Soooo Blogging This!!!!

Wanted: SLITS!!!

2012-01-27T20:27:00.000+08:00

#fashionfriday

Angelina has always been a fan of thigh-high slits during film premieres and red carpet events. She was recently spotted flaunting her gams in this Versace number - my favorite gown for the last Golden Globe Awards.

Here are other favorite examples. Diane Kruger in a gown by Jason Wu. I think this look can be easily copied. ;) There's no doubt that slits can really up the sex appeal of floor-length gowns. :)

I was in scour for these skirts when I was in Bangkok (obviously, this is a late post for me. :P) but all I got instead was the green sheer skirt worn in my last post. I was thinking, for my last option, I should just be scissor-happy and make a DIY out of it. :P

Anyway, for the last tip on this style, as noticed so as not to make a trashy look out of it the tip is to keep the upper part more conservative. ;-) Last example below from Atlantic-Pacific. :)

Oh, the drama!!!! Have a fashionable weekend everyone!!!! :)

What Happened in Taiwan Day 1

2012-01-26T04:10:00.003+08:00

#travelthursday (na-move na talaga, haha!!)

My solo sojourn in Taipei "technically" qualifies as my first real solo trip because unlike in Bangkok two years ago where I asked the help of my colleague to take me to the hostel and accompany me in the weekend market (and not to mention have a date with another colleague :p), this time I refused to ask help from any person/colleague I know who resides in that country - not even my cousin who works there. ;-)

Here are some of the things I experienced and for a good measure I added some tips for traveling alone which I gathered from different websites. :)

# The perils of traveling alone - A blue-eyed European tried to talk me to share a cab with him to the city. How vulnerable can a solo female traveler be to such men?? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Although I've never seen blue eyes like those before, my common sense dictated that I look away coz I don't know he might just hypnotize me or something. Yikes!! Sometimes it's better to exaggerate. He walked with me from the money changer all the way down to the bus stops of the airport while occasionally making small talks. (How stupid was it for me to tell him it was my first time as well in Taiwan?? Although in retrospect, I didn't know how to invent this persona of someone who knows the ins and outs of that country.) Anyway, I was so relieved when he bought a different ticket (different destination) than mine. The bus ride to the city takes more around an hour and there aren't that much passengers during that midnight so I wouldn't know what to do if he'll still stick with me.

Tip: Lie a little. For situations like this, you may tell that you are meeting a friend at the city so as to discourage them with their plans.

# Braving the commute at midnight. I felt mighty successful after the bus stop (with I and another guy passenger) reached the city. According to the directions provided by the hostel, it should be about 15 mins by foot. And I have looked at every pictures available in their sites to help me familiarize with the landmarks coz I was eager to test my err, navigation skills. :D I was even proud to have understood the bus driver when he asked, "Ni qu na li?" which of course I had to answer in English. Wahaha!! I was told that Taipei is a safe city to walk around at night so armed with my map at around 130 AM, I tried navigating for a few minutes but after a few wrong turns (waaaaahh!!!) I was forced to hail a cab and spend 70 Taiwan dollars for that 3-minute ride from the bus stop to the hostel. Phhhbt!!

Tip: Although it is very important to economize, be ready with back-up plans. Hehe. Have the address of your hotel printed in their language or characters and be informed ahead of the cost so you will not be taken for a ride by the taxi drivers.

# Meeting new people. Thanks to Wil for this tip, I've always booked hostels for leisure travels. It's one good way to economize and also meet new people. Around 200 AM, a little bit worn from the flight and the commute, I met this French guy by the computer station (while I was logging on my laptop to inform relatives at home I arrived safely) who shared to me some of his hard-won realizations in life through traveling. How awesome it is that he works for nine months and travels for the rest of the year during winter? He's a gardener that's why, he takes break during the winter season. My only gripe is that he is married. Not because I fancy him, but my point is, why leave his wife back in France for 3 months??

Tip: Try to book hostels and always go for the one with the best reviews. :P They offer free breakfast and wi-fi and they have lounges where everybody can just make new acquaintances with the very people who also want to learn about the world like you. ;-)

# Travel bloopers. :)) Traveling alone is something like a full-power experience. You feel empowered for achieving things on your own but then again sometimes, you make stupid mistakes on your own. Afterwards you'll laugh about it and erm, make for a great status update in FB. Hahaha!!! Take for example this blue coin in the MRT, I was dumbfounded when I couldn't find any slot for the said coin by the turnstile entrance. It took some time to figure out that is sensor activated and that it works by tapping too. Apparently, I'm so used to the magnetic cards in Singapore and HK. :P

My tip: As they say, there's a first time for everything. So it's okay to feel stupid once in a while. They make for more for some great anecdotes a few days later. Wahaha!!! Sorry no tip for this one. :P I know a colleague of mine who endured washing his hands

in hot water for the entire first month of his business trip because he doesn't know you just have to turn the lever to make it cold. :)) In Tagalog, we call it "shunga" moment. :))

# Indulge. Solo travel can be the ultimate for self-indulgence, you can rest whenever you want without ruining your companion's day. You see new world, new places, new people and have the time psychological space to reflect upon them without the prejudice of your companion ( saaaaaaabeeeeehhh???). You get stimulated with something you see and immediately ditch your original plan - just like how I discovered the horticultural expo at Taipei which wasn't part of my original destination and yet just observed when the MRT passed through it or another example is how I found out about the Aldo outlet sale when I was trying to explore the streets round my hostel. I scored shoes and saw some really nice flowers on the first day alone without really having a solid agenda for the first day.

Tip: It’s about doing what you want to do, not what you feel obliged to do, or what you think you should be doing.

# Solomangarephobia. Word of the day. That is the fear of eating alone. :P Well I don't really have that phobia but if there's one thing I didn't experience while I was in Thailand on my first solo sojourn is to try authentic Thai dishes. In CNN's recent article about Asia's most sinful cities, they charged Taipei guilty of gluttony!! I've noticed how the night markets are teeming with food selections they call as xiaochi or "small eats". When I was in their night market, I was brave to try the drinks (bubble tea!!!!) or ice cream sold in them but what I was more determined to try was their hotpot or shabu-shabu. :P It was very hard to talk to the waiter when I ordered this in a restaurant near my hostel, but nevertheless I enjoyed eating it. ;-) Yummmmmm!!!

Tip: Eat well. Just because you're alone and on the run doesn't mean you shouldn't take time for sit-down meals, a leisurely cup of coffee or a decadent dessert. If you're conscious about what the other people around you might say, bring a book. But remember, dining alone doesn't equate to being lonely.

I will upload some more photos in separate post. Thanks for reading. :)

Crave You

2012-01-24T01:00:00.000+08:00

Ringing in the CNY holiday with A at Greenbelt. (:

Welcome back A!!!! (: After the late lunch at Dillinger's, I made him try my favorite bubble tea in the world!!!! Chatime!!!!! (:

I think he didn't enjoy my choice of Grass Jelly with Fresh Milk though, haha!! He kept on sipping my Red Bean Milk Tea. :P I toured him around Landmark, Glorietta and SM Makati (haha!!) and he bought some kickboxing stuffs. Afterwards he dropped me off to the gym as he is meeting some other friends at night. (: I hope you enjoyed the holiday today. I'd like to end this post by embedding my current favorite song,

CRAVE YOU by Flight Facilities

Foliage & Floral

2012-01-22T01:58:00.000+08:00

A quick trip to our "garden" revealed that it lacks floral!!! =P

Wearing a sheer skirt I bought from Bangkok, paired with a floral tube top and belt from Dorothy Perkins. Headdress is actually a floral necklace from Forever 21. =)

I'm not sure but recently I noticed I acquired a lot of green clothing in my closet. I think the color's starting to grow on me. ;-) And I'm toying the idea of doing a lot of color-blocking with that skirt. :)

I actually wore that headdress in Bangkok. It's one beauty of being anonymous in another country I guess, festooning my head with such stuff is just okay. Nobody gave me ridiculous stares or something, hehe! :P

I love loooooooooong skirts!!!! Happy long weekend!! =) It's Tikoy week for the Chinese New Year. :P

Vids Vids!

2012-01-19T01:35:00.003+08:00

#travelthursday ( a special case, haha!)

More videos taken in Bangkok, this one is during the Chao Praya River Cruise. I didn't know that there is a special cruise where you can get to all of the interesting places that is accessible by the river. On the 1st day, I just wanted to go to the Royal Palace which I missed from my last visit and I was informed by the receptionist to take the BTS then traverse the river. It was exciting as I was ready to take the trains and taxis only. :P She was even scared for me to take the taxi (since the drivers might not use the meter) so with the advantage of having a "Thai face", she taught me some Thai words to fool them drivers into thinking I'm a real Thai. :P You remember the tip "Look the Part" in this post?? It was effortless in my case. I usually blend in every Asian countries I visit. :P

Here are the other tourist spots which I am talking about. Perhaps, I should have arrived earlier by the boat station. I arrived around 12 noon already. Yay! :P Also, you can see from here the other 9 temples along the Chao Praya River.

The second video is a more extensive clip during the elephant ride. Maybe during the last time you were wondering who's that guy I was with after knowing that I came there alone. :P Well I did go out on a date before but nooooo he's not someone I dated there, LOL!! He's a very nice Indian guy, a medical student in Malaysia and he was part of the group tour. We talked about this last Indian movie I saw - Three Idiots. It's a very good movie and being an engineer myself, I can't help but ask him if that is really how tough to study engineering in that featured school in the film. O diba, what a topic. He's a doctor wannabe and I asked him about engineering. Toinks!!! :D Please don't mind whatever I was saying in this video. Silly, silly things. I also don't know what's so funny we kept on laughing. :))

Promise, those are the last videos. Nothing more. Haha! ;-)

What's Not To ♥ About Her????

2012-01-17T00:21:00.000+08:00

#soundtracking

Christina Perri - what a talent!!! I just found my wedding song. Pause. Then a resounding,

Meeeeeeeeh ganoooon?? Wume-wedding daw si ate!!! =)) I dunno what's up with me lately, bawling at wedding SDEs (same day edit, thanks to VJ! ;-), checking out wedding photos of friends who recently just got married, anticipating wedding preparations of people I know who just got engaged etc. What on earth possessed me??? =))

Anyway, love love love this song!!! And her other songs as well are ♥♥♥.

In other news, BLACK!! #walalang :P

My Cactus Heart

2012-01-15T01:16:00.000+08:00

Mga Kapamilya!!! I'd like to promote this movie, my brother's first for Star Cinema. :) Starring Maja Salvador, Matteo Guidicelli and Xian Lim (with matching "kilig" at the mention of his name). Hahaha!!! Lem plays the role of Maja's brother, catch him on the 1:21 mark. =)

My Cactus Heart will be shown on January 25. =)

Silly Minnie! =)

2012-01-12T01:17:00.001+08:00

The photo above summarizes my silly finds in Chatuchak market. =P I put it all together in a Minnie Mouse theme, yay!! =)) The fact that I'm such a pack rat and that I like buying useless (though cute, oh you gotta admit it!!) stuffs in night markets abroad is not withheld from you. I think it's but okay considering the fact that I got them all very cheap. Here's a breakdown:

Minnie T-shirt: 100 Baht
Minnie headband: 50 Baht
Red purse: 150 Baht

I really really love the Chatuchak market!! I've missed it so much!! While I was in BKK, I was thinking that if I live there, I will certainly not need branded dresses. Everyday, I will be in vintage numbers which are omnipresent in night markets particularly in that area where I stayed at - Silom Road. Them Thais don't like it branded I suppose. For a good measure, I added some cute plastic cherry earrings (not worn above) which cost me 30 Baht. Not baht at all. :P

And some details of my pedi, I'd just like to thank my friend Angela for giving me those metallic blue nail polish all the way from......... Korea!!! Hehehe. Thank you Ate!!!! :) I'm sooo in to two-tones lately so I decided to combine it with my flashy fuchsia polish from Sally Hansen. :P

I hope to get a feature of the dresses in the next posts!x

Day 2 in BKK Preview

2012-01-10T01:30:00.000+08:00

#traveltuesday

Hey guys, I haven't sorted out my files yet so for this travel Tuesday, I want to show some of the highlights of my second day in BKK through my uploaded videos in Youtube. :D

We drove 2 hours to Damnoensaduak Floating Market and this is a video I captured. This is a case of me disappointing the buko (coconut) vendor and the boat almsost tipping over because of my "pasaway" moment. Haha!! I leaned too much to the right while taking this video. Funny what the boatman said!! :))

After this, we drove for about 5 minutes going to the Elephant Village where I rode an elephant. Yey, kinaya niya ako!! =)) This is actually a case of wrong camera setting. The mahout (naks, new term for me!!), the driver of the elephant, is supposed to take pictures but the cam was set to video mode. Hehehe, hence this is only a 3-second clip. :P

And then the rest of that day was spent in my favorite tiangge in the world - Chatuchak! Will update you soon!x

Alone in BKK Part 2!!!

2012-01-07T00:12:00.000+08:00

Sawasdeeka!!! I'm currently blogging from the city of smiles - Bangkok!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) (So talagang kailangan maraming smiley faces??? Hahaha!!) It's so nice to be back here albeit alone!! :P

I finally managed to do some of the things that I promised to visit before!! YES!!! And here are some preview photos! :) A royal visit to the Grand Palace:

Or a climb to the very steep Wat Arun temple!! Exhilarating!! :)

Throwing in my maxi dress at the last minute turned out to be a good decision. Long dresses and sleeved ones are required when visiting the temples. But I managed to escape on my second pic. Haha!! More posts coming soon guys!xx

Holiday Chows

2012-01-05T01:41:00.004+08:00

Rundown of my holiday chows.

Inagiku - business lunch with colleagues from Singapore.

A high-end Japanese restaurant located at Makati Shangrila Hotel. I DIED at my Bento meal. It's GINORMOUS!! And as much as I love Japanese food, I wasn't able to finish everything. :P

Sentosa Singapore Restaurant at Edsa Shangrila Mall - catch up with my good friend Jates who's back from San Francisco.

Oh, how I miss Singapore!! Something felt wrong while we were eating our food, I couldn't quite pinpoint it at the beginning and it was only later when I found out that I wasn't eating using chopsticks. How odd!! If they wanna bring Singapore goodies here in the PH, then they should have those readily available at the table right? Anyway, I recommend the Hainanese chicken and the baby squid. Soooo good!!! :)

Mann Hann at Market Market - with Samsung friends

We established an unspoken agreement that we should meet up before the year ends and since everybody was busy during the last week, we scheduled it two days ago. And so that is why, the holiday chows did not end for me last year. :( Yummy Pata Tim!! I was surprised that they serve Filipino dish in there (it is an original Pinoy dish right? I'm not so sure.) Haha!!

Yakimix at Greenbelt3 - with college friends from Singapore.

This set of "pasaways" went home very late (like 30th and 31st, sila na ang humabol sa New Year, lol!) and so we were only able to meet them last night. Aaah finally, I was able to satiate my cravings for endless salmon sashimi. Truly, there aren't many things in life as wonderful as the taste of fresh salmon. Yummm!!!! Sashimi overload!!!! :))

We had three batches of group pictures because more college friends came. Hence, the three sets above but with me doing only one pose. LOL!

In fairness, I was able to do a retro marathon before the year ended.

But I need MORE!!!! :)) Photo above was with one of my retro friends Piolo. It wasn't his real name, not because I am protecting his identity, but rather it's the only name I remember when he introduced himself to me after learning that my name is KC. HAHAHA!!!

How many pounds did you gain during the holidays?????????? =))

Red & Green

2012-01-01T02:16:00.000+08:00

Red chunky platforms from Forever 21 paired with shades of green pedicure. ;-) Those shoesies are just in, I had to plead with the manager to uhmm hold them for me. Around 12 noon last year's Wednesday, I was in their branch in Makati trying something of that in my size then just had to leave for a meeting and it was gone by the time I came back. XD So, had to call up the other branch at Megamall and apparently, they only hold reservation for a day. A. DAY!!!! (Ako na, ako na ang queen of reservation. Hahaha!!!)

I like that they're super light. And I believe it's pair-able with anything. I love shoes but I'll try my best to be sensible when it comes to choosing styles this year before my sprawling shoe collections nudge that of Imelda-Marcos' proportions. :))

Green dress from Dorothy Perkins paired with some cranberry shade of lips. ;-) I think for 2012 I will try to be a little bit experimental when it comes to cosmetics. I didn't realize how dramatic (talagang dramatic??) a strong lips could be until I switched shade of lipstick to coral last year. :P And now I'm not used to wearing my regular chocolate shade. LOL!!

Well so far, those are the only things I think of changing this year. :P Those that I can think of from my red and green photos. Wehehe!! Let's all hope for an even better 2012!! Cheers!! :)

G'bye 2011! :)

2011-12-30T03:28:00.001+08:00

HK with family. Herbert's vacay (CORON!!!). Dolphin. GUAM!! Mandarin lessons. Curly hair. A!! TEACHING!! 21K!!! TAIWAN!!

The Holiday Look

2011-12-25T22:17:00.000+08:00

Happy Everything!!! :D

Red + Blue = Purple

2011-12-23T16:59:00.002+08:00

Shoesies update.. :)

Red oxfords from Dorothy Perkins.

Blue strappy shoes with killer heels from Aldo ( a remembrance from an Aldo outlet in Taiwan :p)

And lastly, falling head over Coach-wedge heels in love with these purple satin beauties. :) Ordered from this website.

Remember the color wheel equation: Red + Blue = Purple :) Have a colorful holidays everyone. :)

VJ's Wedding

2011-12-22T03:47:00.000+08:00

For some other people, this is the perfect season to get married. While for some, like me, it's the time to uhmmm attend their weddings. :P ( No drama in here, lol!)

Last Friday, I had to run to make it to my friend's wedding reception at H20 Hotel in Manila. I came all the way from the south - an overnight stay at my bestie Joy's house, went home to change, rushed to the mall to prepare the gift then finally made a dash to the hotel. Whew!! As tweeted, running is turning out to be not only a hobby of mine, but is already the story of my life. When did life start to become so busy??? 0_0

Anyway, VJ and I started to become friends during our sophomore year in high school. My first impression of her wasn't that good because on the very first day of our 2nd year, she took my desired seat and transferred my bag to the vacant seat which happened to be right infront of the teacher's table while I was out of the classroom. LOL!! But being both transferees to the first section (we were both acers from our respective freshman's section, naks!), we eventually got along well and were later known to be David and Goliath. :P I also have fond memories of our gaga days over our varsity players in MIT High. ;-) We got separated in our senior year and went out with different set of friends during college but got reunited for a thesis in college which if I remember correctly is about Microwave Transmission (????). Haha!! During project overnight days, we were both accompanied by our uhmm respective boyfriends then, who is now her husband Louie. (Again, no drama in here. Haha!!)

10 years of being together (and still counting), ain't that amazing??? :) I was actually touched that she remembered to invite me. She had to remind me like really really way ahead of time so as to make sure that I don't make any plans. Hehe. I believe she's somewhat updated with my life through this blog. :)

I believe I read in a book before that etiquette suggests that if it is possible, you should align the color of your dress to the motif of the wedding. And for that, I can only be too happy to oblige and wear my favorite purple silk chiffon dress. :)

Okay, please don't hold it against me. It's just that I often see people wear all black in a wedding. For me, okay I repeat for me, I believe it is not appropriate. Black is such a mourning color and that's why I don't think it should be worn for joyous occasions like that in my humble opinion. This stems from an experience when I was younger. I was supposed to attend a funeral of a relative somewhere in Bataan and I was only able to pack an orange dress (Yes, an orange!! Forgive me what did I know then I was I think 9 yo?). In the end, I decided not to join the funeral 'coz I only have with me a happy color. There.

Anyway, it was so nice to be reunited with my high school/ college friends again. :)

Ruel, Me, Anna & Vaughn

That huge aquarium behind us is one of the out-of-the-box experience (according to the blurb :p) of this hotel. Someday I hope I get to try their hotel's Aqua room. ;-)

Congratulations and Best Wishes to the couple Louie & VJ Salud. :) I don't have a shot of them from my cam as I was ashamed to go around taking pics so I stole this very nice photo of 'em from their FB. :P Lurve her gown's details, it's Veejay Floresca's design. :)

I accessorized my dress with clear glass stones. :)

Angelito

2011-12-20T02:33:00.000+08:00

We interrupt your regular "KC programming" (lol!) to give way to some #shameless plugging. Hahaha!!! And so, spoken like a seasoned pro,

"Mga kapamilya, patuloy niyo pong subaybayan ang Angelito. 330-4PM po pagkatapos ng Helena's Promise."

Hahaha!! Why do they always say it like that?? Anyway, I finally saw one of my brother's episode in the said show this afternoon and so I now have the right to blog about it. :P He's been airing since last Thursday I heard and he portrays Arthur, a friend of Angelito (JM De Guzman).

I was teasing him that the role of a construction worker suits him. Nyahaha!! Angelito: Batang Ama's story revolves around a young man, Angelito (JM De Guzman) who becomes an under-aged father and his obstacles in life. Please like the show's fan page here to know more details about the show and also if you'd like to meet the cast in their mall tours. :P I remember Lem talking about how nervous he was when his name was called and the crowd was cheering for him at SM Nova. ;-)

And for the last photo,

Oh em. JM is soooooooo gwapo noh sometimes I'd like to ask my brother to take me to the set. LOL!! I already had a chance to meet Jason last time and I was surprised how he can be the quiet and reserved type in person as opposed to the character he usually portrays. :P If you have a little time as well, can I just ask a teeny favor?? Please report this account as fake to FB. Thank you. :)

Keep on watching Mga Kapamilya. :)

Bits of My Thursday

2011-12-17T01:50:00.001+08:00

Though most of what happened last Thursday were already published in my FB account (P.S. Mobile uploads can be very addicting. LOL!), I'd still like to keep an account here in my blog. It all started with this controversial status update about how the driver told me this "Ma'am sa'n po ba ang fashion show natin?" in the morning. I didn't take it too negatively though. I was just wearing a dress for crying out loud. :)) I mean, 90% of the time you'd see me in a dress. They flatter me more than jeans/shirts or slacks/collared blouse combo do for a corporate attire. And yes, the colors and style may be non-corporate but I didn't wear it for work. I was going to buy a gift for a friend's wedding in Powerplant Mall, it's just that I had to pass through Joy's office in HTC Makati first.

Upon arrival at the 12th floor of their building, I finally understood the reason for the extra effort in dressing up that morning. Hihihi. Rov F. was in the house. I knew it!!! It was intuition!!! Yay!!!! The girls had to wait for the meeting to get over before..............

Yiheeeeeeee!!! Hahaha!!! In less than the time it takes to pronounce his name Rovilson Fernandez, I was already hailing a cab going to Rockwell after the photo-op to meet someone who'll help me pick the gift for my friend's wedding. There's a cooking shop at the ground floor where I've got vouchers for and given the fact that I'm useless in the kitchen, it's for certain that I need someone else's help. Cue in NJ. LOL!! But tell me, how cute are these utensils being sold at Cook's Exchange??? Just the mere sight of them makes me wanna ~~get married~~ learn how to cook already!!! LOL!!!

I die at the chopsticks!!!! Soooooooo cute!!!! :))

We had lunch at Kulinarya while I was waiting for someone to deliver me my first designer brand shoes!! Ayeeeeeeeee!!! So excited to show it to you but prolly in the next posts. ;-) Afterwards, we went to see Tom Cruise's Ghost Protocol which had me coughing up a few laughs and had me wow-ing at the feature on Burj Khalifa (aaaah someday, someday!!!) oh and on Cruise's stunts as well. ;-)

After bumping into some friends from the gym, I had to call it a day as I had to go straight to Laguna to meet up my bestie Joyeeeeeee who's here for a vacay and NJ had to attend his couz's wedding (who's also a member of my org in college!! Small world right?). Sigh, so many things happening this December!! Always a crazy happy month! :))

And for my final picture, be the judge. Come on tell me, manong driver was just exaggerating with his statement diba???? ;-)

Enjoy the weekend you guys!! :D

When You Travel Alone :P

2011-12-13T22:48:00.000+08:00

Here are some bits and pieces of my Taiwan trip since I haven't really decided how to "travelogue" it. :P

#1 Be a map expert. I remember before I used to be so useless with maps, haha!! But since I had to rely on myself on this trip, I made sure to really focus on the directions and be extra attentive to my surroundings. Specially during my arrival since we landed Taiwan at around 1AM in the morning. And I opted not to take the taxi from the airport to the city since it'd cost me an arm and a leg. LOL!!! It'd been easier if all the people speak English but even if I took some Mandarin lessons months ago, I never really get to practice the language and can only speak the useful phrases. And get this, when people would speak to me in long and fast Mandarin, I give up on trying to understand them and would just reply with a very simple, "wo bu zhi dao" which means I don't know. Classic!! Hahaha!!!

#2 Buy silly stuffs in night markets. :P I'm so guilty at this, I remember I also did the same thing when I was in Bangkok. I wasn't satisfied with my night shopping though coz most of the stuffs they sell when I was there were winter clothing. :( I wasn't even able to find a miniature Taipei 101 building for my personal souvenir. But tell me how cute are these sunnies? Haha!! It screams Lady Gaga in her video Paparazzi. :P

#3 Look the part. Hahaha!! My face is so Asian that most of the countries I've visited to often mistake me for a local (even my Japanese students tell me I look Japanese (????), so this time I opted for a Korean look. Why? Because there were a lot of Korean tourists during my stay in Taipei. They're omnipresent!! Why??? :P

Actually, I was just goofin' around with the camera in the above photos after resting from a tiresome temple visit and just thought of sharing them here. LOL! Don't take my tips seriously. :)) Until the next proper blogging! ;-)

35th Milo Marathon: My 10K Run

2011-12-12T12:07:00.001+08:00

Oh-kay. So the new style now for guys to be noticed by a girl in a fun run is to STAY BESIDE her and keep up with her pace. XD I swear there was this one guy who kept on positioning himself beside me during this run. It'd almost appear in the photos (if there are any) that we are doing a "buddy" run. Heck, we could've been considered a couple to some other runners!! I don't know what was his purpose as my "small talk" capability is totally blocked by my pink Sony mp3 player. :P

To make things more fun, I tried to do some tests. During the first water station we passed by, I didn't get myself a drink so as to actually leave him. :P After a few seconds, he emerged successfully and re-appeared beside me. Hmmm...okay. I noticed upon the sight of the second water station, he tried to run a bit faster thereby overtaking me prolly to buy him some time to drink and perhaps to still keep up with me by the time I pass through it. Hmmm, smart move I guess. I still didn't stop to drink. :P I also observed that whenever we would overtake a group of runners infront of us, he'd actually make a way for me to pass through so that we could still run together. What was up with that???? But ALAS, on the third water station, somewhere pass the 7km mark, he stopped for some thirst quenchers (I still didn't) and he didn't resurface anymore. HAHAHA!!! SUCCESS!!! :))

Not that I actually hate him for what he was doing. It was just fun challenging him. Haha!! I hope feminism won't strike me down but I still believe that men have the edge when it comes to running. (I've seen it with two of the men I've run with). Initially I was thinking that this guy was actually just downgrading his pace by keeping up with mine. And I'm not a fast runner I promise. But it seems that his stamina wasn't enough to beat mine (lol!) and for that he failed my test. :)) If it's my attention that he was aiming for though, obviously he got mine simply for smelling so good. LOL! Yes, I give him credits for that. Hahaha!!!

Further credence that I'm not a fast runner, my official time logged is 1:07. Aaargh!! Why is it so hard to get a sub-1 on a 10k????? :-| I never stopped on all the water stations you know!!! But the worst thing is, I was supposed to run a half-marathon for this event and so my time was logged in the 21k category that I actually belonged to the top 5 finishers. Yikes!! This is so embarrassing! I don't know how to ask them to remove my name in there. Hahaha!!!

My coach NJ stood me up on this run. :P He wasn't able to wake up on time?? Seriously, what kind of coach is that?? Hahaha, kidding!! :))

This would probably me my last run for the year. Second 21k, I'll prepare for you on 2012! ;-)

Senti Saturday: If You're Not Here

2011-12-10T00:47:00.000+08:00

Haish. Pardon the mushiness of this post, I officially blame it on this rainy weather. But I've said it again and again, I always love it when all of a sudden you hear a song that perfectly captures your exact emotions at that very moment. Just like when I unearthed this "unnamed" file from my documents while doing files back-up. I know it was one of those errr, recordings of mine which I can see from the Date Modified file that was saved two years ago but I wasn't sure of the title of the song. Only to find out it was my take on Menudo's If You're Not Here. And the lyrics says it all. :(

Despite my failure on ~~some~~ most of the notes (haha!!), I can't stop list'nin to it. Love your own diba? Haha!! If you're gonna listen (not really recommended, lol!), please use a headset as I might be discovered. Nyahaha!! But it's the thought that counts right so I have provided the lyrics below just for you to recall what is it about. It's a famous song, of course it's from Menudo. ;-)

Gotta catch that plane at 7:30
Why haven't you come to say goodbye
Time is running out and I'm still waiting
I'm so lost without you, I could die
Yesterday you said you loved me
Everything seemed to be fine
Today you're not here, I'm so lonely
It's the waiting that's driving me out of my mind

Don't know how I'll sing in that big city
How can I perform if you're not there
This will be the worst of all my journeys
The image of your face will follow me everywhere

I need your tender kisses
The feel of your hands, your caress
Your perfume has me burning
My heart is yearning to touch you
I need you so much

If you're not here, by my side
Can't hold back the tears
I try to hide
Don't think I can take it
I know I won't make it
Make it without you

If you're not here, by my side
Only your love keeps me alive
No sense in dreaming
My life has no meaning
If you're not here

I need your tender kisses
The feel of your hands, your caress
Your perfume has me burning
My heart is yearning to touch you
I need you so much

If you're not here, by my side
Can't hold back the tears
I try to hide
Don't think I can take it
I know I won't make it
Make it withou you

If you're not here, by my side
Only your love keeps me alive
No sense in dreaming
My life has no meaning
If you're not here

HTC Year-End Party!!

2011-12-08T00:55:00.001+08:00

Pics fresh from the oven :P

The year-end launch was held at Skye Roof Deck of W Building at The Fort. It was for me a fresh discovery for a lounge party, a perfect place to chill out on a regular night what with the rainy weather recently. Very nice ambiance I must say. ;-)

Me, Joy & Hannah chilling out :)

I noticed there weren't too much available photos of the place in the web. It was too bad as the high-rising condos around the area and the festive lights of the season could provide for a good backdrop for the photos. But alas, the big tent that was set-up in anticipation of some drizzle was a distraction. I wasn't able to take many photos as well since I arrived late what with the coincidental visit of my Singaporean colleagues. :P

The theme was lounge chic and I don't have any appropriate attire so I went for some rock chic vibe (if you'll allow me to call it that way, haha!!) instead.

Wearing a body con dress from Kamiseta, leather vest from Terranova, Tory Burch handcuffs, Charles n Keith bag and shoes from People R People as will be seen below. And just in case you were wondering who my date for the night was,

Oh why it was Rovilson Fernandez of The Amazing Race Asia Season 2. Hahaha!!! Ansabeee ng ilusyonadang froglet like me? Hahaha!!! He was so kind and warm though that he even invited us to hop on to his next party at 7th High.

Thank you so much HTC Philippines for the invite! :)

'Til We Meet Again

2011-12-06T02:16:00.001+08:00

With Snoop Dogg.. :))

His one of too many look-alikes!! It's confusing you know - the different celebrities people are telling me. :))

Anyway, maybe that's one way to humor this picture despite the fact that he might not come back. And I guess this qualifies for a travel Tuesday, as he's already left for Tehran. :(

"تا دیدار مجدد اشکان

Fashion Friday: VS Girls

2011-12-01T10:27:00.001+08:00

Literally a fashion show for today, haha! This is a perfect weekender clip for all of you.

1. An upbeat song that will make you dance to this Friday night - Moves Like Jagger. P.S. Still is my current ringtone and wake-up tone. :P

2. Sexy Victoria's Secret bombshells in swimsuits!! Thin-spiration for girls and will surely elicit an ooooh-lala expression for men out there. :))

3. ADAM LEVINE! My other BOYFRIEND!!!! Hahaha!!! I lost count how much I tweeted I love you to him in Twitter!!! HAHAHA!!! P.S. Ryan said he's not jealous. LOL!!! :))))))))

4. Adam planting a kiss on his girlfriend at 2:03 mark! Awww, how cute and sweet was that??? Don't you just love sudden display of affections like that??? I soooooo love you ADAM!! Hahaha!!!

Happy weekend y'all!!!! :D

Teachers' Gathering :)

2011-12-01T01:28:00.001+08:00

Mabuhay!!! I'm back in Pinas! :) Just in time for me to attend a gathering with my co-teachers for my Japanese company at Golden Fortune restaurant in Manila. :)

And as seen from below the highlight of the night was - ~~me belting out to Out Here On My Own by Irene Cara.~~ Hahaha!!! No, it was actually meeting my other co-teachers. It was a very good opportunity since we all work from home. So I was able to make some new friends. :)

Haha, okay so I did sing for the contest I badly miss the karaoke. :P And I figured it's one good way for the other 60+ teachers out there to remember you. ;-) I was shaking during the song though 'coz I really didn't volunteer myself you know. :P But I had fun meeting all these pretty ladies and got amazed with their wits during the games. The best for the night was a game of translation of profound Tagalog salawikain (naks!!!) or proverbs in English. The time was limited to 10 seconds so the others just came up with their best lines. And the winner for me was:

Tagalog proverb: Ako ang nagtanim, ako ang nagbayo at nagsaing, nang maluto'y iba ang kumain.

In English it would've been something like (according to a reference :p) "I did the threshing, I did the cooking, but once served, someone else eats it." And during the game, one of the tutors answered:

Tutor: No Other Woman.

Aylavit!! Hahaha!!! WINNER statement. LOL! It would take time before this gathering happens again.

Last photo. I wore my orange combo for the night. Happy annoying orange. Hehe. :P

Travel Tuesday: Off to Somewhere Wintry

2011-11-29T00:20:00.001+08:00

Each year, I try to make it a point to go somewhere relatively colder because I like dressing up for winter season. :P It's one way to make better use of my clothes, you know, layering and all that stuff. Haha!!

As you all know, Joy and I cancelled our Korea trip two weeks ago but this time I'm not backing out on this trip as I've wasted a lot already this year. So, ladies and gents, welcome to the second city that I am currently braving alone - TAIPEI!!! :D

Sigh. So hard to take pictures when you're alone noh?? :)) But thankfully I wasn't the only one. There were a lot of people in the Horticultural Expo (for whatever it means, haha!!) Park in Yuanshan station doing the same. One old woman even brought her tripod and some were taking shots using their tablets. :P This is one of the highlights of my solo sight-seeing today. :D I love flowers!!!! ---<@

And you shall hear more about the trip in the coming posts. :) 谢谢 (xièxiè)!! :)

HSBC Fun Run w/ A :)

2011-11-26T17:44:00.001+08:00

It may truly well be his first fun run but boy, the guy could certainly run fast! Why am I even surprised about this? He's a Muay Thai boxer c'mon. Jeez. XD

Initially he just wanted to do a fiver and no amount of convincing on my end would make him run a tenner. So what I did was secretly sign us both for 10km and tell him about it on the last minute. :P Shady eh? Haha! But he still didn't budge. Luckily, once we were inside the assembly area for 5km (I was the one persuaded at the end. XD When he told me he might lose his muscles, I was like, of course he couldn't lose his muscles. :P), he looked around and observed how there were kids joining the 5k category and then suddenly changed his mind. I almost wanted to punch the air when he said "Okay let's run 10k." Hahaha!!!

That being told, I thought I could do better than him. But he's already on the lead even at the onset. I thought this set-up is better. Like you know, having a great view of his sexy back while running. LOL. But I was utterly wrong. I instantly wished I could run faster than him coz everytime he'd turn around to check up on me, I didn't want him to see my ~~game~~ haggard face. So there I was resorting to making up some different wacky faces instead. Naubusan ako, hahaha!!!

For the first forty-five minutes, I managed to keep up with his pace. Translation: I can still see him within my line-of-sight. LOL. (Thankfully he's clocking in at 6'1".). But at the sight of the last 2km sign, I don't know but something happened. He just propelled along until he was out of my sight anymore. In the end, he finished at 59 minutes (my target record of a 10k, a sub-one!!!!) and I followed four minutes after. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!!!! What can I do? I met my Kryptonite the moment he was gone. :(

After the race, he explained to me what happened when he took off. He said he saw an old lady in a wheelchair being pushed by someone in Mall of Asia (which is the starting point of the route) while enroute back. He just realized how grateful he should be for having a good health and for simply being able to walk and run and that thought directly translated to his speed. Awwww, very nice! :">

Gonna miss him when he comes back to his country by next week. :c

galit po kami. :P

A's sexy back and the Natori design of the singlet.

Shoot!

2011-11-25T10:44:00.001+08:00

Saw this photo of Anne Hathaway for Marie Clare.

Gorge! I thought it was rather easy to copy knowing I have a dress as such and so I came up with this. LOL!

Wrong. I was completely and utterly wrong. It was very hard to remove the shadow at the back and needed some photo-editing skills. In fairness to me, I rather altered the concept a bit by introducing one of my favorite settings in my cam: the colour accent. :P Then, FB friends came to the rescue, three friends of mine (2 from the US and one from the Canada) volunteered to fix it. So, here's what they come up with. You can click the Read More button below.

From May-R in Utah,

From Intan in Jersey, he made me a Bench model. LOL!

And from Wil in Ontario,

Thanks so much to these friends who took out some time to do these. Haha!! Have a fashionable weekend everyone! :D

My Wednesday Molome'd

2011-11-24T00:44:00.001+08:00

Spent the day in Makati. First stop, lunch with Sagada girls Aryan and Liz at Raku Hokkaido Ramen Bar along Valero. Joy wasn't around, if so the term would be my Makati girls. Haha!

Tried their seafood ramen. It was just okay. Nothing distinctive about the taste. :(

The catch-up was good though. Missed talking to these two pretty ladies. :)

Afterwards, as usual when in Makati, I spent the working time at HTC office in RSC. The country manager is out of the country for a vacation so I temporarily worked in his desk. And this is the view of Makati just behind Sir Mark's desk. :)

For afternoon break, I was able to meet another friend of mine Randolph whose workplace is just nearby (so nice to meet friends in Makati whenever I visit :P, aaah poor loner me who always works alone at home. :P) and finally satisfied my craving for Starbucks' seasonal offerings - the Toffee Nut Latte. ;-)

Wearing my Mango black and white dress. :) Next on my foodtrip list: unlimited salmon sashimi!!! Yays!!! Hahaha!!!

Breaking Dawn at RWM

2011-11-22T11:36:00.001+08:00

"No measure of time is long enough with you, so let's start with forever." - E.C.

Awwwwww.... I can't believe I was able to score tickets last Friday to first screening of Breaking Dawn through this deal website. It was absolutely free as in no there's need to pay anything and the premier was at Newport Cinemas in Resorts World Manila. When I ~~purchased~~ booked the tickets, I wasn't thinking about any catch though. I was thinking they just wanted to promote the place and I haven't tried their cinemas there so without any guaranteed companion I maximized my account by getting three tickets.

The catch for me though was finding friends to watch the movie with, haha! Two days before Friday and none of my friends can uhmm take an emergency leave (lol!) to go with me. Not wanting the tickets to go to waste, I asked my mum and my older brother (who has the same work set-up like me :p) at the last minute to come and join me. Hehe. :P

This pleated coral pants from Topshop is quite challenging to dress up so I tried some color-blocking scheme by pairing it with my favorite yellow top from Mango. I had some snakeskin (yet again! :P Well they said it's gonna be next after the leopard haha!!) accessories. ;-)

Apparently, there were a lot of people who had free screening tickets as well but still we were able to get seats for the 3PM sked instead of the 1PM stated in the voucher. We had some quick late lunch at Tao Yuan at the 2nd floor and I can't believe I finally found the place that captures the taste of my favorite fried prawn mee in SG! Yummy! :D

Still not a fan of the whole thing but I enjoyed the movie, I still hate how stubborn Bella is and Jacob can still be mine. Wahaha!!!

Robot Restaurant

2011-11-19T21:14:00.001+08:00

This restaurant is quitefamous for its party scenes and heavy celeb clientele as often seen in the Lounge section of Previewmagazine and I know within myself that it’s only a matter of time before I checkthis out. Haha! This is a modern Japanese restaurant that iseasily located behind The Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati. A and I spent a night there last week forsome dinner and drinks. ;-)

Below are some of the foodswe degusted, yay! The tiger prawntempura popcorn ( a favorite!), skewered squid, the spicy tuna roll, chickenteriyaki, braised shortribs, mango cheesecake and some signature Lady Gagadrink. :P Food coma! Haha!!

A lot of photographs caneasily depict that “futuristic” interior design of this restaurant, but Ibelieve it is something that you have to experience and see for yourself. Take for example that ceiling which is made upof thousands of incandescent bulbs but with only a few being lighted. A and I were wondering if the whole place isgonna explode if they turned it all on. Haha!! You can see it from hispic below. :P

They have comfy leatherseats and a kitchen viewing mirror window where you can view the actual food preparation– a type of restaurant in Japan called robotayaki hence the derived name of theresto.

After the dinner, A and Imoved to the bar area with its sleek silver high chairs and glass tables and Imade sure to position myself right where Anne Curtis delivered her famous “I’mnot gonna give him up without putting up a goddamn fight!!!” line in No OtherWoman. Hahaha!! Just when our drinkswere served, the ceiling brightened up with a strong hue of red (it changes to different other sexy hues as well) while a DJ iscranking up some beats at the back. Nice! This one’s a Molome moment.;-)

The see-through glass floor is something worth mentioning as well. It is made up of something like a backlit "stone garden" that gives that Zen feel which is quite a contrast from all the other interiors. It made me a bit conscious while walking in my black pumps. :P

Warehouse lace dress, MNG skinny jeans, Zara pumps

And of course, I will not pass up on the most titillating part of the restaurant, the washroom. Hahaha!!! It's mirror-tiled mosaic washroom with a robotic arm. I don't know but I first thought of Lady Gaga when I went inside. LOL! On my first touch-up, I was vacillating if I should bring my camera but after I emerged out of one cubicle and saw a girl having her photograph taken by the waiter in the washroom, I decided it's but perfectly okay. Hahaha!! So here it is,

How flashy is it?? LOL!! For those of you who are soooo into bright lights and shiny things like me then you'll definitely enjoy the sensory experience here at Robot! :P

Fashion Friday: GPV

2011-11-17T12:04:00.001+08:00

Is it wrong to ask for a photographer for a boyfriend??? LOL!! I noticed that most of these famous fashion blogs I subscribe to have their respective SOs for their accomplice. Sometimes I wonder about their love story, is it something like the photographer fell for his model?? That's like the biggest cliché in the world. I mean, even Olivia Palermo's hot bf Johannes Huebl takes her shots and she publishes it in her official blog. Hmmmm, please take note future bf. Hahaha!!!

Anyway, my new blog crush is Nicole Warne's of Gary Pepper Vintage. She was a nominee for Most Influential Blogger of the Year. Nice. :) Her blog is also her official website for her vintage shop so she basically models her items there. I like how she recently plays with colors. She's very pretty and reminds me so much of our local actress Heart E. Now here are some of my favorite shots of her. Aaah there were too many so hard to choose. ;-)

Click More for some of my other favorite shots of her:

Happy viewing, happy bloghopping and happy weekend!!! :D

HTC Beats Launch

2011-11-16T00:50:00.001+08:00

The event I attended to last Friday at Republiq was none other than the launch of one of the coolest smartphones of HTC, the HTC Sensation XL. This phone with a large 4.3-inch S-LCD screen boosts of a powerful 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and sorry but I have to drop all the amazing features of this phone just to give way to my most favorite one - the Beats audio technology!!!!

Yep, for all the music aficionados out there, now this is the real deal! HTC partnered up with Beats Electronics (the company responsible for the iconic Beats by Dr. Dre) to create that superior mobile audio experience. So the users can "feel the music the way the artist intended." Love it! It's definitely going to be a new era in mobile audio. So what are you waiting for?? Go buy now so you can officially sing to that BEP song, "I'll be Rocking Them Beats!" Yeaaaaaaaaahh!!!! :D I sooooo want the pink beats headphone!! :P You may click here for the price and the phone's full specs. :)

More pics from last Friday:

Joy & I

Hanna & I with the Riches of The Amazing Race Asia ;-)

By the backdrop: I, Joy, Hanna & Ms Yam :)

Rocking some orange Beats with Hanna & her hubby :)

Party people at Republiq. ;-)

11-11-11

2011-11-13T00:50:00.001+08:00

Well to quote from one of my favorite website which I will feature soon, "They say it's a jungle out there, you have to dress up accordingly." :) That's what I wore for the 11-11-11 event I attended to last night.

Cut-out dress from PrP, faux snakeskin cut-out booties from H&M (I got these babies in my HK trip last January 2010 and they were only debuted last Friday, yays!!) and paired it with a CMG faux snakeskin clutch bag. :)

Tttttttttsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...... Hahaha!!!!

Green

2011-11-11T00:46:00.000+08:00

Me in a "waley" backdrop (as my brother put it =Þ), a pic with Mother dear and my Tita and another one using my favorite cheap transparent umbrella on a rainy Sunday. I got the brelly from a Japanese DIY store. I love it coz it gives me that European feel as they are not common here in Pinas.

I love the fit of that Dorothy Perkins dress. :) I opted for a simple look and paired it with my black Zara pumps. Here's a video accidentally filmed while taking that umbrella shot. :P

Happy 11.11.11. (☀‿☀) I was supposed to go back here but cancelled it again. Sigh, this is the 3rd trip that I cancelled for this year. :(

That shot was taken in Seoul 4 years ago. I better plan carefully next time. Tsk, tsk, tsk. But there's something happening tonight. Let's make this a memorable one. 【ツ】

Fitness Goals ☑

2011-11-09T01:29:00.000+08:00

Achievement. To wear a cropped/midriff top in the gym. Mahaha!!

It was the first time for me to try the new class Zumba last Monday at the gym and to make it memorable, I debuted my cropped shirt because I "feel" that my 15-min abs everyday workout is sort-of effective. LOL!

Good thing the female's locker is just next to the group exercise room I didn't have to walk that far. Haha!! And I almost shot everyone at the class this "pleading" look that says "Pagbigyan nyo na ako" since it's really a wish of mine to show some flabs in the gym. LOL!

Photo at the left is with one of my gym friend Ivan. ;-)

I have already ticked the box for my goal of doing a 21K this year. ☑ I don't want to say anything yet about doing a full marathon as I have a different thing in my mind. There was this one day when my FB News Feed were so full of pregnancy news/ upcoming baby delivery etc of them batchmates/friends when this idea came upon me. And no I'm not talking about getting knocked up (*roll eyes, LOL!*). My idea is this:

Can you see it in my shirt? That is my vision board. That was the shirt used for the Camsur triathlon!!! No you heard it wrong, LOL!! I initially wanted to do a triathlon but reckoned I'm not a fast swimmer (yikes!). But I believe I can do well on the biking part. So I wanna do atleast a duathlon next year. I wanna be sporty, naks naman!!! Ako na!! Haha!! Before I only use to take the rpm class whenever erm that dreaded time of the month is near. Sorry, this is again another classified TMI but I've been suffering for years (all of my life actually) and it was only recently that I found the cure. So consider this a top tip how biking before your period helps alleviate those crampy first days. It's very effective for me. ;-) It's just sad how I thought before that I can never be a sporty type of person because I always worry whenever that "thing" is coming. It prevented me from joining auditions for volleyballs or trying out any other sports when I was still studying. Tsk.

Anyway, so duathlon it is. I told my coach about it and he is not very supportive. Phhbbbttt!! But I think I can still change his mind since we attend the rpm class together. :P And maybe if he reads this and know how serious I am, he will think again. :P Diba coach? ;-) It's just weird how I thought of these things at the height of pregnancy news of friends. Maybe it's my mind's way of defending itself from not getting there at that stage of being a woman that might not happen anytime soon. :P But I don't wanna overanalyze things. I can't wait to do a post of my duathlon here in my blog. Ayeeeeeee!!!!! :D

KC Swears By

2011-11-07T11:56:00.002+08:00

This might sound like a TV advertisement I know but I'd just like to share how my curls were renewed by switching back to my old volumizer - Bedhead's Small Talk. ;-)

I totally recommend this to all those girls out there with permed hair. ;-)

It's not your cheap-o type of volumizer but that cute purple bottle can last for 3 months. And it smells sweet as candy too. Try it! ;-)

A Dose Of Ryan Gosling

2011-11-04T00:32:00.001+08:00

Sorry, this is such a spur of the moment post. But I can't get over it. Like I saw this yesterday but until now, I can still say, REALLY???? Ryan Gosling was a Disney kid??? Oh. Em. Gee. I didn't even know he used to be boyband material or that could sing for that matter!!! GOSH!!! I know, I know, I know as his girlfriend I'm supposed to know that right??? HAHAHA!!! But seriously, that just upped my ♥ ℒℴѵℯ ♥ for him like 100 times!!! :))

I die at the 1:45 mark!!! Even at such a young age, he's such a charmer!!! Look at how the audience squeals for him! Awwwwww......... In this video as well are JC Chasez, Justin T and Brit Brit. ;-) Thanks to Chico G. for sharing. :) P.S. I'm so fond of hyperlink-ing lately noh?? :P

Another long weekend for us. Cheers to the freakin' weekend, let's drink to that. Yeah, yeah!!! :D

♥♥♥

Tweet Bits

2011-11-02T01:27:00.002+08:00

I don't have any specific post for you today so let me just do a compilation of things that captured my attention for the last days. Some of them posted in my online notebook - Twitter! Haha!

#1 Halloween costume peg: Kim K as Poison Ivy!!

Oh and by now I suppose you already know she's divorcing Kris Humphries after 72 days of marriage. Yikes!

#2 LSS! Soundtrack of the long weekend should be Rihanna's Cheers (Drink to That!). I am also loving her other two songs - Fly (a collaboration with Nicki Minaj who wore a leopard wig in the video - a leopard wig, get that!!!! haha!!) and We Found Love (featuring Calvin Harris who's rumored to be her new boyfriend. :P)

"Got my Ray Bans on and I'm feeling hella cool tonight." My brother got for himself those sunnies that Rihanna wore in the video and I posted a photo here . P.S. I'm totally scheming how to borrow it from him from time to time. Hahaha!!! In the Fly video however, I'm totally digging Rihanna's red hair but I'm super entertained with Nicki Minaj's wig. LOL!

#3 Summer November. Just want to say something about the weather. It's supposed to be colder by this time of the year but nopes, it feels very summer-y. For the last two days, I had a back to back movie dates and I can't help but wear tube outfits. :P I watched Paranormal Activity 3 and In Time starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried.

I was feeling kinda brave after watching Paranormal Activity 3. But of course, what d'ya expect from someone who closed her eyes on the scary scenes?? Mahaha!! That I was able to tweet this around 7 PM.

@Cassey_Cakes: Wala namang kwenta yung paranormal 3 eh. - statement ng mga nakapikit tulad ko. Wahaha!

But come 11PM, I texted my brother asking his whereabouts and ETA at home so I can sleep in his room. Wahaha!!

#4 Hair. My hair is kinda messy already. The curls were gone. :( But I don't wanna go back to straight hair yet. I'm still kinda enjoying the messy hair while it doesn't look that awful yet. What you think? But I saw this photo from the web. I want my hair to grow like that. How I wish. Sigh.

And here are some of the Halloween outfits that I also liked:

Martine of Matine.biz

Alix of Cherry Blossom Girl. Once again she amazed me with her photoshoot found in her blog. Seems like Halloween is her favorite occasion. :P

That's just about it for me for now. See you all in my next post. ;-)

Baby Let's Cruise :)

2011-10-31T01:27:00.001+08:00

Spent the Wednesday evening last week with my family for a dinner cruise along Manila Bay. It was nothing fancy-schmancy although it wasn't exactly a "buffet" type as they claimed in the deal. XD But the food was good and it was a welcome change for a regular supper held at home. :P

Obviously, there's nothing extra special with the view at night. LOL! We're supposed to ride around 6PM but the folks were late (uuugh!) and so the sunset view was gone and we had to take the second batch at 8PM.

Hay naku. Mama is too nosy. She has this thing for asking around and investigating (note to self: future bf must be warned, lol!) so while waiting for the food to be served, she talked to some of the crew and learned how much they were getting. Imagine that! But it was sad knowing how much they were being paid per day. :( So before we get off the ship, she asked for the number of the crew and promised to refer him to someone we know for a chance of having a better job. Sigh.

To end with a happy note, let me leave you with this pix. Care to ride if I'm the captain? Hihi. ^^

Another long weekend without a plan for me. Sigh. Hope you're all having a good one. :)

Fashion Friday: Where There's A Mirror

2011-10-28T00:15:00.000+08:00

Haven't posted any outfits recently. Here's a compilation and a brief explanation why they're memorable. ;-)

Vesting

Worn last Sunday meeting after the 21k run. Legs felt absolutely fine (I love it when there's no pain after a run!) and I was able to sashay in these blush Zara heels. Vest is from F21 and black tube dress from MNG. ;-)

Worn at a meeting about a month ago. Had to pull off an "Anne Curtis" (according to my sales manager) by taking the tube coz I was utterly late for my meeting I can't find a cab. I was even stationed in the men's tube wearing this during the morning rush. Gosh, what an experience. I usually take the LRT alright but not in the men's and certainly not in this form. LOL! Pleated pants from Topshop and nude shoes from Spring. They were bought in Canada but recently found out they already opened a shop here in PH. ;-)

Short Skirts

On Sale. My new skirt which I got on sale from Topshop. Paired with WAGW striped jacket. ;-) Flats from Dorothy P. (on sale too!) Waiting for my scores from Mango. Hahaha!!

Something old. Again, at another meeting. Wearing a Topshop floral loose top and Maldita pencil skirt. My first to try a purple/gray combo. Purple shoes from Zara. ;-)

Excited for My New Dresses

Extremely excited for my close friends this weekend. My friend Liz is finally coming home from Melbourne and my friend Shiela from Singapore is giving birth. Yeeeeeeeeeey!!! :D Have a happy happy long weekend everyone!!!! :) :) :)

21K Conquered: My First Half-Marathon

2011-10-26T06:35:00.000+08:00

The Genesis

Itall started about 2 months ago when I asked NJ to join me in the AdidasKOTR. It’s a special event in which theyopened a new category (16.8K) and I was really eyeing on it. I felt like it’s time to raise the bar whenit comes to my running. But being thereal runner that he is, he told me that 21k is just about 4k diff so why not gofor it? To even persuade me, he told methat the registration fee is cheaper in 21K. The convincing came also with a promise that he’ll run with me for theentire stretch and that we’ll do some training together. And just like that, I signed up for my veryfirst half-marathon. :P

TheCoach, Bow!

I understand about the training, we were not able to conduct one single trainingbecause of his busy sked (he’s quite ajuggler of different jobs :P) so I trained on my own separately in thetreadmill for three days a week before the race. I also soughtadvice from some of my friends who are regular runners. Come October 23 4:50AM, day of the marathon,he was nowhere to be found among the sea of runners at the assembly area. Tried calling his number for so many timesand he wasn’t picking up. Seeing howprepared most of the girls came in the marathon with their water bottles belt (while I was just there trying to be cute with my pink fashion statement with my pink cap, shoes, armband, singlet and gadget), Ifelt so bare and ill-equipped for the run and even doubted if I can makeit.

Itwas the constant question, will I make it? Even when NJ called me up at 3AM to wake me, that was my very firstopening line to him since I had about 3 hrs of sleep only. He reassured me and said no pressure. It was comforting enough to hear that I cancome up with a banter right after and replied with “Ano yan, No Other Woman?” Onceagain I need to be reassured. The fearstems from a death story of someone who has an active lifestyle and yet didn’tsurvive the half-marathon. And guess whorecounted to me about that story, no other than NJ himself. What a motivator! LOL! And he was still missing when I heard the gunshot. Bravo!

Butthere’s no turning back, I squeezed myself too much in the crowd looking for mycoach that backing out will be absolutely mortifying so I turned on my SonyWalkman which is replete with my favorite gym tracks and started running. I was thinking to myself, “If this guy won’t show up, he’s sooooooodead!!!!” Haha! Since I was already in too much pink, Ididn’t wear my pink Swatch anymore (haha!) but I believe it was about 5 minutesof running when I was about to make a turn and I saw him among the last set ofrunners and called after him. I wasquite relieved. I didn’t have to slowdown as I know he can speed up and reach me and when he did after a few minutes or so the very firstwords he got from me were, “Alam mo paghindi ka nagpakita saken, hindi talaga kita mapapatawad!” Hahaha!!! I got stares from some of the runners and ooops, my music is on fullblast that I didn’t notice I was speaking a bit loud. LOL!!

TheMusic.

Arunner friend of mine who is known as DagulRunner in twitter told me that Iwon’t be able to sleep the night before my first half-marathon because ofexcitement. Actually, I wasn’t lookingforward to it, I also had another fear of that “female thing” coming at thesame day and I might just pass out on the road while running due to crampsthat’s why. Sorry, TMI I know. But I don’t know, there was definitelysomething about that day. Maybe it wasthe cake I had in the morning (Dulce de Leche) or anticipating my new favemusic in my mp3 player during RPM class (Afrojack’s Take Over Control) or thesight of Rovilson Fernandez of Amazing Race shooting up from nowhere during theassembly and stationing himself beside me (whileI was thinking, does he still remember me and our “mini online conversation” fromour event before? Should I say hi? Sigh.) I don’t know but I was definitely in agood mood. I was even singing part of mytracks out loud while running which warranted some stares from other fellowrunners but I didn’t care one jot. :P Heck,I think I could even rap Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass while running. Hahaha!! (Yes, I finally can rap it! ;-) There was even one time I sang this part ofSay You Love Me by Alicia K and Beyonce “Textme on my cellphone” and I could’ve sworn I heard this guy running frombehind me who replied “Sure.” Hahaha!!!

Eureka Moment

Anddon’t you just love it when the track being played really suits what you’refeeling at that very moment?? I DO. Takefor example after reaching the 10k, I can really feel my energy dropping down abit when I haven’t even reached half of the total distance and the songblasting on my ears was “I Need A Miracle” by Cascada and I feel like tweeting the first sentence of thisparagraph. Haha!! Then I had this idea, twitter should developsomething like a voice recognition software so that people would have to tweetbased on just what they say. It's going to be useful noh? Take running for example, isn’t that a cool thing?? Hahaha!!! Aaaaadddddddikkkk!!!! But really why not?? You see running really clears your head andgives you these “kewl” ideas. If someday that thing gets invented, I willsay you know I thought of that while I was running. Naks!!Hahahaha!! Ako na!! =))

TheRoute

Andwhile I’m talking about the eureka moment, I also realized that the route wetraversed is the very same route I take whenever I hop from Samsung office inthe Fort to HTC’s office in Makati straight to my way home alongBuendia. Yikes! I thought we’d even reach the LRT station butwe already turned along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue. Next time I'm on a taxi, I'll remember how I ran this route for the marathon. :P

The Appreciation

Ormaybe it was the fact that I started to appreciate the 21k. All the runners take the run seriously. I didn’t observe anybody walking even aftermy first hour of running which was really great! ;-) It motivated me too. I walked only for a couple of times (notlasting one minute) just for quick recovery except for the one where I made avideo at the flyover. :P The other videoposted previously was shot while running. See, I can be quite daft with my camera just like that. Haha!!

TheResult

Iwas extremely satisfied with my performance for my first 21k. Based on my training in the treadmill, I canfinish 1.5k in 15mins. So if you do themath, my mind was set to finish the run in 3.5hrs (by walk or by walk,haha!!). But at the finish line, I saw2:31 and I was so happy I was screaming while running towards it. I never thought I’d run it that fast! :D Well okay it wasn’t fast but still, I’m superpleased with it. And who knows with more21k, I could change my mind and join a full marathon someday?? :P

TheRating

Thankyou Adidas KOTR for this great run! Itwas very organized. Water stationslocated every 1.5km, enough marshalls on the road, hassle-free claiming of thefreebies, medics availability, etc. I’veone complaint though which is about the singlet, I was originally assigned witha blue/green one but I’ll let it slide as I was able to buy the pink/yellow onebefore the run. It was amazing how Ienjoyed it so much that I can’t sleep when I reached home I just want to tweetabout everything. Hahaha!!

PPPPPPPPPPPIIIIICCCCCCCCSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS: :))

It's the first time for my pink shoes to be used outside the gym honestly, I'm so protective of it. :P And yey, so happy for my 21k finisher's medal! ;-) I'm sooo pink during the run. Since there's already someone called KikayRunner can I just be the Pink ~~Panther~~ Runner? Hahaha!!

My brother and sis-in-law participated in the event too. ;-) They ran 5k. Look at the combination of the singlets, so nice! :D

21k conquered! :D

Adidas KOTR - Preview

2011-10-24T09:54:00.000+08:00

Here's a short clip of what happened yesterday.

21K baby!!! I MADE IT!!!! :)) More details on the next post. ;-)

Sensei KC

2011-10-21T02:30:00.000+08:00

It’sconfirmed. I’m fulfilling one of thethings I envisioned myself doing when I was still studying in college –teaching! :D The set-up is differentthough, instead of doing it in a traditional classroom, it is conducted 1:1 online. And I am not teaching a technical course, butrather one of my favorite subjects next to Math – English. Lastly, my students are located very very faraway – somewhere in Japan. :P

I’veseen these jobs featured on TV before. Apparently, the demand is so great and the country undoubtedly has gottoo much talent to offer on this hence the boom on the industry of offshore /outsource language learning services. Well why not? After completing mybasic Mandarin classes, I learned how important it is to practice the new languageyou just studied. And given theexpensive fees on English classes enrollment in Japan, this kind of e-learningis definitely the way to go.

While yesI said that almost everyone may possess the basic skill of English proficiency,still this job is not for everybody. You’vegot to have the heart and the passion in order to become an effectiveteacher. Not that I’m saying that because I considermyself as such but I intend to be one. ;-) I don’t know I’m just excitedabout it, after almost a month of training I’ve had regular students who keepon coming back to my classes which I believe is a good indication. ;-)

I alsolike the working set-up in such a way that I do it in the very comfort of our homeand only during my free time. ;-) I’d like to discuss more but I’ve justofficially boarded this week and I’ve got so many things yet to encounter. They say learning is a two-way street and I'm very eager to share my knowledge to my students and also get the most out of them. :)

Oh, here's what my profile looks like in our company's website. :P

Nike I Run Manila

2011-10-18T02:08:00.002+08:00

They say the more the merrier. I agree. But really, 8k runners?? Just for one category - 10k?? But were the organizers of this event able to anticipate what will happen during the run?? It looked like an "Alay Lakad" for the first few minutes. In some deep Tagalog, we would describe it as "hindi mahulugang karayom." Naks! Haha!!

We decided to leave our things in Fitness First at the Fort. It was my first time to visit that branch and as expected after the run, I overheard a girl complaining about it in the locker. She opened her whining in conio language with these words, "OH. MY. GOD. I therefore conclude, I am claustrophobic." Hahaha!!! Perhaps in another time and place, it would've irritated me that these rich kids who don’t have any experience of riding the LRT/MRT (coz the crowd kinda reminds you of a ride in the tube in the morning, lol!) is complaining about such a petty thing. But she has a point. I mean really, I did not sign up for this run just to feel what it’s like to ride the LRT during the morning rush coz I very well know the feeling thank you very much. :P I know a lot of people appreciated how the sea of runners painted the roads red (bordering neon orange actually) with that Nike shirt on but maybe they should’ve opened more categories for the run if they really wanna pride themselves with hitting that number - 8K (coz I believe they extended the registration date). Phhhbt. XD Seriously, some of the participants were even on their phones texting and calling. Again, from that same girl in the locker, “Where’s the sense of urgency people?” Hahaha. I mean, come on, I saw coach Rio in one of the routes but decided against stopping from the run just to have a photo-op with him. And yes, I did bring my camera while running. Hahaha!!

In times like this, you’d appreciate having a statement of your own. I saw one old woman who channeled a Nicki Minaj by donning a pink wig. So cool. Haha!! Because if not and without your race bib pinned infront of the shirt, then how would you identify yourself from the photo albums of the photographers? And yes, that is my point. Hahaha!!! It’s something I was not able to anticipate for this run. As well as the thought that it starts at 5PM, it was so hot when it started I forgot to slap some sunblock on my skin. Or have any visor or even bring my pink Sony Walkman! Aaah, signs of aging. Hahaha!!

Well eventually the night wore on (my first to join a night run) and it became a bit breezy then in the evening but my goodness, the roads were poorly lit!!!! It wouldn’t take someone with half a brain cell that it’s dangerous, I hope nobody got injured from stepping onto something in the dark and slipping. Err, not all the routes are smoothly paved you know. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

I'd like to highlight that they provided some party-rocking music in some parts of the route but I was totally dismayed when they handed a letter at the finish line saying that the freebie of thumb drive (in the form of a Nike rubbershoes, so cute) cannot be received in the same day and will just be delivered to our home addresses instead. Something about a delay in production, is it because of accommodating too much runners???? This thing did not happen in We Run Singapore. Just saying. :P

Okay, okay, okay. Enough blabbering. Let me just end it with a photo. ;-) It's your city, run it! Saaabeeeeeeeehhh???? :))

Let's see how the Adidas KOTR will turn out this weekend. :)

The Real Steel/ Kashmir =)

2011-10-16T00:46:00.000+08:00

Surprise, surprise. This movie is such a delight. =) I like that they infused it with some twists about robot dancing, I was chuckling on those parts, haha!! And that cute boy Max certainly has a future. :P More than anything else, of course Hugh Jackmann, what's not to like about him? ;-)

I asked A out because he told me Hugh is one of his favorite actors. Also, I knew he can relate to the film since he is into Muay Thai. Actually, there was this one time I was looking into A and then all of a sudden told him he has a resemblance with Mr. Wolverine. I made a collage of it (click More below, haha!!!) He shrugged the thought at first but I just knew deep inside he's flattered. Wahaha!!!

This movie has that "astig" factor. Astig can be closely translated to kick-a**. But sorry, the real steel for me would have to be the one I'm beside with. :P Ah, the feel of those arms beside mine. :))

We had dinner afterwards at Kashmir. I've been craving for Indian food for the longest time and it was only satiated last Friday. If I'm not wrong it was voted as the Best Indian restaurant last year so it was worth trying. And I was surprised when I went inside their Manila branch, I didn't expect it would be a "fine dining" experience. I like the design of their interiors, very pleasant with a soothing Indian song playing in the background that is so "soul-stirring" according to their website. :))

It was late when we arrived since we were not that familiar with the location [while we were lost out there looking for it, A regaled me with a little history about the place Kashmir in India ;-)] and we chose to be seated in the couch behind the curtains. ;-) We ordered some of their best sellers like the kebab and what a surprise that it is both our favorite, the chicken tikka masala. ;-) On the side I asked for some of the things I sooo longed for: the poppadom, the buttered naan, the laasi. Aaaah!!! =)

Some of our topics include Korean languages, haha! We talked about Korean words in a Middle Eastern restau. This guy simply amazes me with his knowledge on languages. ;-)

And for the look-alike photos, here it is. Ssssssssshhhhhhhh!!!! :))

Something wrong with my eyes or what??? Hahaha!!

Fashion Friday: Sterling Style

2011-10-14T01:09:00.000+08:00

Why like her?

1. She's pretty.:)

2. She likes pink. <3

3. She can look chic with just laidback outfits. :)

4. She loves leopard too. ;-)

5. She's into baking and she posts about all those sweets and confections in her blog. She's into fitness too. Her boyfriend (nosy me, haha!) is a fitness trainer. ;-)

She's Taylor of Sterling Style. :) Go check out her blog here. Have a fashionable weekend! SBT! =)

K-Drama Love: 49 Days

2011-10-12T02:57:00.000+08:00

It’sbeen a while since I last posted anything about Korean drama in this blog. Yes I do remember how gaga I was about Goong/Princess Hours proof of which are the videos of it I made and posted in Youtubewhere I compiled all of my favorite scenes. I can’t believe I have that ample time back then. Haha! Untilnow, I can still receive positive comments about them and I will always say ifI have a peso for each view then I probably earned atleast 400k pesos from them. Haha!

Recently,I got addicted to this drama being shown in the local channel – the title is PureLove or 49 Days (so as not to confuse with another local show entitled 100Days).

Shin Ji Hyun was enjoying absolute bliss as she was about to marryher fiancé, Kang Min Ho, but her perfect life is shattered when she gets into acar accident that leaves her in a coma. She is given a second chance at life bya reaper, but it comes with a condition: she has to find three people outsideof her family who would cry genuine tears for her. In order to do this, sheborrows the body of Yi Kyung, a part-time employee at a convenience store for49 days.

Whatintrigued me when it was debuted in the local TV (Tagalized version) was one ofthe main girl (Nam Gyu Ri/ Shin Ji Hyun) – she’s just too Barbie doll pretty how is that possible – was myinitial reaction. :P But then the timeslot was too late so I had to forgo seeing it every night. Until recently they moved the timeslot andwas able to catch up on the story little by little until I wasn’t able to takeit anymore I finished the whole thing in Youtube last weekend.

Asto how the Korean would type it, T,T. Waaaaaaaaah. I cried river oftears for this I didn’t know what kind of make-up I would do to make my eyeslook normal the next day. LOL! It has an unexpected plot too in the endwhich makes it a really really good drama to watch. I don’t mind being a blubbering mess,sometimes it just feels good to have a really good cry. Haha, what a drama queen. :P

Asidefrom a very good storyline, here are the other general reasons why Koreandramas are such a hit. (1) Too good looking actors and actresses. Yes, I developed a crush for Han Kang (JoHyun Jae) in here. Haha! (2) Korean fashion. Koreans are in my top list of best-dressedwomen. The way they dress is always somethingto look out for. ^^ (3) Theiraffectionate scenes are too wholesome and yet they’re FTW! The romantic couple can show their love foreach other by simply teasing each other and making all these faces and yet itall leaves us tickled pink inside. Haha! (4) Their OSTs are great too. I justdownloaded the list of their songs and I think it’ll be officially my LSS (lastsong syndrome) for the week.

Andon watching it with just English subtitles is such a learning experience. I was able to recall some of the usefulKorean phrases I learned when I was still working for Samsung and prior togoing to South Korea. =) It’s funny when Oppa Alex introduced me to hisChinese friend from HK and asked me to speak to him in Mandarin, I blurted outan expression in Korean instead. Hahaha,funny that! Learning languages is alwaysfascinating. ;-)

Ok,for the last personal superficial note why I’ve come to love this drama. The main star’s curly hair. It’s the same as mine. Hahaha!! Walang kokontra!! :P

The Single Diaries: On No Other Woman Movie

2011-10-09T19:34:00.003+08:00

After a week of waiting, finally, I was able to watch the movie No Other Woman yesterday.

Ram (Derek Ramsay) and Sharmaine (Cristine Reyes) are married. Ram is a furniture supplier in the resort owned by Cara (Anne Curtis). Curtis and Ramsay developed an illicit relationship. Sooner than later, Reyes learned about the “affair” and that is where the story started to pick up.

The very first scene that struck a chord was the confrontation scene between Ram and his wife Sharmaine. I can so much relate to it. There she was saying something to this effect, "Hindi ko dapat ginagawa to. Pero ginagawa ko dahil mahal kita." As the legal wife, of course she didn't have to stoop down to the mistress' level by scheming and engaging in catfights with her. But can she help it?? To say it in Tagalog,"nagmamahal lang siya." Or as how Barbra Streisand put it in a song, she’s just a woman in love. That was soooooooooo me. Well, a long time ago, a thing of the past. Cue in the second touching scene,

Ram breaks it off with Cara and leaves her in the room. A few seconds later, we see a devastated woman running after him bends on her knees and begs him to come back. My exact thoughts were, “So, this is supposed to be the other woman’s scene, why was I the one who did it before?” I shrugged the thought of seeing my face on that woman in the yellow robe and focused my attention on Anne Curtis’ acting instead.

I guess it’s an instinct when you’re in love; you fight for him no matter what. You unleash that feisty persona in you that will say something like in the words of Cara, “I’m not giving him up without putting up a God-damn fight!!” But up to where?? That is the question. I once did it but I lost the battle.

Somebody asked me what will I do if this ~~shit~~ thing happens to me again? The initial reaction is then what kind of a stupid person am I to have made such a wrong choice again?? But it is inevitable. No matter how careful we are in our choices, it’s true what was said in the movie “The world is a big Quiapo with many snatchers” – something like that. Snatching up of boyfriends/ husbands so to speak can still happen. But if this happens though I truly hope not, I believe I know better. I’m a big subscriber to the idea that, the best revenge to a girl who stole your man is to let her have him because a true man can never be stolen - something like that. I realized it's not worth it. I'm far too good to put up with such stuff. I should just save myself from all the embarrassment and retain my dignity.

And should a break-up happen to me again, I have a woman to emulate me on how to behave in a ladylike manner in this situation. I so wished I acted like her but it was late when I found out about her. She was described in James Ingram’s song – There’s No Easy Way to Break Somebody’s Heart.

She could've gotten angry

And made me feel like a guilty child

But I realized that never was her style

I wanted her to hurt me

And not treat me like a friend

I wanted to to say there'd be someday

I'm come crawling on my kneeds to ask her back again

But she acted like a lady 'til the end

Oh, what a lady

I thought that she'd break down

But she smiled at me and never made a sound

And I guess she understood in her way

Cause her silence told me everything she could not say

When it falls apart

There's just no easy way to break somebody's heart

Fashion Friday: J'adr

2011-10-07T10:15:00.002+08:00

She will be included in my list of those persons whose closet I wanna raid, the editor-at-large (I recently learned of this term :p) of Vogue Japan Anna Dello Russo. Check out how festively she dresses in her blog here. Here are some photos. :)

According to Wiki, she owns about 4,000 pairs of shoes!!! 0_0

J'adore!! Have a fashionable weekend! :D

Basics and Two-tone

2011-10-05T01:45:00.000+08:00

Basics: Blue & White

Two-tone: Pink/Purple and Blue/ Green

Ballet flats from Zara. Purchased about a year and a half ago, worn twice for this occasion. Story of my life. :))

If I looked like an angry bird in that twisted photo on second to the last post, this rosette design of the shoes reminds me of them pigs in that game. Aargh! Still I blame it on my nephew's addiction to that game. Do you know what was his very first SMS to me? Angry birds rio. Amazing 2 year old!! :))

Xplosion!

2011-10-02T23:44:00.000+08:00

Fitness First held a charity event last Saturday at SMX Convention Center entitled Fitness Xplosion. It wouldn't hurt to support a cause while having fun working out so I bought a ticket for myself and danced the afternoon away to my favorite retro and modern songs.

I arrived late though and this is me in my freshest state (featuring coral lips) with gym friend Karen. :)

We were told that even gym instructors of the health club's most popular programs taught for free during the event. That's nice. :P

Not only that, the event showcased also the newest programs of Fitness First: Drums Alive, Sh'Bam and Zumba! I'm curious much but currently I'm attending a lot of programs already (retro/jam/hiphop/pump/rpm, lol!) so hopefully I can find the time to try 'em soon.

Photo gallery below: post work-out with Lura and Paul the retro instructor. ;-) The different branches came up with color-coding shirts and I was informed about the red hue for Manila but I don't have any red shirt and I don't think it'll match my pink shoes noh? :))

I wasn't able to try the newest release of Body Jam which was slated in the evening because of some commitments but in Mall of Asia, I was able to do some shopping (can't wait to feature the new dresses, har har!) and a much needed massage at Wensha! :P

I remember trying a combo promo in this massage parlor about a year ago but I was surprised that for the foot massage, a guy came reporting to my service. Initially I was like "okay I think it's harmless he's just gonna do the foot massage" but then to my surprise he started with the shoulders and back (with my robe on of course). I thought it was complimentary 'coz of course an hour of massage just on the foot alone doesn't make much sense and I really appreciate the extra pressure he can put on with his kneading so by the time he's done with my upper body I was feeling part-sleepy already. But all that drowsiness disappeared when he started working on my legs!! LEGS!! What the H??? Okay, I wasn't in a position to complain (or maybe I was) but all my nerves were on full alert while he was doing the massage because he might ya know,err take advantage or something. Well, so far I think I wasn't harassed but next time I'll make sure to choose a female masseuse. :-|

Feeling laidback teeny-bopper last Saturday with those pinky sneaks! ;-)

Thursday Photobooth

2011-09-30T01:03:00.001+08:00

Me & my SG-based colleague Ms Dynah, business lunch at Cafe Breton Greenbelt 3.

We had a "crepe-y" lunch with a very "crepe-y" dessert too, La Pinay. :)

In the afternoon, spent "officing" at HTC Philippines and whoa!!!! the ex-Samsung girls were reunited!! :))

That's Ms Yam, Raine, Me, Joy & Hanna. :)

Post office hours, contemplating on buying yet again another leopard shoes. Hmmmm.....

I have a lot of leopard shoes already but these babies.....*sigh* What do you think?

A good distraction, eating. The yummiest chicken in the world, Bon Chon. :))

And it was capped off with some cosmetics shopping with Joy and a coffee treat from her at night. :) For the final picture,

Taken using the soon-to-be-released HTC Sensation XL.:D SBT!

Look Who's Here

2011-09-27T23:31:00.000+08:00

Well, aside from typhoon Pedring (international name Nesat), my childhood bestie Mae Ann is here for two weeks. :D

Girlfriend can't take it anymore being away from her hubby who's been here for 3 weeks to take care of some papers for employment in Bahrain where they are currently based. Loooveee!!!! :D

Typhoon Pedring go away, Me and Mae Ann wants to play.... :P

Keep safe everyone.

P.S. I am loving this new app Molome for my N8. ;-)

Manila Int'l Marathon

2011-09-25T23:52:00.000+08:00

What’s new for this run? Having no sleep, nah. New running buddy, check. Tell you about him later. New strategy, check na check! Pak na pak! This was the first run in which I did not do any walking which I think is amazing given that I hadreally no sleep at all. I was just running/part-jogging the whole time. And when I say, no sleep, I meant ZEROshuteye, absolutely zip! Sigh. I blame it on the green tea frappe I had lastSaturday. L

Anyway, maybe the reason for thatis the challenge being set by my new running buddy NJ. He initially wants to keep his pace with mineand I took on my high chair and told him something to this effect, “You knowwhat I’m used to leaving my friends behind during runs and it’s high time foryou to raise the bar and for me to experience how it’s like to be left behind.” Taaaaaaaaaraaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!Hahaha!! Anyway a few minutes after therace started and I saw him already running at the other side when I still haveto pass the 3K, 5K and 10K U-turn slots, I realized there’s no way I can beat this guy. LOL! But tell me how it is possible? His best record for a 42K is 4 hrs and 47 minutes (my eyes went likethis, O_O) and he has participated in the Bataan Death March in which he ran straight for 17 hrs. I DIE!! ZOMG! He’s the one who continuously pushes meto join a full marathon (just the very thought of it makes me wince) saying my legsare still “virgin” until I experienced a 42K. But then again, why would I want tode-virginize my legs? Right? LOL!! And because too much exposure kana, I should stop talking about you here. Haha!!

So, the verdict? I actually left my RFID but I took note ofthe time when I finished. 1hr 10mins. And I therefore conclude, this isn’tmuch of a difference if I changed my strategy from my previous run-fast andwalk thing. Haha!! But atleast I am doing it properly this time,maybe at a slower pace but with an improved stamina-minaeh eh, waka waka eh eh. Hahaha!!

The race was set somewhere along Roxas Boulevard, assembly/ finish area was infront of Rajah Sulayman's statue. So, who has childhood memories of bathing by the sea in Luneta???? Yaaaaaaay, that was some good 20 years ago...It's so unclean now. Tsk! :(

I seriously don't know what's up with those identical poses. :)) My legs are hurting and I still need more sleep. Off to dreamland. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

We Like Colors :D

2011-09-22T01:47:00.000+08:00

For this color-blocking trend, the track that is in my head is my nephew's favorite song from his Barney collection. Everytime he is here in our house, he will constantly ask me to search for it in Youtube. Gaaah, even I am sick of it but my mood changes when I see his face light up and I can't help but smile when he starts to dance. Aaahh, so precious. :D

Here are some of the other favorite color-blocking photos from different sources:

Isn't it so nice to look at? :D Strategically placed, contrasting, yet complimentary, bold and bright colors paired together. :) Color-blocking is looooooooovvvveeeeeeeee.. ;-)

We can also take a cue from my favorite fashionista Olivia Palermo:

SBT!!!!

Travel Tuesday: G'night Jakarta

2011-09-20T00:50:00.000+08:00

Again, for lack of something to post for this week (sorry guys :p) I thought of doing a travel Tuesday feature. Haha!! It's funny because I don't have enough traveling experience to make a series of this but what I do know is that I do have "unblogged" post of my previous travels which I'd like to share here (in lieu of my purported memory loss someday, hahaha!!!). Also, this is not an original concept, I copied this from a celebrity blogger which I follow. She's 28 (like me) and has been to the same number of countries (sooo jealous :p) and she intends to keep it that way as she grows older. Check her blog here.

Anyway, for today, I'd just like to share this shot taken at the 19th floor of the apartment we stayed at in Jakarta. This was taken that Monday night when we learned the news that we're gonna be extended for two more days because Mt. Merapi was having some "issues" (lol!). We didn't have any plans so before swimming, Lisa taught me how to take some night shots using the D80. :D So here it is. :)

I just finished my photog classes then and now I haven't been using the camera (aaargh, sorry Wil.) I miss my girl Lisa too she's been in Oz for tooooooooo long now and will only be back by next month. I believe our next travel will be in Indonesia too but this time in their beach. Yay, can't wait! :D

The Kardashians & Leo

2011-09-15T23:02:00.000+08:00

Is it safe to say that one of the reasons why the leopard trend is still very much in these days is because of the Kardashians?? :)) Well, I'm not really their fan but it is always without fail that either one of them will be spotted in this animal print each time I check some Hollywood scoop websites. :P

It's amazing how I've been collecting items in this print for about 2 years now, I thought it is something temporary. But it's good right? I can make better use of my things. So, today's business attire is a new top which I got very very cheap from a local store here, G. Gozun.

I've always wanted a shirt or any top in this print and I thank my friend Joy from stopping me to buy a ridiculously priced one (x6 of this one) from Zara early this year. :P I really have to have a police friend everytime I shop. Haha! Anyway I paired it up with a Mango pencil skirt and my leopard low-heel shoes from Aerosoles. ;-)

Speaking of the Kardashians, or Kim for this matter alone, I got myself some inner underwear that can bring out the Kim K. in you. LOL! It was too bad my hips are really too non-existent I even had to cross my legs to make the effect more pronounced. Wahaha!!

Happy weekend you guys! :D

Thank You Shamcey! :)

2011-09-13T12:29:00.000+08:00

Today I woke up feeling happy but baffled at the same time. I remembered my blog and realized I don't have anything to post today. :P I've been too busy I know, I wanna write about the new career I've taken on the side but nothing's final yet so I don't wanna spoil everything. :P But it is one exciting thing for me!! :) At the same time, my errrr "lurvelife" has taken quite an interesting turn and it's soooooooo not normal that's why I'm getting confused at the same time. If you don't have any clue, take a cue from Mary Macgregor's song....." _________________, feeling like a fool." Yay!! If gay friends are to describe it, "Ako na ang kumukulot ang hair hanggang Sao Paulo, Brazil!" Hahaha!!! Well, actually it is not that funny coz I kind of don't know what to do about it.

Sao Paulo Brazil crowned the new Miss Universe today and thanks to my job, I was able to watch it (ssssshhhh!!!). Absolutely rooting for Miss Philippines' Shamcey Supsup and as always my favorite part would've to be the evening gown and the QnA portion. And is it of divine inspiration??? Coz I sort of found the light to my questions from her answer.

Q: Would you change your religious belief to marry the person you love? Why or why not?

And to quote the last part of her answer,

"If that person loves me, he should love my God too."

Thank you Shamcey for that answer. It is very enlightening. :)

And Congratulations for winning 3rd runner-up!!! :D Hats off also to the beauty of Miss Angola!!! What can I say?? Sparkly gowns are always FTW!!! Hahahaha!!!

All-4-One/ Color Me Badd Concert

2011-09-09T00:44:00.000+08:00

Fast forward to Color Me Badd’s opening, with their original video (circa 1993) being played in the big screen behind them, my initial reaction was “Who knew color-blocking was already a trend back then??” And for the guys no less, hahaha!!! If some of you can recall their video, they were wearing two-colors for their top (orange/green, blue/yellow, pink/yellow, blue/green paired with black slacks while they are dancing to their song, hahaha!!!). But only three of them made it to the concert.

It's entertaining that at their age, they can still shake their grooves to their hits. And at the same time, make everybody "kilig" when they mellowed down to The Earth, The Sun, The Rain. Aaaah, "I will love you for the earth in my feet, I will love you for the sun in my sky, I will love you for the falling rain.........." ♥♥♥

Don't you just miss their songs???? ☺

As for All-For-One, who didn't fall for their So Much In Love song?? They sang it in A Capella. Gaaaaah, I think I'd like it to be in my wedding tracks. Paaaaaaaaaaaak!!! Hahaha!!! Who could also forget their hits like I Swear and I Can Love You Like That??? Kaka-miss!!!! :D

The two bands joined together to perform MJ's hits. Audience went wild. :D

The best part for me was when Color Me Badd sang "Close to Heaven". Aaaaah, this is one of my all-time favorite songs. I remember this being a hit when I was in Grade 6 and then feeling like I was "in luurrrrve" back then. Yay!! :D I know the entire song (even the Spanish part!!!) and I'm just too ashamed to share with you the video I captured. It has lots of screaming. Hahaha!!!

My concert craving for this year is already satisfied. Special thanks to NJ for accompanying me and making this happen. At the eve of my 28th, no less! :)

Carroty :)

2011-09-07T02:18:00.001+08:00

See? This is what I mean. When fashion experts announce a certain color for the season, particularly something that is non-existent in my wardrobe, I regard it with fresh interest and then take a shine into it. This orange thing is not an exemption. Just look at how it slowly crept into my wardrobe starting with these babies from Zara. :P

Last Sunday, I wore it with an orange bag I got from 168 mall. Hehehe. :P A friend from the church loved it. Yey! :D

Outfit log last Monday. Since it's kind of bold in its own already, I am for the moment pairing it with black dresses first to be safe. Above and below black dresses from MNG.

The bag is something I fooled my sales manager to believe as something super-expensive. Hahaha!! You can order it online here.

And lastly to complete my look, I decided to match my lipstick color too. Haha!! This coral shade from Revlon is such a fresh take, I didn't realize I could carry such carroty lips since I'm no make-up expert. But I received positive comments the very first time I wore it, so it is love at first swipe for me. :D

I'm loving orange already. :))

Lem's Perfect Date

2011-09-04T23:44:00.001+08:00

Perfect!! I love this latest TV commercial of my brother with one of the most beautiful and talented actress of this generation, Angel Locsin. J This is the project I told you I was so excited about. Haha!! Angel's sooooo pretty, that goofy face of Lem at 0:40 mark should just be effortless!!! Hahaha!!!

The reactions I got from her solid fans in Twitter are so heartwarming, they seem to love her so much. And most of the comments in Youtube says that she really is like the "cowboy" girl in the video below in real life. Here's the TVC, hope you like it too. J

Here's a sample photo behind the scene. J

Ways to Wear: Blush Vest

2011-09-02T01:45:00.000+08:00

The vest was featured already in this post and again, for lack of good planning during the long weekend, I just decided to do some "dress rehearsals" and shoot. So, I thought of showcasing ways where I'd wear the blush vest I got from Forever21.

#1 Cover-up for Dresses. First dress is a floral one from MNG.

#2 Color-blocking. Tis one's a sexay dress I got on sale from Warehouse. It's kind of hard to do justice using this dress alone coz of the back detail. Yay! Either I just wear it on the beach or covered up or catch a cold whilst wearing it. NOT!! :))

You can easily guess I bought it for the bold color (aside from it being only Php700 that is. :P)

#3 Blending. The pleated trousers below is something I've been hankering for sometime. I wished they made it longer but I love the coral color and the pleats plus it's 70% marked down in Topshop. :P

My inspiration for the color-blending are these:

#4 Layering. With another dress, a black one from Dorothy. Shoes are the precise color of the vest from Zara.

And I must really make good use of the holidays in the future. Pffft.

The Single Diaries: 4th

2011-08-30T23:49:00.001+08:00

Just when you thought all of them are the same, someone walks into your life and blows you away. Sigh.

I met Alex.

His Iranian name is Aschen. I iquipped right after saying “Kutcher?” coz I initially heard Ashton. Pfft. Roll-eye to myself. Blech! :)) I know right? It’s crazy; he’s like the 4^th already. When I met the 3^rd one, I already pre-empted the discussion the moment he uttered his opening lines. I was like, “Let me guess, you are Persian?” Nod. “And you are taking up dentistry?” Nod. “How did you know?” Blah. He’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back and I promised my guy friend not to entertain the likes again.

But promises are meant to be broken, yay! Aschen is different. First off, he doesn’t associate himself with his countrymen here in PH. He hates how they behave themselves here. To quote him “they think it is paradise here” referring to their ways of partying and having a good time which is so much different from the strict kind of life they have back in their country. While it’s true, I’m slowly learning from my “social experiment” with all of them, that the political condition has become worst in Iran, Alex didn’t give up without a fight. Just before he came here, he was put behind bars for two months for publishing an article against the government in the newspaper. He briefly told me how he got beaten down helplessly while inside the jail and how if not for his mother’s frequent pleas for him to stop he wouldn’t have left the country.

He wanna be an architect. Actually he is just using this open land to get his papers for Australia. *sigh* But he still loves his country so much that the moment there’s a slightest hint of change, he’ll come back in a heartbeat. How very noble of him.

He is also into Muay Thai. In fact he’s preparing himself for a match in the next months and has got me invited already. I don’t think I have the heart to see that handsome face of him get bruised again. Sorry call me shallow for being weak on good-looking men but really, he’s a Justin Timberlake lookalike! But even so, I’m all set to see those 6-pack that’s no doubt lurking beneath his jacket. Yays! He’s so strict on his diet that I can’t even tempt him to try my favorite Korean ice cream inside the store.

Almost two hours inside the Korean store and there I was spellbound with this guy in front of me talking about their land’s history. In all fairness, thank Heavens for my slight interest in history as a subject when I was a sophie I was able to give out what I hope are witty comments. The discussion even touched on Cyrus the Great’s era mind you. Hahaha!!! For someone like me who’s woefully ignorant on politics, keeping my attention in itself is already saying something. He told me I remind him of his ex-girlfriend back in his country. Yays!!! I ain’t sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

I know I’m breaking my promise to my friend, but atleast I can prove to him he’s different from the rest and that whatever happens, I can say he is a person worth knowing. I hope I’m not wrong. 0_0

Hair Talk - Part 2!

2011-08-29T01:02:00.001+08:00

I never thought I'd say this soon, but I miss you already.................

LONG HAIR!!! It's been a month since I last combed my hair, whadaaaaaaap with that???? *sigh*

Don't get me wrong, I love having the curls for a change and having that "instant glam" factor to every wardrobe and everybody feels the same too. It's either they like the "look update" and they wanna have it too or just "the curls itself" which I think are two different things. Anyway, they're both flattering. However, I miss those idle nights when I'll just sit infront of the mirror, making faces while brushing my hair 100 times, 100 times, 100 times......... Haha!!

To foreign readers, there's this ancient belief here that if you brush your hair repetitively at night, it'll grow longer faster. :P Of course I don't subscribe to that idea but my way of doing it is just to show how I cherish my crowning glory. Vanity, you may call it but it's not like I do it often. Tissssssssss.......

Actually, the not combing" thing has its advantage too. It saves me time from hair drying and combing after every shower but what I can't handle is the hair loss. Boo hoo. :( Whenever I'd see loose strands I feel like...... I really feel like crying. Waaaaaaaah!!!! :((

Hey, this comes from a woman whose tip on the hairwasher at the salon depended much when she hears the magic word "Ma'am ang kapal po ng hair niyo." (Your hair is so thick.) Enough said. I pride myself for having tons of follicles in my head that's why when my Aunt (who had her fair share of hair styling during her teen years) told me that my hair might throw a tantrum on me for what I've recently done, I was never prepared for what I'd feel. It's like I hit rock bottom. I was depressed for days. Yay! But somehow I was able to get through it and decided to give more TLC to my hair. Which is by investing in more products. Pffft. But here's to wishing to the hair fairy that once I decided to go back to my original hair, it'll still grow normally. Beautifully. Please.......... (-.-)

For now I enjoy its lightness, which means more hair whip at the gym without the pain in my nape. Ha ha ha!! I'll wait for the day when the curls would eventually loosen up and turn like that of my friend's Michelle as seen below. :)

friends that curl together.... :))

Meanwhile, here are the products I use to care for it....

Pink & Yellow

2011-08-25T22:53:00.000+08:00

Two happy colors, agree? They will have to be my color peg for the color-blocking trend this fall. :)

My 600-peso dress from Greenhills. :)

Accessories:

My necklace is a very cute umbrella from Accessorize. :)

Check-out my gadget's cutie cover. ^^

SBT!

The Venetian Suite

2011-08-24T02:21:00.002+08:00

At this day exactly two years ago, according to a new feature in FB, I posted something like "I could live in a hotel forever." I believe I posted it once upon a business trip in SG while I was checked in at a very nice hotel along Orchard. It was very timely because just the other day I was going through some of my photos and landed on my Macau album dated January last year. There's this particular folder of my shoots of my Venetian suite and I remember I wasn't able to post them in this blog and scheduled to post it today. Okay, it's a company trip and everyone's supposed to bunk in with another colleague but it just so happened that my roomie is set to arrive the next day. Yes, I lived like a queen for a night at room 324 of the Venetian. Sigh, to be able to experience it again. Here are some of the photos I took for sharing. :)

And just like any other normal girl, I'd stash away the toiletries for souvenir purposes. :P Do you do that also? :)) SBT!

Gold on Lace

2011-08-21T22:11:00.001+08:00

Lace dress from MNG; Shoes from Aldo; Necklace from Accessorize; Bag from CnK

A Taste of Persian Grill

2011-08-20T02:57:00.002+08:00

At long last! If you've read this post, you'll know that I have long wanted to try this restaurant. This week was my country manager's last business trip here as he is moving to bigger responsibility somewhere in the Middle East. :( So for his farewell dinner treat to colleagues here in PH, he chose to dine at Arya in their branch at Podium. We had this for starters.

These different kinds of spices are supposed to add flavors to the pita bread and I believe I already had too much for the entrees. This dip platter is composed of dip platter made up of Hummus, Motabal, Tzitziki, and Mirza Ghasemi and I don't know which is which. :)) We're too much caught up with the Singapore office gossip that no one bothered to know. Haha!! Basta, they all taste good with the bread. You know me when it comes to bread, I'm a HUGE fan! :D

After a 7-course middle eastern meal in an authentic Kebab restaurant at the top floor of our hotel in Noida sometime last year, it was established that I'm not a fan of lamb. So my picks for the night were something similar to my Indian cravings at New Bombay, the Chicken Biryani and the laasi (yogurt) for the drinks. They don't offer the ube (yam) flavor here so I opted for the strawberry. Btw, how cute is that traditional tea glass beside the laasi? The branch at Podium is dimly lit it was very hard to take photo of the porcelain. The setting is different from their other branch just outside RP Manila, part of the reason why I was curious to try this restau, coz it looks too "golden" and lustrous from the outside whenever I am passing by at night after gym. Haha!!

It was too bad that after an adequate servings of the bread and the cream of onion soup, I was already full before the main course. But just the same I tried the chicken briyani, I was wrong to expect it'd be spicy like that in the Indian restaurant but just the same the chicken is tender. I was able to try our other colleague Ms Dynah's beef koobideh which is made of ground beef grilled and formed into skewers shown above. The other two guys ordered the lamb curry, as expected. :P

All those koobideh, joojeh and other Persian words in the menu only kind of reminded me of someone. I use to hear similar sounding words whenever he's on the phone, haha! And for my realization that night, I tweeted something like this:

Yun na!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha!! And that is the reason why I never bothered to go out with the third anymore. LOL!

Anyway, we will definitely miss our country manager Su. He's the only family man I know who likes to shop a lot, the other guy I know of is single and that is my pseudo-couz Wil. LOL! He always like to shop here in PH for his family because he finds it cheap here. :P He may not read this but I'd like to thank him for everything I learned at work and hopefully I see him soon..........maybe in Dubai???? :)