The Little Dapitan at Ayala Malls Cloverleaf

Dapitan Arcade has been one of my go-to places whenever I need new decors or accents for the house or new baskets and crates for my shelves in Common Room. It is a shopping haven! I love shopping at Dapitan Arcade because there's a lot of options and the prices are very pocket-friendly too! Now that Christmas traffic is upon us, going to Dapitan Arcade can be a feat!

Fret not! Ayala Malls Cloverleaf is bringing Dapitan Arcade closer to you with the Little Dapitan! A bazaar featuring the best of Dapitan Arcade - from Christmas decors, home accents and decors, local handicrafts made by local artisans and more. The Little Dapitan will be open starting this October until December! What I like about it is, it's right beside Cloverleaf! You can park in the mall or park right outside it (open parking). And when you're done shopping, you can go back to the mall to shop more, watch a movie or eat at the many varieties of restaurants.

Little Dapitan at Cloverleaf is right outside the mall. Exit where Uniqlo store is.

It is in a open, warehouse-like venue. It is well-lit, the aisles are wide enough and it was easy to go around.

Can you guess what I bought? I went around three times before deciding on what to buy!

A place for you to take your photos! I love the rattan lamps!

I like that there's only about 20 stalls more or less. There's not much of repeating/redundant products which makes shopping so much easier. Better for the sellers too! I'm the type of shopper who gets overwhelmed or anxious when there's a lot of choices that I ended up not buying anything! Are you like that too?

Plastic flowers and plants for those who has black thumb like me! Haha!

There's a lot of selection for Christmas decors too! I honestly cannot decide on what to get. But here are a few that caught my eye.

This is where I got something for our house!

There's a stall that sells room spray, linen spray, hand soaps, soy candles and more that is perfect for gifting this Christmas! You can mix and match then put it a wooden box (sold separately)! I love their design labels and the scents are pretty good too!

If you are looking for crates, there's a stall selling crates in different sizes!

This stall has this gold decors that can be used for lighting or as is. They have cupcake towers and more! They also do customized works!

 There's also a wide selection of bags and wallets. They make great gifts for your officemates, staff and friends!

I also saw these super cute pots for your cactus or succulents! They are hand painted. So pretty, right?

So what did I get? Since I cannot decide on what Christmas decors I want for our home, I just bought what I really needed. I hoarded these wire baskets! I need it for my shelves in Common Room (that's 4, soon to be 5 branches) hence, the quantity! I was able to get a good price because I got a lot! I actually need to go back and buy some more!

The only Christmas decor I bought was this pair of banana-leaf like white Christmas tree! It was love at first sight so I got it na! :)

Thank you Spark It for the invite! I haven't been out on an event in so long. I also haven't written for a long while now! I enjoyed shopping and I will definitely go back for more!

Follow @littledapitan and #LittleDapitan for more updates!

The Week That Was #CommonRoomPHxPowerPlantMall Pop-up!

One of the blessings of my 2015 was Common Room. Common Room will turn 1 very soon and I am very much grateful to the founders Pop Junk Love for creating a community for local crafters and aspiring crafters (like me!) and giving me a new family of creative people! It always feels like "home" whenever we are there, my kids also love it there (only because of the swing and they get to play the plushies from Pop Junk Love hehe). 

Last week, we had a pop-up at Power Plant Mall, but before we can get to join the pop-up, kelangan may free workshop. When I heard that, OMFG, I cannot! I hate public speaking, yan talaga weakness at fear ko haha! But I really really wanted to join the pop-up, kaya sabi ko Bahala na si Batman! Next was schedule, I picked a weekday schedule so there won't be a lot of people. Haha! Strategy nga naman! But wala din, in the end my schedule was on a weekend! Oh how did I get so lucky all of a sudden! Hahaha!

Ingress was 7:30AM-9:30AM, no aircon, and I was wearing a grey tee! So nun pinawisan ako, alam niyo na jabar all over. Kainezzz! So note to myself and to you na din, don't wear grey pag mainit and you'll know you will sweat! Nyahahaha! Ingress was fast and we left 30 minutes before the mall opened. We'd come help every other day with the kids in tow. I have to thank BOS for taking leave from his work to help me out last week!

Setting up is always fun! Pero medyo hindi pag mainit. Hahahaha!

My products may not be made locally BUT they can help you create a lot of things and turn them into something you can call locally yours. Dibaaaa? Char.

The calm before the storm of shoppers.

And while I was busy with the pop-up, my kids were also busy bugging their papa and me. Haha! This was our longest pop-up and we take our kids with us wherever we go. Mas napagod lang si BOS magbantay ng mga kids! Heehee!

Doughnut for breakfast. Why not?! He's annoyed I'm taking his picture. Hehe!

This was one of my favorites! Pag naayos kitchen ko, bibilhin din kita! Hihi! String art by Habil Crafts while the paper flower is by Crafted Love!

One kid is happy while the other is annoyed that mommy is taking pictures.

There's free workshops everyday! Ang saya lang! But I was secretly dreading the Saturday, the day I am going to do my workshop. As in my countdown ako sa utak. Haha! I had to practice some of the crafts at home!

Tada! Very easy and simple crafts you can do at home for your next home parties!

Come Saturday, kabado talaga ako! Heehee! Sabi ko na lang sa sarili ko, kaya ko to! Half of the participants were kids and half were adult. I don't really remember what I said but I struck a conversation with the early birds so I can ease up as well. Pero nabubulol pa din talaga ako! I was sweating the whole time as in. STRESS! Hahaha! But I'm glad I was able to do it. We made tassels and pinwheels! Yay! Hope they'll be able to use what they learned! Thanks for the experience as well!

 Nakakahiya lang because the glue I brought was almost empty na pala hahaha!

Thank you Common Room for this opportunity! Would I do it again? I would for Common Room! Haha!

This was the first Mother's Day that I am "working" but I didn't really mind. We had lunch at Tuan Tuan, Y and I joined a few workshops then later shopped for what we want from Common Room! We were here 4 out of 7 days but I wasn't able to go around the mall or go to my eyebrow threading appointment! Hahaha!

Rockwell did a very nice job on styling the area! We felt like we were in a picnic/garden party!

What we bought and took home. The popsicles and jewelry hook were from the workshops! BOS and I are trying out calligraphy! Sana tumagal haha!

Thank you again Common Room and Rockwell for the opportunity! It was a tiring week but it was all worth it! See you in Katipunan! Time to restock again! Heehee!

Expo Mom 2016: The Motherhood Journey + a Giveaway!

When I was a new mom, I'm grateful there's Mommy Mundo and Expo Mom. I discovered new brands, met mompreneurs who now are my friends, joined Pregnant Pause and even became a mompreneur who sells at Expo Mom because I really believed in Mommy Mundo's advocacy. Now on its ninth year, Mommy Mundo brings you Expo Mom 2016 on April 29-30 at the Glorietta Activity Center!

This year's theme is The Motherhood Journey. Being a mom is very challenging, whether you are pregnant, a new mom, a mom with a toddler, a mom raising a child/ren or even a mom to teens, you'll find both enlightenment and encouragement at this year's Expo Mom. This year, Expo Mom: The Motherhood Journey has four badges that represents what stage you are in this exciting journey of motherhood!

I'm a mom of two pre-schoolers! I still can't believe that R will be in big school already this coming school year. I no longer have a baby at home. Haha! I'm excited but at the same time very emotional about this new milestone. He'll be celebrating his first birthday in school and there will be a lot of firsts for him this year! With the two of them now at this stage, I already know the dynamics. Being yaya-less on/off for a year made me a more independent mom, sometimes it's still hard to handle situations when the both of them are being difficult! Haha! It's really a journey, a challenging but exciting one!

Share your #themotherhoodjourney stories and you might just win a prize! Check the prizes and mechanics below! See you at the Expo Mom!!!

Expectant moms can win a Snug-a-hug pillow, Blanqi supportwear, and Mother-K gift box worth P8,950.

Moms with babies get a chance to win a Georgia Sleigh Cot worth P28,000

Moms with toddlers may win an Aprica Stroller Luxuna Light worth P24,999.75

Moms of kids get to win an ETL Learning Book Set worth P49,915

Consolation prizes from our sponsors are also up for grabs!!

Contest Mechanics: 

1. Follow Mommy Mundo on FB, Twitter, and IG

2. (1 pt) Share what stage you are in your motherhood by reporting the (stage) icon  or using it as your profile picture. For all posts, use the appropriate hashtags as follows:

a. Stork: #bellyblessedmama #themotherhoodjourney #expomom2016 #mommymundo

b. Carriage: #momwithababy #themotherhoodjourney #expomom2016 #mommymundo

c. Sock: #momwithatot #themotherhoodjourney #expomom2016 #mommymundo

d. Pinwheel: #lovemykid #themotherhoodjourney #expomom2016 #mommymundo

3. (1 pt) Share your motherhood story by posting a personal photo and telling us about your motherhood journey. Tag @mommymundo and use these hashtags #themotherhoodjourney #expomom2016 #mommymundo

Make sure to tag @mommymundo and @expomom and set your account to public until April 30

4. (1 pt) Share the Expo Mom 2016 official poster and say that you are going to @expomom

5. Posts may be on Facebook, twitter, or instagram

6. Posts that are published until April 30 will be counted

7. Posts will be monitored and counted manually and winner will be drawn based on  accumulated points via Rafflecopter.

**Full terms and conditions for this contest may be found on: http://mommymundo.com/2016/04/the-expo-mom-the-motherhood-journey-giveaway/#.VwzGGLSFOfQ

Expo Mom: The Motherhood Journey is co-presented by Caltrate Plus, Pampers, and Belo Baby and supported by Sun Life, Clearascar, Mott’s 100% Apple Juice, Downy Baby Gentle, Fuji/Instax, Waters Philippines, and Stanley Ong Photography with Celebrity Mom, Working Mom, Diva Universal and Crossover as media sponsors, Glorietta and Ayala Malls as venue sponsor, and Creative Juice Communications as logistics partner. 

Entrance at Expo Mom is free of charge but a donation of any amount will be accepted for the Mommy Mundo MOMSHARE fund. Proceeds of the fund goes to literacy projects for the street children of Childhope Asia and public School kids under the Alpabasa programs.  MomShare also supports needs of underprivileged moms and kids. Mommy Mundo Passport holders get an Expo Mom tote bag.

Expo Mom is the banner event of Mommy Mundo, an organization dedicated to educating,  inspiring, and empowering moms with useful, relevant, and up-to-date information.