, even if my hair used to be long. Hence the frizz and dry ends. 

So let me just recap my, ehem, transformation:

 


The last photo is a picture of me at the launch of furniture store Space Encounters's new collection. I was wearing contact lenses (yeah, since December I've been wearing contact lenses during events and whenever I feel like it.).

I'm happy with my hair, and I'll probably keep this style until I decide to get a new one. A pixie cut maybe? We'll see. :)