Cynthia, inside. » no place like home

Hooray hooray, I’m your silver lining

Cynthia — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:54:25 +0000

Finally — a cleaner, fresher, more “grown-up” look¹. And best of all, look at all that space! I got so used to my last layout’s narrow posting area that I can’t get over how roomy this is.

But what exactly happened, you ask? Weeeell, I neglected this blog for too long that spam comments corrupted my WordPress installation and so I had to do a total overhaul. It gave me an excuse to de-clutter and fix this page though so no worries, it’s all good.

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Anyway, much went on since my last entry before the unintended hiatus.

1. Three issues of WE have been published (I hope you can check them out, dear brides and grooms to be)

2. WE’s E-I-C Marbee Go and I started blogging at www.weheartweddings.com

3. I designed the album packaging for our dear friends, the Itchyworms. (Yes, there really are “Itchyworms” canned goods and other items in the supermarkets, LOL.)

4. I’ve concentrated on managing and marketing our online shops, Poptastic Tees and The Paper Basket. If you live, or have relatives, in the States, I really would appreciate it if you can point them to the stores.

5. I also worked on many other stuff like wedding invitations (not really my thing but I would do it for friends… and for my brother of course who’s getting married in December), some more gocco-printing, helping out Arn with his projects, etc.

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I’d also like to invite you to Superficial ll: Frailty – a group show featuring the works of 33 female artists opening September 13, Saturday 7pm at Pablo Gallery, Cubao Expo.

The participating artists are Carina Almonte / Jessica Antonio / Cynthia Arre / Bru / Mara Bernaldo / Mica Cabildo / Bea Camacho / Denise Castillo / Abi Dacayap / Liza Flores / Lala Gallardo / Marie Gan / Garovs Garrovillo / Abi Goy / Honey Hipe / Wiji Lacsamana / Ene Lagunzad / Hannah Liongoren / Mitch Mauricio / Feanne Mauricio / Jhoan Medrano / Gabie Osorio / Katwo Puertollano / Genie Ranada / Sunshine Reyes / Pepper Roxas / Sharon See / Mia Singson / Joyce Tai / Lette Teodosio / Pauline Vicencio / Shawn Yao / MM Yu

More details here.
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Taken when I was designing either Pillbox or Fruitcake, 1996

Lastly, it seems that all of Manila is a-buzz about the upcoming Eraserheads reunion concert. Naturally Arn and I are going², given our history with the band so if you’re going, we’ll see you there.

Nest & Budz Loveteam, photo taken in 1997

Well I am 36 y.o. after all
AND through the generosity of our dear friends Buddy & Nest who invited us as early as July, before the complicated ticketing details were even announced.

In this room, in this room of mine.

Cynthia — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:02:48 +0000

I’ve been wanting to do a home office makeover¹ for the longest time, and it was last month’s termite invasion that pushed me to finally do it. I’ll tell you why later.
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First, let me show you what the soho used to look like.²:
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Ugh, is that a mess or what. Believe it or not, we worked in this kind of environment for close to three years. Arn later relocated to a breezier section in the house since he likes working closer to nature so this office is essentially mine now.
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The makeover idea was sparked when I decided to lose the highly under-utilized green couch (on the right, behind all the clutter) and replace it with a table I found sitting in our compound’s common garage. I decided that I needed a spot to do my art and paper crafting, especially since I already had the supplies but just did not have the space for it. I was actually fine with that slight change for the meantime… and then we discovered that the termites had eaten into the built-in wardrobe³ that housed a lot of our files! Eep! Obviously the ~~best~~ only solution was to tear it down.
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It was a beautiful piece of woodwork but unfortunately, it’s just not meant to house “office” files.
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Obviously the next problem was where to put all the stuff that was in the cabinet. (And what a whole load of stuff that was!)
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Dear oh dear. Just looking at that photo makes my head hurt.
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Three major criteria we considered in buying new storage supplies were (a) termite deterrence; (b) sturdiness; and (b) pocket-friendliness. The industrial shelving and plastic containers we bought all met what we were looking for, and it really helped much that the SM in our area had a 3-day sale last weekend.
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The office taking shape slowly but surely. Yes that’s a Print Gocco PG-5 Abbas is sitting on! Bought it for 6,825 yen at a Tokyu Hands in Shibuya a couple of years ago. See I couldn’t even use it before because I didn’t have a proper work surface.
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Suddenly there was so much space and I excitedly put everything in order once the paint dried up. It took about a week and a half for everything: construction, cleanup, and sorting/deciding what went in and out of those boxes and shelves because there were just too many things to go through.
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Looking good, looking good… now, everything’s within reach unlike before when they were stuck in the depths of that gigantic cabinet.
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And oh, I also found a way to save the handsome narra cabinet doors – we saved what we could of the wood and then had them built into a book case for all my magazines and reference materials.
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This way, those slabs of wood can still live in their “home”.
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Here, now, are the token “after” shots of my improved soho. I can definitely see myself working more efficiently in this space… well, granted that it stays neat and orderly.
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Now to buckle down and work, work, work.
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Cost breakdown:
- Carpentry work: P400/day for 7 days= P2800
- Zen floor tiles (10 pcs) = P465.12
- Paint, primer, paint remover, cement= P545
- Varnish (for bookcase and table)= P190
- Industrial shelving: P2,200 x 2 = P4,400
- Plastic containers (on sale) = P3,000
TOTAL: 11,400.12.⁴

Whatever for did I watch all those episodes of Merge, Clean House, and Design Remix when we still had the Lifestyle channel?
Before you label me a slob though, can I just remind you that — ahem — Creative Minds Are Seldom Tidy.
This office space used to be a bedroom and the cabinet was meant to house clothing, hence the size and depth.
I would’ve wanted to stay below the P10,000 mark but we wanted to invest in sturdy shelving and storage and I think that decision will save us more money in the long run.

The clover under your feet is shooting stars in the night.

Cynthia — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:36:25 +0000

January has been quite busy work-AND-household-maintenance-wise for Arn and me. Since my last entry, we’ve somehow managed to accomplish the following:
1) Had the house treated for termites. If you haven’t inspected your cupboards and storage areas in a while, do yourselves a favor and do so now, you’ll never know what you might find growing in there.
2) Had our wiring troubleshot by an electrician and had the old wire casings replaced with newer, less corrosive material.
3) Bought and installed a new energy-efficient refrigerator. It turned out to be a very good good investment, as reflected in this month’s Meralco bill.
4) Did some major spring cleaning, which was the hardest thing for me emotionally because I’m a packrat. In the end though it feels good knowing that someone else out there will benefit from things that I have no use for anymore.
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Still on our list are a few items that need repairing, like the door screen that our puppy Vanilla tore while we were out because she wanted to be able to go inside the house and play with our cat Abbas, and the ottomans that are bursting at the seams because Abbas scratches at them whenever Vanilla’s yapping agitates him.
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Sigh, pets. But yes we do love them to bits.

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Let me just share that one of the best decisions we made when the year began was switching cable companies. We signed up for Sky’s Silver package when we moved here 3 years ago and if there are two — sorry, make that three — things we don’t like about the service, they are:
1) Not having Discovery, Disney, and Hallmark Channels¹. The only reason we got Sky is that both Arn and I came from Sky-subscribing households and we were used to their lineup. We weren’t aware, however, that the Silver package didn’t have the channels we liked, but we didn’t find it practical to pay P300 extra for them.
2) Too many commercials! It didn’t feel like we were watching cable at all.
3) Paying P645 a month for the issues I stated above.
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So anyway, after some research, we switched to Destiny and we’ve been a couple of happy potatoes² since. There’s Discovery Travel & Living and Hallmark for me, Arn has his EuroSport³, and we get to have our Discovery & Disney Channel fixes. All that to the tune of P450 a month. Not a bad deal at all.

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On the workfront – yes, the January to June issue of Wedding Essentials is on its way to hitting the newsstands⁴ Again, we have over 300 pages of beautiful wedding ideas, tips, and tricks to guide couples in planning their dream weddings. Here’s a quick preview of what you will find inside:
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Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as the team did in putting it together!

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Don’t ask me what my subject heading means, at the moment I’m loving the Rilo Kiley song⁵ it came from. Listen to it here.

Yes I admit it, watching sappy made-for-tv movies is my guilty pleasure! Hey that’s where I saw “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” for the first time years ago.
The couch kind.
Great timing too, it’s World Cup season.
If it’s not already there, that is.
Didn’t care much for the new album, though. Sorry but I only liked 5 of the 11 tracks.

The years go on and we’re still fighting it

Cynthia — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:22:06 +0000

A pleasant and prosperous brand new 2008 to all! Here’s to fresh beginnings, shiny new hopes, and clean slates aching to be filled with happy memories.
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Can I also just share that this year, I will be “celebrating” my 11th year aboard the world wide web. Before I acquired the domain in ’99, my very first address was at good ole Geocities¹ and the next one was at Tripod.². Unfortunately (or actually, fortunately) I don’t have screenshots of previous incarnations of my site but *gasp* it seems the wayback machine holds the key to my shame. Please promise not to laugh.

***

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I know 2007 is SO last year but I just wanted to list the good things that came out of it, in no particular order.
1. Poptastic and The Paper Basket, our Cafepress shops. Yay to designing for fun — and getting paid to do so!
2. The trips to Japan (March), Singapore (April), Dumaguete (August), and Hong Kong (November). We hope to do more sightseeing this year, finances permitting.
3. Engagements! Some of our close friends and a family member are tying the knot soon and Arn and I couldn’t be happier for all of them.
4. Reconnecting with long lost friends & relatives, strengthening ties with the ones I’m in touch with, and making up with missed, estranged (well, estranged no more) ones. All thanks to Facebook.
5. Papa coming home for good. He’d been travelling to and from Japan since I was little and had lived there as a visiting Professor for a year in 1978, three years in the ’90s and then another six years before retiring last year. It’s such a comfort to know that he and Mama are both at home, right next door.
6. Arn and me turning four years strong as man and wife. Looking forward to many, many more wonderful years together.

***
So this year kind of started with a bang — on my hard drive and consequently, my wallet. One of our home computers, the PC I use for work, CRASHED. See if this happened to my Mac³, I would’ve known how to fix it but PCs are as alien to me as Bode Miller⁴ so I had no choice but to bring it to a shop that charged x amount for labor, another x amount to install an OS, and x amount for a new hard drive to replace the damaged one. But then I was prepared to spend whatever it cost to retrieve the magazine layouts I slaved on over the holidays (wouldn’t you, now?) and hooray, hooray they were all safe. So yes, Wedding Essentials Jan-June 2008 will be at the stands soon … er, soon enough.

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It was a different case for our media collection though. We lost ALL the music, tv series episodes, and movie files we’ve accumulated these last couple of years. A few had been backed up on file, some are in our iPods, but most are now gone… forever. Lesson learned? Backup your files, backup your files, BACKUP!
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Get ready for this: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3395. Where was TinyURL when you needed it?
A slightly easier to remember http://members.tripod.com/~cbauzon
Actually I hardly use my Mac for work anymore, it’s so jurassic it can only handle web-based projects (which I choose not to do so much anymore too).
Sorry, Arn is watching the world cup right behind me and I know absolutely nothing about speed skating and curling and what other winter sports there are

Can you feel it? (Turn up your stereo!)

Cynthia — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:58:26 +0000

I have a confession to make: ever since Twitter invaded my life, I’ve been too lazy to update the normal way. But rather than let this webspace go to waste¹, here’s one big fat update coming up.

So since my last entry,

1. we’ve come out with a special issue of WE called Wedding Essentials Destinations.

It’s still the same, good ol’ WE but it’s a stand-alone issue that features dream wedding and honeymoon destinations in the Philippines: Baguio, Boracay, Batangas, Palawan, Tagaytay, Cebu, Tarlac, Quezon, Davao, and Cavite plus real destination weddings, fashion spreads and articles on planning out-of-town weddings. The magazine is available at all leading bookstores and mag stands for P200. Click here for a larger image of the cover.

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2. I opened my new shop, The Paper Basket². Paper Basket sells pretty patterned notecards & journals, funky wall clocks and other cool gifts that are unique to the store.

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Be sure to check back every once in a while because new items and designs are being added all the time!

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3. Arn and I went to Singapore with his family and stayed there for a week.

More photos here.

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My dear friend Neva is behind skin care line Leyende and she makes the decadent skin care products herself from organic and all-natural ingredients from all over the world. Isn’t that amazing? She’s a writer too so expect nothing but the most creative product names: No Rumple Silk Skin Butter, Smoothie Operator bath & shower creams, Kiss, Kiss, Balm, Balm Lip Balm, and many more. I personally use Smoothie Operator in “Norte” and Clean Slate Multitasker³ everyday and I’m addicted to them! They smell heavenly and they leave my skin soft and clean without the greasy feeling. I actually can’t wait to use them up so I can try the other scents and products. For details on how to order, please visit the site.

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I’ve also been staying up late the past months watching all the seasons of Felicity⁴, episodes of Veronica Mars⁵, and Heroes <– OMG did you watch the finale? Wasn’t it awesome? “Call me Noah”, woot! Leave a message to discuss if you like.

And yes, it’s been paid for til the end of the year.
using some of the earnings from Poptastic. Cafepress is so very worth it, the shops actually pay for themselves
Thank you dear Nev!
I’ve missed this show!
officially on it’s last season *sob*

And so we’re told this is the golden age

Cynthia — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:53:54 +0000

Happy 2007 to all of you

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A few scenes from MY December:

One of my bestest friends Sheila was in Manila last month so naturally Tips and I dropped everything to meet with her for good ol’ lunch and coffee. And then of course there were the family reunions and get-togethers galore (my dad flew home for a vacation and so did Arn’s brother Jing¹ so the families were complete² once again ): miscellaneous pre-Christmas lunches and dinners with relatives and friends, Christmas eve dinner and Christmas day lunch with my family, Christmas day dinner and day-after-Christmas breakfast and lunch with Arn’s family, our day-long wedding anniversary celebration, day before New Year’s lunch and dinner with Arn’s family, and then New Year’s Eve dinner and New Year’s Day lunch with my family. Whew!³

More:

From left: our kitty by the Christmas tree, the last of Papa’s kaki (persimmon) pasalubong before I mercilessly sliced through it with that little knife beside it, Papa and Mama at Seven Corners, my ice cream teppanyaki being tossed together, half of the batch of red velvet cupcakes I baked for our families, and Arn and his brother Jing at the NAIA canteen “Windows of the World” minutes before his flight back to Sing.

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So how’s everyone’s internet connection doing since the great, year-end quake⁴? We’re on PLDT-DSL and it’s been buggy for the past week to say the least. There are days when Google and Gmail loads quickly but then I get stuck loading my own webpage for 10 minutes⁵. I wonder how it is in other Asian countries. Shei? It’s comforting to know though that repairs are under way and here’s hoping that normalcy is restored in a week’s time.
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By the way, the January-June 2007 issue of Wedding Essentials is set to come out this month — it may even hit the newsstands this weekend. Please watch out for it because it might be our thickest and most comprehensive issue yet.
UPDATE: I just received a hot-off-the-press copy from our ed Marbs and the girls and holy guacamole it’s dooper thick! See the pic.

It’s 285 pages thick, not counting the ads (with the ads it clocks in at 340 pages). It’ll be on newsstands by next week so pretty please grab a copy if you can. It’s still at P250 and I promise you it’s worth every centavo (hey it’s less than one peso per page!). Will write about the issue in detail once it’s officially out.

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Last but not least, a big hearty THANK YOU goes out to everyone who’s bought shirts and merch from my Cafepress stores! As of this writing, I’ve sold a total of 97 98⁶ 99⁷ 100⁸ shirts and when it reaches a hundred I’ll be listing down all your names so you can send me photos of yourselves wearing them, alright?

Who’s been based in Singapore since October
I’m sure my other brother Christopher was with us in spirit, literally, like I’ve always believed…
So yes it’s true, when you get married you will eat twice as much as you did when you were single because there are now two sets of families to eat with.
Thank goodness nothing but our internet connection got hurt.
My official excuse for not updating
As of today, Jan 5! I know it’s not that big a deal since others are selling 10x as much but to me it’s already *huge* considering all I’m investing is a bit of computer time and design savvy.
As of Jan 5, 6:23 pm, I can’t believe it. You readers must be my lucky charm. One more to go…
As of Jan 7, 2:10 pm. Hip-hip hooray!!

In inches, in miles, in laughter and strife.

Cynthia — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 09:43:09 +0000

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May all of you have the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of new years!

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And if you’re still stumped about what to give your loved ones this season, why don’t you check out Michael’s list of Christmas Gift Ideas from Filipino Graphic Designers¹.

Thank you for the mention, Michael and Merry, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

I need perfection, some twisted selection

Cynthia — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 16:09:26 +0000

One of the best things about having a blog is that you get to meet and interact with people who share your interests. A few posts ago, I talked about how much I liked Real Simple mag. And then a friend of mine — working mom Candice — posted a note saying that, surprise, there’s a Real Simple online newsletter.¹ I’m glad she told me because now it’s the only newsletter I look forward to receiving every week. It’s chockfull of clever and aha! tips with titles like: “Decorate on the Cheap with Everyday Items” (ex: Use binder clips to display photos), “Learn How to Say No”², “16 Quick Ways to Take Control of Your Life” (ex: Itemize your possesions), and “27 Clever Cleaning Tips” (ex: Store cleaning products in a see-through shoe holder). If you want to simplify your life, go ahead, do yourself a favor and subscribe.

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By the way, I think I’ve gained some three years worth of stay-at-home-wifedom cred to list down a few household tips myself. Let me share them with you:

1. Baking soda is your friend. Use it to unclog drains (sprinkle some on the drain before pouring boiling water through it), freshen up kitchen counters (sprinkle some on the counter, pour some vinegar or squeeze a few pieces of calamansi on the powder — it will fizz — then wipe it off), or remove unpleasant smells in your ref (keep an open container of it inside your ref).
2. Rub off the nasty black stains on the bottoms of your pots and pans with vinegar.
3. Keep a little basket or tray containing everything you’ll need when you go out. Ours holds our house keys, car keys, wedding rings, cellphones, and a wallet with “emergency money”. We bring it to the bedroom with us when we sleep, and we bring it downstairs every morning when we open the doors. We’ve made it a habit to put the abovementioned items in it everytime we go home.
4. Make duplicates of all your keys and label each one carefully. Entrust the duplicates, or at least the ones that open the main doors) to a trusted family member or friend who doesn’t live in the same house.
5. Make it a habit to switch off the gas before turning off the stove.
6. Have scissors, even the kid-size ones will do, available in every room. Trust me.
7. Put all loose change on a bowl on your kitchen counter. Pretty soon you’ll end up with a big pile that you can use for miscellaneous expenses like parking, tips for your cleaning lady and drinking water delivery guy.
8. Enroll your bank accounts in an online facility, if possible. (I’m not sure about the other banks but I know BPI and Citibank accounts can be managed online). My fabulous friend Tippi introduced me to online finance management and I’m glad I took her advice. It’s so convenient — you can check your balances, transfer funds, and pay monthly bills all from the comforts of home, even on weekends and holidays!
9. Keep extra trash bags at the bottom of your trash cans. This way there’ll always be a bag when you need one.
10. Buy toilet paper, paper towels, and table napkins in bulk. They don’t spoil, it’ll come out cheaper, and having them around will give you peace of mind.
More next time.
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By the way, another fabulous friend Sheila has a happy new blog. She’s an award-winning advertising creative director so please visit her site, try out her tasty recipes, and just see what else goes on inside the mind of a genius! Clicky.

See, I didn’t even know that and I probably wouldn’t have if I didn’t blog about it and if she didn’t point it out. Thank you Cands!
A must-read. In my life I’ve been through a lot of sticky situations where I had difficulty saying no.

More of my domestic adventures.

Cynthia — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 13:40:26 +0000

How very interesting – a knitted wedding! (I remember Nest telling me about this when we saw each other a few days ago.) Everything, from the bride’s gown, wedding cake, flowers and confetti were knitted, and it all began with this invitation for contributions from knitters all over the UK. Check out the photo galleries here and here.

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Ahh yes, more kitchen adventures coming right up…

My Arn and I discovered C2′s Salted Egg Rice last year when our dining companions Carlo & Nina made us try it. Since then dining at Shang has been a no-brainer, SER plus a varying viand became our default meal. But because it would cost too much to keep going back everytime we had a hankering for it, I tried my hand at making a homemade version. Arn thinks I’ve quite succeeded, thank you. So here’s how my version is done:

1. Drizzle about a tablespoonful or two of EVOO in a pan.
2. Drop in some chopped garlic and a few slices of anchovies. Let it sizzle for a few minutes.
3. When the garlic turns golden, toss in a diced salted egg (or two if you like). Let the egg “melt” a bit.
4. Dump in a bowlful of cooked rice. Mix it in with the egg and garlic. The rice will turn yellow-orange but don’t worry, that’s a good thing.

That’s it! And because we had some in the ref, I sprinkled shredded squid flakes on top to add a little crunch. Try it and then let me know if you like it. (:

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By the way this is totally unrelated but the picture on the right shows the banana bread muffins I made this week. Hehe, I just wanted to put it on the blog because they came out pretty (and yummy too). Recipe c/o Lori B.
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So I’m off to Cebu with the WE team tomorrow. In the meantime please visit this link and let me know if you’d like to order any of the items we’ve put up for sale. (:

Domesticity.

Cynthia — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:13:24 +0000

How I wish I had ideas as creative as these when we were tasked to recycle junk into something useful back in grade school*:

A vinyl record fruit bowl, a motherboard cd case, a vinyl record cover bag, scrabble-block cufflinks, and a telephone cord bowl. Of course, back then the items these are made of weren’t junk at all. In fact, a motherboard was a rare commodity, if it even existed in the Philippines at all, in the early DOS system 80s.

I remember blogging about it years ago but, here again are the instructions on how to make a vinyl record fruit bowl.

*So what was my recycled project? A pencil holder made out of an evaporated milk can wrapped with a randomly-ripped Panorama mag cover which I then coated later with clear nail polish. It was such a no-brainer; about 90% of my classmates did the same thing using different objects.

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Arn and I have been living here in QC for a year now and our house, which used to belong to my late aunt, is slowly evolving to suit our needs and personalities. Not exactly DIY (since we hired a carpenter) but here are samples of cost-cutting renovating techniques.

Remember how we installed shelves almost everywhere last year?

The top row shows before and after shots of the staircase landing which we turned into a library/sitting room. The bottom shows how our office looked before we had shelves and a built-in computer desk unit installed. Surprisingly, these didn’t cost too much: materials + plywood + carpenter’s fee for a week’s work = less than P5k for everything, tadah! At furniture shops, the same amount will only buy you a coffee table.

This year, since our combined collection of CDs and casettes are already running out our ears, we had more shelves built in the hallway leading to the office.

So now, instead of being piled up unused in what we call our “box room”, the most-played CDs are in the living room in prefab towers and the rest are in storage in the hallway. Again this didn’t cost too much: plywood (P700) + carpenter’s fee (P400/day) + miscellaneous materials = about P2k

More next time.

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Shucks, and I thought Martha was a goddess for coming up with her neat-o shirt-folding technique. I’ve been employing it ever since seeing her demonstrate it on the Today Show. It turns out that the technique originated in Japan.

Indeed it makes sense, origami has been part of Japanese culture for ages. By the way, these stills werenabbed from the really enjoyable demo video. Turn up your speakers now!

Here’s how to do it:
a. Lay the shirt flat on a work surface.
b. Pinch the shirt on the side opposite you at two points, the (1) shoulder midway between the sleeve and neck and (2) halfway down the shirt, parallel with your other hand.
c. Still holding the two points, cross your right hand over your left, bringing the shoulder down to meet the shirt’s bottm hem and grab the hem with the finger that crossed over (without letting go of the first pinch).
d. Lift the shirt , uncross your arms without letting go and pull the fold. The shirt will (amazingly) do a flip.
e. Lay down the sleeve on your work surface.
f. Fold it over to reveal a neatly folded shirt.

The directions sound complicated but trust me, it only takes about 3 seconds to do per shirt! I’ve never folded laundry any other way after learning of this technique. (If my instructions aren’t clear, you can always view the Japanese lady’s demo. It’s much more fun that way too!)