Seeing Stars

Take the weakest thing in you, and then beat the bastards with it.

And always hold on when you get love, so you can let go when you give it.

You know you went to a good show when you can’t stop listening to them days (okay, it’s been more than a week!) after.

They played almost all my favorites (no Wasted Daylight thought) and even if I was standing for more than 4 hours it was so worth it. My lucky charm Meryll grabbed me the setlist from the stage and snuck both of us into the meet and greet to get it signed ❤

 

At this point, I have enough validation that this year will be awesome despite questionable horoscopes and missing Weezer.

I should probably stop counting the awesomeness and just do more of it, yeah?

We Live For Weekends

 

 

My weekends have adapted some sort of homage to my favorite summer memories. The food (more on the grilled/fried variety), the homemade shakes, the wholesome fun (the joys of finding perya rides in the neighborhood park!), the silly dates, and the post-drink-grubfest at your local Burger Machine.

I always wish that weekends were longer than 48 hours (or more than 54 hours if you count Friday night). But the compressed amount of time always forces you to make the most out of it. And yes, I think we’ve done a good job so far.

To my 2004 self

Dear 2004 self,

8 years from now, you will be able to watch a couple of your favorite bands live in Manila. Yes, your emo heart will not explode because eight years is enough time to get over post-teenage angst.

You will be singing along to Transatlanticism live in the flesh (#bestillyouremoheart–that’s a HASHTAG, by the way haha), but also to a whole lot of new songs you will also love, like What Sarah Said (cry, cry, cry) and You Are a Tourist.

And yes, you’re gonna get that setlist!

Hopscotch will be long gone by this time, but you’ll see The Used with the same fun and dumb friends, and of course, Wacky! (Why I’m saying “of course” is another surprise! Haha!)

Yup, they’ll play Blue and Yellow, but they won’t play Buried Myself Alive. And Bert won’t be able to reach the high notes anymore, but that’s okay because you’ll see the funniest wall of death and mosh pit ever!

Oh, Chris Carrabba’s also there at the same concert (gasp number two!). His is an acoustic set, but don’t worry–you’ve already seen him two years ago with the rest of the band.

 

And then, there’s Taking Back Sunday. YES! I’m not shitting you.

John Nolan’s back with them! And he’ll be singing the only Straylight Run song you know. Yep.

It’s just April, but your 2012 will be awesome. I promise.

My favorite time of the year

The view from outside my bedroom window–summer’s here!

 

I spent the first weekend of summer making colorful things, like these mini horse ribbons brooches from this tutorial. I think they go nicely with my rainbow purse, don’t you think?

Another reminder that summer’s here: Joey‘s Summer CD! He has been making these for about ten years now. Perfect for a breezy summer night.

And ended the weekend driving around the city with my brother, this in full blast.

I might have found my summer song! Teehee

All That Glitters is GOLD!

I was on a tight budget last month, and I had to bust out some gold shoes to complete my bridesmaid outfit for Klassy’s wedding. I had a pair of gold flats that I can’t seem to find, and I had already spent most of my money on accommodations so I decided to be more resourceful and DIY it.

I started with a pair of white heels I barely use. For some reason, I can’t pull off white shoes and decided not to buy any white shoes after this. The material was stretchy fabric and plastic–workable for spray paint! I found a can of gold at home and went to work.

I suck at reading labels. I realized that the paint was matte after I sprayed the first coat–but that’s okay. The white base made it easier for the gold to come out. It took me about 4 layers to get the color I wanted–just make sure to let the paint dry every time you add a layer!

Realizing that it might look dull instead of sparkly, I busted out the gold sequins and some Elmer’s Glue. Mod Podge would’ve been better, but we don’t have it here!

It took me a couple of hours to finish both heels! The photo below tells you that I forgot to paint some parts–hopefully ones that aren’t noticeable from afar

Turned out well, according to my standards. Haha. Check out our color palette. We were afraid we’d look a bit elfish but we put our faith in Klassy (who, by the way, works for one of my favorite sites, Refinery29!) and I think we looked Kate Spade-ish. LOVE.

Oh, being the best bridesmaids in the world, we made a fansign:

You can see our feet at the 0:12 mark in Klassy and Eric’s same-day wedding video made by Jason Magbanua.

And I have to flaunt my rings–I’m Green Lantern-ish like that.

More photos soon! Hopefully. Haha.

Crafts Party!

Before my best friend got married last month, she invited the bridesmaids (yay!) and some of their close friends to help her make props she wanted for her wedding. The invite said to  make ourselves free on Saturday afternoon, bring whatever art materials we had lying around the house (with specific instructions not to buy anything!), and our drinking pants.

VMB and I arrived to this:

A DIY/Crafter’s wasteland! We had our computers and iPhones ready to broadcast how awesome we are. Our friend, Sanya, brought over her old Sweet Valley and Babysitters Club books! The 90s fangirls in us started screaming and reading out loud chapters from the books!

We originally planned to cut out the covers and make buntings or coasters out of them. Or maybe something like this, haha

We didn’t have a lot covers, so we tore out the pages and made these awesome flaglets for the guests to have photo-ops with:

And then the very fab very metal boyfriend started making other props for the photobooth:

 

And a championship belt! Our geeky boyfriends rejoiced, I tell ya.

Of course, being Hanson fans (well, I’ll say former on my end! LOL), we couldn’t resist making these:

Last but not the least, we made this David Lynch-inspired bunting, at the special request of the bride 🙂

 

Klassy and Eric used this for the post-wedding photo shoot and brought it back to hang in their home in SF 🙂

My best friend is the awesome bride (no “zilla” here!) who came up with everything! What can I say, she made me feel like a really useful bridesmaid, haha. This party was an awesome excuse to get the guests to mingle before the wedding and be all excited for the big day!

Love the crafty folks at Camp Derby!

I think I’ll throw one when the time comes! DIY or die! LOL

* All Instagram photos were taken by Klassy

Hello, 2012!

Happy new year! How do you like my horoscope??? Ironically, it’s also the first day of work so first day of work = first day of the rest my life. Harhar.

Before I gush about how excited I am for this amazeballs year, I want to say a few words about 2011.

2011 didn’t start out great. I broke up with my ex when I found out he was cheating on me. I felt like shit because it really did feel like shit–it felt like you invested five years of your time to nothing. Boo!

I would’ve written so many emo and bitter things about it in my old blog, but I decided to open a new one instead (you’re looking at it). I’m also lucky because I have a fine set of amazing friends who lined up a whole slew of distractions I readily welcomed–Iyengar Yoga, tapas and wine overload, early happy hours, weekend beach getaways, mid-day movies and yogurt, and clubbing.

Ah, clubbing! A very good friend from college went out of his way to take me out every week (mostly to poke fun at ditz promoters and dance to our friend’s sets). Well, you guessed where that went. VGF = VMB. ❤ The end is where you start from.

That, Kylie, and the Eurotrip (sister’s wedding included!) made my year. Enough to cancel the bad stuff, and make me excited for 2012.

Another friend and I have this thing about giving slogans for the new year. I can’t remember last year–maybe it was Perfect 10, 2011 (still doesn’t make sense!). Twelve isn’t really an easy word to rhyme.

Crossing off things in our bucket list and going after what we want, in case the Mayans were right and the world would end soon. In my case, I really want to:

1. Keep saving money. I managed to reach my goal last year and now that I now I can do it, I hope I can be more consistent! I guess this article helped a lot!

2. Less bitching. I would’ve said Stop bitching, but I have to admit I can’t. Less negativity, more of being METAL (I love my very metal boyfriend for introducing me to this outlook, haha).

3. Work harder, embrace responsibility. Time to get off the scenic road and be more adult. Haha. Last year made me think of what I really want out of my job and helped me in mapping out how to make a career out of it, so I am honestly excited for the new challenges and opportunities 2012 will throw my way.

4. Take better care of myself. Eat better, move more. Wash my face before going to bed.

5. Keep doing “stuff”. Blogging/writing, sewing, cooking, going off different places, taking pictures. It seems easy to say, but sometimes, the Internet just sucks you in.

6. Unplug more. I spend almost all my waking hours online, and this keeps me from doing #5. And yeah, there really isn’t a need to update everyone on what I’m doing every single minute and I shouldn’t obsess over their lives when I’ve gone mine to manage. Haha.

7. Travel to a new destination. An annual to do! 🙂 I’m hoping to see more beaches this year (I only went to one last year…BOO).

8. Hang out with this guy whenever I can. The easiest thing on the list!

Oh, I also have a feeling I will be going to an epic, life-changing concert this year. Crossing my fingers!

Cheers to a good year up ahead 😉

The Ultimate Destination Wedding: Part 2

After exploring the city and getting our bearings, next up on the itinerary was the Hamam or the traditional Turkish bath. The only briefing I got so far was 1) bring a bathing suit, 2) it was women only (from the BIL’s email) and 3) it’s just like a spa party only that it was going to be in a traditional bath house.

Being conservatively Asian/Filipino, I made sure it wasn’t the naked type of bath house. Issues, man! Haha. We went to the only hamam downtown to meet up with the rest of the female wedding party: the in-laws (mom, sister, cousins, aunties), plus their neighbors. Since the rest of the foreign wedding party were not due to fly in yet, we were the only foreigners there.

They decorated the bath house with tulle and lots of balloons with the Turkish evil eye printed on them.

The bridal hamam is a tradition that goes back in the old days. It was when the women of the groom’s family go to the bath house with the the bride so that they can “inspect” the bride not just on a physical level, but also on the spiritual and emotional side.

We changed into our bathing suits and gathered at the center of the hamam for some traditional dancing (which involved a lot of clapping, hand movement, and me struggling to follow the rhythm) and food. Then they told us we could go inside for the bath if we were ready.

We went into the main bath area–which was one big room with a domed ceiling, a huge marble slab in the middle, and mini bath cubicles around it. The hamam lady (a huge woman in a string bikini with two bath mitts tucked on both sides of her bottoms) will motion for you to lie down on the marble, and then she’ll scrub ALL your dead skin away. Then she’ll pull your top off and scrub your boobies too. So much for being conservative. Haha.

Before everyone changes into dry clothes, we all gathered around the bride and the moms and aunties and the single ladies would pour rose water over her and said prayers for abundance and happy marriage for her. That was the most beautiful part of the hamam 🙂

Of course, spa/bath=indulgence so we had chocolates and coffee after.

One of the aunties there could tell fortunes just by reading the bottom of our coffee cups. My mom’s and my sister’s fortunes were pretty accurate. Mine was funny. “You think too much.” Spot on.

Oh, and I had to go braless after since my sister forgot her bra and she borrowed mine. You can’t say no the bride!

Yay for traditions! 🙂 I’m happy that my sister and her husband decided to go all out on letting us experience what it’s like to married in a different culture. My mom is actually challenged to do the same when they come over to Manila for the Philippine version of the wedding!

The Ultimate Destination Wedding (Part 1)

The Ultimate Destination Wedding = Most Epic Wedding of 2011!

When my sister got engaged last December, my first question was “Does that mean we’re all going to Turkey for the wedding?!” When they finally confirmed that we were indeed flying out to Turkey, I got excited. Even more so when my brother-in-law emailed us our itinerary which included traditional bridal Turkish bath, Henna night, and a side trip to Ephesus with the entire wedding party!

We arrived a week early, and explored the lovely city of Izmir. Izmir is an hour by plane from Istanbul and sits along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We stayed in the Karsiyaka side most of the time, but crossed the sea by ferry to explore Alsancak and Konak too.

I love the laidback vibe of Izmir. I think any city beside the sea (or a body of ocean) moves at less hectic pace (oh no, wait–I take it back. Manila Bay doesn’t elicit the same feeling haha) leaves you with a calmer and happier state of mind.

Getting around the city was easy since their transportation system is organized, efficient, and friendly–there were mini buses, ferries, and cabs ready to take you wherever you need to go. You just have to struggle a bit because not a lot of people speak English here so gestures and addresses on hand are must-haves. Since this is not a very touristy place, you’ll feel less paranoid about being scammed into tourist traps and the locals are actually surprised and happy to see foreigners around town. Yep, take it from the only Asians who were in town that week.

The only problem I encountered here was the weather, simply because I didn’t pack enough clothes for a sunny trip. My suitcase was filled with fall/winter stuff thinking that summer was about to go away but I was wrong! Good thing shopping in Izmir was also FUN (hello Mango outlet!).

Next up: the hamam!

Making Boards

Made a travel board last year to inspire to go to places I’ve always wanted to go or want to go back again. It’s saved in my computer as “2010-2012 Travel Board” and I printed a copy to put in my notebook.

Happy to say, I’ve gotten at least 2 down already! I made without any battle plans. My sister got me into this practice of creating inspiration boards to get me motivated to go after the things I want to do. I’ve saved images, printed them, cut out magazines, and tucked it away in a small notebook I keep near my bed. I thought this was kind of cheesy before, but I guess to some point it works and now I’m obsessed with Pinterest! 🙂