pretty pleasant pool day

photos by Candice Calonia

vintage ruffle front cream silk shirt, ebay top, What a Girl Wants bottom, Zalora faux leather double strap sandals
 

Owing to the fact I have a ton of separate pieces of tops and bottoms for swimming in pools and beaches (lost the bottom to one of my favorite What a Girl Wants bikini last year while moving from one water body to another around Surigao del Sur), mismatched bikinis is now a thing for me. 

Had so much fun lounging around Xavier Estates Sports and Country Club's poolside in between slithering into the pretty vast adults' pool they have and getting out of it to people watch and munch on snacks (of fruits and fries) and chitchat with the lounging companions. Yesterday, the whole day was perfect for pool day as the sun alternated to shining hot with isolated rain clouds and being hidden by the clouds in the early 8 to 9 in the morning. There wasn't any drop of rain either granted it's been raining on and off the day before and even before the latter. Best time I think we had in the pool area? Between 8 to 9 in the morning when there weren't anyone but the three of us and we had the place to ourselves, right before the club house's guests came down to swim and have their brunch. I like it when we have the place to ourselves but it isn't really bad when there are others besides us just so we can people watch, really.

There was definitely a lot of lounge-playing involved...

With this place being something I find to be easily accessible and just right by the village (what we'd call a private subdivision here because one, it's gated and pretty guarded---think Bel-Air?) where the best friend since high school resides, outings as random as this might just become more frequent...hmn...250 Php isn't too much to pay for a whole day's---until night because they close somewhere between 9-10 in the evening and night swimming is a must during the extremely hot summer days too---use of the pools here, really. 

....the sandals are originally for men but they proved to be lighter than the first use here. This might end up being used more often on quick errands and such...and walking around every kind of terrain possible here minus the desert which we don't have? Yes.

local fun find: my pretty little blings

L-R: Sideways wishbone necklace in gold,  Eliana knot bangles (options include matte black, gold and silver), Overlapping mini ball ring (options include matte black, this pretty gold and silver), and Queen head piece (more like head chain, right? of course, the two terms are interchangeable, I guess...) in gold

I've been looking for local online stores since forever ago that sell mostly varied accessories or more like jewelry at affordable prices---at least prices within my reach anyway---sans the sort of still pricey shipping fee every purchase from them comes with. Domestic couriers or shipping establishments here charge exorbitant fees that to anyone purchasing stuff from online stores would be hard put to do combined shipping on one-time purchases to make the most of said fees. Anyway, I lucked in on stumbling upon this one while I was looking around for body chain harnesses and pretty, pretty and still really rad head chains in the interweb earlier today. I felt I sort of needed an alternative source for the most minuscule, dainty things I've since been obsessing on putting in the varying parts of the body they're meant to be put on to Zalora, the local store I frequent close to the abode, the little jewelry/varied accessories stall me and the regular, consistent shopping partner (in crime? yes) frequent in the local Ayala mall and regular shops like H&M, Forever21 and UO to name a few. This recent discovery was pretty timely. These four are what struck out to me while browsing the site along with a couple of their chokers,dainty lariats they funnily called dangling necklaces? huh? and the curb tubed long necklace that was a late discovery (read: I stumbled upon it like, after I finished making the collage). I'm definitely going to see about getting some stuff from them soon. Their midi rings or knuckle rings are pretty tempting along with the head chain...and that minimal-ish knot bangle...hmn...

Other things on my lookout list when it comes to jewelry they don't have on site and I have difficulty searching for everywhere local include dainty ear cuffs and ear hoops (like, really thin and borderline microscopic ones...I die for those...) and still, the harness body chains (I sort of have something specific in mind for this it's been a frustrating hunt so far...but I lucked in on a few finds not so local friendly as they're mostly to be imported and pretty pricey for the average RP denizen). I'll continue looking around for more of those. Etsy has been a good place to start searching so far but it'll be a while before I can commit to a final purchase or at least a shopping/buying decision. I'm incredibly picky when shopping online and offline hence why I hardly do these days. Window shopping and collage wish listing has become more me as of late. 

Random note: I don't really say 'bling' as much as I can in real life and even try to avoid the term in writing (blog post crafting?) because...I don't know...I find it too fancy, too gaudy a term for something with just five letters? My mind works in the weirdest ways, that much we've established here henceforth it's now one word I use sparingly or as necessary---specifically when the situation calls for it. 'Accessories','baubles', 'pieces' or even my favorite Buffy-speak term 'thing'...complete with the dash before it, take the place of that one for me. Weirdly, I'm writing this (something random that popped in my head) down while thinking about how it's pretty ironic since I like the film Bling Ring after having seen it once---no such concrete connection as the word is in the movie title, that's all. 

for the rainy days, a polyvore set

rainy day wear by crysta17 featuring a rainy day outfit

Polyvore-d today because I had a headstart on what to do with wellies? All I know is...this would totally be something I'd love to wear out today while doing some random shopping close by...or maybe to tea or coffee with a friend or two.

For two days and a night now, it's been raining intermittently and mostly, it's strong rains hence the inspiration for this set. I'm still forever on the lookout for the right wellies to this day. Sometimes I look into what Zalora has or what Primadonna on their physical stores have...or I'm thinking of going True Value on this one as I found a few of those there last time. 

Hopefully there's minimal rain at the pool come Monday as that is the current plan with the best friend.

Oh and nude everything for the win! 

P.S.
Photobucket has been down for a couple days now. Says maintenance is ongoing and thus the reason why photos on this blog uploaded there have been nonexistent... Hope they fix that one soon.  

computer angel

So Close (2002), a Hongkong film production still remains one of my favorite movies to date so this halloween was a homage to Lynn's computer angel identity there. Such an action-packed film with a trio of bad-ass Asian females So Close is and Shu Qi is eternally beautiful to me. Re-watching the film reminds me still of how cool Nokia 8210/8250s were and how they could do tons of things way, way before smartphones existed.

I spent the really long weekend watching Halloween specials on TV from Rated K to Jessica Soho to Kababalaghan...it's been sort of tradition for me since young and a fun one at that (I'm probably weird for being someone who enjoys really scary halloween specials of regular local lifestyle and news programs at this time of the year while my peers avoid them for being too scary and as such, giving them nightmares throughout the night...then again, I'm a huge fan of everything horror minus so much gore so...). How'd you spend yours? However way you did, hopefully it was as good as mine was.

Also, a bonus because tumblr was being cute during Halloween. They probably should do something like this for Christmas and maybe even Valentines Day, eh?

shoes coming my way...

After much window shopping around yesterday and today, I finally bit the bullet. 

I'm a little skeptical of most faux (synthetic) leather but let's see how these fare. One is the only highest-heeled ankle boots I could find on Zalora and the other got me by its tons of buckles, the latter ordered in a deep brown so I can look about how to play around with it.

after H&M Ayala Centrio's opening

photos by Candice Calonia
 
vintage bag and ankle boots; D&G longsleeved shirt; Forever21 shorts; Robinsons' department store tight; aizilim necklaces; beaded bracelet and rings; dad's sunglasses

H&M opening was fun but really, really crowded. The line to get into the first of the store's 2 floors was pretty long and I'd say, everyone was most likely there. Well, those who had the time to go, anyway. Notable things from H&M in Ayala I found I'd sort of like to have: the cozy sweaters (which I'd likely get 2 sizes larger than me for the slouch, off shouldered, long-sleeved...longer than my arms would allow anyway...effect), triangle bras that's somehow all I really wear on a daily basis dresses and tops, and that faux (?) but really, really soft (like butter) leather tote that reminds me a bit of the Givenchy Nightingale I'd probably overuse for some occasional shopping. In the end, the shopping partner and I didn't get anything because there was too much people in there and either it drove us mad or gave us a headache. I don't really do well with crowds.

I didn't really get a lot of things from the random trip to the mall except for a bottle of virgin coconut oil I usually use on a lot of things (thank you, Watson's for providing me with a really cost-effective option---reason being it's, like, 10 Php or so less than my usual coldpressed VCO brand) and a choker from my shopping pal's favorite accessories stall. There was a one-shouldered dress in both black and white incarnations from Mango that hasn't yet left my mind however, it's on sale, and a pair of cross strapped wedges from Primadonna also on sale I really wanted and could see myself wearing a lot but decided not to get somehow.

Met some people here and there...a newly discovered favorite dish from Tokyo Bubble Tea---their pork-less tofu steak which was so vegetarian/pescetarian friendly and really, really good and a funny, sort of weird incident later, after all that, in Cotton On on our way out that had us scrambling to take the taxi to the city center...all in all, it was a good day to be out.

white, dusty pink...and military green

mock neck top from bangkok (from mum), Mags shorts, CLN wedges, random socks and bag, aizilim necklaces, forever21 filigree cuff and cat ears ring (not too visible in the photo), aizilim gem ring (not too visible in the photo)   

Sometimes I like to dress up really girly in white, off white or cream and dusty pink and pretend I'm just around Ginza, the posher, girlier part of really vast city, Tokyo. Was I able to get their style right? No? Yeah...I don't really know either.

with thrifted parka/hooded trench

And then there are times like this, when it was threatening to rain though still pretty hot and humid (typical oven-like temperatures in place like these that's only a few kilometers or so from the equator), I have to spring for the parka. It can be quite relieving to have this around when it's cold and raining. Especially when it's raining. It is raining hard tonight. I'm good at being redundant, yes. 

This bag is becoming a favorite since getting it from my aunt last Christmas. It's just the right amount of cute---since I can only tolerate cute in the smallest doses---and edgy black to complement some girly stuff in the closet and even those that aren't really that girly which, coincidentally, I own in large quantities. I dress too much like a tomboy...on an island I sometimes think to myself I should've been born a boy. But...I'm happier being a girl and having too many options for dressing (and especially high heeled ankle boots I'm currently thinking of acquiring soon) so...yes...there.  

Every female here must be a-buzz for H&M's opening tomorrow at Ayala Centrio. I'm going there with the bff and frequent hang out buddy and shopping buddy all-in-one to play, hence I'm sleeping early tonight.  

It's my camera stand that's having problems hence the photos where the backdrop is askew. I probably need to get a new one or something...hmn...