Puerto Galera

I believe that we all need precious time to reconnect with our planet and let Mother Nature heal our bodies and souls.

Last March, in Puerto Galera during the Malasimbo Festival, I did just that.  The Philippines is just so beautiful...if you know where to go.  

I am thankful and feeling very blessed to have moments like this come my way.

Kissing 2013 Goodbye

I'm in Manila now and for sure it's going to be loud and noisy tonight.  For it's NEW YEAR's EVE later and all sorts of fireworks will be filling the sky! Christmas lights will be blazing (like this one from my Instagram account...follow me at @nina_santamaria).

Allow me to look back and be thankful for the highlights of my year:

The launch of my work portfolio & design blog in January 2012, www.GrupoSantamaria.ph

Going back to Siargao in April (#faveplaceonearth) 

Siargao pic by Charlie Gomez

 Bali in May. To read about that epic trip, click here.

Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte with my family. No surfing but plenty of SUP-ing.

 And then...there was Paris in September. Paris where everything was perfect. 

Beautiful places on earth.  Seeing these cities and hanging out with old & new friends enriched me and filled me with so much inspiration!

And then, I just came back from another favorite destination, La Union.  I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my year.  It was not my best year, for I got majorly sick in many ways...but for four days I was just so grateful to be able to still go to the beach, enjoy nature, hangout with my friends, and still ride the waves in the ocean, even for just a few times each day.  I usually seal my year with surf (click HERE), now sharing with you images from the last days of 2013...memories I'll cherish for a loooong time.

Photo from Coast Thru Life. 

chilly weather, beach December

Buji & monkey-Nikki at our fave break

crossing the highway to get to El Union Coffee (best coffee in town!)

met my new goddaughter for the 1st time

I went to Sunday mass but got there early.  

I decided to have merienda outside the church and met Lola Irene--

she is 82 years old and told me her secret to a long life was eating a lot of vegetables! 

God's way of reminding me to watch what I eat.  

quality time with Mia & Carla...and Barry the wagon

watched "HUGO" outdoors and under the stars
(follow @flotsamandjetsamhostel)

vigan longganisa pizza
OMG.
(words aren't enough to describe how insanely yummy this is)

Carla, Joncy, & Marco taking a kitchen break and showing some holiday spirit

With best bud Nikki. We're smiling and you know why.  

perfect weather. photo by Kim Jones

You surprised me to no end, 2013.  Thank you and goodbye.  

I can't wait to live each day of 2014. 

 “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” 

― Mother Teresa 

Sunday Surf

Last Saturday, I had to go fix up a client's Christmas party in the morning, help out briefly at a shoebox relief drive in my office, and go to 2 exhibit and gallery openings (one of which was in Tagaytay and the other was in Sta. Rosa, Laguna).  

After which I hurried home, threw bikinis, sunblock, and apples in a bag and hopped on a bus to San Juan, La Union.  

I'm so happy to have done that.

Nikki going cuckoo over...Cuckoo. 

Morning surf, cool weather, smiles and greetings from surfers who were glad to see me after a long absence in the lineup.  Awesome afternoon chill-a-thon at Flotsam and Jetsam Hostel til the sun went down. 

Room to breathe, baby.

Bring the next Saturday on.

CoastThruLife.com

I and my friends from Coast Thru Life are very excited to share with you this website we have been working on for a long time.  Featuring our Back to Basics Collection and our Lookbook as shot by Charlie Gomez, Ian Zamora, and Jefferson Ganuelas.  

Hope you can drop by and take a look.

Have a blessed weekend, everyone.  

Tali Beach Weekend

A month ago, I visited Tali Beach for the first time.  It was a pretty chill weekend with my mom, her friends and their kids: we went swimming, sound tripping, and gorged on delicious home cooked Pinoy meals. 

View from the house.

It was the height of summer so the bougainvilleas and fire trees were still in full bloom.

La Casa Blanca

(they have really nice cabanas for rent here if anyone's interested)

the yellow-bells looked sooooo happy! It was like sunshine in petal form

I couldn't help burying myself in it.

Our Filipino breakfast of boneless tinapa, daing, fried rice, 

corned beef, hotdogs, and pineapple for dessert.

Off to the beach...with a book, of course.

Here with the "Northwest" kids (and I mean kids as in high school and college ages, haha!)  

They are kids of my mom's friends from her Northwest Airline days.

She worked for NWA for almost 20 years.

 At night all is quiet and only the crickets (and a guitar) keep you company.

But in the morning, sunshine returns and ever-so-brightly.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Batik Love!

I am in love with these fins from Deus Ex Machina.

Inlaid and foiled by hand in Canggu, Bali, Indonesia.

Handmade batik fins.  Oh my. *siiiiigh* 

Perfect for interior designer-surfers like me!!!

Surfboard Decor

This is our beach apartment in La Union.  I share this space with 6 other surfers...but come long weekends and holidays there are usually more than 6 who stay with us, turning the place into a massive (and sometimes, frenzied) storage place for surfboards, board bags, leashes, and fins.  

if only my car could talk. sigh. 

Marco, Nikki, & Joncy getting ready to wax on, wax off

 Jericho unloading our "toys"

typical holiday weekend in La Union

Surfboards crawling up the stairs

*all images from my Instagram account. Follow me at @nina_santamaria

But in spite of all those boards that are piled on top of one another, we don't mind that they take up so much space or that they are always in our way because at the end of the day (literally), they have given us so much joy.  They are our links to the ocean, varying lumps of epoxy, fiberglass, and wood that allow us to play with the sea.  

Some time ago, I wondered what would become of old, broken, damaged or outgrown surfboards.  Well, you could either donate them to the local surf community or to your favorite groms (short for grommets or beginner-surfers), or maybe use them around the house as.....interior decor! See images I googled up below:

Hang it or prop it up, fits right into any style of room, right? 

This is one of my faves because of the juxtaposition of classical and rugged elements

and this one too...Pollock-style surfboard art at home in a mod-retro setting

this is typical of homes along the coast of the US

water your plants & wash your surfboard at the same time, anyone?

I forgot what soap this was from. Cool board in the corner, though. 

Surfboards go corporate! This last photo was taken at my office/ design studio Grupo Santamaria, where Coast Thru Life had a 1-day pop up store. 

So before you throw away that old, warping, dent-ridden surfboard, or if you see one in surplus shops (usually costs 1,000 pesos in Japan surplus stores) just go back to this post and be inspired.

Happy Weekend!