TOPAZ HORIZON

Gray is a color associated with dullness, rainy days and gloom. So when designing a living space, gray is the last hue anyone ever thinks of. Well, that's the color I'm seriously considering for our living areas. Why? Because of this:

Not 6-months-pregnant-photo-of-me. The sofa!

Hehe, sorry there's no full photo! It's a sofa I bought for Vince. It was my gift to him for Christmas, Valentine's Day, his birthday and our wedding anniversary. He's been wanting a new sofa for 5 years so last Christmas I figured I oughta give him what he really really wants. We love it! Super. Lesson here: Get what you want, what you really really want!

The gray sofa looks great in the house. We softened it with embroidered and fluffy silk throw pillows. But since I've been looking at bedroom inspirations, I started looking for gray living rooms, too. And they are, my friends, quite beautiful.

Blues and grays are so soothing.

Black, white and gray. And words. Perfect for writers!

A bit austere so the pops of yellow are welcome.

The gray is softened by the big pillows and filmy curtains.

Love the books!

Gray, white and gold. Elegant and chic!

Framed black-and-white photos. Of course!

Very bold! Love the textures and prints!

A bit country class but I love the dark gray walls.

I love the pale yellow curtains!

So comfy and quiet and gorgeous!

I love how the gray is so calming and elegant. I also noticed how the rooms had yellow accents in common. But any accent color will work against the gray anyway--the brighter the better, like pink! Ohhhh, I am so into home-modification mode right now!

P.S. Speaking of gray, who wants to read Fifty Shades of Gray? Watch this space because I'm giving away the book! Soon!

*Living room images from Naura Home Design, His House; Her Help, Rusty Hinges Blog, Homedit, Inspiration for Home, Design Darling, Kunz Design and Furniture and Interior Design 

This did NOT make my day.

Someone get me a year's worth of spa treatments please dammit!

UPDATE: Been getting questions about the website that said I'm that old. Unfortunately, I had closed the tab before I could copy the link so I forgot! But this other website, RealAge.com, is highly recommended by Oprah. You'll get a similar result there.

I said I was going to shop with my Unarosa gift certificate over the Pacquiao fight weekend but he lost and people were Tweeting, "Stay home! Pinoys are angry!" While I don't believe Pinoys got violent, stay home I did.

But this weekend, we ventured out and I shopped. To my surprise, I'm a size 4 again. And when I got home and stepped on the scale, it confirmed that I am back to my pre-preggy weight. It's only been 5 weeks since I gave birth, folks! I am so back!

Happiness! And that's why breastfeeding rocks.

Have a great week!

After all the excitement over the Ethan Allen headboard, funny it got eclipsed by the arrival of our son Inigo!

I've mentioned before that Vince and I have wanted a tufted headboard since watching Mad Men.

I love Don and Betty! That gold bedspread, not so much.

And Chuck, too, actually. I wish they had shot more scenes in Agent Walker's bedroom!

Sarah's uber stylish green and white apartment.

Now where can I get mirrored wallpaper? (Hi, Chuck! I miss you!)

Well, the heavens answered and gave me a tufted headboard in the green that I always saw in my imaginings (but I actually wanted white or cream haha). It's been standing majestically in our bedroom for 6 weeks now and I have had all of those 6 weeks imagining a bedroom makeover!

It was inevitable really. If we had gotten a white or cream headboard, it would fit perfectly in our coffee-and-chocolate bedroom. But we got a sea green one so I've been obsessing on redecorating. Of course, we could just follow the design that won us the headboard in the first place:

Behind-the-scenes look is here!

But now that it's actually ours, I want something less Ethan Allen design aesthetics and more Vince and Frances, the amazing design duo! Here are a few inspirations:

The no-brainer white-and-green combo.

Same combo but with wood accents. Kinda boring though.

Add a pop of color, like sunny yellow. Or a fab pink!

Maybe we can keep our current mocha walls.

Black, white and green.

Or green with gray and glass!

I love the surprise of the blue walls.

Or maybe we can just keep the room as is and tell people, "The theme is eclectic." *Roll eyes!*

Very interesting ideas! Very inspiring, too. But it's all mood board stuff for now. Dream stage. Vince says if we're going to spend tons on renovation, we might as well buy a house-house and abandon our condo-house. He does have a point there but I love living high in the clouds so much so maybe this post (hi Vince!) will at least convince the hubby to paint the walls!

*Images from Better Homes and Gardens, Apartment Therapy, Visualize Us, Comfortable Home Design, Decor Pad, The Big Bed Company, Days of Chalk and Chocolate

Since the start of 2012, Vince and I haven't gone on a date. A "just us" date. A romantic date. A date that allows us to flirt, eat food at a leisurely pace. Nope.

Then last week, I remembered I had bought coupons from Deal Grocer, a really good deal for a lovely lunch at Lu (or more popularly called as LuLu) at Rockwell. I had bought it as a surprise gift for Vince, for our 5th wedding anniversary. But when that special day came along (April 18), I was very pregnant and very tired and just couldn't imagine going out. But I'm no longer pregnant! So Vince and I had an impromptu date last week.

Look at how happy we are haha!

We left Vito at home with the yaya. Vito naps around noon so we figured he wouldn't miss us. We literally stole away for lunch! But we brought Inigo along since I'm breastfeeding him. He's 4 weeks old here. Ya, so it still wasn't a "just us" date but since Inigo slept throughout lunch, it was easy to pretend Vince and I were "alone." Haha!

While waiting for our food, we perused the books on the shelves.

We started with pumpkin soup.

This Napoleon salad was a revelation!

We had the basil-strawberry shake. The basil's strong herbal taste was a jolt at first but this quickly became quite refreshing!

This is a goat cheese-and-mushroom open-face sandwich. It's very good but I shouldn't have had it with the salad since they taste almost the same.

Vince had this chorizo pasta dish. It was very tasty!

Oh, this cheesecake is divine. I dunno what that sauce is but it definitely added a sublime freshness to the creamy dessert.

Yum yum yum! I want to go on a date again. Where should we go to next? We haven't been out in such a long while, we really don't know which restaurants are great to visit!