-thoughts-

I'm a sucker for romantic movies, specifically local romantic movies. I am that baduy and cheesy. My friends and I watched Miss You Like Crazy yesterday. I ran out of tissue, haha! I wasn't blown away, but I liked it because it wasn't far removed from reality. It wasn't disgustingly lovey dovey. I could relate to almost all of the situations, I guess that's why it made it a bit difficult for me to watch the film. I had a different happy ending, though.

I ended up being just friends with my former beau. Admittedly, at first it was really hard to let go. Somehow, three years ago, our paths crossed. We fell for each other, then we had to go our separate ways for certain reasons...then we wound up ending back together, then parting again in not-so-good terms. Took a year before we talked to each other. For an entire year, we were oblivious as to what was going on in each other's lives. That time apart helped us grow and figure things out. Funny how everytime our roads would intertwine, the timing would be off. Really off. As a good friend of mine told me before, the right guy will always come at the right time. So maybe he really isn't the guy for me, and I'm not the woman for him. I've gradually come to terms with that, you know. But, I've come to realize that the things that are in our area of control will more often than not determine how the next events in our lives will turn out.

I'm young, and I have more things to learn. My priorities have shifted from being so simple to being unbelievably complicated to achieve. Someday, I'll meet that guy for me. And hopefully by that time I'm ready. For now, I'm enjoying my independence; I'm enjoying life. I'm learning more about myself and I constantly yearn to improve myself.




...Forgive me, I don't often get this sentimental but I still have a hangover from the movie (haha!).

fab find#2

I noticed that the clothes I bought in my recent ukay trip are either gray or black. Hahaha! I always end up buying these colors. My colorful pieces are more casual and can't really be used at work so my officemates seem to think I don't have anything colorful in my wardrobe. So, it was to their shock that I wore a floral printed blouse and jeans to work today for Casual Friday. Yeah, I don't usually wear jeans :p

Anyway, this is my fab find #2 from the Tagaytay ukay ukay..

Gray shift dress; necklace (my grandmother's); gray ballet flats from CMG


The necklace up close...I just added the funky ribbon pin to add a bit more spunk to it...something old and something new :) The pin's actually from a dress I bought in HK.

Totally off topic--it's my baby cousin's baptism tomorrow! And I'm one of her godmothers, haha! My aunt told me she's getting me as one of the godmothers since I'm old enough to be my cousin's mom. Okay...I still haven't bought her gift yet! I have the entire morning tomorrow to look for a nice present since her baptism's in the afternoon. Eeeep wish me luck! :)

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ukay heaven

Sorry for the late post. I've been super busy at work this past week. Majorly busy. I actually went home at 12:30 a.m yesterday (Tuesday, right? Hahaha am confused already) and continued working at home until around 4 a.m. As much as I want to slow down, there are too many projects at work. We can't really afford to decline project offers since our quota is quite big. The Paris office raised our quota a bit. Our motivation is that if we hit 55% of our quota by May, we'll have an appraisal. If we hit more than that, we'll get an appraisal AND an out-of-the-country office outing!

I'm excited about a few things...lemme just list these..
1. My Mt. Pulag climb with my cousin Diwa and her friend Solo
2. SUMMER!!! Even if it's disgustingly hot (not even humid...dry heat, my dears :|), I'm excited about Summer because it would mean my friends/cousins and I hitting the beach!
3. Pahiyas Festival this May. For the first time, my little brother Joaqui will be tagging along. He was only a year old when we went to the Pahiyas Festival so he doesn't really remember it.
4. (Official) promotion
5. Plans to start my new business...will blog about that some other time :)
6. MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Sooo happy it won't fall on Holy Week...not that there's anything wrong with my birthday falling on Holy Week...it's just that...well, can anyone hold a party during such a sacred time? I don't think so.


I have an outfit post today! :) My officemates and I went on an ukay ukay (thrift store) adventure last Saturday. I bought quite a few items, heehee :)

Fab find #1: striped polo dress (got it for 90 bucks!!). Love at first sight for this one. The fact that it looks like something I saw in Zara--winner!

Sorry, I had a loooong day at work hence the haggard look (haha!). My mom was wondering why my leggings were quite sheer. I told her they were really stockings but I cut off the tips. I love my 3-toned heels :) Custom-made! :) I forgot where I ordered these, though.

less than a month to go...

...before I'll see this! Am super duper excited! My cousin and I are joining a trekking group to climb Mt. Pulag this March. I want to climb Mt. Pulag again either in October or I could try climbing Mt. Kitanglad (in Bukidnon).

image taken from image philippines

Am stuck at work now, but I just wanted to share this nice picture with y'all that I found on the net :)

And by the way....to all my friends/readers in the blogworld--I GOT PROMOTED AT WORK!!! Official announcement will be after a month but am just too excited to keep it to myself :) Hahaha! YAY! All the sleepless nights, (some) weekends and holidays at the office, tears, and cold sweat-inducing situations paid off :)


I have more stuff I want to share with you guys but seeing that I have tons of stuff to finish at work, I think I'll be able to resume with my regular posts maybe this weekend...till then!

gold gold gold!

I was finally able to wear the gold blazer I've had hidden in my closet for the past 3 YEARS. I decided to wear it to work with a simple black camisole (Dorothy Perkins...got it, in all places, at a thrift store!), a pair of jeans, and my ever-reliable black ballet flats. Twasn't Friday yet, but I wanted to be a bit more casual at work since I'd be running around practically the entire day.

Heehee, I just liked the effect of the flash.

Thank you, Stephanie for the fashion advice :)

YAY for awards!

This is a bit overdue...thank you Betz for this lovely award :)

Instructions are if you receive this, you should list down 10 things that make you happy and pass on the award to 10 other bloggers. First, my list of 10 things that make me happy...

1. Being with my crazy family. I'm blessed with a very humor-loving family (immediate and extended). I love spending time with them and I truly am grateful to have them. They're my support system and I love them very much.

(mother side)

(father side)

2. Crazy photoshoots with my cousins. My cousins in my mom's side are pretty young so we don't have a lot of crazy pictures together. But boy oh boy...with my cousins in my dad's side. Wow. We just go wild in front of the camera! I mean, we don't really mind if we look weird or stupid. We have a ball just having fun and we're not afraid of making fun of ourselves.

Our 'couture gone wrong' shot (haha!)

3. Going on out-of-town trips with my friends. My gradeschool friends and I try to go on out-of-town trips at least once a year. It started about 2 1/2 years ago when we started meeting up. It's either we go to Tagaytay for spontaneous getaways, or we go to places as far as San Pablo Laguna or Laiya Batangas.

(Laiya, Batangas--May 2008) (Mt. Pinatubo, Tarlac--March 2009) (Tagaytay--November 2009) (Sitio de Amor, San Pablo, Laguna--December 2009)

4. Food trips! I enjoy food. I don't just enjoy eating, I also love to cook! Whenever I have time, I cook for my family and friends. I started cooking at home about 2 years ago so that I could monitor what my (late) grandfather was eating. I realized shortly after I started cooking that I really enjoyed it and I'm passionate about food. I would sometimes experiment with recipes at home. If I don't have time to cook (which happens a lot now), I eat out with friends. We like trying different restaurants all over the Metro. We try not to eat in the same place everytime so for each month that we eat out, someone has to pick a restaurant beforehand. It's a fun thing to do, actually.

(Bellini's, Cubao Expo--February 2009) (Celebrating Esther's birthday at Cookbook Kitchen, hidden somewhere in Mandaluyong--June 2009) (yummy mushroom pasta at Isabelo Garden Restaurant, Marikina...I loved that I could still taste the white wine used! --July 2009) (Buon Giorno, Cliffside, Tagaytay--November 2009)

5. Traveling (semi-related to #3). I would want to travel as much as I can while I'm still young and have the time to do so. I believe that traveling isn't simply just for fun. You learn so many things when you travel, and it makes you appreciate the world we live in--be it local trips to different provinces so that you'd learn about the diverse cultures we have in our beautiful country, or international trips to open your eyes to how big our world is and to make you appreciate and hopeful about your country.

(Malaybalay, Bukidnon--2009)

(Casa San Pablo, San Pablo, Laguna--April 2009)

(Bangui Windmills, Ilocos Norte--August 2009)

(took a picture of the Paoay Church from a different perspective :), Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte--August 2009)

(Hong Kong, December 2009)

6. Hanging out with my girlfriends. I have a few, actually. Some I met in gradeschool, some I met in high school, some I met in college, some I met in church. I love them to death. They're really like my sisters. I don't have like hundreds of friends. The friends I have are really ones who I'm close to and we've shared a lot of laughters, tears, heartaches, and triumphs together. Yay to girlpower!

With my lovely cousins

College friends Kaye and Mishi. We were blockmates (beginning our junior year) but Mishi and I have been friends since freshman year.

With Val, one of my closest friends on this earth! We've been friends since high school. We were actually bestfriends in our senior year but some stuff happened (i.e. I had a boyfriend. hahaha!) and we got in a really bad fight but we made up after a few months.

With Peaj, my best friend in college. We've gone through a lot of ups and downs (A LOT of these). But we survived. We've seen each other in our worst and best. And I can honestly say she's one of the people I know who can kill for me. Not kidding.

With Raiz--another one of my closest friends ever. I don't know anyone as driven as her.

Of course, my Ang Apat girls Tin and Esther :)

7. Reading a good book. My mom taught me how to read when I was 3 years old. That time, I didn't like reading because I felt like I was being forced to do something that wasn't fun. Later on, I developed a love for reading. I started reading Nancy Drew books (the old ones with yellow hardbound covers) when I was in the 3rd grade, and by the time I was in the 5th grade I was reading classics like Little Women, Little Lord Fauntleroy, the Little Prince, Les Miserables, Jane Austen novels, etc. I'm more open to different types of literary genres now, after having been exposed to different kinds of literature in college (from the Iliad, to Shakespeare plays, to Dante Alighieri's great triad--Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, to modern literary works like Crime and Punishment). I also love reading historical accounts and books about current issues. And yes, I read the Twilight series as well. Haha! I don't think they're well-written, but as what one of my friends said 'They're like cocaine...they're bad for you, but you get addicted." And yes, I love the Harry Potter series.

8. Doing creative activities. I love drawing and doodling on my planner. I love taking pictures, be it using a digicam or a film camera. I love wrapping gifts! I sometimes go crazy wrapping stuff. I like decorating cupcakes. I enjoy conceptualizing how gift sets should look like, or party themes, or what not. My only frustration is that I still don't get photoshop.

Esther took this while we were in the Rizal Museum at Fort Santiago, Manila. On that day, we had a photo adventure of sorts. I will make an entry about that. We spent the entire day taking pictures of Intramuros and Manila Bay!

I like taking pictures of flowers. I took these when I was in our house at Malaybalay to visit my parents and youngest brother.

I like doodling :) My planner looks like a coloring book already. I doodle when I'm stressed, I doodle just because.

I love to bake! I made these coffee cupcakes as a sample batch for my friend to taste before her wedding. I was the one who made the souvenirs for her wedding--cupcake giveaways! :) I made hazelnut coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream icing :)

I really have a thing for lomo shots. I love film cameras, actually. If I find the time, I will really go out and take pictures again. I miss going out and just taking photos...point and shoot lang :)

I went a bit overboard last Easter...I "glitterized" the Easter eggs!! Hahaha! My friend called them "Limited Edition" Easter eggs.

9. Singing. I was a member of my highschool's glee club. I regret not joining my university's chorale (ergs..they got to travel to Greece for a competition!). I sang with my mom's old college singing group (Patatag--a student activist singing group in UP during the Marcos years) for their fund-raising concert about a year and half ago. I sing in the shower. I sing at work. I sing in my room. I sing in the car. I sing with my friends. Yeah...I love singing. Haha!

During the recording of Awit ng Peti-B for Patatag's album (not yet out...and we're not done recording all the songs yet!). Another Patatag kid took this shot.

10. Shopping. Need I explain why? Hahaha!

...be it in thrift stores...

...or in HK! heehee

Now I'm passing on this cool award to...

1. Toxic Disco Boy
2. Vera of Deep In Vogue
3. Christine of Manila Fashion Observer
4. Gab of Gab Can Fly
5. Tippy of Penned Out Loud
6. Stephanie of le CHEAP c'est CHIC
7. Val of THE PENSIEVE, Valerie Style
8. Louise of Differently the Same
9. Darlyn of Thrifted Veil
10. Kirstyb of Fashion Champagne

back to jogging

My mom, out of the blue, told me this morning that maybe I should start jogging again. Not that harsh...coming from my mom. It's not that she'sjudging me. I know she's just worried that it's gonna be harder for me to lose weight as I get older. I'm only 22 (turning 23 this April, yay!), barely 5 ft, and I think I'm about 10 pounds heavier than the BMI for my height and weight. So yeah, I totally agree with my mom. Both sides of my family has a history of diabetes so I really do need to be extra careful with my body. Sometimes, though, it's harder to hear it from other people. I mean, it's easy to be offended when someone tells you that you're gaining weight, or you should start losing weight...especially here in the Philippines. You know what I don't get--why people don't get it that asking/commenting about someone's weight is rude. Aaaack, sometimes I just cringe when my grandmother, for example, tells an aunt of mine that she seems to have gained A LOT of weight. I dunno...I just noticed that kind of thing from people here. Or maybe..wait, could this be a universal thing? I mean, do people in general not realize that commenting about other people's weight as something rude? Sorry, semi-ranting a bit. I think nga it's not about being concerned...it's more of verbal diarrhea.

I have weight issues, obviously. Not a lot of my friends and family know that I battled with anorexia and bulimia when I was in highschool up until my 2nd year in college. I think the worst was when I was a freshman in highschool. My brother called me skeletor because that's exactly what I looked like. I was rail thin. I'm still looking for a picture.

Things got better by my sophomore year. I started eating regularly...but mid-year, I became bulimic. I'd binge then throw it all up when I got home. Again, things got better when I was in college, although I've never really gotten over my body issues...until now. I don't want to be stick thin, don't get me wrong. I would just want to have a normal BMI for my sake--for good health's sake :)

I want to lose weight the RIGHT way, the HEALTHY way. I don't want to go back to being anorexic. I don't want to go back to binging then throwing it all up. Honestly, when you're used to doing things that are that unhealthy for quite a long time, it's hard to lose weight correctly. Admittedly, it's a struggle--but I think it's better to struggle now then get used to eating right and exercising rather than lose weight by NOT eating then the payoff would be something worse in the future (like getting really sick).

So this week I start jogging again. And I won't skip breakfast anymore so I won't binge during lunch and/or dinner. Eeeeep wish me luck :)

black (but not 'and blue') day

I'm wearing black again! I felt a bit sluggish and was having a "I feel bloated" day so I opted to wear black today. To add a bit of color, I wore my animal print ballet flats (thanks Tita Oyie! I ♥ them).

dress: Plains & Prints d-i-y leggings: err...stockings that I made into leggings by cutting of the tips (haha!) out of desperation animal print ballet flats: Gap (gift from my aunt)

I ♥ my animal print ballet flats.

Even my slippers are animal print! Hehehe

I was supposed to wear these today...but decided to have mercy on my feet :)

I have a thing for chunky heels (picture's a bit dark...sorry 'bout that).



A pair of vintage earrings...these were my grandmother's...until I discovered them. Haha!

See? They're really nice :) I ♥ vintage jewelry.

Segue...I should get a better camera.