Philips Umbra Room Stylers Shades in Garden Barn

Since my birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, Mommy and I decided to go out on a Black Friday drive around Metro Manila the following day.

Whenever my mother feels ill, window-shopping (or plain shopping) always makes her feel better.

Our first stop for that Friday was Garden Barn in North East Square in Greenhills. I wanted to update several stainless steel lamps that I was able to purchase from Serendra's garage sale so I went around looking for Philips Umbra Room Stylers shades - which used to be readily available in your friendly neighbourhood Handyman store.

These shades, however, have been pulled out and are now only being sold directly by the importer, Garden Barn, in their showroom in Greenhills.

Now, I'm sure this information is going to be pretty useful, since I had gone around trying to research what options for shades I had available here in Metro Manila - and unless you want to get bespoke shades from Keystone (at bespoke prices of course), these Philips Umbra shades are actually quite an affordable alternative. Their prices range from PhP 325.00 to PhP 495.00, and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, heights, and color.

Above are some samples of the shades that are available in Garden Barn. They have these in beige, in grey, brown (both dark, bordering on purplish, and a light mocha shade) and red.

For the stainless steel lamps from the bazaar, I purchased a brown shade, sample of the color from their HK website borrowed below:

It only cost me Php 395.00 per shade. Coincidentally, it is the same colour and style I purchased for a mother and child lamp I had updated early this year.

I also bought a red small shade priced at PhP 325.00 for a colourful Brunei jar my mother had wanted to convert into a lamp:

I'm sure a lot of DIY-ers, like me, have probably asked this question: Where can I buy shades for my lamp?

If you want to update the look of your lamps, feel free to visit Garden Barn, and check out their assortment of Philips Umbra Room Stylers shades.

Garden Barn
UG North East Square, Connecticut Street,
Greenhills, San Juan
telephone number: 02.654.9068
opening hours: Mondays to Saturdays (10:00AM to 7:00PM)

Santuario de San Jose and Wedding Songs

I attended a wedding yesterday with Aleron in Santuario de San Jose. saw a very unique idea for flower arrangements during the wedding.

I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. Deal breaker for me I guess is whenever I look at the arrangement, the song "Paper Roses" comes to mind.

I love stained glass windows in churches. So here I go taking pictures of the stained glass windows in Santuario de San Jose. 

Aleron was the choir singing for the wedding. Of course I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to hear their wedding repertoire, hence, with my lumbar support and walking stick and all, I braved sitting on the hard pew to hear them sing love songs. Of course my favorite would be Ikaw Lamang while the bride was walking down the aisle. That song always manages to send shivers down my spine, in this case, even if the lower part has a slipped disc.

As with all weddings, there are some quirky songs that must be sung, because they are requested by the bride and groom. In this case, I ended up wondering whether they were John Lloyd Cruz fans, because they requested A Very Special Love, and Now That I Have You (I dare not tell you who John Lloyd was paired up with in those two movies lest I be accused of being jolog as well.).

So after the wedding, Aleron decided to eat out, which will be the subject of my next post. Keep you all posted where we ate!

20 Minutes to Lugang Cafe

Since there were a lot of people still on holiday yesterday, Danny and I decided to take a drive to Greenhills to eat in Lugang. We got there in 20 minutes, during rush hour. Pretty exciting huh?

I love the interiors of Lugang. This is me pretending to take artsy-fartsy photos of the interiors.

I let Danny take the reigns and order for the two of us. We each had a glass of Iced Pineapple Bubble Juice. Last time I tried the Kumquat Tea, but I wanted to try something exciting.

First dish to arrive was the Tofu with Preserved Egg. Danny and I ended up having a discussion on the difference between tofu and tokwa because of this dish.

One of our main dishes was the Beef with Chinese Crullers. I don't know what the crullers are made of, but they were good and crispy. Were they made of bread?

We also ordered the Taiwanese Crispy Chicken Nuggets. It was similar to the chicken we had in Mangetsu - Chinese version of course.

We also had the Steamed Fresh Clams with Silk Melons. I couldn't quite put a finger on what the silk melons remind me of. A local fruit or vegetable? Papaya, perhaps. I really don't know. But damn, were they good. Even the broth was good, and I don't normally like broth with clams.

I mentioned I wanted something exciting right? So, Danny ordered the Black Pepper Beef Fried Rice.

And of course, a meal in Lugang will not be complete without ordering dimsum. For dinner last night, we tried the Steamed Shrimp and Pork Shiao Mai.

It was a surprise that we were able to get a table at Lugang. Then again, 20 minutes from Makati to Greenhills during rush hour was a surprise as well.

Keep you posted for more!

For everyone's reference:

Lugang Cafe
116 Connecticut Street, Northeast Greenhills,
San Juan, Metro Manila
tel. no. 775.7599