Thank you to everyone who participated in my little blog giveaway. I love love love reading all your comments. They made me laugh and cry happy tears. I'm really touched and encouraged by your words and thoughts. It's great to know people like you!

Without further ado, the winner is witsandnuts! Congratulations!

She wrote:



I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Til' the next giveaway!

Sometimes silence is a good thing.
I relish it.
It's beautiful,
And it's mine.

Solitude is not bad either.
I dwell in it.
Because there, everything is real and honest and true.
There is no pretending or disguising or second guessing.

There is just me.
Only me.
And that is fine.

I sing and listen.
I daydream and scheme.
I indulge in make-believe and fairy tales.
It's my freedom.
And I inhale it.

Because I cannot go anywhere else.
My mind is my escape.
And mine alone.

"Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity"

A few posts ago I said that good things are happening in my life. I didn't want to get into details until I was sure that those good things were not just passing fancies or empty promises. I could easily get excited with things and it would last for a day or two then it's gone and I'm on to another thing to be excited about. But this one is different. This is something I have really wanted for a long time now.

I am in the process of setting up my shop - planning, designing the website and making things to sell. I wasn't really ready to voice it out loud until today because I was scared it will just become words. Like when I was much into beading three years ago, I made jewelries the whole summer and I said that a shop was coming soon. That soon never came because I chickened out. I felt so insecure - I still do - that nobody will like the stuff I made. "Who was I kidding selling jewelries I taught myself to make" was the constant debate in my head. It was too big for me so it didn't happen. I did get to sell most of the stuff through my mom who promoted it to her colleagues at work and some I gave as presents to friends and family.

But as the years passed, I changed. Gradually. My interests grew and I learned that for me to be good at what I do, I have to find what I love. I now see a clearer vision of what I want to do and achieve. For months I feel this force that's pushing me to go ahead and live that life I normally just daydream about. I have all these ideas, the resources ready at my disposal, whatever else I may need but at the end of the day, it's still up to me to do something about it. I am tired of keeping it all in my head. I am tired of not doing anything about it. I am tired of being tired. And I put on a resolve to do it. There is no other way but the beginning so that is where my journey starts.

This website is the product of this whole process. I had to let go of the old one to make room for the new. I am taking things slow or it will become too overwhelming for me to take at once. I have established the name, xoxogracey it is - because the things I sell are the things I love and made with love. These things reflect me. This is really an exciting time for me because I am finally doing something for myself. Finally - I can hear some people say it now. I don't know what I was waiting for - why it took me this long to realize this passion. I guess it comes to you when you are ready. And now I am ready.

You may have seen some things I made in the previous months that will also be available in my very-soon-to-open online shop. You will see more, I promise.

Here's a little sneak preview of what you can expect in my shop:



Cute cellphone charms for $3.95 each.

These are now available if you want to purchase. Stock is limited so get it while you can. Just email me at xoxogracey[at]gmail[dot]com for more info.

Update: The slipper charms are sold out. 1 each left of the apple, strawberry and flower. Thanks!

Love is all around my blogging friends, and somewhere in between, I'm squeezed with so much goodness and love that I am spreading it to all of you.

To my family (in-law and adopted included - from my chatting days and RO) who silently reads this space, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I love you for being the best people in the world. Thank you for the unending support and encouragement you give me all these years, for loving me for me and showing me what it's like to be loved without conditions. You are always in my thoughts, everyday. You guys are priceless! I will never trade you for anything in the world.

To my friends (old and new - blog and non-bloggers - from flickr and community sites), I love you simply for being my friends. Thank you for all the sweet and very kind thoughts, e-mails, presents and comments. You make me laugh and smile. My heart is bursting with so much love - I am truly overwhelmed. Words really are that powerful. You inspire me to keep blogging, to look deep inside my heart and share it to the rest of the www. You cheer me up when I am down. You listen when I'm having a meltdown. You guys are amazing and I can never be more happy to have found such wonderful people online and in real life that I can truly connect with. Once I call you a friend, that will be for life. So know what you're getting yourself into! I love you guys. I do. I really do. And I'm here for you, always.

To my husband, my very dear Michael. I know you know how much I love you but I will say it right here, for everyone to see that you are the best thing that happened to me. Everytime I write something like this, it opens up the well of tears - I can't help myself. I love you so much that my body even tells it. You are my bestest friend, my soul mate, my playmate, my body warmer, my pong pagong, my walking dictionary, my lovah, my everything. You will always be my ish ish!

To the passers-by who visit this blog and stay, I love you guys too. Just because. :)

So the fruity tale continues...

I was not really a fan of Hello Kitty at first. She's cute and all but I'm a little picky when it comes to collecting things. I'm more of a mixed-variety collector. I don't care much about the brand or manufacturer, as long as it's cute and pretty and somewhat useful, I'm in. But I have to admit, when they launched their fruity collection, I got reeled in like a fish on a hook. I googled online for more of their fruity products and found a lot of them on amazon.

Q: Why am I not living in Japan?
A: Because I'd be poor and homeless the first week I move to that country. With all the things I'll be hoarding left and right, I have to be locked in to control the madness. Lol!



These are polyresin accessory cases I recently acquired. There are actually five of them but I'm missing the pear because they were out of stock in the Chinese novelty store I frequent. It's so nostalgic to be in that place. Seeing all the things I used to have when I was little. Apart from Hello Kitty, I used to have My Melody, Little Twin Stars, Kerokerokeropi, and Porkchop & Friends. The latter was when I was in college. I still regret not buying the coin bank porkchop family collection when I saw them in Cebu. They're so cute and the girl pig was wearing a pink dress. I feel stupid buying the family toy piggy bank. When I saw the whole family collection in one of the stores in china town, one cost 120 euros alone. Are they kidding me?? I'm never buying it for that much. It didn't even cost half that when I saw them in Cebu. If you do happen to see them in the malls there, let me know please!

Click here to view the HK accessory cases individually.



Mike finally decided to buy a Wii. He's been contemplating for months whether to buy it or not, but when he saw the big pile of boxes in the store last weekend, he gave in. It's been hard to get hold of them. They were always out of stock. We wanted the Wii Fit too but that's also out of stock so we hope they restock again this week. I did two hours of Wii Sports an hour after I woke up. I must say that it is a good work-out. I huffed and puffed and produced sweat I haven't in a long time. I'm adding it to my daily routine for sure. I lingered on boxing the longest because it made me move more. Discovered a few tricks on knocking out the opponent with a hard blow - it felt like a sort of combo because of the special effect. It's my first time to play golf and I'm so happy to have a chip-in and a birdie! And I won 10-1 in baseball. My highest score in bowling so far is only 164. I suck at tennis though so I have to work on that. I've only been playing for two days.

Mike made videos of me playing it last night and laughing. I'm not posting them so don't ask. It's just funny how I took on my parents' moves when they play bowling. My dad has this back-kicking thing going on after he throws the ball while my mom does the one leg-bending and one-stretched. I exaggerate a bit when I do it to add some flexing for my butt exercise. So far, it worked and I'm all achy mostly at my back parts. I'm liking it though!

So yeah, I'm quite a fanatic when it comes to competitive sports. We only have one controller now because that too was out of stock. Looking forward to be playing against Mike. I'm so gonna kick his ass!



These fabrics have been screaming for some attention so I paired them up for some little projects I'll be whipping up shortly after I finish this entry and hit the shower. Had to borrow Ma's sewing machine because my new one is somewhat defective and I lost the receipt so I can't ask for warranty. Sigh. I just hope we get to figure it out soon so I can work with that instead. I have two weeks to use Ma's machine as she is now on her vacation to Scotland. She didn't give me that timeline - I imposed that on myself. It's a perfect opportunity to be productive in the sewing department and get things done. No more procrastination and doodling on notebooks. It's time to put my ideas out and make them "alive".

>> I'm still using my phone's camera to take these pictures. I haven't replaced the lens yet since it broke. :(

>> Oh, wow! Three entries in a day. It's a record!

Look at your address bar. What do you notice? :)

Yes, you are right. I no longer stay at snowflakes dot nl but here in my new home where I belong. I bought it last year but my lease with snowflakes didn't end until recently, so here I am, spiffing the place up a bit. I also needed time to get used to the transition, finding that connection that makes me feel at home as I've felt with the one I just left behind. I have been linked to snowflakes since July 2003. That's almost five years of blogging there. Even though I still find it rather hard to grasp the idea of a new place, I think it's about time I move on. When I read or hear the word snowflakes, I think, hey that's me or that's mine or I am snowflakes, but not really, you know. I was bound to that word for years yet I was still searching for something that is truly me and mine, until I found this. The things I write about, my writing style, my interests, my age, my waistline, they are not as they used to be. Things are different now and this is where I want to be.

Wow, time surely does fly.

I used to write about very mundane things. I still do, but not as much as I did back then. I remember writing about plucking my eyebrows in the wee hours of dawn, cracking myself up with my nonsensical thoughts, my constant enemy that are zits, Dutch school, oversleeping and not sleeping, finding myself, the weather, and a whole bunch of stuff that when I read again, I smile and laugh at my silliness. It's funny, in a feel-good kind of way, to read about the progress of my life. That I did grow and will continue to grow. That behind those words and paragraphs and pictures, I remain the same person with a couple of features added in the process. Though life is filled with lots of questions, insecurities, doubts and pains, it is also full of joy, love, good and happy memories, awesome friends and loving families. I've come to accept that things are not always nice and dandy, but at the end of the day, I am always thankful for the life I have and the people who are always there for me no matter what and who love me for who I am.

Keeping this blog is a really good thing. It may sound corny but I am really happy that I have this venue to share my life and things that make life beautiful. I am so blessed to have met many wonderful people like yourselves who keep me company all these years and leave sweet comments and thoughts that make my heart skip a beat. Thank you for being my friends, even though a whole lot of you I haven't met in person yet. But, who knows? We might all get to sit together and chat like old friends over a cuppa and cheesecake. The world is not so big after all.

Oh, before I forget, please change your links and help me make this place warm and cozy.

Welcome in!

xoxo,
Gracey