Tadaaah!

As a person who still writes and sends cards, receiving one is always a thrill.

Claire is a kindred spirit who does the same. She never fails to send her beautiful and unique handmade cards. And here's her creation this year.

True to her blog's title, this truly is a "Tadaaah!" moment.

All Claire!

It may be a few months late, but it doesn’t make it less fun!

Finally, we had our Zoom Birthday celebration for Claire! The theme was “Claire Appreciation Day” which is super apt because she’s really a blessing to Melrose!

From all of us here - Belated Happy B, Claire!

Red Letter Day

I'm an old-school kinda guy. 

Aside from still writing cards and letters, i'm also equally thrilled each time I receive cards and letters.

Just like these ones that were sent to my for my birthday.

The beautiful, handcrafted card is from Claire. The drawn postcard is from my extremely talented goddaughter, Audrey. And the 2 letters are from Audrey and Aidan.

These surely adds "Happy" to "Happy Birthday."

Sketchy Stories: Claire Bear

For Claire's birthday, Melrose decided to go a little crafty.

Claire is and has always been known for her creativity in crafts. When we were colleagues in Adformatix, I'd always marvel at the creations that were often on her cubicle. Whether it was a handmade paper creation or her wonderful handwriting, it was always a joy to see. 

When she left agency life and applied at Kamiseta, she showed me some of the handmade bags she created and was simply floored! There was one particular bag - made of silk and with chopsticks as handle - that was super memorable. After finding something similar in HKG, it became part of one of my sister's ensembles when she attended a wedding.

And last year, she shared with me her blog about her crafting projects. Since then, I've been a regular reader and can't help but be inspired by Claire's creativity and joie-de-vivre.

So, for her birthday, I decided to go back to traditional sketching using a pen and paper, then used my Kurecolor pens to add some life into the drawing. And here's the result of the quick 10-minute sketch.

The choice of what I'd sketch - a bear - is actually an inside joke that Claire and I had back in Adformatix, particularly the word "oso." So, it was fitting that this was my crafty project for her on her birthday.

I wish you an OSO wonderful birthday, Claire! We'll celebrate it together soon!

I de-Claire

Whenever Claire is in town from NYC, we always make sure to meet up and catch up over good food and even greater laughs.

And it was the same thing that happened tonight.

Claire! We should have this more often! (Meaning you should come home more often.)

Loud and Claire

Once upon a time, I was a wedding planner. And this was because one of my good friends at Adformatix - Claire - helped me discover that it's something fun and worthwhile to do.

The first wedding we planned was Rache's wedding to Jeepoy. It was just an ad hoc thing that we decided to do. But after that event, people started asking if we could do it for them, too.

So it came to pass, we suddenly found ourselves professionally organizing weddings. From intimate gatherings, to grand weddings attended by the Philippine President!

Eventually, Claire moved to the U.S. and is now a pastry chef. I, on the other hand, still find myself organizing weddings, and getting the same joy that I got back in 1998.

I'm glad that Claire still gets to visit Manila every year. It's always fun to catch up with her and talk about the glory days of our wedding organizing.