What's Been Happening? :)

Ola! More than a month of nothing from my blog?! Hahah! Typical me, life has taken over again. Lol. So I've been busy, still am and will still be. So many things are still about to happen especially towards the end of the month. And then there's November, birth month of my two loves. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that my little darling is about to turn two. Oh wow! *cue nanay tears*

Anyways, last weekend, we had fun attending the FAB event to check out some new baby wraps and at the same time, share our babywearing adventures to other families. This was in celebration of the International Babywearing Week.

If you're looking for an activity this weekend, why not head on to BGC and start your holiday shopping with Bench's The Pink Ribbon Sale? :)

And for more Mama activities, my favorite Mommy Mundo bazaar is happening soon. I always look forward to these bazaars because almost all the participating vendors are mompreneurs! You will definitely find a lot of stuff here that are perfect for your family, especially for your little ones. Just like the stuff we got the last time. So mark your calendars na! :)

While October has been nothing less than awesome, I know November is gonna be great even more. And of course the holiday season! Aaaaccckk! Too much excitement! :))))

Red Velvet Crinkle Sandwich

I love baking! And I'm really glad my hiatus has ended. I guess those Chocolate Chip Cookies set the mood back.

Since the ber  months have started, I think anything Red Velvet will be a good idea. Thus this Red Velvet Crinkles with Cream Cheese Filling.

Crinkle recipe is from Cooking Classy while the cream cheese frosting is adapted from Martha Stewart.

CO/OP Goods & Eats

It was a weekend without a definite schedule so most of it went to doing house chores. After Saturday's series of chores, we decided to get a quick break and visit the newly opened CO/OP in San Juan. The design and architecture of the place got me curious that's why I asked Mr. T if we could go there for our merienda.

The place is actually pretty easy to find especially if you are familiar in the San Juan area. You'll immediately notice the wide front yard of CO/OP with it's industrial restaurant concept as a background.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I've mentioned how we loved the chocolate chip cookies from π Breakfast & Pies, and I've been craving for more after that visit. Add the fact that I sort of missed baking. Good thing we didn't have anything planned last Saturday so after some wife and mama duties, I went on with baking some of these goodies.

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's Recipe, but I lessened the amount of sugar a bit for my little tot. I also made the cookie dough ahead of time and stored it for about an hour in the ref. The cookies turned out really soft and chewy, not too sweet and most of all, super chocolate-y.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups All-purpose Flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

1 cup Packed Light-Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsps. Pure Vanilla Extract

2 large Eggs

2 cups (about 12 oz.) Semisweet and/or Milk Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. 
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Pi Breakfast & Pies

We had an early start last Thursday despite of it being a holiday. I looove breakfast food, and the first thing I think of everytime my little fambam gets up early on a non-working day is where we can have breakfast.

I've been reading a lot about the food spots inside Teacher's Village and as much as I've been wanting to visit all of those places, Mr. T just isn't a fan of driving in Quezon City. But luckily, he agreed last Thursday, and I think it's a good sign for our possible food adventures in Quezon City.

Our choice: π Breakfast & Pies.

Like all the trending foodie places around the metro, Breakfast & Pies has that hole-in-the-wall vibe to it. A small space with cozy interiors smacked in the middle of an unexpected area. When we got there, the place was packed already. But luckily, we got seated after just a few minutes of waiting. We ordered as soon as we got to our table.

Easy DIY Washi Tape Organizer

I looove washi tapes! Cute patterns, lovely colors and more. You can use it in so many things like labels, wrappers, accents and more. It's also perfect in keeping a little tot busy even for just a few minutes.

This was posted over a year ago when I finally installed that wooden shelf I got from Papemelroti. If only my main purpose was to display these tapes, then this shelf is perfect as it is. But since I am actually using all these, this shelf turned out to be a bit of a hassle. Since the tapes were stacked, I need to take them the ones on top, even the stack beside, just to get the tape at the bottom. It became a bit of a hassle. So I searched for a washi tape holder/organizer only to find out that the one that I liked will cost me around 2,000Php. Ugh.

If I had the budget, I would've gotten me one of these from Scrappy Manila

Time for some DIY! :)

How Breastfeeding Helped Us Jumpstart Our Family

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (August). For this month, we write about the World Breastfeeding Week 2014 - Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life and share how breastfeeding can help the Philippines achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals developed by the government and the United Nations. Participants will share their thoughts, experiences, hopes and suggestions on the topic.

Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries."

I am always excited every time I get to blog or post about breastfeeding. What's even more exciting is that I get to participate in this year's Milk Mama Diaries blog carnival to share my personal thoughts and our experiences in breastfeeding with high hopes of inspiring others to pursue their very own journey as well.

Breastfeeding Aids Poverty 

Like all newlyweds, we were on our way to building up our own family, and that also meant building up our finances. While we've already planned to have a baby on our first year of marriage, we were still caught in a bit of surprise at how costly it was to have a baby. The monthly check-ups, vitamins, medicines, laboratory tests and in my case some special tests to make sure that Ava was perfectly fine inside my womb. And then there were those cravings, the clothes that did not fit and the days/months when I had to take a leave from work. Then it was time for Ava's birth. While it was one of the best days of our lives, we still had hospital bills, doctor's fees, more medicines and other stuff. It was a bit overwhelming but we are grateful for our families for giving us the emotional and financial help that we needed that time.