The Phenomenal Mama: Mothers Who Brunch x Crate and Barrel

Christmas will soon be here... In about a months's time!

Are you ready for it?

What I look forward to the most during the holidays are time together with my family and friends. I really love spending time with my family, and I'm grateful that my husband has a long break from the office, too. It means he has more time for me and the kids.

If there's one more thing I love other than spending time with family, it's that I love taking photos of my family. I enjoy documenting our days through my iPhone. While most of us take photos of the big occasions such as birthdays and holidays, there are also so many great moments every single day that should be treasured, di ba?

Allow me to share with you in this post, some of the tips I learned from Sheila Catilo on how to best capture memories with our family. This happened during the Mothers Who Brunch event in collaboration with Crate & Barrel.

That Saturday, a portion of the Crate & Barrel Makati branch was converted into a makeshift living room.

We all gathered around around to listen and learn something new while Sheila Catilo encouraged everyone to take lots of photos of our kids' growing up years.

How To Capture Wonderful Memories with Family

Moments with our kids are precious, especially because the kids grow up so fast and will be grown even before we know it. Here's what I learned from Sheila Catilo that day on how to capture family memories:

1. Before we head out for the day, we should make sure that our batteries are fully charged and there's enough storage space in our cameras. To be sure, it's even better to bring a spare battery or a power bank.

2. Turn off your flash. Flash photography alters the mood of the shot. According to Sheila, we should instead turn on all other available light sources in the area to maximize ambient lighting.

Better yet, Sheila suggests, if you're using the manual setting of your DSLR, put your ISO setting on 1600 or above

3. Set a designated area to take group photos, if it's possible. It's difficult to work with a big group so make sure the shoot is short, but take a lot of shots. Block your subjects making sure that everyone is visible in the photo

4. Shoot quickly, shoot often. Shoot as things happen even when people aren't looking or posing, you'll be amazed that as you scroll through the photos, the best one can easily be the one taken at the most candid moment. Timing is everything. anticipate good moments when you see them coming and be sure your camera is on to capture them

5. Know when to put your camera down. Take time to enjoy the company and celebration. that s what the holidays are for! We should also make sure that we are in some of the photos. I’m sure that when our kids get older, they would love to see the face of their mother in their pictures, too!

Mothers Who Brunch x Crate & Barrel

Mish And Sab sharing tips on how to prepare tapas + bellinis

If you've been a long time reader, then you know that I am a big supporter of the women behind Mothers Who Brunch. Mish and Sab always make sure that each event is an interesting mix of conversation, sharing of recipes, good food and new product discoveries.

Mish and Sab shared some quick and easy tapas/pintxos recipes which we can serve for the holidays.

Events like this are also one way for me to meet up with my mama friends. We mostly interact online, so it's always a treat to see and talk to them in person.

Sharing with you more event photos:

Can we just talk about this Crate and Barrel Bellini Bar?

Do you see all the fun fruity options for your Bellinis?

Bellinis at 10am served in Crate and Barrel's stemware

My favorite Porchetta from Manila Belly

Crab Fat Paella from NawwTy's Kitchen

Beef Salipicao, Prawns Aligue, caramelised Paris wings from Manam

The scrumptious dessert table from The Flour Girl

After our sumptuous lunch, we were all put to work. we were grouped and tasked to put up a table vignette with an assigned holiday theme: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Cocktails.

We could pull out anything in the giant armoire that's full of Crate and Barrel tableware and holiday decor. Crate and Barrel makes it so easy to entertain and make the holiday table look so pretty.

Our Thanksgiving-themed tablescape won BEST TABLE! Yay!

New Year's Eve table for 2

Cocktail inspired table

Christmas themed table

A group photo of all the mamas in attendance.

And because Crate & Barrel is thankful for all its customers, get EXTRA 10% OFF on all your purchases on Thursday, the 24th of November, if you're an SM Prestige or SM Advantage cardholder. They've got items at up to 50% OFF, so imagine your savings.