Quite of late, I find myself feeling rather blue...like wonderfully addicted to blue. It was most likely triggered by my many trips to Japan surplus stores here in Baguio and La Trinidad. We were hunting for used furniture we could diy to fit in the aesthetics of our new all-white place (yup we've moved...yet again), but i got stuck staring at  those lovely white-blue porcelains. They were just so pretty! And when my artist friend Fara told me about this Japanese indigo dyeing workshop happening at Chaya, i felt it was quite serendipitous. I just got to attend it.

We were introduced to Kaoru Iwamoto, an artist from Japan who specializes on indigo dyeing using ai, a kind of leaf which when fermented could produce this really beautiful hues of blue. Kaoru was just wonderful sharing her tips and tricks despite the language barrier. She spoke in Japanese and Chaya's owner Sonoko Taguchi  translated it to us in her perfect Taglish.


We were each given a tenugui or "hand towel" for our ai zome dyeing all made of Japanese cotton. You could dye them in bright, deep blue or soft and subtle like those cute little blouses and tiny kimono.



She also taught us different techniques on shibori or "tie dyeing." This was the most fun part as we get to experiment on different designs. It was much like unwrapping Christmas presents when we finally got to snip the bands and see what patterns our knots have created.

I cant wait to sew my tenugui into something, well will show you that on another post instead.

PS. please don't mind my oh-so-messy hair here. You will be happy to hear that i have just had my hair mowed into smithereens!

Blooms and work.  An unlikely pair but it sure did make my February undoubtedly awesome. It felt though as if the heavens had accidentally pushed the fast forward button as I found myself constantly on my toes. Not that am complaining but February was sure heck of a ride. Like crazy, fast and furious kind of ride...but in a good way.

So here's the roundup of my February:

1. it seems that the heavens had finally heeded my prayers and granted me a green thumb. Managed to save this dying white mums. After weeks of serious pruning and diligent watering, leaves had finally started sprouting out and it now holds a close resemblance to a plant. The living breathing kind of plant.

2. Cutting down on my coffee consumption so sorted to drinking tea instead.

3. Yet another workspace cleanup.

4. Bare wall no more. Pinned all my artworks on the wall alongside some fave postcards and posters.

5. These white roses were bliss. Bought for 150 pesos for 2 dozen. A big deal of course because two days prior to the purchase was Valentine's day and a single rose shot up to 100 a piece. That was mental!

6. Made this wonderful floral crown with real flowers for a photoshoot.

I wonder what March has in store for me. How was your February lovelies?

VALENTINE'S DAY BREAKFAST RECIPE:
Egg mixture:
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
a dash of salt
a tsp of washed sugar
1/2 tsp of cinnamon (optional)

Dry Ingredients:
4 thick slices of bread
butter

Garnish with:
a slice of orange
3pcs of fresh strawberries
3 heart-shaped cuts of ham
maple syrup
strawberry jam or cheese (for filling)

Follow the steps above to make your basic french toast. Once done, pile all the heart-shaped pieces of bread to create a tower. Spread on it your choice of cheese or strawberry jam for filling. Pour a bit of maple syrup on top of your tower. Garnish with a slice of orange and strawberries.
*Best enjoyed with a pre-breakfast makeout session (wink wink)

For some reason, the posts in between my monthly Instagram blog series are too few in between. This could mean that I am either busy or just plain lazy. I'd like to think that it's the former.  I must say though that I get bouts of laziness after getting cooped up with so many projects. Hence. Hahaha!

January leaves just as quick as it arrived. A friend even sighed and said "I barely had a feel of this month and it's gonna be February soon." To which I replied, "And before you know it it'd be Christmas all over again!" My reply  elicited some laughs but I wasn't really kidding! I feel like time itself is also in a hurry these days and we just get whisked around in the process.

Anyway, am pretty satisfied with how my January went. New projects, new horizons and renewed passion. Am pretty excited for the future considering the good things that has been coming my way and thankful that I still get the chance to do it. I know am barely there but I would get there someday am sure.

So to sum up my January:

• splurged a little on a new and better graphic tablet (my old died on me)
• custom illustrations
• hues of green on my nails for 2013
• tidying up my workspace (which unfortunately is once again in its usual chaos)
• yey for strawberry season
• a painting project am super excited about

Aaand there goes September. Just like that! Didn't I just write about my August days back? Either am just slow in this blog posting business or time really slips away in an instant. Could be both. Sooo, let's see what I have been up to this month. I guess I can call September a month of illustrations. I did mention in my New Year's resolutions this year that I'd be doing a lot of illustrations....again. Well, I did. Thankfully or it would have been another promise to myself that would go flying out the window.  I did quite a lot as a matter of fact so I guess my drawing mojo is back so much so that am actually plotting a new blog titled "Aiz Kim's Sketchbook"......for real!!!

I guess I need to think of a less tacky blog title. See you guys in October!

August is almost over! Would you believe that? This month was a hodgepodge of many things, I barely have an idea what actually transpired in its 31-day entirety. Bad weather, crazy sewing and food indulgence...these could probably sum up my August. Despite my excessive planning slash organizing effort, I'm still left with a mountainload of ideas yet to be materialized. So should I stick to the no-plan plan?

The main problem is I get distracted by things quite easily. One moment am hooked on conceptualizing one thing, then gets into a totally different banana the next. I have the attention span of a fly. No a gnat? Probably a goldfish. In any way, my constant spontaneity is slowly turning my work into a nightmarish mess. This calls for a short course in "Consistency 101." Help! Anyone?

All this rain is making me all too nostalgic of summer. I admit that summer would be my least favorite season as I have often find it a tad stifling if not boring but all this rain has convincingly made me wish for sunny skies. Certainly not because I have a sudden aching for beach as this season is most associated with but rather I am soo missing going for luxury walks, picnics on open fields, camping and just going about the woods and taking beautiful photographs. 

However, as the end of June draws near am pretty sure there'd be more rainshowers and drizzles to grace us on the coming days as per usual in this time of the year here in Baguio. Oh well, at least we get to enjoy our hot coco or coffee even more with all this gloomy-cool mood naturally set up for us. And this getting-cooped-up at home days would give me more opportunity to finish all these impending house projects. 

Pardon my long blog absence. I've always reasoned in the past that am somewhere buried under piles of workloads that often kept me from the blogging scene. Well to say that now would be half-truth, i was actually privileged to have a couple of time off but to my detriment kept myself extremely unoccupied and uninterested in anything. It's kind'a one disadvantage of being an indiepreneur, I could lounge around without a care about time because there's no big boss to tell me what to do. Still, am too spontaneous for a regular 8 to 5 job, so ok i take it back. I love my life. 


The culprit could probably the new "caffeine ban" I imposed on myself. You see am a big coffee drinker and without it, it's like am on valium-overdose. I zone out and conk out in a wee bit of work. Not that there's something wrong with caffeine consumption except that for me I drink it more than i take water...which I find out just recently to be a big health no no (duh me!). Sadly I had to wait to get sick to get that into my head. So if you're a coffee lover like me, just don't forget to hydrate with water to compensate for the liquid loss!


I never thought life would be possible without my daily caffeine fix but to my own amazement I managed to live without it for over a week now. Funny thing though is that I've been eating much instead (as evidenced by the photos above....hahaha). H, sonshine and I had been busy going around new food havens here in Baguio and quite noticeably my food intake had considerably doubled. Anyhoo, am not ditching my lattes completely, I just need to get used to this hydration thing for one more week, lest I'd fall back to my old ways!


How about you guys, got any hard habits too difficult to break?

We got quite a scare after  a couple of short tremors were felt two days in a row here in Baguio a few days back. Of course, given the tragedy that had befallen this beautiful city in 1990 no one, i mean no one would dare take an intensity 4 earthquake ever so lightly again (hence the cancelled classes in many of the schools). There was still much talk about it for a couple of days with remnants of tragic memories touching the city's hearts so to lighten up a bit we decided to do something a little different this weekend. We headed for Strawberry Farm, a mere 20minute drive from downtown, for some strawberry-picking experience. We got a short heads up from the farm owner on the proper way of picking strawberries and we were off for a conquest! Little sonshine's friend tagged along and they had so much fun competing on who could get the biggest and prettiest strawberry of all. 
It's been a while since i last visited the place (the last was i believe when i did a feature report for a local paper...a decade or so ago...have i mentioned that in my former life i was a Journalism grad...lol) and the place had so far developed in terms of convenience with their wide parking space and well-paved road. There were also vendors who sell, you've guessed it.....strawberries and in all manner possible...(i.e. strawberry ice cream, strawberry taho, strawberry candy).  It was special in some way because we don't get to have this kind of experience anywhere else in the country. As i know, strawberries only grow here in the highlands since they require a certain degree of temperature to flourish.  


It is always nice to find one's way back to a place close to home and see it with a new eye ....it only proves that you need not go to a  far-flung place or burn a hole in your pocket just to have fun. As long as you're with the people that matters to you, everything else would just fall into place and that the littlest of things would leave a smile on your face as you drive your way home. 

For over a month now, this beautiful tropical country has been experiencing a series of cool days and nights.* Even the once excruciatingly hot and humid Manila is now donning cool-weather-friendly fashion! And of course, Baguio being the coolest city (if not only) in the country, has kept us freezing for weeks now. Mornings have been rather bleak and wintry as the temperature drops to as low as 9.8 degrees Celsius. So this morning when the timid sun finally decided to get out of the clouds for a change, i was more than happy to bask for a little bit. I got out of my usual thick pants and jacket and enjoyed the friendly skies!
Anyway, it's a wicked wicked weather we're having so don't forget to take lots of Vitamin C and enough ZZZZs!!! Take care everyone!


By the way, thank you for all the encouraging words you left on my previous post. You guys definitely give me the boost and confirmation i need! Kisses!


*The entire world is on the verge of severe Global Warming as proven by the effects of Climate Change being experienced in the many parts of the globe. We bloggers should do our part to save our ailing planet. Join "Plant a Tree" and make your blog carbon positive!