friendship – Page 2 – Girl Gone Cuckoo

a need for forty percent

harry is out of town and i was staring into my computer screen, just feeling really restless and bored. i needed to go out, grab a bite with friends, get a bit tipsy and maybe dance the night away. although i used to be the girl who couldn’t not end her week without a trip to the bar and have some drinks, i haven’t been going out regularly because 1) i am always so freakin’ tired and just want to sleep 2) i have found to hate being in a crowd of pretentious people. with having nothing to do at work anymore, i have surprisingly stored a lot of unused energy over the week and was itching to just move!

i initially was able to convince my friends to go dancing at Loft but after meeting here at my house, we ended up deciding to just hang out at my friend’s friend’s bar — just a place to chill out and have a few drinks with grilled pork on skewers or what we call ‘pork barbecue.’ i have such a weakness for barbecue and am able to devour several sticks at a time. our barbecue here in the philippines is the smartly skewered lean pork then ended with a piece or two of fat. the pork is then smothered with barbecue sauce — just a mixture of soy sauce, maybe a bit of vinegar, ketchup, sugar, a little chili and oil. damn, we ended up eating more rice with the barbecue than expected. guilt-trip at its best!

ice cold tanduay ice was a perfect complement to the barbecue but with only 7% alcoholic content, i ended up drinking about 5 bottles with only a tinge of tipsiness and a really bloated tummy at the end of the night plus a painful headache the next morning. guess i always need my 40% of alcoholic content per volume from my favorite absolut kurant!

diagonally striped top – thrifted

zipped-up grey denim skirt – thrifted

long black cardigan – thrifted

navy blue bejeweled flats – parisian | sm dept store

metallic blue thin belt – props

pink polka bangle – DIY

square gun-metal with bird imprint necklace- a gift from gelie

dog tags – custom-made

hoes over bros

i know my title is from one tree hill — you know, brooke’s clothing line. but it greatly defines my weekend.

it’s monday morning and i have to work tonight so as much as i’d like to write up an elaborate post on my thoughts or my weekend, i am really not in the mood. i think i’ve sat in front of my pc for 3 hours now, contemplating on how i can compose my thoughts and put them into good writing. aside from that, i am so tempted to pop in a 3rd french baker brownie bit in my mouth. we all have one of those days right?

so here’s my weekend: 3 hours of sleep after my friday shift to meet karen and help her buy new glasses, long talks over frozen yogurt — i had bananas and caramel with crushed grahams and she had oreos and chocolate syrup, met up with canence to watch Eclipse — it’s our girlfriend date and we’ve watched the series together, watched Edward’s brooding eyes (he looked hotter in this movie by the way because he gained weight, his make-up looked natural so his lips are not red and his face not over compensated with white stuff) and of course, watched and listened to girls scream over Jacob’s hot body; had baked zitti at sbarro and talk to canence about ‘love over friendship’…or maybe vice versa; went home after almost falling asleep on the wheel and slept with my make-up on (again, damn!); attended my old company’s 4th of july party, played some ‘green’ games, met up with old co-worker girlfriends at dessert factory and had my cheesecake fix, then had a massage with harry to end my weekend.

blue and black top – thrifted

jeans – chillypapa

studded boots – mongkok ladies market, hongkong

round imprinted necklace – gift from gelie

gun-metal layered wire cuffs – props

rings: oval flat stone – props | orange howlite – dane’s giveaway

brown sunnies – thrifted at carbon

since we were 12 years old

i never get tired of this place. daanbantayan is the ultimate haven for me. not because it’s has the perfect white sands or untouched waters but because it is quiet and is really a place where i can just unwind and not think about all life’s problems. the funny thing is, the rest house is not even ours. it belongs to my dad’s kind high school friend who has always allowed us to use the place whenever we want to — save when they want to use it for themselves. so for 7 years, we’ve been coming back here as a family or with my friends. every time, always as fun as the last.

blue green printed kaftan – thrifted | yellow green bikini top – props | brown sunnies – thrifted at carbon

this memory of time spent with my long time best friends (since we were 12 years old) will remain forever in my mind. believe it or not, but this is the first time in a long time that we’ve been able to go out of town where majority of us are present. good friends, good food — really good food like grilled pork, fresh crabs and fish and yummy kinilaw, good music, hilarious and challenging game of taboo, good drinks in the name of tanduay and kool-aid, never-ending laughter — what more could i ask for?

trash the dress

the weekend was not only a chance to spend time with long time friends but also, more importantly to have april mae and gian’s trash-the-dress post nuptial photo shoot.

so after the 3 hours drive to daanbantayan, we put on our make-up despite the very humid weather, wore the dresses we wore at wedding and made like very amateur models in our shoots. LOL. the photos posted here are done by calography. to check out rates and his portfolio, it is a must to click on the link!

my body is still aching from all the fun and sun so i will tell you more about the trip on tomorrow’s post which will definitely include all the photos my friends and i had.

have a great monday everyone!

april’s wedding dress – noelle west

bridal entourage’s dresses – partly designed by me and the wearer

ready to get hitched!

my friend, april mae got hitched last june 5, 2010! this was on the night before her wedding where we had a sleepover at the crown regency hotel — to celebrate her last night as a single lady and to help out with last minute preparations (us, being her bridesmaids). it was our 2nd wedding in the group and this being the first Catholic wedding. lemme’ just say, being one of the bridesmaids was really exhausting but very much awarding and worth-it. when our friend walked down the isle, we were all welding up with tears. if i can get a hold of the wedding photos from the wedding photographer, calography, then i’ll post some up here.

ps. do you like me in straight hair? *wink* it’s a wig that one of my gay friends wore to the wedding. this was as special request by april that she wear a dress and be one of the bridemaids. that’s ‘bufal’ — the girl on my right on the last photo.

black and white dress with feather prints – props

black platform heels – forever 21

silver bangles – thrifted at carbon

safari summer

before i begin my post, i want to thank everyone who commented on my last post and introduced their own pets, expressed their love for pets or wish to have pets. i have to tell you guys that cooper is a great love but he is not mine but rather my big sister’s…my own puppy might feel bad — his name is snickers and you can see him in this post. he’s not too silent…he barks to get my attention and when i do go near him, he wiggles and just jumps around me. such a baby! he barks at strangers too — just a trait that dachshunds have. his hair on his back even stands up with anger when he sees strangers in the house. but he is still sweet too and would always want to be near me. when i don’t give him attention (like when i’m in front of the computer and he’s sitting beside me), he’d bite my shirt and tug on it. he adores harry too and would get sooo excited when harry comes over.

anyway, i just came from two parties today — a last attempt for companies to catch up with summer. i went to a beach party of my old company at vistamar and then had cocktails and games with my new company at formo. for the day, i had on gladiator flats and for the night, i just added on over-sized clip-on earrings and changed from gladiator flats to cutout heels. (too bad i don’t have photos of the party at formo yet). here are some with old friends from my previous company:

a shout out to jhamie (the one in the yellow floral dress). she follows my blog and one of the few people who knows about this blog.hehe.

white sheer top – mom’s closet

khaki shorts – big sister’s closet

brown gladiators – leaveland

white bag – lil’ sister’s

gold bangles – gifts | thrifted at carbon | bangkok

ring – random

brown sunnies – thrifted at carbon

dance like no one is watching

omigod, i haven’t been on a night out for months! these days, i’d choose my comfy bed over the sweaty and loud bars. but for my soon-to-be-married friend, there’s always an exception. drank an energy drink on the way out and i was good to go! (beat the hell of a hangover too the morning after…yey!) so, we all met up at my place to do our make-up and have a few drinks (white rhum and iced tea)…did a quick photoshoot with my sister’s 550ex speedlite and left my house past midnight. it’s funny because as i was looking at the photos we had of the night, i realized that we’ve all been friends since we were 10 – 13 years old but this is the first night out we had where everyone drank and everyone danced like there was no tomorrow! ordered some vodka and rhum ice…went home at almost 6:00 AM and at one point, i was already walking barefoot on the way to the car because my feet hurt so badly! nevertheless, it was one of the best times of my life!

ps. the silver top i’m wearing is a thrifted CELINE and found it 2 months ago. i’ve been itching to wear it and this was the perfect night to do so. *wink*

silver thread top – celine

black tulip skirt – props

black peep-toe booties – celine (a gift from harry!)

gun-metal chained curtain necklace – props

stone ring – props (a twin of this is on give-away!)

monotone + a surprised bride-to-be

the surprise did happen after all. even when everyone else was 3 hours late and the bride came over at 10:30 PM. at least she still screamed when she saw all of us in my room, getting ready for our night out. the formula for our profile photos: smokey eyes + lots of eyeliner + shimmer eyeshadow + bronzer + peach cheeks + glossy berry lips + spunk + craziness!

more photos of the actual night out on the next post! hope you love these photos. of course, taken by me. *wink*

what they call, "the filipino time"

as i am writing this, my friends and i are preparing a bridal shower for our friend, april mae. she requested for this night though so it’s not much of a surprise. anyway, the bride is aware that we’re to meet here at my house at 9:00 PM but my friends and i decided to surprise her a bit by all being here at 7:00 PM and start preparing. well guess what??? it’s quarter to 9:00 PM and nobody else is here but me and candace — haha, the two of us being eternal early birds for all dinners or events that we have. and that is ever since high school. i have a feeling that we will be more surprised by the bride than she by us. we’re bad friends huh?

embroidered peasant top – thrifted

jeans – chillypapa

cream peep-toe heels – janeo

tan shoulder bag – thrifted in baguio

pink and gold layered bangles – from india (a gift)

wooden green bangle – props

elephant long necklace – thrifted in manalili

sunnies – thrifted in carbon

heated crayolas

one by one, we’re each building separate lives. we’re at this age where we don’t just have to worry about cutting or doodling stars on our notebooks or what dessert we will be eating but of responsibilities that we have for ourselves, families and partners. two of my bestest friends are married (one of the two will tie the knot this june 5th). pretty soon, the rest of us will follow suit. this could be our last year that we’re all together in one island.

so to make the most out of the remaining month we have, we’ve scheduled shoots to memorialize our friendship. the first one is entitled, “heated crayolas.” this is greatly inspired by the marc by marc jacobs spring 2010 ad. anything goes. any color, no matter how much it clashes. i think 60% of my accessories were used. it was hot, dusty but very much fun.

details: photography by harry | photo editing, styling by me | make-up by me and april mae | location at south reclamation area, cebu

planning a wedding

oopss…not my wedding though. but my friend’s.LOL. mine is a gazillion days away so for now, i’m just hoping and praying not exactly planning — at least not putting things on paper. between you and me, my wedding plans come across my mind every day. my dress, my song, my cake, the invites..etc. but don’t tell harry he might freak out…haha!

i totally forgot to post these photos which were taken weeks ago when my friends and i — together with the bride to be of course (the one smiling in polka) — went to the dress maker to have ourselves fitted for the bridesmaids’ dresses. in recession, the dresses would be our gift to our friend. so that our friend won’t have to spend too much to have us in her entourage (which we’re very excited about as this is our first church wedding in the group), we decided to pay for our own bridesmaid’s dresses. i happily obliged to design the dresses…just a simple tulip skirt with tops that have sheer chiffon cutouts. we wanted lace but phew! lace is expensive…hehe.

on a scorching hot, all i could wear was an embroidered tunic, shorts and flip-flops. we had ice cream and shopped around a bit for accessories. then visited this place that sells vintage or used furniture from japan. that explains the photo with the cabinets.

purple embroidered tunic – big sister’s closet

braided leather belt – big sister’s closet

white tank top – thrifted (i DIY-ed the gold sequins on the shoulder)

dark blue denim shorts – big sister’s closet (again..haha!)

green flip-flops – havaianas

faux gold bangles – gifts from india

brown sunnies – thrifted at carbon

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