Birthday Week

It's my birthday week! I am turning a quarter of a century! Geez. I'm getting old. I'm actually really scared to turn 30 but I shouldn't worry about that for now. For 25 years, I have been through a lot- personally and professionally. In spite of all I have been through, I believe I am much more braver and stronger now. There are a lot of things I am thankful for.

I will take this time to thank everything/everyone who has influenced me and helped me become a better person.

1. God.
    I used to be a really "religious" person. I was an active participant in Church, I was even on the praise and worship team. I don't know when exactly I started to drift away. It's a shame since three of my mom's siblings are pastors and my mom now has become one. I'm trying to make amends, as my personal relationship with God is concerned. In spite of my disobedience, God has showed me His faithfulness. He has extended to me all favors- especially with my work right now.

2. Parents
    This is such a no-brainer! Parents are our first teachers, friends, and occasional enemies. They are the first one to provide or demonstrate unconditional love. They guide us, motivate us and mold us to become the best version of ourselves. I have a really close relationship with my parents. Even though we may not see eye to eye, we have a deep understanding and respect for each other. I love my parents PERIOD.

3. Family

I'm very very close to my family, especially on my mom's side. We're a tight knit family and I've had fun growing up with them. Even though some of them have gone to marry and have kids or abroad, we still maintain a good relationship and open communication. I think God has gifted me with a very dynamic family and that's one of my family's strengths. Even though we have very different personalities, we maintain the respect due towards each other, especially to the older ones. Family is everything.

4. Friends

Be it friends from elementary, high school or college, I am thankful for their presence in my life. Although I have had a lot of "groups of friends" in the past, I have maintained a good relationship with a very trusted few and I am happy that I did. I can proudly say I have friends who do not judge. If they doubt my decision or ideas, they tell me right away and encourage me even more. I don't have "frenemies"- my friends are non-pretentious and do not befriend me just because they need me for something. True friends are treasures we should keep because no one or nothing can replace them.

5. The Love of my life, PJ.

Almost 7 years and this guy stuck around! Haha! But really, I'm not the easiest person one can deal with and it still surprises me up to this day that he's with me. He's the only one I've been with longer than 2 years. He knows everything about me. He's my best friend, brother, lover and everything rolled into one! He's such a great guy and now that we're actually planning on having a future together excites me. I love him so dearly- we've both seen each other not only on our best but even during the worst times, and we're still here. No turning back.

Happy birthday, to me! :)

Mother and daughter bonding

Style&Co. top| Blacksheep shorts| Havaianas slippers

Cherokee woven bag| handmade bracelets by my Uncle Lem

NO MAKE-UP! Butterfly earrings from Hard Candy

A closer look at the butterfly earring :)

Today started really sunny and I didn't expect it to rain in the afternoon, more so to go out of the house and go to the mall with my mom. LOL So as lazy as I always am on a rainy day, I just threw on a long sleeved top my aunt gave me and pair it with comfy shorts because I hate getting my jeans wet. I wore slippers because I also do NOT want my shoes to get wet too. My earrings are extra special because I made them! :)

Nowadays, my mom usually is my constant companion. Apart from the fact that I work for her on the weekends, I'm also her 1st helper in anything and her "driver" whenever she goes grocery shopping or just wants to go to the mall to eat or buy her stuff. It's like our bonding session. We get to talk a lot about diverse topics- something we weren't able to do when I was in my "teens". I am happy though that both of us get to have these dates because it's high time that I need her counsel and advice because I'm entering a stage where I am ready to have my own family, work abroad, etc.

How was your day? ;)

Happy Father's Day!

Another Sunday post...

As usual, my family and I would go to the house church that my mom founded and head out to lunch/dinner after since we end our service late most of the time. Today's weather is really hot and I didn't feel like wearing jeans even if I wanted to. I opted to wear a skirt that my boyfriend gave me (thanks for the Forever 21 goodies, love! <3) so I can move freely and not feel icky and sweaty. ;) After our church service, we had our super late lunch/early dinner at Red Ribbon.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

My sister and the kids

 Now on to our lunch/dinner:

Chocolate mousse: my dessert

My mom's black forest

Mom and brother

SISTERS.

P.S.
Happy Father's Day to my dad who's not here physically. I know you have to be away so you could provide us with the best. Thank you for everything. We love you, Papa! <3

Outfit post:

Bench Top/Forever 21 skirt/So FAB! heels/Forever 21bag :) 

Bonding with my Sis

Last May 8, 2009, my sister and I ate at Sbarro after attending the Sunday service from church. It's probably one of those times when we both did not disagree on anyting! LOL While our parents had coffee, we opted to have our stomachs full. We both ordered pizza and a pasta for sharing. I like eating at Sbarro because you get to see how they make your pizza. My sister shared about how Julia Roberts went to eat and eat and eat her heart out in EAT PRAY LOVE, and wishing we could try authentic Italian cuisine in ITALY mismo! :) For now, I think we're just too happy to feast on these:

My sister's pizza.. forgot the name though. lol

Chigaco White Pizza! My fave

baked ziti for us both

Our table was outside the restaurant (though inside the mall) so we're both able to see how the pizzas were being prepared...

Add caption

my sister, Dordie. ;)

'Till the next food adventure!

Doing what I love: Make-Up

This is a very late post about my venture last February 26. My sister had their College Night and she asked me if I could do her make up, as well as her three friends. I gamely took on the challenge and I realized that it's tiring to do the make-up of four girls, alone! I have since then acquired a new respect for Make-Up artists. I remember I had to fill in as MUA for a photoshoot because they had no MUA that day. I only had to do the make up of 1 model and I was sweating! Since I'm building my portfolio, I do the make-up of my own models at the same time photograph them- a very loooooonnngggggg process! You get lower back pains, as well as pain on the wrist, stiff necks, sweat, etc! But in the end, once you see the final output, you know all of the sweat and pain's worth it- the financial compensation is just a bonus! :)

So here are the photos on that night:

Tinz: Subtle and Smokey

Jenny: brought her own falsies! 

She looks Amazing!

Janice: Earthy

My sis, Dordz: electric and edgy

Four Marias. 

So, there! I will post the picture of the photoshoot I did for a friend and then my own photoshoot from my portfolio soon! :)

Basics and a little bit of Thrift-shopping

Rings (L-R): stacked-promise ring from my boyfriend, my infinity ring from People are People and ring I wore to graduation. The next two I got from Gorgeous, a local accessory store. 

Men's shirt and belt:SM dept. store/ Shoes: Artwork/ Bag: Tomato

Last Thursday, I went out with my cousin to go thrift-shopping since we haven't been able to hang out in a while. My mom went with us but she didn't go thrift-shopping... We just dropped my mom over at SM while my cousin and I head to Magarbo.

Magarbo is a local store with different "sub-stores" such as 2nd Look and Surplus in the City. They sell thrift-clothing such as skirts, pants and jeans, blouses, shirts, etc. Prices per item do not really go over 500 Php but you have to really be patient in scouring all the racks o clothing to find what I'd call a "best buy". They also have the occasional sale where everything goes for 100 or 150 Php each. The time my cousin and I visited, Surplus in the City had an "everything for 150" sale while 2nd look had the "everything for 100" sale.

After relentlessly searching through each rack, I was lucky to have found a very beautiful dress. From the time I picked it out, I have never let it go. I was really really happy to have found my "best buy". Oh, the thrill thrift-shopping gives me. And it's only my 2nd time! :D

150 is certainly more than worth it! :)

the button detail. i love this dress! :)