Space hunter

February 2, 2014 / iamsupercarla / Leave a comment

Okay, it is no secret that I am in love with Scandinavian designers Alvhem. Their designs that smartly maximizes space with an artsy flair never fail to tickle my fancy. With so many changes coming in so fast (not that I’m complaining), I’ve been pretty much apartment hunting.

Or at least apartment style hunting.

Now, my default source is Freshome. But lately, Goods Home Design has become quite an inspiration too.

amazing-small-Swedish-apartment-design

I found this floor plan on Pinterest and it is quite functional don’t you think?

beautiful-apartmentFreshome-20

But all in all, Freshome will always be my Alvhem source.

What interested me in Goods Home Design was when they featured 3D floor plans by artists Dmitriy Schuka and Shako Gurgenidze. Schuka puts more emphasis on recreation. If I were to pursue yoga and him jiu jitsu more seriously, this design quite accommodating.

Dmitriy Schuka 1

I don’t really need a space to dry out skis, but a good place to disinfect gis and yoga mats are quite handy.

Personally though, I’m more of a Shako Gurgenidze fan. The way he incorporated the great outdoors (or whatever would amount to an urban greenery) is much more compatible with how I envision our future to be.

Shako Gurgenidze 1 Shako Gurgenidze 2

Adorable right?

I am yet to find the architect and designer of this final floor plan I’m showing you, but this has to be the most appropriate for us both. The small room can either be a cool down room or an office for me and the dining spaces are perfect for small group hosting.

Goods Home Design 1

Oh wow. I just have apartments and housing in my head. Haha. The future holds a lot of promise, but if ever you decide to use any of these floor plans and designs for your remodeling, please do keep me posted.

Sources:
Goods Home Design
Freshome

Everything

February 1, 2014 / iamsupercarla / 1 Comment

First of eternity

January 27, 2014 / iamsupercarla / 3 Comments

I have avoided writing about that day like the plague. I would like to think that in the year that has passed, I have mourned my father silently. People who are very close to me have handled that topic with a certain kind of delicateness and to be honest, I am yet to decide whether I should be thankful for the sensitivity or scornful that I am treated with so much vulnerability.

I cannot blame them though. Each time the topic of my father’s passing comes to mind, I am confronted with my inadequacies, every single one of which slapped across my face on that day — my disobedience as a daughter, my insufficiency as a sister, my lack of self-awareness. And I say these not to demean my person; my father had taught me long and good to never do that. I say these as a matter of fact because on the day he passed, I was all these.

There should be some sort of progress though. It has been a year. There has to be some form or semblance of forgiveness, for the instance, for the misfortune, for the people. But I will not act as if I’ve reached that level of self-actualization. Today, even after a year, I am still unforgiving.

But is that something bad though? I don’t think so. And I’ve said this a little too often, these things never get easier. Every day is still hard. Every day we are still fatherless. Every day we are still lacking. Every day we walk the floors and the walls of avenues and still have that nagging feeling of never being whole again. These things never get easier. You just get used to it.

I still sleep with the lights on. In France, there was an attempt to be in the dark again, but it pulled me deeper than it should have. The darkness never used to scare me, but now it does. I wish I can say I’ll be over it soon, but I can’t. I miss my father and in the dark, I am reminded of how little I gave to him on the days building up to his passing.

And that is one demon I can’t seem to outrun.

There will be no father-daughter dance at my wedding, and I will be attending so many more unions with the bride crying silently on her dad’s shoulder as he slowly lets her go. I will never be able to reconcile with that fact. But I will try. That’s the best we can all do anyway.

Try.

Sir Boy

No Artitude problem here

January 26, 2014 / iamsupercarla / Leave a comment

I’ve always been a fan of everything unique. I mean, who isn’t? So when my good friend Algie Mabasa started her own personalized canvas shoe business, I was completely on board.

Artitude is your next step to originality, and I mean it. Uniting a team of artists and Algie’s sketchbook, she launched this brilliant of an idea raising canvas shoes to the next levels. It is nowhere near what you see in malls; they exert the most effort in maintaining originality in every pair. So who won’t fall in love with these then?

Minion A Minion B Superman A Superman B

Algie comes up with a few designs her clients would choose from but in the end, she just asks them one question: What do you want on your shoe?

“I encourage my clients to design their own shoes and wear their art with pride,” she said. I cannot believe this is the same lady who, six years ago, was complaining about how difficult it is to be a teenager. Amazing how exposure to the world can make us mature. And pride really is a sentiment that should be shared by those wanting to own something close to representing their own individuality. Artitude brings that to the table.

Ironman A Ironman B Joker A Joker B

This venture started just a little over six months ago and already, she’s preparing shipments to Dubai, Australia and Canada to say the least. Just last week, we were looking at shipment options for a bulk buyer in Saudi Arabia. Shoes are flying off the shelves and in the next few months, we will see stilettos.

Cards A Cards B

“This is my favorite Artitude pair, the first ever made, and it was patterned after my original doodle.” Just goes to show there’s nothing she cannot accomplish huh?

Here’s a sneak preview of her stilettos, and judging by the actual finished goods you saw on top of this post, you can expect that what you see is truly what you will get:

S Lips S Lyrics S Wonderwoman S Bumblebee S Eyes S Ferrari

She was bugging me to make my own creation and in my head, I wonder if these will be acceptable office wear.

But then again, wear anything with pride and everything becomes much more acceptable than the norm.

Order your Artitude personalized footwear on Facebook. It’s best if you message them with a design in mind, but if you don’t have one yet, Algie and her team have enough creative juices to go around.

Lost in Moments

January 25, 2014January 25, 2014 / iamsupercarla / 2 Comments

I must have played this scenario over and over in my head and each time, I still was not able to take it all in.

I would be bundled up in a cozy sweater, leggings and knee high boots, my green scarf snug around my neck. Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, L’Opera, Jardins de Tuileries, Eiffel Tower, Roue de Paris, the Louvre, Versailles, Kilometer Zero, the Catacombs, Musee d’Orsay, I must have seen them over and over in my head.

During a hop on hop off, I overheard another pair of tourists. Allan was sound asleep on my shoulder, power napping because it has been a long day. Anyway, perhaps one of them was furiously clicking the camera at every turn because the one she was with said this: “You keep taking pictures to make everything last longer, but you’re missing the moment. Moments are the ones you should never miss. You can live without pictures, but you cannot live without moments.”

I sincerely hope she heeded that advice.

Here are the photos of Paris that we managed to take. I hope these are enough for your viewing pleasure, but just so you know, we were drowning in so many many moments.

They were never enough, though.

The Jardins de Tuileries weren’t in full bloom. Weather forecasts showed overcast skies for the next 12 days, and the winds at the time were about 22-25 mph. Nonetheless, everything still looked so pristine.

He has a lot on his mind.

Allan said, he wanted to show that he had a lot on his mind. This is a silly guy right here. Still cannot believe he’s with me.

There were a couple of Middle Easterners who tried to have us sign a petition. Then out of nowhere, a French police came on his bike and basically ran them off. He told us they were pickpockets. Allan didn’t like that. Almost immediately, we went to the hop-on hop-off tour. Given that 80% of my day is all about work, this quick ride around the city really was worth it.

He promised to take me here and he did. It was just too bad that the carousel was being dismantled at the time we were there.

Along Champs Elysees, we saw the brightest pair of shoes ever…

… and a literal car charger.

The streets looked so romantic. And surreal. I still cannot believe I am here.

The beauty and Allan. Hehehe. The salesman was so nice, he let us in the showroom and let us take so many pictures.

We ended up somewhere near Trocadero, the perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. To be honest, it wasn’t much in the daylight.

But the Notre Dame Cathedral was absolutely stunning. This is probably the only architecture we managed to take pictures of. Most of our long walks at the end of the day weren’t that documented.