I wanted to purchase a red Gordy lug-mount wrist strap for Ewan (Fuji X-E1). But it was out-of-stock at the affordable online reseller that I contacted, while the other reseller was selling it for a premium (she said Gordy had also raised his prices). By some happy accident, I saw that Mr. Sparks threw away his old leather belt and I also found two metal rings which fitted Ewan’s lug-mount. So I decided to make my own Gordy lug-mount wrist strap, minus the O-ring. I really love crafts and DIY, so this was right up my alley.

First, I made a red lug-mount wrist strap for Ewan, which matched the super steal red softie I got from ebay. Since I had an extra metal ring, I made a funky orange and blue lug-mount wrist strap for Fiji (Fuji X10). The wrist straps ended up just the way I wanted, and I saved PhP2,000 (PhP1,000 per strap) in the process!

DIY red lug-mount wrist strap for Ewan

DIY orange and blue lug-mount wrist strap for Fiji

I had a lot of left-over leather material. Since Mr. Sparks and I had a circle of friends who also liked taking photos, I decided to make more wrist straps to give out as Christmas gifts. I didn’t have any more metal rings to make lug-mount straps, so I just made string wrist straps in our friends’ favorite colors.

DIY wrist straps for our friends

DIY gift boxes & gift tags

Since I was on a crafting spree, I also made gift boxes & gift tags from discarded brown envelopes from my office. I finished the gift packages off with brown ribbon which I kept from a gift which we received last year. Hope our friends like our hand-made gifts!

36 weeks into my pregnancy, my uber sweet husband decided to surprise me with an overnight stay at Pan Pacific Manila. After being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I had to follow an intense diet where I planned, cooked and measured everything I ate. Those were stressful times and we were also anxious about what lay ahead for us as new parents. So Mike figured I deserved a relaxing staycation at a swanky hotel.

After checking in, we walked around the block looking for a new place to try out for lunch. We chanced upon a Japanese resto right in front of Robinson's Place Manila called Izakaya Den.

It was not a fancy restaurant. In fact, the place looked a bit worn, but had all the trimmings of Japanese eateries. It was clean and homey, and the ambiance undeniably Japanese.

It's even got a Japanese bike parked in front. Looks authentic Japanese to me!

You can also eat sitting on the floor

As for their menu, it was pretty extensive. They offered all the usual Japanese fare, and for a reasonable price too. While choosing what to order, we were given complimentary miso soup. Mike was on a quest for good ramen, so he ordered Izakaya Den's roast pork ramen. I was still on a restricted diet, so I had my usual Katsudon.

Mike's Roast Pork Ramen

My Katsudon

When they served the food, I was skeptical. It looked very plain. But when I finally took a bite, I was stunned. It was really good! The Katsudon was incredibly flavorful and had just the right balance. Mike also enjoyed his Roast Pork Ramen. Heck, even the miso soup was delicious! The food was like the place--unassuming, but homey.

Unfortunately, when we asked for two glasses of water, one glass still had bits of soap sticking to the side of the glass. The servers apologized profusely though.

All in all, we were very pleased and would definitely want to eat there again.

When I found out Mike and I were expecting our first baby, I knew I had to get a camera that would let me take nice portrait photos.

Fiji (Fujifilm X10) and Ewan (Fujifilm X-E1)

Enter my second camera, a Fujifilm X-E1, which I have nicknamed "Ewan." It came with Fujinon XF 35mmF1.4 R lens which comes up with really crisp shots with shallow enough depth of field for environmental portraits.

More from our Christmas vacay spent in Bohol.

Dolphins in the wild

On our third day in Panglao, Bohol, we had a sea tour which included waking up really early to chase dolphins. I didn't think I'd be so ecstatic to see dolphins. It's not like I have never seen one. But when we finally saw the pack of dolphins, I went nuts! It's incredible to see them in the wild! And there were so many of them too! We were pretty lucky, we were told, since others would only catch 3 or 5, or some have been unable to see any dolphins on their scheduled sea tour. In our case, we saw at least 11 and in several sightings too!

When we spent Christmas at Bohol, we stayed in Dumaluan Beach, Panglao Island.

My niece and Panglao's fine fine sand.

The beach is really beautiful and the sand was lovely--almost comparable to Boracay. My niece loved playing with the fine cream sand, but she refused to sit on the sand. She's a little obsessive compulsive like that.

More from our Christmas vacay spent in Bohol.

Chocolate Hills not looking too chocolate-y.

Of course the country-side tour would not have been complete without stopping by the Chocolate Hills observatory/viewing deck. The viewing deck is actually one of the hills which the government has converted into an observatory.

The hills appear green here because the limestone formations are covered with grass. But during the dry season, the grass dries up and the hills appear more brown than green.