I bought a body form for TheDreamerie last month coz I initially thought I was doing this whole online boutique thing solo and without a resident model to work with. But now that I’m working with a partner, we both agreed to use real people as models in our product shoots.

I’m sure I’ll still have a use for this mannequin in the future. But for now, I play dress up in my spare time, much like playing with a life-size doll. Hence the mannequin’s name, Barbie. (Yes, I name stuff, deal with it.)

Here’s my own live version of Polyvore. ;)

I abhorred purple my whole life (because it reminds me of Barney), until recently. I’d like to think of it as Xaris‘ crazy addiction with anything purple rubbing on me. Now, I’m crazy about the color too! Not all hues of purple though. I don’t like flashy neon purples. Instead I like the deep shade of plum. (And you know how much I like it with blue.)

Today I put on Barbie these girly colors of pink and plum, balanced out with some yellow gold, bronze and brown.

Knitted muffler from Zara; Brown leather belt from Petit Monde; Purple faux leather purse from Fold and Hung; Floral printed skirt from *ehem* TheDreamerie *ehem*, thrifted

I’m addicted to skirts that are worn as tube dresses.

Also, I’m addicted to skirts and dresses with pretty patterns and fabrics, that even though I don’t like the cut, or it’s too long for my liking, I’d still get it off the rack because I can’t stand turning my back on something so pretty. (Is there some cure to this form of obsession?)

Other than the lovely fabric, there are a lot of things you can do with this skirt so I thought it was worth stocking it up in the shop. It’s garterized and has draw strings, which makes it wearable as a tube dress, or a skirt that falls up to mid-calf, or a high-waisted skirt. And you can just imagine the many colors you can mix and match with this skirt’s pretty floral print!

It reminds me of Reese Witherspoon when she was Melanie Smooter in Sweet Home Alabama. She went back to her home town wearing a black-and-white floral printed mid-calf skirt, a plain black off-shoulder top, and black pointed knee high leather boots. Ahh, I totally digged the Southern look.

How about you? What’s your latest obsession? :)

I’ve been doing a Grey’s Anatomy marathon for the past week, watching episode after episode of GA drama round-a-clock (yes, even while I work). I was hoping to finish all 5 seasons before Season 6 pilots today, tomorrow in the US, September 24.

Watching T.R. Knight in the previous seasons made me feel both sad and sentimental, knowing he won’t be in Season 6 anymore. Especially since they *killed* George’s character in the story, unlike the other former GA characters — Preston Burke, Erica Hahn — who just left the hospital but not died. Shonda Rhimes has given George a grand exit, something that comes with finality, no possible comebacks in the future, no resurrecting the dead (I’m pretty sure they won’t do another Denny Duquette).

Which is sad, because I’ve always loved George, and losing one of the original “interns” in the show is just.. tragic.

Tomorrow on Grey’s Anatomy Season 6′s 2-hour pilot episode, George O’Malley’s burial:

Christina Yang (Sandra Oh), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers)

Alex and Izzie

Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo)

Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey)

Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd)

Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) and Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh)

Amanda, the girl George sacrificed his life for (Shannon Lucio)

*Weird that I couldn’t find Chandra Wilson in any of these spoiler photos.

Looks like this one’s going to be one sad story.

I know it’s crazy to be mourning over a fictional character, but if you’ve been following a TV series and wasting bandwidth over downloads for the past 5 years, it just doesn’t feel right to not be sentimental over fictional deaths, and to not feel like you know them, and to not miss their clumsiness, and loyalty, and laughter, as if they’re real people.

George O’Malley’s death aside, I thought Season 5 was Grey’s Anatomy’s best season so far, and it would be interesting to find out how Shonda Rhimes and the GA writers would follow through, with Izzie Stevens’ continuous battle with cancer, and Alex Karev (the jerk who’s been sleeping around and once transmitted syphilis to a bunch of people) now being married, and Derek & Meredith together forever at last, and Christina Yang’s new relationship with Owen Hunt, and Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan, etc, etc.

I’m excited to find out what’s next.

I missed the Book Fair this year by several minutes (okay, an hour!), arriving at the Mall of Asia at 9PM when the fair closes at 8PM. Thanks to my reliable booklover of a friend, Ivy, who tipped us that Fully Booked was not part of the Fair this year, so they’re holding their own big sale in their own stores. So yay for me, I still had my bookgasm satisfied at Fully Booked.

Four books (all old titles) for barely P100 each. I was happy with my buys. I would’ve gotten more but I didn’t want to waste all night with Ivy and R following me around. LOL.

Now I’ve never really been one to have her nose in a book all the time, but I’ve been trying to get back to the habit lately for the sake of online-offline life balance. And how can you read books and not think of being a writer, right? The more I read books, the more I come face to face with my frustrations as a writer. And that’s just the case with me lately.

I’ve always wanted to be a *real* writer. I feel like a fraud, claiming that I am a writer at one point in my life when every single day for the past 5 years I struggle being one, groping for words and getting my tenses confused all the time, thinking of other career options I could pay my bills with but couldn’t find any.

In my frustration, I had this really short and sweet conversation with R in the car on the way back from MOA:

Me: I want to be a writer!
R: But you are a writer! You write! In your blog!
Me: *rolling my eyes* But that’s just a blog! I write yucky posts!
R: Then write a.. yucky book.

I’ve always thought R was a genius. In all fairness to him, he was driving at that time.

*Sigh*

The frustration continues.

The other day, Feanne posted this lovely photo of herself wearing this vintage rose-pattered long-sleeved top she purchased from the first collection of dresses in the shop. :)

Later on, I found an outtake in her tumblr account:

Isn’t she pretty? :)

Pay her a visit, you won’t regret it, she’s a brilliant artist: Site | Tumblr | Deviantart

It has been a blast since TheDreamerie was launched three weeks ago. I admit that venturing into something that would generate extra income was among the major reasons why the idea of putting up an online store came to fruition (not to mention finding an outlet for my unavoidable impulsive shopping sprees, but that goes without saying). However, I realized as I went about finding clothes and dresses to put up in the shop that the real profit in this business, more than the money, is meeting new people and finding items that would inspire others to express themselves through their clothing.

Is it so weird that I’ve developed a certain attachment to the clothes we put up in the shop? Ahhh, especially after naming them as if they’re our children! Conversations like, “Have you sent out Fiona to Liz already?” or “This dress looks like Seraphim to me.” or “Yay, someone is getting Janice!” are normal everyday YM exchange between me and Marian, as if we talk about real people and not clothes. I guess what I’m trying to say is, more than the thrill of shopping and being surrounded by pretty vintage clothes, I’ve grown to love the idea of finding these dresses someone to take care of them.

Such is how I felt when I saw Feanne’s self portraits. It made my heart swell with joy knowing that this rose-patterned long-sleeved top, which used to be hanging in some unnoticed rack in the corner of a thrift store in some old building in the city, which I later named “Old Rose”, is now in good hands.

I thought seeing these photos was the sweetest thing that happened that day.

Thanks, Feanne. If I knew you before, I would’ve named that vintage top after you. :)

* * *

Meanwhile, we recently launched our Third Collection over at TheDreamerie.Com. Do drop by, you might find something you like. :)

It’s the end of the week again, and I’m sure at this time on a Saturday morning, you’re still curled up in bed catching up on sleep. Enjoy it, you deserve it! :) Me? Well, I don’t (deserve it). Because I’ve been oversleeping the whole week, and now, I have to force myself to be up early in hopes of correcting my body clock again (one has to keep trying, you know).

I’ve been doing night shift the whole week, starting my day really late and sleeping at past 5AM the next day. Not that I’m required to, but my days have become twisted and I just couldn’t get any work done when it’s too.. (uh) bright. (What a lame.) I really have to stop being like this. The effects are manifesting physically already, I seem to be so sickly lately.

OAN, I suddenly miss being forced to blog and take photos everyday! Hence this photograph I took 5 minutes ago, and this post. That’s how my desk looks like right now. I can’t remember when I moved those fake flowers from the coffee table to my desk, but I do remember liking the view of something — anything — pretty in a pile of mess while I work. That red giant button is actually my handy dandy sewing kit, I used it the other day to fix some items for the shop. And then there’s a roll of paper twine, some pearl and beaded necklaces, 5 peso coins, rechargable batteries, and my cup of coffee that’s already cold.

But enough about me and my boring desk and my boring Saturday morning.

Three of my friends have been doing the 30-day blog challenge and I’ve been following them closely, excited to see where their journeys will take them:

Reah‘s 30 days is almost over. Hers is a collection of musings of a 26-year old wife and expecting Mom. I’m glad there are people like her who share their story. And then the rest of us can get a glimpse of how it‘s like. ;)

I just love getting to know Tina more with her 30 days that is composed of just about anything that makes her Tina. I love the idea of finding one of those Switchfoot CDs she hid in random places. I’m tempted to go to Eastwood and look where the Starbucks bearistas are. It reminds me of what R thought of doing 3 years ago, leaving simple art pieces in random places for strangers to find. I’m inspired to do something similar. :)

Lastly, Lovelle’s 30 Day Love Challenge is just the perfect theme for her. She ends her posts with little challenges like, “Give a chocolate bar to your boss who you really dislike,” or “Give your mom a break this weekend, do the laundry,” — simple stuff you can do to spread teh luv. It’s brilliant, I love it. :) I did the laundry “challenge” yesterday, only for me, it involved putting the dirty laundry in a bag and carrying it over to the laundry shop and paying extra so they would deliver it back. Err, does that count?

Carry on, ladies. Keep us inspired. :)

Meanwhile, it’s drizzling again in this side of the world. Why isn’t the weather cooperating just when you’ve made a decision to be productive? Okay, scratch that. I’m going to get some work done, by hook or by crook. c”,)

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!