3 things: a not so 80s/90s outfit, a 90s film classic and, an 80s music playlist

 top, vintage ralph lauren. lace shorts, tally weijl. boots, rubi by cotton on (via zalora).  necklace/choker, forever21.

Something pretty summer high heat-friendly and cozy for today. I'm not usually a fan of lace but this pair of shorts work fine when cinched higher above the waist. My main problem with this has always been the low crotch area when it's hanging lower around the waist... Nothing high-waisted-wearing can't solve, however.

 

Tenderness by General Public has been stuck in my head for eons now since hearing it on Clueless a couple days ago, when I caught the latter's ending on HBO. Everything about Clueless from the wardrobe to the plot and/or story to the OST is 90s classic---the film was released in the early to mid-1990s but General Public's Tenderness has been out since around 1983-1985 based on my googling around on this matter...---and I lived that decade and continue to live it so...yep...Tenderness remains stuck in my head to this day. Now I have 80s tracks from  A-Ha, Wham!, Culture Club, Duran Duran, The Police, General Public and Starship playing via the Windows Media Player Classic. The 80s music mania has been going on for about a couple days now and seems to show no sign of stopping...yet. Anyway, I did, as a little child, catch the really late 80s thanks to the aunts (mum's sisters) going gaga over everything 80s back then: the movies, Ghost and Mannequin come to mind for this time period and their impeccable OSTs so let's just say, I'm pretty familiar with 80s rock and roll, classic rock and pop somehow. I'm currently just taking it unto myself now to reacquaint myself with the music of that era now that I'm older and while doing so, I find a lot of the music released then are pretty much...gold~ I'm more of a 90s person on the whole but 80s music, especially the pop kind, has a special place in my heart thanks to my digging around for good stuff from that said decade. Oh and how cute is the music video for Tenderness, exactly? Yep.

I'll work around building a good 80s pop, pop-rock playlist somehow...until then, this music/songlist will have to suffice. By the by, I'm currently enjoying Kate Bush after looking her music up on Youtube. This is so beautiful pop for me!

I just realized I spent a good chunk of this post to discuss music...I guess it's how much I love it? I don't know anything either, really...

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:

 

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.

shortalls and a couple of books for the summer reading list

 shortalls, cotton on. tank, diy from a random white t. heels, zalora. arrow necklace, forever21 (not visible in these photos much...). cuffs/arm bangles, vintage and dumaguete city souvenir shop finds.

What I cheered around in while watching the men's volleyball finals game 2 between the Ateneo de Manila University men's volleyball team and that of National University's. AMVT won, of course~ And I'm happy, content and all because of it. It's a good feeling to get at least decently dressed even when just watching a game being televised live on national TV.

How cool is it that this is AMVT's third championship in a row? And they managed to completely sweep this season's matches too! 16-0! There wasn't even any need to go on to a decider game three~ So basically, AMVT gave NUMVT a thrashing in about 4 games, two during the double round of eliminations and two in the finals. I hope they can continue this streak next year but without Rex Intal and Josh Villanueva who are graduating these year or already have graduated at least...I'm not so sure. Well, there are still the others like Marck Espejo and Ish Polvorosa. Also, the new players and less played people off the bench are pretty interesting. We have yet to see them play full games. It would be fun if season 80 is also AMVT's. The last two games of the men's volleyball event this noon/lunchtime and back in May 2 are games one would commit to memory for how good they were (5 really thrilling sets a piece/per game and almost the same outcomes). Definitely, AMVT is a highlight for me this year. I love the boys equally so I don't have a favorite player among them, in case anyone's going to ask.

....and yes, this is the slouchy shortalls I received from the aunts abroad, in America (specifically California). I can sort of see now many other tops to style this with. I'll get into that in the next few days, weeks or so.

I usually post more about music but this time around, it's the reading list. I've been meaning to actually finish White Oleander. It's a pretty sunny, still poetic light to mid-heavy read. I've seen its movie, too, but the book seems better (books always tend to be better than the movie adaptations anyway). I don't have all of Gossip Girl's yet but I imagine I have half of the series in my bookshelf already. I've been meaning to catch-up on reading all these before I even think of purchasing the next in the series through ebay or some other (the local book bargains store, Booksale). I'd carried these two books on the backpack along with some change of clothes when I attended the beach fun day with some short course classmates last Monday. With that said, they made my bag heavier... They make up for being good and pretty light beach readings though. 

mint green

 slipdress, vintage. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora. purse (mobile phone case), coach. choker, verano ph via zalora.

This is what's up on a sunny, humid, very very humid Thursday mid-afternoon. Body contorting and floor sitting are among my  many (?) talents, apparently. The slipdress is mint green which I feel, makes it appropriate for the humid summer days and it's thin enough one can sleep with or just, well, hang around at home in it. Finally, yay~ Some other color other than white, cream and navy, black.

....and I'll be catching up on episodes of the police procedural kdrama, Signal now. I missed a bunch of it due to life stuff but I might have reconciled with Kissasian english subs, which I wasn't so happy with on some kdrama of the same genre, so I figured I might as well go ahead with it this time, for Signal. I can't really follow the series on TVN week in and week out anyway for certain reasons. 

the comfiest top and dress

 top, secondhand/vintage. dress, target (xhilaration). heels, zalora. cross necklace, forever21. 

Luckily, it was a little bit cold today. Breezy. Just a really tiny bit breezy. Then came the short but voluminous downpour around 3 in the afternoon. It is one of those rainy summer days here in the southern part of the Philippines. Basically one of those days I'd probably be too afraid to go out in a pair of non-rain proof ankle boots or heels in lest I want them ruined by the rain and puddles of water on the streets. Knee-high -ish rain boots might be in order...I'll get to a pair soon-ish.

This is one of the coziest I can cull, rather, come up with, from the now pretty limited wardrobe that's perfect for not-so-hot (just mildly humid) summer days like today. It's also one of those that I can stand although the dress is floor-length. I'm not really into everything floor length (although I own another number, a skirt that's also in black from Topshop in Cebu City, that's also floor-length...), hence why I had to tie the top and dress on one side together to lift the dress's skirt higher. I wouldn't mind going out in this...I'll just need to swap the heels with a pair of rain-proof ankle boots or a pair of rain boots. The dress looks fine on its own considering it's a henley, racerback type. It's a great one-piece for a really, really easy casual wear anytime anywhere. The top is my favorite henley-like ribbed tank---one of the more draped, almost man/boyish that I own, and I don't own a lot although I'd likely want more of this variety---so I figured it would go well with the dress.

a lacey number

 dress, what a girl wants (shopwagw). boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora. clutch bag, gifted by aunt.

So I'm not really into lace---especially one with a collar unless maybe it is topped with a decent thin sweater/thermal in, say, coffee color or some other close to the white/cream shade---much but I'd go for it once in a while anyway. Such is the case of this dress from What a Girl Wants (back when the label still existed but now..../sighs...may it RIP...) worn the whole of today doing whatever. I actually bought this a couple or so years ago. It was a  last minute purchase for a wedding to attend in the metro (National Capital Region/NCR there, up north). I never got around to bringing it with me on the flight to the metro, city up north however as it arrived the day following that of when I departed via plane for the said vast and pretty chaotic (/shudder...that traffic, that noise and mess everywhere...) city up north. Thankfully, my mother packed a couple dresses I could choose from, from the wardrobe here in Cagayan de Oro City so I had something to wear to said wedding.

Today's activities consisted of watching a really thrilling and fun (it actually zapped all energy I had midway to the end...only to be replenished at the end, if that makes any sense at all...) 5-set finals volleyball game between the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) men's volleyball team and the National University men's volleyball team. It was the first game of the finals between teams 1 and 2 in the collegiate games' league. Best of three so the next game is on Saturday, still around lunch time, 12 noon. Of course, my boys...err...team (read: alma mater though technically, it's more of a sibling school as I finished college and high school in the Ateneo here in CdeO, not really the main one in Manila...) won. One big fight, boys! Let's do a threepeat! I hardly can't wait for Saturday as it's just, what? Three days away or so? There's also cooking a lunch of vegetarian tapa and making freshly squeezed orange, with honey in lieu of sugar as sweetener. I'm going to have to catch the rest of episode 11 of Signal and all of its 12th episode on Friday. Apparently, the second half of Signal 11th episode and all of its 12th episode conflicted with AMVT and NUVT's game 1 for the UAAP season 79 finals... Oh and just this afternoon, I had to climb a tree...I'm kidding. More like, climb a stool to try and get some moringa (malunggay/kalamunggay) leaves that still are pretty potent. Our tree of it outside is drying out thanks to the hot weather. The climb and the stretching to get some stems of the tree told me the dress is quite delicate. A stretch or something akin to a soft ripping sound was heard from the dress, which of course terrified me, when I reached out a limb to a cut a hanging stem from the tree.  I thought the dress would rip somewhere around the really short, almost non-existent sleeves it has. Thankfully, it did not or if it did, I have yet to see which part of it did. I suppose this dress is not suitable for semi hyperactive me---who danced the late afternoon away at the beach house/cottage while imitated by a fascinated 2-year old daughter of a short course classmate---when out and about. The theory that this dress is suited for such semi-vigorous activities such as dancing is yet to be tested.

There wasn't much to document of yesterday's beach trip. I didn't go swimming, just hung around, ate stuff (mostly fruits) and drank (water). It was fun hanging out with the classmates on a short course in school, however. Some chitchat about life here and there and intermittent reading of a Gossip Girl book series installment was done. Not much worth documenting because I ended up staining my white t and skirt combo all the while stayed mobile with a pair of really comfy but not too attractive? pink and gray World Balance flats (rubber shoes slip-ons). Not exactly the most exciting of outfits I've donned this start of the month. Anyway, I feel pretty short of beach trips, still. I kind of want more... Next time, swimming will be involved, of course. I'd like to slither into a pool again too...one day soon this summer season. Rather, one weekend soon.    

If I'd be shopping right, I'd be getting myself a couple pairs of shoes, rather ankle boots. This one pair I have is quite tired and tried already...in simpler terms, this has been seen many times on this blog. A few more packages arrived and from them, I just received a couple more H&M tops, one of which I'm ready to wear and shoot just as soon as it comes to me, fresh from the laundry. The other has lace around the sleeves/shoulder but is in the amount I can take (minimal lace?) and the color just fits my current color palette. So yeah...I'd avoid shopping as much as I can this year... Maybe including the next year. But I'd likely shop for shoes...heels and ankle boots are my weakness. As for clothes...let's just say that lately, I hardly really buy any. I've been receiving and owning way too much already from the aunts and grandmum in California.