Friday spa date with myself + impromptu tagaytay overnight + my zara pick

I awoke on a lovely friday morning looking forward to a relaxing day at the spa. I took a quick shower (all giggly and smiley), put on my softest pair of acid-washed abercrombie cut-offs plus a super tattered cotton tank from gap, then headed on to the Total image day spa at the Celebrity sports club (which also has salon services btw). Nope, no outfit pic for that since I looked like a homeless beach bum (ala mk-slash-britney) since I did not want massage oil all over a nice outfit. hahaha!

On the way to capitol hills (where celebrity sports club is), I dropped off one my old denim pants for zipper repair (for some reason it got broken in the wash) at a local "couturier". I put that in quotation marks as this "couturier" is not exactly your pish-posh kind of a place but is one of my secret places for quick and easy trouser repairs. Every fashionista needs at least one secret tailor or seamstress for various things you know, and Mang Jun of Toppers happens to be mine. He is the head tailor and owner of this little place which I've seen develop through the years:


Toppers is located along katipunan and can solve all your trouser woes at dirt cheap prices. leave a comment if you need further help finding the place. ;)

Whilst Toppers has not failed me for more than 10 years already, I wouldn't suggest leaving that pair of sfam or true religion jeans for repair at this place. I'd be very scared too since the place is a bit ghetto and anything can happen. If you're thinking about where to bring your uber favorite pair of denims then I would suggest Mico (in powerplant or shangri-la). I have met mia u. and she is such a doll! ;)

Moving on, so i finally went over to the spa and asked for an hour-and-a-half-long shiatsu/swedish combination massage. Then as the masseuse was being called, I took a quick rinse at the shower and had a dip at the jacuzzi. I was then assisted to my small private room (the sun-moon-room it was called i think) for the massage. It truly was heaven I tell you!

Here are some pics to give you an idea of the atmosphere of the place:


spa waiting area

the hallway towards the private rooms

After the massage, I then told the frontdesk that I am following it up with a special footspa, pedicure, manicure, eyebrow threading, and l'oreal hair gloss treatment. I really wanted it to be a whole day affair noh. hahaha!

The footspa, mani, pedi and threading were all done perfectly to my liking. But then, as I was about to have the glossing treatment, bf suddenly calls me all panicky and rushy rush rush to say that john b. (one of his bestfriends and like, the prince of tagaytay hehehe) is forcing us (read: making pilit) to go to tagaytay for this event and that he (my bf) just couldn't say no. (I call john prince of tagaytay coz his dad co-owns carlo's pizza, mile-hi diner, cafe lupe, starbucks, and the soon to be open teriyaki boy at that popular gimmick strip by the highway hehe) And I, in turn, could not say no to bf since (*ding dong* flashback to the zara coat) I feel like I owe him and that I'd be a bratty bratty bitch if I said no. So I just held back my tears and slowly told malou (the beauty assistant) that I am cancelling the gloss treatment and hurrily went home after signing my bill. (*sob* goodbye relaxing day...)

When I reached the house I had to get ready and pack in a span of 30 minutes (stressful, i know) so I quickly stashed all my overnight essentials and chose what to wear. Since we were going to a sort-of rock music event, I opted for something very spunky. I wanted to match my new black nail polish too!

abstract purple and black long top from bisou bisou, dark tough jeans from bauhaus hk, patent black clutch from bakers, black leather sandals from rustan's

Anyhow, fastforward to tagaytay: we ate at carlo's pizza whilst the 'd sound event' was happening at the middle grounds between john's restos (I'm not quite so sure if that's the correct name of the event but there were lots of bands and people etc). We literally just popped in the event, took pictures, and greeted john's dad and then went over to carlo's pizza and ordered soooo much! Buffalo wings, quattro formaggi pizza, messicana pizza, seafood carbonara, mozzarella cheesesticks, creamy mushroon soup, tomato soup, vanilla milkshake, strawberry iced tea, and beer for the boys. (yes, I am now officially 10 pounds heavier but free food is just so hard to resist. hahaha!) Do try carlo's pizza gals! The food is really good, affordable, and has a breathtaking view of the taal volcano at daytime.

Here is a quick shot of one area of carlo's pizza:

We sat outside and this was my only view of the place. I'd look weird if I took pics of the front for no reason. hahaha! I wasn't able to take pics of the food too! Our friends attacked them before I could even open my cam case!

For dessert, I ordered mango panna cotta and for my cocktail, I had a large glass of ripe mango margarita which was really yummy (do try it gals!).


my half-eaten mango panna cotta from carlo's pizza

my ripe mango margarita from cafe lupe brought over to carlo's pizza

Then at around 3 am we then headed on to Villa Barretto where we were to stay for the night. (john b. also owns the place, so yup, it was free! *wink*)

Here are pics of our room c/o our 'gracious host' (hehe thanks dear!)


this room comes complete with aircon, cable tv, and refrigerator

the cozy look of the place from outside

The boys played poker until the wee hours of the morning whilst I locked myself in the room with my mega magazine that came with the free LV icons catalogue (you better get one baghags!) before dozing off. Then come saturday (after the sun has risen that is) we all ate breakfast at mushroom burger at around 11 a.m., before heading on home.

Here is a view of the entrance to Villa Barretto at daytime (taken as we left hehe):


Villa Barretto Hotel is along the right side of the highway around 1.5 km from the cafe lupe strip. Room rates are currently on promo as I heard. Perfect for a tagaytay get-away gals!

And for our international readers, here is a pic of the famous taal volcano of the philippines (which is seen from tagaytay) at daytime:

photo courtesy of lakbaypilipinas.com

We reached home around 3pm and drove my bf's cute little sister around magallanes for trick-or-treating. Geez, what happened to those days when kids had to walk for their goodies? hahaha!

Here she is in her little queen costume (perfect since she is treated as one! haha)



And before I end this post here is the coat that I picked from zara the other day. Which one did you think it was?



I just couldn't resist the very audrey hepburn style and the classic chanel houndstooth print. *wink*