Real Living Space

Hello dear readers!

The year is about to end, and it’s time to make predictions about the coming year. Marites Allen, president of World of Feng Shui Philippines, reveals some of her predictions for 2010 – what’s in store for us and how we can deal with it:

1. As the Year of the Tiger is a year feared by all Asian countries, there shouldn’t be much activity. Renovations must be put on hold.

2. The north, south, southeast, and southwest sectors of the house are unlucky sectors. Marites says this can be very difficult for condo dwellers because condo units have only one entrance. To combat this, reduce activity in the unlucky sectors. Marites suggests moving the TV, the piano, or any center of activity if it’s located in an unlucky sector. But if the kitchen or the bathroom is in the bad sector, there’s nothing to worry about, as these are just “utilities area,” says Marites.

3. Blue is the lucky color for 2010, as we will need more fire and water elements for 2010. Thus, having or displaying water fountains in your home can bring you luck. The center of house is a lucky sector, says Marites.

For more ways to make your home a haven of luck, check out maritesallen.com. More forecasts are in store for you at the 5th Philippine Feng Shui convention on January 23, 2010 at the Center Stage in SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City, and on February 6, 2010, at the Marco Polo Hotel in Cebu City.

We wish you all the best for the year ahead. Happy New Year!

Before signing off for the holidays, the RL gang and some friends celebrated a hearty dinner at Gwyn’s. (Thanks Gwyn for hosting!) Here are some captured moments courtesy of our sweet friend Arlene Maslog.

Miguel and Ms. Tish.

Kath and Kaye are all smiles for the camera while Chinggay Labrador, and Issa chat are chatting away on the side.

Issa, yours truly, Arlene Sy, and Ms. Rach

Gwyn and Carlo

That’s me being the butt of jokes, again. (evidently, some things never change.)

Arlene, Miu Miu, and Ocs

Jenny I, Gwyn, and his cat Miu Miu

Kat Lopez and Kath Valle, Arlene Maslog and Arlene Sy

The prediction for next year: 2010 will be blue, blue, blue! But not sad-blue, tho—I mean the color of 2010 will be turquoise blue, or specifically, Pantone 15-5519 Turquoise, as seen below:

I have to admit that for me, this was totally unexpected. Since Pantone’s 2009 color of the year was Mimosa, a very bright and appropriate-for-the-times Cory-yellow, I was expecting the 2010 color to be also on the warm scale, or veering toward sophisticated, autumnal darks. Pantone’s 2010 15-5519 Turquoise isn’t pure turquoise, but rather, the semi-precious-stone turquoise veering on the aqua side, very much like the jewel-like, bluish-green water of a tropical sea, somewhere near the shore, preferably with exotic fish swimming around and swishing palms on the beach, like this:

Pantone’s press release says that this color choice stems from the belief that turquoise is “…a protective talisman, a color of deep compassion and healing…Turquoise represents an escape to many—taking them to a tropical paradise that is pleasant and inviting, even if only a fantasy.”

How very apt—and very telling. I’m thinking that this color was chosen as a soothing balm to all the troubles we encountered this past year. But whether we escape to our “tropical fantasy” or make that pleasant dream real, I sure hope that 2010 will be much, much better. Happy New Year, guys!

I’ll be signing off for vacay (unless the other girls of RL feel like another post before Pasko ), so before all of you dive into the holiday rush, we at Real Living (Tish, Gwyn, Arlene, Coni, Kaye, and I) would like to say Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

And now I leave you with an image of Gwyn’s little but lovely Christmas tree…

I’ll take a break from the holiday mayhem and decorating for now. I met up with my brother at MOA over the weekend because he wanted to eat at Abe. But when we exited the resto we were greeted by Christmas shoppers in a frenzy that resembled an Oliver Stone movie. “Please, take me to a place where there are absolutely NO people at all,” my brother begged me.

So I took him to the National Museum. True enough, aside from a small group of art students trailing behind John Silva, there were no other visitors aside from the museum staff, my brother, and myself. Sad actually, because during this Christmas vacay, people should head off to places like these instead of busting out their wallets in the malls. Anyway, my brother made a beeline for the Francisco Coching/Botong Francisco exhibit on the 5th floor.

Now not many of our generation now recognize Coching as one of the country’s greatest komiks illustrators, and more worthy of the National Artist title than that other, recently awarded komiks person. Many of his serials were made into popular Tagalog movies, and his distinct style—romantic and highly detailed—paved the way for modern comic and graphic novel illustration as we know it. The museum’s exhibit, Telling Modern Time: The Life and Art of Botong Francisco Coching, is definitely a must-see with rare, original Coching illustrations, movie clips, and also works of his namesake and contemporary, the painter Botong Francisco.

Afterwards, I headed to the Slim’s (Salvacion Lim -Higgins) retrospective on the 4th floor. I’m sure a lot of us would recognize Slim’s as the school (which educated many of our noted designers like Lulu Tan Gan, Cesar Gaupo, and Joe Salazar, no less), but hardly any person not within the fashion industry would remember the designer herself. This well-curated exhibit features her amazing, finely detailed, almost architectural creations—gravity-defying peplums, origami-like opera coats and sculptural ternos—and shows how her superb designs have transcended time and trends. Interesting too is the silent film clip of her 1950s fashion show using Manila’s society women and embassy wives as runway models.

Also, check out the Slim’s book at National Book Store. I bumped into Xandra Ramos recently setting up the special display at Shang, and she showed me the book, you have to read it, it’s amazing:

The Slim’s Retrospective will run until March 2010, while the Botong Francisco Coching exhibit runs until January 2010. But do take a peek before the holidays are over. Contact the National Museum at (02) 527-0278 for more info. (Photos of Slim’s from stylebible.com.ph)

Still cramming your Christmas shopping, I see. Don’t you worry, I’ve got just the thing:

Aren’t they dreamy? I got these pillowcases as a wedding gift from interior designer and University of the Philippines teacher Hannah Acab-Faustino. They’re by T Designs, a company started by one of Hannah’s students. These particular pillows feature iconic chairs by Le Corbusier, Jacobsen, Aarnio, and Eames.

I also got a pair with T Designs’ candelabra print:

They’ve got a few other available designs–the ones featuring a pair of boxers and panties would make an especially cute bridal shower or wedding gift. (December is Wedding Month in the Philippines, after all!)

All 20″ x 30″ pillowcases are made of 100% US cotton, are stencil printed, and include care instructions. They’re the only products on offer at T Designs now, but I’m quite excited to see what this company will come up with next!

For more info, visit their website, tdesigns.net, or contact head designer Thesang Sevilla (the “T” in T Designs) at mobile 0922-238-9500 or email info@tdesigns.net.

Can you guess what caught my eye in this photo?

(Photo from our namesake, Real Living Australia)

It wasn’t the sofas or the lamp or any other piece of furniture. It was the horsey!

I realized recently that I’m fascinated with this toy–more useful than a stuffed animal, and more fun to boot. I hadn’t seen any in the local market, and figured it was an old-school toy, the kind of thing that my mom describes as being around “noong araw.”

Well, looky looky what I found!

OK, this photo kind of reminds me of a scene from The Godfather, but anyway…

Thanks to Mia Fausto-Cruz, editor in chief of Smart Parenting, I was able to find a horsey supplier. Mia bought hers from a bazaar a year or so ago, but she kept the company’s calling card. Her three-year-old son absolutely loves this toy. “But you have to have two, because whoever is playing with him has to ride also,” she said.

I called the company, Tinkerbell (mobile 0917-209-4950), and learned that they weren’t joining any more bazaars this year. Sadness. But they were nice enough to offer me a few horsies (at P170 each!), which I picked up from their office. Happiness! Heeding Mia’s advice, I bought one for my nephew and another for his younger sister, who is in her mimicking stage–she does whatever kuya does (when he says “jump,” she…says “jump”). The remaining horsies will go to other kiddies in the family. But I’m so tempted to keep one for myself, if only it weren’t such a weird thing to do!

I was on QTV’s ‘The Sweet Life’ yesterday, promoting our December 2009 issue by demonstrating three of our 5-minute holiday decor ideas.

It took three wonderful men to make me camera-ready! Isn’t that the most hysterical thing?! And I love them for making the effort.

Here’s me before the cameras started rolling.

I think we were giggling over something funny Whilma said.

That’s me with Lucy! She was towering over me! When I did mention that, she just blamed it on her heels. (Hah! She was just being modest.)

After I got back from GMA and related the whole experience of being sandwiched between those two statuesque beauties, Real Living’s former Art Director Carlo Vergara unabashedly exclaimed ‘Parang Wilson Philips!’

Did we? Hmmm… I’ll let you decide.

I lurved Gwyn’s two-dimensional tree in our December ish (go grab a copy, y’all!) and fully intended to replicate it in our home. But, as luck would have it, I was able to get a free tree! (Long story, but I’ve got designer Hannah Acab-Faustino to thank for that!)

I’m a BIG fan of Christmas. A lot of grownups are all bah-humbug-y, but it is my absolute favorite holiday, so having a Christmas tree is a December must for me! Our free tree stood bare for a couple of weeks, until I finally shopped for decorations at Unique Novelties & Toys Corp. Our tree now looks like this:

It doesn’t have lights or a tree-topper yet (my husband prefers a star, but I couldn’t find any nice ones at Unique), but I am quite smitten with it. It’s got baby blue poinsettias and silver ribbons which I tied into bows and whose ends cascade down the length of the tree. Was thinking of adding glass baubles but the man of the house comes from the School of Less Is More.

I got the idea of the ribbons from Unique, this wholesale store in Quezon City. My objective, really, was to check out the store and write about it, but I got to shop while I was at it! (You gotta love this job.) I’m not quite sure how the prices compare with department store prices, but since I was there anyway (and had no desire to join the sea of people in every mall on a December weekend), I grabbed some tree decorations.

I did a mockup of our home tree in one of the rooms at Unique. It was a warehouse-like room with all these fake pine trees in different sizes–kind of surreal, like being halfway between the wardrobe and Narnia! I hauled my basket of décor options, placed them on a bare tree, and decided which ornaments I liked best. I was choosing among three blue poinsettias, and went for the baby blue ones. Since I was getting them at wholesale (meaning at least six pieces), I got them cheaper, at forty bucks apiece.

Enough about our tree and more on my little field trip. I heard about Unique from Hannah, who raved about how stuff was so cheap at this wholesale place. “What do they have?” I asked. “Everything!” she replied. I had to see it for myself. She did warn me that there was a P1,000 minimum purchase. (Just my luck, my tree decorations totaled P1,000—flowers and ribbons and all. Sorry, that’s the last you’ll hear about our tree. Our pretty, pretty tree.)

It kind of felt like I was about to meet some mob boss in one of the back streets of QC. The place doesn’t have a sign, just a high gate and a security guard. “Unique?” I tentatively asked, giving what felt like a secret password. He nodded before letting me in.

In I went and up a flight of stairs, before a saleslady informed me that I had to deposit my bag in one of their lockers. After doing as I was told, I then went from room to room, surveying aisle upon aisle of…everything. Frames, clocks, leftover Halloween masks, colorful wigs, toys, snowglobes, Christmas décor. A lot of the stuff seemed a little kitschy and dusty, but there were some cute finds at reasonable prices.

Paying for my picks was a bit of a hassle though. A saleslady lugged my basket to the first floor, while I patiently waited for them to process everything and call out my name. There was only one cashier and a dot-matrix printer (you’ll hear the screech) so you could imagine how long it took. There were only three other people before me but it took ages, it seemed, so heaven only knows how long one would have to wait on a busy afternoon!

Still, it was a pretty interesting visit. If your godkids aren’t too particular about brand-spankin’ new packaging, this might be a good place to shop for toys in bulk. Just make sure you’ve got at least a grand in your pocket.

Unique Novelties & Toys Corp. is located at 15 Zorra St., Bgy. Paltok, San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City. For more information, directions, product offerings, videos of their TV features, etc., visit their website.

I’ve been known to Christmas shop on the afternoon of December 24th. I once endured an hour-and-a-half line in a Makati department store purchasing a tennis bag that was as enormous and as heavy as me. To show you the state of my shopping brain, this is how my Christmas list looks like (which my friends say looks like something a person with adult ADHD wrote):

Ironic, since I helped out with Real Living’s last-minute gift guide this year (well, we did this three months ago, so there was no ngarag factor). If you want to see how we did it, it was all top-shots. Art director Arlene Sy helped set it up…

…then photog Louie Aguinaldo whipped out his famous stepladder to get that bird’s eye-view…

…and the final layout!

I am also loving Smart Parenting’s gift guide this December. Ed-in-chief Mia Fausto-Cruz lovingly picked out all the gifts herself; and there’s something for everyone, not only the kids! Check it out:

Real Living and Smart Parenting December issues are out in newsstands and bookstores now. Happy shopping!