Chasing Dreams

I’m very brand-loyal. When I found the right brand of pen, you bet that’s the only brand you’d ever see me buy. Same goes with cosmetics. And laptops. And journals.

Picking up my first Peter Pauper Press journal was random. I got the first blue floral-printed journal that caught my attention from a pile of stuff at a FullyBooked counter at the start of 2011. Since then, I never bought any other brand of notebook other than PPP.

I had a total of 7 journals last year, including the one I’m writing on right now. Allow me to share photos of them because they’re just too photogenic! And they’re actually prettier in real life than the ones you see on their product catalog!

It’s difficult finding them here in Manila, so when I was in New York, I hoarded a couple of pieces from Barnes and Noble. Later on I learned that if you looked hard enough, you’d find them at some National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked branches. I love them so much I started buying them not just for myself but to give to some friends as well.

To make it sweeter, I’ve so far made sure I didn’t get the same design twice. (Hover over the photos to see the captions.)

Their paper is usually plain white and finely-ruled, but once in a while you get yourself a little surprise. Some of these notebooks come with dainty little prints like these:

Cute no?

I’ve made myself visible online all these years, blogging, twitting, posting here and there; but nothing still compares to writing things down old school way—paper, ink, and heart. My journals are the keeper of my most honest thoughts and musings, my most daring prayers, and even my dried-up tears on its pages.

I love the thought that long after my blog sites are abandoned, my eyesight too blurry to see the computer screen, and my hand too shaky to type on a computer keyboard, I still have trinkets of my life preserved in a box-full of journals, which, hopefully, I’d get to hand down to my kids.

20/30: Bokeh. Christmas lights make for beautiful bokehs. (:

When my cousin, Ate Dots, confirmed to me that she and her husband were flying in from Sydney to attend our wedding, I just knew that I wouldn’t want anyone else to do our wedding cake but her. Ever since the launch of Treatbox, I’ve been an avid fan of their creations and have often wished they shipped their treats internationally.

Needless to say, our wedding cake was beautifully made, even better than I imagined. Ate Dots captured the color palette perfectly and the details were so intricately designed it was an instant subject of many of our photographs. She even captured my hair, my dress, my bouquet, my dimple and Bud’s mole. I still have the cake topper kept in a jar, but the cake has (obviously) long been gone. Just the same, it’s gifts like this that leave behind beautiful memories and photographs, ones you’d keep looking at for years to come.

Thanks Ate Dots and Kuya Mitch (and Jonah!) for bringing Treatbox right to our reach, and for not missing our wedding for the world. (:

Shameless plug: If you’re in Sydney, specifically in Paramatta, Blacktown and Eastern Suburbs, do check out Treatbox! They specialize in custom-made, eye-candy fondant cakes and cake pops, and I heard Ate Dots’ silvanas are really delicious too!

I failed miserably in the wardrobe department when I went to New York last year in that I overestimated my capacity to handle the cold New York weather. Mistake #1: Allow me to blame my friend, who, upon asking what types of clothes I should bring, answered “Parang Baguio lang“. NOT! He told me to bring a coat, you know, “just in case.” (Just in case?? LOL, the coat practically saved my life!). It was around October that time, transitioning to Fall. Turned out, mornings were manageable, but it could get reallyyy cold in the evenings.  Mistake #2: I was also told to bring sneakers and flats because Manhattan is made for walking, only I didn’t anticipate that the two pairs of shoes I brought, which I would normally use for walking in Manila, did not have the durability to survive the kind of walking that Manhattan requires.

And that, my friends, is why I will never trust a man’s judgment again on matters like this! :))

So yeah, I practically lived in this ridiculously expensive Zara coat the whole week I was there because none of my other jackets/blazers were good enough, and this pair of Blowfish booties I bought at Macy’s because I had to replace the pairs of shoes that gave up on me. Even so, there were nights when David had to insist on me wearing his coat on top of mine because I probably looked so pale he thought I would faint or something. Don’t get me wrong. Wardrobe issues notwithstanding, New York City treated me well, and I wouldn’t mind going through it over again even if I die of hypothermia haha.

At this point I would just like to acknowledge that one of the things I love about my job is how I could browse through pages and pages of fashion and style blogs to no end without feeling remorse. Being in the designer clothes industry sure does come in handy sometimes! :P

Anyway, my eyes are all over the Fall-Winter trend these days. Here are some of Zara’s, Promod’s and J.Crew’s Fall 2010 look books:

Dresses, skirts, and leg warmers are love! I’m just not sure everyone can really survive 5°C like this, I probably won’t, but I love how one can wear so many pieces of clothing at a time!

Jeans, sweaters and coats.. Made me realize I haven’t worn jeans in more than a year that I suddenly started panic buying on denim!

Also, boots. And lots of scarves! Suddenly I’m checking out scarves I wouldn’t have paid attention to and knee-high boots I wouldn’t even try because it’s just not possible to wear them here in Manila.

Meh. Fall fashion is too pretty. Can we ever justify wearing wool and knee-high boots and thick knitted scarves and leather jackets here in Manila? Why do other people get to experience fall and we don’t? Life can be unfair sometimes.

There’s no doubt about it, Urban Decay’s Alice in Wonderland is by far the prettiest and most photogenic make-up I’ve ever laid eyes on it’s so pretty I want to live inside it! But first things first, I’m not about to make a review or a tutorial because I know nothing about applying make-up I don’t know why I’m even buying make-up to begin with.

(But okay, I’m lying, I do know a thing or two about applying make-up, I kinda enjoy coloring my face with it, and I do know that Urban Decay has got the best eyeshadow palettes out there. As a matter of fact, I’ve been using UD’s Sustainable Shadow Box as my daily ‘shadow for months now and it has not failed me EVER. And now I’m just happy to give that good ol’ thing a break, Alice saves the day.)

So I’ll just take photos instead. Because Alice is pretty. And these are the kinda stuff I’d like to adorn my blog with.

Also, I know that I’m one of the few lucky ones in Manila who get to have Alice ahead of everyone else, so yeah, this is just me making you girls die of envy. *insert evil grin here*

OAN, if you want real, credible, useful reviews and swatches, head over to Liz and Lauren‘s blogs, they’re actually the ones responsible for my ongoing love affair with Alice in Wonderland. (Thank you, ladies, for inviting me and Mara to order with you.)

• Review & Swatches: Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows by Lauren
• Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland by Liz

Now please please please take me out to coffee so I get an excuse to leave the house and wear make-up.

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? :)