I have plenty of things to be thankful for this year. This year was a year where there was no freelance drought. I was working all-year round. With projects that pushed through and am happy with, projects where clients became valuable to my arsenal of people I have come to knew, halted projects wherein thought nuggets were promptly earned and projects that I was just plain made for. Aside from professional contentment, I had a fair share of happy moments in my personal life. My heart’s to the brim with lessons learned and friendships cultivated.

The biggest news is that I am on my way to the next level of a young girl’s life. Me and my beau have decided to tie the knot next year! Imagine how giddy and gleeful I was when we decided on the date and got to book the major necessities of a great wedding – Church, Reception, Photo, Video, Caterer.

I foresee a very active 2012 for me and for this, I am forever thankful for my laid back and stepping-stone-ish 2011.

Happy holidays!

Here are my picks with my color combination of choice. Peaches cream and anything light!

More photos after the jump

To my surprise, I only scored a 34% out of the 75% passing! Turns out I’m not such a simple girl after all

Interested to find out how you would fair? Go to this blog post. You’ll find a link for the excel file there. They also included a test for guys for those who’s interested.

Detailed scoring after the cut.

Simple Girl Attributes	Rate	My Points	My comments
Long, straight, perfect “virgin” black hair (nary a stray hair in sight)	20	8	I color my long straight hair and its never perfectly combed
- If hair is in a ponytail, it is perfectly combed	5	2	I rarely pony my hair and if I do put my hair up its on a messy no-tie bun
Eyebrows are not too thin but not too thick	10	10
Only uses soap and water for her face	10	10
- her moisturizer of choice is Pond’s cold cream	5	2	I used to use ponds but now myraglow haha!
Opts for the “no make up” look: face powder (J&J/Clean & Clear or MAC studio fix) + Lipgloss	10	6	for regular days yes but with blush. But on date days I take the extra mile, so once a week I get dolled up
Gets a Mani/Pedi every week but will always pick french tips or “colorless”	20	11	I do it myself and not everyweek plus I love colored nails, it might be pastel or nude but it still has color
Doesn’t like to accessorize except for giant pearl earrings(maybe an occasional Charriol bracelet)	20	15	true! except for bracelets, I love bracelets
- For special occasions, will take out the one-strand pearl necklace	10	1	I don’t lke pearl necklaces, maybe a pearl pendant?
Technomarine is her watch of choice	10	1	fossil is the way to go
For work, likes to wear a 3/4 sleeve button down shirt and black skirt/pants(nothing too tight or baggy)	10	4	usually in cardis and muted pants not always black
For casual affairs, likes to wear the perfect white shirt(crewneck, ladies’ fit) and jeans	10	3	usually in a dress, hate jeans lately
On the weekends, likes to wear Lacoste pique polo and bermuda shorts (no short shorts)	10	2	denim shorts for those luncheons never a polo shirt
Has a collection of black pumps for work	10	5	collection of black/neutral flats
Prefers to wear tory burch reva flats	10
- If not reva, some nondescript ballet flats or havaianas on the weekends	5	5
Has a Longchamp Le Pliage or a Louis Vuitton Speedy 30/Neverfull(only in Monogram Canvas or Damier)	20	20
- Will always have a pocket anti bacterial bottle attached to the handles.	10	0	refuse to be part of this trend, I carry a spritzer with alcohol on it
Favorite perfurme/colognes are bath and body works (cucumber melon), Clinique Happy, Tommy Girl and/or Ralph Lauren Romance	10	6	hello clinique happy but super fave is secret wish by anna sui
Current favorite sport is running (before it was badminton)	10		no fave sport
When unsure on what to order at a new restaurant, will fall back on carbonara and iced tea	10	6	half true, iced tea or any tomato based pasta
- But will always suggest they’d go to Cibo instead	5	3
Went to the first day screening of Sex and the City The Movie with girl friends	10		not much of a SATC fan
- Plus points if has seen it multiple times, in the theater	5
Owns a hairy, small dog	10	1	not hairy not small but a dog
Always orders a non-fat latte or non-fat cappuccino at Starbucks	10	3	not latte or cap, tea! And not starbs, CBTL
Loves Glee, Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives	6	3	glee before
- Also has complete seasons of Friends DVDs	4	1	just always watch reruns whenever doing channel surf
Will always stop whatever she’s doing to watch “The Notebook” on HBO	5	3
Reads Sophie Kinsella’s “Shopaholic” series	10
- and also admits to loving the “Twilight” series	10	4
Listens to whatever magic or rx plays on the radio	10	4
- If into “rock”, it is usually Coldplay or U2	10	8
Has a joint facebook account with hubby/boyfie	20	5	used to in friendster
- Has multiple albums with locations either Tagaytay or Punta Fuego	10	6
If on twitter, follows Paulo Coelho or the Dalai Lama and loves to retweet them a lot.	20	20
Celebrates Monthsaries	10	5
Gives her daughters boy’s nicknames	10
Goes to all bazaars	10	5
Sells on Multiply/Bazzars	10	5
Makes their husbands/boyfriends carry their bags	20	10	if its super heavy
loved Eat, Pray, Love the movie	20	10
Press Release: Only one boyfriend since birth (and married him)	20	20
uses whitening cream	10	10
Doesn’t find anything wrong in wacky shots	10	10
Takes jumping shots with fellow simple girls	10	10
Cannot relate to gay men	10	6
Occupation: pre-school teacher	10
TOTAL	530	178

I have been searching for pretty silhouettes recently and thought to share it with you guys.

from HGTV

from shopartwine

from papercutsbyjoe

I am so fascinated by the intricacies of the cut outs and the process that goes with it. I have always wanted to do fancy paper cuts but I was not blessed with steady hands. So imagine my frustration and admiration when I was searching for these beauties.

from vintagerenewal

from designpublic

I find myself veering away from the usual lady and man silhouettes in style right now. The ones I was able to find was much more interesting visually, don’t you agree?

When I design for my own home, I’d be sure to include a silhouette or two for the wall.

I started young as a loner. I preferred isolation over going out to the streets and playing with other children. I enjoyed making up stories with my poly pocket toys, my barbie dolls and my pop up books. It’s no wonder that as a child, I delight on building forts too. They’re magical safe havens for me where I can curl up, play with my dolls and read books (when I was old enough to). I could pretend I was alone in the world and that I was in a different place and time where my fantasies come alive.

It was nice to know that both adults and young adults today still build forts.

I saw this room reconstruction photos by a german photographer named Franziska Sinn in my daily scouring over the interesting world of the internet and immediately put my back to my childhood fort-building days. Do you guys remember that scene in Ratatouille where the meanie food reviewer tastes the Rat’s take on the peasant dish served and the scene melted into his memories of childhood? THAT happened.

T’was a pleasant feeling, the sudden bombardment of memories that gives you such a full and happy overall attitude for the day. Great way to combat the monday blues if you ask me.

It’s no secret that every girl is attracted to pretty shoes. I don’t know why but we really love how shoes make your outfit complete. Put together from head to toe! And although I am an avid flats wearer, I have been veering to looking and lemming for heels lately. This does present a problem because aside from straining my feet and varicose veins and don’t forget the expensive nature of heels, I have a just-right-for-me sized boyface so it’s perfect for my flats preference. Imagine the dilemma now that I’m eyeing heels, it would be mighty awkward for me to tower over him.

But – as girls are perfect alibi creators – I have deemed it appropriate to have a decent collection of heels for special occasions.

I’ve been really interested in getting my hands on the jessica simpson dany shoes lately. All because of how it looks so indie chic! I’d like to have it in tan but i’d be contented if it’s in grey or black

lookbook outfit by anna wilkund

I found one shop that offers it for pre-order from the states at 6,000php a pop! Does it really cost that much?! I have a hard time shelling out 2,000php for a pair of heels, what more at that whallop of a price?

It seems I have been looking into a lot of things that need to spend money on lately, considering I’m resolving to spending as little as possible this year on things I don’t need – One of which is accessories. If you know me personally, you’d know that I have a penchant for lovely jewerly and would pounce in an instant on polaroid films or anything related to it.

So imagine my delight when I saw this in etsy!

polaroid treasure locket necklace by iluxo

It’s a precious little thing! Handcrafted from wood and you can store itty bitty memorabilia because you can open the top. And you can actually peer into the small view finder and see what your small lens are trained at!

Maybe I should keep away from etsy and multiply shops till August…

This collection is inspired by my current obsession with amazing food and things that remind me of home.

Sweet & Salty Strawberry Yogurt Covered Pretzels
recipe found here at family kitchen on babble

Chocolate hazelnut tart
recipe over at phuocndelicious.com
photo by foodpixels.com

Rainbow Jello Cups
recipe found here at glorioustreats.blogspot.com

Floating ice cream boat: HMS Flake 99
article at theurbangrocer.com

Chocolate sea salt cookie & salted caramel ice cream sandwiches
article and recipe at foodpluswords.com

Capresto
found at thekitchetarian.com

Bubble pizza
recipe at passthesushi.com

Egg nest
by simplyrecipes.com

Cheese stuffed peppers
by pipandebby.com

 Breakfast interrupted – Stunning video and making of by Bruton Stroube
Absolutely breath taking video of breakfast in complete chaos! By Bruton Stroube – “Shot primarily with the Phantom HD Gold at 1000fps, the piece is designed to showcase food in a beautiful and unusual way.”

I have had the grandest cravings for desserts lately. I have spent 2 days looking at wonderful food photos and recipes online when I don’t have much to do at work. I feel deprived that the only places I can eat around my workplace are fastfood joints and the office diner which serve day old food (most often than not). Fastfood joints like McDonalds and Jollibee, Sinangag Express, 711, Mang Inasal (which we don’t it eat at often due to the rates), wanton noodles soup kiosk, frutas kiosk, country style (which is only perfect for snacks and dessert cravings). The only saving grace is tsoko.nut because at least there we have variety of quality food we can actually take a gastronomic pleasure from. I just had to content myself with looking at yummy food online.

Tabletop by Jessica Rust

House tour – apartment therapy

Wool ball charger concept by Yuchen Liu at unpluggd

Tetris sticky notes (found at unpluggd)

Ceramic buttons by palomasnest

by emmaklingbiel

by girlscantell

Hanging light bulb vase by haydukelives33

handpainted wall clocks by offherrockerart

vintage finds (amazing ones at opendoorstudio)

Welcome to the first Da[ILY], better known as Daily [I Love Yous]! This is a hodge podge of wonderful new things recently discovered and inspired me, updated (hopefully) on a daily basis. So, enough of blabbering around, onto the good stuff!

by kimslittlemonsters

from pocketo.com

by satchelandsage

by rice design

by diemdesign

by Pratt student, Jeff Rubio for UmbraxPratt Design competition

by Marico Maricar

Hope you enjoyed my little visual orgasm post

When you get yourself or think of something new, you can’t stop thinking about it for hours and hours till the end of the day. HappyDesign has been in the making for a little over 2 years now. It had no name then, just a rough idea of what I wanted and what I can do. Over the years I have built on my mind a sketch of the structure of which I want this brand to go on – a sketch, nothing concrete. But from a sudden stroke of muchness, I have set out and made a little online nest for it without even thinking twice. Spontaneity does bring about a lot of excitement in our lives doesn’t it?

[img from y0omii]

So, instead of having everything about the brand built and established, I thought the best way to get things finally done is to post the process.

It has been a long time since I was able to create something for myself. And I shall tell you, it’s mighty hard! I couldn’t decide on what I wanted and I keep on changing what I have on my artboard.

After a few hundred (hello exaggeration) tweaking and the likes, I finally came up with a few decent ideas. But… since purchasing the domain and putting up that ‘coming soon’ sign, I have yet to decide on a proper logo for HappyDesign. I couldn’t come up with a decent enough logo yet so I have to content myself with the colorful spelled out one I have right now. This one just looks too block-y for my tastes – even if I am in love with how it has ‘HD’ for HappyDesign and a smiley face on it!
 

While creating said logo, I toyed around with AI and suddenly decided to create a mascot of sorts. A cute little thing to help ferry my brand to to the world. From coming up with a series of smiley faces, I suddenly jumped to a kitty! I have a profound love for anything kitties and I thought what greater way to represent HappyDesign than to show an overly smile-y kitty cat.

Naming her is a challenge though, what should I name my HappyDesign kitty cat?

It has been 6 years since I have had a decent blog to post on. I thought I would never need to put up one again, as I have grown out of it but times have changed. Blogging has become such an awesome tool to: (a) keep in touch with friends, (b) promote yourself and (c) promote others you believe in.

I came from an era of blogging as an online diary of sorts. Where you post about stuff you did on a daily basis and commenting back and forth with your online friends and their blog posts. An era where websites are populated by personal .nu, .net and .orgs. Sites that have titles such as bituwin.org (hello, i miss you old domain name) or any other personal names (empyreal.nu [hi sarah! where are you?], loveoutloud.org [i am totally envious of kelly's domain name till today] to name a few).

[img from slippinsouthern]

Today, it has evolved into a perfect SEO tool and has become both personal and professional. With bloggers today, we see not only what they have done for the day but also tips and reviews on anything under the sun to help promote awareness or simply to promote a product or business.

Blogging today came with it a need to share your views and a sense of responsibility to the online community. Blogging today now comes with a sense of purpose.

Now, I lunge myself wholeheartedly to this new era of blogging. I feel excited and eager to share and to learn with the rest of the world, instead of just being a curious bystander.

Hello blogging world!