beach – Page 3 – Gizelle Faye Creative Studio

summer of one-oh! ocean series: imperial palace resort

the imperial palace resort and spa at maribago, mactan island. a free ride with harry’s management in his company…woohoo! with rooms at P7,600 ($160) a night, i don’t think i can afford it very soon..LOL. this was after i got home from the island hopping, slept at 8:00 PM..woke up 6:00 AM to get ready for another day at the beach! yey to summer!

here’s a lowdown on our stay in imperial palace:

♥ all met at I.T. Park at 9:00 AM
♥ ate lunch at one of mactan’s best italian restaurant (very cheap too!) — MB’s Tavern
♥ settled in our mediterranean-inspired room complete with a comfy bed with plush sheets, a a huge LCD TV with cable, iPod dock, a bath tub with hot and cold water and a view to the whole resort
♥ was surprised to find sooo many koreans in the resort — welp, it is after all owned by a korean..hehe.
♥ swam and played all afternoon at all 3 pools of the resort BUT was too chicken to try out the towering slides…boohoo for me!hehe.
♥ had dinner at SUTUKIL — a line of restaurants in mactan island where you can choose from an array of fresh seafood (fish, crabs, shrimps, scallops..etc) and choose how to have them cooked — sugba (grilled), tuwa (to prepare it in soup) and kilaw (eat it raw usually soaked in vinegar) — so YUMMY!
♥ had drinks at cowrie cove in Shangri-la Mactan — sooo expensive…whoa!
♥ woke up to the sunrise on our window and to my period…damn! LOL.

day 1 night and day 2 going home: floral dress – thrifted | tan leather bag – thrifted at baguio

day 2 at the pool: polka halter bikini top – props | navy blue drawstring shorts – thrifted | beach bag – roxy

summer of one-oh! ocean series: island hopping!

i’m almost booked for beach trips for summer weekends! i’m starting to get tan and will get tanner as we celebrate summer. people are going to start calling me ‘chicana’ again — chinita mexicana! LOL.

after my tabuelan road trip last weekend, we had our annual island hopping trip on saturday with my sister’s closest friends. this time, it was to celebrate one friend’s birthday and most importantly to celebrate a year of gay lovin’ — our friends, the gay love birds 1st year anniversary! to sum it all up, here’s what happened:

round up closest friends + friends of friends + 50 capacity banca + potluck on food consisting of liempo, lechon manok, ngohion, pancit, humba, sisig and puso + tanduay rum with orange juice + tanduay white rum with kool-aid + sunnies + colorful bikinis + the ocean + diving and canon ball jumping + the waves + lots of craziness + gay people = fun fun fun!

of course afterward, it was hella’ exhausting. i just came from my night shift and by 6:30 PM, i’m still stuck driving through insane traffic and haven’t slept for 24 hours. i get home, wash-up and sleep to get ready for another day at the beach at a water park resort on sunday. for more of that, keep posted!

printed summer dress – thrifted | hot pink halter bikini top – props | polka-dot beach shorts – props

blue sunnies – thrifted at carbon

summer of one-oh! ocean series: tabuelen spontaneity!

a friend called on thursday morning saying he wants to go to the beach. i said yes without even knowing the plans. so on sunday morning, there we were, b-boy, harry and i loaded in the car without any concrete plans but just to drive 2 hours north to tabuelan — a remote town with white sand and blue waters. of course we had to get more friends. so lyndon and his family tagged along.

it was funny because when we got to the small resort of “durhan’s,” my friends’ jaws dropped because of how beautiful the place is and how inexpensive the rooms are (P1700 or $35 for an air-conditioned room with hot water and cable tv…clean too!) they kept saying, “SULIT!” (which means, perfect for the price!)

cebu north road trip musts (mostly on food!):

fill up your tank with gas and have your tires checked
buy ice cubes and drinks at a local sari-sari store near the city
pass through the new road from mandaue to amara liloan (took us there from north reclamation to liloan in 15 minutes)
buy lechon (roasted pig) in kilo in liloan
buy kinilaw in liloan (this is raw fish in vinegar, onions, ginger, tomatoes and fresh chili)
buy roasted chicken at chooks-to-go! (yummy!)
buy tinap-an (fresh smoked fish)
buy humongous hanging rice (rice cooked inside coconut leaves) for only P5 each
play music and sing along
talk about whatever — even the sights you see on the road!

linen zip-up top – thrifted

faded denim shorts – thrifted

yellow flip-flops – roxy

blue sunnies – thrifted at carbon

day three: culture immersion

**i apologize for another heavy-image post. just had to relish our last at the town of moalboal.**

believe it or not but i think this is the first beach trip where i didn’t spend the whole day under the sun and just frolicking in the waters — it was because the water was freezing and the wind so chilly. harry and i made vodka sprite (absolut + sprite..duh! LOL) and placed it in a water bottle just to disguise it but it couldn’t help the cold. summer may look like it’s here but i love how it’s still windy.

we left the resort after lunch and took a tricyle (auto richshaw) to town to ride a van for hire (v-hire in cebu). it usually takes an hour for the van to leave because the driver has to wait for it to fill up. harry and i were the first to occupy the van so we had some time to observe how life is lived in the town of moalboal. we bought fried fritters on the street (fried bite size pieces of chicken, lumpia) and the buy-one-take-one burger from minute burger. it was a coincidence that the high school there had their field demonstration on the open space in front of the church so lots of people were there. notice how cute the old couple is — together walking in the park with their walking sticks. and of course, the town fashionista — with his (or her) sparkly purple belt strutting the streets.

til’ next time! back to reality. (roll credits…)

knitted dress – thrifted

blue swimsuit – rustan’s

brown and blue flip-flops – havaianas, make your own

bangles – props

white graphic tee – roxy

sunnies – thrifted at carbon

day two: sunrise til’ sunset

warning: image-heavy post. what can i say? we spent all day at the beach — 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. so please be patient. grab a drink or snack while you wait for the images to load…*wink*

woke up at 5:00 AM due to a power outage in the resort. who need power anyway? the wind is cool and the air is fresh. we didn’t have time to waste. we changed into our suits and grabbed our beach bag filled with sunblock, carmex, my canon sx20, tripod and the sarong. took a walk on the long strip of beach and found other people up and about, taking their breakfast as well. harry and i had to wait for ours though as the resort cafe opened at 8:00 AM…haha! it was pure relaxation…what with a cottage with a very comfy bed right in front of the beach. some people may find this boring — nothing to do but stare at the water! but that’s exactly what we came here to do. to do absolutely nothing but relax, listen to some good music and the waves, eat good food and feel the sea breeze on our faces.

ps. had some fun with the ‘color accent’ setting on my camera. i’m crazy about colors! and i couldn’t help but select a few to emphasize.

blue long sleeved top – dolce and gabbana (big sister’s closet…sssshhh!)

khaki shorts – roxy

brown and white polka swimsuit – props

beach bag – roxy

bangles – props

blue tie-dyed sarong – boracay

sunnies – thrifted at carbon

day one: the tree house cottage

just got back from our beach trip…and i wanted to edit all the photos and choose a few to post in one post but i’m too exhausted and constipated (i ate too much!) LOL. decided to have three posts of our three days at the beach instead.

day one was a 3 hour road trip to moalboal, cebu. it was funny because our seat in the van had little space for harry’s knees so we were pretty much uncomfortable all the way. we kept smiling at each other and saying, ‘we’re almost there…’ when we got to the resort, it was indeed a dream. don’t get me wrong, there are better beaches in cebu but club serena was an exclusive resort which only has 6 cottages. so it was indeed serene and yes, our tree house cottage was magical.

ps. i love the smell of copper tone. i missed its smell. it signifies summer. and it brought back memories of flag football days.

green top – props

black swimsuit – props

sunnies – thrifted at carbon

blue & brown flip-flops – havaianas, make your own

gone for the weekend

will get come much needed r and r with harry at the beach this weekend. a tree house cottage. the fine white sand. blue waters. sea breeze. good music. three days and two nights.

have a great weekend everyone! talk to you all on monday. *wink*

white knit cardigan – thrifted

plaid halter top – maek fashion

denim shorts (though not visible) -big sister’s closet

blue flip-flops – make your own havaianas

black bag – lil’ sister’s

sunnies – thrifted at carbon

hello sunshine!

this is the only time i love the sun — when i’m at the beach. went with old co-workers and harry to a local beach resort last sunday to just unwind and hang out. there were good laughs and good food.

(i had this whole write-up prepared but my mood today just isn’t letting me want to talk too much)

just wanted to show you guys this skirt that we thrifted years back. it’s an original united colors of benetton vintage which still has a “made in italy” tag. most clothes (or stuff even) today are mostly made in china. not that i’m hating it…hehe. i wore this once to a company party 3 years ago and was awarded one of the best dressed for the night. wore the skirt as a dress and belted it. (don’t be shocked with how dark i am… i was still playing flag football then…haha!) damn, i miss my collarbones…and by arms… fast forward to 2010 and look what losing exercise can do to you…

4th of july party at vudu (2007)

white tank top – metro kids dept

pink swimsuit – props

printed maxi skirt – UCB (thrifted)

flip-flops – havaianas

bangles – various: props | manalili

heart necklace – ???

sunnies – thrifted