Looking Forward: Shoes shoes and more shoes

I was allergic to online shopping before. But every true shopaholic at heart knows that sooner or later, there is no escaping the powers of Amazon.Com. Last Friday I have finally succumbed to The temptation. I'm blaming my sister for this, for eagerly telling me that she can get things shipped from the States without paying for the freight cost. Plus looking at the cost - you can just see why I am not buying Nine West in the malls EVER anymore! More than 50% off than tag!!

So here goes, my shopping cart:

Added:

Nine West Readonly Sandals. $22.68

To be Added:

Nine West Nodine Ankle Boots. For my trip to Japan next March?

Nine West Ideally Boots $97.90

Nine West Joyrides Ankle Boots. $118.90

Nine West Usman flat gladiator. It's still at $71+ now, waiting for it to drop down to $34 like its Ivory counterpart

Listening to...

Freakin' brilliant.. that's why I soo adore him!

True Blood on my mind

I cannot wait for episode 11 of True Blood. Evan Rachel Wood finally makes an appearance as Queen Sophie Ann. I spent this afternoon marathon-ing season 2 of the famed vampire series. I'm such a sucker for vampire shows (that's why I really don't understand why I haven't been swept away by the whole Twilight mania) It started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That show had wit, angst, heart and death. Everything a punked teenage girl crave for. But now I realized my love for that show transcends time! Cause 10 years later I still think it's freakin' fantastic!


And now my choice vamp show is of course True Blood.



Alan Ball is such a genius. From the very intriguingly creepy opening billboard to the jaw dropping cliff hangers, he sets just the right tone of crazy.

I especially love episode 8 & 9. Godric finally makes an appearance. I think that's the most touching ep yet. Spoiler Alert: Godric is vamp-child who just happens to be the oldest vampire in Texas. Plus he is the maker of Eric (who this blogger thinks is a Scandivian god!) what could be more exciting than that, right? Turns out after 2000 years of immortality, Godric has evolved into an enlightened being and will try to set an example to his kind.

Clips for the upcoming episode, Frenzy. I wonder what kind of weirdness will Queen Sophie-Ann bring to the show?


photocreds: wikipedia, trueblood online.

A Luxe Evening

Last Tuesday, with friends and fiance in tow, we headed to Establishment at the Fort to attend the launching of the newest design magazine in town, SPACE beyond luxury.

For the millionth and one time, the fiance and I are in the process of decorating our own place so you can imagine just how excited I was to attend this event. Anything design related has been equated to a giant cone of Chocolate ice cream treat in my mind.


I love the fact that SPACE was unlike any design magazine we have right now in the market (hmm, well at least in the Philippines - I am still smittened by Malaysia's IDEAS mag) I have monthly subscriptions for Real Living and sometimes I just flipped mechanically through the pages, you know just because it's on my night table. It has been awhile since a local design magazine has made me want to whip out the camera, take a snapshot and pray to God dear furniture maker can make me one or better yet dear fiance will allow me to buy us one! As its name explicitly say everything inside the mag is truly beyond luxury.

Congrats to the BFF by the way. Great job! Here are some of the pages courtesy of the mag,

Trip to Subic

If you're looking for a fun filled afternoon outside Manila, one of the safest bet would be to drive to Subic. With the new SC-TEX highway it only takes about an hour and half, two hours max to reach your destination.

Of course, as always, best to do this with friends. I had an absolutely fun time trying every little adventure activity they had there.

Here are some snapshots from our latest mini-break.

No stop to Subic would be complete without a trip to ZOObic. Heehee. I love puns for a name! (Fang-tasia in True Blood - still tops the list) You have probably seen better animals at a much nicer zoo, well, the true highlight here is riding the safari jeep. For a brief 5 minutes (better to pay for the chicken meat to lure the tigers) you get to ride around a "mini safari" with tigers roaming freely and jumping up and down your sheltered jeepney. Kinda cool. A bit "bitin".

Cost of this adventure around Php 250.00

 

Just before riding the 4x4 

for an up close and personal encounters with the tigers

feeding the alligators raw chicken

Tree Drop Adventure. After bungy jumping in Macau last year you'd think this would be a piece of cake for me. But nope, still a scaredy cat at heart. Absolutely fantastic feeling afterward though. The drop really gives you such an unbelievable adrenaline rush. If you only have time for one adventure, IMO the tree drop is the way to go. It is so much better than the Superman Glide (tree gliding - next pic) The gliding was just boring! I actually got more excited getting on the glides than the actual gliding experience.

Total cost around Php 350.00 (Tree Drop around Php 150; Superman around Php200)

For more information for this log on to: www.treetopadventure.com or contact 047-2529425

For dear Fiance, the highlight of course was the trip to the Go-Kart tracks. Yes silly pathetic me was the 6th placer (woohoo! i don't know how I am not last!) while Mr. Wannabe Racer of a fiance did 20 laps and managed to have a better time than yours truly with only 10 laps to accomplish.

Cost of this adventure around Php 400 for 10 laps.

Looking Forward: Boots Shopping

I found this perfect site to satisfy my boots cravings. And yes, I need this badly, because I seriously cannot afford to keep on buying expensive shoes on a whim. Getting married you know, must be a wee bit practical nowadays, well at least until the sting of paying for the last red boots subside .



Ankle Boots around Php 2150
Brown Suede Knee high boots around Php 2450 (Such a steal!!!)

This and more at my favorite shoe site.. shoecrazeee.multiply.com

Sigh. Must R--E--S--I--S--T temptations!

Love Conquers all and other myths

(This article came out on yahoo recently, reposting it with some foot notes from yours truly)

Here is what relationship experts think about the tried, but not always true, love sayings.

by Stacey Colino

1. Say “I Love You” Every Day

Barbara De Angelis, personal-development expert: Say it as often as possible. There’s no reason to be emotionally stingy with the person you love.

Nancy Kalish, psychologist: I agree that it should be said often, but it should be said sincerely, so it means something. Not just “Good-bye. Love you.”

Jake Pua, phonecall hater: Agree! I love these 2 particular scenes from My Best Friends Wedding. First, Dylan McDermont was telling Julia Roberts one of the reasons why he loves Cameron Diaz, “When I hugged her, even in public, she never pulls away. She lets me hold her for as long as I want.” & second, “Kimmie always say that if you love somebody, you say it, you say it right there, otherwise the moment just passes you away.”

2. Play Hard to Get

Sam Yagan, dating-website cofounder: Playing hard to get starts the relationship off on a deceptive foot. If you want your relationship to be based on trust, honesty, and communication, why would you begin it like that?

Greg Behrendt, coauthor of He’s Just Not That Into You: You shouldn’t play hard to get; you should be hard to get, because your life is so busy and fulfilling. My wife and I call it being a MOD―a moving object of desire.

Jake Pua, pretentious love guru: Agree with GB. Don’t care if it’s straight out of the pages from The Rules book, but I firmly believe that if a man wants you, he will and should do all the pursuing. I find girls who make the first move kinda icky and desperate (I know I know I’m judgmental, feminist police shoot me now! But seriously, one of my friends once told me how his now girlfriend used to drop not so subtle hints about them, even giving him some sort of pastry as a gift pre-relationship :O this old fashion Manang is not approving of such gestures.)

3. Your Spouse Shouldn’t Be Your Best Friend

Pepper Schwartz, sociologist: I agree. I think you’re asking a lot of your marriage to have the level of confidentiality, truthfulness, and disclosure that a best friendship has. Your marriage can fulfill only so many roles.

John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus: I have no problem with partners who are best friends, but you should have other close friends to confide in as well―especially when you are having relationship difficulties and need time away from your spouse. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Jake Pua, never been married idealist: Yes and No. Dear Fiance knows everything about me. That includes all my evil kennivel ways. I am madly in love with him and can never stop laughing especiallly when we’re in one of our crazy adventures AND yet I don’t want to use the label “best friend” on him. He’s that and everything else. But the term best friend is still reserved to my BFFs.

4. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

De Angelis: A little bit of absence can help you appreciate your partner. Too much is dangerous. Relationships need connection, and it’s challenging to stay connected when you aren’t spending time together.

Schwartz: To a point―and then absence makes the heart go roaming. You need a steady diet of intimacy and the other person’s presence to remember why you’re in the relationship. If you don’t see each other often enough, you can start to lead parallel lives instead of lives that intersect.

Jake Pua, a self confessed claker: A month a part was literally hell! I love my friends, don’t get me wrong. And I’m not the type to stay home and sulk but you know when you’re out having fun there’s always that moment when you realize how much you’re missing that other person when he’s away. And then you cursed the whole romanticized idea of "absence makes the heart go fonder"

5. You Can Learn to Love Someone

Judy Kuriansky, sex therapist: That’s true, depending on how you define love. You may not have the love-at-first-sight kind of love, but the deep companion kind of love―in terms of trusting each other and being a team―can develop over time.

Behrendt: No, that sounds like settling. I don’t believe in settling, because it’s not fair to the person you’re with or yourself. It’s not like settling on an apartment you don’t love but can live with.

Jake Pua, ex romantic novel junkie: NO NO NO. I believe in the whole love at first sight, love conquers all mantra. I don’t think it’s possible to teach your heart to love someone you weren’t really A. attracted to in the first place B. passionate about C. connecting with. You can go own fooling everyone, and even yourself in the process, but one day, someday, it will just hit you - you have just settled with one of the most important things in life, love.

Source: Real Simple Magazine, Yahoo 2009

Event Hopping: Metro Comic Con

Things I say that people used to find shocking:

1. I am an anti-social
2. I am a love snob
3. I am a certified geek

Nowadays though #3 has pretty much been elevated to a fact. I was obsessed with Marvel when I was younger. Memorized scene sequences from all six Star Wars movies. Devoured 21st century modern and pop literature whenever I get a chance to (but yes, I am saying NO to Stephanie Meyer and Nicholas Sparks! Twenty something here, try as I might I couldn't stomach their penchant for Sweet Valley-esque dialogues, I'll take Welsh and Garland any day of the week.)

So where can you find geek-o me last Saturday? Why, at the Metro Comic Con of course. I wanted to stay there for hours and hours on til the end however I worried (and rightly so) that I might get a wee bit out of control and succumb to all the temptation surrounding me and dear fiance.



No costumes for me and the fiance, we weren't that crazy yet. Perhaps, if we're lucky enough to get tickets to SDCC in 2011, it's an idea worth revisiting.


Fat boy studios and Imagine Nation Studios were on hand to showcase some of their awesome collectibles. I wanna buy Wolverine!

Cute IAMNINOY collectibles

Girls Only

I think every single and not so single girl should have a girl's night in/out as often as possible. Don't get me wrong I love the guys in our gang but there's always plenty of sneaky, ewwwy naughty details left unsaid when all 20 something of us are present. Despite geeky and boyish tendencies, I actually love getting manis and pedis, attending spa parties, shopping for cheapo and not so cheapo frou frou-ness, and take part in all sorts of crazy girl's only event.

Looking Forward: Project Runway Philippines Season 2

Woohoo. It's back! One of my favorite local shows ever! It's actually airing right now and all the aspiring designers are being introduced one by one. Looks like an interesting mix of characters. This should be an exciting season.

My brother went to its launch last week at Embassy. That annoying boy didn't even try and score moi some free invites. And he refuses to hand over the Php 5,000 VNC gift ccertificates he got that night. Shame shame. Must butter up to that boy soon. He was invited because PONDS is one of the sponsors of the show. I knew I should start working for Team Corprate once again.


Project Runway airs every Wednesday 10pm at ETC

A Yellow Afternoon

Yesterday, the fiance together with our friends went to watch the Ateneo-La Salle game at Araneta Coliseum. Proud of Pammy for wearing yellow despite saying that it's not her color :) The Ateneo-LaSalle rivalry is undoubtedly the fiercest match-up in UAAP history (University Atheletic Association of the Philippines). It has made grown men tear up, swear like a sailor and frantically cheer like a girl. It's always a sea of green and blue. And it is always a 50-50 audience sharing. Sunday's game marked a different occasion though. In memory of Former Pres. Cory Aquino both school decided to don on their chic-est and yellow-est shirts. The LaSalle players even had yellow shoelaces on. How cool is that!

It was an exciting game, all four quarters of it plus OT. Somebody texted Jeanie with the game's odds and LaSalle was the overwhelming underdog. DLSU at +11, OUCH! Not that I wasn't loyal to my alma mater but we had very low expectations coming into the game. But as luck would have it, it turned out to be a nail biter until the very end (like milli second end!). I'm planning to sit out their next game. Somehow my dear LaSallians always end up losing when I watch live. (ahem, that should go to my friend as well)

The LaSalle players
Ateneans in their yellow gear


Ateneo won by the way 76-72. Congrats to my Atenean friends and (begrudgingly) to my die-hard brother, who was suspiciously cheerful waiting for me at the sala last night.

Silent Film Festival (part 2)

The fiance and I were planning to catch a movie tonight. Tried to get tickets for the Silent Film Festival currently showing at Shangrila Mall. But we were so shocked to find out that 3 hours before the screening time, they have officially sold out. Wow, effective word of mouth promotions by spot.ph I must say. So to make sure we don't miss out on next Thursday's screening, the fiance and I bought our early ticket pass for August 13's "People on Sunday". We would have wanted to buy for the rest of the movies too bad though that they can only sell tickets a week in advance.


For those planning to catch this 1930s German film, suggest that you buy your tickets like NOW. It's still 6 days away but saw that a good number of seats were already taken. Whew!

Movie schedules: 8pm showing

August 13 - People on Sunday (Germany)
August 20 - the Cursed Village (Spain)


August 27 - Fantomas (France) -- I'm excited to catch this one! The wannabe comic book geek in me thinks this is prolly the coolest amongst the bunch of silent films to be screened. I read that it's about one of the most popular character in the history of French crime fiction. It even had its own comic book version. Coolness.

All films will be shown with some of the countries coolest DJ's playing background sounds to it.

On another note....

Tears! Twitter is down. Read online that it has been hit by hackers. Hope those guys in Twitterland are able to fix the problem already. I can't believe I am saying this but I think I have found a pesky social networking site that I really like. Horrors!!