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Queen’s Day flea market

They say the business-minded Dutch, inventors of the multinational corporation and stock exchange, are Europe’s shrewdest when it comes to money. And they say Queen’s Day, when the streets turn into a free-for-all flea market, is when Dutchies first learn to make money.

That said, to join the Queen’s Day flea market with the goal of making money is to miss the point entirely. The point is to have a good time! The Dutch sense of fun and humor comes out in blazing orange on Queen’s Day, and there are as many silly gimmicks to enjoy as there are bargains to be found.

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Posted on May 2, 2013
Category: Life in Amsterdam, Shopping & Finds · Labels: Amsterdam, Europe, Queen's Day, shopping

Unicorn from Planet Fur

While gathering inspiration for how to decorate the baby room, I saw an unbelievable number of animal heads. Stags, rhinos, bears, stuffed and mounted on walls like hunting was a kindergarten pastime. Along with chevron prints, cloud pillows and moustaches, animal heads seemed to be a huge trend in the world of children’s rooms. I just didn’t get it.

“I’ll never put an animal head in my child’s room,” I sniffed, adding this to a growing list of “when I am a mom, I will never”—a list that includes posting pictures of Tala when she’s sick, or making her feel guilty about what I went through when I was pregnant and in labor.

Anyway. I ate my words when I saw this unicorn trophy from Planet Fur, an Etsy shop filled with whimsical, hand-sewn felt creatures by Dutch blogger, crafter shop owner Marlous Snijders. I simply had to have it.

All my “I-will-nevers” faded in the face of my lifelong unicorn obsession. I first discovered them in a book when I was five, and it was love at first sight. I collected them all throughout grade school, and consider A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L’Engle one of my favorite young adult books ever because one of the main characters is a unicorn. I even have a unicorn tattoo.

Marloes made my daughter her very own unicorn trophy using the pink and gray color palette of Tala’s room. Now, this little guardian presides over diaper changes from the wall beside her changing mat. Maybe he (or she?) needs a name… what do you think?

1 Comment
Posted on April 26, 2013
Category: House & Spouse, Shopping & Finds · Labels: baby, home, shopping, unicorn

Revisiting Singapore

After almost two years away, we find ourselves back in Singapore this week.

This is just a stopover en route to Manila, where Marlon and I will spend Christmas, but it’s also a chance to catch up with good friends and indulge in a few things we miss about this city.

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Posted on December 16, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, Shopping & Finds, Wanderlust · Labels: food, Lah-lah Land, shopping, travel

Minimalist Nativity

One of the Christmas traditions that Marlon and I both grew up with was the belen, or Nativity scene. It was easy for us to agree on having a belen in our home during the holidays—what wasn’t easy was finding one that we both liked. Most of the Nativity sets we saw (mostly in the Philippines and Germany) were either too old-fashioned or elaborate for our tastes.

Well, after nearly five years, the search is over! We finally found our family belen last weekend at the Aachen Christmas market.

I was browsing with my friend Leslie in a store called Käthe Wohlfahrt, which sells traditional German Christmas ornaments. As soon as I saw this hand-carved wooden belen, I fell in love. Clean, simple, no fuss—just the way I wanted it. I brought Marlon back with me to see it, and he was equally charmed.

The small size is perfect for apartment dwellers like us. Though the figures are tiny (no taller than my pinkie), they’re all mounted on one piece of wood, making them less likely to be misplaced. They have a young, Playmobil kind of feel that I like… suited to the kids that (I think) Marlon and I still are in many ways. Plus, it fits this year’s minimalist theme at home, too.

Part of what made our belen search difficult was my tendency to be particular about faces and expressions. These ones, I like. They’re fairly neutral without being dead, and cute without being cheesy.

This scene doesn’t include the Three Wise Men, but that isn’t a huge deal. The shepherds and angels were the first on the scene anyway. Besides, I couldn’t resist these tiny adorable sheep!

Our little family is still figuring out and making up its Christmas traditions, but I’m happy that this year, another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place with a quiet click.

Did you grow up with a Nativity scene at home, or do you have one now? I’d love to hear about it!

6 Comments
Posted on December 6, 2012
Category: Shopping & Finds · Labels: Aachen, Christmas, Germany, home, market, shopping

First baby clothes

Apart from a gorgeous first day, Costa del Sol hasn’t quite dished out the sunshine and sandals weather I came here for. So I figured: what else was there to do in the pouring rain but shop?

When we first arrived, I saw a shop called Mata Caprichitos, moda infantil, in the old center of Marbella. It was closed for siesta (from 1-5pm… how does anything get done here??) so I decided to come back and check it out today.

The display window was just too precious. Admittedly, the clothes for older children are a bit too traditional and proper for my taste, but they have the sweetest details. Somewhere in my subconscious, I have this impression of Spanish baby clothes—knits in particular—as being cute, well-made and good value for money.

“Is this your first?” the smiling sales lady asked in Spanish, as I lurched vaguely towards the clothes for 4-5 year olds. “Newborns, this way.” As I went through the racks, I dredged up what was left of my Spanish to make conversation, enjoying the rarity of friendly customer service (unfortunately not a strong suit of the Dutch).

Funny thing about baby clothes: seeing them used to give me massive baby pangs, which vanished as soon as I got pregnant. Finding out that we were having a girl didn’t make me rush to the nearest baby store, which surprised me. I didn’t even want to shop online despite pinning dozens of images to my growing Baby Love board on Pinterest. I felt like I could go for at least another month or two before wanting to buy anything for Little Mango, and I was happy to wait for the second-hand baby clothes offered by my generous mommy friends in Amsterdam.

I suspected my undoing would be walking into a baby store on purpose. And I was right. There was nothing scientific or methodical at all about how I purchased Little Mango’s first baby clothes. I had no idea if I was buying the right sizes for the right seasons. I just turned into one big puddle of hormones; it took nearly all my willpower not to buy everything in sight.

Not only did I feel slightly weak-kneed and giddy upon leaving the store, I also walked away with some pretty cute baby clothes. Want to see?

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Posted on November 8, 2012
Category: Pregnancy, Shopping & Finds, Wanderlust · Labels: baby, baby clothes, Europe, Marbella, shopping, Spain, travel

Inside Design Amsterdam

Last week, I entered a contest on Petite Passport for tickets to Inside Design Amsterdam (IDA 2012), Elle Decoration’s annual showcase of Dutch design. I never win these things, so I was thrilled when I did win! Filipinos believe pregnant women are lucky, and in this case the superstition proved true.

Marlon and I spent an enjoyable (but cold) Saturday afternoon exploring the IDA 2012 route on IJburg, one of Amsterdam’s newest, most unique and design-friendly districts. The products, exhibits, even the neighborhood itself was designed and styled so appealingly, I must have taken over a hundred photos. It was difficult, but I managed to whittle down my favorites from IDA 2012 to a manageable list of 10… well, except one that just deserves a separate post.

Here are my top 10 favorites from Inside Design Amsterdam, starting with the one I actually took home:

This necklace by Yvon Visser, made of concrete and wooden beads, felt like a perfect token to commemorate our house hunt. Hopefully this is a sign that we’ll find our own little house soon.

When we do, I will think of the perfect spot to hang this clever paper pendant light: the Helix by Marc de Groot.

These ABC necklaces by Sandra Turina were so cute, and so cleverly displayed.

I have baby brain at the moment, so I couldn’t help thinking about how fun it would be to create an alphabet with found objects and unusual words to hang in the nursery. Filing the idea away for future use…

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Posted on September 24, 2012
Category: Life in Amsterdam, Shopping & Finds · Labels: Amsterdam, design, IJburg, Inside Design Amsterdam, shopping

Notebooks from LikeStationery

Before things get lost in all the baby excitement, I wanted to show off a few goodies that I picked up from Kleine Fabriek. It was a trade event, so I couldn’t buy any of the adorable children’s clothes and things on display from the exhibitors. However, that doesn’t mean my wallet escaped scot-free!

Not when a funky pop-up shop from Dutch webstore LikeStationery was on site to tempt me with its irresistible wares. LikeStationery is the online store of Amsterdam-based graphic Sanne Dirkzwager, a.k.a. Strawberryblonde, who, as her shop name implies, has a passion for stationery. Something I’m sure lots of girls can relate to… like I do.

I love paper, but notebooks are my true weakness. My mom loves them too, and my growing collection of unused notebooks—which grows after every trip—is one of the things that makes me realize that perhaps we are all destined to turn into our mothers someday. (My penchant for red lipstick is another.)

So I just couldn’t resist picking up these adorable notebooks at LikeStationery’s pop-up store. I’ve been craving for color during this (mostly) drab gray summer. Since I couldn’t choose between something pastel or bright, I got both. The Swedish words on the pastel one pushed my wanderlust button.

I also couldn’t pass up this sunshiny yellow notebook with a library card slot in the front. This reminds me of a childhood pleasure: borrowing books from the school library! I was a voracious reader as a kid, a true librarian’s pet and nerd-in-the-making who always filled up several library cards each school year.

Aside from the notebooks, I also bought a smart little earphone winder. It’s just a simple strip of suede, but it keeps things tidy and (the most important thing) I have managed to somehow not lose it yet. Sometimes the simplest things work best.

LikeStationery offers worldwide shipping and has a fun, colorful blog chronicling the inspirations behind the shop’s wares, as well as Sanne’s own design work.

Do you find stationery irresistible too? What form of paper can you absolutely not resist?

3 Comments
Posted on August 16, 2012
Category: Shopping & Finds · Labels: color, notebooks, paper, shopping

Koper on the coast

After the Grand Prix in Maribor, we traveled with the Glee Club for the rest of their time in Slovenia. This meant formally inducting our husbands into the Maleta (Suitcase) Club, a grueling task that they both met head on (wagas na pag-ibig ito!)…

getting to ride the tour bus, sit up front a.k.a. “First Class”, and hear daily announcements being read out from an iPad (oh, how times have changed)…

—and one of the best parts: getting to visit places that we normally would not go ourselves. One such place was the tiny town of Klanec, nestled among gorgeous green hills, where we spent two nights in a Franciscan monastery…

… and the harbor town of Koper on the Adriatic Sea, wedged between Italy and Croatia.

While the kids rehearsed for their evening concert…

… we were left free to explore this pretty little town.
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Posted on May 11, 2012
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: Europe, Koper, shopping, Slovenia, travel

Brunch in the Belgian Quarter

I’ve been to Köln several times, but never ventured too far away from the Dom and the main shopping street, Schildergasse. I made it a point to change that on my most recent visit two weeks ago, intrigued by bits and pieces I’d read about an area packed with stylish shops and cool cafes, called the Belgisch Viertel or Belgian Quarter.

This funky district starts from the main street of Aachener Strasse, which, I was happy to discover, was literally across the street from our hotel, the Barcelo Cologne City Center. The extremely helpful Travelettes Smart Guide to K öln spoke of the Metzgerei & Salon Schmitz as a quirky little place for Sunday brunch (and for hipster-spotting), and it was easy enough to find, thanks to the swarm of sunning hipsters on the sidewalk.

Marlon and I immediately joined the sun-powered Europeans (oh, to what depths we tropical folk have fallen), delighted to be in the sunshine and relieved that no blood had to be shed to win a table.

Drinks are served from the cafe next door, while meals must be ordered at the counter of the tiny Metzgerei Schmitz itself, which is a former butcher’s shop with lovely old tiles and a cozy atmosphere. I was proud of myself for ordering entirely in what’s left of my college German.

In addition to the big brunch plates, fluffy pancakes and large, flavorful quiches, I was delighted to find an incarnation of one of my favorite desserts in the world… tarte au citron! Sunshine and lemon makes Deepa a happy girl.

A post-brunch stroll around the neighborhood led us to the Brusseler Platz, a small, tree-lined square where even more hipsters sat around basking in the sunshine (and in their own their top-knotted hipness)…

… while my nose for bargains led us to a pop-up vintage flea market tucked into an Indonesian restaurant. #score

It was Sunday, so most of the cafes and stores were closed, like this interesting little “crepresso bar” that would have otherwise drawn us in for a taste.

So we decided to simply enjoy the little details of this neighborhood, from quirky street art…

… to quirky real art (like this mockup of a Swedish favela)

… to evidence of quirky residents.

Determined shoppers will always find something that’s open… even in a European country on a Sunday afternoon. The Boutique Belgique was an especially satisfying find. While Marlon pretended to get his inner thug on, I seized a pair of fabulous Balmain brogues on über-markdown. This was literally my face when I found them; Marlon heard me gasp and immediately pointed the camera at me when I whirled around to face him with the shoes. Good man.

Down the street, we stepped into Simon und Renoldi, a super chic store for home, fashion and lifestyle. Aside from the hip styling and great brands, we also saw… the ubiquitous banig. Level up ang Pinas, ha! Dati pang-Divisoria lang itey.

Our attention now directed to the floor, Marlon and I spied this beautiful woven cotton rug by House Doctor, which reminded us of a Indian block printing made modern by the coral on gray palette…

… and is now on our living room floor. Yay for conjugal impulse buys! They feel so much more justified.

I wonder how much success/fun/damage the Belgian Quarter has to offer when all the stores are actually open. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t try too hard to find out.

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Posted on April 18, 2012
Category: Shopping & Finds, Wanderlust · Labels: brunch, Europe, Germany, Koln, shopping, travel

Studs and chocolate

Apologies for the non-activity on this blog. I’ve gone out of the country on each of the last two weekends, been busy in between, and it’s caught up with me. I’ve spent the whole day in bed with a bad cold and a slight fever.

I have lots to post about our spectacular weekends in Prague, Czech Republic and Köln, Germany—also about a few new developments at home. But those will have to wait until I feel better. In the meantime, let me leave you with by two of my favorite impulse purchases from last weekend.

So, between:

a) These gorgeous studded Balmain (Balmain!) leather brogues for €49 (Php 2,800)… or
b) A Ritter Sport Nugat chocolate bar as big as my freaking face for €2.65 (Php 150)

… which was the better buy? Help me decide. Shoes versus chocolate, it’s a tough choice!