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.

for the colder days ahead...

top, h&m. hoodie, secondhand from aunt/s. jeans, zara. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora (similar). tote, from bff. 

It's time to bring out the boots and cold weather wear because it's been raining intermittently today and there's a tropical storm that's coming in tonight. Local name by PAG-ASA: Vinta. As for the ankle boots/boots part, I have two or three pairs at the moment, I'm still looking to grow the arsenal...pretty soon. 

The stormy cold days is also when this pair of jeans from Zara from late last, last year, circa 2016? come out. I don't really wear jeans when it isn't too cold. Skirts is the norm here. And lastly, totes/tote bags. I can never get enough of them. I'm considering adding more from Savemore (I found one with cat print for 190-ish Php) and a good few from Miniso in SM Premiere. I could put the newly purchased SM Advantage Card (SMAC) to good use since my last one couldn't be renewed for being really limited to Watson's Dumaguete City system...hmn...

Such a full, full week this week, I hardly had time to breathe until today and, well, tonight. I hope to rest more thereafter. It is the holidays and the holidays should be for hermiting and resting, at home, in the quiet. Monday was house cleaning, arranging and decorating in time for the Christmas Party the next day, Tuesday. Tuesday---and I had been mentioning or alluding to, one too many times, how this year's holidays seem so gloomy/glum---I'd just had my twitter timeline got bombarded/filled by tweets on Shinee's (an SM Entertainment boy group) Kim Jonghyun's death by suicide, due to depression. He apparently suffered from SAD (seasonal affective disorder/seasonal depression) prior to killing himself. Something I easily connect with as I have it to, or used to suffer from it as it has now evolved to or progressed to Dysthymia, now called Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD). Anyway, it's something I'm trying to keep at bay and manage by Psychotherapy at the moment. The depression is mild but it's there along with crippling general/social anxiety so...that's life for me. Now, I'm not a Shawol (what they call Shinee's fandom) as I'm not a huge fan of big entertainment companies like SM Entertainment (though they have linked up with Avex in Japan...) but this death affects me because I, too, suffer from depression that I find difficult to shake off. I may have to live with this for a loooong...while. I'm not suicidal though I have had thoughts of death. I'm too chicken to end my life on my own so there's that making me just your average gloomy person exhibiting signs and symptoms of PDD.

I say this again, and again, and again: depression is real, it exists. It's an illness/disorder although of the psychological kind. It's important to seek help before it gets worse, for the sake of preventing the worst outcome that could happen: death by suicide. Also, people need to be aware of the fact that depression is real and there are those who suffer from it. Living just for the sake of living; a soulless, hallow way of just existing is exhausting enough for depression sufferers (like me). So those who are aware need to toe the line around those who suffer from depression and take care enough not to add to said people's worries, etc lest they want to trigger the suicides/self-harming that's usually the end-all, be-all for depressives. 

....and...what is done, is done. I think tropical storm Vinta is just a step away from making it's full landfall in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. The rain is definitely getting stronger now and it won't be long before we'll be under storm signal number 2 here in the province of Misamis Oriental. I did get a bit of cheer from those live tweeting Highlight's (formerly known as Beast) first day of three concerts in Seoul's Jamsil Arena. So on wards, we keep on living, I suppose.

b & w

top, h&m. shorts, secondhand lowry's farm cut offs. bag, kohl's (apt. 9). boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora ph.

The top and the black denim cutoffs in black are both new additions to the wardrobe. The former is new from H&M in (Long Beach) California from an aunt while the latter is something new-old, rather, secondhand from a thrift shop I frequent---it's really just a block away from Silliman University---whenever I find myself in Dumaguete City. 

I've been hunting down black denim cut-offs or jean shorts for a while now since losing a dressy plain (trouser-type?) shorts of the same color somewhere I've likely forgotten about long, long ago. I have the dressy black lace shorts but I frequently feel too dressed up in said pair so this is a welcome addition to the wardrobe this latter half of the year. This is definitely one of those I can wear with everything in the wardrobe with thus making the dressing up daily even more fun than usual. As for the top, I like the dressy, draped nature of it. It feels and looks low maintenance (no need to iron it!) to me and is alright to be worn with skirts, too, to any occasion. It is nearing the holidays so definitely, I'll be in this should I find the usual dresses I haven't replaced with anything new or something close, very repetitive. I was hoping the neck portion would go lower as a v-neck but it being not the case is actually alright, too.

sort of uniform and some music chatter

 t, h&m. lace shorts, tally weijl. bag, ninewest. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora ph. straw fedora, jessica simpson. cuff/bangle, vintage.

I'm growing to like this pair of lace shorts and normally, I'm not into lace a lot unless it's placed strategically in a certain piece of clothing, like a one-piece mini dress. Or maybe a slip dress. White t and shorts is basically my default during humid summer days. It doesn't even have to be the lace shorts type either. Denim shorts and cutoffs---since most of my jeans end up being cut short unless they were the snug-fitting ones or the skinny ones that I seem to prefer most of the time---are my eternal favorites. 

It's the start of the rainy season and it has been raining on and off in the afternoons. It's still sunny majority of the days however so I might have to prolong summer dressing until the rains become more constant. Here, in the southern part of the Philippines, we only ever really get two seasons: wet and dry; rainy and sunny/humid hot, therefore there's a need to change wardrobes twice a year. In my case, I refrain from doing so, changing wardrobes twice a year, and prefer to stick to owning versatile pieces that can be worn with everything else I own instead.

Music talk: Anyway, yaaaayyyy! Da-iCE's トニカクＨｅｙ's music video is out. I LOVE IT. All caps, yes. It gives a very kpop vibe when you watch it except it's not because the lyrics is in nihonggo. The music is also very characteristic of the feel good jpop that I frequently prefer more to kpop's edgy, choppy ones---for some reason, kpop, particularly those from boybands from that camp, come off that, choppy and fragmented, to me when I listen to some of them so I tend to avoid them entirely instead.

Ah, this is only a teaser. The full length music video is uploaded on youtube. You can look it up on that site should you want to. Just note that it may be region-locked to those outside of Asia. Japanese stuff often are, apparently, granted even the DVDs I have from there are region-locked as well---for the latter, I make do with unlocking them with a software and good thing too as my dvd player reads them fine. Back to トニカクＨｅｙ however, it's definitely a summer tune better than Everybody although a notch lower from my eternal favorite from them that's Paradive. So needless to say, I'm hooked. This and Flowback's Booyah! will be on repeat for me this week. I can't really explain what I like/love about this music video...I would say everything, I guess since all I can think of. Now I can't wait for the single release! It's only a few days away until then.

fri...yay!

 t, h&m. skirt, a&f. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora ph. purse/mobile phone purse/bag, coach.

White t and printed skirt combo for a friday that I spent watching the last two episodes of the police/crime kdrama, Signal on TVN. The thing about weekends is...it excites me even if I spend it at home and probably just catching up to the tv shows I watch almost-regularly or on movie marathons. I rarely really go out on weekends although I'm currently missing going to the eco/nature parks and beaches closest to the city. Proximity to these places is actually what makes living in this side of the world, this (still developing) city fun for me. I'm currently itching to go nature tripping. 

cozy for a rainy summer's day

 dress/tunic, h&m. boots, rubi by cotton on (via zalora). purse, coach. arm bangles, vintage and souvenir shop. 

Monday, today, started pretty weird for me. I'm not entirely sure what's with this day but things just came pretty...off. But anyway, something pretty comfortable in something close to gray and icy, dusty blue today. I think this H&M number is more of a tunic than a dress as it's too short on the front but I like wearing it as a dress somehow. Especially when it's just so, so humid sans this late-ish afternoon's rain.  I've worn this out to an anniversary dinner of some family friend, I think. I can't really recall anymore but this was something dad brought over from Taiwan or Hongkong. Even that, I cannot really remember anymore. He doesn't really shop for women's clothing...I think that's more me and my mum's department but he tends to have others get these things for him when he's out on business trips and he's out in one now so I kind of hope I get something from Paris? (Their plan is to go Prague then Paris then Germany so...) I wish...haha.

Last week, I felt pretty off so there was no blog entry at all. I was attempting a few I guess but nothing came up nicely as this one. My brain was in a sort of stump that all I accomplished was hardsubbing the english subs on the kdrama, Tomorrow with You and rewatching season 3 of 3 Meals a Day: Fishing Village (Deukryang...? I don't really know much about South Korea and the islands there...much). I'm not usually a fan of anything South Korean but these two...I liked so far. I'm avoiding Goblin and am not too invested on Legend of the Blue Sea that are both currently airing in the local/national channel dubbed in the national language so it's just Tomorrow with You for me on the South Korean drama side and the remake of Kimi wa Petto (Shison Jun~ Yes~) and Code Name Mirage (Kiriyama Renn *insert all the hearts here for this guy, because I just really love him*) for the Japanese dorama side. I'm slowly getting back into the jdorama swing although I'm still being really, really picky where that's concerned. I never really cared for kpop music-wise (I still can't bring myself to care...haha) so I'm back to the lol, SOLIDEMO, Da-iCE, Vimclip, AAA, and FlowBack listening train. SOLIDEMO's Further mini-album is pretty solid and outside, of like, two tracks on there, I'm pretty attached to Happiness and Sail Away...but mostly, Happiness, I guess. I don't think I'll ever get out of the jpop music loving rut I've stuck myself on since I was in...around early college. It's been years after that and I'm still forever into Jpop. lol.

Anyway, today's music (recc)? Because I miss Vimclip (in my deepest depths of the heart, they haven't disbanded and I still love Eiki so much so...)  and I just love this track so much, too. It's giving me so much life sans the rain outside and the gloomy feel this late afternoon is exuding...haha.

white t and ripped jeans

 shirt, h&m. jeans, secondhand. heels, zalora. 

I was this close to getting ice cream by the closest 7-11 in this get-up this afternoon. Thankfully, there's avocado in the fridge... I should probably attempt the former next time.

rain shower, slits and JJ Abrams' Cloverfield

 t, h&m. skirt, ebayed Laundry by Shelli Segal. hoodie, vintage anne klein. boots, zalora.

What I ended up wearing today because it was cloudy then sunny then cloudy again with scattered summer rain showers. Is anyone getting tired of these boots? Well, I am. Sadly, I don't have a lot of heeled boots similar to this to alternate pairs with. I'm working on getting another pair, however. I'll eventually get there. Meanwhile, as of late, I seem to be abusing this pair one too many times now. I tromped around the city's Divisoria on this in a mini-skirt and t combo while running errands. There weren't too many stares from people but it's probably because this pair looks pretty boring outside of the block heels. So maybe when I get even more insane pairs of boots like maybe the Kurt Geigers I have been drooling over at Zalora...let me mull over it... But I do swear I have other ankle boots, mostly non-heeled and one pair that's 5-inch tall in stiletto heel form, on rotation with this one.

The slits are what made me fall for this skirt when I saw it on ebay... So Xena the Warrior Princess-like?

 src: google images

Right when Hunter x Hunter on Animax ended, I was able to catch the JJ Abrams produced scifi found footage film, Cloverfield on HBO. I know I'm really late discovering this film, my reason being that I'm not too updated with mainstream and indie film releases. I'm not a regular cinema-goer and I definitely do not check on new film releases on an almost daily basis. But hmn...this has got to change, probably, but I've seen more disappointing films being aired in the cinemas than ones I actually really like and ardently wait for upon hearing news of them being aired in cinemas worldwide soon so I'd really rather not risk it. I...I'm not all too happy with spending money on tickets to films I actually end up disliking...and even those that are just so-so for me... That said, I only go to cinemas at least once or twice a year. But back to topic, Cloverfield. Okay, I am now questioning myself: how did I miss this?! This film is so, so, so good. It's, in my book, a sci-fi-ed Blair Witch Project that's been upped a notch (quality-wise), done even better. ....what else would one---sci-fi, psychological thriller, crime/true crime, and even action film/tv/literature buff---expect from a JJ Abrams produced film?! Nothing less than good to near-perfect, yes. He did give us two superb Star Trek films that I stan hard (never mind that I'm not much of a Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan as in general, I've never really been a Cumberbatch fan...), and of course, that recently released Star Wars film. You could say sci-fi is JJ Abrams' forte as much as sci-fi, often-times children's fantasy is Steven Spielberg's. To clear any question that may rise around why I am a Star Trek stan more than a Star Wars fangirl like the majority...I'm not even really a die hard Trekkie, just a casual one. I think I just like the idea of being able to operate high tech equipment in outer-space travel and space itself. So Star Wars...I just never really got into the franchise.  
Cloverfield in a nutshell: party in NYC, then some alien makes it to Manhattan...in Central Park no less and rampages thereby killing a huge fraction of people living there, and plunging the Big Apple to just utter chaos all around. I compare this film to the Blair Witch Project because they are of the same kind, they just differ in genre. Cloverfield, like the Blair Witch Project is a found film type. It is just sci-fi while BWP is horror and supernatural combined. I'm pretty sure you've seen these kinds of film, if I'm not mistaken, Paranormal is another of this kind. However, what I like about this more than the other found footage or film types I've seen is that it goes full circle with its ending clip. I don't think the others in this type of film have accomplished such a feat as Cloverfield has. I wasn't able to see the whole film as I wasn't able to catch the very beginning of it---thanks to Hunter x Hunter and before that, a couple episodes of Golden Time on Animax---but I'm definitely planning to watch it whole should I catch it as a lunch feature or presentation on HBO or something similar. 
This film made JJ Abrams one of my favorite director-producers along with Christopher Nolan (the Dark Knight trilogy, The Prestige, and Inception has me hooked on anything this one does/comes out with). Sorry, but not that much sorry, I am not your regular person pretending to be eccentric stanning directors like Tim Burton or James Cameron (I couldn't bring myself to like Avatar, to be honest) and other...well, 'eccentric' arts figures in the pop world. But I'm proud of being someone who gets so, so excited by slice of life, psychological thrillers, crime/true crime, southern gothic, sci-fi, action, thriller, some fantasy, horror and even supernatural. Just something about these genres named here get to me somehow. Hence...why I just had to blab about JJ Abrams' Cloverfield on here.
I'm definitely keeping an eye out on everything Abrams and Nolan come out with. I may now have found two directors slash producers I can stick to that I know won't disappoint me with every film they are heavily attached to.    

another sailor-like piece

t, h&m. skirt, secondhand zara. wedges, CLN, sunglasses, dad's.

with BDG flats

Focal point of this post is the skirt. The skirt actually has a couple of pockets at the back like those of jeans and faux pockets in front with button flaps. In pretty navy that makes it easy to be integrated with any plain navy, black or even olive or army-ish green tops, it reminds me of a rather sailor-themed piece. The skirt works best high-waisted but rather than have the top/s tucked in to emphasize the whole skirt, I like the way it looks with the shirt un-tucked.

The BDG flats are a blessing should I need to go out quickly and still remain sartorially put together with easy basics like this top and skirt. They're also practical to use when doing long walks and a lot of standing but with me being me, it's one of the least used stuff among my footwear. I still like using impractical high heeled like sky-high heeled shoes more than the flats on most days. I'm...weird like that...I think.

This is how the skirt looks like with the top tucked in. Umn...I'd avoid this way of wearing the skirt on most days for some reason as it's not so me? Plus, I don't seem to like the way it looks this way.

back to the white t

 h&m t; levis cutoffs; vintage belt; gifted bag (it used to be gold colored, now it's rusty-ish close to black); rubi/cotton on via zalora boots (phs 1-2); zalora birkenstock-like flats (ph3); aizilim necklaces and rings; forever21, souvenir shop, kristine's in limketkai center/mall bangles/bracelets; dad's sunglasses

It's been hot and then a bit colder with cloudy skies in the late afternoon recently. Spring-like weather slash temperatures from nations nearest the equator, I guess? ....and this is why I am officially back to the white t and denim shorts, short skirts/dresses train again...I guess. It certainly hasn't been raining much. Ugh. Finally. 

Hmn...you'll probably be seeing a lot of variations of this more often now...on the way to my favorite season that's summer.