What's the perfect gift this Christmas?

The perfect gift for your kiddie relatives here and abroad! "Mga Tambay sa Tabi-tabi" is a delightful compendium of art and poetry for children and interesting tidbits about Philippine lower mythology, illustrated and written by Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), published by Anvil Publishing. Get your copies now!!!

My Pal's DIY Wedding: Invite Design Part 2

Here's a nicer, cleaner invite design for my gal pal. I think this one's better since it'll use less ink and wouldn't require any cutting (I'm a messy cutter).

Cashed Out on a Cyber Contest

Last August I wrote about submitting an entry to an online story writing competition. I'm so happy to announce that I was chosen as one of the ten winners! That's twenty grand, plus a chance for my story to be published. We'll be having the awards brunch at one posh resto at the Fort. I've yet to look for someone to drive me there (and join me for brunch, too) since I've stopped driving the moment I got my license (sad, but true). But I can't wait!

My Pal's DIY Wedding: Invite Design

Here's one initial design I made for my friend who'll soon get hitched. Her colors are cherry blossom pink and sepia. Yum! She'll be having roses for her bridal bouquet so I thought I'd include it in the invite. I hope she likes it. What do you think?

Cashing in on Cyber Contests

Yesterday I found out that the entry I submitted for a story writing contest was chosen as one of the finalists. Yay! I chanced upon the contest from one of the forwarded messages from an egroup to which I belong. All I had to do was write a short story for a certain age group about their given topic and send the piece online. The price if I get lucky? Twenty grand. Not bad, right?

Joining online contests sure is one great way to use your internet time wisely. Most online contests don't require any purchase, documents, travel, nor much of your time, but the rewards are surprisingly, well, rewarding. My sister's boyfriend, who happens to be a wrestling fan, joined an online contest which promised a weekend for two in Australia to watch the smackdown live. People usually pay no attention to such contests, but when he won, his friends raced to their terminals, signing up for every contest imaginable.

I've yet to search for such contests, but I will soon, after I get that twenty grand. Wish me luck!

Our DIY Wedding: Gifts

A couple of days ago I heard a story on the radio about this English couple who received 24 oven toasters of the same brand for their wedding. The couple never thought that the joke they told their friends would be taken way too seriously.

For those who don't want this horror story to happen at their own wedding, a bridal registry might just do the trick. My husband and I initially wanted this one, too, especially since we were starting our marital lives from scratch. After inquiring from the malls, though, we trashed the idea due to the following reasons:

• Only selected branches of department stores offered registries.
• These stores, although belonging to the same company, weren't coordinated. This means our guests will be able to purchase only from the mall where we were registered.
• Our guests will be coming from different parts of Luzon, and most of them were far from the malls which offered registries.
• We didn't want our guests to be limited by a set of choices. We didn't want to be too imposing. And we didn't want to "require" them to buy us something just because we invited them to the celebration.

Luckily, after the wedding, we didn't get 24 oven toasters. Only a couple of items were doubled, which was not bad at all. There were some close friends who asked us what we wanted, and during those instances we didn't hesitate to tell them our needs.

Speaking of gifts, another trend in today's weddings is to indicate in the invite that a monetary present is preferred. This is very practical, yes, but my husband and I didn't opt for this, too. As I have said, giving us anything was not a requirement. We invited family and friends because we wanted them to celebrate with us. Thus, their presence was more than enough.

ASEAN-wide photo contest on biodiversity

To all photo enthusiasts, here's something to get busy with. The contest will run until 30 August 2009 and winners will be awarded during the ACB side event at the ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity in Singapore on 21 – 23 October 2009.

For more info, visit their website.

A Very Long Engagement Indeed

I've found out last summer that my friend who owns the Of Knives and Pen blog will not be getting hitched this year. Apparently, her fiance's sister had to tie the knot first, due to an unplanned pregnancy. Major bummer! Imagine having to give way to other people who don't have any clue to their marital future. Ugh!

I told her not to fret, though. With the date postponed, she'll have more time to prepare and enjoy the single life!

Getting Rid of Mosquitos

Yesterday, my dad received a forwarded email swearing by the effectiveness of Listerine as a mosquito repellent. Of course, having absolutely no confidence in forwarded junk (I immediately delete emails with "Fwd" on the subject line), I simply scoffed at the idea. Although it's worth a try, the mouthwash brand is not cheap to begin with, and I'd rather use the following to get rid of these pesky insects:

• Neem Oil - If I'm not mistaken, the oil comes from the seeds of the neem tree. Planting one in your yard may also help. Neem gets rid of a bunch of other insects, too. In one of my family's vacant lots, termites invaded and destroyed the trees. But lo and behold, the only one left standing was the big neem tree, simply unscathed. Check out the Discover Neem website for more information.
• Citronella - Citronella is sometimes mistaken for lemon grass, because they look similar. It also emits a nice citrus smell. I don't have a plant at home, so I just bought from the grocery the kind resembling silica gel. Lasting for two weeks, each pack only costs around USD2, which is very affordable. Other forms of citronella-based repellents are candles and stick-on patches. I hung the packs in the room where my baby's playpen and crib are, and he doesn't get those dreaded mosquito bites anymore.
• Plantex All-in-One Solution - My colleague introduced this product to me. It does a lot of things, from disinfecting to getting rid of warts. Although I've bought one, I haven't tried using it specifically for mosquitos. But when it got rid of my warts, I believed in the product in an instant. A hundred ml only costs about USD3. They also have another product, an anti-dengue solution, which is worth a try.

Our DIY Wedding: Shoot!

A couple of years ago, a decent wedding photo/video package was at around PhP50,000. Had we availed of such a package, we would've allotted 25 per cent of our budget to just that. Aside from the price, we also had qualms about the usual packages, because:

• we wanted a solemn and simple celebration sans the artificial lighting and clutter made by wires on the altar.
• we only wanted photography, not the complete photo/video package (because of the price).
  
• we wanted a more candid, almost journalistic documentation as opposed to the usual scripted coverage.
• we wanted to get all the photos as soon as the photographer gets back to the studio, if not during the event itself.
  

It was a good thing I had a network of creative people to match our specifications. We commissioned the services of photographer Brendan Goco, who agreed to cover the hotel preps and church ceremony. As for the reception coverage, we asked Fara Manuel, who also happened to be my sister's friend.

Of course, that's not my husband. Film director and actor Tado happened to be in the premises during our wedding. And lucky for me, our photographer knows him so he agreed to pose as groom.

Aside from that, to further cut costs, we asked the following people to do us these special favors:

• my sister (who was also a photography hobbyist) and her friend to hold cameras during the event.
• our guests to bring their own digital cameras and take shots from their reception tables.
  
• my "events team" (which I will talk about later) to bring the laptop as repository for digital images taken by the official photographer and guests. Our reception hosts, during the dinner, just reminded guests to stop by the registration area to share their photos.
  
• relatives who had video cameras to document (just for the sake of relatives who insisted that we should video it).
• a close friend who asked beforehand what we wanted for our gift to just give us a wedding photo album. I got one from her and two more albums from our other guests. That solved the storage for prints.
  

Right after the event, the official photographer already handed to us the digital files, ready for printing (at our own expense) and upload for friends and relatives who were not around during our special day.

Our DIY Wedding: Reserving the Church

My husband and I were lucky to have gotten a slot six months before our big day. The rule of thumb is that you're supposed to reserve the church one year before. By the way, we had a Catholic ceremony as both of us belong to the same denomination.

I had a lot of questions before we finalized the venue and date of the ceremony. Among them, on top of my head, were:

• What are the requirements, i.e. seminars and documents and their schedules/deadlines for submission?
  
• Are there seminars/required activities held during Saturdays (so we won't have to miss work)?
  
• Does the parish hold office during weekends?
• What is the process should we decide to move the event to another date?
• How long is the interval between Masses on the day of our wedding?
  
• Will another party be using another area of the church on our chosen schedule (Some churches hold baptismal and matrimonial rites at the same time and that could be noisy.)?
  
• Can we choose the priest who will celebrate the Mass?
• How much is the fee?
• What is included in the fee (flower arrangements, candles, etc.)?
• What kind and color of flowers are included in the package? (Most churches prepare only one set of flowers for the whole day. Also, I wanted the kind and color of the flowers to complement my own bouquet as well the color of my maids' gowns. I will also base the reception flowers on the church flowers.)
  
• Do we have to pay if we want to add something to the existing provisions?
• Will the parish provide the Mass booklet or can we make our own?
  
• What manpower will the parish provide (commentator, readers, lay ministers/servers, entourage assistant etc.)?
• Can we bring our own choir?
• What equipment are included in the sound system (because I just wanted to play Pachelbel and Enya from a CD during the wedding march)?
• Where are the photographers allowed to move? Are they allowed to go up the altar?
  
• How much time will be given for the post-ceremony photo shoot at the altar?
• Where else in the church can we have our pictorials?
  

I'm sure I had a lot of questions then. The most important, though, were those about the date and requirements, especially since my baptismal and confirmation records had typographical errors and my husband had not received his Sacrament of Confirmation. The papers had to be corrected right away, lest our slot be given to another couple who can meet the deadline.

So if you're planning to get married soon, do collect your papers and check for typo errors. Furthermore, check with your local government regarding their own requirements. If I remember correctly, the marriage license is also a Church requirement.

It's green and it's DIY!

I was searching the web for other good uses of baking soda as I bought a box and was going to use it for my laundry, when I stumbled upon another great DIY site. The site's recent posts include homemade cleaning agents such as baking soda and vinegar.

When I went to the US I met a friend who was very sickly and can hardly tolerate chemicals, so she uses a lot of all-natural alternatives: vinegar in the laundry, lemon for dishwashing, olive oil with lemon for wooden furniture. She also uses those big and heavy cast iron pots for cooking. In a country where I thought non-commercial substances were unheard of, it was a relief to have met someone who employs old-fashioned, all-natural and not to mention eco-friendly practices.

Our DIY Wedding: You're invited!

I didn't want to spend a lot for invitations. Why waste money on something that a person would only admire for a few minutes and then forget about it afterwards? From what I remember, decent invitation cards were custom-made for around PhP100 to 150 a piece for a minimum of 50 pieces (that was 2006), and with 200 guests on our list, that would mean allotting a budget equivalent to the cost of one table on our wedding reception.

Moreover, while these invites were personalized, they weren't personalized enough in the sense that almost all suppliers carried the same designs given the price range above. We wanted to do away with the ribbons and the raffia, cute embossing, and the icky love messages that were oh-so common in wedding invites. We just wanted an invite that says "You're invited. Here are the addresses. Call to confirm si'l vous plait! Merci!" Fini!

Having a graphic designer for a sister was the answer to my invite woes. She was still learning Adobe Illustrator then, so that was one of her practice projects. This was one of her studies:

Of course this would use up a lot of ink, so we opted for another design. I, too, have learned Illustrator and have helped friends with their own invites. If you're interested, contact me!

Our DIY Wedding: Where it's at

The three venues we had to consider for our big day were the hotel, the church, and the reception. And since our guests were one of our priorities, we had to make sure that the venues must be:

• accessible to majority of the guests
• near each other, preferably only in one city (so I wouldn't have to be drawing several maps, and so guests won't be caught in traffic jams)
• near the routes of public transportation (for guests who will commute)
• spacious enough to hold our 200 guests

We were not very picky with the hotel, since that would only be used for the pre-ceremony photo shoot and for resting right after the event. What my husband and I really took into consideration was the church and reception.

The church we chose:

• was minutes away to and from the hotel and reception venue
• was spacious (seating as well as parking)
  
• was not near roads with heavy traffic (to maintain the solemnity of the ceremony)
  
• had satisfactory ventilation (good enough for a 4pm event)
• had a tricycle terminal that can take you to the reception venue
• had the altar repainted recently
• had a long aisle
• had nice lighting for the photographers

The reception venue, on the other hand:

• had a seating capacity for 200 people
• had enough parking space
• was near a road with jeeps going in and out of the city
  
• was free!
  

We struck a good deal with the owner of the reception venue, who also happened to be our caterer. One of the reception halls they offered had no rental fee, and so we chose that. And for booking 200 guests, we were offered the services of a wedding singer or host for free. I didn't want anyone singing at my wedding because I just wanted great pipe-in music (I prepared my own CD). Neither did I want a host to whom I'm not related in any way. So I just traded that for the rental of their bridal car, which further slashed the costs.

Of course, we just didn't choose this caterer for the freebies. They served good food. What's more, they had clean dinnerware. I've heard from other people that cutlery and glasses in some wedding receptions they've attended were not that clean, so I really kept that in mind when I chose them. I'll be writing more about my caterer in another post.

Our DIY Wedding: What is essential?

For the benefit of my friend who's getting hitched this year, I will be sharing our experiences during our less-than-a-year wedding preps. These are not sure-fire tips on how to carry out the perfect wedding, but I hope they can help you with your own planning.

As I have said, we had a relatively short engagement. I would have wanted a year-long preparation, but since we chose January for our wedding date and he proposed in the middle of the year (and I didn't want an engagement spanning more than 12 months), we had to speed things up. So I guess my first tip is for the guys: timing should be perfect, proposal including!

After days of admiring my nice engagement ring, it was finally time to get down to business. The most important question? What are essential? What are our priorities for this event? Of course, WE were each other's priority. The budget was also taken into consideration (second tip: NEVER go over the budget. NEVER!), but that's an obvious given. Who or what's next, then? Where will our budget go? To the gown? The ring? The reception venue? What can we do without? What shouldn't be taken out of the list no matter what?

For us, our guests were on top of our list. Yes, this was OUR wedding, but we wanted to share this event to people we love so we had to make sure they were in the same festive mood as we were. Most of our planning revolved around this objective of keeping them as comfty as possible. Food, the reception program, seating arrangements and even our wedding date were some of the things we took into consideration during our planning.

My Summer Book List

I'm no voracious reader, but I see to it that I set aside time for pleasure reading, preferrably a book a month. It really pays to work in a school because I get to read without purchasing things that would take up space in our already (ugh) cramped house.

So far I've read Dan Brown's Deception Point, a nice fast-paced thriller, and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. I didn't like the latter, though, because it is too much of a chatterbox. I don't like "talkative" books. Oh, I've also read Neil Gaiman's Wolves in the Walls, a nicely illustrated children's book. So that already makes three books this year.

Over the summer I plan to finish three of Narnia's books: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Horse and His Boy. The rest of the chronicles I will finish when we go back to school this May. Of course, I also borrowed The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (the giant version that comes with a stuffed caterpillar!) for my little boy to enjoy.

Two Write-ups for the Frugal Pinay Bride

A few years ago, my editor assigned to me some wedding-related articles during the time when I myself was preparing for my own wedding. And no wonder she gave me the assignment--she was gearing up for her own getting-hitched party as well!

Good thing they're still available on the web:

• The Wedding Dress
• A Bride's Best Friends

A Wedding Blog of a Frugal Pinay

Speaking of Pinay DIYs, my friend created her own blog <ofknivesandpen.blogspot.com> in preparation for her wedding . While, she said, the wedding will not be THE wedding of the year, it will be a wedding which hopefully will reflect the couple's personalities and values.

My husband and I just had that kind of wedding. It wasn't grand, but it was definitely OURS. Of course, if we had more money, I would've made it more personalized. Well, there shall be a second time--on our tenth year anniversary, perhaps?

I will be posting some tips on what my husband and I did for our wedding preps in a few days. I also volunteered to design my friend's wedding invite (and perhaps accessories and souvenirs, if time and budget will permit). She chose chocolate and pink for her colors. Delicious!

Do-It-Myself

Ever since my husband told me to "grow up!", I've tried convincing myself that it's really about time I do everything myself. I mean, with the global recession, me having to take care of my son in the temporary absence of my husband (with the help of my parents, that is. Thank God for great Pinoy family ties!) , some extra time on my hands now that the summer break has begun (I work in a school), and lastly, my natural distrust for others (which have always led me to spread myself rather thinly. But I have learned to be more flexible in my dependence now) , the timing has never been so perfect.