But before we get to that, here's the before and after of the floor plan

1. Nice comfy room. But I don't wanna spend any more time, effort and money into my existing one, so it's been years of going home to a lousy one.

In our own house now, and our room if far from what I wanted it to be. It has a bed and a closet and that's it. Haha.. It's fine, but it could be a lot better. Difference is instead of spending most of my time in my bedroom (prior to moving here), we now spend it in our living room which I love.

2. Functional workspace. But right now that said workspace is in the lousy room which of course means lousy workspace that is so not conducive to any creativity and totally not inspiring.

Ohh this one is hilarious. You see, for years, I've been dreaming on having a workspace of my own. I even had a "Home Office of the Day" label on this blog. That's how I love to have my own creative space. Now that I have the space for it, our loft office is a junk pile of random stuff. I barely go there. I may still use that loft as a painting studio / indoor garden or something but for day to day work, I find that I want to spend it in our living room together. We just need a small rolling desk that could work with a sofa. :)

3. Assistant. I've been thinking of getting an assistant for a while now which would totally make my life so much easier juggling multiple projects. But hey, where would she work? No way it will work on our current house, so it's me and my lonesome for a while now work-wise.

Because I laid low with work, I haven't thought about having an assistant. Now that I'm at it again, this could be something I can do in the future. My messy mind need some help. 

4. Organization. I have so much junk, and I'm itching to purge and pare down. But then again, I'd do that when I move to my imaginary house.

I'm proud to say that I have pared down a lot when I moved here. I let go of 2 balik bayan boxes full of clothes, shoes, and bags before officially moving to the tiny house. After a year here, I pared down another 2 boxes of my random stuff. It's so freeing to purge, but I have a lot more to go in other areas of our home. I'm set to getting rid of all unwanted stuff!

5. Eat healthy / cook. This sounds stupid but let me explain. Our kitchen is quite a problematic space as well, and I share that with a million other people. No place to put my imaginary healthy ingredients. And cockroach. Lots of them. Need I say more? The point is, not inspiring at all.

Nope. Nope. Nothing to say here. We don't cook healthy stuff. Not yet. I've planned on it but not yet happening. I actually bought cauliflower to try the cauliflower rice. Turns out, we don't have a grater and it went to waste since we don't cook much. Now that I bought a grater, we just use it for cheese. Haha 

6. Travel. I'd love to travel but we're saving up for a house so it's quite a predicament. 

After 3 years, I left the country twice. One is HongKong for a very late honeymoon 2016, and one is the very spontaneous NY/LA trip last Feb. I enjoyed both thoroughly and it's still a dream of mine. I have gone through my 20s with just a few trips and I feel like I'm wasting my 30s for not doing it. I mean you're only young once. I want to go when I'm strong enough to freaking walk around and explore. My dream is to travel maybe 2 months a year. Work for 10 months. Spend everything on that 2 months. Haha.. 

I honestly don't know the point of this post. I guess it's just that after all those years, the feeling of being stuck is still here. Before, it was because we're waiting on a house and can't move forward with whatever I think I wanted at that time. Now that we have a house, it's the fact that we still have a lot of things to do in this house and that one big thing called running a demanding business. Also, we spent most of our savings on the house / wedding / business. But the thing is, there will always be something that might "stop" you from doing whatever you want and that is just called life.  I know that I can't let those things hinder me, but I'm wired to be hindered. Haha.. No really, my mind is weirdly wired that when I'm focused on one thing, it's hard for me to focus on another thing. I'm slowly learning on how to do all things at once efficiently. 

I guess rather than a rant, I'm writing this to sort out my thoughts on all these seemingly trivial non-issues that is keeping me from moving forward. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that I have it easy. I have work that I enjoy and I own my time. Just need to clear my head and plan. 

I'm currently accepting more clients and now back in the game (probably not 7 all at once) but it feels great. As for the others, I need to make concrete plans with deadlines or goals, not just a wish or dream. It's hard to focus especially when we are all busy living the day to day mundane stuff, but I'm just in a point that I don't want the years to go by without much thought. Time does fly so quick. It feels like yesterday when I was in high school and let's just say that I'm waaaay past that point in my life.

I once felt regret for not travelling in my 20s, but then I realized that I actually did what I wanted back then. I'm not the type of person who thrives in a 9-5, believe me I tried, it didn't last. I just experimented, worked in whatever job/field I wanted to try, did freelance, did online business, and sometimes bum around. :) Travelling was not on my mind back then since I'm not saving enough, so how can I regret doing what I wanted right? I had fun, I was happy, and that's all anyone could ask for. Now that I have a little more direction, I'll try a different approach. Let's see how this goes. Maybe I'll post again about this in 3 years and say the exact same thing. Haha..

A post shared by Elle Uy | Decor Me Happy (@elleuydecor) on Nov 11, 2015 at 10:47pm PST

The one thing that I really learned this past year, and actually apply to how I live is, everyone is different. We all want different things in life. There is no definite goal / direction that is suited for everyone. We do not have to live according to what others think is the "right kind of life." We're the only one who knew what is right for us, what we'll make us content and happy. Let us all just strive for that individuality of not giving a f*ck on how others may perceive us as long as we're not doing anyone harm. Lets just all respect each other and go live the best life for us.

Oh my gawd that is some heavy advice from someone who pretends she doesn't care ?! Haha... I'm sorry, it's just all in my head and I'm always baffled when I see people so affected with other people's opinion that they can't fully enjoy themselves. We only live once. I love how I ended one of my old post, so I'll do it again just because I want to. Here's a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don't worry, be happy. :)

Anyway, it's just my usual, Oooh I'd like to visit NYC someday. Someday meaning I have no idea when that will be. On the evening of Feb 15, I got a message from a close cousin of mine. "Would you like to go to New York 17-21? I'm free." I know she was in NY for work so I called her to ask "Why? will you be back there on March 17-21?" Well apparently, she was talking about Feb! She got a hotel, and she'll buy the airfare if I can go. Without any hesitation, I said YES lets go! Who am I to say no to that?? The moment I got home, I frantically search online for good offers on airfare that would leave in 30 hours. I need Feb 16 to finish some work and pack, so I left morning of Feb 17. Everything was done in a haze that once I landed and were on an uber from JFK to the hotel, I was thinking to myself.. I can't believe I'm actually here. Its so surreal. And soooo cold. Hahaha...

Stayed there for 5 days and its not merely enough to explore the city. I just walked and walked, hopped on the subway, and go wherever I want with the help of my handy phone. Yes I may have paid a lot for internet roaming (my phone is blocked to a certain network so I can't get a new sim), but it's so worth it for my peace of mind. Google maps is definitely my friend. It was fun and I'll surely be back. But definitely not during winter. I'd like to explore without constantly shivering. Haha

I wouldn't bore you with all the selfies I took because that's what facebook friends are for, so here are some photos from the trip.

View from the rooftop of the hotel.

brick buildings everywhere!!

Vintage poster store

Pastel blue and pink house

Someday I'll have an entrance just like this.

Time Square

You see, I haven't seen my mom in 7 long years. Since I'm already in the US, I flew to LA to surprise her. She has no idea I'm going. She doesn't even know I went to New York. I was so nervous and excited when I got to her house and knocked on the door. Needless to say, she was more than surprised. She cried for a good 10 minutes. Highlight of the trip. :)

If you want to know more about Third Space, or want to be updated on the launch of the furniture shop, like our Facebook page. :)