So my mother is starting an online catering business with Tito Nonoy (just the greatest chef in the world!), and I created some sample table settings for the website. It was fun, although I think I am now a couple of shades darker from standing in the sun too long.

Here are some photos:

And then,

I'm not sure if it's obvious, but that's actually our garden, and those are our china and stuff-- this shoot is extremely low budget.

I can't wait for our food shoot. That means free food!

Currently reading: Alternating Peter Mayle's "Anythng Considered" and Voltaire's "Candide"

Currently watching: Gilmore Girls (My guilty pleasure!hehe)

I miss them so. :(

I will never eat again. :(

Anyway, I think I'll read Oscar Wilde next. He sounds like my cup of tea. Apparently, he died in some shabby hotel in Paris (which is just ironic because he has forever been writing about things beautiful), and his last words went something like this: "Either this wallpaper goes, or I go." And then he died. I think I'm going to love him.

And I think I'm going to read more Dumas too. I just realized I have read very little French literature, and since I am just so determined to become a French lady (call me unpatriotic), I think I'll start stocking up on French books now. In English translation, of course. :P

And I have a new copy of Madame de Pompadour, at last! :)

But of course when I grew up, I learned to put my Martha Stewart dream aside and decided to pursue other "realistic" dreams. I guess I realized that in order to become a super homemaker, I have to first meet a man I love so much that I would be inspired to dedicate my whole life and being to taking care of him and our family-- and we all know that could be quite a chore. Anyway, I have always been told by my teachers that I write pretty well, and so I figured I'd become a journalist or something. Sad to say, it seems as if my writing developed very little from when I was first given that compliment. Still, I was quite determined to pursue it. I took up Communications in college, contributed and interned for magazines, etc.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my Martha Stewart dream again. Somehow right now it seems to be within my reach. I just got engaged you see, and there is just no other man in the universe that would inspire me to do his laundry and cook his food and make sure his house is always smelling of freshly-squeezed lemons (they smell clean) more. Sometimes, while I'm browsing the Martha Stewart website or searching for Katie Brown recipes in the middle of the night, I actually find myself in disbelief-- is this for real? Am I really going to be a Stepford wife? Will I finally get to put everything I learned from Martha to action? Wow. I am sure young Clarise would be so proud; she has waited so long for this.

And then, as if that isn't enough, just this afternoon, the wonderful executive editor of a housekeeping/baby magazine contacted me about a senior editorial assistant position. I had to decline (politely, of course) because of my little business but I get to be contributor! When I learned about this, the first thing that came to my mind was: "I hope they let me do DIY!" Wow, I really hope everything turns out well! I am dying to share my housekeeping expertise!

I am happy. :)

dear clarise,
i got some of ur photos in ur blog! hehehe :D

GET WELL!!

luv lots,
Nina

Huhuhu thank you!!! :)

And once back in high school and it was raining really hard, he went to my school, brought me my sweater. I hated it then but I regret having done so now.

And when I was in third grade and I made it to the top 10, he bought me my first diary even though he didn't have money. And when I was about eight and my brothers were hogging the family computer, he took me to Megamall and bought me a boardgame. It was Casino.

And back in high school, a few days before the retreat, our teachers asked us to request a palanca letter from our parents. My father didn't know how that was supposed to go so instead he wrote a letter to my teacher saying: "Dear ma'am, my daughter is very beautiful and very intelligent and she is very creative." Or something like that. Anyway I threw a fit. "Daddy ako susulatan mo hindi yung teacher ko!!!" I think I crumpled the letter and threw the letter away. I regret having done so very very much. The only letter I have from my father now is a "Happy birthday!!! Love, Daddy," written on an ang pao.

And when I applied to Ateneo and didn't bother finding out if I got in because I thought I won't, he was the one who prepared all my papers. And when I was being such a brat and refused to go through the enrollment process because it was such a hassle, he was the one who did all the enrollment stuff for me. He cut lines and everything.

And during a blackout when I was about seven, he gathered our entire family into their room, laid out mattresses for everyone and fashioned a giant fan out of two bath towels. Everyone slept comfortably. And then he said that someday he will invent a manual fan powered by a slight movement of the foot. I have no idea how that will go.

And when I was too scared to fire my seamstress because she couldn't deliver, he was the one who talked to her for me. I was listening from my bedroom door and I heard him say: "Ang anak ko kasi sobrang artistic. Alam mo kapag may ginagawa siyang mga drawing, akala mo galing sa printing press, parang kinompyuter!" He's my biggest fan.

And everytime we go to his hometown in Bacolod, he would always brag to his brothers and sisters about me.

And when I was five years old and my father and I were hanging out in their room, he kissed my hand and said that daddy loves me.

And back in third grade when I was about to have my first communion at school, our teacher gave us flowers to put on our hair and my mother wasn't with me so he was the one who put mine. Everyone else had their mothers. I remember that I never felt more proud.

My father likes to sing Moon River. His version is my favorite.

Every time my father finds out that we like this or that food, he would hoard on that until we grow sick of it. There was the Kitkat phase and the Nissin Wafer phase and the Lucky Me pancit canton phase and the C2 phase and the yogurt phase.

My father makes everyone feel important. He takes an incredibly long time explaining stuff because he tells everyone every single detail. He feels everyone deserves to know about anything that affects them in whatever little way. That's why when he sends a maid to a certain errand, he does not only tell her what to do. He explains why he's asking her do it, what he's going to use it for, and why everyone's life will be better because of it. Really.

And tonight, right before he went to bed, he gave MM and I three hardboiled eggs.

I don't want to forget.