Happy Easter..err...Mama Moment?

I know it is too late to greet you...but I still want to greet you just the same.  Happy Easter everyone!  I hope you had a peaceful and reflective Holy week, capped with a joyous Easter!  

As much as I would like to share with you what we did and what we saw over the past few days; I cannot make myself compose anything about it, because my mind is preoccupied with my angel Bianca.  She is finally coming home tomorrow!  Yay!  I've been thinking of her the whole day!   Needless to say, I miss her so much!  I counted days, and now hours...hhmm about 15 hours more...

Bianca and Riko (her host sister in Japan) in matching cardigans.

What's my take away with Bianca gone for two weeks?  It affirmed three things.  First, my children are not going to stay with me forever.  They will soon be of age and pursue their dreams on their own.  I hope not too soon please.  Second, my life should not revolve around my children only.  I have a loving husband to take care of and spend the rest of my life (Aren't we wives sometimes guilty of prioritizing our kids over our hubbies?).  And third, I have unchecked items in my bucket list, waiting to be fulfilled.  I am getting there...one at a time.  For the meantime, I will relish and enjoy my kids while they are still in my nest.  

For the moms out there, have you felt this way before or are you over it?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Finally...i.m.home!

Hello dear readers!  From my previous post, I mentioned that I will share with you some exciting stuff going on with me.  And today, I thought would be the perfect day to do it.  With pride and excitement, I share with you my new baby (with my partner and dear friend, Michelle)...

i.m.home

{lamps, mirrors, chairs, and what not!}

Snapshots of our first collection.  We did the shoot at my home.

For those of you who personally know me, you would know that I have a passion (sort of an obsession, actually!) with home decor.  There are just so many nice things around, and if only I can have them all in my house!  And since that is not possible, I have to channel my energy into a project that involves home furnishing.  Few years back, I, together with four other friends put up KAYU, a home furnishing shop.  Unfortunately, after 3 years in the business, my family was posted in Singapore.  But of course, the passion did not go away, so while in Singapore, together with 3 friends, we put up IMAJ...and what else could it be??  You guessed it...another venture on home furnishing!  And now that I'm back in Manila, I am sooo excited to have partnered with a very creative lady who shares my passion.  Together we put up i.m.home.  So check out our FB page and browse through the photos of our first collection.  I hope you will like them as much as we have enjoyed sourcing and designing each piece!

With my partner, Michelle.  Taken during our very first concept development meeting, sometime December 2010.

I would not exchange for anything, the opportunity to have lived in different countries.  I am blessed and privileged.  And now, I am just happy and content to be back in Manila.  I'm glad that finally...i.m.home!

I would love to hear your thoughts!

L-O-V-E

Hello Monday!  Hope you all had a good weekend! Originally wanted to share with you some Easter decor around the house, unfortunately, while copying the photos, I marked them all and stupidly pressed delete!  Argghh...so there goes my photos!  Will do another round of shoot later, that is if I am in the mood already. (Really felt bad losing all those photos!)  


Anyways, found the photo above and thought I should not cry over spilled milk, but rather start the week full of LOVE!  Got all the corals while walking on the shores of Anvaya during our last trip, early this month.  I was just looking for a heart-shaped rock, and found the letter V, so I continued searching for more shapes and letters, and was able to spell L-O-V-E!  The E was the hardest to find!  Pretty, right?  


So whether you're off to a road trip, an overseas trip or simply staying at home for the Holy Week, start your Monday right and spread the LOVE!  :-)


I would love to hear your thoughts!

Mama Moment: Missing my Angel Bianca

Yes...another Mama Moment!  All along, I thought my eldest is too old to be missed, but after just one night, I just don't feel right.  I miss my Bianca!  She will be gone for two weeks (left last Wednesday), as part of her school's exchange program with Japan.   Gosh! 12 more days to go....

Practicing her Japanese pose the night before she left.

And since Bianca will be hosted by a Japanese family from the school, we prepared some special gifts for them.  I had to part ways with one of my batik table cloths (for the love of my daughter!) and use it as a wrapper.  With this kind of wrapping, no need for any tape nor glue nor ribbon.  The ends were tied in a knot on top and then made to look like a ribbon.     Sometimes I would use cloth table napkins also, to wrap food items.  Wrapper itself is a gift already!  Pretty clever, don't you think?  I just hope it passed the Japanese art of wrapping (you know how beautiful and meticulous their gift wrapping is!).

Boxes of dried mangoes and polvoron were wrapped in the batik cloth while mother of pearl bangles went inside the abacca bags.

Another gift, this time I wrapped it with tissue and then a panel of abacca was used to envelope the tissue and tied with a satin ribbon.  Simple and elegant!

Inside is a set of table setting for six, composed of placemats, embroidered napkins, capiz coasters and shell napkin holders.

Without Bianca, I guess Casa Insigne will be quiet this weekend.  Have a blessed week ahead, my dear readers!

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Ressurected!

Hello everyone!  I hope you haven't forgotten 40andbeyond!  It’s been 50 days since my last post.  Whoa!  I didn’t realize it was that long.  You might be wondering what happened…well…I don’t know for sure.  There’s a long list of things to share and blog, but one day, I just became catatonic in front of my computer.  I stopped blogging and reading blogs, altogether!  Well, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore because now I’m back!  I’m resurrected!  And for the coming back post..look what I got...an Easter Tree!  I got this idea from one of my favorite bloggers, ocharm.  As always, her posts are very interesting and so real and heartwarming!  Go visit her blog and marvel at her  writing prowess. I am a fan!

I’ve kept these hand painted Easter eggs since our Singapore days  (Philippine made and they were pricey that’s why I only have 3!).  I would put them in baskets together with the eggs that my kids painted.   But after checking the attic, I found  some dried branches and a couple of faux pussy willow stems.  I placed the whole bunch in a tall clear vase, hang the eggs and there…my Easter tree sitting pretty in my living room! 

Holy Week is coming very soon.  So an Easter tree would be perfect for your home.  Go and gather the whole family, paint some eggs if you don’t have any yet and you can make your own tree just like mine, or simply throw them in a basket. Now that I'm back, I can't wait to share with you my next post!  Later! :-)

I would love to hear your thoughts!