Siquijor in random photos

Steps to Cambugahay Falls

Fresh coconut/buko from a seller in Cambugahay Falls

Jump board/Diving platform (9 meters) in Salagdoong Beach

These are just a few random other photos from the Siquijor trip. I've shared a few others on my personal Instagram account as well. You can click on the links part of this page to see that one.

We only toured the island for a day so we had to pack in all the sites that are the closest and the easiest to access from our home base in Lazi. The first stop was Cambugahay Falls, right after a quick trip to Lazi Convent next door to our accommodations. The falls was full of tourists, foreign and local alike. I've met some that came from Dumaguete City, right across the pond as well so that was good. The upside of the falls being sooo crowded? There's Php 30 coconut, the freshest kind there is. I was able to secure one from a seller (and there are others that sell other things like barbecue, if you're into that...and buttered and grilled bananas, we call this one ginanggang here, and more...) nearby the area of the falls we sat at. I don't recall ever seeing Cambugahay Falls this busy way back in 2013 with the good friend and dorm mate. 

Funnest thing to do in Cambugahay Falls aside from eat? Pay the attendant at the swing thing 20 Php and you get unlimited go's at it and get to go like Tarzan and dive into the cold water. But because the water was cold---it is a waterfall---I never tried it nor would I dare because I prefer hotter water to this one. I've grown up swimming almost all the time in very cold springs so I've gotten sick of it, basically and wouldn't go near anywhere cold water is in...at all.

Diving or jumping in that platform in Salagdoong Beach comes with no-charge at all but there's a fee when you go in with your crew. I really wanted to jump but because my eyes were lasic-ed, that killed entirely my chances to do so. I'm not allowed to do any extreme sport that comes with pressure whether underwater as in scuba diving or from high up there, skydiving. Diving or jumping from high places like this is included, of course.

To be honest, I liked Kagusuan Beach better than this one, Salagdoong Beach. I prefer a quieter beach as this one was really crowded at the time we were there. Sadly, Kagusuan Beach has been closed for quite some time now. So much things happen there that everyone is now fearing for safety...of their things and money. My friend and I were among those who has had our money stolen there from way back 2013.

So in my next trip, I hope to be able to find a secluded beach all to myself and others who're going to come with me then. Also, I'll try the vegan offerings of the island from Lazi to other towns in it. Yep.  

in Lazi Convent or San Isidore Convent, Siquijor Island

photos by JM Dumlao

wearing vintage/thrifted/second hand romper; world balance walking shoes bought from cebu city I've had in forever, it's literally falling apart. haha; a snapback from a cousin's barbershop business in the US; and random jewellery from everywhere.

This place is always so picturesque. The running and walking space here is so huge you can totally do somersaults in the open field and no one would care...except...don't. It's, well, a church after all and they hold masses here daily and on Sundays.

I have always been the most curious about this place when I was last in Siquijor Island. The last time I visited was way back 2013 with a close friend and dorm mate in Dumaguete City. And now that I've been to this place, the San Isidro Labrador Parish and Convent or the Lazi Convent for short, all I can say is...WOW. This place is such a good place for shoots and more. Plus, if they opened this one to people who like to picnic, all you need to do is lay a blanket of sorts on top of the grassy soil and you're good to go. If you're not allowed to picnic and sunbathe this way, then there are other things to do here.

Lazi Convent has a museum at the second floor and the grounds you can see from there is just as beautiful. Museum entrance fee is only 20 Php per person. REAAALLLYYY CHEAP and just incredibly affordable. There are also some places to sit in inside, of course. 

More photos of the place especially what's inside it to name a few places we went to during this Siquijor trip can be viewed in the next post.

By the way, this romper will be on sale in the instagram shop one day soon! Well, it'll be in a few weeks, of course. Once all the photos for the items when worn have been taken. Also, the romper is a really well-made one that's an Italian brand! A really cool find from one of the thrift stores I frequent here in my city of Cagayan de Oro. Some parts of it have faded but it's still so beautiful as a whole! It's a perfect summer piece to wear in this hot weather! I just love how this looks and feels comfortable although it's a bit small on me.

so I was in the Greater Metro Manila over the last weekend and..

....all I can say it is it was a blast! I was there to see Years and Years on their Manila concert date at the Kia Theater, now called the New Frontier Theater the night of the 25th but they cancelled, so...yes... It ended up being just a day and night of chilling with friends I've been meaning to meet after such a loooong time of just chit chatting with them on Twitter, Instagram, LiveJournal (way back when LJ was a thing and it was huge among Japanese entertainment stans...) and tumblr.

It was a HUGE shame Years and Years had to cancel their remaining South East Asian concert tour dates after a gig in Indonesia because well, many people were anticipating this tour including me and the good friend I met up with in the National Capital Region. It's even more so a shame because they were even slated for LaLaLaFest which, I think, is kind of cool to attend next time. I read about this one in the in-flight magazine the Air Asia flight, I'd taken on the way to NCR, had. Maybe if I were richer... LOL, whenever that will be...I'd've gone to the one in Japan since they didn't cancel this one. I was sooo looking forward to a night of dancing and singing along with Olly Alexander on the mic all night of the 25th...but alas, it didn't happen. On the bright side, we didn't spend for the tickets in advance at all because we didn't buy it in advance, online on Ticketnet. We didn't have to go through the hassles of getting our money refunded for a cancelled concert.

Anyway, yes, all we did the whole time I was there was hang out and just chill. The first night was for walking around Mall of Asia after checking in at Kabayan Hotel. My dad suggested this to me as it's his favorite as well. Turns out, a close friend of mine in Davao City frequents this OFW budget-friendly hotel as well. Kabayan Hotel is situated in Pasay City where everything, especially transportation, is highly accessible from. You have the MRT 3 across the side of the hotel and there's also LRT Line 1 if you walk further along from there. Public transportation is highly abundant in the area, just make sure you have a map or, well...google maps help a ton, according to said Davao City-based bff/super close friend. February 25 was a holiday, EDSA or People Power Anniversary. I don't remember how many years has it been since...now. So this was perfectly timed on a long weekend and I just took a work leave for Tuesday, the next day, so I could make it home fine and get enough rest before work the next day, Wednesday.

Mall of Asia chilling and walking around was fine except there were a ton of people there. There seems to have been an event at the Mall of Asia Arena and we were caught in the rush of people coming out of it around 6-7 at Sunday night. It was also a weekend so, like, the amount of people there being more than overwhelming (especially for those with social anxiety and such) is quite understandable, I think. After walking around aimlessly and just catching up in personal on the most random of things, we just had a quick dinner at Yoshinoya after and hopped onto Kabayan's hourly or so shuttle. Yes, the hotel is very, VERY convenient to stay at if you're there for a concert like I was for Years and Years. It's also convenient for those who want to be there for other events and maybe, just running an errand around the great big...metropolitan region.

The next day, February 25, was a trip to Maginhawa in Quezon City via North EDSA/Trinoma MRT 3 station. The beep card I got from the dad prior to leaving for Manila the day before---he handed it to me when he came in from Manila in the Laguindingan Airport because it was timed to my leaving as well---came into good such good use that I had to get one for my own should I take another trip there one day soon (and I do plan to do so as well~). 

Maginhawa is a street in Quezon Avenue that's lined with dainty milk tea shops, cafes and about a handful of vegetarian, vegan and mixed restaurants that aren't at all as heavy on the pockets as I expected. The milk teas we had at Moonleaf however, were quite expensive however. In our local Chingkeetea here in Cagayan de Oro City, a Php 90 regular-sized milk tea at Moonleaf is already a large drink of any thing except maybe specials in their menu. This makes me thankful to be based in Cagayan de Oro City. Quite the comparison, I know but such things are infinitely more affordable outside of Manila or NCR. And yes, the above are polaroids friends and I took at Moonleaf before Kat had to leave for a family emergency.

After a quick chill out at Maginhawa---we ate a quick lunch of pasta at Trinoma's food court before proceeding here---with milk tea on hand, Pat and I headed to Pino's to meet with my little brother who's attending college at the Ateneo nearby. Ateneo de Manila, the University of the Philippines Dilliman Campus and the all girls' college, Miriam College have easy access to Maginhawa. This is why you'll see a ton of students here, studying and just hanging around...

Pino's is a bit pricey but they offer really good vegetarian and vegan food. The second floor, Pipino, is for vegans only. I'd go there with Pat next time I'm around the metro on my own again. I've been meaning to go vegan/vegetarian for a while again. Anyway, price-wise, Pino's okay. Then the second night there ends in Pino's. By the way, I had the vegetarian soba which was good. It comes with mango bits so...it was filling. Ugh, I want to try other things in their menu. :(

I wasn't able to shop much during this trip because we were hellbent on just chilling and food tripping so all I really got out of this trip was my cat's shiny new grey garterized ribbon collar with a tiny golden bell and a feather toy for her. Also, a couple of really cute notebooks from Landmark that only cost Php 19.something each. 

The next day, the last day of my long weekend there, was a quick trip to Cubao before going home. Luckily, they have a lounge and airport shuttle there called Ube Express so it was easy for me to get to the airport from there after half a day or so spent wandering around the area. This one started with a quick-ish breakfast at a McDonald's there of pancakes and hot chocolate. I missed eating that one since I hardly breakfast out here nowadays. Like, seriously? I really hardly do unless I have a trip to go out for again.

So I checked out super early from the hotel at around 15 minutes to 5 in the morning and promptly caught the first 5:30 a.m. MRT 3 train out to Araneta-Cubao station. 

The only city scape-ish photo I took that's a tad bit scenic is probably this one from the Araneta-Cubao MRT 3 station. I was waiting for Kat there and thought that the sunrise was pretty so this was the result of my phone photo adventure at the time. My phone's camera isn't exactly the best as it's just a J2 Prime but it works really well if the area is well lit like this one.

Cubao was all sorts of fun. We finally located the New Frontier Theater (formerly known as the Kia Theater) and we also time-hopped at the quaint little area around Cubao Expo. It's time travelling on there as they have everything weird and fun at the same time like collectibles of sorts from really old and rare books, records and more. I found a Pablo Neruda fresh from outside the country at the first shop we visited there and really wanted it but at 600 Php for such a tiny, soft-bound book, I decided otherwise. I'll just get some of his books from Amazon along with the Kate Moss ones that I really like. (insert me crying inside here as we left the shop to look around some more...)

After another stop at a shop of collectibles this time, we settled to eat at Bellini's. Their menu is pricey. LIKE SERIOUSLY PRICEY. It's an Italian restaurant and a very, very fancy one and the cheapest pasta on their menu is 300 Php. Yes, so those are the pastas we had here. It's easy to get orders veganized at this restaurant. Like, seriously easy despite the pricey-ness of most things on the menu. On the upside, despite the amount per person we'd racked up through individual orders, we were given dessert wine for free so it was all good. 


But yes, although expensive however, I WOULD DEFINITELY eat here again. YES!

Random insert #1: I don't know why the photos on here are upside down...I don't think I have time to fix them either but these are the pastas we had.

Random insert #2: Of course, I lost the Bench sunglasses with case I'd bought last year for a Camiguin trip in transit from Manila to Cagayan de Oro City at the end of the trip. Yay me. Something always gets lost when it comes to me transiting one airport to another. It happened in the US way back 2015 and 2016 with my prized scarf cum blanket made from the softest, prettiest cashmere my mum got me on their trip to Italy and France, err...around Europe so it's happened again this time with something I'd bought...this time. I hardly lose my passport and other important things on trips but I lose a lot of treasures I get for myself and other people get for me from all over the world so... Yeah, I'm not all too sure how to deal with disasters like this anymore so I just get used to it considering I am often jet setting or riding the ship and buses to somewhere within a year's time. I'll have to buy myself a new one and I've been eyeing the wayfarers from Sunnies that are only about 399 Php in the SM Store in SM Downtown. Hmn...

Despite not shopping or looking around and just eating and eating and drinking this whole weekend off around last week, it was sooooo much fun. I got to have long talks with friends I rarely meet in real life and I also got to meet with the brother while there. 

This is something I would do all over again and maybe, even just take a trip to the Greater Manila metro for the randomest things I have no idea what they are...it might come to me one day. By the time I got home, I was feeling the brunt of separation anxiety from friends there. Sad, I know. But I'm sure to meet them again one day soon.

For now, I'll get ready for my Davao trip! It's this coming August 9 because I'll be there for a very good friend from Dumaguete City's wedding. Her husband-to-be is also such a good friend so yes, this'll be another fun trip. I'll be meeting with another friend as well from Silliman University to catch up with stuff with. Yay! Also, Olive/@caramelmori on twitter. <3 Yep, another adventure! Now, if only I were able to take more outfit shots but I was hardly able to this time around. Not sure about the Davao trip however...

My calendar's pretty full this year. I hope to travel more next year on wards as well as I have some pretty big changes in life coming up soon. Hint: I'll be working seriously on actually moving abroad. Australia and/or New Zealand are my main targets. There'll be hiccups along the way but I hope everything will be fine. I expect those hiccups to happen anyway. Nothing in life is ever smooth either way.

Until the next post then! 

a late start for 2019, an I'm still alive post

Forever21 bodysuit in white via Tops in Ayala Centrio, vintage shorts and shirt (2nd hand Pull and Bear) as jacket, So Fab heels via Zalora.ph, Coach mobile phone pouch, sunglasses from Bench ph

This bodysuit is heaven sent. Bodysuits are heaven sent in general, I think, that when I saw this hanging on a corner at a store or boutique in our own city's Ayala Centrio called Tops, I just knew I had to get it. Also, I got it for about less than 200 Php so it was quite a deal.

I've been meaning to do this post since we got these while randomly going around Limketkai Mall on a random...err...holiday a few weeks ago. Chinese New Year's holiday, February 5, to be exact. So basically speaking, this is a very, VERY late post.

As for the heels, I got these last year for a company party---the year end, Christmas party in one thing that I have been thinking I'd abstain from next year since I'm not exactly a huge fan of events with huge numbers of people. The free stuff gifted by the company I work for is just too good to pass up, however.

I find myself super busy lately. But the good kind of busy. It's not so much as the work but it's more of me going back to doing my thing, the things I'm best at and these are, well, a number of pretty interesting-ish things. I'm back to the thrifting and shopping game although I still keep it controlled. I'm doing shopping for an online shop on Instagram however. I'm thinking of making it a treasure trove of everything fun for the sunny, summer days comin' up. So yes, the comfiest tees and tanks, the smallest and prettiest as well as roomiest sun dresses of every kind and brand... big things for this are coming, yes, and I am pretty excited about this one. I've been amassing these things little by little and even as I travel, I'm looking forward to getting more for the shop as well.

Aside from getting back into the thrifting game which is something I've loved since eons ago, I'm also ecstatic for a lot of travelling this year. Tomorrow, I'm going to the Greater Manila for one. I was supposed to be there to watch Years and Years' concert at the former Kia Theater in Cubao with a really good friend on LiveJournal, Twitter and even Instagram slated on the 25th, on Monday which is a holiday because it's the EDSA People Power anniversary... But Years and Years announced on Twitter that they've cancelled all concert dates in South East Asia: Hongkong, Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore and Manila (Philippines) a few days ago. So we're left on the limbo---such a good thing we haven't purchased the tickets yet as the friend was looking to buy it in person from the ticketing office at the concert venue but there were others who already bought them so...---and instead resolved to chilling around the city and doing nothing super productive in particular instead. I'm on leave from work on the 26th so I come back to work on the 27th. Other upcoming trips include a summer trip to Siquijor Island with a couple of co-worker-now, really, really good friends and the two best friends since young/high school and college, in April. We will be there during the Holy Week this year since it's a really long weekend then. The last one is a trip to Davao City for a close friend's wedding. This one is for the room mate and best girl friend from when I was in Dumaguete City, the loveliest island city-town hybrid I so miss as of late. I'm sure there'll be more trips along the way, yes. I also am attending my little brother's graduation from college in the month of May so that makes four...or five. I've lost count. I sincerely promise a lot of pictures, outfit pictures, travel pictures and guides after every trip, yes.

There was a planned Tokyo trip but I don't think I'm making it. I need to get the existing, now-opened for anytime travel air tickets to and from Tokyo, Japan but this one might take a while to retrieve so... It's been missing around the house since last year-ish. I'll think about Seoul, South Korea next year instead as tickets there are definitely waaayyy cheaper than Japan's.

Fandom...? I'm still as obsessed as ever. Latest targets: Japan's Da-iCE and Cube Ent's BtoB or Born to Beat, especially rapper Jung Ilhoon. I think I'm slowly easing back to Jpop. It's my first fandom and it'll remain still the best for me outside of my latest wandering around the kpop realm. Anyway, meanwhile, some of my favorites from Ilhoon. Yes.

Yep, I'm still quite the same after all these months. Although I've been working more and more, I guess, I've been learning to take the time off on weekends and holidays and well, to take the time to just do my thing. I have more plans for the coming 2020 especially big ones...I really want to move abroad soon so yes, that's in the works too,...so that one, I'm sort of excited and thrilled for although I'm also, at the same time, quite scared of it. I've such big plans for 2020 that I don't know if I'll be able to sustain the momentum until the next few years or I'll end up burning out like I did intermittently two to three or even more times in the past so...I'll take care not to overwhelm myself by then. 

Anyway, I'm more active on the fangirl account on Twitter and am semi-active on the selling account on Facebook... I'm also always lurking around the selling account in Instagram and sometimes switch to the personal blog Instagram account so I'm not all that hard to miss. I still limit Facebook usage because I don't see myself getting over hatred for Facebook due to their lack of good security measures. I'm also quite active on posting on the Tumblr account as it's linked to my blogging Twitter account so... you know where to find me. Just really, email me or message me on Twitter or Instagram (avoid Facebook as much as possible, please) if there's anything you'd like to let me know or so. I'm always checking on there so it's not hard for me to reply to emails and SNS messages then. 

And until the next post! I still have to pack up...yes. 

playing sarah bailey the natural born witch for halloween 2018

white t, h&m. vest, vintage. skirt, mixed berry in dumaguete city (old). random knee highs from 2016-2017 trip to California, USA. heels, zalora (sold out on the site, unfortunately). backpack, seocndhand gucci from dumaguete city.

It's been a very long time since I posted a random slew of self-taken photos for this personal space of mine. I miss it so. Anyway, yes! Halloween!!! It's my favorite time of the year. Christmas feels like such a draining season for me. It drains one of money (because it's gifting season, yeah...) and well...energy. I do like the celebrations that come with Christmas but they wreck a ton of things so...I'm NOT at all that fond of this time of the year, to be really honest. At the back of my mind, I'm aware that I really do hate the Christmas season but I'm becoming more aware of how much I really do so now.

Sarah Bailey from the Craft will always be my aesthetic for Halloween. Classic American school girl looks like hers and Serena van der Woodsen's on Gossip Girl season 1 are those I have been fixating on for a while now. The Craft is a cult classic witch movie of the 90s and I'm not kidding when I say I still remember every scene of it in my head. My favorite is when the four went on an excursion to the fields to cast spells and of course, the last part, Nancy vs. Sarah. Sarah...I've always loved her effortless style and her natural-ness as a witch the same way I love Serena Van Der Woodsen on Gossip Girl season 1 for her carefree character so...well...that figures a lot of things that's me and about me. Also, for reference on where I got the idea to dress up as Sarah as, there is this photo below of the 4 on The Craft:

photo taken from here

I think Sarah is the easiest to dress up as on Halloween. All you really need is a skirt that's pleated---it can be a plaid skirt or a plain one will do as well---and heaps of necklaces of different sizes (I am admittedly a huge stan of layering one necklace after another) and a vest and you're done! Knee high socks are, of course, mandatory as well. And the wedges...well, they were scored from Zalora Philippines on one of their sales.
And speaking of Zalora Philippines and sales, I currently am waiting for their 11.11 sale for something I've been keeping my my on, on for a while now.

Anyway, yes, Halloween. What did I do last night's All Souls' Day night and last weekend? Last weekend, I went out with 2 girl pals to Lifestyle District. It's where the workplace, that I currently work at, is located. The place has a lot of bars, restaurants and cafes and it's, probably like, one of the best places to be in the city during Halloween. There's always something going on there like the Halloween Costume Party we originally planned to join when we passed by the notices for it. It's only because their registration for the contest ended early that we didn't make it into the contest. Memorable part of the night is Jigsaw from a movie franchise, Saw, I following us around and my friend hugging him not once or twice but thrice. For the record, I am never a fan of Saw and the rest of its movies and I do not plan on touching this one either...in this lifetime. I like really horror movies with ghosts and maybe some monsters of the South East Asian and Asian Lore in general. I'm not a huge fan of gore movies that to me, are pointless anyway. I would watch 90s trashy slasher films, however. Those are my thing as the amount of blood there isn't as much as when you compare it to Saw movies and even, maybe, hmn..., say Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 
At the end of the night of fun, I've decided that as Lifestyle District is such a good, good place to eat and drink in, I would say 31st Bistro's hot chocolate is high up there among drinks and food I've tried. I would go and visit 31st Bistro again probably on another weekend after work if only to get their hot chocolate again. The pina colada at this other bar closest to the office building is...well...err, their tequila sunrise is better. The alcohol content on the pina colada was just too high. I haven't been much of a drinker since long ago, in the dim dark past as a Master's degree student and even in undergraduate college. I am, however, happy to report that after one glass of that awful pina colada, I still had the tolerance to liquor in me that keeps myself from getting too drunk towards the middle of the night. I now know what to avoid on their cocktails menu. All in all, October 27 was a fun night with the two gal pals.

Last night, as I was alone and still am alone and being my hermit self at home, I had the South Korean cable channel, TVN on, on TV while I watched about two episodes of The Guest, a kdrama recommendation for the Halloween I found on a Soompi article I stumbled on early this week. I fell asleep in the middle of the third episode so I was never able to finish the thing but it sure is an interesting watch. It's about evil spirit possession and the tag team of a lady police officer, a rebel-y shaman and a very serious exorcist priest makes it all the more interesting. I wonder how it's going to play out in the end...? It has 15 episodes and I'm down to finishing the whole thing this weekend along with other creepy, Halloween appropriate tv shows and films I like to watch this time of the year. Yes, I watched it while I was alone at home with just 8 to 9 dogs outside and an indoor pet cat. The mum is in Jasaan, at the grandparents with the cousin; the dad, with his high school friend, is in Zamboanga City until Sunday since around Thursday this week; and the sister-figure went home to Medina for stuff... I survived a night of fright as I always, regularly do. I'm someone who can handle scary stuff well even at night but I'd probably freak out in a haunted house attraction in amusement parks... Hmn... Well, we'll see...
By the way, The Guest is an OCN drama and OCN never really disappoints me with their thriller, action police dramas so it's worth the watch for mystery lovers like myself. The supernatural twist is just as good, I guess. I don't mind it and I like supernatural twists anyway. Or this could just really be me. Haha.

Anyway, music recommendation because I kind of miss doing so lately:

I'm still waiting for Pentagon mini album to arrive... I'm getting kind of tired of waiting but I'm keeping the patience in. I think I ordered it about a month ago or so...
Yes, I'm stuck on both songs and especially on Just Do It Yo that I have on repeat with this one:

I'm currently conflicted with whether I'm getting Golden Child's Wish mini album or Infinite's Kim Sunggyu's Shine live album he released, as a farewell gift to fans, before enlisting in the military. I'll probably not get Golden Child's album yet and will stick to Sunggyu's granted I've been falling in deeper with him sine stumbling upon The Genius season 1 where he displayed his savageness and top notch strategist skills in. 
At first, I found it difficult to get into Golden Child's Genie because it felt not as bop-y as their Let Me that they released before this. But this impression was probably because I was listening to it without the headphones or earphones. It became a quality bop, characteristic of every Golden Child release so far since their debut, when I ended up playing it on eternal repeat with the headphones and/or earphones on. Yep. Never really shoot down a track as boring and bland before getting a closer look at it using the appropriate audio tools---lesson learned at that time. 
Also, Produce 48's I*Zone's La Vie En Rose is the best debut so far among all three Produce 101 franchise groups (including season 1 and 2). If you haven't gotten into it yet, now's the best time to get into it so GO! But yes, I'm still not much a fan of female groups...so...yeah.

Bonus, two things I find useful nowadays that they hardly live my bag now:

Australian make-up brand is climbing up the top of my favorite make-up brands list with these two lip liners. I don't really use the cream lipstick and other lipstick variants as much these days so I'm living with lip liners and tinted lip balms and cheek and lips stuff lately. I find them the most convenient to use in the office and out.
I got these when with the 1000 Php gift checks I got from SM Supermalls' 60th anniversary twitter contest a while back so, like, double yay! I didn't spend as much on make-up among others then. 

Ah yes, until the next post then and in which case, I don't know when that will be but hopefully soon. In the meantime, you can follow me on instagram for some timely updates here and there. I'm not a very consistent instagrammer either.

blue is my favorite color: oct 7 in mantigue island, camiguin island

top, something borrowed via zalora (old). shorts, target (mossimo, I think...). bracelet, my favorite random accessories-selling store around here in Cagayan de Oro City...

ph by cousin

Way back October 7, I was a hermit Camiguin Island. Or a pseudo-island hermit because I was with the family and some others. It's the one place here that just never really grows old. There's always something to explore in that island. Of course, a trip to Mantigue Island IS A MUST. I have always been more a fan of Mantigue Island than White Island anyway. Yes, so this is where these photos were taken. Blue and white and the sun and sea and sand are always favorites in my book as a wannabe, still practicing beach bum and tropical islander girl. A lot of swimming was had in this island because we came in early with just a few people and the water was so pristine and clear it made swimming and just beach bumming and relaxing soooo...much fun.

During this trip, food was quite an experience when it usually never was way back when. Luna Ristorante's pizza is pretty heavenly and although not that vegetarian or vegan friendly---I just took out the ham and all on the Hawaiian pizza variant among others---well, it's still worth the try. For those who have eliminated pork in their diet like myself, their chicken pasta dishes are alright. The canneloni to name one, is highly recommended. Another new discovery on this trip is Beehive Bistro. The view there is just soooo...good despite the beach front being rocky when the tide is low. The bohemian aesthetic is just relaxing. It's like travelling back in the older times when there as they have a ton of old things on display. Their drinks are to die for---coffee, tea, fruit smoothies---and ice cream. They have dragon fruit ice cream which I got to try. Definitely worth going back there should I find myself in Camiguin Island again soon...ish.  

I have another post coming up which delves more on the Halloween fun I had last night and over the last weekend with a co-worker and a bff turned co-worker... So yes, life is as eventful as always as it is busy with work on most days of the week.

It's a long weekend since yesterday so I'm, as always, playing hermit at home. I'm on my own at home with TVN blaring on the TVN right now and I'm enjoying time off from life, being the hermit that I usually am so...yeah...yay! I miss this so much. Of course, Halloween has been eventful, as always~

July 27-28's island living

(photos by @michisings)

top, bench. shorts, vintage/thrifted.  

Sometime between July 28 and 29. I know...a very, very, veeeerrryyy late post. But this is because my computer is acting up and I cannot borrow anything from anyone so my only course at the moment is to save up for a new one. I'll try my best to keep this space alive as much as my powers allow.

Yes, beach makes me happy. Beach is LIFE. Beach is EVERYTHING and I miss it. This was Agutayan Island off of Jasaan, Misamis Oriental's coastline. A super raaaddd place. There were three of us that went there with two other groups through Sophie Red, a hotel that looks quite tacky by the way thanks to the name and color combination (tooooo red...not that good to loo at...). We ended up paying only the 50 Php (1 USD) fee a piece or per person because the bigger group has paid for the ride which should cost about 1200 Php so...yay~ Lucky~ 10 to 1, it's a 10 and so worth going to and probably is the highlight of our Jasaan overnight stay that weekend after the pool dip the night before that ended only at 9 in the evening because...you know...hotel management sucked and limited swimming at the pool to only 9 in the evening. 

Next beach trip will be...hopefully on the 21st as it's a holiday here. Also, I would, I so would travel to San Isidro, Initao for this. Cagayan de Oro is surrounded by awesome beaches I could never get tired of this place. 

....and as for today, which is a Saturday...I was busy running errands and stuff for...well...real life stuff. Also, I found a mini supermarket-type South Korean store close to home. I ended up buying 2 kinds of seafood ramen and a pack of nuts. My next target? A box of their brown rice green tea and maybe a card case I may need and a passport holder if I can't get the other one from Human Heart Nature's Mori Notes partner seller. Hmn...I have some decisions to make...somehow.

Terranova here in Cagayan de Oro's Limketkai Mall went on sale. Hopefully it still continues after work's payday because I have a few things I'd like to look into there though buying anything for myself is a bit iffy because I feel like I hardly really need anything yet outside of white shirts and tanks at this point. I'm yet surviving with my bunch of clothes to use for work (we have a loose clothing policy, yay~) and a few others. If you're anywhere in my city for this one, DO GO NOW. I went yesterday, Friday and there weren't a lot of people compared to the last few days or when the sale started, I guess so I was able to take a good look around it while shopping for some gifts four two cousins who are celebrating their consecutive birthdays from August 17 to today, August 18. 

Note that I hardly shop for anything because I want to stay minimal when it comes to dressing up and fashion and style in general. Also, really cozy and comfortable so yeah, this was a once in a lifetime thing. After the next payday, I'm only spending sparingly for things and saving as much as I can for other things. I notice that nowadays, I take a super easy going and chill approach to shopping especially sales. It's an improvement from my shopaholic self from years and years ago. 

And this is it for me. Until the next post...whenever that may be...