Last year I had the courage to try out a fad - eyelash extensions.  Sadly, I only had short lashes and my search for my "wonder" mascara is still on (well, maybe over already but that will be on another post). The only time I was able to wear falsies was during the boudoir session a deux with my BFF and my wedding. I love the effect of having full, long lashes on my chinita lids.  Yes, I've bought fake falsies and would want to try wearing it to work but I was too lazy to practice putting it on. I was also apprehensive that wearing falsies to work might be a bit too much. Baka mapagkamalan akong drag queen. I know that there are some falsies that look natural and complementing makeup would make it more "acceptable" pero tamad talaga ako!  I've been late going to work on several occassions trying to catch some more Zzzz'sss in the morning and thus I have a 5 minute make up routine that I usually do especially for mornings such as these. So an added step of putting on falsies will probably mean that I have to spend more moolah for riding taxi cabs going to work. And anyway, I'm not really a makeup junkie. Late bloomer is what you'd call me when it comes to make up but that is another story all together.

Going back to the topic, some girls in my FB group have discussed about having eyelash extensions and how they're loving it because it accentuates their eyes. I'd even looked up how long does the procedure take and what salons (?) offer this service. Sa totoo lang, ayaw ko talaga nung una kasi nanghihinayang ako na malalagas lang unti-unti sa mga mata ko yung perang pinambayad ko. BUT wanting to compensate for my flabs, I decided to give it a try. At least maganda ako kahit na mataba. (Gosh. Where the heck is my self-esteem?)

Anyway, when I did have my extensions, gluing the individual lashes took only less than an hour. It wasn't painful, kinda itchy lang when the ends of the extensions were pricking my waterline as the assistant was applying it. A tape of sorts was put along my lower lids, probably to avoid having the hairs getting tangled with the lower lashes while it's not yet dry. After effect? Blooming eyes :)

*This is quite a long read. All photos are by Shuttercount Photography unless specified otherwise*

Wow! That's is all I can say after we had our baby daughter's first birthday celebration. After months of research, planning, booking and finalizing, all the hard work had paid off :) I'm really thankful to God for giving me the strength and guidance. It was a truly fun-filled and memorable day apt for a very important occassion. Nakakaloka rin pala ang mag-organize ng party on your own. But I was happy to see that all our guests raved about the food and how their kids had fun.  Admittedly, there were apprehensions the day before the party but I decided to let go and not obssess about it too much otherwise, I won't be enjoy the party myself.

And as usual, I'm giving here the review of the suppliers we have booked for our daughter's party; of course, with a few anecdotes on my experience as a stage mom (?!) / party planner ;-)
   

   
Venue: AVR, Colegio de Sta. Ana, Taguig
Cost: NA
Rating: 5/5


One of the challenging parts sa pagplan ng party ni Georgie was to find the venue. I have a Word document of our prospective venues (from north to south of manila) that I had compiled from my web searches. Budget, flexibility and proximity were the major points that we had to consider. As early as April, we were scouting na for venues and you know what, some of them are booked na! We considered getting a party package na all-in na kasama na ang venue but  the major turn off was the ridiculous corkage fees sa mga extras that you want to bring in. We have visited some other party places that would fit our requirements but it didn't appeal much to hubby. (Sa totoo lang ha, mas maarte pa minsan tong asawa ko sakin.) The AVR in Taguig was actually our last resort because of its location. We felt na baka masyadong malayuan ang mga bisita sa venue and would not come at all. But hubby argued that guests (mostly friends and relatives) who really want to go would find ways to attend kesehodang sa Timbuktu pa yan. Plus, the director of the school is actually our ninong and Georgie's lolo/ninong meaning we could pretty much do anything with the place - walang corkage, walang makikialam, walang time limit. The room has a stage na, sound system and projector so we could easily play our AVP without having to rent out the equipments. The room was just enough to fit ten buffet tables, the food buffet, food carts - medyo snug but people could easily get around pa rin naman. Our ninong also had additional aircons put in para di mainitin ang guests. What more could we ask for? :)


Cake: Sheryberry Sweets
Cost: P4000 for 2 layer all edible Minnie Mouse cake, P500 for the 5" mini cakes (with acetate box, ribbon and tags), P500 delivery charge
Rating: 5/5

A lot. And I do not exaggerate when I said a lot has happened this past year. And yes I am guilty of not writing on my blog.  I don't know why but whenever I've listed down something I wanted to blog about, I kept putting it off :( Bad. Very bad. I missed blogging so much! So I before we head off to the sub-urbans (where internet connection is nada) for the New Year celeb, I wanted to drop this little post. I can't bear to leave 2012 behind without a proper "end note".

I want to tell you guys that this year had definitely posed some challenges on my personal life but the upside is positive outweighs the negative. And I'm still thankful for the blessings that have come our way. And yes, I am looking forward to the new year with a happy disposition, a positive outlook and a stronger will. :)

So what will you expect next year? You'd probably read more about our baby girl, G. Now a toddler, she is discovering the world and we parents are learning day by day - enjoying the joys and pains of parenthood. I want to put up her own Style Diary category of my blog. I also want to share some of my kikay experience and new finds. And oh, I still owe you some of my own outfit posts and the supplier ratings from Georgie's first birthday! Yep, time to get crackin' on 2013.

The problem with spending too much time surfing the net is that you get to stumble on nice projects and ideas that you can do for your kid's party. So I was clicking, browsing and saving pictures for future reference and now, I get dizzy just by browsing thru the photos I've saved on my external drive. It got to the point that I am already confused which one should I use/ adopt and which idea to scrap. Geez.

Anyway, one of the "in" thing nowadays for a party is a candy buffet in lieu of loot bags. I was thinking I could DIY a candy buffet but I felt getting the containers and jars was a bit of a hassle. Usually large glass jars are used for the buffets and the prospect of lugging them to the party venue (which may damage or break  the jars) does not really appeal to me.  I had thought of using clear plastic containers and even scouted the malls for what I could find as alternatives but what will I do with them after the party? I could sell them (if someone is willing to buy them) just to get it out of my hands; otherwise, my mom's sari-sari store would have to have a makeover to accommodate the jars or worse, I'm stucked with heavy jars that could eat up more space in our meager apartment.

Another consideration I had was portion control on the candy buffet. I have to assign a relative or friend to man the buffet (for refilling them and assisting the guests). Though it may look pretty in the pictures, I have to ditch the candy buffet idea. Hubby isn't to keen on it either so there.

What M suggested was to have food carts instead. It was my original idea to have food carts for the party but I haven't really pressed M about it since we have to consider our budget. But since he brought it up, might as well look into it again. Our decorator has some tie-ups with food cart vendors but M would like to check for more affordable ones (which I doubt that he is doing so it may all come down to me doing the research in the end). I don't want to stress about it yet since we still have a bit of time allowance to finalize.

Going through again the pictures I have for inspirations, I can't help feeling overwhelmed with what I still have to do. Well, some of these are more of "wants" instead of "needs" so my to-do list is still what you could call a work in progress :P We did, however, draft out the menu plan for the guests (after much discussion and hem-hawing on M's part I might point out) after having a food tasting with our prospective caterer. One item off my list :)

It's July and I am now slowly working on our baby's first birthday party. So far, I've booked the venue decorator, photographer, and cake supplier. I already had a caterer in mind and we're just waiting for the food tasting that would be in August. We do have a venue already but I am still on the lookout for one that would be nearer our place. We haven't had time to conduct some ocular visits yet as our househelp recently left us :(  If we can't find a more suitable venue, well at least we have a fallback venue that we could use :)  Hubby promised that we'll review the videos of the hosts we have in mind this weekend.  Once we finalize that and book our host, I could breath a little more easily knowing that the major suppliers are booked. Yey!

Also, I had initially wanted to have a Baby Pooh and Friends theme for the party. But after looking at the party ideas on the Net, I realized that I might have difficulty in sourcing out items that woud be related to the theme. So, there's an 80% chance that we will switch themes and I'm already excited to work on the DIY projects that I have in mind :)  Here's my moodboard for Georgie's first birthday bash!

I'm giddy with excitement! It's like I'm planning my wedding all over again (perhaps a little bit less stressful lang).  I'll keep you posted on the updates for Georgie's birthday. I'm also planning to have a review of the suppliers just like what I did for our wedding.  

Goergie's birthday is about 5 months away but I can't help being excited.  Ito na ata yung sinasabi nila when I was still planning our wedding na nami-miss ko ang preps after. Despite the frustrations and the stress, I enjoyed being a hands-on bride for our wedding. I think it is quite evident with the number of DIYs I made for the party. I was even the choreographer for our "okay lang kahit wala na tayong mukhang ihaharap kasi isang beses lang to sa buhay natin" first dance. *cringe*

So now, I am trying to start planning our daughter's birthday bash even though we haven't decided yet on the date of the party and the budget. But even my hubby couldn't stop me from asking suppliers for their packages and scouting the web for "possible" venues. I already have a theme in mind cos our daughter loves it but since M and I haven't exactly sat down and talked about it, I really can't do much except browse and salivate over the niceties I want to have for our daughter's birthday. :(

Actually, M doesn't want to spend much for 1st birthdays since our baby wouldn't remember it much (however, he did say that I could go "all out" for Georgie's 7th birthday. Yey! But that is ages away). My say on celebrating 1st birthdays is because it is a milestone for me. All of us could remember most of our "firsts" - first kiss, first gift received, first love. Heck, why not celebrate your first kid's 1st birthday, right? But, being a realist I must also consider that we can't have blowing our meager savings in just one day. We have to consider our daughter's future. Pero gusto ko pa rin na kahit papano maganda ang first birthday ng baby ko! Hehehe.

Kaya eto, I am again making a checklist for a kid's party, even the suppliers and estimated budget. Hay, parang mas mahirap ata magplan ng birthday party kesa sa kasal. Hahaha! I mean it's easy to pick out designs and the menus for adults but what about the kiddos? We have to keep them entertained and full. So now, I have to study the menus for the kids and for the adults. Challenging but I'm game! Now, where is Myke?  I have things to discuss with him.... :D