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Lake Bled in watercolor

My watercolor project for May took me back to one of the loveliest places I’ve seen this year: Lake Bled in Slovenia.

Painting the lady in red stretched me; this landscape seemed easy in comparison. I enjoyed learning how to take artistic license with color: looking for hints of color and amplifying them in order to turn a memory from cloudy gray to fresh and vivid.

Question: do you watermark your photos? I’m considering doing that, though it seems like a lot of work. I thought I could start with the watercolors and see how it goes. This experiment with watermarking has made me realize that I haven’t signed or dated any of my watercolors in the past year. Ooopsy.

Also, I’m wondering if I should start painting a travel series. I experimented with animals and fashion because I got bored with landscapes for a while, but I’ve since realized a travel series wouldn’t necessarily have to be all landscapes. Which of my travels should I paint next?

22 Comments
Posted on May 31, 2012
Category: Creative Projects · Labels: ,

How to make your own Ritter Sport

Head to the Ritter Sport Bunte Schokowelt on Französische Straße 24, Berlin. Just off the Gendarmenmarkt and very near Berlin’s most popular monuments, it’s a sweet end to a day of sightseeing. You may stare worshipfully outside for a few moments before entering. This, after all, is your temple.

Ritter Sport Schokowelt Berlin

At the time of your visit, there may or may not be hordes of weary parents and sugar-crazed children. Gently but firmly make your way past them to the end of the queue. Wait your turn to pay for the number of chocolate bars you wish to make; a standard-size 100g square costs €3.90 (US$ 1.25 or about Php 210).

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18 Comments
Posted on May 29, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,

Badeschiff: Berlin’s floating pool party

Swimming is one of the things I miss most about tropical city life. Sunning at one of Amsterdam’s parks or urban “beaches” has its appeal, but cooling off with a dip is an essential element I’ve been missing so far.

So I died of envy when my husband decided, while I was at my blog conference, to go swimming. He didn’t just pick the nearest public pool, but chose the Badeschiff, Berlin’s first and only floating swimming pool.

Badeschiff Berlin

Photo via Hubbycam

“Badeschiff” translates to bath + ship, and this is just what it is: the hull of a ship, or barge, converted into a swimming pool. With a sandy “beach”, wooden deck and open air bar, it’s a landmark of the new, creative Berlin… and the perfect scene for a floating party on the river Spree.

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Posted on May 28, 2012
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,

Happy (sunny) weekend!

Summer has finally arrived in Amsterdam… not a moment too soon!

That means drying laundry in the sun, cloudless bright blue skies, eating outside without having to wear a ton of clothes or battle a headache, wearing sandals and toenail polish, and swimming… ohhhh, swimming. I almost felt tears in my eyes at the pool yesterday, and it wasn’t the chlorine.

Basically, it’s time for all the things I used to take for granted living in Singapore and Manila. I’m still kind of in denial that I now only really get to do these things a few days each year.

White towels in the sun

Sandals on the grass

Mirandabad pool

It’s a long weekend because of Pinksterdag, or the second weekend of Pentecost. (And I thought I was in a Protestant country?) I’m determined to stay out of the house and make the most of this abundant sunshine—because God only knows how long it will last.

I know I’ll have a blast this weekend…so should you. Have a great weekend!

4 Comments
Posted on May 26, 2012
Category: Life in Amsterdam · Labels: ,

Pergamon Museum: marble & man-bags in Berlin

Sometimes, stupidity can result in happy accidents. It’s rare, but it happens… and it happened to me in Berlin.

Focused entirely on the warm weekend to come, I was completely, stupidly underdressed for the first two days of my trip. I knew I should be out seeing the city, but was grumpy at the thought of being cold. “Let’s go to a museum,” suggested my clever husband, who is always highly invested in preventing my grumpiness.

So we chose to visit the Pergamon Museum, which stands at the tip of Museuminsel, an island on the river Spree that houses five museums and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Berlin Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum is probably not a top-of-mind name like the Louvre in Paris or the Met in New York. It houses no famous masterpieces or household names in art. That doesn’t make it any less breathtaking. In fact, I’d say it was of the most awe-inspiring museum experiences I’ve had.

What the Pergamon Museum does have are monumental reconstructions of ancient buildings—such as its showpiece, the Pergamon Altar. The little rectangle on the map marked simply “Altar Room” could not have prepared me for this.

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3 Comments
Posted on May 25, 2012
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , ,

Berlin: love letter after a weekend fling

Dear Berlin,

You sure know how to push my buttons.

Really. How could I not find myself infatuated with you, after…

… you welcomed me to a beautiful apartment in Kreuzberg. Living in this quietly stylish dwelling in such a vibrant neighborhood (“you are totally in the right neighborhood, Kreuzberg is the place to be,” said Ben, who checked us into the apartment) felt like stepping into someone else’s life for a few days. Someone else much hipper and tidier than I am, for sure!

… you surrounded me with art, art everywhere. My impression was of a city with more memorials to the dead than any other I’ve visited before. The grieving, solitary mother in the Neue Wache, the New Guard House…

Mother with her Dead Son, sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz

… and the 2,711 eerie, towering concrete slabs of the Holocaust Memorial. Walking in this massive work of art sobered and chilled me—it was like finding yourself swallowed up by tombstones; trapped by hard, merciless, endless gray.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold

Oh, Berlin. Bombed to rubble in World War II, you became a blank canvas from which anyone could create anything. You may not be a Renaissance masterpiece like Florence, or a Belle Epoque objet d’art like Paris, but you are a work of art that is constantly evolving. Your art is more than just about death; it is life reasserting itself everyday, everywhere. Your children create marvels out of mailboxes and street signs.

… you beckoned me into your quiet, graceful courtyards. There, away from the crowds and in the stillness, you showed your hidden face. And it was beautiful.

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13 Comments
Posted on May 24, 2012
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , ,

The Hive Berlin: blogging, inspiration & passion

The Hive Berlin was last weekend, but I’m still buzzing. The first conference for European bloggers was appropriately named—it was a hub of constant activity, where a swarm of hardworking individuals gathered to produce some pretty sweet results.

There’s something special and powerful about a place where something is constantly being created. If the Betahaus had a counter ticking off every new idea born, friendship made, artistic creation produced and skill acquired at The Hive, it would have broken down this weekend.

Even breaks were not really breaks, but pockets of energy and opportunity. (The funky coffee cups may have helped!)

Meeting creative, inspiring and passionate individuals was a major highlight. I think this photo I took of vlogger  captures the personality of The Hive attendees: unique, creative, tech-savvy, in constant flux between real and online life. .

As you’d expect in a roomful of creative women, there was no shortage of stylish details. One could do entire posts just about what the attendees wore (as I’m sure someone will!).

The meat of the weekend was the lineup of talks and workshops by some of Europe’s top bloggers. It was hard not to get overloaded (with information) and over-stimulated (by inspiration).

We’re all stimulated by the talk. No, really.

It’s also hard not to get intimidated when it hits you that there’s still so much you don’t know… about something you’ve been doing for years! After taking a few days to absorb everything, here are my own Hive highlights and why they stood out for me.

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21 Comments
Posted on May 23, 2012
Category: Creative Projects, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , ,

Heading to The Hive

Guten abend from Berlin!

I think I’ve just died at the hands of a mean, mustachioed margarita-mixing hipster with a heavy tequila hand. Before my soul leaves my body, I want to share what I’m up to this weekend. It’s also the reason I’m in Berlin, and why the new and improved Currystrumpet absolutely (die die, as they say in Singapoh) had to be launched this week.

That would be The Hive, a first-of-its-kind conference for bloggers in Europe. Founded by three like-minded (and brave!) bloggers from Hamburg, Amsterdam and Prague, The Hive is meant to be a place for Europe-based bloggers to meet, share ideas and learn from a great roster of speakers, many of whom are blog celebrities in their own right. It takes place at the Berlin creative hub Betahaus this weekend.

I signed up for The Hive in February; I didn’t think much about it, I just did it. Only after registering did I even begin to think about how I would present myself and my blog. It soon became clear to me that I needed to overhaul my blog before I could feel right about putting it out into the world—much like cleaning up before inviting guests over.

I’ve blogged for years, but kept it pretty low-key. No self promotion, no Facebook page, no networking. The Hive marks the first time I’m going to actually, physically put myself out there and introduce my blog to complete strangers, many of them far more successful/inspiring/professional/______(insert adjective here) at blogging than I.

So I am feeling both excited and nervous. Wish me luck. And have a happy weekend, wherever you are!

8 Comments
Posted on May 18, 2012
Category: Creative Projects, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,

Currystrumpet on Bloglovin

I know some of you followed the old blog on Bloglovin. Well, now you can follow this new blog with Bloglovin, too!

1 Comment
Posted on May 17, 2012
Category: Uncategorized · Labels:

The new Currystrumpet

Hello, hello! And welcome to my new home on the Web!

The talented Alessandra Lanot (a classmate from Ateneo) whipped up the scrumptious graphics, and the swift, cheerful, reliable and totally amazing Sara Jenkins of Moonsteam Design pulled everything together with her WordPress magic. (Sara saved my life. Seriously.)

A special shout out goes to The Diplomatic Wife for answering all my blogging questions and holding my hand through a nervous and uncertain start. Also, to my media powerhouse sister Sheila for weighing in on design-related matters.

More than just thanks are owed to my wonderful hubby Marlon for being my second opinion on everything, calming me when I got frazzled, and being an endless source of wonderful things to write about.

Finally, thank you for following me to my new home! I’m really glad you’re here.

I’d love to write more about the design and the big move to WordPress; I learned so much! But I’ve been working for a day in a half in Berlin now and haven’t seen anything of this hip, happening city. So for now, Berlin calls. In the meantime, please have a look around, like , make yourselves at home, and tell me what you think.

P.S. Oh, and yes—all the calligraphy is mine!

8 Comments
Posted on May 17, 2012
Category: Creative Projects, Wanderlust ·