... seeing the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy (international name Ketsana) really put things into perspective.

Our TV at the pad is not working so we don't really have access to the news and our area was not really affected so I did not really realize the magnitude of what happened. Yesterday I went back here to my parents' house and was already able to see photos online from various sources as well as watch local news updates. And I was floored. To say I was shocked was an understatement.

 

photos from Time

photos from Jonas

Last Saturday I was at the office praying for 2pm to arrive quickly so I can go straight to the Candy Fair. My Seventeen Sigaw sisters and I decided to still go even if it rains so by 11am I changed into my Candy Fair-clothes already. By 12pm the rain still hasn't let up, if anything it seemed to go even worse. One by one my Sigaw sisters cancelled, saying it was already flooded in their area and I, too, agreed it would be unwise to go while a storm is raging outside. Still, I felt upset. I have waited for this fair for a year (we started planning to go to the next fair while Candy Fair '08 was ongoing) and it seemed unfair for this storm to rain on my parade (literally and figuratively!). By 1pm we were already hearing news from outside that the Philcoa and Quezon City Circle area are already flooded and motorists were stranded. A quarter before 2pm (our shift's end), no one from the afternoon shift arrived to take in calls (they were all stranded) so (for the first time in my almost three-years with the company) we were asked not to log off and continue taking in calls. TL Julius was so calm, collected and composed even when we were already complaining. I suddenly got my period and the colder than usual temperature in the office got to me and by 6pm I was already chilling with fever so they allowed me to rest. Our 5am-2pm shift extended to 9:30pm! I was so tired, fever-y and aching to go home and clean up. My Ma and Pa called to urge me to just stay in the office though because they saw videos of flooded QC on the news but I was adamant to go back home to our pad and rest there so I just assured them that if the cab passes by anything remotely close to a knee-deep flood then I will ask the cab driver to go back. Thankfully I did not get any of that so by 10pm I arrived at our pad safely. Good thing I was on VL the next day (Sunday) so I just stayed holed up with my friend/housemate Asther and rested.

But sadly that is not the case for the rest of the Manileños. While I was in a dry, albeit cold and air-conditioned place, 80% of Metro Manila was filled with water. While I was upset over not experiencing Candy Fair this year, my countrymen experienced the wrath of nature. And while I am begrudgingly taking in calls, people lost their loved ones, their houses, and their belongings. I feel so idiotic now.

I know what it's like to lose all your belongings. On January 1, 2001, we lost our house to a big fire that swept more than 50% of our neighborhood. Everything I held dear in my 14 years of existence - my Barbie dolls, my playsets, my books, my clothes and shoes, my medals and certificates, my study table, and most importantly, our photos - perished. Add to that other important stuff like documents, jewelry, and appliances. We weren't there so we were not able to save anything. Not one of my family members were hurt, thank God. Our family pet, a talking maena we named Koji, died a few weeks prior to the incident (must have been a premonition). That's all too well for him, it would be heartbreaking to imagine him prancing in panic in his cage while the rest of the house is burning :( But  all those seem nothing though when you think of which roof you're going to stay under in the next few days. We stayed in my paternal grandparents' house while we picked up the pieces and my parents had our house rebuilt. Meanwhile help poured in from everyone; I received clothes, uniform and other stuff from my classmates and teachers. I felt so blessed because even when we were at our lowest, people (even those we don't know personally) still stepped up and did what they can to help.

It's quite ironic that my hometown - Navotas, considered the flood capital of NCR together with Malabon and Valenzuela - did not feel the blow of Ondoy that much.Forget the Candy Fair. Forget  the other stuff. I am thankful that my family and friends are safe.

It was really awful, and I pray this never happens again. I feel for the people who lost their stuff and their homes... But most of all my heart breaks for the people who lost family members and loved ones... Material things can be replaced, but nothing can match a hug, a kiss and a smile from a loved one. My prayers are with you on this difficult time.

On Thursday I will bring clothes and food to donate to HSBC-HDPP's CSR program for the calamity victims. Dane also wants to volunteer so we are looking for organizations that can use our services. We cannot rely on the government alone for these things (especially when funds for public welfare are just being pocketed by greedy megalomaniacs)... A little goes a long way! Our people needs us. It is high time we stepped up :)

Krissyfied's first birthday!

Today is my blog's first birthday! Yay! :D

I know I haven't blogged here for the most part of the year (because I used my Multiply journal more) but now I'm back in Blogspot, and I think I am here to stay.

I am thankful of the many many wonderful people I met online, who in a way, I feel closer to than other people I interact with on a daily basis. I cannot count the number of times I have been inspired  (or cheered up when I'm feeling the blues) by your posts. A big THANK YOU and digital hugs and pink kisses for all of you! ♥♥

Incidentally here's what I wore today:

Don't Make Me Blog You statement tee by Penshoppe

But since I am generally a good girl when it comes to my blogs, I guess you should. Let me blog you, I mean :D

I wish I can also do a giveaway as well. Maybe soon :)

Here's to more years of friendship and blogging! Cheers!

♥♥

I'm going to the Candy Fair!

Candy Fair '09 is here! And I am definitely going! :D

It is an annual event brought to us by Summit Media and Candy Magazine. What can you expect? Well, there are lots of activities, games, programs, booths (very much like what school fairs had eg. marriage booth, jail booth etc.), Candy Cuties (but the majority will be too young for me anyway meh), live bands, teen celeb sightings, FREEBIES, and lotsa fun! And this being a fair mainly for the target market of Candy mag expect lots of screaming high school girls LOL. Oh, there will be lots of stuff for sale too since a bazaar will be held as well! My friend Ana will have a stall full of pretty stuff so if you're going please make sure to drop by. :)

There is no admission fee! You just have to bring your copy of the Candy Cuties mini mag found in Candy's September 2009 issue.

I already have mine since early this month:

my ticket to the fair :)

This year's fair will be held this Saturday, September 26 at the Mega Tent Events in Meralco Avenue, Pasig City.

Now you might be wondering what a 23 years young girl like me is doing sticking her pink paws on an event like this. Let me tell you that Candy magazine has paved the way for me to know what I really want to do. Mia Fausto (now Mia Fausto-Cruz), the mag's editor-in-chief when I was still in high school, is my hero. I have always looked forward to her monthly Ed's letter and agreed with everything she said. She has inspired me to become a writer and made me want to also reach out to other girls and be their voice. This is waaay cheesy but it's true. I have long since moved on to Seventeen Philippines (of which she also became EIC before it was cancelled) and Cosmopolitan Philippines but I still have my old (plastic-covered!) Candy mags and read them when I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. The articles on my old issues still never fail to make me agree and smile :)

my old Candy magazines are the ones lined up (in ascending order!) on the right

That's 6 years worth of my teenage period right there

Now let's go back to talking about the fair :) I had so much fun at the fair last year with my Seventeen Sigaw sisters Jasmine, Jazzy, and Alice. Yannie also came with her friends.It was actually our first time to meet in person after talking on threads on the message board for years! :D

Some photos from last year's:

Yannie, Alice, Jasmine, Jazzy and Krissy

that's me buying stuff from Ana's stall :)

that's a LOT of teenage girls!

I'm a Candy cover girl!

One of the sponsors did this for free :D

I would want to post pics of me being hugged by gorgeous Candy Cuties but I looked too awkward in them. I am not used to being touched by people I don't know haha!

I will see my Seventeen Sigaw sisters there again! Hopefully Ed can come as well ;) I am inviting my Sinister Sisters, if you can read this, hey you should come! And everyone who reads this blog, this fair will be AWESOME! I wouldn't miss it if I were you ;)

My outfit has been prepared, my "ticket's" ready. Can you tell that I am so excited?! I am practically bursting with pink-colored bubbles of excitement teehee! Just 2 more days! Can't wait!

Because I may be too old to worry about puppy loves and read "100 Guy Secrets You Must Know" or "How to Tell if He's Perfect for You" but I will always be a Candy girl.

Click here for more details about the fair :)

♥♥

A very interesting week

Just a quick background before I go on: my week starts on a Thursday. You see, my rest days are Tuesday and Wednesday so my weekend starts on Monday. So that's the reason why I blog on Mondays - Wednesdays, those are the days I am in my parents' home ;) It sucks - if you are used on a regular Monday - Friday work week - but if you are like me who doesn't really go out to party on weekends (I am not big on the noise and I don't drink) this schedule is ideal. For one, I work from 5am to 2pm so I have the whole afternoon off to basically do anything I want, and most of the time that is popping to nearby malls like TriNoma, SM North EDSA or SM Fairview :) Besides, do you know anyone else who actually looks forward to Mondays? :D

I hope I did not bore you with my "brief" background. In this post I just wanted to share how my week went :)

Last month I saw a post in my Sigaw* sister's Erika's Multiply about an event her org is supporting, the Docufest '09: The Best of I-Witness held at the UP Film Institute last Thursday, September 17. Being a MassComm student and having a passion for things like these, I invited my friends/ officemates to go with me and watch. Ruther, Mich and Sasha tagged along. Asther wanted to go as well but she has a 2pm - 9pm shift while Dane and Watcher were in Bicol.

 me with Erika

It was actually my first time to meet Erika in person! Some of my Sigaw sisters I haven't met personally but I feel closer to them than some of the people I interact with on a daily basis. We've conversed for hours on end on Sigaw and talked about everything! We know each others' problems and cheered each one's triumphs. As I've said before, divided by distance but bridged by technology, we are real friends :)

The documentaries screend that day were Tasaday by Kara David (about the supposed hoax about this tribe of people that were still living like people did in the Stone Age period), Kabiyak by Kara David (about married couples where one, or both, is afflicted by a disability and how they manage to hold on), Kapatiran sa Laman by Sandra Aguinaldo (about juvenile delinquents who gang rape but don't think they are in the wrong) and Amoy ng Pinoy by Howie Severino (about the powers of our olfactory sense).

Some other pics from that day:

1st photo: Mich and Ruther
2nd photo: me with Sasha
3rd photo: me with Mich and Sasha

What did I feel while watching? Oh god I missed shooting documentaries like those! We did our own docus in college and while they were not at par with I-Witness', I can say that we also did a pretty cool job :D

Here's an outfit post:

black and gray striped long sleeves tee, black jumper dress, black PD oxford booties,

plum Tomato bag, hot pink heart necklace

Mich told me I looked like a doll, Sasha agreed, and I realized my outfit indeed looked like it was Raggedy Ann-inspired :D

You all know what happened last Sunday :D Hop to this post if you don't.

And on Monday, Dane came back from his week-long vacation in Bicol! If you are wondering, Dane is my officemate and ehem, special friend. We used to be together, then something happened, I did not talk to him for five months, then we reconciled on February. But nope, we're not back together. Wow, that's a great way of encapsulating about 5 posts-worth of stories :D

He went back to work last Tuesday (which is my off) and I will see him again tomorrow (once I go back to work) but he asked me to meet with him before I go home, so I did. He said he would give me the treats he brought back for me but I joked he could have given them this Thursday, but no, he just had to see me. He may not admit it, but I know he missed me! :D

Here's a photo of us:

Ü

And he brought me these:

Lotsa sweet treats enough to induce a toothache!
I already ate some of the tarts and macaroons :D

So there! I had an awesome week and an awesome off. I am looking forward to an awesome-r week! Hello Candy Fair! :D

*Seventeen Sigaw = an online message board very much similar to Candy's TeenTalk and Female Network's GirlTalk.I met lots of lovely ladies there and we've been friends for YEARS but sadly the site was deleted when Summit Media stopped franchising Seventeen magazine. Sad.

Going cheap-chic

My spending streak continues. My wallet has been drained yet again but that's okay. This shopping trip did not make me feel guilty at all (okay, maybe just a little) because I got everything in el cheapo prices!

My friend/ flatmate Asther asked me, Sasha and Chao to go bargain shopping with her in 168 Mall* last Sunday. I know I've already made a big dent in my savings from all my shopping this month but this being a shopping trip with my girl friends, I cannot refuse. And I am not one to stick my nose up on non-designer label items; everything's fine with me so long as it looks good on me and I can carry it well.

I know myself and my tendency to buy on impulse so I made a vow not to spend anything. Or buy that much. Umm, I think I bought that much but I can be forgiven because as I said, everything's el cheapo!

Here are what I got:

Sexy jeans that fit me perfectly (200php) and

white fitted V-neck top with sleeve detail (100php)

lavender check-print skirt with black and white lace ribbon (150php)

I don't know why it shimmers like it's made of plastic material in the photo x_x

drawstring mini tote bag I can use for my kikay stuff (50php) and

hippie bands (75php each)

white sandals (350php)

I got these from the store named Hanisha Collections that sell pretty shoes and sandals

I had a hard time choosing which to buy :D

how it looks like when worn :)

And my favorite:

white eyelet tube dress (200php)

I love it! I can't wait to wear it with a my white sandals and gold chainlink hippie band :)

Here is how the silver hippie band looks like when worn:

me likey the photo :)

I wore it at the office and on the reunion of my father's side of the family for my grandma's death anniversary yesterday. I mostly got compliments from my officemates (Ruther said I looked like a fairy and called me Soraya the whole day HAHA!) while people I pass by on the street did a double-take. They were prolly wondering what's on my head :D As I say, I do not want to get lost in a sea of shirts and jeans.

I also got a pack of undies. Can you believe that all these set me back for only 1480php? I dare you to take that 1480php to the mall and see whether you can get this much. :) And these items are not so-so at all. I wouldn't have bought them if they weren't pretty and caught my fancy :)

Now Asther is making fun of me because I bought more stuff than she did when I vowed not to buy anything in the first place and told her that I will just accompany her since I know the place a little more than she does. Well, what can I do? :D

*bargain mecca in Manila. Here you can find stalls and stalls of clothes, shoes and other what-nots mostly imported from Bangkok, Hong Kong, Korea and China. Local dress manufacturers like Juana (which I love) also have stalls here.

My beauty routine + Award

I was tagged by Cha eons ago! I'm sorry for doing this just now x_x You see, I am not much of a makeup person. As I said in this post, applying makeup is my Achilles' heel. Now, thanks to Blogspot, I follow LOTS of beauty bloggers so I can learn. And little by little I think I am succeeding. I still don't apply foundation, concealers and eyeshadow (because me thinks it's too dressy for my workplace) but all in all I think I've got the basics covered.

On the rare occasions that I need to put on makeup, I just dig in my makeup box, pray that I don't look like I got punched in the face, and apply what I learned. Lookie here:

During the HSBC Planet Groove Party last year

(1st photo: flashing some gams)

(2nd photo: with my officemates/ friends Watcher and Ruther. I can't find a more decent close-up photo and it breaks my heart to crop them out :D)

During this year's Victorian Valentine party

I am no expert, but I'm trying :D

Okay, I'm sorry for digressing. Without further adieu, here is my beauty routine:

• I have recently gone organic and now wash my face using Cyleina Black Pearl soap. I must say, all the positive feedbacks are proven to be true! My face cleared after only two days' use (not that I had problem skin. I am thankful that I did not take after my aunts who had acne-prone skin) I swear by it. I use Nivea facial wash before and it did not give me that glow that Cyleina did. Even my officemates noticed it :)
• I shampoo my hair every other day and condition every day. I read this tip before in a magazine and it has helped me manage my thick hair. For my body I use Cyleina Kojic soap. (I bought LOTS of Cyleina soaps and cannot wait to try the other variants. Opening 10 bars of soap at the same time is kinda OTT, right? :D) When I am not too tired at night I shower and use Cyleina Lavender soap and slather on Johnson's Melt Away Stress Daily Calming Lotion. Very relaxing, indeed :)
• For my arms and legs I use Jergens Original Scent lotion and for my face I use Myra-E Whitening Facial Lotion.
•  Now for my face, most often than not (except on special occasions. see above) I just use these products:

my makeup kit :)

• My ultra-cute transparent makeup pouch contains a Maybelline Clear Smooth Shine Free Face Powder in Natural for my face, oil blotting sheets to manage the oilies, Nivea Lip Care in Strawberry, in2it Moisture Release Lipstick in Flamingo, and Maybelline Fruity Jelly Lipgloss in Raspberry Juice for my lips, Revlon Sheer Gel Blush in Playful Pink and Ever Bilena Blush Me! blusher in Crazy, some hair ties for emergency bad hair days, some OTC meds, and a personalized Parken pen from Dane.
• I spritz on Britney Spears in Fantasy or Still by J.Lo. Don't persecute me for using celebrity-designed perfumes! They do smell really good on me :) On regular days (like going out for groceries) I just use Penshoppe Refreshing Spritz in Tropicana.
• I am a fan of sprucing up nails and I have already amassed quite a collection of nail polishes. I just love them colors :) My nails for the week:

I used Care Line in Love.

Such a pretty soft pink shade :)

And that's it! Hmm. I just realized I am not too complicated after all :) But I gotta start using skin products with sunblock now. Any recommendations? :)

In line with this post I would like to thank Mia for giving me this award:

I am now passing on this award to lovelies Andhari, Ana, Miss Guimba, Meream and Cha. Please do the tag as well! :) Cha, you don't need to do the tag anymore since you were the one who tagged me ;)

September drained my wallet, but I love it!

It's only the first half of the month but I have already spent way more than necessary. With shopping trips here and there, I guess it's safe to say I have already maxed out my shopping budget for the month.

First in the list is this pretty je t'aime cherry-print scarf that I got from eBay for an unbelievably low price! The starting bid was for a giveaway price of Php20.00. Now I love them cherry-prints so I entered Php200.00 as my maximum bid. Heavens of heavens, only three other people bid for it so I won it for only Php46.00! Can you believe that? The shipping fee of Php70.00 was even higher than the price of the item :)

je t'aime cherry-print scarf with freebie and handwritten note

And Anne is so sweet to even give a pair of red magnetic earrings as freebie, plus a handwritten note :) She is the first eBay seller I bought from who did this (other eBay sellers I transacted with  sent very impersonal replies to my questions and were very demanding when it comes to payments). Mostly I like buying from Multiply sellers more because they are more accomodating and leaves their own personal touch to the items they sell.

Another purchase from eBay is this BNWT aqua Forever21 sweetheart tube dress. I won't say anymore who I got this from. Let's just that she was not so nice. She "demanded" I give her a feedback already when I haven't received the item yet. 

 

 aqua F21 sweetheart tube dress

 

Good thing I liked the dress or I wouldn't have left her any feedback at all (which is better than giving her a negative one). I finally gave her a positive feedback and guess what, until now she hasn't left a feedback for me yet. Phew. Suffice it to say that I am not buying anything from her again.

On the 5th, I went to SM North EDSA with my friend/ officemate Sasha and got these:

pretty shopping bags with pretty little things inside

The big EGG paperbag contains a bag I bought as a gift for my Tita who celebrated her 50th birthday the following day while the black paperbag is from Pierre Cardin by Cinderella. What does it contain? It contains a very pretty dress I won't show yet because I am planning to wear it to our Holiday Party! On 2007 I wore this, and this on 2008. So when will 2009's party be? I have no idea. You know it's bad when you buy an outfit for a party that does not have a set date yet LOL.I never would have gotten that dress if not for Sasha's and the other girls waiting by the dressing room's insistence. And yeah, I think I would look fierce in that dress :D

The NBS bag contained the books I posted here while the smaller EGG bag contained these:

Stuff from EGG

I got a transparent makeup kit (Php200), a cellphone pouch (Php180), and a white strappy wristwatch (Php695). The makeup bag is very justifiable since I have been using the same makeup kit since college :D while the cellphone pouch is an awesome buy because it can house my two mobile phones perfectly! There is no justifiable reason for the watch though except that it's pretty on my dainty wrist as pictured here:

Ü

It did not stop there. Last week I decided to take more care of my skin and went organic :) I spent my rest days trying to find out more about Cyleina and looked for feedbacks online. I browsed through several blogs (that's how I discovered some of the blogs I am following now. Hello Miss Guimba! Ü) and not once did I see a negative review. I looked for a reseller, found Hazel, and met up with her at McDonald's in Quezon Avenue last Friday.

Cyleina organic soaps

Oops I think I went a little overboard. All the descriptions are very promising and I cannot decide which to buy so I bought a lot to see what I will like the most. I got Tomato, Triple Citrus, Black Pearl, Kojic, Apple Cinnamon, Lavender, Green Tea, Batangas Coffee, Chocolate-Milk and Honey-Oatmeal. Hazel gave me a sample of Strawberry :) They all smell so yummy that it was hard to choose which to try first! I settled on Black Pearl though as it got the best raves and Lavender for my de-stress shower before sleeping :) Click here to know more about Cyleina :)

Last Saturday I went with Sasha and Ar (my friend/ flatmate) to TriNoma and SM North EDSA to destress and watch Kimmydora. Unfortunately the cinemas were full! So Sasha just decided to buy what she came there for. I promised myself no more purchases, but promises (especially to self) are easily broken. I got a lipstick from in2it and a cropped jacket from Cinderella.

sooo pretty!

To my credit, the jacket is down to Php375 from its original price of Php750 (less 50%!) and it is too pretty to leave there. It would look perfect with my white cigarette pants :)

trying on the jacket

And the lipstick is justifiable since I have been looking for a pretty light pink lipstick for a while now. I am "between lipsticks" you see, and have just been using my trusted Nivea Lipcare :D

in2it Moisture Release Lipstick in Flamingo

roadtesting it

That photo is unedited (except for the watermark) and I don't have any makeup on in there except for the lipstick :)

So there's my haul for this month. I wish I can say that's it but I will attend the Candy Fair on the 26th, and there will be booths of pretty stuff there! I put two dresses from Ana's online store on hold and I will get them there :)

A quick oufit post before I end this:

white GAP button-down shirtdress, black YRYS waist belt, black PrimaDonna peeptoe oxford booties, and my white EGG wristwatch :)

I really should learn how to not spoil myself so much. But then again, I guess not ;)

Book-lovers never go to bed alone

If there's one thing I eagerly await for once the second half of the year kicks in, it would definitely be National Bookstore's annual sale! Imagine scoring books with prices as much as 70% off! If that's not enough, all imported books are at 20% off, and all books from Filipino authors are at 5% off! Forgive the exclamation points, it's just that aside from shoes, nothing excites me more than a good book :)

I am a total bookworm. My love for reading started at a very early age. I remember forcing myself to learn how to read just so I can read those fairy tales my mom used to tell me about. By age 5, I can already read on my own, and thus started my love affair with books. My father used to joke that when I was young, if made to choose between a book or food, I always chose the book! You should see my bookshelves here in my parents' house and in the pad I am renting with my friend/ officemate Ar. I would gladly take photos of them but they are not yet that organized. One of these days maybe.

This month-long sale has been a tradition for me, really. For this year I scrimped a bit though because I have already spent more than necessary for the past two weeks. Boo impulsive buys but yay for items-that-are-too-cute-to-not-buy. Will blog about them next :)

Last Saturday, I got these from NBS - SM North EDSA:

Cosmopolitan Philippines September 2009 ish, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City

Cosmopolitan magazines are one of my guilty pleasures. Yes, I think some of the articles were just rehashed versions from previously-released issues and they kinda get redundant already but I will keep on buying them. I don't know, methinks my month will not be complete without getting myself my monthly Cosmo fix. I got my Little Women for only Php79.20 (down from Php99.00) and my Sex and the City for only Php239.00 (down from Php299.00).

And on Monday, I got these from NBS - Malabon Citisquare:

Grammar for Smart People, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, a collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales, and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys

I already had my own copy of Mythology before but a good friend-turned-boyfriend-turned-ex never returned it. Mythology (especially that of the Greeks) is one of the things that fascinates me and even though I already have a number of books on this topic I couldn't resist having my own copy of Hamilton's again. I got this for Php156 (down from Php195). Fairy tales are another thing that amazes me, and now that I'm - ehem ehem - a little bit older I figured it would be nice to read the real stories and not rely so much on the Disneyfied versions, yes? Snow White as told by the Grimms still gives me the creeps x_x I got it for Php79.20 (down from Php99). Now, the best buy of them all is Anansi Boys. I got it for only Php169.50 (down from Php339) That's 50% off! I almost didn't see it because it was lying at the bottom of a stack of books. Good thing I have an excellent eye for good buys :)

Not included in the photos is my Julie and Julia (My Year of Cooking Dangerously) by Julie Powell. I got it for only Php75 (down from Php579!), It is the book where the new movie of Meryl Streep and Amy Adams is based from.

I should really impose a rule on myself. I haven't finished the elbow-deep books I have at the apartment yet here I am buying new ones again. But who could resist good books, right? Certainly not me! I'm sorry, but I still can't stop thinking of those books by Neil Gaiman and Paulo Coelho that I have yet to own.

Now here I am in my parents' home, stuck inside with the heavy rain pouring outside, ready to curl  in with one of my new books. Indeed, book-lovers never go to bed alone :)

A happy color to chase away the bad weather

Because a bad weather does not necessarily need to translate to a blah mood.

It has been raining nonstop in my side of the globe for the last few days and it is sooo easy (and tempting!) to just curl up in bed and slumber the bad weather away. But for some of us who are not  lucky enough to enjoy the past long weekend, we had no choice but to get up from the comfort of warm sheets and go face the gray skies and downpour. Today is my rest day though, so today I get to enjoy my warm bed. Ü

When I get bored and a bit blue-sy, I paint my nails a happy color. Instant pick-me-upper! This week, I painted my nails Turquoise by Elianto. So pretty and unique! I love how the colors pop, but not in an overpowering way.

EDIT: Like what I said in my response to Nina, it's pure creamy liquid goodness in a bottle :) It is plain turquoise, no glitters, shimmers or anything. What I love about Elianto's formulation is that it does not smell too harsh and it does not dry easily while you are still applying it (unlike other cheaper brands that tend to dry before you finish so the nail polish brush tends to leave brush marks on the nails).

Hmm, now that I think of it, the color actually reminds me of Sweet Valley High's Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield's eyes. You remember how they were described in the first chapter (of each book!) as having turquoise eyes? Nostalgia galore! Oh I remember how I loved reading those, they were certainly a big part of my pre-adolescent/ teenage years. Now excuse me while I go looking for my old copies of them books. Ü

*Elianto's nail polish costs 99php per bottle.

I am Krissy, and I believe in a woman's right to shoes.

I started working for HSBC two weeks after graduation and planned to quit after six months to pursue what I really want to do: write. Now, two years and four months later, I am still with the same company. I haven't yet found the courage to go after what I really want and have settled in a comfort zone with the best officemates a girl fresh out of college can ever wish to have and a 5am - 2pm work schedule that gives me more than enough free time to do anything I want, like hit the malls after. Add to that the hefty paycheck and you would think I've struck gold. But I do believe that this is just a "temporary" thing for me, an in-between job, if you may. When will I start to pursue my dreams? I don't know. Next year maybe? For now I am settling. I am twenty-three years young and I have my life ahead of me. Hey, I know that life is short and we should make the most out of every moment given us (you would think I would appreciate that fact after I had this dream), but I don't think toiling for hours in an office and bringing work home is something that would make me happy, for now. I am not saying that I will never consider working as an office girl as an option (heck I am even planning to sign up for classes to improve on my Excel skills), but right now, I think I am going to stay and delay my dreams for just a little bit longer.

Shucks. Such a "deep" introduction for a post about shopping :D

I work hard, so I play hard.

Last Friday I, together with my friends/ officemates Mich and Sasha (yep, the same people I saw The Time Traveler's Wife with)  trooped to SM North EDSA and The Block to spend the month's paycheck. But no we are not just spending mindlessly. By shopping, we are making sure our economy continues to flourish. Hah! Learned that from Bench's current tagline: Save the economy, Shop. Very clever, yes? :D

I got these:

I just love shopping for toiletries! Watson's is one of my happy places. Ü

I got Cream Silk Standout Straight conditioner (which enabled me to get a scratch card which made me win a sample sachet of Cream Silk intensive repair conditioning treatment and two free sachets of Cream Silk Standout Straight), Nivea Lip Care in Strawberry Kiss, Sisters sanitary napkin (which is el cheapo but of really good quality!), Garnier facial mask, Nivea facial wash,  EB powder blusher, and Rexona deo with sunflower oil (which I didn't really need because I use Nivea deo but got anyway just so I can have a scratch card as well and get that leopard print tweezer :D) I also got a bottle of nail polish in Turquoise from Elianto.

But that's not really the point of this post is it?

The point is this:

Pink snakeskin bondage heels from YRYS

 Wicked!

I got it for 899php (down from the original price of 999php. Hey, a discount is a discount! :D) I was actually lemming for another pair of shoes (the white one with the studs) but it was too big for me. This too was a size 8 and a bit bigger for my size 7 feet but it's less obvious than the white one. I felt bad a pair in my size is no longer available but in my shoe-crazed moment I was willing to get what I can :D It was a choice between the white snakeskin and this one and Mich and Sasha voted for the pink pair, so here they are!

What made me even happier were the beautiful belts I got from the same store. I got two more belts, one is a black waist belt (199php), the other is a thin turquoise belt with gold touches (50php). I got the black corset belt (199php) in their TriNoMa branch after not having much luck finding it in SM North EDSA. 

Group photo!

Here is a photo of myself working it in my new shoes:

Pink jacket, black lace top, white skirt (which is also very pretty IRL), and my new pink bondage heels

Seated outside Starbucks

I am crazy for clothes, books and DVDs, but nothing pulls me more than a pretty pair of shoes. Sweet torture galore! And who am I to deprive myself?

If only all of us can lead Carrie Bradshaw's life and earn enough just by writing a regular column, having a book made out of them, and worrying about men. Ü