My dress Back Story

For every dress, there is a back story...I found this one in my ukay spree. Modified the back for a little modern flare. I was going for a little vintage, somewhat conservative  for the 50th wedding anniversary we are attending and finding this one is just sweet. I know a few people who are so good at finding good stuff in an ukay ukay. Be it fifteen pesos or at a steep P1500. Ukay -ukay is a term used for pre owned clothes even shoes or bags and what not sold at a some very low prices, some of these goods were actually relief from other countries which for some reason ends up being sold (third world problem ). However, we buy in the justification that at least we are doing the earth some favor by reusing  and recycling. think this is one of my innate  skill - the eye for good finds in an ukay, my mom who my father lovingly and teasingly call Rq (Relief Queen) when he sees her having bought one too many stuff from these stalls. My cousins - Jp and Arlene and my bestfriend Sheree. 
Thanks to my mother for giving in to my fashion craze but at the same time providing balance she is the voice of reason. For instance, I wanted a dress with plunging neckline she will adjust it up to a level that shows some skin but just enough not to look scandalous, she adjust the hemlines and suggest styles that I would realize better fits me. We always reach some compromise because she is the one seaming the clothes while I'm designing. So did I mentioned I got this dress for 35 at one Sunday ukay ukay at our hometown? 

New three things thursday ( late for last week, early for this week)

My good health

Friends who offered to help financially and offered prayers for my ailing cousins 

Travel invites from my Boracay friends 

Premium on health - Ive had my blood sample tests results last wednesday and  so far its been good. I had tests for cbc, creatinine, tests to determine if I have anemia, cholesterol level in the blood, etc., and so far the only not so good finding is that I have borderline increase in the uric acid level in my blood. So the doctor who happens to be my college schoolmate from UPV, gave me diet guidelines and med as maintenance until the holidays (considering the binging during christmas and new year celebrations) and I am scheduled for check up next year, January.  I guess I just need to be active more and be more  conscious about the food I take and about health and fitness in general.

 The past months have been a challenging one for our family. Two of my cousins have been diagnosed with renal kidney failure as a result of their very high creatinine  levels. Since they are sisters the theory that it has something to do with genetics and it affects more women than men  alarmed me and so I have my blood tests for creatinine levels and this  other tests. And thankfully it all turned out negative.

I've witnessed how my ailing aunt who is unmarried  suffered  during her sickness and made day me realize how sad it is not to have your own kids to take care of you. I know its not expected that kids should take care of their parents but as children we have that certain moral reponsibility to at least look after them when they are old,  ailing  and no one to look after them. I've read an article by Margie Holmes about kids  being expected to be the pleaser for parents and subconsciously its ingrained in our system to make them happy even to the point of actually doing the things to please them  and following their will rather than  what we actually want for ourselves.Not that its a bad thing however we should pave our own path and follow our own dreams.  And it also teaches us that when we become parents, we should support and give everything to the best of our limits to our children and not expecting from them anything. We  have to let them be themselves by guiding them in the proper ways and let them live in the way they want to and not be imposing, we give them wings to fly but let them navigate their flights on their own. I guess, it is a culture thing that is ingrained in us as children to look back and always have that "utang na loob" which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it is a very ideal trait -  we give back because of our love for our parents and our elders but not out of guilt.

For for some of us nowadays - women who preferred to be  single and not have kids, it is betterto prepare for any eventualities, like have an insurance, practice being healthy and always have a back up plan. How true is the old adage, "health is wealth".

My cousins, Tess and Trix are sisters. Tess is married with two kids she is in her early 40s and a teacher. Last June she was hospitalized and was found  out that she has renal kidney failure.  She was in and out of the hospital due to other complications. Ou family  is united in giving whatever financial, moral and spiritual support we could give. As of late she is out of the hospital, having once a week dialysis  an improvement from the previous months which requires for her a twice a week procedure. She may be able to come back and work as a teacher again, albeit with medicine maintenance and strict diet. Truly there is  power in prayer.  In the case of Trix,  while processing her application for the cruise ship job placement, it was found out that she has high creatinine and so her application was on hold pending to the clearance of her test results. Thru some pledges from some friends and the support of her siblings she was admitted to the hospital this week. She is also showing signs of improving after her blood transfusion. We are still united in giving her prayers and encouragement. Truly, health should be a premium. 

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/acute-renal-failure-topic-overview

 On a tangent, Im not giving up on finding that significant other yet, George Clooney just got married with Amal Allamudin this week.She is in her late 30s, very successful in terms of career and waited for that special someone (George Clooney no less)  women like us should be inspired and learn a thing or two from her. That we should be complete in ourselves and meeting that special someone will be a bonus. 

And the Travel - 

I was about  about to go to Boracay last week and I actually scheduled a leave from work for it. Then my host there suggested that I go with them on a roadtrip. I couldn't resist the invites because it includes going to Oslob to watch the whale sharks . 

And so off we go... I am forever grateful for the friendship i forged with Sir loenard Tirol  of Boracay. He is like a boss and an uncle or a dad who treats you like family. 

This trip has been amazing, i met up with some friends, I got a job offer, I met new friends, I saw my niece, nephew and the new baby of my bro in Cebu...Fun is an understatement!

 My new nephew, Noble Mathew

 Oslob whale watching

 Le Parisiene - Cebu

My mom, the cool one... (Last night convo with the mudra)

Its grandparents day today. I believe its only been  only been a few years that this kind of celebration has been created. As Filipinos, its ingrained in our culture to be respectable to our elders so this kind of celebration is a big deal to most of us. I greeted my Mom, tonight. Mother, happy grandparents day. And she replied, youre not my grandchild, youre my daughter. Lol! Thats ok youre still a grandmother.  And she said, ok , thanks! Kids, please remeber to greet Lolo and Lola today....

From recent past - On drugs, alcohol and an Aokify summer # latepost

I've been missing out on Steve Aokis concert  in the country. And that has been remedied as of late.   While on our way home after spending  the Holy Week in Boracay,  I learned that Cedric Gervais and Steve Aoki will be performing in Epic as part of Nestea’s event. Although I’ve decided that I will be back for the labor day weekend , my resolved to spend the holiday in the island became  even more concrete. April 30 I was on my way to Boracay with a friend.  It was even double whammy because there was Cedric Gervais the night before Aoki. Plus my company is a co sponsor – I just made sure my name is on the list to get to the event. Although being a co sponsor did not assure lots of free tickets even if you are an employee because there is a main sponsor so lots of insanity ensued while trying to get the passes for the event. It was shall I say a kinda beg, borrow steal, prostitute yourself #notreally to get the passes but it was all worth it. (Im saying this with a little exaggeration of course)    I was not very familiar with Dj Cedric but a little research on him I learned that he did collaboration with Miley Cyrus and the original summertime sadness by Lana Del Rey was mixed by him.  I followed him in Instagram shortly.  Getting to his concert was a breeze But Aoki is a different story, he has been in the country several times and performed in Manila, recently. He is the number one touring DJ having gig schedules  around the world almost twice or more in a week in a different country. I also learned that he is not into drugs and alcohol and I am in awe of him considering his energy while performing and his crazy antics. The cake throwing, the raft sailing with the audience, the champagne spilling ( he doesn’t drink,  he just spits the champagne out) . A lot can be said about the evils of drugs and how it has took the lives of so many people, many of whom are celebrities. I guess there are even more unknown victims however, celebrity deaths just get published and all. Edm  parties indeed are an avenue for drugs I've known this from friends and Ive actually been offered once or twice to try but my curiosity never got the better of me.  I've been to a lot of slinky parties in Boracay every holy week some years past and I could say, drugs are aplenty. I wont  judge these people doing drugs to party. I was almost convince that maybe, some people rationalize that its better than taking large amount of alcohol. Personally,  at one time I've embarrassed myself for getting drunk to the point of passing out. This guy i was with asked me why I would rather have alcohol than drugs because is it more socially acceptable, this same guy told me about Aoki not on drugs or alcohol and I said, Oh I love him already, and so he asked me if I don't like him coz he is into all of this shit. I did like him to the point of actually looking the other way and actually trying to tolerate this vice, tried to understand the reasons why people take these stuff and all the other things such as LSD, MDMA and all those slang. My major is psychology and I understood how these drugs can give altered state of consciousness but I still felt naive when talking about these stuff but well, its another story. Good sense still prevails and that all the percieved convincing fleeting fancy effects of drugs such as creativity and life changing trips will never eclipse all the bad effects these drugs made to most people, to some families and the society in general. 

http://kroq.cbslocal.com/steve-aoki-discusses-touring-throwing-cakes-at-fans-drug-use-in-edm-working-with-linkin-park-more/

Steve Aoki is the brother of Devon Aoki the actress and model who is also an It girl few years back having starred in one fast and furious franchise.  I don't know but I kind of have a thing for Japanese men. Im not sure though if my crushing Aoki, is entirely because of his chinky eyes or just my remnant college obsession with the long haired, artsy type. 

The beach area of the Epic bar where the concert is happening was already filled by the time I got in.  He was playing boneless while most people are still lining up me included. It was enough to get everyone excited. As I got in the area it was filled to the brim  literally I don’t have the energy to actually get near the stage as you can barely move . Luckily I found some space in the press stand who are filming and taking photos of the concert.  I tried to make friends with these guys from this local channel . So I just stayed there the whole time. It was quite far but its directly in front of the stage. We had small talk, and was a little embarrassed when my date came in. I find it funny because when some girls try to squeeze themselves to be on that ramp where I was standing and start to dance I was the one who reminded them to take it slow as not to damage the camera of the station covering the event. I don't know if my concern was real or was it because I was jealous i cant dance myself. My date came in later because he met some friends  and I when I texted him about my position , ( he said  cest la vie - "such is life" ) true enough - whats important is that I was there and enjoying the moment and seeing it all. The photographer took amazing photos of girls having their faces caked and all those happening in the concert. Aokis set was done with the usual fire works but we stayed and partied till the morning, the Dj already played Sun is coming out which was very fitting..

It was indeed one labor weekend to remember because of my crush - Steve Aoki -  I hope hes coming back next year. I still don't know who I will be with  but I will make sure I definitely be on guest list, au naturelle. 

Check this links: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10152429463502969&id=308222742968

 

 Fascinated by this photo from his Instagram taken from the boat of our host, the Tirols of Boracay. Sir Leonard and Bong Tirol of the White house resort....

 But kids stay away from heroin #drugs

http://www.drugs.com/celebrity_deaths.html

Me want these! ( for now) ask me again after a month or so...

Wish list

 Of course, I wish for world peace, love, tolerance and justice however from  time to time we all have that longing for something material - something tangible that we want for ourselves, something fancy and sometimes not necessarily needs but wants.  Here are mine as of the moment. 

Rayban clubmaster; the foldable one. Decidedly modern but has been updated from the 90s. 

 Ive always wanted the shoes worn by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill - the yellow Onitsuka Tiger, I guess if I have them I might want the yellow jacket and track pants as well...

  Another sneakers I am jonessing would be the Converse  Jack Purcell x Play by Comme des Garçons ( I actually want all things by Play now - from shirts, to perfume and also their own sneakers)

He also have a collaboration with house of Missoni for Converse. But the Missoni I only want is the flipflops by havaianas . A friend of mine went to Brazil but for some reason she didnt find this print for me. I guess it just came out at a limited time only. 

Comme des Garçons is now open in Manila in One Rockwell. I have always liked japanese labels like Uniqlo or Daiso. Rei kawakubo the founder is a japanese designer, its just surprising that the brand name is in french meaning -like boys and i also have to google the correct pronunciation. Its nice to dress up in androgynous fashion from time ro time, like the loose boyfriend shirt, although they have the ladies section of course. 

I am inspired by strong women and start ups by women. I will have to self gift Girl boss by Sophia Amoruso founder of Nasty Gal, the number one online shop. Or the book authored by british It girl - Alexa Chung.  Even Nicky Hilton is a writer nowadays but i think ill just have to stick with Alexa. 

Our 90s staple which is easily becoming a classic - birkenstocks sliders. I just wanted the Arizona, or the Madrid in any color.

The first time I saw Jeremy Scott's design for Moschino featuring McDonald was when I slept over a friends place a few months back. His tv was on default at Fashion tv channel . He is a straight guy and I appreciate the fact that he understands fashion and that simple gesture of thinking about what I like to watch was well thought of. I think its fun to see mac donalds infused in designs that look like Chanel. Its very pop culture with a touch of couture. The bag and the iphone cases just tickled my fancy...

These hot rollers are just going to be very helpful. Ive been looking for it at shops from this city but I never found one. I guess i just needed to order online for this one. My cousin in Manila own one and ive been using it every time I am at her place, but she got it as a gift from Singapore. 

  

Nicki Minaj is one lucky girl to have received this Flawless necklace from queen Bey herself. I also want one for myself. Not necessarily encrusted with diamonds like this one. I can go for fancy.... This just created some major girl envy...

How nice it would be to celebrate some life's milestones with some Pandora bracelet or neckpiece and charms.

Another inspirational designer is Tory Burch. The item I am lusting are her Glam up Fitness trackers for Fitbit...

  

 10 years ago I would never have thought i would ever need a spanx. But now i think this is going to be  more than necessary. ( i just don't want to elaborate why, wink!)

  

I know how expensive Herve Leger dresses are. But what the hell, I just wish i could have the swimwear. Maybe this will motivate me to slim down like crazy...

 My birthday happens to be in December which is also a gifting season, Santa may use this as a reference for my gift registry. If all else fails, I can appreciate tickets to anything. ( by anything I mean concerts, clubs, music fests, restaurants, movies and what not) 

  I wish I would win the lotto so I can buy all tese stuff for myself and not expect anyone else to buy for me!  Wait, where is my ticket? 

Thee things tuesday

If I may adapt the concept of believing in abundance and naming the stuff that made us grateful... Office food are aplenty 

Im just happy that as I get to workI have food in my locker. Our assistants are the sweetest, they would always reserve soe food for me.  The native kakanin is from my officemate from out if town, we also have goodies from Bohol brought by our boss who came from her meeting there. And our snacks from one of the oldest whole in the wall eatery in Iloilo - Robertos featuring their queen siopao. This one is a must try when you're in Iloilo...

This is my usual morning view when I walk. Our town plaza is filled with nature - tress and vegetation. Thankful to some volunteers who would keep our town clean and green. Above is the Catholic church, the Saint Vincent Ferrer church which is famous for healing, granting wishes and the like.Sometimes the power of faith is just overwhelming.

I am not catholic but i do get in and pray from time to time....

Sam Smithing August

In my room, current mood - "inspired",  (whatever that means - for lack of a better word maybe) musical scoring is by Sam Smith , the whole In the Lonely hour album,  well for the past months its my sound pipe every waking moment I am in my room. Its like my soundtract for The most part of July and  practically for the whole month of August. This line of the song - leave your lover, leave him for me always makes me smile.. ( Sam Smith is a self confessed bisexual and I feel for him even if I am straight because theres  a part of me thats " bading kun mag mahal" in vernacular. Translation would be : someone who loves like a gay lover and proud) I guess,  thats the way how to love, anyway. Am I right? I am a great believer in loving without cutting corners -'when it comes to it no half baked - you will get crashed and burned but you don't give up. At least not right away, or at least if the object of your affection is deserving enough of that kindA love. I still have to write about that  and that deserves a  tale for  another day.  

Speaking of August I just felt like  the month passed in a blur. Was it because I had a great time or is it because i just went thru the motions. Well, this month did have some highlights like the time I spent in Manila with my family and relatives and time I spent with my bestfriend. The issue weve finally resolved about some guy I have no intention of talking about  since i guess he already got his proper airtime ( more than be actually deserved) but maybe My Sam smith choice of music is subconsciously related to him because I learned that this album is actually about unrequited love.. But im not dwelling with that right now since love is supposed to be free. Because this month Ive finally felt like ive truly moved on. I used to think of this line from the movie Brokeback Mountain,  when I was reading reviews of some great movies that i want to watch one of these days ( the other one would be - Fight Club) I still haven't watch these movies and this line " I wish I could quit you" and I did. Maybe some people come into our lives and theyre just passing by with no intention of actually staying and thats still cool. I never saved his number on the pretense of actually having to memorize it but well maybe consciously or subconsciously I have the feeling that hes just passing. Again too much for that. 

 On a tangent,  practicing gratefulness is great but sometimes we tend to forget because of the mundaneness of the daily grind or sometimes we tend to even focus on the negative stuff that happens that usually is a result of our own doings. For the past 3 days, I have been walking in the morning with my dog. And then it occurred to me how amazing it is that I could have this time, and then I remember that blog I was following where she has this 3 things Thursday where you should think of the 3 things you are grateful about. so since it was a Friday I thought of inventing my own 5 thing Friday. Right that time I actually thought of so many things its actually a lot more than 5. My dog, the breakfast i share with my parents where we can have small talks, my mom who can still sew clothes, the Catholic church of our town - where I could enter anytime and have a little prayer time . I am not Catholic but i do enter chapels and churches and thankful for these establishment that they may offer solace to anyone needing them. You know sometimes we just need a silent place and be on our own and hear our own thoughts or oftentimes to connect with our own spirituality or talk to someone we deemed as a higher being or someone we thought we could talk to as a friend. This dinner with my friend, the clothes I want to share with my friend who is leaving for abroad for a job, and the list goes on. 

Speaking of friendships, I have the privilege of reconnecting with my very good old friend who is a lawyer and someone I always have very sensible conversations with. He is actually a colleague on a business trip in town. And since I am one of his closest friends I would always have lunch or dinner and drinks with him. We would talk about work and business on a minimum but we would always talk about our personal lives.  I always have that crazy, funny and most often out of the box perspective and learnings from him. How he said that whatever experiences or  challenges we may go thru lets just be thankful we have the opportunity of going thru them because these will make us better. I have opened up to him a few years back about my cancelled wedding and he did offered good advices I would still remember up to now.  He even wrote a blog about it Me and some friends wee in tears after reading. It was a long time ago, I have very vague recollection of that experience .  But I will always remember what this lawyer friend once said, and this was the time when we were in Boracay attending one of those JCI  NatCon parties  (maybe a little alcohol infused convo) that for compelling reasons married people should be separated.  I wasn't married but once I have planned on getting there. And now it is my time to ask questions and listen to him since he is now going thru some life's transitions in his marriage. I think its one of my inherent strength or weakness if you may, because  i can make people open up to me. Probably because i ask a lot of questions, or maybe my interest is genuine. Im not at liberty to discuss of course but I was a friend to him, not necessarily offering an advice but an ear to listen. And then I thought how nowadays it is a usual happening for people to separate, like they say some people even celebrate it because as they say no good marriage ever ended in divorce. I still have to attend or be invited to one of these parties though.  

This August i realized also how I spent too much on unnecessary things,  like money for some stuff I dont need, Hello on line shopping! I was actually proud of myself for not spending much for  IRL shopping in Manila but the lure of the e commerce proved too much too handle. But well sometimes, a girl needs her retail therapy. I am sometimes guilty of buying some stuff i don't need so I can post in Instagram. Well pretty little things are always instagramable.  Meanwhile, I am also actually proud that I have decluttered a little bit when I sold some of my stuff on my garage sale to help my ailing cousin even just a little, it may not be substantial as to cover for her chemo or something but at least it could go some ways, or how  I may  have invested emotions on things which are not really worth investing emotions on, like some friendships or some people. At the end of the day, I have the few best ones that are constant. Still at the end of the day, all these misgivings are still no matter how cliche it may sound are learning experiences. Theres always a take away as they say....so September is a looked forward to month  I will be in my second home in Boracay to meet some friends from Australia and since  its the beginning of something the -  beer months, the bday of my bestfriend in October, my moms bday in November and my own birthday in December. 

Love and light!

 

That friday is one eat day... 

 

The highlight is the dinner at a japanese resto and a wine session after.

Earlier is my lunch date @ Horizon cafe, the tallest resto in the city so far. Iloilo is known to be an island which is below sea level so building cannot go as high as other cities, but the view of the horizon is breathtaking in this restaurant. I usually bing guests here for dinners and this is my first time to have lunch and see the beauty of the city from the top at daytime. 

 

Sam Smith of course accompanying me in my Not so lonely hour...