Just a Minute in November

{Shyama Golden's Floral Pattern}

Hello and goodbye November (in a few hours' time)!

It's been a while but I have a valid reason - I was busy going through the final weeks of pregnancy (back aches and preterm labor/contractions, I don't miss you) and then finally giving birth to our second child.

Here's what I've been up to this month:

Reading ... Haruki Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' (still!) and just started Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (again). I initially started Harry Potter to read to baby while I breastfed her and while she was awake and kicking with nothing else to do. After a few pages I got hooked again and decided to continue reading it for myself (bad mom alert). And now I'm already planning a Harry Potter movie marathon - I kinda lost interest after the 3rd or 4th one, but now I want to try to watch all of them.

Eating ... quite healthy compared to when I was pregnant. Anything that can help with producing enough milk for the little one.

Doing ... minimal work for Kismet, which is making me feel very guilty. Looking forward to do more once I get back home (I'm currently staying with my parents for my 1-month confinement period after delivery)

Missing ... the husband and our home, though I'm so thankful and grateful to be able to spend our baby's first month with my parents and relatives in our hometown.

Planning ... A LOT - for our house, for my son, for Kismet, for myself; it's a circus right now in my head. Need to get back home to my journal and my stationery and my craft station.

Anticipating ... getting my pre-baby body back and then more 'cos my pre-baby body was still a work in progress and then just as I was getting into a good workout routine, we find out I'm pregnant again (heh).

x,

D

Goals and Aspirations

So, I've come up with a few things I'd like to blog about here. I'm more than happy to have this place all to myself if it means making me write more and create more and think more.

As you can see, I was playing around with my Wacom tablet in Photoshop and hope I get better at it in the future *crossed fingers*

Also, I'm seriously considering getting myself a camera - a good one - to push myself to take more photos and 'record' more memories. I know I could do that with my phone, but I don't know. I'm not the biggest fan of taking photos with the phone. Photo quality is also a big factor, if I want a good one for the blog.

Right now, I'm trying to make myself rely less on my phone so that I don't use it too much, especially in front of my son. He's only 2 but he already knows his way around playing with my phone and his dad's phone and the family tablet. YUP. It's scary for me. I detest seeing children all hooked on iPads and tabs; and knowing that my son could be heading in that direction just freaks me out. 

I'm hoping to do better as a Mum to him as soon as I recover from popping our baby #2 out.

SO many things I'm looking forward to:

- seeing our new family member soon

- losing all my pregnancy weight and fitting into my favorite clothes

- working on Kismet more efficiently

- being able to plan and spend quality time with the kids

- being able to travel (near or far) with and without the kids

Well, this turned out to be a patchwork-quilt of a post. I guess I just needed to get it out there.

Here's someone who just came out with new stuff after a hiatus (like me!). Enjoy.

x,

D

The Art of Being Obscure

{a little something I made with this font and floral letters by Piqued & Pensive}

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted here. If there's one skill I've perfected, it's to be inconsistent. OK, enough of self-deprecation.

I've become inspired (again) to start actively blogging, in the hopes that it will push me to explore and spend more time with my creative side (besides caring for my grown-up cub and one more on the way). It's gotten me thinking about getting a good camera so I can post more of my own photos here instead of using other people's work (unless I'm specially sharing their works here).

A few updates since I've disappeared:

1. We're expecting baby #2! This little bird is due in a month(!!) and we're all excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Mostly when we think about how we're going to handle two small children on our own.
2. I've been all wrapped around launching Kismet Decals, my other baby, and it's been an arduous journey. I'm working on it full time and from home so I can still keep my other job (housewife+mum) just fine. The term "full time" in this context really means "whenever I get some free time to myself". Haha. Now I'll have to juggle those with blogging in the mix! Gonna be a fun ride.
3. For someone who constantly needs to be surrounded by art every day, it's somehow made me lose my own touch of creativity and inspiration. I've been feeling more uninspired and discouraged to explore my own creative side after I spend too much time on Instagram looking at other talented artists' work. I've tried to stay away from Instagram for awhile but that didn't last too long. What I did manage to do was turn off the notifications from Instagram so I wouldn't be bugged to look at it too many times in a day.
4. Our not-so-little cub just turned 2 last month! He's growing and learning fast every day. And of course there are the small tantrums and stunts he will try to pull. All in a day's work for the little guy. He's a pro at tiring himself out every day. Now that I'm waddling around with a big belly, it's getting more tricky to keep up with him. Thankfully I can depend on the hubs to help out when I get really desperate.

That's about all the major updates I can think of as of now. I have a few goals for this cozy little blog's future. Maybe I'll share them in a separate post.

{just decided to share this photo here - us with baby #2 joining the party}

x,

D

Love Recollections

{source}

These words are probably what I would say to someone if they asked me how my husband and I met and how we ended up together, married and blissfully in love. 

I see how people can recall all the happy/funny moments they had while they were dating/married, and I feel bad because it's a little harder for me to remember. Maybe if I spent some time to really think about it I would be able to come up with a list of things we did or he did or I did.

Honestly, I cannot remember what he was saying to me just before he asked me to marry him. He had a speech prepared and he was telling me so many beautiful things, in front of our loved ones, and I just couldn't focus on what he was saying. All I could pay attention to was him on his knee, holding my hand. Then he asked and I said yes after a short pause, trying to make him sweat a little. But I knew I wanted to marry him many years before that, so that was all for show, really.

So yes. What Walt Whitman said: "We were together. I forget the rest."

Now we have a son together, and we can't wait to give him a little sister or brother already. Everyday we tell each other how crazy it is just with one child, but always end up telling each other we want another, maybe two more kids. It's just bonkers!

What remains is the love we have for each other, through the tough times and angry-at-each-other times. At the end of the day, we always come back to each other, there's no where else we'd want to be.

Happy Valentine's Day. Totally ignoring my own words a year ago here.

x,

D

Music Monday: episode five

I'm currently in a smooth R&B mood these days (thanks for mentioning Trey Songz, cousin Liv!). Life is so hectic and time is flying by so fast that when I have the time to listen to some tunes, I like it smooth and chilled. 

I've learned to be more open with music, not just listen to one genre. Because some days you just want some electro-dance music, and some days you want jazz, and some days you just want your 90's rock.

It was a sad week for the arts last week (or the week before, I can't keep track), David Bowie and Alan Rickman passed away, four (?) days apart - both from cancer and both aged 69. What were the odds of that? Terrible blow to the fans who fancied both of them and their works. 

I'll be honest, I never really listened to Bowie's music, I'm only familiar with the ones that make it on the radio and I like them all (though I only realized much later that some of those songs were by him); even that one he did with Mick Jagger, where they went on to make the worst music video of their careers. But then again, it was the 80's. Enough said. It's probably too late but I'm determined to spend some time listening to more Bowie just to try and appreciate his work more.

Also, I'm thinking about making little playlists through Spotify every week. It'll make me discover new music and revisit old forever-favourites. 

x,

D

New Year New Beginnings

{source}

Hello 2016, you certainly didn't waste time getting here. Time is passing by too quickly. I don't know if it's because I'm so caught up with spending time with the little cub (who's already 15 months old, by the way) or I'm so caught up with house work and facebook and instagram and eating. Most probably both.

I know I've said this many times before, but I'll say it again. Hopefully this time will be the last time I have to say these words: I really, REALLY want to start blogging actively again. I promise myself to do it properly this time round.

I have a rough idea about what I want to post about here and I'm definitely keeping my Music Monday posts.

This year is definitely going to be different, with or without my commitment to this cozy little blog of mine. Things are getting more hectic (nope, not expecting baby #2. Yet.) with our decision to expand the mister's sticker business. We've finally decided to work on launching a line of interior decorative decals ( say hello to Kismet ), though still in the preliminary stage.

I hope that by blogging properly again, I will be inclined to actually work harder at making Kismet something worthwhile and just awesome.

I was reading this article by A Pair and A Spare - Do What You Love: Getting Started ; and I thought, "What have I got to lose by trying?" So here it goes.

To new beginnings. Again. Wish me luck.

{source}

x,

D