Postcard Weekly 11-30-2012

Last night, I got home to three new postcards:

This is a postcard of the Sydney Opera House during the Vivid Sydney event, mailed by my friend, Rael, who's currently studying in Sydney. Look at those colors!

This is from a Postcrosser in Germany. This postcard shows St. Martins Dom in Mainz, a cathedral built in the 10th century. Mainz is one of the oldest cities in Germany. It was founded by the Romans ~2000 years ago!

Finally, my first odd-shaped postcard is from a Postcrosser in The Netherlands. Tulip-shaped, tulip postcard from the land of tulips-- I call this postcard Tulip-ception. Isn't it adorable?

Postcard Weekly 11-10-2012

Three postcards received last November 10, 2012

Neuschwanstein Castle in autumn, sent by a Postcrosser in Germany. Isn't it AMAZING? I really hope to visit this place in the future.

A multiview of Bayreuth (a baroque style city where Liszt and Wagner lived) from another Postcrosser in Germany. We've been regularly trading postcards for months now! This postcard makes me wish that I paid attention to art/music history classes in high school. (I've always been the Math/Science type haha).

And finally, a handmade postcard from my buddy Ali in Australia. Hurray for mail exchange with friends abroad!

Postcard Weekly 11-17-2012

Two postcards from last week:

Here is a typical Irish pub rendered in watercolor, sent by a Postcrosser from Ireland. Hurray for my first Ireland postcard!

Here is a postcard of The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco sent by a Postcrosser from Minnesota.

Postcard Weekly 11-24-2012

Got two in the mail this week. 

Pretty macarons from a Postcrosser in Tainan, Taiwan (who happens to share the same name as mine). I already have around 8 postcards from Taiwan (all bought by me during my trips) so I'm glad that I didn't get any duplicate! I truly adore this one.

This is Shukkei-en Garden in Hiroshima. It was sent to me by my Cambodian friend who is currently studying in Hiroshima. She's one of my SC2012 groupmates. I can't wait to see her again when she goes to the Philippines on her spring break. :)

I haven't been posting most of my postcards because I had planned to create a separate postcard/snail mail blog but seeing as I can't do that any time soon, I figured that I'll just have a "Postcard Weekly" series of posts in this blog. :) Maybe I'll also try to catch up with the "backlogs". 

Nailed

It's been a long while since I last painted my nails. I wore this the whole week: Etude House polish and some nail stickers. I'm glad they survived with minimal chipping. :) Now I wonder when I'll be able to do my nails again.

Mapping It Out

I've had this corporate giveaway notebook for some time now. The paper is actually pretty nice but I decided to do something about the cover to make it more interesting. I thought about deco tapes and sakura-shaped paper but then I didn't know how exactly I wanted it.

However, after wasting some minutes on Pinterest (where I saw a furniture covered with maps), I came up with this:

It's great! Every time I need to write down notes or to study, I am reminded of my love for travel, and therefore I am reminded to study and to work even harder. During my spare time, I get to memorize the locations of each country and their capitals as well. The downside, though, is that sometimes, during classes, I get distracted by the map! I'm sorry about that and I'm doing my best not to do it again. :)

I really want to add some more things to the cover like a nameplate, deco tape or airmail stripes. And maybe, just maybe, I think I need to buy more maps to cover some plain boxes. :)

Organizing Closet Doors

While it may not look THAT bad in the photo, my closet door is really disorganized. It's overflowing and occasionally, the belts and necklaces get tangled. 

Initially, only the right door is installed with hooks. My dad put them when they had the closets made almost 8 years ago (at the same time, we moved to our current house). For almost eight years, all my belts, long necklaces and hats are cramped into those six little hooks as shown in the BEFORE photo. I knew it was no longer a question of organization. I really had to install more hooks.

Luckily, after months of procrastination, I was able to drag myself into buying more closet hooks from Japan Home Center in Trinoma. I got 3 boxes of hooks (containing 5 each) for a total of PhP88. 

BEFORE: the right door

I put extra hooks on the left door. I decided that this is where the hats and the necklaces will go.

I'm not exactly a hat person so I thought three hooks would be enough. One for my crochet beret, one for my old newspaper boy hat and another for a fedora that I am yet to buy. :)

Below the hats is where my necklaces went. Before, I put my short chokers in a container with my bracelets and watches and other accessories because I didn't have enough space at the closet door. However, now that I do, all the necklaces, short and long, are together now!

AFTER: the left door

All the belts (with some ribbons and the thin scarf) stayed on the right door. I think they need better organization but I believe this is alright for now. :)

AFTER: the right door

Why I Should Pack Dri-Fit Shirts Next Week

Last Tuesday, I had dinner at Mashitta with Jed and Sir Romeo. I had Bibimbap and we also shared California maki.

I should try more Korean food. I like my food spicy and with vegetables!

Last Wednesday, I had dinner at Burger Project with Sir Romeo and Sir H. Oh Burger Project, you're gonna be the death of my wallet.

Sir H takes his exam seriously/

Oi Sir Romeo, no cheating!

My burger: tofu patty, sesame buns, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, garlic cream cheese and bacon.

Sir Romeo's Krabbi Patti burger.

Last Thursday, I bought some marshmallows and choco chip cookies. First, I lay them out like this, then popped them into the office's microwave and then pressed another choco chip cookie on top.

Here's the final product. Yay comfort food!

Finally, yesterday, we went to the newly-renovated Tokyo Tokyo in Trinoma to try their ramen. I ordered spicy chicken ramen. It was actually good IF ONLY the noodles weren't overcooked! Still, reminded me of the ramen I had in Shibuya last March. At PhP 150, I'm not exactly complaining. Now, at least, I can buy ramen for cheap!

Tsk, I'm gaining weight and I miss jogging around the academic oval so bad. I will pack dri-fit clothes next week, I promise!

Work All Day. Work All Days.

I love my job. I swear I do. But sometimes, I can't help complaining about its disregard to the time of the day/night and to the days of the week.

Reading journals one night at Moonleaf (where I saw one of my co-instructors reviewing for his board exam).

Red velvet cake from Medchef's stall in Mezza Norte after the Army Navy dinner.

Saturday and Sunday was spent in Tagaytay. No, nothing special and nothing to enjoy. We were discussing work inside a function room for the most part of the days.

I was looking forward to using the swimming pool (I haven't had exercise in ages) after the workshop Saturday session, even at the dead of the night and despite the cold weather but One Tagaytay Place's pool closes at 8pm. Tsk. Disappointing.

There wasn't much to explore during the night and we also had a workshop session early the next day so I ended up buying ice cream and Mudshake and watching an action movie (Unstoppable) at the hotel room.

My weekend. :(

Army Navy: Mission Accomplished

I've been meaning to go for the longest time. Finally had the chance to go to the Technohub branch last Thursday.

The Technohub branch was a closed space unlike the SM North branch. The place was bright, themed and had minimal decors, which I like. (Pardon the bad phone camera photos.)

I ordered a chicken burrito.

The dinner was actually initiated by our new lecturer. Hurray for new batchmates working in the institute! And hurray for company (I've been mostly eating alone that week... boo!)

Their mission says "Come in hungry. Walk out happy." I must say they had their mission accomplished. :)

Organizing Beach Keepsakes

Admit it. When you go on a trip to the beach, you can't help gathering some sand, stones, dead shells and dead corals.

Until a while ago, my beach keepsakes are either lumped together in a bowl where my dad puts his beach keepsakes (and therefore lost with everyone and can no longer be identified) or stored in a plastic bag. Ack.

Today, I finally had time to buy some glass jars for them (at least for the ones stored in plastic).

Represent: Puerto Galera and Malcapuya Island
No Boracay because I got sick during the last day and forgot about gathering some keepsake. :(

I found the idea on Tumblr and Pinterest. I wish I had learned about this before I started college so that all the keepsakes from my field trips (I had a lot of field trips to the beach during college... don't ask me why, I just did.) got documented. But oh well, it's not yet too late. :) At least, now, I don't have random plastic bags with pebbles and whatnot inside my room. 

Maybe I should put cute labels inside the jars.

Stamped

I finally got myself to install the scanner. And first thing I did was to scan my postcards and stamps. :)

So far, after six months of Postcrossing, I have 51 different stamps from 19 different countries (Philippine stamps not yet included). Here are my favorites:

Biggest stamp so far, from Czech Republic

Belarus

Czech Republic

Germany

Germany

Netherlands

Poland

Slovenia

USA

Japan

It's nice that, finally, I'm starting a real collection that doesn't take too much space or money. :)