aye aye capt'n!

31 Give up being shy. – Network with people.  Meet new people.  Ask questions.  Introduce yourself.

32 Give up worrying about what others think of you. – Unless you’re trying to make a great first impression (job interview, first date, etc.), don’t let the opinions of others stand in your way.  What they think and say about you isn’t important.  What is important is how you feel about yourself.

33 Give up trying to control everything. – Life is an unpredictable phenomenon.  No matter how good or bad things seem right now, we can never be 100% certain what will happen next.  So do you best with what’s in front of you and leave the rest to the powers above you.

34 Give up doing the same thing over and over again. – In order to grow, you must expand your horizons and break free of your comfort zone.  If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.

35 Give up following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile.  Don’t find the easy way out.  Do something extraordinary.


P.S. my cupcake told me to go blog again. and so here I am :) I promise to blog more from now on!

Realizations

I realize that happiness in life is not measured by anything.

Most people who have few money think that lots of money would bring them happiness, yet, people who have lots of money think that they don't need money to be happy. In fact, there are a lot of people who have millions but are still unhappy.

And, some people who get surgeries just so they would look beautiful (the way they see beauty), become happy at first, but end up not satisfied and want more.

Then I look at people who know nothing of fancy things in the city, no cellphones, no tv, just necessities..just the simple things we need in life. What amazes me, is that most of them are happier than people who have a lot. They don't ask for more. They're happy with their life just the way it is. I think, people should be more appreciative of what they already have and not ask for more. I think those who don't ask, receive more and are happier people.

Atleast, that's what I think. What do you think?

As for me, as long as I have my cupcake, I'm happiest. :)

Lahar

Recently I went to Clark, Pampanga. If you haven't been there, I suggest you go! :)

The climate there is hot, but bearable. If you love korean food, there's a street there chuckfull of  korean restaurants (not to mention full of koreans! annyeonghaseyo! i thought i was in korea already. haha).

There are also lots of shops. Marquee Mall I recommend if you love shops like Mango and Zara.

For food and other stuff, go to the Duty Free shops. You'd get imported items for less. :)

I also went to the bridge over the lahar from the famous Mt. Pinatubo. here's where I did my photoshoot. And... here's a photo of the lahar. :)

If you're wondering what's ALWAYS inside my knapsack, well, today I decided to show you. :D

from top left. a) my Kangaroo fur cellphone pouch I bought from Australia b) my wallet given to me by my mom when she got home from Indonesia c) my ever trusty loose powder for oily face emergencies d) my coin purse that I got from my Aunt from the Netherlands when we visited her e) my Strawberry and Cinnamon hand lotion (a must coz at work, after every chemical analysis i do, I wash my hands, thus making my hand dry) f) my BB cream g) my earphones h) my trusty mirror i) iPhone j) Nokia Lumia k) Brush l) Fine toothed comb for my fringe m) sign pen n) Globe Tattoo handy dandy broadband stick for contacting my sweetie anytime anywhere (as long as i have my laptop) o) friends of my lips: lip smacker lemonade flavored, red lipstick, and pink lipstick (friends for instant no pale face :D )  p) ketchup! haha! trust me i don't know why i have ketchup inside my bag

that's basically it. boring bag isn't it? except for the ketchup! haha. I don't wear much make-up, nor do i know how to apply it. The only make-up I know is lipstick and eyeliner just to enhance my lips and eyes. :)

here's another close up photo of my face! :D

back and simple

Hi lovelies! :) today i'd like to share the 21st to 30th of things you should give up. :)

21 Give up beating around the bush. – Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Communicate effectively.

22 Give up avoiding change. – However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.  That’s the one thing you can count on.  So embrace change and realize that change happens for a reason.  It won’t always be easy or obvious at first, but in the end it will be worth it.

23 Give up your sense of entitlement. – Nobody is entitled to anything in this world.  We are all equal.  We breathe the same air.  We get what we give.  We get what we earn.

24 Give up waiting until the last minute. – Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

25 Give up being dramatic. – Stay out of other people’s drama and don’t needlessly create your own.

26 Give up being anti-athletic. – Get your body moving!  Simply take a long, relaxing walk or commit 30 minutes to an at-home exercise program like the P90X workout.

27 Give up junk food. – You are what you eat.  Read The 4-Hour Body.

28 Give up eating as a means of entertainment. – Don’t eat when you’re bored.  Eat when you’re hungry.

29 Give up foolish habits that you know are foolish. – Don’t text and drive.  Don’t drink and drive.  Don’t smoke.  Etc.

30 Give up relationships with people who bring you down. – Saying “no” to right people gives you the time and resources required to say “yes” to right opportunities.  Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and like minded.

these photos aren't actually taken today. The truth is right now I am lying down lazily on my bed and talking to the most amazing man in the universe. my cupcake. *giggles cutely like a highschool girl haha

about my outfit...it's actually my mom's old dress that I DIY customized. it used to have a larger white portion, but i thought it made my proportions look weird.

I'm sorry about not having close up photos of my rings from my ring collection. I promise to post them next time! :)

but i do have...a close up photo of my face! haha

well, that's all for now. i'm still talking to my cupcake. :> til next time lovelies! :)

I am in love with a tiger

Happy Valentine's Day! I must say that vday really didn't mean much to me before. I only saw how great it is when I met the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.

I want to share with you some not so typical ideas with you on what you can do on valentine's day:

• have a movie marathon of films you both hate. you'd hate the movie so much that you'd be able to take your eyes away from the tv and cuddle and kiss and do whatever you want together on the couch. wait, maybe I should have just said "cuddle on the couch"
• cook or bake with your special someone. the food doesn't have to taste great. just have fun in the kitchen.
• have a food trip. you can even have an eating contest if you like.
• have those dice that have "body parts" and "what to do" on them. like "kiss" uhmmmm... "cheeks". PG-15 on my blog. :D
• write on a lot of sticky notes and place them somewhere you know your partner would see. surprise! cuteness everywhere! :D
• play video games. sitting on his lap is optional.
• have a road trip. go to places you both have never been before but want to go to.
• stay in bed. it's fun to be lazy in bed all day.
• you can also do what I do. sing for your special someone. know what you can do to make it sweeter? call him into the room and when he opens the door, you're all geared up with your guitar..give a sweet smile and start singing. or..do other things. be creative.
• remind each other how much you both love each other. material gifts are great, but trust me, this is way better. you can even make a love letter
• go do public display of affection. then tell everyone you're doing your own music video of John Legend's song and start singing "let's go to the park. I wanna kiss you underneath the stars. maybe we'll go to far, we just don't care, we just don't care." :))

what I am wearing: all vintage. Hitomi tiger sweatshirt. Porsche mom pants that I DIYed into a skirt. Pineapple boots. Prada knapsack.

Next is 6 to 20 (and new haircut)

I got a haircut! *giddy

Here is 6 to 20 of things you should give up:

6 Give up waiting. – What we don’t start today won’t be finished by tomorrow.  Knowledge and intelligence are both useless without action.

7 Give up lying. – In the long-run the truth always reveals itself.  Either you own up to your actions or your actions will ultimately own you.

8 Give up trying to avoid mistakes. – The only mistake that can truly hurt you is choosing to do nothing simply because you’re too scared to make a mistake.

9 Give up saying, “I can’t.” – As Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.”

10 Give up trying to be everything to everyone. – Making one person smile can change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.  Start small.  Start now.

11 Give up thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises.  Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

12 Give up setting small goals for yourself. – Many people set small goals because they’re afraid to fail.  Ironically, setting these small goals is what makes them fail.

13 Give up trying to do everything by yourself. – You are the sum of the people you spend the most time with.  If you work together, you will be far more capable and powerful than you ever could have been alone.

14 Give up buying things you don’t need. – Manage your money wisely so your money does not manage you.  Do not spend to impress others.  Do not live life trying to fool yourself into thinking wealth is measured in material objects.  Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

15 Give up blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can live your dream life depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life.  When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.

16 Give up making mountains out of molehills. – One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time?  Three years?  Five years?  If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.

17 Give up trying to live up to the expectations of others. – Work on it for real and exceed your own expectations.  Everything else will fall into place.

18 Give up the ‘easy street’ mentality. – There is too much emphasis on finding a ‘quick fix’ in today’s society.  For example taking diet pills to lose weight instead of exercising and eating well.  No amount of magic fairy dust replaces diligent, focused, hard work.

19 Give up making promises you can’t keep. – Don’t over-promise.  Over-deliver on everything you do.

20 Give up letting your thoughts and feelings bottle up inside. – People are not mind readers.  They will never know how you feel unless you tell them.

Things I want to do for/with the one I love

I know it isn't the month of love yet, but I realized that when you're in love, it doesn't have to be February.

So today I'm sharing with you my bucket list of the things I want to do for/with the one I love (some of which we've already done). This list is in no particular order and it actually doesn't end. Every day I would think of something new I would want to do and add it to the list. You should try making one yourself. Trust me it's fun. :)

-movie marathon on a rainy day with lots of comfort food and cuddling on the couch all wrapped up in a blanky
-have couple rings
-travel the world together
-have a food trip. (just go to a street full of food stalls and eat, eat, eat)
-watch the sunset together by the lake
-watch the stars on a building roof top.. stay there until morning to watch the sunrise
-take lots of fun photos together

-wear cute couple sweatshirts :>


-fulfil childhood dreams together
-kissing underneath the pouring rain
-have a coffee shop of our own
-see him waiting for me at the altar and we'd get married in the most beautiful place
-have a pet tiger (have to think about this one a lot first..:DD )
-prepare the biggest most wonderful surprise for him
-cook food together in the kitchen (make a mess and have fun)
-cook for him (coz I don't know how to cook and this would really be special)
-have TWINS!!! :>
-live in a cozy home.. just a simple but happy life
-write songs for him
-taste every kind of cheese (because we absolutely love cheese)
-decorate the Christmas tree during holidays
-kiss him at Times Square on New Year's Eve
-hugging all day. literally. hugging even while walking. :D
-PDA. hihi
-hold his hand
-dance with him
-write love notes and stick them on his office desk so he'd smile than stress over work
-bring him a lunchbox when I know he's too busy at work
-just talk. about the things we want to do, about our childhood, about funny things about us, about anything..
-tell secrets to each other. ones only the two of us know.
-make him breakfast and fix his tie before he goes to work
-watch Formula 1 World Championship together
-let him drag me to a roller coaster ride even if i'm terrified of it
-go help other people. charities. go volunteer for outreach programs together
-make the most awesomest cheesiest pizza together

-have a Harry Potter movie marathon


-go on a roadtrip. and get "a bit" lost. :D
-go hiking. have a picnic on a mountain top.
-sailing on a boat
-have piggy back rides (i'll do my best to carry him :D)
-play in the snow
-play video games
-wash the car together and have a water fight
-watch scary movies and ask him every few minutes what's happening coz i can't open my eyes coz i'm too scared
-spend an entire day just being lazy in bed together
-spoil each other :)

Transition from short hair to long hair tips

Normally, hair grows about 1.5 centimetres a month. If that's the case, I think maybe I'm abnormal, because my hair grows fast. That's a reason why it's quite hard for me to make my pixie cut stay a pixie cut. It takes effort, but I love short hair. Short hair makes me feel more confident and fun. It also saves me time and effort, especially when I was still studying in the university. I just have to wake up, shower, towel dry my hair, go in front of an electric fan and my hair is dry in 3 minutes tops. I style it by running my fingers through it only, because it looks great messy.

Recently however, I haven't been getting my supposed-to-be every few months trim. So my hair is now in the dreaded transitional stage. At this stage, the hair is neither cute and short, nor is it long. *dun dun dun* I hear most people dread this stage....including myself before I started researching how to go through it. I'm actually just going to grow my hair out up to my shoulders, because I want to try a different hairstyle aside from my normal pixie. I will cut my hair short again after growing it out to a stage where it is not so layered anymore. I promise to post before and after photos after the process! :D

So how do you go through the transition stage?

1. Health. You have to keep your hair healthy. We want to grow out beautiful and shiny hair.

• Go to the salon to get your regular trim. Yes that sounds weird since the goal is growing out hair, but trust me you need to get regular trims. This is to make sure the ends are healthy and that we're not growing out inches of split ends.
• You have got to avoid those blowers, hair irons, etcetera, etcetera, for a while. You know they will cause heat damage to your hair. Heat damage at the transition stage is a big no no.

2. Say hello to Mr. Gel and Mrs. Mousse. Instead of looking wild because of your unruly awkward stage hair, why not try looking neat and sleek? Personally I don't really use these, because I have a huge forehead I'm hiding behind all my bangs. haha! :D  But honestly, if I didn't have a forehead that could be used as a table, I would definitely try this! It's a great way to tame those nasty flyaways. It's either mousse, or those bobby pins.

3. Wigs, Clip ons, and the likes. Ok, wigs aren't exactly cheap, especially when they're the great kind. Wigs are great because you can hide your transition hair until they get past that awkward stage. But, if you can't afford the wigs, there are awesome substitutes like hair extensions, clamp on ponytails and clip ons! My personal favorite! Yay! :D Since I don't like showing off my forehead because a helicopter might think it's a helipad, I love using clamp on ponytails like the one I used in my blog post before this. (See "Stars in the Night Sky").

4. Be patient and accept the fact that you have to go through this stage. There is nothing better than accepting the fact and being positive it still. You just have to be a bit patient. Soon enough your hair will grow to the length you like.

5. Use the power of the internet. There are soooooooooo many photos of great hairstyles you could have for your transition hair. Google images is always there for us. :D Here are a few of my favorites:

click here for source

click here for source

click here for source

My favorite is the one below!!!

click here for source

I hope these tips help! :)

Stars in the night sky

It's 2013 already! *fireworks* Do you have a new year's resolution list? Have you thought about changes? Did you reminisce about the things that happened in 2012 and the years before that? Time flies by so quickly doesn't it?

I'd like to share with you all this great idea I found so that you'd have lots of fun on New Year's Eve. Have a jar, any jar you could put papers in and you could keep safe. Have papers. I suggest those cute colourful squares. Now, for every memorable thing that happens to you, be it something simple like the day you and your friends had a blast, or the day you received your first salary, to something grand, like the day you got married to the man of your dreams.....write any happy event on the piece of paper. Fold it and drop it in the jar. Eventually you'd be able to fill the jar, unless you decided to hibernate throughout the entire year. Then, on New Year's Eve, open the jar and have fun reading all the happy things that happened to you the past year! :D

As you may have noticed, the things I have blabbered about earlier have absolutely nothing with the photos below. haha! I can explain. You see, I wanted to post New Year photos, but I don't have much photos from New Year's Eve. I was too busy having an absolutely amazing New Year's Eve. (with cupcake. hihi.. ;) )

And, I have no firework photos to post either. Why? because I still haven't go the hang of the BULB setting of my camera, and the firework photos I took stink like a used gym sock that hasn't been washed for a century. haha!

Now onto the photos below I go! :D

For last minute Christmas shopping, I went to the Noel Bazaar 2012 at the PICC Forum Tent. That was December 23, the last day of the Bazaar. It was really amazing when they started giving soooo large a discount for their items, I wasn't expecting it, but realized it's because they have to sell everything, almost everything, already since it's the last day. And you know what that means.....heart pumping shopping action! :D

I bought this black and silver beauty at the bazaar. My size is often XS. I'll tell you a lil secret. This item is an XL. yes, I bought an Extra Large piece of clothing. I just liked it better large, comfy and loose.

I don't have any photos with shoes for this comfy casual outfit. But normally, since I am a small 5 foot girl, I would wear platform wedges. However, if I know my feet would die, like go somewhere that requires a lot of walking, then I would totally just go with my flats. Some people think flats are boring, but they don't have to be. You could still make a statement with them. Think metallic, like silver, which I would totally wear with this outfit. You could also think neon for that amazing pop of colour. 

Oh! and I almost forgot. Soon I'll be reposting "50 Things You Should Give Up" to start of your year right. This is to give the right things a chance to catch you. Here are the first 5:

1 Give up trying to be perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.  Read Getting Things Done.

2 Give up comparing yourself to others. – The only person you are competing against is yourself.

3 Give up dwelling on the past or worrying too much about the future. – Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you.  Right now is life.  Don’t miss it.

4 Give up complaining. – Do something about it.

5 Give up holding grudges. – Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness.

Levi's Shorts.

You can also find me here: Lookbook and Chictopia

Mom pants

A short intro first, since obviously I haven't been going anywhere and it's weird that I suddenly have OOTD's still. haha! I was organizing my photo folders for my Sony Alpha and I encountered these. These photos were taken in the process of giving my room the well deserved makeover (which so far, I haven't actually finished yet coz I haven't been feeling well.. I've been having check ups coz I've been constantly losing weight. it scares the bejeezuz out of me! sana wala akong sakit! :(  ).

As I was rummaging through my stuff that day, I saw these pants. They're actually my mom's when she was younger. Vintage! *goes nuts*.. I go nuts over vintage things. I love the color on it. I decided it could look nice with my United Colors of Benetton see through diamond patterned lace top. I'm wearing a polkadot corset inside. oh, and I'll let you in on a little secret, the lace top is *whispers* thrifted. Yes! I love thrift shopping. Not only is it great for when you are on a tight budget, but most of all, if you buy something there, you're pretty sure you'd rarely stumble upon someone wearing the same thing! *super cheesy smiling face*

If you're wondering about my hair. That's actually a ponytail wig. I love my short hair, but sometimes I feel like tying my hair into a ponytail. And there are outfits wherein a ponytail is necessary to make it complete. So for me, this ponytail wig is the best hair accessory ever!

For accessories, I decided these would go well with the outfit. Black and gold: necklace, ring, vintage watch, bangles from Malaysia. Those black bangles didn't look enough for me so I piled it with my wooden bangles from Indonesia (My absolute fave. I love the hand-painted details.)

P.S. I might be selling some of my clothes online soon. I want to use the money to buy toys for children at an orphanage. Though I'm not sure how to do that before Christmas, I still want to give them gifts..even if it's more possible I'd be able to do that after Christmas. And, I "might" open up an online shop after that. Selling clothes and accessories.

United Colors of Benetton top, Seiko watch, Mags shoes
You can also find me here: Lookbook and Chictopia