sunday mornings with you

printed dress – thrifted | braided belt – shopyapi.com | layered necklace – downtown find | camel wedge sandals – wantedshoes.com | bangles – downtown finds & gifted | studded bucket 
bag – sm department store | brown sunnies – downtown find

i said i never would but i went back to the night shift. i must say i am more productive with this schedule. Sundays are more special because i spend them with Harry and we’d have super late dinners, spend an hour or so watching TV, workout on the stepper and lift weights, go walking around our neighborhood and attend Church on its second schedule.  my mornings are no longer spent being sleepy and in bed. 
the scheduled maintenance by the local electric company didn’t stop us from enjoying last Sunday. we did our usual activities in the morning and added visiting the mall right when its doors opened to have brunch at French Baker and shop for a pair of boots for our South Korea trip this November. unfortunately, the mid-calf boots that was on sale at Janilyn no longer had my size. we went home right after lunch to find out the electricity was still out and will be out until 6:00 PM. so we changed into comfier clothes and went thrifting around Jones avenue. my favorite shop is already closed but a new shop opened just across the street and to  my delight, i found the perfect pair of boots at only PHP 336 ($8.00)! can you believe it? you’ll see the pair when i wear it in South Korea.
i can’t wait! ♥

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a weekend of nothing

nothing to do. nothing productive. this is exactly what i needed this weekend. it’s been raining intermittently all weekend and it’s just what our city needs. saturday morning after work was spent blog surfing and just discovering more awesome fashion blogs (ie. grunge manners). if i have schizophrenia, she would be my other personality — i wish i have the guts to dress like her and don’t give a shit about society. being a fashionista is already defying certain rules here in our small city and being grunge will definitely be a cause for more raised eyebrows and head-to-toe look-overs. the next hours of my saturday were spent sleeping and waking up to harry bringing over mcdonald’s cheeseburgers, large fries and an apple pie — major junk food fest, while watching karate kid which was good but so predictable. 
here’s my sunday, so far: waking up next to harry, making my sunday even better. a breakfast of eggs, spam and leftover dinner. 2 episodes of how i met your mother season 1. sunday mass at 7:00 AM. caramel sundae and pancakes. and ongoing DVD marathons with harry. he says this may be a glimpse of sundays in our married life. if this is, sign me up as i’m packed and ready to go!
ps. it’s funny two competing fast food chains in the philippines are just right across each other.  if i have to choose, i’d choose mcdonald’s over jollibee. i hate mayonnaise in my burger. haha!
floral electric pleats dress – thrifted
gun-metal layered necklace – props
silver cuffs with pink shells – props
oval stone ring – props
grey bag – mongkok ladies market, hk


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upside down + loving sunday

this is what i usually wear on monday mornings — comfortable jeans, light, soft shirt and flats. for others, monday morning may be all dress-up day but my monday morning is still part of my day off. 
as you all may know (and for those who don’t), i work at night and have been for 4 years now. my daily traffic is not in the morning rush but right when everyone else is going home or on fridays, when everyone else is going out for weekend dinner. at work, we greet each other “good morning” when we enter the office, even when the moon is out and it is already dark out. our 1 hour break is still called “lunch” and right when i get home, my breakfast is usually my “dinner.” before i sleep, i say “good night” to my friends. i sleep in the afternoon or by lunch and wake up at 7:00 or 8:00 PM, depending on my schedule. how do i stay asleep even when the sun is out? i trick my body into thinking it’s night by placing dark curtains on my windows and having a dim lamp shade when i sleep. and if other people get freaked out when people call them in the middle of the night, i get freaked out when people call me in the afternoon.
luckily, for the past 3 years up until now, i have been able to get all weekends off. on saturday, i sleep at 2:00 PM and wake up at 9:00 PM. i spend the night doing stuff i love — watching DVDs, visiting blogs or hanging out with friends. i sleep past midnight and wake up sunday morning — just like any normal day. that’s why i love sundays. on sundays, i can join civilization. on sundays, i can have lunch with my family at “noon.” i can shop in the afternoon and have dinner at 7:00 PM (and not at 7:00 AM). i can watch movies and get massages. and when i say good night, it is really at night.
how about you? what is your week like? what is your favorite day of the week?


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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

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this heartache

  
this was taken last sunday when i decided to suprise harry after his shift (at 9:00 AM) for breakfast at one of the retaurants in I.T. Park. decided to bring along snickers so he won’t grow up ignorant from the world since he’s mostly couped up in the room. he can’t go out because our old dog is so mean and possessive of our attention (especially my dad’s) that we’re afraid she’d attack him. being a sunday morning, the park was serene, perfect for just hanging out and chilling. i sat by the pond for a while and enjoyed being alone for a few minutes. those are one of my favorite moments — when i can just be alone and be allowed to think. 
so this weekend, harry and i watched one of the local movies ‘miss you like crazy‘… i’ve always loved the tandem of john lloyd cruz and bea alonzo on-screen (don’t like her too much anywhere else..haha!) the movie was predictable but still interesting. i loved the concept. i loved the scenes. i love the conversations and the lines. and it brought about certain emotions that i’ve suppressed for a while. 
i miss my best friend so damn much. it’s harder breaking up with a friend than with a boyfriend. you’d take years of friendship and just throw it away. she was my soulmate. we could be together and not say anything but know how we are feeling. we had a falling out almost 3 years ago and my heart is still aching, everyday. although i have harry, there are times when i’d feel so damn alone because i lost the only person who can understand me without asking why. i have tried opening up to my other friends but it’s just different. she’s in hawaii and i’m here. miles apart and we can’t bridge this gap that we have. 
so now i have woken up with very swollen eyes, having cried myself to sleep last night.
polka mini-dress – thrifted
black cropped cardigan – thrifted
brown sandals – prima donna
brown leather bag – thrifted
bangles: orange polka – a gift | pink polka – DIY | bronze – props
vintage car necklace – manalili
sunnies – thrifted at carbon

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sunday dress

i remember sundays in our province (sindangan). we’d spend our holy week at my lola’s place together with all my cousins and mom’s siblings. our lola would inspect all our church outfits making sure it’s appropriate and would send us back to our rooms if it’s not. so before we leave for sindangan, my sisters and i would prepare one outfit per day — as we do go to church from wednesday to sunday. during those times, my cousins and i were epitomes of “sunday dresses.”
i miss our lola. we all miss her cooking. i miss the holy weeks that all of us spend there.
striped blue dress – thrifted
brown sandals – prima donna
brown bag – thrifted
braided belt – thrifted
blue and wood bangles – manalili
green bangle – props
long chained key necklace – props