New Year, New Rings, New Things...

Happy 2015!!! 

Looking back, 2014 has been so great to us - that when I saw how Facebook summarized my year, I couldn't post and share it because it just didn't do my year enough justice. I don't really feel like doing a looking back post to 2014, but if you're interested, you can just read through my blog archives.

I would much rather look forward to an even better 2015.

New Year's Eve

Because we'd rather do costume parties rather than firecrackers, we welcomed the new year Mardi Gras style! 

Tansengco's New Year 

The group was smaller than usual with Miggy as the only standing Barretto!

Thank you for our masks, Schaperos!

New Trips Planned for 2015

I think the first highlight of 2015 is ever since October (yes, of 2014!) - I have already planned for most of my leaves in 2015.

I love travelling. In fact, I think I work so I can go on vacation, and I really
try to visit new places as well as old favorites.

In 2015, I am looking forward to finally visiting the Bouchons in Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, and Turkey, which has been on my bucket list forever, together with exploring more of Greece and their not so popular but equally pretty Islands among other places.

New Hair

To start the year right, Sofia and I have new hairstyles... or should I say less hair. My daughter, who is extremely stylist loyal hasn't had a haircut in ages, so it was great that we finally caught up with our stylist over the holidays.

Sofia's before and after pictures. We even brought home her hair!

My before and after photos. Bye bye curls.

New Rings
I've read in one of the articles sent by fellow year of the Ram friends, that this coming year is *not too lucky for us. The good thing is, they didn't say it's a bad year for us, just not too lucky. Anyway, somewhere within that article I read that Citrine, the merchant's stone, is lucky in attracting wealth.  I'm not really superstitious, but my philosophy is that if it's easy enough to do something, then it doesn't hurt, especially if it's another reason to shop.

I don't have any Citrine jewelry, so my eyes were glazing over the thought of going jewelry shopping, and for a second, I even considered a short trip to Sri Lanka or Cambodia to do this... but then I just scrapped it as too troublesome not to mention expensive, so I decided to ask a possible source instead.

You can read my post here on jewels in Sri Lanka to see why for a few seconds I seriously considered going to buy some jewels. 

Auntie Stell is my go to person for jewels.
Three generations bonding over our love of jewelry. A bit scary.

She has this whole display of semi-precious stones set in silver.
I bought these three rings from her last April, so I can have it set into a necklace.

Since Auntie Stell told me she had no extra Citrine that she wasn't using, I decided to take a look at the antique jewelry sellers in the newly renovated Tiendesitas mall. I remember seeing some of them when Sofia did her Christmas shopping. We started our at the last row, and there were several stores with small jewelry trays. There were some interesting pieces, but the one I had my eye on was locked in a case and the owner comes only when he feels like it so he didn't get a chance to win my business. I also saw a few more pieces that I could live with, but the price just wasn't good enough. Just when I was about to give up, Sofia and I stumbled on this really big store antique stall with the biggest jewelry collection there, but they were closer to the cheaper clothing and souvenir items.

The jewelry displays on Laon-Laan Art Gallery
immediately caught my attention.

While I prefer wearing gold jewelry, most of the semi-precious stones like Citrine are only set in silver, which I decided I could live with if the price was right.

One of the many jewelry display cases

I picked out Citrine cocktail rings I shortlisted, one has a much bigger stone
and looked very much like fancy jewelry, and one was a much simpler
rectangular cut with two pink rubies beside it. Both set in silver.

Sofia and I decided this was the nicer ring. It was cheaper too at Php3,000
(dicounted price of Php2,500 before haggling) vs the other one at Php4,000.

While I was thinking which one to get, I realized that one whole display was
antique gold jewelry.
Ting Ting!!! Exactly what I love rummaging through in Europe!

Such a huge selection! I immediately found a Lansadera Ring which I also
tried on in silver and liked in another stall, but this time it was in gold!

I fell in love with this Lansadera Ring with Diamante in 10k Gold.
Tag Price Php15,000 (Discounted Price Php12,000 before haggling)

Lansadera Rings is a local Filipino design that was famous in the 1930s to the 1950s. Lansadera is the Spanish Word for Shuttle referring to the leaf-like or boat-like shape of the ring. The rings are normally set with Diamante, or rough cut diamonds (in the seller's own words "Pinagtabasan ng Diamonds") which are meant to provide a very subtle shine. Also according to the seller, diamante was considered very lucky in the old days! Hooray for me, since I think a gold ring is definitely more wearable than silver accessories for everyday use.

It's a good thing, the sellers were really nice and after I stayed in front of
their store for ages, they agreed to give me both for Php12,000.

Mr. Yanga was so funny. He was even asking me if I saw them on Kris TV, because evidently they were featured, and he also asked if I was the one coming back for the pieces I reserved that I was going to use for Marian and Dingdong's wedding. Hahaha. Mukha pala akong pangshowbiz!

If you're interested in browsing through Antique Jewelry, Laon-Laan Gallery
has the biggest selection in Tiendesitas. They told me that they might be
moving to the new building beside Max's when it's done so just call to find them.

I was so happy with the good luck rings I bought I wore them immediately,
no boxes required! I sandwiched my silver Citrine ring in between my
stackable diamond gold bands to add more credibility to it, if that makes sense.

I hope my rings still bring be weath and good fortune, even if I have so much fun spending mine.

New Sofia Calendar

Every year since Sofia was born, I make a Sofia Calendar and give it away to family and friends. You can read about our past calendars here, here and here. Ady has been telling me, I need to stop soon, because it's going to be weird to give out Sofia Calendars when she turns 30 years old! So let's see how many years my creativity and boredom can take me.

In the last few years, I've tried to come up with a DIY Calendar that's not too labor intensive. 

So when I saw these Magnetic Photo Pouches I immediately hoarded a lot!

Step 1 was easy as ABC.

A. Searched for 2015 Calendars online.

B. Asked Sofia to choose the photo she wanted to use for the calendar.

C. Simple layout then save as JPEG file.

Step 2: Get the pictures printed. Just make sure it's the same size as the magnetic photo pouches.

I had this done in Megamall while we had dinner last Sunday.

Step 3: Make a prototype

I was very happy with the way it came out, I even smiled
for the fridge handle selfie, and we know the magnet works.

Step 4: Finalize the Packaging

I love using my colored printer for crafts!
We made year of the ram tags to go with my favorite
wrapping accessory for 2014... jute string!

Voila! Sofia's 2015 Calendar 

Step 5: Assembly

Ready now for the assembly line.

Step 5: Distribution

Ready to be given away.

I hope I do a better job at distribution this year. Last year, Sofia found random calendars in October that we apparently forgot to give away!

That's all for now folks.

Happy New Year from our crazy family to yours!!!

Now if only the rest of the year is as productive as that, I'm sure it would really be a great one to look forward to. just saying.