The Udang Cogito

Meh

2011-10-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Meh.

Weekend at Home

2011-10-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Dead boyfriend's birthday so I went home for the weekend to visit him at the cemetery. The 6 hour bus ride killed my butt. :[

Happy One Month in the Island!

2011-10-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it's been a month of island living. And I'm still glued in front of my laptop instead of having my ass getting some tan under the sun!

#iMourn

2011-10-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Mr. Steve Jobs. Thanks for all the iThings and for your psychedelic brilliance. I weep for humanity's loss.

Strawberry Cream Oreos

2011-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson audiobook and strawberry cream Oreos just go together.

R.I.P., Mr. Steinman

2011-10-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Smoking for Ralph M. Steinman. :[

Endorphin Come-Down

2011-10-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yes. Exercise and nicotine and chocolate = fuckin crash.

Pattern On Pattern

2011-10-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit girly today.

No, I'm Not A Lezzer!

2011-09-30T00:49:00.000-07:00

Gaaah. I get mistaken for a lezzer all the time. I hate it.

I'm So Military

2011-09-28T00:41:00.000-07:00

Been taking the photos while I smoke just before I go to work. Lol. Just to see if the outfit doesn't look too ridiculous. :P

Island Girl

2011-09-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

So, I moved to this island 6 hours away from home. And got lots of idle time. And got no full-body mirror in the house so I've been taking outfit photos once again. Been awhile!

Initial Special!

2011-06-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

For some reason, initial necklaces are always deemed special. They've been around for a long time. The practice of wearing an initial necklace hasn't changed; what has changed is the style one's made and how it's worn.Usually, whatever's on the centerpiece of the initial jewelry tells you what the person holds dear and what the jewelry stands for the individual. Hence, you can tell a lot from a person wearing a personalized or customized necklace.

Special occasions call for special gifts. Deciding what to give to special people in your life is kind of hard, really. An initial necklace is a unique way to show someone your appreciation of them. It’s not ordinary and the most important thing is it’s personalized.

There are a lot of online shops selling these customizable items but I found Molly Brown to be one of the best. Aside from being a finalist to the UK Jewellery Awards this year, Vogue calls it “Tiffany for girls”. The Molly Brown Collection features simple yet sophisticated designer jewellery made especially for girls. The Molly Brown line is made using precious metals, clear and colourful gemstones, and lustrous pearls, all of quality materials.

Molly Brown’s Sterling Silver Alphabet Initial Necklaces are the perfect personal gift for any occasion. Each initial pendant made of solid sterling silver comes with a round link chain in two different adjustable lengths, 14-16”, or 16-18”. The longer chain makes the necklace a perfect gift for teenagers and adults as well. You can individually purchase the initial necklace or combine it with other charms of your choice. By the way, each necklace chain is tagged with the Molly Brown logo.

When you order you initial necklace or any Molly Brown item for that matter, the jewellery comes in a soft silk pouch in beautiful Molly Brown jewellery boxes. You can also choose to have it additionally gift-wrapped: the flat-packed option that’s free of charge and comes with a luxurious Molly Brown gift bag, tissue paper, ribbons, and a gift card for you to wrap your purchase, or you can pay for a minimal fee for an expert gift-wrapping including a hand-written gift card with your message. You can even opt to have it directly delivered to the gift recipient.

"The Molly Brown Collections are simple but also sophisticated, they are designed to be loved and worn forever."

Pearls/Pearl Bracelets: Trending!

2011-05-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Pearl jewellery has always been this safe, simple yet elegant accessory piece. Lately though, it has been gaining popularity among fashionistas with the unconventional and colored pearl jewellery pieces springing out.

And when I say springing out, these lovely accessories are timeless Spring pieces and they're hitting it big this Spring 2011. They simply scream elegance, class and personal statement.

A simple white pearl necklace can be a fashion statement on a clear spring day. It adds that extra daintiness to your cute baby-doll dress. A long pearl necklace can add that extra boho look to your maxi dress.

If you're into fun colors on the other hand, there are varieties of pearl bracelet available in different colors and shapes accented with metal endings and clasps. You can even mix and match them with other pearl bracelets for that cool, colorful spring/summer look. You can wear them with your girly spring outfits, punk summer outfits or your sailor-themed outfits.

Pearl jewelery, wherever you go, can manage to make whatever outfit classy, refined, and elegant. They're perfect for evening parties, when going to fancy restaurants, and during evenings out of town. They can even be worn to work without appearing over-accessorized. You can wear the colorful ones on an average day, when you go to the beach or to the park, in the mall or on casual dates. They add that special playfulness to one's personality so wherever you go, you carry that Spring cheerfulness with you.

That's why I was happy to have stumbled upon Stephen Einhorn's wide collection of pearl jewellery. I love them! His collection features a wide selection of freshwater pearls in different colors and awesome designs where you can choose to customize your bracelets and necklaces by changing the pearl color and the metal used for the jewellery.

Also, I love his design philosophy: "My design signature is elegant simplicity. I am interested in designs that are totally wearable, including my more flamboyant bespoke pieces. I have worked to create a style that is instantly recognisable and that appeals to someone who appreciates design, style and quality.”

Awesome. Springtastic!

My Cosmic Shoelaces

2010-11-10T04:45:00.000-08:00

Just started a 365 project. The concept is to take daily photos of my feet (naked or with shoes) in meaningful places/events. Sort of like a documentation of where they will take me in 365 days.

My 365 project officially started on November 9th so that's my base line.

So, tie your laces and journey with me! Now, click on the photo! :]

<3 Donna

The Handpicked Collection

2010-09-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

I was browsing for christmas gift ideas the other day. I was looking for inspirations to make/buy one-of-a-kind gifts for a bunch of special people who have been supportive these past months. I know, too early. But with handmade/personalized items, I have to make/buy early in time for Christmas.

Anyways, I happened to browse through The Handpicked Collection that sells inspiring and personalized gifts. It’s a pretty cool shopping site with unusual and awesome gift ideas. So, if you’re looking for something special to give to someone special, Handpicked is for you.

I can’t get enough of the awesomeness of this site. You can browse gift ideas according to categories, by the site’s top picks, by the site’s favourite products, through a gift idea finder service, and by asking an expert panellist’s opinion. And the products are just cute, ingenious, and just pure awesome.

Here are some of the products I’m looking at:

1. Funky Baking Set

Something I would’ve loved to receive as a present when I was a kid. The set contains a set of celebration candles, rolling pin, wooden spoon, three metal star cookie cutters, and cupcake cases nicely placed in a pretty pink tin.

2. Large Picnic Tiffin BoxI so love the colors on this one. It’s a fashionable picnic companion.

3. Pink Dotty Milk Saucepan

It’s too cute I have to get one for my teal-colored house in Pavia!

4. Joseph Joseph Index Chopping Board

This product is just brilliant. It’s a stainless steel holder holding four chopping boards of different colors and symbols that signify which one’s for vegetables, fish, raw meat, or cooked food. A perfect chopping companion for the Obsessive-Compulsive. Like me.

5. Days of the Week Mugs

And these I gotta have as well. So appealing to my OC-ness.:]

And I’m supposed to be looking for gifts for loved ones and I ended up checking things out for myself. LOL. Awesome, awesome!

Flowers and Floral Prints

2010-09-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing my green thumb last week. Sadly, no growth of what I planted appears. Fail.

So, I bought new seeds yesterday. I ain't stopping, bitches. I really want to grow flowers. I want it to be a hobby that can grow into a business one day. Hmm. LOL. Fat chance! I can do this. Here are the seed packets I bought at the grocery yesterday:

And here are some floral outfits that are inspiring me right now. Maybe, I'll come up with something snazzy while gardening? Hmmm. :]

Jewelry and Memory...They Rhyme!

2010-09-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the internet the other day looking for cute dog tags and charms. Instead of keeping on with what I was supposed to do, I got sidetracked (as usual) and got lost in a website of designer range jewelry that specializes on little girls' trinkets.

What is awesome about the website and the brand itself is that you can customize your own jewelry. They have a Pick & Mix section where you can design your own initial necklace or bracelet and add unique charms from their variety of charm and pendant collection to your piece. You can create unique pieces of jewelry that can be prefect gifts for special occasions. It's LEGEN- wait for it - DARY!

The brand is called Molly Brown London and each piece of silver jewelry is tagged with the Molly Brown Sterling Silver logo. It was established in May 2006 by Erica Illingworth as inspired by her daughter, Georgia, to create a jewelry collection for girls. According to Molly Brown, their jewelry are designed to be loved and worn forever.

I like their jewelry philosophy cos looking back, I've always had this necklace that my mom had me wearing since I was 2 years old. Even though it doesn't fit me anymore, when I go through my jewelry box and see it, childhood memories flood in. For me, a jewelry piece is more than a jewelry piece, it's something you associate yourself with and the things and events that happen around you. That's why when you lose an earring or break a necklace, you feel bad not because finding a replacement is expensive, it's because you also lose a part of yourself. I don't know if you can relate to that but I sure feel that way. And I don't care how corny that sounds, too. :P

I Got Me A Pirate Dog! Yarrr!

2010-09-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

My dog, Pugly-Caco, has gone blind in the right eye. :[ Four days ago, I brought him to the animal hospital to get his right eye checked cos he scratched it while he was sleeping. The doctor prescribed some antibiotic/anti-inflammatory eye drops for him. Two days after that, he had another accident. He bumped the right side of his head on the floor when he jumped off. The next day he bumped his right eye again that scratched his cornea and had his lens leaking out. Brought him to the hospital immediately but the lens has already leaked out. The doctor stitched P-C's right eye closed and it will remain closed for the next 14 days. If the eye heals, the doctor won't have to remove it but if it doesn't, then the eyeball has to be removed. Either way, the eye is already blind. Pugly going blind is tragic and depressing. I wasn't expecting another hell of an experience this soon. :[

The day before Pugly scratched his eye.

Pugly after getting his eye stitched.

Yesterday was 100 days after my boyfriend died. Went to visit him in the afternoon just to hangout there. Good thing my sister's classes ended early so she went with me. On the way to the memorial park, one of the car's tires has gone flat. Good thing the driver of the truck behind us stopped and helped us fix the tire. We stayed there at the memorial park for a good two hours. We bought bread and drinks along the way.

At the beach last Saturday.

Passed by this gothic cathedral on our way to the memorial park.

I'm planning to make an eye patch for Pugly-Caco. Already bought him a nice collar to match the pirate look. Now all he needs is a pirate jewelry set. Shiver me timbers!!!

Bloglovin'

2010-09-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

After years of blogging, I just signed up today for a bloglovin account. So...

Follow my blog with bloglovin

<3
Donna

Spanx Me!

2010-09-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Found out about Spanx the other day. Did you know that the founder of this amazing underwear phenomenon actually invented Spanx when she was stuck for underwear for a particular outfit? Everything she tried just wouldn't work as she couldn't get rid of the pesky VPL. Always unattractive but especially bad if you are going somewhere smart. So instead of going out with a VPL, she just cut the legs off a pair of control tights! Genius! Since then the power of shape wear has come on a long way. Now, there is such a wide variety of options to choose from. It doesn’t matter what your problem area is, there is something to suit women of all shapes and sizes. If you are worried about your butt, they have things to lift it. If you are worried about your belly, there are things to flatten it! They even have these all-in-one body suits that can hide back fat!

Underwear is a really important part of any outfit and it’s often something we don’t put enough thought into. But it is true that if you have bad underwear, your whole outfit can be ruined. On the flip side, if you have great underwear, you might have the courage to go out wearing something more daring. Confidence is a really important thing and the right underwear can give it to you.

I think footless pantyhoses and body shaping undergarments are genius optical illusions. :]

Glor's & Fantasies of Murders

2010-09-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Went on an unplanned thrifting trip with my sister earlier today. We went to the commercial district to look for an accounting software she needs for school but we ended up buying thrift items. We purchased 16 items of clothing that amounted to Php800.00 (about $18.00). The place we went to is called Magarbo.

My sister got a Zara denim skirt and a Zara hoodie. I bought this awesome Marks & Spencer pleated trousers. Also got a Jim Morrison oversized sleeveless shirt! Bought items with sailor theme in mind so I got skirts and tops with stripes and sailor colors. :D

After thrifting (or "ukay" in our local language), we were supposed to look for this shop where we were supposed to check out some shoes but we were out of time so we just took off to this place called Glor's to eat lunch.

Glor's Broadway Cafe or Jane's Broadway Cafe or Glor's as it is commonly called is a burger place that's been around since 1974. I've been craving to try their hundred gram beef burger for the past weeks after seeing a friend's post of the burger in his blog.

The Broadway posters hung at Glor's walls. They have posters
that have the stars' signatures! The owner must be a big fan. :]

So, my sister and I got there and ordered a hundred gram burger each and drinks. As I was taking photos of the place, the lady at the counter asked if she could have my email address so they can view the photos I've taken. I was trying to explain that I'll be posting in my Facebook and my blogsite and I'll just give my website's URL instead of my email address so they can just access the blogsite directly. Besides, I didn't want to give them my email add because I didn't want them to add my Facebook account since my account's just for friends and acquaintances whom I actually know. But of course I wasn't given the chance to say these things out because one of the workers told me snottily that went something like if I'm using Facebook, it should be that I should give out an email address. I think she doesn't know that you don't necessarily have to give your email address because you can always utilize the URL. For me, my email add is like a mobile number. You just don't go giving it out to strangers.

So I kinda got mad cos I felt she was demanding from me. Before I went to the place, it was all planned out in my mind that I'm gonna make a review about the restaurant because I like their burgers. I almost lost it cos she didn't have the right to talk to me in such a condescending manner when in fact she should be thankful I'm advertising their restaurant for free. I just had to step away from the conversation cos I was afraid I might blow up and cause a scene. And guess what? She called me crazy ("buang") after I stepped away. She had the nerve to personally attack me. I mean she doesn't know me, I don't know her, and she felt like she had the right to judge and label who I am. I wanted to strangle her right then and there. As everyone who personally knows me, I am VERY MAD at the world right now. They also know that I don't believe in a god and I don't believe in the concept of sin. So I had to step away cos I think it would be unfair to her if she would be the subject of my wrath. Had to let it slide.

Anyways, the kind lady at the counter apologized for the bitch's behavior and told me she called on the bitch's action. Since the lady was nice and the other workers were, too, I just decided to enjoy my burger and finish my Mt. Dew.

Glor's Deluxe Cheeseburger, 100 grams of yummy beefness!

Except for the rude bitch, Glor's is still awesome. My burger was served with 100 grams beefy goodness that costs Php65.00 (about $1.45) plus Php3.00 (about .07 cents) for "all the works" (fresh onions, extra lettuce and cucumber, dressing, the works!). Downed the burger with Mt. Dew = heaven!

To end this post, I just wanna say that being nice to people should be constant in us. No matter where we come from or what we're going through, there's no excuse for being rude or condescending. Always think how awful it would be at the receiving end.

As what Ashleigh Brilliant said, "Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a battle."

Three Months Already?

2010-09-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been three months since he has gone away. Feels like time just flew by as I stood still, stuck to that day when life left his beautiful face.

For those who haven't been following my blog, the boyfriend, whom I'm madly in love with for the past 8 years who I frequently talk about in this blog, died three months ago. And I miss him every frickin' day. From what I have experienced, time does not heal. It makes you callous. The pain never leaves. It's always there. And at the end of the day, when every pragmatic thing leaves your mind, the tears would fall and they fall hard every time.

I tried going back to work a couple of weeks back but I can't seem to function well yet. Went back to my sabbatical and currently working on personal projects and just entertaining myself with simple things that inspire me and get me going.

I'm currently planning a birthday gig for my boyfriend's birthday next month. I just wanna celebrate with friends and just celebrate his life. Also, it's gonna be an album release party for his solo music project, Vatomofo.

Aside from that, I'm keeping myself busy with activities with friends. Last Saturday, I went with friends to a poetry reading of a local writer who released a book of sonnets. Trying to make new routines as well. Every Sunday, I try to visit his "underworld" and make special visits on his death "monthsaries".

At the memorial park, visiting him with Pugly-Caco tagging along.

Using his phone. He bought this last May, two weeks before he died.

With my friend, Em, at a local art gallery. She used to play drums in our band. :]

Also, I'm getting back to checking Chictopia out for inspirations. Decided that designing and making clothes again might help me get through this rut.

I've been pretty impressed with this Chictopian's illustration of her outfit shots:
I've been practicing my green thumb, too. I planted livingstone daisies today!

I also saw this awesome drawing:

Coffee Break with Pugly-Caco

2010-08-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

August 27, 2010
Coffee Break - The Avenue

August 26, 2010

2010-08-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Tequila Afternoon at the Memorial Park

2010-08-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

August 23, 2010

Second Death Monthsary

2010-08-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

August 15, 2010

August 11, 2010

2010-08-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

SM City Moviehouse Toilet
Wearing Duhwain's polo.

July 30, 2010

2010-08-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

Iloilo Doctor's Hospital
Dengue-like symptoms

July 8, 2010

2010-08-27T21:51:00.001-07:00

With sister and cousins
Club Aura

Tattoos

2010-07-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just showing you guys my tattoos. I got 'em weeks after my boyfriend's death. All were taken from his letters.

This one's on my right arm. It says, "Hems, no matter what happens, your hands are always on mine. I love you, Mip. Be still, relax. Chipawabyu." He used to tell me this all the time. The last time he wrote this to me on a Facebook message was last June 2, 2010. I found the same message in his Unsent folder in his mobile phone. :[
The designs are all mine. The star and the cloud represent me. He always told me all the time that I was his new sky and his cute little star who danced her every twinkle. And the robot is him for he has now attained soul robocracy. :]

This one's on my left arm. It's from one of his journal entries. I had a hard time looking for the font. If you're interested, the font's called Angelic War.
It says, "Donna will have the best of everything. She is my favourite. She's my love here in this wretched world." This entry was written last March 13, 2010.

And yeah. It's only during the tattoo sessions that I knew that the texts had 19 words per tattoo. Our anniversary is on February 19th. Isn't it too coincidental? ;]

Mourning Girl

2010-07-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

I took a break from work to rest for awhile and rethink my plans for the future. I don't want to follow through with our (Donna-Duhwain) plans cos that would be sad for me. Pursuing the things we wanted without him sounds a bit sad. Just seems wrong to me.

Anyways, friends have been very supportive. Duhwain and I circulate in a lot of circles. I'm happy that all these people we hang out with love us and worry a lot about me. Duhwain would've been happy to see all of them there for me. I've been quite busy these days as different groups of friends take me out to distract me from my depressive state.

Here are my Black Widow Adventure photos:

Star Girl & Robo Boy

2010-07-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm exporting notes, journal entries, and photos to this blog: The Adventures of Star Girl & Robo Boy.

It's a blog about my boyfriend/soulmate/playmate and I, and our love. Hope you can drop by. ^_^

This is therapeutic to me. It feels like he's still alive. Well, he will always be alive in my heart and my thoughts.

Love,
Donna

Noobie Doober by Vatomofo

2010-06-27T03:18:00.000-07:00

This is a song he made for me. I miss you, Hems! I love you!

My Boyfriend Died

2010-06-27T02:31:00.001-07:00

Yes. Last June 13, 2010. Very, very sad time for me. We've been together for 8 years and we were very much in love. He's my first boyfriend and I'm his first girlfriend. =(

He was in an accident that gave him a frontal bone head trauma injury that led to internal bleeding. He was 28 years old.

It was my birthday last June 15 and it was our 100 months together last June 19. We were planning to go on a weekend trip. We were supposed to go to Shanghai on October to see the World Expo. And now he's gone.

I love him dearly. He was my life. He is my life. I won't be able to blog for a while.

Add me up on Facebook if you want to keep in touch. Read about our love story. I hope you find love as sweet as ours.

I consider some of you as friends in my heart. Would really make me smile if you can send me messages.

Spread the love!

xoxo,
Donna

PS. You can drop by his Facebook tribute page if you have time. Thanks!

Festival Style

2010-05-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of summer and everything happening is happening right now! Summer festivals, rave parties, outdoor rock gigs, nature trips, beach escapades, everything! Times like these that a girl has a hard time deciding what to bring to the weekend escapade. Instead of packing lightly and bringing key pieces, a girl usually panics and stuffs everything in the bag ending up with heavy baggage and uncomfortable travel.

Thanks to A|Wear for putting up together a list of festival essentials - what summer dresses or playsuits to pack to keep you stylish all weekend long. Great and brilliant suggestions for a weekend getaway.

Yabbar!

2010-05-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

I got myself a new point-and-shoot camera so I may be posting outfit photos soon! Yabbar!

Bloom in the Park 2010

2010-05-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

Bloom is a wonderful outdoor spectacle with so much to do and see. Most visitors to the show spend hours walking around and taking in the beautiful surroundings.

Whether you are a garden enthusiast, a foodie or just on a day out, Bloom has something for everyone - full of ideas on outdoor living, inspirational cooking, fun for the family and of course the latest in cutting edge garden design.

Bloom 2009 featured more than 28 superb gardens from Ireland's top horticultural talent. The show gardens were complemented by a spectacular floral pavilion featuring the best of Irish plants and flowers. The Woodies Garden Expert Forum featured Ireland's top celebrity gardeners providing expert advice on planting and general gardening queries.

The show again featured a cookery demonstration stage with some of Ireland's leading chefs; an Irish artisan food market for visitors to sample and buy some of the best Irish food and drink produce; various children's play areas in the Family Fun Learning Zone and an outdoor entertainment stage. Bloom 2009 also featured a demonstration area hosted by the Crafts Council of Ireland offering visitors the opportunity to enjoy live demonstrations by Irish crafts people at work.

This year's Bloom will be a five-day event and will start on June 3rd and end on June 7th. It will be in Phoenix Park. Opening times will be 11:00am-6:00pm (June 3rd) and 10:00am-6:00pm (June 4th-7th).

Getting to Bloom is easy with a DUBLIN CAR RENTAL if you're coming from the airport or anywhere else. It will directly deliver you to Phoenix Park. You can also opt for the free shuttle bus running from Heuston Station throughout the show.

Utility Harem

2010-05-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

I've been loving the military look for months now. Since military jackets started popping into the market a year ago, I've been in love with the look.

A|Wear's utility harem features feminine pieces and floaty fabrics paired up with women's trousers and skirts with utility and military details. Pair them up with boots and you get one hot look!

I absolutely love this collection!

Dublin Writers Festival 2010

2010-05-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Start Date: 01 June 2010
End Date: 06 June 2010

Venues: The National Concert Hall, Project Arts Centre, Abbey Theatre

The Dublin Writers Festival is Ireland's premier literary event celebrating the very best of Irish and International Writers.

The Dublin Writers Festival provides a unique opportunity for audiences to experience high quality live literature through readings, discussions and talks.

International writers Antony Beevor, Hanif Kurieshi, Yann Martel and multi-award winning Ian McEwan will join Irish writers Jennifer Johnston, Joseph O’Connor and Tom Murphy and dozens more at this year’s Dublin Writers Festival.

The 6-day literary Festival, now in its 12th year, features over 40 writers who will read from their most recent works and take part in curated conversations about their writing.

This year’s Festival, assembled by Programme Director Liam Browne also salutes significant birthdays for two major Irish writers, Tom Murphy and Jennifer Johnston, as well as The Gallery Press, a publisher that over the last forty years has tirelessly promoted and published the best of Irish poetry.

New initiatives in 2010 include a exploration of song writing with Paul Brady and Neil Hannon in performance and conversation with John Kelly and insights into the art of reading well from Anne Enright and Dermot Healy.

Rounding off the jam-packed programme will be discussions on the new feminism, the ‘tricky’ second novel, a detailed exploration of Irish language travel literature and a multimedia bilingual event featuring poetry, song and projections.

Dublin Writers Festival is an initiative of Dublin City Council Arts Office, supported by The Arts Council.

Highlights of the 2010 Festival include:

The multi-award-winning author of Atonement, On Chesil Beach and Saturday Ian McEwan -whose new novel, Solar, addresses the issue of climate change - will join the writer and 1960’s counter-culture icon Stewart Brand in conversation with Myles Dungan. Brand argues in his latest book, Whole Earth Discipline that ideology is no longer enough and science-led pragmatism is the only viable solution to our global crisis. Expect some cool-headed thinking on the global warming debate. This will be the first time Brand and McEwan have shared the stage together.

An exploration into the power of the word in song writing by respected musician, singer and songwriter Paul Brady and charismatic front man of The Divine Comedy, Neil Hannon; in conversation with and co-curated by John Kelly.

Celebrations of the birthdays of Jennifer Johnston’s (80), Tom Murphy (75) and The Gallery Press (40).

Exclusive Irish appearances by Antony Beevor (Stalingrad, D-Day), Spanish-born Canadian writer Yann Martel (Life of Pi) and playwright, screenwriter, novelist and filmmaker Hanif Kureishi (The Buddha of Suburbia, My Beautiful Launderette).

Full List of participating writers:
Sarah Bakewell, Antony Beevor, Dermot Bolger, Paul Brady, Stuart Brand, Ciaran Carson, Michael Coady, Michael Cronin, Gerald Dawe, Mícheál de Barra, Alan Desmond, Anne Enright, Peter Fallon, Alan Gillis, Vona Groarke, Neil Hannon, Dermot Healy, Seamus Heaney, Biddy Jenkinson, Jennifer Johnston, Declan Kiberd, Hanif Kureishi, John Lynch, Manchán Magan, Derek Mahon, Yann Martel, Ian McEwan, Medbh McGuckian, Susan McKay, Máighréad Medbh, David Mitchell, John Montague, Tom Murphy, Paul Murray, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin , Liam Ó Muirthile, Joseph O’Connor, Ruth Padel , Frank Reidy, Natasha Walter

The Dublin Writers Festival runs June 1-6 in various venues around Dublin. Booking opens on Monday April 19, 2010.

FULL LISTINGS

Tuesday, June 1st

Ian McEwan & Stewart Brand with Myles Dungan
Tuesday, June 1st | 7.30pm | The National Concert Hall | €15, €20
Booking: NCH | T: 01 417 0000 | http://www.nch.ie

Wednesday, June 2nd

David Mitchell with Brendan Barrington
Wednesday, June 2nd | 7.30pm | Project Arts Centre | €12/ €10
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Antony Beevor with Diarmaid Ferriter
Wednesday, June 2nd | 8.00pm | Liberty Hall | €12/ €10
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

The Riverrun Project / An Tionscadal Riverrun
Dermot Bolger, Biddy Jenkinson, Máighréad Medbh & Liam Ó Muirthile
With music by Seán Óg and images by Margaret Lonergan
Wednesday, June 2nd | 8.00pm | The Sugar Club | €10 / €8
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Thursday, June 3rd

Joseph O’Connor with RTÉ Drivetime’s Mary Wilson
Thursday, June 3rd | 8.00pm | Project Arts Centre | €12 / €10
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Bíonn Adharca Fada ar na Buaibh Thar Lear: An Litríocht Taistil sa
Ghaeilge / From beyond our shores: Travel Literature in Irish
Manchán Magan, Mícheál de Barra, Frank Reidy & Alan Desmond with Michael Cronin
Thursday, June 3rd | 8.15pm | Project Arts Centre | €10 / €8
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Paul Brady – on song writing, in conversation with John Kelly
Thursday, June 3rd | 8.00pm | Liberty Hall | €20 / €15
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Friday, June 4th

Jennifer Johnston
Friday, June 4th | 7.30pm | Project Arts Centre | €12 / €10
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Neil Hannon – on song writing, in conversation with John Kelly
Friday, June 4th | 8.00pm | Liberty Hall | €15 / €12
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

The Glór Sessions
Friday, June 4th | 8.00pm | Project Arts Centre | FREE
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Saturday, June 5th

Reading Stories – Anne Enright on Alice Munro
Saturday, June 5th | 11.00am | Dublin Writers Museum | FREE
RSVP: info@dublinwritersfestival.com

John Lynch & Paul Murray with Niall MacMonagle
Saturday, June 5th | 2.00pm | Project Arts Centre | €10 / €8
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Natasha Walter & Susan McKay with Anthea McTeirnan
Saturday, June 5th | 4.00pm | Project Arts Centre | €10 / €8
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

How to Live
Sarah Bakewell, Declan Kiberd & Ruth Padel with Evelyn Conlon
Saturday, June 5th | 6.00pm | Project Arts Centre | €12 / €10
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Hanif Kureishi
Saturday, June 5th | 8.00pm | Project Arts Centre | €12 / €10
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Sunday, June 6th

Reading Stories – Dermot Healy on James Joyce and Aidan HIggins
Sunday, June 6th | 12.00am | Dublin Writers Museum | FREE
RSVP: info@dublinwritersfestival.com

Yann Martel with John Boyne
Sunday, June 6th | 2.00pm | Hugh Lane Gallery | €10 / €8
Booking: Project Arts Centre | 01 881 9613/4 | http://www.projectartscentre.ie

Tom Murphy
Sunday, June 6th | 4.00pm | Abbey Theatre | €12 / €10
Booking: Abbey Theatre | T: 01 878 7222 | http://www.abbeytheatre.ie

The Gallery Press 40th Anniversary Poetry Celebration
Derek Mahon, Ciaran Carson, Vona Groarke, Michael Coady, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, John Montague, Dermot Healy, Medbh McGuckian, Gerald Dawe, Alan Gillis & Peter Fallon. Special Guest: Seamus Heaney. With music by Bill Whelan
Sunday, June 6th | 7.30pm | Abbey Theatre | €20 / €15

For More Information: http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com

For transportation, Dublin car rental services are available so you can easily jump from one venue to another to catch appearances of international writers at various venues and times.

Dublin City Soul Festival 2010

2010-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

The Dublin City Soul Festival: a celebration of Peace, Unity and Love

Promoting peace, unity & love from Dublin to the World...come and celebrate your soul with us & let the music capture your heart!

This unique 4 day festival, now celebrating its 4th year, offers a variety of reasons to be cheerful:

• The Soul Picnic – the superstars of soul from around the globe in a picnic style (FREE, very special guests to be announced)

• Witness Ireland's 'Rising Stars' throughout the city streets, bars & cafes of Dublin.

• Live Music Trail, Soul Cinema Eye Candy, Laugh Yer’ Soul Off @ The Laughter Lounge, Soul Fest Restaurant Trail and lots more.

Soul ain’t nothing but a feeling so come out and celebrate your soul with us & let the music capture your heart!

This is a four-day event running from May 27th to May 30th 2010. For more information, you can go to this url: http://www.dublincitysoulfestival.ie.

If you are looking to enjoy the soul festival like a local would, I suggest you look into a Dublin car rental and drive around the city streets to see and hear soul performances at the local bars and cafes. Don't forget to swing by the soul picnic!

Peace Frog & Blue Sunday

2010-04-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Loving these hippie/boho looks:

And I saw these amazing bright accessories that would go well with these looks. The beads, bangles, and neckpieces are absolutely beautiful. I especially love the colors.

Dublin Dance Festival 2010

2010-04-06T17:34:00.001-07:00

Dublin Dance Festival is delighted to announce a beautiful and bold, wondrous and wild, smart and funny programme of works whose inspirations draw from sources as diverse as Beckett, Madame Bovary, Steve Martin, Billie Holiday and Sarah Bernhardt. Over the course of Dublin Dance Festival’s 6th edition, audiences will be treated to artists hailing from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and USA, as well as Ireland, with Spain’s electrifying Noche Flamenca providing the Festival’s grand finale at Vicar Street.

Established international luminaries of the dance world such as Raimund Hoghe, Yvonne Rainer and Soledad Barrio will be featured along with new European and Irish works. Among a panoply of Irish premieres, there will be world premieres from Irish artists: junk ensemble, Rex Levitates, and a work in progress from David Bolger. From further afield, an engaging new work by Jean Butler and Tere O’Connor, commissioned by the Abbey Theatre, will be presented on the Peacock stage.

For those who want to warm up their own dancing bodies, the Festival will get underway with Bumper 2 Bumper, the opening night headphone disco presented in association with Phantom 105.2 and Temple Bar Cultural Trust. It’s the perfect event to boogie the night away for free in preparation for the ensuing two weeks.

Of the 2010 programme, Festival Director Laurie Uprichard comments “This poetic title of Raimund Hoghe’s work Young People, Old Voices, conjured so many ideas, raised so many questions and ultimately inspired much of the programme for DDF 2010.”

The Dance Festival starts on May 8th and ends on May 23rd 2010. For the full program of events, please go to http://www.dublindancefestival.ie/programme/. For tickets, please see https://dublindancefestival.ticketsolve.com. To appreciate the festival and to get around easily during the festival, you can check out Dublin Airport car hire.

This festival is going to be really fun and exciting with all the fashion and dancing overloading the senses!

Dublin Dance Festival 2009 from bibi agosto on Vimeo.

Awesomest Trip Evarrr!

2010-04-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend at Boracay with 2 of our awesomest couple friends. ATV rides, slinky party, flyfish speed trip, leg-numbing walks. Awesome!

It would have been a lot awesomer if I had these women's dresses to wear in Boracay. This Eclectic Paradise Collection is awesome. I'm loving the patterns and the colors. Lovely fun!

Utility Harem

2010-03-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

Broke my camera so I can't post outfit photos these days. =/

Me like these dresses:

Dublin Fashion Week

2010-03-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

After posting about Ireland's street fashion, I got really into the topic and researched and found this website that's all about Dublin Fashion Week.

I loved the outfits shown here. Pretty amazing textures.

If you happen to be exploring the city of Dublin (which is where I'D like to go) and you need to get around easily, you can check out this Dublin car rental.

Beach Outfit Planning

2010-03-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

Next month, I'll be spending a long weekend at the beach with my boyfriend. I'm pretty excited and I'm already planning outfits in my head. I'm thinking of going Tura Satana-ish with my beachwear.

I'm thinking swimwear like these:

And playsuits for daywear like this:

And knitwear and lady's jacket/hoodie like these as top and cover-up:

Street Fashion Fever Revival!

2010-03-10T07:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I browsed through street fashion sites. The ones I frequently visit are Hel Looks, Japanese Streets, Style-Arena, Dropsnap, The Sartorialist, and Facehunter. So I thought to myself, why not search for more of these kinda sites?!?! Right? It took me four years to come out and explore. I have these big issues when it comes to changes even with minor (?) things.

So I opened a new window in my Firefox and started typing "street fashion sites" and the angels sang (seriously I heard some "Haaaaaaaaaahhhmmmm"!) as Google revealed a goldmine of street fashion sites. So what I'm gonna do is do a series of blog posts on these fashion sites according to the city/country where they originated from. Please check in here from time to time for updates!

First of the series are a couple of blog sites dedicated to Ireland Street Fashion:

1. Fashion Dublin
Interesting site. They label their "fashionistas" as "FADDISTS". I think it's funny/cute. Heeheehee. And there are a lot of pretty fashionable guys in their photo collection. ;)

2. Dublin Streets

3. Fashion Filosofy

Ain't these sites a beauty? Makes me want to catch a plane to Ireland and look for a Dublin car rental, drive around and feast my eyes on the well-dressed Irish people. Especially the young fashionable Irish lads! Haha!

Barring-gaffner of Bagnialto!

2010-02-25T11:12:00.001-08:00

There's only one thing to do: continue! We are continuing machines. We can't quit now. We have to keep going. That's why we were born. Until you're dead, it's all life! So make the most of it!

- Kilgore Trout
(Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut)

I'm loving this skirt and these dresses. They're just perfect for spring (or summer if you live around my side of the world). =)

Wasted Brownie

2010-02-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

Hung out with one of my boyfriend's high school acquaintances tonight. We were supposed to go out with our boy, Poof, but he decided to not to show up at the last minute so me and boyfriend decided to eat out. And we ended up with his boring high school classmate. Talking to him killed some of my brain cells. Lol. I was looking forward to discussing a lot of things with my boyfriend but never got the chance to cos we had to hear this guy talk about his girlfriend and how the girl's parents don't like him (had to put Timothy Leary and Terence McKenna on the side grrr!). Blah blah blah!

We ate at Barbecue Park and had bulgogi, pork barbecue, and some fruit shakes for dinner. It's a restaurant adjacent to the skate/bike/jogging street so after dinner we hung out with a couple of our longboarding friends at the skate street and talked a little. Then we decided we were too sleepy and just took the taxi home. Yeah, we didn't bring my car cos I was too lazy and fucked to drive. ;D

While waiting for the jeep, we decided to take photos. Yeah, we remembered this time!

At the rest room. Sorry for the awful photo and the awful background! X(

∞th (Infinitith) Anniversary and Fractals!

2010-02-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend and I celebrated our 8th year anniversary for the past two days! The date of our relationship anniversary is February 19th. We went out on Thursday night (anniversary's eve hehe) and ate Japanese food at a place called Maki. We had so much fun we forgot to take photos. LOL. Then on Friday we just hung out the whole day watching documentaries, lectures, and movies. We went out of his house at around 3pm to eat lunch at the mall. Since we still had Japanese food hangover, we decided to eat sushi and sashimi again at the mall in a place called Rai Rai Ken. After eating, we went back to his place to finish our movie marathon. It was fun. When I left at around 2am that's when we remembered to take photos! SNAP! We look pretty disheveled at this point but decided to take photos anyway just to remember the day by.

I was wearing white socks with the shoes when we were hanging out the whole day but took it off after getting all comfortable in the bed and forgot to put them back on. Lol. Check out my new shoes!

Anniversary gifts, I gave him a Sherlock Holmes-ish pipe and he gave me a new pair of shoes. I love it. It looks oxford-ish modern. =)

What I wore last Wednesday when I paid the bills and stuff. Did not bother to iron my clothes. LOL!

Let me leave you with this lovely video:

Happy Valentine's Day/Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!

2010-02-15T08:09:00.001-08:00

Sending you my late greetings for Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year. I hope everyone of you had fun celebrating cos I did! 3 days of partying and eating! And I'm pooped (in every sense of the word)! =)

Wearing my awesome vintage glasses that I got for
Php150.00 (about $3.00) in an antique shop in Manila.
Meet my gay friend, Donnie (the dude in red), who used to weigh more than 300lbs. and is now this thin after 20 months. Proud of him! Really!

I've been wearing a lot of tight jeans with oversized polo shirts (Thanks, Dad, for letting me steal your shirts!) and stilettos lately. I'm kinda getting bored with the look so I was checking this Dakota Blue collection and I think I just found the solution. =)

Farewell, Alexander McQueen...

2010-02-12T22:39:00.000-08:00

I will miss your wonderfully extreme original designs and awesome shows. Thank you for being an inspiration. The fashion world will never be the same without you.

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

March 17, 1969 – Feb. 11, 2010

No one's death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness.

-Hermann Broch

For the complete story, click here.

The Messiah Has Come!

2010-02-12T09:32:00.001-08:00

Please view this video! The age of enlightenment has come! Our saviour has arrived!!!

"I"

2010-02-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

I always wondered what would happen to our consciousness when we die.

Before I met my boyfriend, I used to think how wonderful it would be to float into nothingness upon death. My consciousness would feel nothing, swimming into a blackhole and would be lost forever. When I fell in love, I would cry all the time - saddened by the idea of no longer seeing my "true love" after this life.
When I still believed in God, I thought that when we die we go to heaven and would never know the people we used to know in Earth. You know, God's way of saving us from all the painful memories that got stored in our consciousness. At the back of my head, I always wished that God would give me my memories when I'm with him so I can savor the things I used to experience.
When I abandoned theism, I thought it would be lovely that my consciousness would transcend to another dimension where I can see other people's orbs of consciousness and we can relive all the sensations we used to feel with our physical bodies. On the other hand, I also hoped that my consciousness would float in the vastness of the universe and attach to other stardusts of consciousness to give birth to new stars and solar systems.

After watching a couple of documentaries and reading on neuroscientists' current experiments on the brain and consciousness, I kind of feel relieved with the latest results - that consciousness is just a product of constant stimulation of the brain, neurons firing up, etc. It gave me peace of mind. It just feels wonderful that when I die, I can stop thinking, I can stop wondering.

I can finally rest. That's death I'm looking forward to.

Age of Reason

2010-02-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

I was reading through the posts of the Chictopia 10 Summit winners and reflected on the reasons why they started doing their blogs. Same thing with the others, I put this blog up to document my daily (not-so-daily) outfits and commune with others who have the same interest as I. Where I'm from, if you wear something awesome (in my opinion), people will look at you funny and say mean things. I've had moments even when people would directly laugh at me. In this blog world however, people are nice and understanding and appreciative of one's take on fashion. I forgot about the comfort I get from the blog world.

I should really start paying serious attention to this blog and to all the wonderful people I met and who have inspired me here. It's about time I take this blog to a direction. I don't know where or what but I now know I should be putting my heart here. Looking forward to wherever it is this realization's taking me. Cheers to us all!

Love,
Donna

"It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration."
-Thomas Paine

Another Festive Week

2010-01-31T10:37:00.000-08:00

After Dinagyang season, Jaro Fiesta is up next. Food, carnival, thrift shops, walks! Haaa! It's almost February!

Jaro Fiesta in the 1920s.

Wish I had this dress to wear for fiesta:PS. I'll post some outfits soon once I find the time.

Pata! Pata! Patapon!

2010-01-21T08:18:00.000-08:00

FEVER!!!!!!!!!!! (This is a reference to a PSP game)

Yeah, it's almost Dinagyang! I can feel the partayyy vibe all over the citaayyyy! For info on Dinagyang please see this post. I can't wait for the Dinagyang weekend. It's gonna be fun!

Just wanted to share random photos of outfits that luckily got snapped by friends.

First photo, when I attended my high school reunion. Second and third photo, when my friends and I were hanging out at the boardwalk after some drinks.

By the way, you gotta check out this vintage inspired new collection: Badass!

The Diamond Post (Blecccchh!)

2010-01-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

So about the post-Christmas and New Year party I was talking about, I changed my mind the last minute and came to the party as Pippi Longstocking (whore-ified version, of course). Forgot to take an outfit photo but thanks to a friend, I have a snap to remember the costume by. Too bad I was sitting down. Here's my costume:

My friends say that my costume doesn't really look like a costume cos it's something
I would wear on any other day. I don't know if it's a compliment or what. Haha!

With friends. From L-R. Me as Pippi Longstocking,

Boyfriend as Iron Man (recycled costume) ,
The Cheshire Cat, Little Red Riding Hood,
Vivian Ward (Pretty Woman), Juno, Dana Scully.

As usual, I was very busy with work and "socializing" that's why I wasn't able to post anything for the past weeks. Went to a couple of parties and went to the beach with friends. I will post photos from the beach soon.

PS. The title indicates that this is my 75th post.

xoxo

Whore-rific!

2009-12-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm attending my gang's post-Christmas party this January 2nd (moved from December 30th because of a conflict in schedule with another party other friends are attending). It's a costume party with the theme, "(Whore)rific Christmas". We're supposed to dress up as crackwhore versions of TV/Movie/Storybook characters. I'm having a hard time choosing who to dress up as. =(

I'm choosing between Wayne Campbell (Wayne's World), Lindsay Weir (Freaks and Geeks), and Meg Griffin (Family Guy). What do you think? Any suggestion aside from these three?

Thanks! Would really appreciate if you could throw in some suggestions!

Saw this badass studded parka and I think they're perfect for the Lindsay Weir crackwhore version, no?

PS. I found a new spot for my outfit shots. It's one of the unoccupied room in our maid's quarters. Hehe.

Late Saturnalia Greetings!

2009-12-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! I haven't had time to greet you guys. Very, very busy month for me. Didn't have time to snap outfits. =(

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, people! =)

Btw, please check out this Holiday Sale.

Cold Front

2009-11-29T05:31:00.000-08:00

November cold fronts are delightful. They bring chilly mornings and cool nights. And they make me wear my fuzzy jackets and coats. And they make me feel like I need more to look good!

I'm drooling over these beauties:

More where these coats and jackets came from.

Fiesta, Goodbyes, Car Rides

2009-11-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

Thursday was a busy day for me. It was the annual town fiesta where my friend, Ting, lives. Like any other fiesta, people here celebrate fiestas by preparing and serving food to guests in honor of their patron saint. In this case, I forgot who the town's patron saint is. Whatever.

Anyway, as tradition, my friends and I went to eat dinner at her (Ting's) place. I always look forward to eating their Baked Potato. Delicious.

After eating at Ting's, Dwayne and I went to meet up with Dwayne's coworkers for a goodbye party for one of their close office friends and as farewell party to everyone else who are resigning this month (including Dwayne).

I spent the night at Dwayne's since we left the party at around 2:00AM. The next day one of my friends called and woke me up, inviting me to a spur of the moment road trip. Earlier that week, I had all my clothes (in Dwayne's place) sent to the laundry so I had nothing to wear to the road trip except for the jeans I wore the night before. So I borrowed Dwayne's NIN shirt and just wore everything else from the previous night. Good thing I still had clean undies reserved at his place.

Road trip. Went to eat Oyster and lunch at Allan's Talabahan. Then went to see the animals at Racso's Woodland Resort. Then went to the University of the Philippines Miag-ao campus to see their Natural Science Museum.

Funnnn! Yeah, outfit was nothing grand but was very comfortable. (^_^)

Of Vampires and Fangbangers

2009-11-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

There's just something alluring about vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and demonic creatures. They're really badass. Since I was small, the idea of being glamoured by a vampire or being possessed by an evil spirit just thrills me. The power of darkness overcoming you into a state of losing self-control. The idea that they imagined themselves into existence is just too appealing.

But no, I am not a Twilight fan! Didn't read the books, didn't see the movies. Heard from film junky friends that it's totally making vampires look gay. Teeny bopper, hopeless romantic vampires? I even read from a forum that they're vegetarians! They sparkle when exposed to daylight?!?! Wtf!!!

When one says vampire, these come to mind: Blade, vampires from From Dusk Till Dawn, Lestat from Queen of the Damned, the Underworld vampires, even Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt make the cut. Even the vampires from True Blood are cool although they sound too Southern for me. But the vampire-maker relationship and the vampire community structure in True Blood is well thought of. The vampire slang in that series - fangbangers, God Hates Fangs, etc. - is funny, too!

I just can't take the gayification of the coolest mythological beings of all time. I hope real vampires would track down and suck all the blood out from Stephenie Meyer for making their race look pathetic.

I can still hear the lines of jailbaits squealing outside the movie theaters at the mall last weekend. Eeeep!

On a brighter note, I saw this Twilight-inspired collection over at A|Wear. I think the outfits are hot. For the Twilight fans, here's something for you:

Fail! Photo Overload!

2009-11-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

I've said a couple of times that I'll dedicate more time to blogging. But as usual, I failed! I always forget to take photos when I'm having fun. A lot of my friends came to visit so I was pretty busy having fun and bumming around.

The weekend after my last post, my friend (and my boyfriend's friend) Poof celebrated his birthday for two days. Day 1 of his celebration we played Rockband and ate the "banquet" he prepared. And that day I discovered a pretty awesome PS3 game - The Last Guy! Day 2 we had space cookies! This has become a ritual already. And I was baked for two days! That's why I wasn't able to post anything. Yeah, I know, I'm such a dirtbag.

Poof's the guy with the dreadlocks. I usually play the guitar in Rockband.
And yeah I can beat your ass in the Hard level. LOL.

Next story. My friend Moshi (she's the one wearing the black top in the photos below) came home from Cebu because her boyfriend was seeing some ugly whore behind her back. She broke it off with him and came home with epic tales of his betrayal. Oh yeah! And because of this my friends and I (The Shududuts) got together after months of not seeing each other! Yay! I had so much fun that night (last Saturday night). And I was wearing DIY stockings inspired by Emilio Cavalli, the idea I got from Rebecca (The Clothes Horse). Hope she doesn't mind. Made it the night I saw her post. To check the tutorial, click here.

We ate at Kenny Roger's, hung around the mall
and took photos, and had coffee at Coffee Break.

Feeling Fallish

2009-11-07T05:08:00.000-08:00

Get it? Yeah, I know. Not that funny. Haha. I'm enjoying the word play anyway.

As the title says, I've been feeling fallish lately. I dunno why. It's pretty hot in here in my part of the world, that's why it's kinda foolish wearing fall outfits. Explaining that doesn't make the joke funnier. 8P

Anyways, I've been wearing granny stockings for the past days. They're just nice to look at, don't you think?

I failed the exam I took last September. I know. I'm an epic failure. Taking the exam again next year. EPIC FAIL! My bad. I spent more time fantasizing about passing the exam than studying. So I had to refuse my job offer at the university so I can have time to study. I'm applying to work in pharmaceutical sales; let's see how it goes. Toodley-doo-dee-doo! (Imagine Jack Black singing that. Haha! Encarnaciooohooon!)

Blogniversary...Baaah!

2009-11-06T03:12:00.001-08:00

One year. Sixty seven posts. Nothing special.

My blogniversary resolution: Be more passionate about my blog. Make posts religiously. Make more friends!!!

To celebrate my so-called blogniversary, I'm handing out blog awards to bloggers who have influenced me, one way or another, over the past year. Cheers, ladies! I salute you!

1. Rebecca of The Clothes Horse

2. Elin of Elinkan

3. Rhiannon of Liebemarlene Vintage
4. Melissa of Sex and Coffee
5. The Stylish Wanderer

Whatever Works

2009-11-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

I saw Whatever Works today. I had so much fun watching that movie because it articulated a lot of my beliefs and my usual rants, like, the human race doesn't deserve to breed, that religion will kill off human existence, that life is meaningless, that everything is meaningless and pointless and purposeless, that everything happens randomly, etc. Hahaha. I could relate so well to that movie. Plus I'm a big fan of Woody Allen and Larry David. You guys should watch it. You submentals, too! Hahaha. Kidding.

Here's the trailer for Whatever Works:

Happy Halloween, Pagans!

2009-11-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

I cooked a simple yet awesome dinner last night. Convinced my parents and my sister to dress up and had an awesome Halloween family dinner. My boyfriend decided to drop by before he went to work. It was fun. My sister and I couldn't go out to party cos we were both feeling sick so we decided to have a blast at home.

Curtains and table mats and glass covers were made by my sister.

I made meatloaf (I mean, meat hand) and mashed potatoes. My sister made some creamy fish fillet, don't know what it was called. For dessert, I served up a nice jello surprise. My sister made cocktails. I think it was grape juice mixed with Sprite and Triple Sec.

And here's my lame attempt at being Ms. Lovett:

And here I am with my mom and dad:

And here's my sister:

And my boyfriend:

Happy halloween, everyone!!! Hope you guys had a blast, too!

WTF: Why The Face

2009-10-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

New addition to my TV Addiction List is Modern Family. It's a mockumentary comedy TV show that is just too funnnnnyyy! It's like Arrested Development meets The Office! The characters are well developed. Family profiles and complexes are well defined. It's perfect! My favorite character so far is Phil. Haha.

Speaking of TV shows, it's Monk's last season and I've been savoring every episode I watch. Other shows I've been going gaga over this season include Dexter, The Office, The Big Bang Theory, Flash Forward, and The Guild webisodes. I've been watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother, too. Hehe.

Aaaaaah. TV is wonderful.

Dressed for Dread

2009-10-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

We played Left4Dead yesterday. It's been months since I played this game. Speaking of L4D, L4D 2 is going to be launched this November. New characters, new special infected zombies, new weapons, and new game modes. Can't wait to try it out. Weee!

Here's what I wore Sunday night. Had steaks, drank coffee and sweet drinks at a cozy coffee shop, and played L4D until 2 in the morning. Was with the boyfriend and a couple of friends. Fun!

And for those of you who happen to love comic book characters coming alive in the big screen, a LOBO movie is set to be directed by Guy Ritchie! Yay. Downside is, it's going to be PG-13. What the hell! I'm still excited, although a little pissed off. Thank you 13 year olds! Thank you!!! >=/
I'm voting for Danny Trejo to play Lobo. I know, I know, he's a little short for Lobo but just look at him! He's badass and he's too Lobo-ish looking! People, don't hesitate to comment who you're rooting for to be Lobo. Peace!

Crackwhore Schoolgirl

2009-10-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading my blog, you might recall that lately I've been fascinated with "crackwhore" fashion. So I tried to come up with an outfit and here it is:

Wish I had this leather jacket to go with it. I wore this on Rockband night (last Saturday). Me and the boys played Rockband at one of my boys' house. Rockband night was awesome! I was the designated guitar and bass player. We went out for ice cream after at around midnight.

It was de - wait for it - lightful! (in reference to Barney Stinson's famous catchphrases)

About to Get Exciting

2009-10-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

My exam results come out on October 29th. And I'm going back to work come November 3rd. It's gonna be exciting. Yeah!

I'm teaching again at the local university's pharmacy school. And I'm getting all excited preparing my outfits. I know it sounds ridiculous but what the hell.

To counterbalance my superficiality, I've been reading Richard Dawkins' new book, The Greatest Show on Earth. And I just started teaching myself Basic Latin yesterday. Geez! I am such an automath and polymath wannabe!

Anyways, going back to my teacher mode wardrobe, I'm thinking along the lines of Burberry's Resort 2010 and Miu Miu's Spring 2010.

BURBERRY

MIU MIU

Bad Blogger

2009-10-21T03:33:00.000-07:00

As usual, I haven't kept my promises. No outfit posts. No backdrop finished. It's been pretty busy since the last time I posted. My boyfriend's sister (who's a friend back in grade school) came home for a visit two weekends ago. She brought her boyfriend along with her so it was me and my boyfriend playing good hosts to them. Then my grandma died so my family and I had to go to my dad's hometown to visit and attend the funeral last week. The weekend after that, I had to spend time with my older brother cos he had to go back to Manila the following week. It was crazy. There are a lot of things I wanted to post about. =(

Here's a photo snapped in a grocery with my boyfriend and his nephew:

Here are the photos when we went to Kabankalan (my dad's hometown - it's a 2 hour boat ride from Iloilo City):

Our car being parked inside the boat.

I've been wanting to rave about certain fall collections but I guess it's kinda late to be posting them. Anyways, here are a couple of my fall favorites:

The Peter O'Brien Winter '09 Collection for A|Wear

Dear Creature s Autumn '09
(Collage made by me)

Topshop's Fall '09 Highland Fling Collection

(Photo stolen from nitrolicious.com)

Ketsana (Ondoy) Victims Need Your Help

2009-09-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Typhoon Ketsana brought the worst flooding in Manila and neighboring provinces in 40 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8277018.stm

Here's how you can send your help to the victims of the flood:

http://tourism-philippines.com/philippines-flood-donation-appeal/

Zombified

2009-09-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

I'm currently making a backdrop for my outfit photos and decided to make outfit posts by the time I have my backdrop up. Plus I've been too busy playing video games lately that I always forget to take photos. I've missed playing a LOTTT! I'm so into PopCap's Plants Vs. Zombies for the past months! You guys should try it out.

I've been reading a lot, too, cause I've missed reading books other than my Pharmacy textbooks! I just finished reading The Last Man Who Knew Everything by Andrew Robinson. It's a biography of one of my favorite scientists, Thomas Young. One of the best biographies I've read. Andrew Robinson is the best biographer I've known. I'm currently on the lookout for Andrew Robinson's books. And I'm currently reading the updated/expanded 10th anniversary edition of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Oooh and a friend just told me about Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's a parody of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Interesting! Me wants to read this!

And I know you guys aren't interested but I just wanna say that Heroscape's got a new master set out! It's the third master set and here's the big scoop.....it's a D&D Expansion!!!!! Wahoo!

Also, I saw these cute women's dresses:

When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be A Crackwhore

2009-09-11T07:00:00.001-07:00

As I've said over and over again, I've gained a lot of weight over the past months while preparing for my exam. I'm planning to go to the gym to lose those extra weight and get myself toned.

I don't wanna sound ridiculous but I'm really into "crackwhore" beauties and body types right now. I've started to "crackwhorize" my wardrobe actually. Too bad I haven't taken photos of my latest outfits - was busy with finishing exam stuff blah blah. Since my schedule has given me time now, I promise to post outfit photos the soonest I can get myself dolled up. I'm sick as of now so definitely no photos. LOL.

Let me introduce to you Ms. Emily Haines (of the band Metric), one of my "crackwhore" beauties. I love her and I love their music. =)

Isn't she lovely? Let me leave you with their carrier track from their latest album. Enjoy! =)

Wave Goodbye

2009-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Did I tell you I went to see Nine Inch Nails in concert? On their Asian leg of the Wave Goodbye tour, my boyfriend and I and 3 other friends went to see them in Manila. It was amazing!!! The show was almost 2 hours and there were no breaks in between. In between sets, they'd play instrumentals. Trent was playing the guitars and he had two synthesizers and a tambourine. All the other sessionists were also multi-instrumental. It was one sonic orgasm! I couldn't believe I was there. It was one of the best nights of my life.

The Return of the Comeback!

2009-09-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yay! I am back!!!

Finally, the exam's over! It was on the 3rd of September and was in Makati so I had to go back to Manila. Went there on the 31st of August and went back to Iloilo last September 4th. I stayed with my boyfriend's sister, Maya, who's a friend back in grade school.

If you have to know, the exam I took was the Austalia Pharmacy Council's Stage I Exam. Results will be released approximately 8 weeks after the exam. I can't wait. I want to pass the exam so bad so I can move to Australia and start my life. And, of course, wear FALL OUTFITS! Fall outfits have got to be my favorite.

Anyways, it's been quite rainy since I got back. I'm getting the itch to buy/online shop for new coats/jackets/raincoats. I want to come up with cool rain outfits. Sadly, I wasn't able to buy myself funky rainboots. Still on the lookout since May!

With a lot of free time in my hands, I saw a couple of cool women's jackets. Wee. Click on the link to see what I'm talking about. Here are a couple of the jackets and coats that I absolutely adore!

Leave me comments, friends. As I've missed you all! =) Outfit posts coming soon!

I'll Be Back (In September)

2009-07-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

Studying hard. I'll be posting as soon as I pass the exam in September (Yeah! I will pass! Failure is not an option!). It breaks my heart every time I'm wearing a pretty good outfit and I'm unable to post it here. Aaaak. Two months left and I'll be baaahhhkkk (*said the Arnold way).

See you soon! I miss everyone here!

xoxo,
Donna!

So Little Time, So Little Privacy

2009-06-07T05:23:00.000-07:00

I am just very busy these days studying my ass off. I don't think I can do outfit posts until I finish my friggin licensure exam. I can make time to take pictures but I just can't find the time to transfer them to the PC and upload. You see, I'm sharing one computer with four other people. I'm just sneaking a post. It's killing me. But don't worry I'm still fabulous (in my opinion and standard of course). Harharhar.

Updates. I did go to Manila Fashion Week last May 31st but my invite was just for one show. It was Sassa Jimenez' collection. Her collection reminds me of Spring 2007 collections of Marchesa and Zac Posen. She's a young designer in her late 20s or early 30s probably. I like her clothes. That same day, before going to the Fashion Week event, my sister and I went to Ocean Park Manila. LOL. We didn't really dress up for fashion week cos we had to go the oceanarium. She came to visit me and it was the only day we can go see the fishes cos she really wanted to go there. Plus, the oceanarium was near the venue of the fashion week activities.

Aside from reading a lot of textbooks, I've been reading a couple of "fun" books to relax in between. The past two weeks, I have read Love, Stargirl, Jerry Spinelli's accompany book to Stargirl. I enjoyed it! I've been enjoying a lot of young adult books lately. Taking a break from my heavy readings. Also, I reread Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend In A Coma. Finished 3 books from Judy Blume's Fudge Series: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Shiela The Great, and Superfudge. I'm now reading Sam Savage's Firmin. And I'll be reading a lot of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry tonight. Uugghh!

PS. I also gained a lot of weight the past 3 weeks I've been here in Manila. Ugggh!

xoxo

Test Walk/Run

2009-05-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

I went around my new neighborhood and walked to one of the malls yesterday to buy toiletries and to stock up on food. I also mailed my eligibility assessment documents to the Australian Pharmacy Council. I hope I get a reply next week. I'm still missing my boyfriend like crazy. =(

I just saw the season (and probably series) ender of Scrubs last night and I totally lost myself. I was crying like a baby. The last minutes of the show had me thinking about the time when I first saw Scrubs on TV and I was curling up at home in our living room. That was in 2001. I can't believe I've known JD and the rest of the crew for 8 years now. Although I feel sad about it, it's about time they pull the plug and end on a high note rather than plummet to "unfunniness". I admit the 8th season has not been that epic but I value the friendship I've formed with the Sacred Heart team. Yeah, I'm delusional. *sob*

Photo taken at my brother's apartment building's rooftop.

Errr...

2009-05-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

I just arrived in Manila yesterday. I'm now in my brother's apartment with his girlfriend and two other house mates. I'll be living with them until September or October. I don't know yet. Can't do outfit posts yet. Thanks a lot for voting, you guys. =) Really appreciate it.

My future sister-in-law (my bro's gf) and I are planning to make hand-designed shirts. I'll do the sewing and designing, of course. Lol. I don't know yet but I'll let you know and post photos of the products. =) Keep posted! I think the move is quite good for me although I miss my boyfriend TERRIBLY. Being away from him sucks big time.

Top two things in my current wish list:

1. Brogues/Wingtips

2. Colorful rain boots (for the nearing rainy season)

Til next post!

xoxo

Oi! Oi! Oi!

2009-05-04T05:38:00.000-07:00

Obviously I am very busy. I just took the time to make a post because I need all the help I can get for my sister. (^_^)

She entered this online photo contest sponsored by a local brand whitening lotion, Block & White. We need you guys to vote for her photo here. Photo and concept by me. The idea was inspired by everyone posing out in the field here in the blog world (as pointed out in a post by The Clothes Horse).

Here are some of the photos from the shoot:

Uniform made by me. Shoe design painted by me also
(but I don't think you can see a lot of it here).

And by the way, I passed my IELTS exam with psychedelic colors. LOL. I'm moving to Manila this Saturday. I'm kind of sad about it as I'll be leaving my boyfriend behind. I will miss him terribly.

I don't have the luxury of time to take outfit posts lately or just even do a post. I apologize for the staleness of my blog. I promise to make this blog more exciting once I get settled in my new nest.

Oh and yeah, Manny Pacquiao won yesterday against Ricky Hatton in the East Meets West boxing match. I feel bad for Ricky Hatton when he got knocked out in the second round. It was something the Filipinos needed to get distracted from all the economic crisis. Go Team Pacquiao!

Please do vote for my sister's photo! Thanks so much! She needs all the help she can get. Til next post!

PS. I really need to clean up my labels for my blog entries. They're pretty messed up!

I Am Staying Alive!!!

2009-04-18T03:50:00.000-07:00

I've been gone for a looooooooong time. I just finished taking the written exams for my IELTS today. I'm going back tomorrow for my speaking test. If anyone's still reading, HELLO!!!

I have been pretty busy the past few weeks because my brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew were in town to visit so I was busy doing family activities. It was just nuts. And I'm too tired to go into details of explaining stuff. Anyways, they left last week so I'm kinda back to my regular schedule, except for the tests this weekend. After tomorrow, I'm free! But I only have two weeks and then I'm off to Manila for a new chapter of my life. Cliche. Haha.

I ate a lot over the holy week break slash Easter vacation. One fateful night, my mom had my pet pig roasted (something we call LECHON) when my brother and his family were here. We ate my pet. Huhuhu! Her name was Sir Francis Bacon. I will miss her. Yes she was a girl with a boy's name.

Sir Francis Bacon's BEFORE and AFTER photos. (T_T)

Sir Francis Bacon in happier days. RIP.
(with Laverne, our Lab Retriever.
Don't worry guys. We don't eat dogs.)

Here I am after my exam today (I look like I failed the exam LOL):

And after the exam, I went to buy some fabric for my summer clothes. I'm making them next week.

Sorry for the lack of cohesion and transition. I just wanted to let you guys know I'm still here. Thanks for the comments by the way. I apologize I can't reply yet. See you soonest!!!

xxx,
Donna

Bittersweet Yearnings

2009-03-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a boring day. I went to my classes and just stayed at the study center.

Today, I was looking forward (not really) to another monotonous day when I woke up. I got quite excited when my friend called me around lunch time to help her with some wardrobe issue. She's scheduled to visit her boyfriend in Manila tomorrow and she kind of panicked because she didn't have any clothes to bring. So I went with her to buy a shirt and new shoes. We went to her house and did a little fashion show. LOL. So I kinda enjoyed it. We hung out at her place and drank 2 liters of Coke. And I'm totally regretting that. I wanna get thinner.

Outfit details: Dress-bazaar, Shirt-Levi's

I've had this shirt for years. I think since I was 6 or 7 years old. Around those times, I guess. See the following evidences:

I've been watching a couple of movies for the past days and here are the ones I'd like to share my views on:

WATCHMEN (Zach Snyder)
Watched it with my boyfriend last Monday. I really enjoyed it. It's really storyline-based. I'm really glad Zach Snyder stuck with the comic book. Except of course for a little difference at the ending. I'm generally happy with it though.

CUT (Chan-Wook Park)
I am a really big fan of Chan-Wook Park. Cut is a short film from the collaboration of Asia's three coolest directors, 3 Extremes. 3 Extremes features Park's short film alongside Takashi Miike's (Japan) and Fruit Chan's (China). Cut's my favorite of the three. It's one of the coolest, most kickass mindfuck film I've seen. I always get captivated by Park's unexpected stories in nicely done art shots. You will definitely be blown away. Do get a copy of this short film. I also recommend that you see his other movies, especially the vengeance series: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. For the sake of art, you have to see these films. I say Park is the best director to ever come out of South Korea.

SEVEN POUNDS (Gabriele Muccino)
Saw it this morning. I am not a big fan of drama films from America. But I loved this film. The ending I wouldn't have expected from an American movie. Almost all of the time, American films tend to make happy endings out of tragedy. But this one was really tragic (oooops! spoiler!!!). Love it!

Sorry this is such a quick post so forgive me if I can't really discuss the movies or do a spelling or grammar check on this post. Love to hear from you soon. Til next post!

xoxo,
Donna

All This Happened, More or Less

2009-03-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Thank you guys for the lovely comments! 10 comments have been the most I got! I still can't believe it! Yey! But I have been quite busy so I apologize for the absence. I've been attending night classes for my upcoming test (I talked about it in a previous post). Every night, I get off around 9:30 or 10:00 this week. During the day, I have lots of projects. One project is making "cool" surgical masks for a friend (one of the dudes I used to hang out with when I was still in a band) who was diagnosed with lung cancer just last week. He's scheduled for an open lung surgery next week. Making him masks is my way of showing support. That's why I haven't got a lot of time to take photos or do a short post. But when I checked my blog and saw the ten comments, I had to do a post. Hahaha. You guys make me happy. I'll post photos of the masks next time. 'Til then!

Outfit details: Shirt-bazaar, Shorts-SM (the local mall),
Shoes-SM, Star hairclip-selfmade, Spiderman necklace-Mags.

I'm leaving you with MSI's Shut Me Up video. It's pretty awesome. Directed by Jhonen Vasquez, the guy who made Invader Zim. Enjoy!

Cameltoe

2009-03-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Excuse my stupid face. I had a hard time fitting in through all of my bedroom's garbage.
I finally finished the shelves I was putting up. But I haven't finished (let alone started) fixing things up yet.
Outfit details: Shirt-Guess, Dress used as skirt-thrifted, Shoes-thrifted, Bag-my usual boring bag.

Went to the mall this afternoon because my boyfriend and I were planning on watching Watchmen but we didn't get to because we ended up hanging out with his family. We had dinner with them and watched his nephew play in Kevin's Toys & Library. It's like a day care at the mall.

Anyways, we had pizza and mojos at Shakey's. I forgot I was on a diet. Arrrgh. Now I have to make up for it with exercise tomorrow. I started dieting and exercising last Wednesday cos I'm feeling a bit hefty. Not that I have anorexia or anything. It's just that I went beyond my average weight by 8 pounds. Woah. I kinda let myself go for the past couple of months. Blah blah blah I'm sounding a little bit petty.

Before we headed out, my boyfriend and I were watching a couple of John L. Armstrong videos. These past months, our quality time seem to always include John Armstrong and skeptic bible studies. I really enjoy these moments though.

My boyfriend and I were laughing at the mannequin's cameltoe hahaha.
Look and see for yourself!

And I found a special edition Pokemon NDS. I don't know what version though. I have no clue. Giritina or Dialga & Palkia version?

My Summer Playlist

2009-03-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to go to Boracay this summer. I'm going with my family yipee. I always love going with my family than with friends cos I never spend a peso on anything. I am such a leech. Bad leech. Plus I don't go out dancing or drinking or do anything people my age do so I don't mind being around my parents. Plus I don't have a lot of friends. There are only two people I call friends - my high school buddies. Most of my acquiantances are second degree friends - my boyfriend's friends, my sister's friends. So going to Boracay with friends is not a choice in the first place. God, I am such a bore.

Anyways, there are a couple of songs (and certain albums) I only listen to or mostly enjoy listening to when it's summer. Here they are:

1. Mindless Self Indulgence - Frankenstein Girls Album
The last time I listened to this album was last summer. I started listening again last week. Hmmm. There's something about phast (phat + fast) beats that make me enjoy the hot summer air blowing through my hair as I ride the jeep.

2. Asian Dub Foundation - Free Satpal Rum

3. Blind Melon - No Rain

4. Sublime - Santeria

5. Fiona Apple - Across The Universe (when it's rainy season, I listen to the Beatles' LOL. weird)

6. Hot Hot Heat - Bandages, Oh Goddamit!

7. MIA - Paper Planes

8. Nine Inch Nails - Sunspots

9. Eels - Fresh Feeling

10. Gorillaz - Feel Good

These are just a few. How about you guys? I tag anyone who wants to post their summer playlist. I don't have time to take outfit photos lately. I'm being lazy again. Plus my shoes are just too beaten up to be in a photo. I'm embarrassed by them. LOL.

xoxo

No Rain

2009-03-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty hot the past few days. Made my condition worse. I had major asthma attacks and nose bleeds for the past week that's why I haven't posted for a while. Plus I've been a little busy processing documents for the IELTS exam I'm taking on the 18th of April. And I've been trying to process stuff for my eligibility assessment for the Australian Pharmacy Exam I'm taking in September.

I've been feeling a little better for the past two days. But I haven't made my presence felt here cos aside from getting sick, I've been helping my boyfriend make foam swords. We're going larping two weekends from now. We started larping in 2004 I think. The larping fever was again triggered by the movie, Role Models. =) Plus it's summer here so everyone's geared up for some beach larping activity. Wooo! Can't wait.

I've been also busy redesigning my room. My hands hurt from all the hammering and drilling. I'm posting photos of my room as soon as I finish everything.

With all these happening, I still manage to watch my favorite Nat Geo shows and simultaneously read the books I'm currently trying to finish: The History of Money and The History of Knowledge.

Chaos keeps me going. I don't want to be not busy cos I don't want the void and emptiness of this life to keep up with me. Char!

Photos taken at a friend's place. This friend's a comic geek. Look at his toy collection of comic book action figures. He's the one who painted his closet with that cool comic book art. Outfit details: dress and shoes, thrifted. Bag, self-made.
These are the new swords we made. We made them out of foam noodles and lots of duct tape. Cool, huh?

I'm currently downloading the movie documentary, Darkon, just to get the feel for next weekend's activities. Woohoo. Hope I get well this week. Yipee!!!

P.S. Someone got me free tickets to see Manila Fashion Week this coming May. This is such an exciting year for me. Whoopidee!

P.P.S. Haven't seen The Watchmen yet. Going to see it this weekend with my boyfriend and a couple of friends. Looking forward to it since I have read the graphic novel. Will do a review the next post. =)

Sick of Being Sick

2009-03-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling sick for the past two days. An upper respiratory tract infection...again. My throat's pretty swollen and my back's been killing me. I spent the whole day yesterday in bed. Just watched Nat Geo the whole time I was home. I had the strength to do a post today and check out my facebook and other networking accounts (just registered for a Chictopia account days ago. yey!). I hate getting sick. Happens all the time. Darn me and my weak immune system. URTI's always trigger my asthma. I wonder; who among you guys are also asthmatic?

All images from Trendnista.

PS. Thanks to everyone (only a couple of people actually) for the lovely comments I have received the past 5 months I've been here. Means a lot you guys. It's probably the flu talking, making me all melodramatic. =)

Some Stuff & My New Hair

2009-03-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to do a post over the weekend but one of my closest friends flew in for a visit. She had to go to Iloilo because it was her fiancee's birthday. My friend is currently based in Sultan Kudarat, Mindanao. Mindanao is way farther south than Iloilo. Her family lives there and she's currently working there. Anyways, I wasn't able to post because we had dinner two nights in a row and spent two days looking for wedding favors and wedding ideas. She's getting married this coming December and I'm one of her bridesmaids. This is going to be fun. Over the past days of looking through color themes and what not, I realized how hard it is to plan a wedding. But she doesn't want to hire a wedding planner cos she wants to do everything! Anyways, she started planning early (last year) so I guess she won't be a bridezilla. She wants me to pick out the dresses for the bridesmaids and I'm kinda having trouble with that. Here are random wedding-related photos I found interesting as I was browsing through flickr:

I think I just fell in love with Anne Ruthmann's photography skills. I love how she does weddings.

And my new hair... I'm not that happy about it. Oh well. I think I look a little like Rock Lee. Do you guys watch Naruto?

New Frames

2009-03-05T02:25:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend bought me new frames 2 weeks ago because of bummer headaches caused by not wearing my glasses. My old ones were really beaten up and looked so unfashionable I refused to wear them. He bought me these pink ones which I think look great on my face. Now I could just stare at the computer screen for the longest time without having major headaches. Yey.

I went to the mall earlier to buy the shoes I've been eyeing for weeks just to find out it's no longer there. It's just frustrating. It kinda ruined my day. To cope, I daydreamed about Doc Martens' Made in Pastel and floral collections. Photo of Doc M shoes from Hysteric Girl's blog.

P.S. I'm getting my haircut this coming weekend. Will post photos the soonest I can. I miss the blog world. And yeah I wanna have more friends here so please don't hesitate to drop a line. I wanna exchange links with you guys. As you can see, my blog roll needs your blog name to be displayed there. =)

love,

donna

Absentee Blogger

2009-02-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

It's March already and I can't believe how long I've been gone. I just deleted some of the many fashion posts I planned to publish cause fashion week's over. As usual I've been really really busy. I'm quitting my job and I'll be moving to Manila by the end of April. Doing things towards my long term goals. Acting like an adult is hard! I don't think I'll ever grow old. I'll be mature alright but I don't think I'll ever be that adult. If you know what I mean. Life's too fun and depressing to be taken seriously.

My boyfriend and I are planning to get married next year and we're planning to migrate to Australia. We just feel that Iloilo is too small for us. We just wanna get out of the country and go somewhere else where no one would bother us about going to church, etcetera. We are just so tired of being closet apostates. We don't wanna hurt our parents especially his. They are very active church leaders in their Pentecostal churches. =(

I'll probably have more time next week so I guess I'll be posting a lot more interesting stuff other than my ranting and daily outfits. I'll probably do a post about things I seriously love aside from fashion stuff like documentaries and books and games.

Oh yeah I read The Clothes Horse's post on being a "bookworm" and I totally enjoyed reading her sentiments about books. I, myself, am a big reader. I have lots of favorite authors, one would be Kurt Vonnegut who died last 2007. He can always put wisdom in playful words. Shel Silverstein also. I love his children's books. Wisdom lurks in his drawings and weird storytelling.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite lines from Kurt Vonnegut:

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be"

FW

2009-02-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

The past weeks have been pretty busy for me. I can't savor my Stle.com browsing experience because of loads of stuff to do. Anyways, here are some favorites from collections I've seen.

First, Monique Lhuillier's. I've been a fan since 2006. I love sewing gowns and her works have become inspirations. I love how she layers texture after texture and how she can manage to make exorbitant textures go together. Her works remind me of fondant covered cakes. Beautiful and delicious.

Next, Marchesa. I have always thought of their designs as delightful gifts. Outrageous yet delicate.

I can't wait to see Zac Posen's collection. I'm waiting to be blown away. (^^,)

Anyways, yesterday marked 7 years of my boyfriend and I being together. We ordered lunch and just ate in his room, watched Monk episodes and went to work. Nothing romantic in the media romantic kinda way. It was comfortable and sweet and loving. Sorry for the cheese avalanche. =)

Dress: self-made in 2006 (?), Tights: MIC

Cause of Death: C. Cephalalgia

2009-02-15T00:57:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling sick for the past days. There's something wrong with my stomach. I suspect bacterial food poisoning. I feel nauseated all the time and it seems like my stomac is too gassy. I think I'll go to the doctor tomorrow. I've been feeling sick for two days now. I hate it.

Skirt: self-made from bedsheet spread, Top: thrifted

Anyways, my boyfriend and I went to the mall earlier to eat lunch. We ate at KFC and had lots of spicy chicken. Hmmm I love chicken. This is another quick post cos we're watching episodes 10-12 of Monk Season 7 and episode 14 of Big Bang Theory Season 2 in a while. I'll be busy the whole week so I can't probably do outfit posts or fashion week "reviews". I'll try to post something interesting cos you're probably bored with what I babble every time I post.

Jacket: Penshoppe

Been wanting to do a review of the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, or the documentary, The Journey of Man, but I'm just too darn busy.

I'll leave you with a video of Nine Inch Nails' The Perfect Drug. You'll find the video Vogue-esquely interesting. This is what got me hooked to Trent Reznor when I was 12 years old and I'm still a fan. He's one of my heroes. Enjoy!

Pale, Pale, Pale

2009-02-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

Skirt: thrifted, Shirt: made it

Been really busy with a lot of things the past few days with work and doing favors for friends. Two days ago, my friend had her photoshoot for their office pageant. She asked if she could borrow clothes for the shoot. I offered my services as her stylist but she refused because she didn't want her pictures to come out "weird". I wanted to direct a whimsical type of shoot with lovely bright colors here and there but they won't let me. I just settled with suggesting what to put together. I was disappointed. Anyways, I love the photo with the boxes in the warehouse. I suggested the concept. Made me happy they obliged. Since we didn't have time to go to a location, we just did the shoot on top of their office's roof. The photographer was also a friend. Her camera was new and beautiful. A Canon SLR. I don't know which model though. Wanted to steal it haha. =)

All tops and shoes, mine. A view of the Tanza area in Iloilo.

It was a fun morning. Their office treated us for lunch too. I had to go to work after. Anyways, I'll be posting this weekend. I miss everyone as usual. I can't believe how boring being busy is.

I hung out with my boyfriend and his nephew this afternoon. We watched episodes of Spectacular Spiderman and Daimos when a gecko decided to join us. He was cute with orange specks all over. Here in the Philippines, geckos are so abundant that each household has around 2 or more of them as guests (aside from their relatives living in the forests). They are so cute. After several episodes, we went outside to buy potato chips and iced tea when we saw these girls playing Chinese Garter. Chinese Garter is several meters of thin rubber where two girls hold it on each end and one jumps over it with different levels until the "biba" stage. Usually the game starts with level one where the garter touches the ground, then it goes higher with the garter being level with the knees and then the waist until the biba (the jumper's arm's full length stretch upwards). It's kind of hard to explain. Hahaha. Oh well.

I Wish I Had A Better Camera

2009-02-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Black shirt: Ying Mei (thrifted), White shirt: Scolar (thrifted),

Shorts: Pale Bleu (borrowed from my sister), Shoes: SM

It's Sunday and it's Date Day. And I'm wearing heels. My boyfriend and I are going out later. But before that, we're playing 2 rounds of Heroscape (or more). I love Sundays! On another note, I am definitely saving up for a DSLR. I envy The Clothes Horse and Ambiguous Alliterative Abomination. Their photos are just lovely, texture-wise and color-wise.

I'll be adding photos to this post later or tomorrow so you can see how the day goes.

One Lazy Day

2009-02-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Just one of those days when I don't have the spirit to dress up. I would just throw in a big shirt with big shorts. Tada! Plus it's raining and the weather's all gloomy today. The more reason why I don't feel too alive. And yeah I'm still addicted to picture cloning.

Anyways, I'm still pissed cause I've been doing my web surfing using my boyfriend's PC and I can't have MY time to do MY thing like check out MB Fashion Week previews, Fall and Spring collections, check out fashion sites and blogs, or update my weardrobe or modepass. (>_<) We always end up watching a movie or him begging to play Heroscape. So this is another quick post cause he's preparing the battlefield and I'm off to draft my army in a while. I've been inspiration-dry because I haven't had my fashion viewing fix. It's killing me! Just look at me today.

Fiesta, Uga and Allergies

2009-02-05T00:29:00.000-08:00

Shirt: Shibuya Girl (thrifted), Shorts: Quiksilver, Bag: Esprit

The last time I posted I was talking about going to eat lunch at an acquaintance's place because it was Fiesta in Jaro. Anyways, let me proceed with that. Every February 2nd, Jaro (the district of Iloilo where I live) celebrates the Fiesta of Nuestra SeÑora de la Candelaria (Feast of Parish of Our Lady of Candles). This time of year, you can go to anyone's house in Jaro and eat for free! Really! Back in the days when I was younger, my record was 8 houses in a day! Of course I went with friends. It's a big event. The two main roads surrounding Jaro plaza are closed and people just walk. The plaza is the center of activities. The roads circling it are crowded with lots of stalls that sell almost anything - from shells to slippers, to pots, to popcorn! Name it. Some tattoo shops also put up stalls. Yeah. That variety! In the afternoon, a parade takes place with the fiesta queen and princesses in their floats. In the evening, the coronation of the queen is the highlight of the fiesta. The male population on the other hand are over at the Coliseum to watch the cockfights. To read more about Jaro, please click here to read the Wiki article.

This year, my boyfriend and I just went to one house (his office buddy, Bro). My parents also celebrated but we didn't bother to go eat at our house. We ended up going home to his parents' house. Their house helper brought lots of dried fish from her home town. I love eating Uga (dried fish) especially with Pinakurat (spicy vinegar dip) so I ate loads with rice even though I wasn't feeling great that night. So I ended up getting hives the next day. Good thing I didn't get major asthma attacks. Darn me and my appetite for salty-tasty goodness!

Dress: Guess (thrifted), Shirt: my brother's, Tights: SM, Shoes: Mendrez

Somen Night

2009-02-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

Somen (Japanese noodles) are eaten by Japanese for lunch in summer. They call it their summer noodles. Somen is served cold. Since it was hot for the past days, my boyfriend's mom invited us for a Somen lunch but ended up as dinner because I had to cover for a co-worker and had to go to work. My shift ended at 2pm so Maecher (my boyfriend's mom) decided to move everything to dinner.

We came over her house at around 6pm. My boyfriend and I took pictures at the village park before going to Maecher's house.

We had apple crisps as appetizer, followed by Somen, and black rice and fish. It was a fun night. I always love eating different food. It's nice to learn other people's culture through their food.

Again, this is a very quick post since we're off to go to my boyfriend's work buddy's house to eat lunch since it's Fiesta in Jaro. Tell you about it in the next post. I'll post pictures, too.

I miss you guys! I miss visiting and commenting on your blogs (especially Amelia, The Clothes Horse, Liebemarlene, and Elinkan!!!).