Ikea Room?

Ikea is good at curating their products. They put on nice displays which give a good idea on what your home should look like. 

We haven't been to Ikea for over 15 months. It was on my bucket list last year. I wasn't able to check it off, so I scheduled a day to go.

We spent about 6 hours in Ikea. We first had brunch, but was disappointed since they didn't have meatballs. What I wanted to see were the room set-ups and how they mixed colors. 

I wish Ikea would make a family room display which includes display cabinets* for toy collections. They had a gaming bedroom set-up which I thought was cute, but it's not applicable for us.

It was a good trip, albeit tiring. It was good to see their rooms and themes.

*Their bigger display cabinets are so expensive though, so it's better to get from a specialty store (they are usually present at toy exhibits).

Our Christmas Trees the past 15 Years

I was thinking about what throwback to do today and thought about looking at the past Christmas trees we've put up the past 15 Years. I previously shied away from having huge trees since Mom always had a tall one.

2010

Our first one was in our rented home. I had been collecting decors over the years. I also made framed photo decors which I used for a long time and then it got buried under a lot of other stuff. Maybe I should make a new set?

We eventually moved to smaller homes, so our trees also shrunk, haha. We honestly only made an effort to decorate when Mom would spend Christmas with us. I wanted to honor her by doing the same. So here's our tree the past three years.

2018

2020, pandemic tree

When we finally went home from Singapore, I got a taller tree since we had more space. It wasn't the tree of my dreams, but it worked out for a few years. 

2021

And the tree shirt I finished that year.

It was when we lost Mom in 2023 when I decided to get a proper tree. I saw her always make an effort to decorate. I wanted to honor her memory by doing the same. Here's our current tree.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Last Stretch of the First Quarter

Oh wow! Did you notice that the first quarter of the year is almost over? I've been feeling exhausted the past few days, so I slowed down a bit.

I'm still working on clearing out my childhood home. It's truly exhausting, but I did get a surprise today when I found one of the Christmas decors I bought when I still lived with my parents. Cookie!

They're so cute! I wrapped it carefully and put it in a box. I labelled it so we can use it later this year. The heat though is making it hard to think about Christmas. 

That's it for today :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Our Muradito Experience

I had Muradito Home on my list of places to visit. They carry an array of useful items. I was curious because they have themed ceramic dinnerware. I also wanted to see whether their items are affordable.

It took a year before we went. I didn't really have anything to buy. My neighbor though makes really good ramen and we realized we didn't have bowls for ramen. That became my excuse, haha.

We went to their Alabang branch. We decided to go in the evening since warehouses tend to be hot. The first thing we saw was a cute cat grooming at the entrance. Beside it was a huge table with Christmas plates, mugs and other dinnerware. I think about half of the items were Christmas items.

The area was big and I was overwhelmed with the variety. Good thing they only had a few ramen bowls. We were able to choose quickly. 

As much as I wanted to buy Christmas themed stuff, the practical side of me won. I just wanted a quirky serving bowl that I could use all year round. So I just got something that would be useful and perfect for serving home cooked dishes. 

One thing we also decided to get were platitos. We only have three and they also don't match. We got three more that also don't match, haha. Each small plate only cost about PhP50. Not bad huh. 

The prices were affordable, even the cutesy serving bowls and plates. The options can be overwhelming, so it's useful to have a list of what you need before going. 

#BeKind #StaySafe