6 Outdoor Lighting Ideas For Your Home

When's the last time you changed your outdoor lighting? Most homeowners only install a patio light and then forget all about it, not realizing the wealth of style and security that could be enjoyed with a little consideration of exterior design. If you're ready to get rid of boring bulbs and dull overheads, here are six ways to try something new.


1: Light A Path

Soft lights will look great framing a gravel walkway or casting shadows against your stepping stones. They'll also prevent nighttime stumbling when you're laden with shopping bags or sleepy toddlers. Think about votives for longevity or lighting jars for style.


2: Embrace Asian Spirituality

Add a little oriental design to your garden by hanging lanterns and shoji lamps around your shrubbery. If you don't have the money for anything fancy, you can always string up a set of paper lanterns with fairy lights woven inside.


3: Go Green

Did you know you can use solar lights even at night? They'll harness energy from the sun during the day, then reflect it back to you once the sky darkens. If you'd like to become a little more eco-friendly in your lighting choices, look for lamps and lights that contain tiny photovoltaic panels.


4: Fire Up The Torches

Create ambiance with these slim yet striking light posts. Tiki torches can bring the beach to grilling and pool parties; stainless steel torches make good guiding lights along a country driveway. Gothic, iron-wrought torches will complement larger homes or those with unusual architecture.


5: Illuminate Your Deck

Outdoor deck lighting for your home can be achieved in several ways. For example, you might wrap electric lights around the railing. You might add pressure-sensitive lights to make the steps glow as you climb them. You might even deploy a few bug lights to keep the mosquitoes away while you're trying to relax on your deck and enjoy the outdoors.


6: Play With Matches

Candles are one of the cheapest and easiest ways to add light to your yard. Buy them in bulk for a uniformed style and then simply place them on patio tables or around rock walls for regular intervals of light. They'll cast a gentle glow across your property without the harshness of florescent bulbs.


These are just six ways to spruce up your outdoor lighting. There are many more, so don't be afraid to experiment until you find something you like. The possibilities are endless once you embrace your inner Martha!

Bonsai Exhibit

At the Trade Fair in Lingayen, they have the bonsai exhibit where they showcase the different bonsai plants of different bonsai collectors. I was so amazed to see those neatly trimmed and beautifully trained bonsai plants. I'm not a bonsai collector but I just love looking at them. I don't have the patience and time training bonsai plants. I can't afford either to buy one. My, those plants are pricey especially those old ones. My brother Celso is the one who is very fond in collecting, training, trimming and pruning bonsai plants. In fact he got quite a few collections that he himself trained and pruned. I will blog about his bonsai plants next time. Meanwhile, let your eyes feast on the different bonsai displayed at the Trade Fair. My brother and I had a blast taking pics.

Trade Fair in Lingayen

I love going to trade fairs and this time I got the chance to attend one in Lingayen, in the province of Pangasinan. Our town Laoac is one of the participants and my brother and his wife, being employees in the town hall went there with their co-workers last week so I asked if I can go with them. It's a good thing that there was a space for me in the municipal vehicle so off we went. It was noontime when we went so it was awfully hot. Though the Pajero's AC was on, I was sweating a lot. When we arrived in the venue, we went straight to the booth of Laoac. They were selling local products of our town like tupig, bakya, patupat, molasses, fresh milk, spiced vinegar and the best selling sugar cane juice. Customers fall in line to buy the fresh sugar cane juice owned by our town mayor.

We roamed around to see what the other stalls offer. There were various food products, handicrafts, furnitures, plants and what have you. I bought a wooden garlic crusher for Php130, wooden chopping board for Php80, wooden ladle and wooden frying spatula for Php50 each. I also bought a bottle of garlic chips for Php75 and a grafted American lemon plant for Php130 and it has already flowers. Sorry I forgot to take photos of these 3 items.

Here are some more pics I took and to be honest, I was sweating profusely because of the heat. My face was shiny and reddish and I didn't feel comfy while I was under the sun. It was best to go there late afternoon or early evening. My brother and I had to eat halu-halo to feel refreshed. We went home early evening but more and more people were arriving. BTW, the trade fair will last until May 10th.

HCG Diet Is What Hubby and I Need

Hubby's clothes and my clothes are all shrinking! I really don't know what to do to lose those excess pounds that we both gained for the past couple of years. Since we got back home from Texas and we started to take those nutritional supplements and vitamins that we brought home, that's the time that we both began to expand. I gained 18 pounds and hubby gained over 30 pounds. Whoa! It's so easy to gain weight but hard to lose it. I've tried to exercise and sometimes go on a diet but I was not consistent so I have a yo-yo diet and same with hubby. It's so hard to control our cravings and hunger pangs. Both of us want to lose weight and keep it off for good. We tried to take some slimming tea and capsules but it didn't work for us. We keep asking friends what's the best way to lose weight. I know there are lots of people with the same problem. Some were successful in their plight to lose weight but some were not.

Just imagine my joy when I came across this HCG Diet, a safe, natural and effective method backed by science in losing weight. HCG stands for Human chorionic gonadotropin, and is a nature hormone found in the body of a pregnant woman. It has also been found to reduce the feelings of hunger and help curve appetites. Wow! This is what hubby and I need to lose weight. Hubby need it more than me though. I have to tell him to check on this site, hcgdropsexplained.com so he will have an idea how HCG drops work. Maybe after browsing this site, he will have the will and determination to go on a diet. He really needs to because most of his clothes don't fit him no more. His closet is full but only few of his clothes fit him now.