Girls' night out

(L-R) mikki, jaya, elaine and moi in alchemy

Getting some downtime lately! :) Love ya girls!

Outfit for the day :)

Went to a friend's house last night for a visit as she is about to give birth soon. (I'm excited na for you, p!) Afterwards, I took my cousins from L.A., jr and francine, along with my younger bros, to eat at embassy cafeteria (a local gimmick place in manila). Here is what I wore:

Muted pink tee with gray print and metallic applique from zara, gray skinnies from culte femme, sandals from bamboo, and cipria monogram crescent hobo from fendi

I actually took out a batch of teens which made me feel...so...old. hahaha! But I had fun though. I treated them to philly cheese steak, chili cheese fries and deluxe hamburgers plus a pitcher of illusion alcohol. hehe! wasn't able to take much pics though. It was a ruckus. haha!

To end this post, here's a cute pic of my cousin francine and my lil bro rob:



They're super going to kill me for posting this! hehe. Well, they kept on teasing me that I was "old" last night so I don't really care. bleh! :P

The stuff I passionately haggled for. hahaha!

Well as promised, I will now post the stuff I got this weekend from the bazaars. They're not much but I really had a great time shopping for these things. hahaha!

As I have mentioned, I went to the Lifestyle Network ("In the Limelight") Bazaar last saturday. The first thing I bought there was this unique waist cinch belt from carioca:



It is made of faux leather in dark brown, black and camel which makes it very easy to mix and match with different outfits. I love love love the slight v shape in the center front as it gives this piece an eclectic vintage vibe. Plus the three-hole adjuster allows me to use this cutie low in the hip which makes it all the more versatile! But the best part is, only 5 pieces of this belt were made. Yup, exclusivity at its finest with a very affordable price! hehe. It was really such a steal at P500 ($10). :D

Next, I got this white, pink and yellow floral khaftan with braided rope waist tie also from the same store:



The pic really does not do it justice and it looks so much better when worn. It is made of a polyester type satin fabric which has a very floaty cruise vibe. Perfect for wearing at a resort or in a yacht with white couture shorts and a cute floppy strawhat. This piece is also the only one there is of its kind since the owner sells self-designed stuff. Original tag price was P750 ($15) but I was able to get it at P600 ($12). (Thanks mica! hehe).

Lastly, I got these chic leather cuff bracelets:



I got dark brown, cobalt blue and tan brown since they were the ones that caught my eye. They are locally made in mandaluyong according to the stall proprietor and are made of 100% real leather. These would look so stylin' with a lot of ensembles! The thicker one was only P100 ($2) while the thinner ones were P70 ($1.40). Not bad! :)

Moving on to the Assumption bazaar last sunday, I first got these woven rattan room organizers with black pleather trims:



I'm planning to put my headbands and scarves in one while belts will be put inside the other. The smaller box is for other trinkets such as my watches etc. They are going inside my walk-in closet obviously. hehe! Super steal at P250 ($5) each.

Next, I got 2 pretty dolls for my godchild.



They are very kawaii and I just had to get them. I can't say the price though as her pretty mom G might read it. hahaha!

Lastly, I got this cute cosmetic pouch from rina albert.



Sorry for the blurry pic! I had to take the pic without flash since the pouch is plastic covered canvas and the flash reflects all over it. This one was P165 ($3.25). So cute, noh?

So there you have it! See, told you I didn't buy much but I did get some great stuff at super great deals. You should try going to different bazaars girls, you're missing a lot if you don't go! heehee!

To end this post is my outfit last sunday. Sorry for the crappy pic as I just took this with my vintage celphone haha.

White button-down top from kamiseta, brown tweed couture shorts from forever21, brown leather pointed flats from steve madden, and moss green and brown stripe medium hobo from prada

A happy bazaar shopping weekend

One of the things that I really look forward once the calendar hits november and december are the bazaars in manila! They just pop up everywhere -in hotel ballrooms, church parking lots, inside malls, humongous tents outside malls, and village centers. Each weekend, at least 3-5 big bazaars are happening at the same time and you just have got to choose which ones you want to check out. What's fun with these bazaars is that you usually haggle with the proprietors of the stalls themselves instead of SA's. This of course means better negotiations, which ultimately means better bargains! hehehe. One more thing is that you usually find unique stuff (articles you won't find in other stores) in such bazaars since people who are still in thoughts of starting a business out of a certain product (be it homemade food, handcrafted jewelry, self-designed clothes or accessories) usually join them to test the market. *nods head*

Well, bf and I decided to make this weekend a bazaar scouting weekend and I ended up with some great finds! But I'll be posting about the stuff I bought tomorrow as I haven't taken pictures of them yet. We only went to 2 bazaars though, one on saturday and one on sunday. (We got lazy, heehee) The first one we went to was the "In The Limelight" bazaar (organized by the lifestyle network) held at the rockwell tent outside powerplant mall.



The bazaar had a glitz and glamour theme and it was pretty nicely set-up. There was even a fashion show at 9pm (I'm not sure if this was every night for 3 days), an hourly raffle, plus a lot of freebies from sponsors such as oil of olay etc.

Here are some pics I randomly took at the bazaar:


A shot of the bazaar entrance. Its not evident here but a lot of people went and it was a bit crowded inside. A ticket to go inside costed P100 ($2).

On the right is Carioca, my fave booth in the bazaar. I bought 2 items there! Can you guess what I got? haha. The owner gave me great discounts too. hehe.


Here is a pic of the Ilaya Couture booth. Each booth had that pink film strip with the name of the stall.

After shopping in the bazaar, we went back inside the powerplant mall and ate at Mongkok, a popular dimsum and dumplings resto here in the Philippines.

We had salted fish rice, shark's fin siomai, mongkok siomai and brocolli in oyster sauce. Bf had a can of beer and I had fresh mango shake. *yum*

The second bazaar we went to was the assumption bazaar. We actually got free tickets to this one from bf's mom, which was great since entrance was P150 ($3) per person. The bazaar was held in a ballroom at Hotel Intercon and was much more comfy since it was not as crowded. This bazaar, though, did not have as much "gimmicks" as the lifestyle network bazaar except for the raffle. I was actually able to buy some pretty useful things here but more on that tomorrow. *wink* (don't expect too much though as I just bought cheap stuff haha!)

Here is a shot of the area near the entrance.

To end this post is my outfit last saturday at the rockwell bazaar. ;)

H&M couture vest, sleeveless top and couture shorts from topshop, yellow/saffron patent leather shoes from autinori HK, bronzey gold bouvier guccissima bag from gucci (one of my fave bags of all time haha)

Clearer pics of the bag and shoes.



Hope you had a happy weekend as well! mwah!

Lovely sunday dinner at Portico + outfit

One of my gorgeous friends julia, who is currently taking up fashion in australia, came over to manila for a couple of days last week. Whilst I wasn't able to catch up with her during the weekdays, we had planned to have sunday dinner together with the rest of the girls (or at least those who are actually here!). The assigned venue was chosen by myts and it was Portico in Serendra. So not only did I see Serendra once this week but twice on consecutive days. (Am I "cool" or what? hahaha!)

Anyway, Portico is a lovely place with an ambience that seems similar to a hotel lobby restaurant. More specifically, the place reminded me of the chinese resto in Casa Real (the hotel I stayed in when I visited Macau last year). hehe! Interiors were mostly dark wood with maroon, white and cream decors and the place had a very relaxed vibe to it. I wasn't able to take pics of the fixtures as we were busy chatting away... but I did take some food pics for you! *wink*

Juls and I both ordered Chicken Oriental:



which was very delicious and tender. I loved how that square-dripped sauce tasted! *yum* I ordered honey ginger lemonade to go with it which was divine too. (It was like aromatherapy in a drink. hahaha!)

Myta ordered Pan-fried Salmon with lemon butter and shallots:



which I had a taste of and was perfectly cooked as well. I liked the oriental sauce better though! :)

Over-all, everything was good although service was a bit slow in the beginning. Later on Honeybo with her bf Francis arrived (but I had forgotten to take pics or ask about their food as we were engrossed in gossip)

Now here is a group pic (I cropped my face this time as I don't want too much face pics in my own blog. hahaha!):



Iris arrived later on that night and surprised us all. Upon her arrival we then transferred to go nuts donuts at around 11 pm for coffee. Too bad though as we weren't able to take a complete pic with her in my cam as we got too busy talking and catching up! hahaha. (note: girls, send me copies of your piccies! The one we took at go nuts didn't turn out well in my cam).

Moving on, here is my outfit for the dinner:

Capelet from urban outfitters, reworked cotton tank from hanes, dark gray skinnies from culte femme, silver leather sandals from style&co. and silver leather clutch from aldo. Also not seen here: silver wide headband and skull earrings from topshop

The capelet is actually one of my fave buys from urban outfitters! Here are some detailed pics from the site:



I guess that's about it for the day, need to start doing schoolwork now. hahaha! Hope your Sunday was pleasant as well. ;) mwah!

Nov. 10 was a jam-packed day: My aunt's wedding + dinner + serendra + cuisine + outfit

Yesterday turned out to be a super funny day for me and I ended up completely buzzed when I got home. I actually almost fell asleep in the living room couch with my whole outfit on sans the shoes. hahaha! It would have been so embarassing to the maids if I hadn't woken up at 4 am to go upstairs. *snicker* (This is what medschool does to people! hehehe.)

Anyway, let me give you a quick rundown of events... I started the day with my audrey hepburn + imelda blog entry, ate lunch and then proceeded to wrap some christmas presents. (yes, I started quite early this year as I've learned from the stress last year! *shakes head*) I then talked to my mom for about an hour before realizing that it was already time to get ready for my aunt's wedding! I then scampered about, fixed the wrappings, ribbons and whatnot and called my bf to ask whether he was on his way already (shockingly he was!). Of course this did not help and just made me panic all the more. I then took a 5-minute shower and grabbed the first dress I deemed wearable. And then, as I was about to put my make-up on, my gorgeous friends t and mv gave me a three-way call from california so I ended up with like only 10 minutes of make-up time! hahaha. (i really miss you t and mv!)

Anyway, let's fast-forward to the wedding... The bride (my aunt) chose a bright pink and lime green theme which was okay but reminded me too much of those juicy couture velour track suits from a couple of years ago. (I know, I'm soo weird. haha!) Nevertheless I think it was a fun color combination, more like a psychedelic version of the green and red in preparation for christmas! (yihee, someone's feeling christmas-y already *wink*)

As per request of my dear mother, here is a picture of myself with my dad and brothers at the wedding. (hey, she is giving me an ipod nano so no face-cropping on this post as she has asked. hehehe!)



The wedding was (thankfully) a simple semi-formal event as the reception was held in a quaint private function cantonese resto and not in a very formal setting such as a hotel ballroom. Hmm.. not much happened really, but it was just sooo funny in the end as noone wanted to catch the bridal bouquet when my aunt threw it. hahaha!

After that bf and I then headed on to forbes for his family dinner. The food this time was a combination of grilled pork, prawns thermidor, sun-dried tomato pasta, with appetizers: cheese, grapes and crackers. The dessert was actually my favorite part as they served two of my favorites cakes in the world: mango torte and classic chocolate cake. I'm sorry though as I really wasn't able to take much pics except for some quick shots of the food tables beside me. hahaha!

Here they are:


This is actually part of the food table which I took without flash. hehe!

My fave table was right behind me! haha

Here are close-up pics of the mango torte and chocolate cake, leave a comment if you need numbers.*wink*

After dinner, bf and I decided to check out the newest gimmick place to open in manila: The Serendra at the Fort. (A stone's throw away from forbes, hehe!)



The place was pretty upscale and serene (for a saturday night) and had a very clean, modern artsy look.

Bf hates it when I take surprise pics, but he was just so handsome while checking out the place. heehee!

I noticed that a lot of places are still closed but around 10 establishments were already open. Well, it really didn't matter as the only place I was interested in is Cupcakes by Sonja. The people running it were so nice too and was more than happy that I was shooting away during our visit.


Here's a pic of the glass counter where the cupcakes are displayed. It was already 12 mn at this time so they were all almost gone!

And here's a picture of the chefs area, they actually loved being photographed. hahaha!


A close shot of the cupcake making station. Look at all those candy-colored sugar! *yum* (I had so much fun taking pics!)

Bf bought me one piece of berries 'n cream cupcake which I really liked.

The packaging was so pretty that I had to show you.*wink* It was worth the P75 ($1.50) price.

I almost forgot to take a photo of the front so I took this quick shot as we were leaving the place. It's kind of crappy though. hahaha!



After Serendra, bf's sister trish invited us to follow them at the Cuisine at Embassy (also at the Fort) since their mom gave them free gc's worth 2k. Of course we could never turn down free drinks so off we went right away. hahaha! The place was packed with people and we ordered a bottle of champagne for the group. Trish and I though, both got grape escape which is a sort of grape-flavoured margarita (i think). We also ordered salmon sashimi as pica-pica. It was so good!


Here's trish and her bf miko. Don't they make such a cute couple? (As you can see in the background, most people were standing and the place was full)

After about 2 hours of talking, laughing, drinking and people's outfit watching, the margarita started getting to my head and I actually don't remember much of what happened afterwards! I just remember walking towards my room at 4 am, carrying my lovely pair of black platform pumps in my right hand. hahaha. I'm such a dork.

Anyway, here's my outfit pic for the night (I dragged mr. hottie along with me if you don't mind, hahaha!)

Bf is wearing slacks and white collared long sleeves both from linea italia. I was in a topshop tri-color grape-printed jersey dress, bakers black plat pumps and a gold leather clutch from my mom.

Hope you enjoyed your saturday as well girls! mwah!