So it’s been two months since my last post. Things (good things) have been happening left and right here in Passionistta headquarters. I’m extremely busy and I am very happy to be busy. Well two months in Passionistta time can be pictured like this:

Meet the new kitten. His name is Mouse.

From a sleepy baby, he is now a playful kitten. Notice his cute gloves and socks, thanks to his Mom for passing the cute genes.

Now onto the moleskine. I finally gave in a few months back and bought two mini notebooks. I’ve always wanted to do a collage of my goals and dreams and I thought it would be nice if I can carry it around easily. Well I was new to the art of making collages, and I could say I enjoyed every minute of it. And now allow me to share them with you.

Just be. I also wrote my affirmations on the next page.

I’m amazed how bits of random pieces of paper can create a theme.

These pages inspire me everyday.

Here are some parts about travel. My top destination will always be Egypt.

And of course, for Passionistta. Someday I want to be like Diane von Furstenberg. I admire her wisdom and passion.

Some pretty things and artists I want to see perform live someday.

My moleskine is obese!

I hope this post was able to spark some inspiration. So how about you? How do you visualize your goals? :)

As early as September, the local news had been giving us a Christmas countdown, to which I never failed to respond to with a heartfelt “No!” 100 days before Christmas: No! 40 days before Christmas: Nooooo! 25 days before Christmas: Noooooooo! (with hands pressed on my cheeks in complete horror) My niece and I also witnessed the ultimate sign of doom which is the lighting of the Advent wreath in our parish church. I swear, as soon as they light that thing, it means Christmas is just a few heartbeats away. And it was.

A lot of events unfolded amid the amount of work I had to finish before the holidays.

Early December, my mom wouldn’t let us eat dinner until we finished decorating the tree. Lol. I didn’t want to use the usual Christmas balls so we settled on colored paper, yarn, bunny baskets for candies, bunny cut-outs and silver garland. It took us quite a long time to finish the whole tree but it was definitely satisfying to see other people’s faces when they see our extraordinary tree.

Inspired by a certain furry pet we all love.

On Dec. 22, Booni turned 2. Last year, he had a banana for a cake so I rushed to the supermarket to get him an apple. I couldn’t find number 2 candles or any cute ones so we settled for these simple candles we had lying around the house. We also made bunny headbands so we would look like bunnies while celebrating with him. We, humans, had some strawberry ice cream while Booni ate a few slices of the apple.

Booni and fellow huma- bunnies.

After hurrying from store to store for last-minute Christmas shopping, I searched for some materials for a unique gift-wrapping style. It has been my tradition to come up with a different gift-wrapping technique each year. Everyone was surprised to see Christmas lights, and they kept asking me if they light up. Haha. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to engineer a switch to make the gifts light up. It was still a huge hit though.

Goodbye, ribbons. Hello, christmas lights.

Christmas was fun as usual. We stuffed our faces with chicken, baked mac and five kinds of cake on Noche Buena. On Christmas Day, we went to visit some relatives to catch up, and yes, eat lots again.

Poor Santa.

The New Year also came quickly as I had been very busy going from one wedding to another assisting my brother. I was actually just vegetating seconds before midnight waiting for the fireworks countdown on TV. 3.. 2.. 1 Bam! The power went out. The first hours of our 2009 were spent in darkness. Hahaha. The power came back before sunrise, and then we got busy preparing for our excursion. We got ourselves a private hot springs resort where we played Rockband and abused the karaoke. Um, I abused the karaoke. We were all tired from playing, swimming, singing and eating junk food. We capped the night of January 2 near the Manila bay inside a Chinese restaurant where we stuffed our faces with sumptuous food while a beautiful fireworks display enchanted our eyes outside.

I still have yet to finish my list of goals for this year to make sure I get as specific as possible so I can envision them clearly. But in a nutshell, I wish for growth. In my career, in my personal life, in my relationships- I wish to grow and finally become what I want to be. Every day will be day one and I will grace each minute with full awareness. Yesterday, I was invited to a Christian worship celebration, and though it was different from the Catholic Sunday mass I’ve attended all my life, I can say that it was one of the most enlightening Sundays I’ve ever had. I might not officially embrace Christianity but I am sure that I will come back once in a while to refresh my soul.

Change is good and I am ecstatic for more changes this new year will bring. Happy 2009, my fellow passionisttas!

I have always been drawn to notebooks. And the very moment I came across Moleskine, I knew it was match made in heaven. Moleskines are simple, covered in leather, has a small envelope at the back to hold some stuff. Other than the fact that the paper is divine I thought I’d magically be the next Van Gogh or Hemingway just because they used moleskines as well.

I bought it initially so I would doodle in my spare time. Numerous design publications say that it’s a good exercise to draw things. I believe that. It’s an opportunity to great creative and somehow it’s therapeutic.

So I did.

This is my attempt to draw my brother’s dog.

Then, I got busy and forgot about drawing. So I had this what seemed like a brilliant idea at the time to make my moleskine as a crafty organizer. What I liked most about the idea was that I could have as much space as I want in a day. And sometimes, I could skip some days, too. Here are some pages I have made:

Very edwardian. But really I just had to use those dried leaves.

You can tell that sequins and glue are my best friends. The pink and green streaks are actually nail polish.

I gave wings for my World of Warcraft character. I had some cotton lying around that day and these great, oddly-shaped sequins.

A crazy dress. I wanted it to look like a closet.

I found these cute stickers and the colors were quite fitting to use in my birthday page.

Wildlife in rubber bands. The background was made of animal print scotch tape.

I also thought I would dedicate a page for the books that I have read this year.

Don’t you love those crazy eyes? I just want to shake the page again and again so the eyes will move.

After gluing just about anything to my notebook. It got fat.

I couldn’t close it anymore.

It became too bulky to be carried around and it smelled of rubber (haha). I must say it was fun until it lasted.

I have now moved on to Backpack. No more hating crafting disasters. No erasures. I can check it anywhere, birthdays are on repeat every year, my projects’ milestones are incorporated into the calendar, customizable pages, color-coordinated entries. It’s just perfect for me.

I still miss having a regular, non-fat moleskine sketchbook. I will probably get one again but I sincerely promise to stick to filling it with drawings. Or at least not glue too much stuff in it.

Happy Friday, everybody.