such a tease

..life that is. small challenges or hindrances tend to show up just when the one thing i'm excited about is nearing as if i have to learn to be more patient than ever or that it's some kind of test, determining whether i deserve it or not. i don't know with you but i'm the kind of person who easily gets excited about something --- like buying shoes, an upcoming family trip, starting a new job, waiting for harry's home cooking or getting my new mac. i sometimes lose sleep over something i'm excited or anxious about and my mind can run like crazy. like when i'm about to sleep, already comfortable under my sheets and i suddenly think about potentially setting aside money for a pair of shoes or for plans of buying a new camera, i'd turn on the lights, pull out my calculator, notepad and pen and get going at the computation. i know, i know, i'm crazy. *wink*

what i'm saying is, a lot of things lay before me now that i am all too excited about. and if it weren't for my past life-teasing experiences, i would have flailed my arms with desperation now with all that's happening to me. something big is up and despite my little mess ups, i hope that in the end, life grants me this. after all, i've taken deep breaths, pulled myself back up to roll with the punches, firmly having faith that it is for me. 

skirt used as tube top - thrifted

mustard cardigan - thrifted

skinny jeans - chillypapa

gold flats - sensini, bangkok

rings: blue stone and gold leaf - carbon find | orange howlite - dane's giveaway

bangles - all gifted

cutout pattern necklace - gifted from ivy

work watch - swatch

brown sunnies - carbon find

we're supposed to be in color

remember when david and mary-sue fought over the remote and they got warped into the black and white world of pleasantville? that movie has got to be one of my most favorites. not only are the era costumes amazing and fun to look at but i also loved the plot and message of the movie. i was and will always be amazed at how pleasantville slowly turned technicolor as they discovered and loved incredible things about themselves. fiona apple's rendition of 'across the universe' made the movie even more memorable.

on to another awesome subject, i want to thank everyone who joined my 300 followers giveaway. it was really fun reading your questions and challanges and since i got so many interesting questions, i'll answer them 5 at a time. here goes:

where do you see yourself in 5 years? (holly koochitt) whoa! just my first question and i all of a sudden feel i'm in a job interview! well, although it hurts to think, i'll be 31 by then. if things go according to plan, i will have had successfully established a ready-to-wear clothing line while raising a 2 year old. i plan to still continue to maintain this blog and yes, i'd still do outfit posts in maternity clothes. 

do you wanna go back to bangkok with me? (aisa ipac) yes! i would love to go back to bangkok with you...it would be amazing to have such an awesome shopping buddy especially since we have similar style choices and love finding cheap stuff!

how much did you spend in your bangkok vacation? (penny ilagan and ladawan) since we booked our flight 5 months prior to our trip and with a seat sale promotion at that, we got our round-trip tickets for only P6,700 ($149). with the help of my sister planning our trip to the tee, our hotel accommodations + tours (elephant tour, elephant ride, floating market, safari world and temple tours) + food and travel expenses cost us only P14,000 ($311). shopping expenses were only around P6000 ($111) and yes, i shopped til' my feet hurt like hell that i had to give up walking to the street corner to taste these awesome, humongous crepes (biggest trip regret..hehe).

can you name top 5 cities you want to travel? (elle gomez) can i name non-cities too?hehe. if i had all the money in the world, i would love to visit ho chi minh city in vietnam (or all of vietnam for that matter), go back to hongkong and just enjoy the buzz, the food and the street fashion, lounge in santorini, greece because ever since i was a little girl i have always found that place to be so enchanting, be in constant awe in paris, france because who wouldn't right? and of course, visit the most famous city in the world, new york city!

if you were to raid one's closet, whose closet would it be (eunice) this is without a doubt mary-kate and ashley olsen's closets! okay, okay, the question asks me to choose only one so i would have to say mary-kate olsen. here style is just amazing ---- vintage and bohemian with a pinch of rock and she has this effortless bed-head look that i wish i can attain (but then sadly, i'd look like a dog who just got dried off from the rain). i love her shoes, her clothes, her oversized bags, her unexpected accessories (ie rhinestone curtain necklace over a worn-out vintage tee), i love her in the lace alexander mcqueen dress and that she and ashley have established such incredible clothing lines.

this is it for now. don't want to bore you with more stuff about me. *wink*

polka dot fifties skirt - thrifted

sheer top - linea italia

beige camisole - borrowed from sis

braided camel belt - pratunam, bangkok

camel military booties - forever 21 courtesy of karla bautista

bangles: orange with splattered print - DIY | yellow wooden bangle - chatuchak, bangkok

necklaces: charmed + vintage car - carbon find

brown sunnies - carbon find

not what i expected part two | giveaway winners!

okay, so i need to grab friday night's photos from armand's camera but since i won't get them til' monday then i'm blogging backwards. it's saturday night (actually, early morning sunday since it's already 2 AM). came from dinner with my best friends and a quick stop at taproom, banilad with armand, his boyfriend derrick and philip of fashion toy gun. it's philip and mine's first time to meet and i thought it would be a perfect time to get together, what with a fashion show at taproom, banilad. philip and i talked about so much on the drive to banilad and it was refreshing to talk to someone mostly about fashion --- someone who can relate to me and know other style bloggers and my need to have the jeffrey campbell ticks. disappointingly though, the night ended with our outfits smelling of smoke sans the chance to catch the fashion show. we waited for 2 and a half hours. nuff' said, i was disappointed.

nevertheless, it was nice spending time with friends, both old and new. i wish we could have ditched the fashion show and just had some dessert at fudge. the cheesecake delight sure sounds better than 2 hours of waiting. this makes me resolve to only attend events that are highly publicized. but i don't know, i'm all for second chances. will still visit taproom soon, only since ladies get free drinks.

white top with lace detail - pratunam, bangkok

brown denim acid-wash shorts - props

camel braided belt - borrowed from sister

gold ballet flats - sensini, bangkok

brown bag - platinum mall, bangkok

bangles: amber bangle - props | faux gold layered bangles - gifted | blue polka - hongkong

necklaces - props

ps. philip says his outfit is all thrifted. amazing. i think he's way better than me in finding awesome stuff in thrift stores.

on a brighter note, here are the winners of my 300 followers giveaway both on the blog and in facebook:

congratulations guys! i will contacting you soon. thank you for your support for vanilla ice cream. hope to see you more here! mwah!

regrets over ample coverage

i don't have too many regrets in life. sometimes i wonder what if, especially for unfortunate events like a falling out with a best friend or a tragic accident but i manage to brush them off, comforting in the thought that everything happens for a reason. one thing i do regret though is cutting off all of my maxi skirts for shorter ones to wear for the super sunny days here in our country and when i say sunny, i mean really really scorching hot. coincidentally, just as the weather here in the Philippines is getting a tad colder and i'm longing for my maxi skirts, the long garment has also graced a number of runways for fall/winter 2010. i have always loved the bohemian and feminine feel of maxi skirts. it gives me a reason to be lady-like but still be allowed to tuck a part of it in when i sit down, just like how we used to do in high school. those girls who went to an all-girl catholic school, admit it,  we were taught social graces in classes but in classrooms when the teachers are not around, we sometimes sit with our legs apart or tuck in our skirts in between them. haha!

yellow floral-printed maxi dress - props

black cardigan - thrifted

black beaded sandals - people are people

brown bag - chatuchak, bangkok

long necklaces - carbon finds

rings: rectangle jewel stones - carbon find | round white stone - props

bangles - chatuchak, bangkok

a thousand years ago (in college actually), i made a maxi skirt out of a pair of denim jeans. it took a seventeen magazine DIY, a pair of strong scissors, a huge-ass needle and all the free time in the world. this is the end result. please excuse the scruffy face of a chinky-eyed morena who doesn't know how to smile then. paired my denim maxi skirt with a pair of chuck taylors, a black studded belt, simple black tee and the used-to-be amazing hoop earrings. i was ghetto back then okay? LOL.

anyway, there's two more days left for the 300 followers giveaway --- a chance for you to win a denim acid-wash polka dress and a pair of multi-colored stone earrings. enter here!

classic never goes out of style

to resolve my dilemma in picking out the grey and camel-colored shoes i needed, i asked two friends if i should go with the clogs or the classic booties. one told me to choose the clogs as they are very much on trend right now and only a few people are wearing them here in Cebu. i thought about it and realized that yes, clogs have hardly touched cebu --- well, not the cool kind, at least. the other friend told me to choose the booties as it is more me. i wondered if my friend thought i couldn't rock the clogs and defensively asked, "so i do you mean i won't look good wearing clogs?" he was surprised by  my question because that's not what he meant at all, to which he explained, "choose the booties because you have more a classic and timeless style."

when i shop, i always look for something that i can wear again and remix with my other clothes. i'd look for something that i can still see myself wearing in maybe a couple of years. for shoes, i always look for a pair that i can pair with a dress, jeans, shorts or a maxi skirt. with being overwhelmed in choosing among so many amazing shoes, i almost forgot what my real style is. shame on me. i have nothing against clogs. in fact i am so amazed at how other style bloggers rock them. i must admit though that i was very much surprised at how far the clog went and i think it will go farther than expected, it not having reached most of the philippine stylistas yet. maybe by january and the next months leading to summer. however, the clog is not for me. in the end, i chose a boho strappy pair of camel shoes with wooden heels and a pair of grey booties. it took me hours to pick them out and my sister even called me out for choosing similar styles for my shoes but that's me and at the end of day, it's about how i feel wearing them. 

polka dress - platinum mall, bangkok

black peep-toe booties - gifted from harry

long black cardigan - thrifted

white braided double-length belt - pratunam, bangkok

necklace: leaf and small clutch bag - carbon finds

gun-metal bangles - carbon finds

rings: clustered white beads - chatuchak, bangkok | owl - carbon find

brown sunnies - carbon find

which shoe to pick?

i think every filipina fashionista knows it's such a pain trying to order stuff online because the shipping fee is more expensive than the price of the item. i once tried to order a $24 pair of shoes from forever 21 and the shipping fee to the Philippines is $34. so we usually wait for a friend or relative in the U.S. to come home so we can hitch a space in their 'balikbayan' (take-home) box. since my sister and her fiance have a friend in new york and they're getting a box filled to send here, i took the chance of purchasing shoes for my sister's wedding and have some pre-ordered by some of my friends. filling up the box as soon as possible could mean that i'd be rocking my new wedges earlier too.

i never thought buying shoes would be such a headache. with this chance to purchase amazing shoes online, i've spent hours checking styles, sizes, color and price. i may have bookmarked 3 out of 30 in a day only to realize that i may not need them and have to go through the process again the next day. there's just so much to choose from. i mentioned this on my shoe post last june that though i love to have lots of shoes, i always tend to buy those of the classic colors --- black, brown, camel, grey and white. to narrow down my choices, i listed down every pair i own with each corresponding color and realized that i needed grey heels after my fave one died last april. i also needed a pair of camel ones because the cutout heels gifted from harry have loosened up and are now a bit big for me. i picked out brown wedges and silver platforms for my sister's wedding and i'm now down to picking my grey and camel ones. the question is, should i purchase the on-trend clogs? or the classic booties?

white tunic - thrifted

giraffe-printed shorts - pratunam, bangkok

gold ballet flats - sensini, bangkok

eiffel tower necklace - carbon find

plastic faux gold bangles - gifted from india

braided bead cuff - chatuchak market, bangkok

rings - carbon finds

work watch - swatch

worn to death

there were periods in my life where i'd choose a piece of clothing as my favorite and never stop wearing them until i wear them out or in the case of my pleated khakis, until my cousin called out my attention that i've always been wearing them. i think all of us can relate to this --- having a shirt or dress that tends go through the washer more than it should for its own sake. 

in the early years of grade school, i had this 'rosalinda' floral dress with cross straps at the back that i never stopped wearing, even to play chinese garter with friends in the neighborhood. in 5th - 6th grade, i had a pair of short overalls that i wore almost every week because it was just sooo comfortable and i loved styling it in different ways just as Tai, played by Brittany Murphy (R.I.P.), did in Clueless when she was at a party with Cher and she had nothing else to do but style her overalls. in high school, i wore the aforementioned pleated khaki pants to death --- with white tank tops or button-up shirts and my brown platforms (ala Spice Girls). i went through college and couldn't stop wearing my trusty old vintage tee that i thrifted which had vintage cars lined all over the front.

now i think this stripe tee with sequined pockets is going to be my new overused piece of clothing. i wore it on the last day in Bangkok and right after it went through the laundry, i had to wear it again for a meeting with an accessories designer. right now, it's sitting in my closet waiting to be worn again ---maybe next time with my new pleated pants.

ps. isn't mr. fox just adorable? i bought it for only 70 baht and i had to buy two items to get it at that price. imagine my panic when i couldn't find any other ring that fit me because the rest were all too big. good thing they considered a necklace as the other item.

striped tee with sequined pocket - platinum mall, bangkok

paper bag pleated skirt - thrifted

faux snake skin belt - borrowed from mom

grey flats with metallic details - gifted from big sister

bangles: gun-metal one - carbon find | braided beads - chatuchak, bangkok

round imprinted necklace - gifted from gelie

mr. fox ring - platinum mall, bangkok

what would you wear?

even if my feet would ache terribly and eventually die all-together from my 5 inch heels, i'd still wear this out if  i could attend the Philippine Fashion Week. this is of course, if i'm invited and if i'd be one of the other fashion bloggers invited to the event. there's really nothing special with this outfit but it's a perfect representation of me: vintage and a little bit of boho rock. and yes, my dress is thrifted too -- a printed electric-pleated dress with a ruffled neckline that used to be knee-length. i asked my dad to trim off some length, added a black studded belt and black leggings, tall heels and my signature stacks of bangles and a couple of rings. i've come to prove that style doesn't have to be expensive. (on the details below, i'll list the prices of the items in this outfit.)

september is the start of the fashion year with fashion week events all over the world. as i'm still comfortably stuck on my seat just watching the week in amazement on the internet, i'm just participating in Chicisimo's septemer event --- What would you wear to the Philippines' Fashion Week? Paxie of Drowning Equilibriums is the co-organizer of this event here in the Philippines and she is definitely one fabulous gal. so let's play a game. participate here:

vintage orange printed, eletric-pleated dress - thrifted, php 180

black leggings - random, php 150

black cutout heels - forever 21, php 1500

black belt with gold ring studs - pratunam find, 50 baht

bangles:  plastic faux gold - props, php 100 | braided beads - chatuchak, 30 baht

butterfly ring - gifted from sweet