Yep. A blink and a sigh, and we're here.

Continuing my tradition of posting my wish list just in case Santa's feeling generous. (^_−)☆

• Watercolor. Watercolor in tubes or palettes, watercolor brushes, watercolor brush pens, watercolor pads — I WANT THEM ALL. (Specifically requesting for brushes 0, 00, and 000, and at least 200 gsm for watercolor pads, please.) I am so glad I went to Liz's watercolor workshop and unlocked my potential. If I could learn how to draw (even just a little) and paint, then I can do anything.
• Washi tape. I mentioned my slight obsession with washi tape on my previous post. They can get really expensive especially when you buy a lot at the same time, but I just can't resist. Purpz left a comment that washi tapes can be bought for as low as P3.00 each from CD-R King! Insane! I hope I can drop by soon.
• Magnetic Poetry Kits. They're fun to use and excellent for practicing playing with words with. I would like to have the Original Kit, the Poet Edition, the Happiness themed kit, and the Haiku kit. I made this (and a lot of others I haven't posted yet) with my Book Lover Kit.
• Journals and pens. Because I am a woman who gets overwhelmed with joy at the sight of pretty journals, pens, and other stationery, and because one can never have enough notebooks and pens.
• Yellow umbrella. My favorite TV show in all the world ended this year and because I love collecting stuff tied to pop culture, I would very much want to own a yellow umbrella. The yellow umbrella may or may not also be a symbolism for a different wish. ^_^"
• Amazon gift cards. Because Kindle ebooks.

Basically, my wish list contains things from a creative and artsy person's wet dreams. It's also the simplest and most realistic as compared to the other wish lists I made through the years. Here's hoping I can get most (if not all) from my wish list, hee hee.

As per my tradition also, let me re-share this Christmas playlist I made a couple of years ago for the benefit of my blog's new readers. Hope you like it!

Krissyfied Christmas from krissyfied on 8tracks Radio.

Whew! December. How did we get here in the first place? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the last month of 2014! Make it count. ☆

A blink and a sigh, and it's the last day of November! Can you believe it? Christmas is almost here!

The best thing about having a job is having the means to pay for my everyday necessities and little treats for myself every now and then. I still love rewarding myself by splurging a little when I achieve or accomplish something, but I'm happy to say I've now become more discerning of the things I buy and have grown more conscious of my finances. Okay, enough with that long winding introduction, all I wanted to say is that I remember I started this blog sharing photos and stories of my shopping hauls. Now, allow me to be superficial for a bit as I think I'd like to do that again just because I missed it!

1 My True Love Gave to Me, a collection of holiday stories from various authors, edited by Stephanie Perkins. Holiday romances in fiction is one of my guilty pleasures. Think The Holiday, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, Let It Snow... I loved them all. I'm planning to start reading this book this week. 2 Washi tapes. I can't resist buying these tapes even though I know I won't be able to use them all up! At about P65 each, they don't exactly come cheap but what can I do? I am planning to buy more use them to decorate my 2015 planner. 3 Increments, Kapitan Bayaran, and Footnotes to Misplaced Items by Joanne Cesario and Michelle Bacabac. I want to support local makers and story-tellers so I get them whenever I get the chance. My favorite from this selection is Increments. 4 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I bought a bunch of eBooks from Amazon for my Kindle and this is one of the titles I got. I AM ENJOYING MYSELF THOROUGHLY that I paused reading because I didn't want it to end just yet.

I can't say much about the packaging except that it's flimsy and looks cheap, but I'm not complaining because I love the staying power, pigmentation, and staying power of BYS! Everything's crazy affordable, too! I got two lipsticks, a brow liner/ pencil, and an eyeliner, and they all amounted to P966. The SA at Watsons - Fisher Mall was also extra nice and gave me a lipstick case and a pouch even when my purchases did not reach P1,000. 

Optical illusion or stubbornly sticking to what is apparently my favorite print on clothes. YES, I LOVE STRIPES and I cannot lie. I also love polka dots and graphic heart and star prints. Basically I love patterns and prints on my clothes. The story behind this photo is that I went shopping with my friend Marsha wearing the dress on the left, and ended up buying the dress on the right. Can my love for black-and-white stripes be any clearer than that?

And finally, my Book Depository purchase that I was afraid would never come because of port congestion issues! I've been hankering for one of these Magnetic Poetry Kits for so long that I finally got one when Book Depository held a store-wide sale. I am enjoying this kit A LOT and am looking forward to getting more. The only problem I have with the Book Lover kit is that it didn't contain the word 'read' in it. It would've been perfect had that word been included, but oh well.

I also replenished my stash of watercolor pads and bought a set of watercolor pencils. I'm looking forward to practicing and painting more! I should write a post containing my newest artworks; hopefully I can get to do it this week.

So there! Twenty-five days before Christmas yet I've already bought myself about nine different gifts already. I should start shopping for my family and friends also, hee.

Enjoy the holi-daze!

We’re leveling up this Bloggers United 8! Come join us and find not just your favorite bloggers' pre-loved clothes but also other items like gadgets and other unique finds! It's OLX in real life! ;)

Now I have some special news. I won't have the luxury of time to sort through my stuff for things to sell, so I asked Mina V. Esguerra if she wants to use my booth! You know her as the author of several romance novellas like The Interim Goddess of Love trilogy, Fairy Tale Fail, My Imaginary Ex, Love Your Frenemies, and a LOT more. (Lady churns out more stories than my reading speed can keep up with.) She has also helped several other authors to publish their own books via her #romanceclass project, and I thought BU would be a great venue for her to interact with her fans and followers. She'll also be selling books from other #romanceclass authors! As for me I'm just excited to fangirl over Mockingjay Part 1 with her. ^_^

And now we come to the fun part! I'm giving away ten pairs of passes to the event so you and a friend can go in for free! Just check out the Rafflecopter widget below.

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See you there!

It's that time of the year again when we pause and wonder where the months flew by. In just a few weeks, we'd have to get used to writing down a completely different year when we note the date. Yep, it's that time of the year again when people are in the market for a new planner.

I've never been the type to collect stickers for planners, mainly because I don't have the patience and EQ for that. In most recent years the planners I used ranged from the Le Petit Prince Moleskine to Moonleaf Tea Shop planner to Belle de Jour Power Planners to Best Buy Date Books. For this coming year, I got myself The Daykeeper and I think it's my favorite among all the planners I've gotten to date. Why, you ask? Well...

We need to talk about how simple yet elegant it looks. That navy blue cover and that gold lettering and corner tab speak to my newly-acquired preference for things that can be considered "classy and mature."

We need to talk about that slip case with beautiful typography done by Tippy of Googly Gooeys.  It was personalized with my name, too! If you're giving The Daykeeper as a gift, just state it in your email so they can write the name of the recipient.

We need to talk about how the repetitive stamping of the word 'courage' all over the front inside page and back inside cover as well as the "Courage, dear heart." quote by CS Lewis on the first page are giving me, yes, courage. A little more than a month still remaining for 2014 but I already have a clear vision of what I want to achieve for 2015.

We need to talk about the great job Abbey did for The Daykeeper Manifesto. Beautiful words done in beautiful calligraphy.

We need to talk about how we can make a letter to our future selves, to be tucked out of sight and be opened again come the eve of 2016. I do this every year at FutureMe.Org and it's cool that there's an IRL version.

We need to talk about how The Daykeeper has a calendar at the beginning of each month coupled with a beautiful photograph and an inspiring quote or a Bible verse. I plan to write ARC PR events and birthdays here.

We need to talk about how The Daykeeper has a weekly view with the left side acting as a planner where I can note my plans for the week and the right side acting as a journal where I can list down 'things that made me smile today'. All interspersed with beautiful photographs, of course. No two pages are the same. I particularly love this because I can always read the things written here when I am feeling sad and less grateful than I should be.

We need to talk about how you can just flip to any page and be instantly inspired.

We need to talk about how The Daykeeper encourages you to count your blessings and review the year that has passed. I look forward to reading the things that I will write down here after a year.

We need to talk about how The Daykeeper even includes four postcards you can mail to your loved ones from wherever in the world you may be. Ah, the joys of receiving thoughtful thoughts in the mail. ♡ 

We need to talk about how The Daykeeper inspires me to go after my dreams and make the most out of the coming year. Thank you for bringing The Daykeeper to life, Kat San Juan! Indeed, amazing things will happen.

Find out how you can order your own by visiting The Daykeeper Datebook on Facebook and Instagram. This is not a sponsored post. I bought my own copy after seeing Marika's post about her planner on Instagram and now I'm hoarding pens and washi tapes to decorate and personalize my datebook with.

It has been almost a month since my Kuya left us but we still haven't fully recovered. Personally, I have accepted that he's gone and will never come back, but I know our Christmases, New Years, and family gatherings will never be the same.

There are mornings I wake up and feel perfectly fine but feel my world spin out of control when I get reminded that he's gone. Sometimes, when I go home alone, I think of him and get terribly lonely. Earlier today, my aunt Jean and I spent a couple of hours just talking about him and crying together. We're all reeling from his loss. but I don't think anyone took the hit more than my grandmother. They say a parent should never have to bury his/ her child, and I know my Lola is suffering more than she lets on.

When Tomato Time offered to give me two watches with one of them going to a loved one, I instantly knew there's no one else I wanted to give it to.

The two watches came individually wrapped in gift boxes. I excitedly opened mine right away. I initially chose Struktur Eternal. Keyword is 'initially'.

When we opened the boxes, Lola said she prefers my watch so of course I agreed to switch. It helped that I also secretly preferred the one that I initially chose for her, heehee.




My Lola is one of my favorite people in the world not only because she spoils me tremendously, nor because she used to get me a lot of comic books when I was really young, igniting my love for reading and making stories, and not even for her great cooking. My Lola is one of my favorite people in the world because her love is unconditional. My Lola always feels like home.

I get too busy sometimes but as much as possible I go to their house on weekends so I can spend time with her, or she goes to ours. Lately she goes to Navotas more frequently to visit my Kuya's grave. Life flies by so fast and I intend to dedicate more time to her. Thanks to Tomato Time for giving us something tangible to represent the Gift of Time.

My Tomato Time Party Tinsel Watch and Lola's Tomato Time Struktur Eternal Watch

This Christmas, the Gift of Time is one of the most important and valuable gifts you can give your loved ones, for in giving them time you are also giving them a portion of your life you can never take back. Why not throw in a nice watch from Tomato Time while you're at it? Tomato Time watches are affordable yet stylish, and even come with one-year warranty on mechanism and battery. Browse online or visit Tomato branches and Tomato Time kiosks near you!

You should be.

I just came home from AXN Philippines' block screening of Mockingjay Part 1 and like the first two movies in the trilogy, I just. Can't. Contain. Myself!

The books are written in Katniss' point of view, and since she spends a good part of the last book suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder I was a bit concerned that the last two movies won't be as action-filled as the first two, but then Francis Lawrence just proved that he's a great director with a clear vision of how the struggle between the Capitol and the rebelling districts should play out. Everything we didn't know from the books because Katniss didn't know them herself, the movies were able to show. I can't reiterate this enough: the Hunger Games movies are all excellent condensed yet expanded versions of the books. 

I didn't catch Interstellar because I didn't think my EQ was ready for the emotional ride it promised. (Haven't you heard? I take my movies seriously.) I am still reeling from my Kuya's loss and I wasn't up for having my heart broken again but I couldn't miss this for the world. And what a ride it was. As expected, it was quite a heavy film with a little (and much appreciated) comic relief from Effie Trinket. I teared up at the scenes between Katniss and Prim, and Katniss and Finnick. “It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”

source

A little spoiler-y so please highlight the text below ONLY if you have already seen the movie or you just want to read. I didn't think the movie would be divided that way but I think they did it for the benefit of those who didn't really read the book and wouldn't appreciate the cliffhanger that much. End of spoiler-y statement.

The goal was to dress up like Primrose Everdeen (little duck, get it?), but I think I ended up looking more like Maria von Trapp

I didn't display *that* much level of obsession anticipation for this one as I did with the Catching Fire movie - essentially because that was my favorite book in the series and also because Mockingjay was depressing as hell. But I did see the trailers, TV spots, propos, and the collaborations they did with famous Youtubers to come up with District Voices, and oh man. I geek out at books, movies, and awesome advertising campaigns so I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about how amazing the movies are and how these promotional campaigns tied everything together.

My secret dream is to work on a project as large-scale as this.

I am dreading seeing Mockingjay Part 2 not because I don't want to say goodbye to this dystopian universe just yet, but because it's going to be so nerve-wracking and heartbreaking.

Where is sleep? How can I find it tonight?