Any crafter will know the feeling of being curiously lost in a DIY project, and the satisfaction they get when it’s finally done. Major projects equals major doses of those feelings. I get nostalgic about wedding crafts for instance, or the cardboard Christmas village I made when I was ten. But there is also something to be said about the little projects for everyday. Especially when they’re lovely yet functional, and hard to get wrong. These DIY candle holders are exactly that.

I found the work of Melbourne-based photographer Jonathan Ong on a favorite blog, Eat Drink Chic by Amy Moss. Ong’s photos stand out in a sea of pretty but predictable wedding photography, because they are at once childlike and wise. Anyone who’s been married will remember those precious, secret moments at their wedding, and the feelings that came with them. And they will remember wishing they could take pictures right then with their eyes. I think Ong has those magic eyes.

Homemade Limoncello, that beloved Italian liqueur served mainly as an after-dinner digestive, is laborious, almost artisanal. You carefully peel the lemon rind to pithless perfection, and let it steep in vodka for anywhere from 4 to 10 days. But yesterday was supposedly the hottest day in Manila this summer yet. And with no sign of reprieve from this crazy heat, I just went ahead and took some short cuts. I wanted the flavors of limoncello, but like a cocktail, and in a bigger glass.

‘Tis the season of the welfie, that selfie hybrid where you take a photo of yourself working out at the gym. Admittedly, all the wave of welfies at the start of the year pushed me into a frenzy of yoga stretches, old ballet moves, pre-dinner brisk walking, and swimming in Gabby’s old tri-suits in frigid 6 AM pool water. It was, in Stingo’s words, a kind of “small-scale madness”. Well the photo above is not a welfie. I am not working out. In it I am gaunt and sleepless. I am not well. Something happened to us.

I’ve been looking at the old things in my Mom’s kitchen and I’m suddenly seeing them with new eyes. These old plates, cups, and glasses that we grew up with, packed and unpacked when we moved cities and houses, and put lovingly on new shelves and cupboards that would be their home. Like many people, Mom lost a few things in last October’s earthquake, but not these. Thank you to the God of old things, because someone has plans for them.

The ice cream scoop and wine corkscrew look archaic, but they work just fine. The scoop would be so cute for a vintage-themed birthday party. The corkscrew might be the sexiest thing in a home bar cart. Preferably mine. Character is what these things have. One that only comes with age, and some of these things are almost 40 years old. Like these glasses…