Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger





Vel from Life and Home at 2102

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Happy Saturday everyone.  This week in Spotlight I have Vel from Life and Home at 2102.  You will love getting to know about Vel and her sweet family and then be sure to hop over to her wonderful blog.  Vel is so sweet, creative and her blog and  social media sites do not disappoint.  Enjoy.



Hello everyone!

I hope your Holiday season is off to a great start!

I am so pleased to be featured here today at Junk Chic Cottage!
Thank you very much for this opportunity to tell you a little something about me and my little blog Kris!

LINK HERE
For those of you who do not know me, I am VEL CRISTE, Mom, wife, Kiddie-doc and 'frustrated' decorator who loves all things design for the home and on myself! ;-)

I started the blog in 2011 as a way to share what has been going on in our lives, to friends and family back home in the Philippines where we're originally from.

Banawe Rice Terraces - One of the famous sites in our country
My passion for fixing up our foreclosed home ended up being both a fun, therapeutic and challenging thing for us since the Blog pushed us to do so much more than we ever thought we could!

Like our Kitchen Renovation HERE
Our efforts in making our house a home , at least a small room was, even featured  in THIS OLD HOUSE MAGAZINE!

Find out about it HERE
But enough about the blog, and let's talk a little more about me and my family.

The Center of my universe
My husband and I met in college, pre-med back in the Philippines.
We got married as soon as we finished med school and had our first born very soon after.
With a growing family to support, and while I was finishing up on my Pediatric Residency in the Philippines, he decided to try his luck here in the U.S. He eventually got into research at the CLEVELAND CLINIC in Ohio where I eventually gave birth to my second son right around the time I finished my training in the Philippines! hew!

My husband then pursued his Neurology Residency training at Northwestern Memorial in Chicago and I took the foreign medical licensure exam, which by the way, consisted of 4 different exams, in a span of 1 year ( that was really tough since remember I just had my second baby too!)!

source
I remember praying a lot more during those times since I was so stressed out about so many things going on in my life - the exams, pressure to pass and do good, taking care of my baby and also moving to another country!
But I was faithful to my prayer and told God that if He really wanted all these things for me, He would "make it Easy" for me to see that. And you know what? HE DID!

source
God helped me PASS ALL MY EXAMS with flying colors and He even allowed me to easily bring my son's nanny with us to the U.S. ( a very rare circumstance ) so we would have some help with the kids and for me to pursue another round of training in Pediatrics at Mt. Sinai in Chicago!
That was a  very clear sign for me and I had no doubts from then on that life would only get better.

Nine years after my second son was born, at the ripe ol' age of 40, I had another wonderful surprise...

Our daughter Sophia
I couldn't ask for anything more in our lives right now. God has provided so much blessings, that asking for more is just being "greedy " I think (Although I always pray for happiness and health for my family and friends all the time still). But I know and believe, that we will always be in need of GOD and His graces all our lives and beyond, so I will continue to pray, live my life the best way I could and enjoy the blessings and talent He has bestowed upon me.

I hope I didn't sound too preachy, but I think you should know the real story of how we ended up in our new home country, and how I try to continue to make the best of everything we have, and to try to share it in my own way, not just for my family, but to all my friends ( on and offline) as well!

I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

P.S. I just wrapped up my CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR HERE, if you have the time, please, do check it out! :-)


XOXO,
VEL


Thank you Vel for letting us get to know you on a more personal level.    Hope your shopping, wrapping, baking is going great as we head on down to the big day.
Have a good week end.
Kris
:)

Day Two of the Tidings Holiday Housewalk

Thank you for all your wonderful comments left for my post and the others that were in the Tidings Holiday House Tour for December 15th.  Now it is time for Day two of this wonderful Tour.
Enjoy the next bloggers on the tour today.  Thank you for coming by and seeing all the wonderful inspiration.


Thank you Cathy and Judy for organizing the tour of bloggers homes.

December 16th tours:






Welcome to the Tidings Holiday House Walk.  Enjoy touring my home today and then hop over to tour the others listed below:
December 15th tours:


Welcome to my holiday home tour.  This year my theme was "less is more"!   My holiday decor is simple, white and serene.  Enjoy the tour.


Entry Way 

Flocked tree with mini twinkle lights at night.

I keep my love of gardening in my winter decor.



My beautiful bird I got from Dore gifted me from Burlapluxe last year.  Love her beautiful artistic creations.





Angelic chippy whites.




Love the peace and serenity that angels give to my holiday decor.  I love to surround myself with peaceful angels.








Beautiful angel wings I got from Diana at Sissie's Shabby Cottage this year.  So beautiful.  Her Etsy site.





Beautiful Angel wings adorn many places in my decor this year.






White, chippy and angels.






Simple wreaths on the chippy french doors.




I love to mix my simple salvage pieces in with my holiday decor.





My Hope Christmas tree with all the angels I have collected over the years.
















Angel tree sparkles at night.










Thank you for taking the tour of my holiday home.  Please head over to the other blogs on this fabulous holiday home tour.  The inspiration and beauty is amazing.
Happy Holidays
Kris







Tidings Holiday House Walk






Welcome to the Tidings Holiday House Walk.  Enjoy touring my home today and then hop over to tour the others listed below:
December 15th tours:

December 16th tours:



Welcome to my holiday home tour.  This year my theme was "less is more"!   My holiday decor is simple, white and serene.  Enjoy the tour.


Entry Way 

Flocked tree with mini twinkle lights at night.

I keep my love of gardening in my winter decor.



My beautiful bird I got from Dore gifted me from Burlapluxe last year.  Love her beautiful artistic creations.





Angelic chippy whites.




Love the peace and serenity that angels give to my holiday decor.  I love to surround myself with peaceful angels.








Beautiful angel wings I got from Diana at Sissie's Shabby Cottage this year.  So beautiful.  Her Etsy site.





Beautiful Angel wings adorn many places in my decor this year.






White, chippy and angels.






Simple wreaths on the chippy french doors.




I love to mix my simple salvage pieces in with my holiday decor.





My Hope Christmas tree with all the angels I have collected over the years.
















Angel tree sparkles at night.










Thank you for taking the tour of my holiday home.  Please head over to the other blogs on this fabulous holiday home tour.  The inspiration and beauty is amazing.
Happy Holidays
Kris





Angels Gather Here

For my holiday decor this year I am doing a very serene and white theme.  I will be on the Tidings Holiday House Walk  this coming week Tuesday.  I hope you will come by and see my decor and  the others on this home tour.  So many pretty inspiration homes to see.






In the meantime I wanted to show you the angels that have gathered recently in my home from real life angels in blog land.

I got these beautiful angels to add to my  decor and tree this year.  It was a couple of really happy mail days!  Love these beautiful and meaningful angels that were gifted to me.

I know I have said this many times but it is soooo true.  There are the best peeps and friends in blog land.



The Christmas Angels Gather Here sign was given to me by my bff Sandy at my girlfriend party.  Love it in my angel tree.  Thank you Sandy.




This special angel was gifted to me by Diana from Nana Diana Takes A Break.  Diana sewed this beautiful keep sake angel for me.  It is made out of pieces of linen that was her  grandmothers.

The K monogram on the linen she used was from a set of napkins that belonged to her grandmother.  Her last name beginning with the letter K.  It is also my initial for my first name so this was a special touch.  I will treasure this sweet angel.  Diana and I have become close friends and I love that she made this for me.  

Speaking of angels.  Diana is such a wonderful angel to so many in blogland. Diana is always doing prayer requests and featuring others in helpful ways through her blog.  Just recently her hero got diagnosed with Cancer and they are in the investigative stage right now.  Please take a minute in your day today and say a prayer or send out a good thought for her hero and their family.  This is a scary time for all of them.
This pretty Angel I got from Pattie at her  Etsy Shop Tattered Treasures.  Pattie also has a wonderful blog with the same name Tattered Treasures.  I had one made for me and for my girlfriend that collects angels.  They are soooooo pretty.
Love the detail that Pattie uses on these wonderful angels.  Look at her sweet crown made out of vintage buttons.  






My new hope angel from Pattie hangs beautifully with all my other angels collected in my Christmas tree.


Also purchased from Pattie are these beautiful angel wing ornaments.  Loved these too.  So in my cart on her Etsy site they went!

Thank you Pattie these angel wing ornaments will be treasured.  Love these new additions from you for my tree this year.




Deb from Garage Sale Gal blog sent me this cute angel ornament for my tree too.
The angels above the Hope sign were also gifted to me recently.  The prayer angel was from Vera from Row Homes and Cobblestones and the other Willow Tree  Hope Angel ornament is from Diana.
Both of these sweet angels were gifted to me at a time when I needed hope and prayer so they were a perfect addition for my collection.





Celeste from Southern Day Dreams blog gifted me this sweet friendship angel ornament she made.  If you have not been to Celeste's blog or Shop please go by and see all her beautiful creations.

Thank you Celeste.  I love this special angel to add to my tree.







This beautiful angel wind chime was gifted to me from Cindy at Consider it all Joy.  I hung it from my chandelier in the dining room.  Love the sweet sound this chime makes.
Thank you Cindy.



There are so many angels among us and Blogland is not only a great place for inspiration but also for friendship.

Just wanted to say thank you in this post for my new angel editions.


Please come back on Tuesday to see my holiday home decor and all the other inspirational home tours.




Have a great week as we slide on down to Santa's big day!
Kris
:)

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