[Zei on Fashion] Golden Girl

My random post for the day was inspired by this morning's beautiful sunrise. Don't you just love waking up on Sundays, especially when the sun is shining brightly? I do. :) So anyway, with the sun's reflection etched on our bedroom door, and the husband and baby daughter sleeping soundly side-by-side, I decided to do an early morning post about my growing fondness for all things gold. I've actually worn gold everyday for the past 8 years since my husband (then my boyfriend) gave me a gold necklace with a small gold cross pendant, but that's just about it. But now, I think I could take on more gold than that, and these are the things on top of my list.

Tory Burch Tote in gold faux leather from Neiman Marcus

Old-school gold watch from Casio grabbed from www.pessimiss.wordpress.com

Vintage black belt with gold buckle from EtsyGold cuff by the Hammerman Brothers from www.bltfinejewellery.com

Aren't they all so bright and happy? Just the perfect accessories to make any look just as bright and happy plus an added hint of sexy.

Have bright Sunday everyone! Happy April Fools! And a blessed palm Sunday too!

[Zei the charmed one] AMEN!

Photo credit: www.thoughtsbynatalie.blogspot.com

I've always been an optimist, but lately, my optimism is M.I.A. But I made a pact with my real (optimist) self to get out of this rut, starting NOW. I saw this, and it made me smile and slowly, I felt my trickles of optimism regaining its foothold. I felt more like me. My life is GOOD and colorful and I intend to keep it that way.

Our house decked as Zia's Christmas wonderland

We had a colorful Christmas theme for our home this year to welcome the little one. Zia seems uninterested about the decorations for now, but it sure brought holiday cheer to all those who visited our house. Next year, we will go overboard with the decors - the little one (who'll be more than 1 by then) will be fascinated, for sure. =)

Don't you just wish it was Christmas all year-round?

Living in Full Color

Life wouldn't be as fun without color. Just some eye candy to usher the weekend, but not just any other weekend - rather payday (SALE) weekend! Enjoy!

Photo credits: www.zazzle.com / www.happyhues.tumblr.com / www.weheartit.com / www.apod.nasa.gov / www.dinodirect.com / www.fashionpaparazzis.com / www.helablog.com / www.yearofthecupcakes.blogspot.com / www.peppersoriano.com

Have a colorful weekend everyone! =)

Christmas overdrive!

Christmas has become an even more special occasion with the arrival of our baby girl and because this year will be her first Christmas, decisions on how to decorate for the little one must be made. This year, Christmas decors will go overdrive in our home. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking lots of color, ribbons, holly or maybe lots of reds since Zia seems fascinated with red. A trip to Dapitan Arcade and Divisoria is imminent. Here are just some of my inspirations for this year's Christmas decorations for our home.

Don't you just love Christmas? =) I know I do, more than anyone I know. =) 74 days to go!

Photo credits: www.debbiesthemes.com / www.about.com / www.canvasandcopy.com / www.depositphotos.com / www.naturalinteriordesing1.blogspot.com / www.trend-dir.net / www.us.123rf.com

Kitchen Makeover Dreaming

Just a quick post on another project I have brewing - not in the near future, but someday before I turn 30, I hope. =) I want to redo our kitchen. Why? Well, I think we've done a pretty good job with the rest of our house already for a starter family, but the kitchen has been left behind, maybe because my husband and I aren't cooks or maybe because it's relatively expensive to redo a kitchen. But this will be in the pipeline soon. For now, here's just the look I want to achieve for our kitchen, never mind the SMEG refrigerator since it's kinda the Rolls Royce of retro style refrigerators (thus, costs more than I could ever afford). Lots of whites with bursts of color here and there would make me wanna eat more or maybe pick up a cookbook and start learning a recipe or two.

Photo credits: www.hookedonhouses.net and www.gizmodo.com

Isn't it a lovely sight? Must work hard to earn enough to turn our kitchen into a flurry of yummy colors. Noted.

These chairs are so me!

I like that my blog is a smorgasbord of all things I love and all things that make me happy. Today's happy post is dedicated to these beautiful beautiful chairs - the daphne chair. It's from the furniture collection of Daphne Osena-Paez. Not surprised that these chairs are so pretty - they're the brainchild of one of the most gracious women of television I know of. So here they are. I just wish I could get one for our home. It would be such a lovely accent chair don't you think. I could already imagine it, but I like all the colors so I can't pinpoint which one I absolutely prefer - they're all so pretty. =) Maybe when I have extra money. It's a bit pricey but reasonable for its quality and craftsmanship. You can get your own from Rustan's, and if you do, lucky lucky you. =)

For now, while I'm saving up for it, I could probably improvise by hunting for a wooden vintage chair and paint it a pretty color. Maybe pastel yellow or aquamarine. =)

Photo credit: www.daphne.ph

Our baby's first bling

Yup, you read the title right, the excited daddy-to-be just got our baby her very first bling. It's nothing frosted or shiny, but it's definitely pretty - it's the Lamaze Baby Bling. It's super cute to bits. It's a baby rattle and stroller hang toy that's shaped like a diamond ring. Perfect for our little girl. I'm sure she'll love it with its mirror, crinkle and bell sounds and bright colors to boot. I thought it was just out in the US, but I'm glad it's already sold here. Love it. =)

Korker Happy

We're at 35 weeks and my pursuit for different kinds of happiness has stepped up since happy vibes are the doctor's order from now until we have our little girl with us. Today's source of happiness comes from something very simple - korker bows. They make babies look like gifts - which they indeed are. =) I googled how to make one but found out that it involves baking the bows, so I just decided to order from the experts. Yay. =) Can't wait to hold our gift with her bow. =)

Photos from seller Tampipi Ni Pistok's facebookpage, www.kaboodle.com and www.hipgirlclips.com

Sweet & Lovely for our coming sweet pea

It has taken countless trips to the mall, Ace Hardware, Handyman, 15 days of waiting time for custom made furniture, an electrician, a handyman, excited parents-to-be and wonderful grandparents-to-be to complete our sweet pea's nursery. The room is too sweet not to share.

Baby room stuff from Dimensione, Ikea, Papemelroti, Tod's Crafts, SM Dept. Store, Toys 'r Us

Custom made furniture from HomeValue (Crib and Diaper Changer with dresser) and Mandaue Foam (Bench with storage)

Finally, we're ready to welcome our baby girl and gift her with a sweet and lovely start.

Wall Decal Love

This isn't a remnant of my nesting phase, I've always loved anything about making a house pretty ever since I could remember. I can watch Clean House, Extreme Home Makeover, Carter Can, Dress My Nest, HGTV Showdown, Tacky House and all other home shows in the TV world all day, if time permits. =)

Today's post is dedicated to one little-home-makeover-paraphernalia-that-can -- Wall Decals. I've always been fascinated by these adhesive beauties ever since I saw it for the first time from the pages of Real Living magazine and I've been a fan ever since. The thing is, the particular decal I've been looking for for our home is still out of stock, but I'm waiting on the wings because I've been in contact with a couple of wall decals sellers such as Nu Dekor Wall Stickers, Sticker Avenue and RefreshFashion.

The nice thing about it is it's fuss free, reusable and quite affordable. It can be used in whatever part of the home that needs sprucing up, from the baby's room, master bedroom, hallway to the living room or kitchen.

Isn't it a wonder... wall. =)

Take me to 'The Whimsy' @ Cafe 1771

My mind's floating... where? To somewhere whimsical. Well, I saw this quaint and very pretty deli during a recent wedding i attended and I instantly loved it - the place was true to it's name, 'The Whimsy' @ Cafe 1771 (El Pueblo, Ortigas). Must eat there sometime, I'm sure the food will be as lovely as the ambiance. I'm thinking it would be a wonderful venue for our baby girl's christening reception or something. =) Giddy. =)

*Photo taken from www.chateaugroup.com

The fruits of my nesting

So as promised, I'll be posting pictures of the fruits of my nesting. I just have 1 more left in my list, which I'll probably do soon - I haven't put up photos along the stairs because I haven't found the right frames, but I know I will. :) So for now, here's our newly refurbished home, ready to welcome more guests and of course, our newest addition.

Loving our new blue green bench MTO from Mandaue Foam with the Bungalow 300 throws from Dimensione. =)

It wasn't part of my list, but we also put up a new drop 'chandelier' for our living area, courtesy of my father dear. =p

In keeping with our burst of color theme to contrast with our mostly black and silver kitchen, I got these colorful Holly stools from Dimensione for our small breakfast nook.

Don't you just love colors? Now I can teach baby about colors, not only through books, but also through our furniture. =) P.S. I'd like to thank my fairy parents for making my mini home makeover a success. Hearts. <3

I wonder, why not pink?!

We're almost on our 32nd week and with just 5 to 8 weeks to go, we've started fixing up our baby girl's room. Our first order of business for the nursery was to repaint the walls. I've always been a pink girl, but for some reason I decided not to go with pink for our baby girl's room (to the surprise of many). I didn't even get much pink baby clothes. And now I wonder why... I guess I like pink for myself, but for a baby girl, i think pink has been such a cliche especially now that a whole world of pantones are readily available. So here it is, the debut of our baby's girl's nursery in Aquamarine and Seal Gray. Can't wait to bring in the furniture and decorations. =)

Must own a couple of these

"To ensure a successful mix, I treat cushions and other accessories as the shoes and handbags of the home. The right shoe can really make an outfit -- and equally, if you have the wrong shoes, you can feel old-fashioned in the smartest of suits." - Nina Campbell

Note to self -- must buy a couple of these cheery Bungalow 300 throw pillows for our home. =p Maybe tonight or this weekend. =p The colors will definitely pop out from our gray sala walls and mostly black furniture. I love it. What's not to love? It's colorful, modern and Filipino-made. Yay!

Baby's first big ticket item

It's funny how the stroller we bought for baby wasn't even in our early shortlist. Our shortlisted brands were just Aprica, Mamas & Papas and Safety 1st, but the Italian brand Peg Perego emerged as our final pick. We got the Peg Perego Pliko Mini in Neon. It's still black, just like all the strollers in our shortlist, but with colorful stripes. It's really light weight and very compact when folded, but still has a big enough sun shade. It's just an umbrella stroller but it reclines low enough to be used for newborns up to 3-4 years old. Cool, right? So here's baby's 1st big ticket item. Hope Zia would enjoy her future rides in it. Shoutout to baby's amazing grandparents-to-be for the early gift. =) Now I'm onto baby's crib since it looks like we could be setting up the nursery soon. =) Exciting times!

My pursuit for a yellow bag ends

I've always loved the color yellow and I've always loved bags (carry-all bags to be more specific), so naturally a yellow bag should've been a staple in my wardrobe, but sadly, I never found a suitable yellow bag. I had a yellow bag once which I got from Charles & Keith, but it wasn't big enough and it was too office-y now that I think about it. So around last year, my pursuit for a nice yellow bag started. I thought of getting myself another Le Pliage in mustard, but with most of my resources being allocated to baby shopping, I decided to restrain myself and look further. Luckily, I stumbled upon this online seller in Facebook, Sole Sister Lifestyle, that had their bags on sale. I checked out the photos and saw it - the yellow bag that would finally end my pursuit for my own yellow wonder of a bag. Anyway, it's canvas and it's super spacious, which I love. Oh, plus I got it for an amazing price. Now, even on rainy days (like yesterday and today), I still get to lug around some sunshine with me and so much more. Thanks Kristine and Tanya of Sole Sister Lifestyle! Check out their stuff at http://www.solesisterph.blogspot.com/.

My kind of Havaianas

Can I just say that I want to have a pair of these to call my own even if I have more than enough pairs of Havs? :) It's part of the Missoni heart Havaianas collection. *Gushing* Background: Missoni is a luxury Italian fashion house that boasts of its super colorful patterns and knitwear.

And aside from all its colorful glory, it comes in a knitted bag too. Now that's neatly chic of them. :) Hoping I get one of the super limited 200 pairs to be sold here in the Philippines. :)

My 90s love is here to stay

I've always loved Lisa Frank back in the 90s and it still sparks a charming appeal to me until now. I'm glad that Lisa Frank products are still here to stay for future generations of girls who love love color, just like me. :) I used to buy and collect Lisa Frank using my own lunch money. Whenever my family was in Shangri-la, I'd always insist on going to Tickles just to check what the new Lisa Frank stuff are. Haha. Do you have your own Lisa Frank story back when you were still a grader or maybe until now? :)