“Sometimes, when we’re lying together, I look at her and I feel dizzy with the realization that here is another distinct person from me, who has memories, origins, thoughts, feelings that are different from my own. That tension between familiarity and mystery meshes something strong between us. Even if one builds a life together based on trust, attentiveness and mutual support, I think that it’s important that a partner continues to surprise.” –Barack Obama

(via)

Okay, so my ultimate favorite movie of all time is The Sound of Music. When I found out that Abet knows pretty much every song in the movie on our second date, I knew I wanted to marry him, haha!

Anyway, you can just imagine how much I swooned when I came across this The Sound of Music-inspired kiddie birthday party.

The birthday celebrant as Maria (love the ukelele):

The mother of the birthday girl sewed costumes for the guests, they look like the Von Trapp siblings in their playclothes:

And the giveaways? Brown paper packages tied up with strings!

French photographer Thierry Bouët photographed these babies in their first few hours of life. I cannot get over how cute they are! Their expressions are priceless, I’m particularly enamored with Little Mister Grumpy in the last photo.

via Design Dig

“On June 13th every year, my family goes through a private ritual: we photograph ourselves to stop, for a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by.”
- Diego Goldberg, Buenos Aires, Argentina

I am so doing this when I get married and have kids.

via How to be a Retronaut

I love this commemorative doodle for Norman Rockwell’s birthday on Google today.

I loved a Norman Rockwell painting before I knew what it is, this particular one that hung in the dentist’s office when I was a kid:

I’ll have a print of this painting in my house when I grow up.

My dad also introduced me to these two humorous works, the Triple Self-Portrait…

…and The Gossip. Check out the expressions, especially that of the first/last lady:

I’m actually browsing more of Norman Rockwell’s works on art.com right now and they’re all brilliant. Go check!

Happy birthday, Norman Rockwell!

I found this nifty little banner over at Topaz Horizon:

Abet quit smoking on my birthday last year–one of the best birthday presents I have ever received. Those are his statistics above, based on 15 sticks a day at P40.00 per pack.

Over P7,000 saved in seven months. Very nice. Abet had been smoking since he was 14 years old–around two-thirds of his life–can you imagine how much that had cost?

Abet and I met because I asked him for a light, I couldn’t find my teensy black lighter inside my giant, multi-pocketed Nine West bag, so I can’t really say that I regret all those years that we had been smokers, but I’m mighty proud that we kicked the ugly habit in the butt, pun intended.

I quit months before Abet did, that means that I have saved more… I deserve a little reward, no? Hmmmm…