native baroque

apart from helena,

the first thing you notice in mangenguey is the design.

you're first greeted by these uber cute colored cottages, where helena mixes colors, vintage and traditional filipino furniture.

the main house is my fave.  an open ground floor with a big functional kitchen smack in the middle of it.

my favorite corner...

the bedrooms are right up our alley -- with cute colors, baroque furniture and native elements.

this pink bed in the pink suite is my fave...  i want to copy it.

also love the pink chair and pink lamp...

 

our bleu bed in the bleu suite (love the bench. i want to copy.)...

our balcony...

our semi-outdoor bathroom...

our dresser...  the photograph on the lower right is of helena's.

the two suites can open up to a central sitting room.  i love this idea.  i want to copy for our house.  what house?

the view from our room...

more later!

happy earth day!

whatchado last 22nd?

here's what i did:

started reading world without us, a suprisingly engaging book that toys with the scenario of us humans (homo sapiens) suddenly disappearing from the face of the earth.  i know it sounds like a bore, but believe me it's not.  a MUST read, i think.

while reading, ate malunggay kropeck...

... and watched games

...and flew over pretty things...

then 30 minutes of crazy roads...

then a short walk to the pier...

for lunch in sea dive resto...

then a 2-hour bangka ride...

past pearl farms...

to this...

 

more later...

i'm going!!!

i just bought my ticket to NEPAL to trek the annapurna circuit!!!



and i ran 7.5k right after, out of panic - hehe :D

excited and scared at the same time, but throwing it to the universe!!!!

stavros flatly

 over 50 million people have watched susan boyle give the biggest shocker in britain's got talent...

call me weird, but this (and not susan) is my favorite act in the show so far.

so cute!

p.s.

found this photo by Sarah Caulfield, a foreign journalist riding with the Padyak contingent. i remember seeing her by the stairs of the pedestrian overpass on ortigas ave.... can you find me? hee hee hee

tour of the fireflies

i've finally been able to join the tour of the fireflies!!! its my earth day contribution for this year :) a 42km "bike for clean air" ride from tiendesitas-ortigas- north on edsa-trinoma-QC circle-back to edsa-buendia-ayala-edsa-ortigas-back to tiendesitas.

at the starting line, different cycling groups converged at tiendesitas....



its a fun ride, so every year, some people come in costumes related to the environment. there were a lot girls wearing butterfly wings, people with leaves and flowers on their bikes and helmets...





and some really go all out like these guys....



there were a lot of kids and families there, too... we saw a foreign family with mom, kid and dad towing two more kids in a "trailer"


(here are the kids inside.... awww)


brave kids!



of course, my pedala guys were there - hihi....


people came out with all sorts of bikes...




we had a whole Padyak bike contingent...


and artist eng chan rode his self-made bamboo bike (complete with straw hat)- the frame is really made of actual bamboo


we had the washing machine bike displayed at the start/finish line too!

(this is where the clothes go)

(and here it is at work!)


i don't think i've ever seen our streets filled with this many bikers! there were over 5,ooo riders this year!


happy earth day!