drunken, foolish and vain: Friendster days

[WARNING: really photo heavy. you can go back if you want. that way i’ll be saved from embarrassment too. haha!]

great panic surged everyone on April 26, 2011 when it was reported that Friendster will be deleting all data and users by May 31, 2011. my Facebook friends immediately downloaded the images they had there. some of us were reminiscing the good ol’ testimonial feature that they had. i’ve owned an account since 2003 but i deleted it last year. i can’t, however, help but remember the funny, foolish and drunken days that my old Friendster account held. so following Aisa’s footsteps, here’s a look back at the old Friendster days:

this was at a bar in Ayala (i can’t remember the name) and was taken on New Year’s Eve. oooh i love this skirt. i wonder where it is now. and oh, the beret is an ode to my old hip-hop days.LOL.

lorymer villareal and me in 2004, styling and coordinating the pageant for the Computer Engineering department. lorymer didn’t go to our school then but he was kind enough to help me with the pageant. 
the tres marias. my sisters and i at the resthouse in Daanbantayan that we frequent every summer. this was in 2004.
i told you i was gangsta! LOL. now i can’t help but laugh at my humongous rock and corn rows. the corn rows happened on the night before a flag football game and were done by a friend, in their boarding house.
and then i’m all out rock! LOL again. my friends, kim, deanne and i goofing off while waiting for classes. now that i remember it, we were always waiting for classes then. especially when we were almost graduating. 

richard, me, armand and my little sister, aimee. we were waiting for the rest of our friends at Starmart, Banilad (the place to be! LOL) for our Daanbantayan trip.

my old singing days. i wish i learned how to play a guitar so that i can still do gigs. *sigh* (ps. due to being under the sun for most parts of my weekends, i saw dark as beautiful until i realized i could easily get skin cancer.)

so down with jennifer lopez! this vest was thrifted at only PHP 15.00 in our local market. i still have it after 6 years. the shoes? pointed to the pointiest. this pair was my favorite pumps.

my first job after graduating and my first set of friends after of school. incidentally, we all had the same knack for laughing, embarrassing each other and just whiling our lunch making our brains smaller. *korean peace sign*

drunken nights at the back of my friend, Ingrid’s pick-up truck. rides at the back are best done when drunk! we were on our way to the beach at 3AM, after hitting a local bar and i can’t remember this photo was taken. they say, i peed at the side of a dark street. i didn’t believe them until i saw the photo. but nuh-uh, you’re not seeing it. LOL.

karen and i on christmas 2006. we were looking for a pair of shorts to give our guy friends and we found this pair!

the day i brought Cooper, our golden retriever, to a game. i HEART you, Cooper!

goofy face time with my nieces! this was on the summer of 2007.
stacey. my first car that i inherited from my dad. my training car. my bump car. i miss you, Stacey. wish i didn’t have to sell you.
at my friend’s sister’s black and white party. as you can see, i’ve had a knack for polka dots even way back. this was taken on June 2007.
the defensive line waiting for our turn. flag football will always have a place in my heart
aimee and i pretending to frolick in Malapascua in July 2007. our big sister was taking our photos so we pretended to walk and run around. but no, my love for her is not pretend. 
the injured drunkard. this was taken almost a week after my sports accident. i was in denial that my knee injury was serious so i went with my team to Bantayan island and braved the 3-hour land trip and ferry ride, in crutches! when i got back home, i learned i could never play football again — i tore a ligament on my right knee and it required surgery. :,(
this night was when Harry met Yapi. i don’t usually go to office parties but was forced by my friends to because i just shunned Harry a few days back as i was too insensitive to notice he was making a move on me.  one of the nights that i will never, ever regret!
my second Etelecare team. these guys are goofballs and pains in the ass but i loved and coached them to death to be better performers. 
christmas day 2007. i was heart broken, losing hope and drunk (yet again). my friends and i drove to gas station in the north reclamation area, bought a few bottles of beer and goofed off on the street. i remember drunk crying on this night too. *hush*
Vudu party on new year of 2008. this is the last time my sister Aimee and I, together with our friends, attended the open bar new year’s party at Vudu. the red dress started my polka-only new years too.
my first time in Boracay on February 2008. i haven’t been back yet and i plan to do so this year. is it just me or is the sand in Boracay really annoying? it’s sugary fine that no matter how you wash off, they stick to your body until you get back home. it settles into uncomfortable areas too. haha!
the last time my old flag football team, Dark Angels, got together before i officially retired (after my injury) and dived deep into work. one of the best times of my life. 
trues humbly united gather souls. my best friends in the whole world. we have been friends for more than a decade and i’m so lucky to have them. this was taken on September of 2008.
the crazy Vonage retention parties. a retention account is crazy hell but the same effort we put into working hard, the same effort we put in partying. as they say, work hard, party even harder!
my family on the New Year of 2009. one of my last Friendster photos. hello Facebook! 
so there you go. i have tons of photos in my disk drive but i wouldn’t want to bore you. it was weird and awesome browing through old photos. i had to delete a few to officially erase the foolishness but one thing i realized from browsing through them is that life should have no regrets. i’ve always had the Meet Joe Black line as my motto: ‘run the risk…if you haven’t tried, you haven’t live” and i can tell, i have lived!
[NOTE: photos were taken using camera phones, my sister’s trusty old canon ixus or armand’s old DSLR.]

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more afternoons like this please

before heading back home, we spent the night of Easter at Dipolog City as our flight was scheduled on Monday afternoon. we visited the new Dipolog boulevard which was almost 3 kilometers in length and just whiled the afternoon taking photos, watching the sunset and relishing the last hours of breathing fresh air before heading back to our slightly polluted city. we also had dinner there in the form of pork and chicken barbecue and the uber-yummy fresh water crabs in Dipolog. too bad i wasn’t able to take photos of the food. i was just too hungry to remember.

it’s only been a mere 5 days since i’ve been back and i’m now longing for more afternoons like these. i don’t know, i might be unmotivated to work or am just lazy. i think i’m just lazy..haha!

photo details:

1) the Barlas (my cousin and me) in our matching crocheted beanies. these were not matched intentionally for us but i nabbed the brown one from her when she showed me that she had two beanies in her bag.

2) just a moment of vanity.

3) the extra long boulevard. if we had something like this in Cebu, i’d totally bring over our dogs and just hang out here all the time. it’s the perfect spot to watch the sunset.

4) my mom and my dad. we were teasing them for still being so sweet after more than 30 years of marriage. i love them to death.

5) this was supposed to be a candid shot until my cousin and i saw our other cousin trying to take the shot.

striped top with sequined pocket – bangkok find
denim cut-offs – shopyapi.com
blue striped ballet flats – shopyapi.com
brown crocheted beanie – custom made by my aunt
white sunnies – random

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church dressing in humid weather

for four days in our province of Sindangan, these were the only photos i took that were..uhhh..for the lack of a better term “presentable..” no, i’m not saying i didn’t have fun nor that the other photos my relatives and i took were not fun or were ugly. by “presentable”, i meant that i was fully dressed and doesn’t look like melting. Sindangan is located in Mindanao, which is the southern island group in the Philippines. southern, meaning it’s very near the ecuator, which means it’s hotter and more humid.
photo details:
1) this what i wore on the first we attended Mass, on Holy Thursday and it is the only outfit i brought that was comfortable in the humid weather. made me regret not bringing more cotton or shift dresses. 

2 – 5) food, food, food. eating fish everyday may be daunting but not if you live just 2 blocks away from the beach and the seafood is fresh everyday. fish and other seafood is softer and creamier in your mouth. so i present to you, grilled tulingan, fish ceviche in coconut milk (kinilaw na isda in coconut milk), the fresh and delicious steamed rock lobster and my uncle’s grilled steak blue marlin. YUM!
6) the sole reason that we come back to Sindangan every year — the carro for the Resurrected Christ. this has been in our family for generations and every year, our responsibility is to dress up the carro to ready it for the re-enactment of His meeting with Mary and to serve breakfast to the church members and the little angels that sing in the re-enactment called, Sugat. 
ps. i helped decorate the carro. my mom did the top parts, i did the bottom ones. what do you think?
printed dress – thrifted | turquoise belt – robinson’s dept store, dumaguete | 
multi-colored gladiator flats – khaosan road, bangkok | elephant necklace – carbon find

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photo catch-up: holy week 2011

1) the propellers of our small plane to Dipolog — scared the crap out of me. as it turns out, propeller planes are slow but are safer than jet engine ones. the flight was fun and really quick.
2) my mom’s wedges and my studded flats. stole this shot while waiting for the procession after the Seven Last Words. 
3) the Barlas — a quick shot born out of boredom.
4) the two dresses we found at the line of thrift shops in Sindangan — will be drooling over them as they won’t fit me!
5) a shot of our entrance here at the house, with the sneak peak of the flowers for our Resurrection carro.

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back to the provincial life

there’s a week in every year that people take to disconnect and go back to the basics. i’ve taken that break and am currently in our small town of Sindangan, the one place we go back to every summer for the holy week. i haven’t been here for 4 years due to work and am very glad to be back. we go back here every holy week to fulfill our obligation as a family to prepare the carro for the ‘Sugat’ — the re-enactment of the meeting of Mary and the resurrected Jesus Christ.  
the place is not the same as before, what with our grandma and grandpa gone (may they rest in peace) but the memories still linger. it’s not an ideal summer home here, oh not not at all. our house is just the right size, we have no cable tv (no TV at all), we only have old songs played over and over (think, frank sinatra and elton john), we all sleep in the big room with our beds on the floor and this is the first summer i’ve brought internet over. despite the lack of modern technology and activities that are supposedly ‘productive’, we are definitely satisfied by simply sitting down in the living room after meals and just talking and joking with each other. 
try it. disconnect, sit down with family and just talk. you’ll find more connection than expected. 
(photo credit here)

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polka red for Japan

although news gets old the following day, the tragedy that has struck Japan will forever remain in our minds. the images of a community being washed away by that strong force of a Tsunami was devastating and heart-breaking. Japan still continues to get strong after shocks from the earthquake, up until last week. so i am wearing red to honor Japan. if you have a Chictopia account, you can upload your own photo wearing red and/or donate a minimum amount of $10 to Red Cross  here. this week, postpone your craving for that most coveted blouse or your need for a daily dose of a venti from Starbucks. give a little as a small sacrifice goes a long way.

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feeling the pain | health karma


i feel bad for having been a terrible blogger the past few days. i’ve failed to get back on your comments and post new outfit shots too. the goal when i started this blog more than a year a go was not just to share my personal style but also to connect with other stylistas in the world. of course, i’ve achieved that having met amazing people over time but communication is a two-way street and i wouldn’t want to be the one to start disconnecting. 

but aside from being busy with my day job and with my shop (www.shopyapi.com), i’ve been sick — again! i feel like the most incompetent employee right now because i’ve missed two days of work. my herniated disc is acting up again, causing pain on my neck and head. i can’t support my head for too long without leaning on the chair or lying down. two weeks ago, i experienced terrible stomach pains due to something i ate and with succeeding illnesses i’ve gotten, my mom commented that she feels like she’s taking care of an old lady. AN OLD LADY? oh my. i look back over the 26 years of my life and realized that i have abused my body severely over the years — since high school, i’ve only had an average of 4-5 hours of sleep everyday then there’s heavy drinking in college, working and going to school a year before graduation, working night shifts for 5 years while playing flag football every weekend then drinking till dawn every after practice or game. i’ve pushed myself to the limits and this is what i get. a seemingly strong and muscular body on the outside but so fragile on the inside. 

i may sound like an old lady when i say this but WE SHOULD ALL TAKE BETTER CARE OF OURSELVES. seriously. ♥

take care everyone! have a great weekend!

sheer printed chiffon skirt – thrifted
white tank top – random
peach cardigan – mom’s closet
beige suede wedges – gold dot
yellow braided belt – shopyapi.com
angel wings necklace – carbon find

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a small step to color blocking

the amazing stuff that i find in the local market never fails to astound me. this skirt came with my PHP 10  dress and this one only cost me PHP 70. although you may notice that i love colors in my outfits but i’m actually still slowly succumbing to the color blocking trend that is so big this season. i guess this skirt is my step 1. tomorrow or next week, i might pair completely contrasting colors in my outfit, you never know. fashion or personal style to be more specific is that unpredictable. 
on another note, if you are a shoe addict like me, then you’d certainly go bonkers for this shop owned by Denise of Denise Katipunera. the shop is aptly called, Shoe Etiquette and it offers shoes from the U.S. but are at really low prices. Denise has taken the responsibility of selling us those coveted shoes from U.S. so we don’t have to worry about the exaggerated shipping costs. with her amazing instinct for beautiful shoes (as seen in her blog), i’m sure pairs will be selling like pancakes. 

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there’s no place like home

i must have watched ‘Wizard of Oz’ a hundred times as a kid especially when my mom left for a vacation in Hongkong in 1991 and i had to watch over my little sister, Aimee who had really high fever from separation anxiety. we must have replayed the movie a dozen times over the course of 3 days because it’s the only movie that could calm her down and stop her from crying. of course, right now, she can’t recall the memory because she was just 5 years old at that time. i miss taking care of my little sister and ironically, i hate doing it too. we spoil her too much.

printed pleated chiffon dress – props
turquoise belt – robinson’s department store, dumaguete
black studded wedges – ebay find
stacks of bangles – gifted from Sweet | carbon finds
skull ring – carbon finds
black stone ring – props
turquoise ring – www.shopyapi.com

no to dress codes

one of the perks of working in a design company is the freedom to dress in what we’re comfortable in, the freedom to express ourselves. of course, partial nudity is not allowed — that would be insane as we have to meet clients..haha! but still, we don’t have to wear rigid business casual clothes like blazers, non-denim trousers but can wear clothes with breathable materials and even shorts. breathable clothes are really important these days because as summer arrives, so does the scorching heat. scorching meaning there is not a cold moment inside my air-conditioned car in the 15-minute drive i make to work to every morning. the heat is ridiculous and it will become more insane as summer deepens. 
printed tunic – mom’s closet (thrifted)
denim shorts – props
studded wedge booties – shopyapi.com
layered necklaces – carbon finds
brass oversized carved cuff – shopyapi.com
rings: armor ring | oversized blue stone – carbon finds

i want to thank everyone for checking out my shop: www.shopyapi.com especially to the ones who’ve already purchased a few items. the shop can be overwhelming but deciding on what to purchase isn’t too difficult as the shop has a ‘shop outfits’ page where you can check out how an item can be styled. every item also has a styling suggestion — just to give you a picture of how you can rock that Yapi item.

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Now Open: www.shopyapi.com

Visit: www.shopyapi.com NOW to get your hands on personally hand-picked chic and casual style. 
Models: Toni Pino and Phoebe Adani
Photography by: Russel Capatoy
Styling by: Gizelle Faye Sembrano
MUA by: Armand Alforque
Shot on location at: Cebu Advent Center

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