Turf: A Wife is to her Kitchen while a Spinster is to her...Pad.

A good friend of mine and I had an interesting conversation over lunch a couple of months ago. We were talking about ownership of space and stuff and she said that a married (with kids) woman "owns" the kitchen, because it's "her place". I would  really like to discuss more about how brilliant this theory is, except, It's not my own and I don't want anyone people stealing her ideas! ( yeah, I'm protective like that! )

Then it got me thinking, how about us, spinsters? (Spinsters talaga?) Then, it hit me. I am going to write, while I am still in my personal sabbatical, about my old Bachelorette Pad.

One thing that I am very proud of was when I declared independence and lived on my own. Since I was 16 I've pretty much shared rooms, dormitories, lived with people in a condo and never really had my very own apartment. No it's not the "My-folks'-house-is-just-10-minutes-cab-ride" away kind. I pretty much lived on my own, that's why my mother is often, if not always, worried that no one is there to know if I had died in my sleep, not to mention I rarely text them.

So I lived in this small ( approx. 24 sq m) 1BR apartment in Makati for almost two years, I was the first tenant of this baby and it was love at first sight. I remember moving in when the rest of the building is not finished yet, and that gave me all the "royal bitch rights" to demand when the manong guard was an ass to my mom one day. I don't want to rent in a condo because I know that I'll be too tired to use their amenities and I had to pay pa for association dues, etc. So I prayed really hard for an apartment complex still within Makati City and I found it just in time for me to leave the old condo that I used to share with other people. I remember friends from work gifted me with Chinese good luck charms when I first moved in, I remember some people scaring the hell out me during my first night, I remember friends who went with me to shop for that huge cabinet and helped me assemble it.  I remember shopping for some furniture, although my major furniture necessities were recycled, and I remember my self spending a lot of time in SM Makati's home world, happily imagining stuff that I will buy for my pad.I also remember throwing a house warming private party during my 25th birthday, letting bff live in my pad for more than two months when typhoon Ondoy ruined her condo... and so much more. *wicked, evil, naughty grin*

Here are some pictures from my old apartment.

My living room ( The Pop Art was a Christmas Gift from my sister Apy)

Left: To the Bathroon, Right: Window Curtains leading to the bedroom

Kikay Nook 

View from the bedroom

My Bags. I carry a huge amount of stuff that they call me "girl scout"

My then Organized Bags

My "Last-Girl-Standing" Shoes while the rest were sent in for repair

Can you imagine how my feet are well-rested nowadays after I traded my heels for flipflops?

View from my tiny veranda

I told my friend that my "turf" is the bedroom. Since my teenage years I feel like the bedroom is my sanctuary.  

My Bed

My Mini-Library

Reading Nook, which is just the other end of the bed 

Living alone has its perks. I remember so well calling all the shots in my life. I also remember budgeting everything! From groceries, to laundry, to water to electricity. Yun lang, there are times when it gets really lonely. Like you had a bad day at work and there's no one there to talk to. That's why I am super happy when I have guests staying over, I'm excited to go home and it feels good to have someone to talk to outside the work vicinity.

Do I miss my old pad? Yes! Am I happier where I am now compared before? Hell yeah! I was able to really experience  living on my own in my twenties. There's just something about freedom and independence that means so much to us Sagittarians.  Now my next plan is to live mala-"Friends" type because it's really fun living with friends.

Oh well, that's the plan. :)