february 26, wednesday post's details

clutch, ninewest. necklace as bracelet and another bracelet, gifted by grandmum and aunt. large and thick or bulky-chained necklace, forever21. phone, samsung j2 prime. ring/s, bagel girl via sm downtown premier.

Late catch-up post. I was supposed to post this last Friday or yesterday but I got too lazy. Saturday was a particularly lazy day and night for me. I wasn't even able to write anything good in terms of fanfiction I have in the works and mostly just did so a bit then slept. Anyway, these are stuff I have on repeat recently.

wayfarers from Bench Ph. Ninewest clutch. Samsung J2 Prime. Human Heart Nature's Natural Sanitizer in Cool Burst. 

Also a few others I can't live without right now. Hand sanitizers are a fast sell right now everywhere because of the COVID 19 outbreak. It's the same here in the Philippines. We may only have very few COVID 19 cases yet with 1 death (this one isn't even a Filipino or Philippines' national) but still, people are clearing shelves of everything sanitizing alcohol, sanitizer and other anti-bacterial, anti-viral substances that can be used on the hands and other body parts and even varying surfaces at home and out. Luckily, I was able to snatch this small, 50 mL bottle of the Natural Sanitizer in Cool Burst. Word at the branch I got this from is that their sanitizers are also all sold out and they were lucky to get this one in a decent number around sometime last week. Week after next, I'm looking to stock up on the 200 mL kind in both Cool Burst and Pomelo Burst. If you'd like to order anything of the sort, whether in 200 mL or 50 mL bottles, you can put your orders through here. For Metro Manila and NCR orders, they do deliver at a minimum of 500 Php worth of purchases. You can also email me at the contact details on this blog or send a text message to the number given occasionally on this instagram account. I cannot accept calls from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. due to work but I can receive and respond to text messages well. Meet ups around Cagayan de Oro City are available, of course!

Anyway, yes. Let's keep ourselves clean and clear of viruses and some harmful bacteria this year! We ought to be wary of COVID 19 since it's literally spreading everywhere now and the numbers just keep adding up. That all said, I'm proud of our DOH and other local authorities rounding up some foreign visitors who have come in from highly infected areas (like Daegu in South Korea) and labeling them PUMs (persons under monitoring). Some 26 were in Cebu City and another 11 were in Boracay. This is a day before the travel ban put into place. This was a very quick response, yay! 

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. 

two days worth of outfits

photos 1-3: button up shirt, vintage. cutoffs, gap. bag, ninewest. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora ph. photos 4-5: tank, bench ph. shorts, mags. wedges, CLN. clutch bag, gift from aunt. blazer, vintage. 

Yesterday and today's outfits. 2 days worth of outfits for several days' worth of going missing from the blogosphere from some time last week. There's really not much to share about this week and last week either. At least not a lot of good news to share. A lot of things going on this side of the world is bad news, instead. Let's not dwell on that however. It's just...all bad and depressing. National and inside the island issues, yes. You'd think Mindanao Island in the Philippines is sunny and warm and paradise-like but at this time, it's really not...that...much a paradise.

It's around 30 degrees and up, 33-36 to be more specific, Celsius here so it's definitely hot. Very hot. It's close to the regular body temperature, even. Yet, the weathermen on the news say the rainy season is upon us. I definitely hope it cools down a little more. Otherwise, I'm happy being mostly in shorts and mini skirts until then.

back to the white

 tank, bench ph. skirt, vintage suede. boots, rubi by cotton on (via zalora ph). bag, gifted by aunt. arm bangles/bracelets, vintage and souvenir shop.

I suppose it's time to break out this tunic skirt...thing and I think...I have quite the thing for button-front skirts as of late. Little details make what is a boring army-green-ish bottom look all the more better in photos. I actually like little details. The belt is inseparable to the skirt so it's a fully equipped little thing I'll probably be obsessed with for a while right after the vintage light brown skirt I also keep wearing when in a hurry to go out for stuff. Anyway, I think I'm going back to the skirts+shorts and tops formula. It's a tried and tested one that guarantees me minimal melting in the summer heat whether it's late afternoons or mid-afternoons or really sunny mid-mornings.

Sort of a new skin care/beauty obsession now that I've run out of the Coast to Coast serum is this arbutin thing. It's my second day using it and though I'm not really seeing any effects yet, I might as well keep using it with the lady housemate until it runs out. I do like me some Japanese skin care products right next to French, some American and the local organic ones from my favorite, HumanHeartNature. I'm the kind who's usually more into skincare than make-up though I do have my go-tos for the latter from time to time.

South Korean beauty products are the ones easily accessible from here/in this side of the world considering we have Etude House and the Face Shop among others but something about this just doesn't seem to sit right with me so I stick to the ones I'm more familiar and am more at ease with (American, French, local (Philippines-made), Japanese). I think the fact that a lot of them use some extract from snails scare me away and put me off them quite indefinitely. Plant-based things are just more my thing, I guess---however much a struggling vegetarian (currently succeeding as a pescetarian at the moment) I am. This doesn't mean I'm writing off South Korean skin care+beauty products however. I think SKII for one is good and worth it using or trying. Consider me out of the loop on beauty/skin care trends but I'll stay away from these skin care products for now, thank you. But outside of this, I kind of do want to try the precise liquid eye liner from Etude house...and, well...one day I will. Well, you can say I don't really frequent those shops in the city's malls and online a lot. And in relation to South Korean beauty and skin-care matters...I think Get It Beauty in TVN is getting too tiring for me to follow as of late, I've been skipping it lots when on a TV binge. I'm crossing it off of my regular watch list on local cable tv subscription list...

On the music fandom front...I've been listening non-stop to Tove Lo today. Lady Wood is such a good, good album but Queen of the Clouds will always have a special place in my heart for me, after all. I am this insane slash mad for everything Tove Lo's songwriting and music/beats making. From Lady Wood, Cool Girl and Imaginary Friend are the two tracks that speak the most to me. Meanwhile, Queen of the Clouds is just love all around from The Sex (Intro) to Habits (Stay High) (Hippie Sabotage Remix). Love Ballad, from there is especially the most special to me. So...in line with that, here's the track I love so much:

 

skirt on repeat

 tank, bench ph. skirt, ebayed laundry by shelli segal. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora. clutch, gifted by aunt.

It's long been established I'm a repeat offender. A chronic repeat offender to be exact. At least when it comes to pieces of clothing I get obsessed with or too attached to at some point. This skirt has been on rotation since what...? Last week? I'll retire it sometime this week somehow. Went with this for something simple today while working on the previous post and some other things...

There's not much up today but the final game between Far Eastern University and National University on tv for the UAAP Men's volleyball event. The team that wins this now-5-set game faces off my favorite team of the event. Ateneo de Manila University blue spikers (or eagles? ....whichever works, I guess...) on Saturday for the first game of the finals. And I am highly thrilled for this one. I'm definitely clearing my saturday schedule for this game, gotta cheer for my boys somehow. Their 14-0 sweep of the two elimination rounds of this season shouldn't be all for naught...at all, after all.

 

not the manly pinstripes i hoped for but close

 bench tank, secondhand trousers, primadonna wedges

Two thrifting around trips with the shopaholic aunt resulted to the acquisition of this pair of trousers that could be as close to the pinstriped manly trousers I'm forever on the lookout for but still not quite. I figured the latter would be perfect with pretty, loosely draped tanks. Sadly, even this Bench tank isn't the right draped one of my dreams. I'm still mentally beating myself up for not getting a large or an extra-large (if the latter existed) variant of this thing. Suffice it to say, I'm pretty...not so into this outfit combo I have on today. 
As for the Primadonna wedges...a quick, random story: I've come to the conclusion they're not the most comfortable for long walks when I used them to tromp around the Ayala mall area of Cebu City with family and friend/s last year. Never. Again. The wedges are just too thin so the stable support just isn't there. I wasn't able to last minute-ly pack a pair of flats on a bag (I think I only had a clutch back then) used to dress up fancily for a graduation ceremony of a family friend/foster older brother that was followed later, post-graduation ceremony, by cavorting around Cebu's massive Ayala mall...
Ah, I promised myself, mostly that I would be sticking to a light and airy mostly white and pastel----dusty rose/pink, blush or the lightest of pinks and maybe some peach is mostly my limit where that color palette is concerned but I'd bring in a few orange, yellow and icy blue from time to time---but the really moody weather hasn't been permitting me to do so. We've been dealing with some rain and mostly cloudy days since two weeks ago around here and mid- to late- March, all of April and even May are supposed to be sunny, really dry and humid summer months. I'll...work on that when the weather permits, but for now, I'll still be wearing some blacks and charcoal from time to time.
....and I finally have something I can alternate with an age-old pair of trouser-like-leggings from SM Department Store's GTW line. GTW does really functionally good pieces that are pocket-friendly for the fashion forward/fashion conscious frequently. It's a local line I can easily count on. I'm sure my local country(wo)men would pretty much say the same. I'm really more of a trousers/leggings/skirts person than a jeans one, evidence being that I have very little of the latter in the wardrobe. I blame the local climate and recently very moody weather.

tank and shorts summer uniform

 tank, bench ph. shorts, levis cutoffs. boots, zalora (rubi - cotton on). fedora, jessica simpson.

Today's mood called for the usual white tank and levis cutoffs, reason being, the whole day was gloriously sunny and hot, aka: this is just the kind of day I live for. I have a feeling I will be seen sporting this fedora for most of this season unless I find something similar to rotate this with.

....and I know this was so last year but I feel the need to revive the love for this Da-iCE track on here because it is officially summer (unless it threatens to rain again then hello on/off, really weird summer...)

 

I haven't actually forgotten that this all-around California-I wish I were back there again as I miss it much being there lately-goodness exists, too... maybe one day I'll have to move myself to California for good...I'm the kind to love living in that part of the world...that or Sydney, Australia...or better yet, Ibiza.

 

Alright, summer! Bring it! Of course, it's not all too out there, obvious, that this is my favorite time of the year. It makes being a lifelong resident of the paradise-like tropics sweeter. You have no idea how ecstatic I am at this time meanwhile people all around me are likely groaning their complaints of the hot, extremely sunny weather. Well...let them.

friday weekend

(photos by Candice Calonia, collages by me)

Me thinks you'll have to click on the photos to enlarge. Outfit details are already on the first collage.

Today was afternoon chai tea latte with the best girl friend; frolicking around SM...well, outside of it, anyway, and tonight is for just chilling to music.

Music talk here (this corner might've been missed...lots...well, I miss it anyway): Has anyone listened to the new record from Jpop boygroup/boyband/dance and vocal group, Da-iCE? Next Phase is a really solid album, by the by...I could say it was even better than their previous two. Paradive, Bond and Two as One have become my favorites off of it and news is (as told to me just now by a good friend on twitter), the full music videos for the latter two are out on their Universal Music Japan channel. Inner me just went 'yay!' I'll check those two out in a bit. I've been bopping to those three, especially the former two (and Fantasy) for the past few days now. Here's Bond's full version to bop to, tonight:

 

....and I am probably off to watch an anime or two tonight. I have yet to finish a Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo movie/episode special based on a light novel (Opera house murder case 3, if I'm not mistaken). It's that or I'll binge watch any anime of the horror genre I can find on a streaming site tonight. It is Friday. I've been...uh...reconnecting with my inner aniota (anime otaku) recently that I've kept at bay for eons now. I'm still really picky on animes to watch lately and often times, I just keep away from it because, like in the case of Kindaichi, it doesn't really follow the manga to the t anyway. I usually only watch classics though, except Sailor Moon's because I can't stand its 90s anime---I am of the opinion that Sailor Moon Crystal trumps the 90s anime because it follows the manga closer than the 90s anime ever did and I'm a known humongous fangirl of the manga...effectively owning a copy of its first volume bought from Barnes & Noble around late 2015 to early 2016. As for the newer manga serializations and hmn...animes...I'm only interested in Twin Star Exorcists...but more the manga than the anime. I'll get to reading this shounen series when it gets closer to its end. I don't think the manga artist and writer has started with its climax/last arc anyway. It seems to already be midway however. But for the record, I don't really consider myself an aniota. I just watch these things casually: just when something interesting of this sort comes into my radar. I don't cosplay---halloween costuming-up, I'd do, however---nor attend anime expos either.

If all else fails and nothing of the anime variety ends up piquing my interest tonight other than the Kindaichi special/film...I'm going to get into one or two indie or indie-ish movies I've been keeping on storage for a while now. This is to rectify the failure of the bff and my plans to watch a movie in the cinemas this weekend. We wanted to watch Asa Butterfield's The Space Between Us but only one cinema is airing this and what's even more disappointing is, it's sharing the same theater with Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga which I have no interest in watching. ....not really a huge Jackie Chan fan here. Also, The Space Between Us, only airs twice, from 5 p.m. until almost 8 in the evening and around 9 until 12 midnight. We really can't be bothered to stay so late to catch this one. Maybe next time...

flared skirt

American Sports hat/fedora & sunglasses, dad's; f101 skirt via zalora.ph; bench ph tank; bag from kohls (a gift); vintage, local bangles; shoes from Mags

Easy basics for a lazy Wednesday. Zalora stuff is becoming a constant lately. I don't really shop a ton in real time unless maybe it's an uncrowded mall or something similar so rarely am I seen frolicking in malls which now includes coffee shops. Hermit-ing in at this time, yes.