Spots, Multiplied

I was so excited and so honored when Esel asked me to style her photoshoot scheduled tomorrow. The shoot is for her new boots for Ready for Rain. I racked my brain for a theme the past two days, and with an initial mix of print-on-print and color blocking, I have finally decided on what got me more excited -- prints. It helps that I've amassed a few prints in my closet to spread out on a few looks. I also raided Esel's closet yesterday for more loot! Hihi.

Today, I tested a print mix on myself with an animal print blouse and a spotted kimono blouse.

At the risk of being judged, I attempted a beauty queen pose (haha!) to show off the kimono sleeves, which make this cover-up soooo comfortable. It's great for humid days such that I still get enough coverage and breathing room at the same time.

Channeling the 70s

There is an irresistible allure to a vintage dress. On one hand, it's so dated and identifiable to a very specific date in history. On the other, it's such a classic! Hmmm. Not sure if I'm making any sense here. I just know that in the world of fashion, trends reappear after a few years, so all the more reason to keep old favorites, even if they weren't yours originally ;) 

Wednesday Addams

As I was getting dressed today, my only objective was to keep warm and dry while Typhoon Pedring roared outside. I didn't want to get stuck in the office with soaked trousers and soggy feet, so I put on my wet-day armor -- black tights and patent pumps.

I like the matte + gleam pairing of both pieces. Black is so versatile! These are also my favorite, most comfortable pair of tights ever! I bought them in a crazy, crowded market in Shanghai when our family went earlier this April. The great thing about them, compared to locally made tights, are that they actually keep me warm and they're long enough -- no pulling on my feet or hanging down my crotch for cramped toes and weird posture*!

Then I put on a black tank top to keep warm, and a light, comfortable dress layered over it. Easy breezy!

Dressed Up Footsies

Treated myself to a pedicure at Dashing Diva today to replace my red nail polish, which has been a little raggedy the past few days. I can't blame it; it lasted a good five weeks! Hope this one -- a little higher-priced than my usual pedi -- will last just as long, if not longer.

Blinged up a pair of shorts with my new jewel-encrusted sandals.

Sandals from Steve Madden.

Playtime

I couldn't think of a better title, but when I think color + stripes, that's what comes to my mind.

I attended another reunion last Saturday, and instead of going for one of my play-it-safe black dresses, I happily put this on. Such happy colors made me, a strong introvert, a little more confident as I navigated through the night with not-so-familiar faces.

This dress is another gem I found using my "shopping list" I talked about in this post. Following my Stop Buying list as a guide, I said no to all the black dresses and sack dresses the shop girls in HK offered me (though I can't say I wasn't tempted!) and when I spotted this on the rack, my mind screamed Yeeeeees!!!, and all the pieces I eliminated made sense. Had I said yes to anything and everything prior to this, I wouldn't have had the guts -- nor any money left hehe -- to try this colorful, stripey creation on.

Two things I about this dress that made me say MINE!:

1) The mix of panels of green, yellow, and blue crepe with white and black grossgrain ribbon. Who knew they could belong on one single dress? There's definitely nothing in my current closet that's similar to it.

2) You know how horizontal stripes can make one look fat? Although I'm far from heavy, I'm not exactly curvy, so there's a risk of looking flat and shapeless whenever I wear stripes. The blue triangular panel down the side was a pleasant surprise, interrupting the lines that would otherwise make me look rounder.

Curious what the whole thing looks like? :)

Beauty in the Strange

Is this a cool blouse or what??

gray blouse/vest/whatchamacallit from Cue

I admit, when my cousin first gave* it to me, the blouse spent two years in the closet, neglected because I didn't quite know what to think of it, much less what to do with it. Then I started psyching myself up to wear it with shorts or skinny jeans... So far though, my favorite way of wearing it is with light, wispy dresses, which I stumbled upon only early this year! Yay! There's nothing wasted in my closet, that's for sure :)

A New Shape

I have a penchant for loose flowy blouses and I immediately fell in love with this one on the rack. Despite layering a tank top underneath, five minutes after I put it on the blouse, I start to shiver -- this weather is so weird, honestly! -- so instead of digging around for one of my countless cardigans, all of which are in a suitcase somewhere, I reach for my blazer on the clothes rack and saw this! This black Banana Republic shell I bought and last wore in San Francisco, also a land of weird weather.

The coat totally changed the look I was aiming for but I kinda like it!

Wouldn't this outfit be totally amazing with a very fitted tailored jacket nipped at the waist and sky-high pumps? :) Well, a girl's still got to be practical and be able to walk around the office...

Citrus

Given the warm weather we've been having the past week, I looked for an oh-so-breezy blouse that would not make me sweat buckets. Dri-fit for the fashionista, if you must.

And since my move to the guest room has my "closet" looking like this: 

...I might as well make the most out of it and shop in my mom's closet! Hahaha! Anyway, I did pick this blouse for her (so I could borrow it, of course!)

This is my first splurge on a statement necklace. I had second, third, fourth thoughts about buying it since it's technically made out of plastic, but I knew I had to get it when I started imagining several outfits it would spruce up on many a summer (or humid) day.

Bougainvilla

Although I wanted to really dress down for Casual Friday, I had a meeting with the big boss so I opted for my mom's blouse to pair with dark jeans. I kept the blouse and accessories to the same color palette.

Field Work, Day 2

Yesterday was Day 2 on my local trip, which was quite exhausting but productive! We started with breakfast at Jollibee -- nothing gets you going like a corned beef breakfast -- then conducted store checks entirely by foot. Ahhhh, the fresh Baguio air unfortunately is not so fresh anymore, thanks to pollution from traffic :p

Here, nothing surprising or phenomenal, just the same belt with a similar theme as the previous day. This time, completing a Zara striped button-down and Uniqlo boyfriend-fit chinos, which was on my shopping list and promptly appeared in stores when I visited HK last month. Writing down one's wishlist is magical!

Field Work, Day 1

I found out only on Monday that I was going out of town for work on Wednesday and Thursday. Usually, I wouldn't be bothered by such short notice, but I panicked more than usual since we were in the middle of packing everything from my room into boxes. Since finding stuff among the mess was my expertise, I had little trouble picking comfortable, lightweight, breathable clothing that hopefully, was also wrinkle-free.

The polo wasn't wrinkle-free but I hoped I'd sit still enough for five hours in the car such that I'd still look presentable when I met our distributor.

Wedding Bells!

Not mine, helloooooo! Attended a wedding this afternoon in St. James Alabang. The weather was perfect! It was a bit warm and humid when we arrived around 2:30, but it later let up to a beautifully breezy afternoon.

On to the outfit photos, courtesy of my friend Mhiles, who had her SLR with her. Yay! Finally, some nice quality photos on my blog.

Not to trivialize God, but I'm also grateful to Him who brought a lovely breeze, without which this photo wouldn't be the same :)

My mom bought me this nude dress and it amazes me how well it fits, considering I wasn't with her when she got it, and it's not one of those sack-like dresses that I just slip on (and love). This is one of the things I'd wear but not buy. I'm so blessed to have a mom who shops for me :) Believe me, between both our purchases, we need a new walk-in closet... but then we'd never stop shopping! 

Casual Sunday

Physically drained from last night's "socializing"* and pressured by my mom to attend the early Sunday service this morning, I whipped out the following lazy items from my closet:

     - striped tee from Zara (better paired with shorts against a backdrop of the sea)
     - thrifted beaded metallic cardigan, my "dress-up" element for the day
     - dark jeans
     - brogues from Tonic

Also had two cute accessories today. Meet Pogi and Scott, our mixed breed* dogs. I decided to include them in today's photos seeing they complemented my color scheme so well! ;)

A Little Risk Won't Kill You

I've always thought of myself as anti-social. Well, after taking several Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tests over the past decade, I have come to accept that I am an introvert. The last one I took scored me 9/10 in favor of introvert. I really have to nudge myself to talk to people, especially those I don't know very well. So when a classmate I haven't seen in over ten years invited me to a class reunion from my old elementary school, I surprised myself by saying yes.

I was going out on a limb here, as the reunion would be held in north Quezon City, unfamiliar territory for me. Simple. I took out my map, traced the route, and chose the easiest one -- via EDSA. Hehe.

Well, all the "unsafe" decisions aside, I felt a little chicken putting on this "safe" non-figure-hugging, non-controversial, classic-print blouse (borrowed from mum - yay), but I think going out of the house was enough excitement for me at this point ;) I did, however, liven things up with my orange heels, which I rarely wore in my first year of possession, but have been slowly breaking into my usual wardrobe.

I realized driving home last night, that I actually do enjoy going out and meeting people and catching up. It's when I'm tired that I get cranky and feel forced to go that I don't enjoy :) Words of wisdom from Dale Carnegie: rest before you get tired. Thankfully, class ended early today so I got to take a 30-minute nap, felt SUPER recharged and a little bit chatty. Wheeeee!

I should do this more often! Get out of the house, I mean... :)

Blouse from Hong Kong. Pants from Uniqlo. Heels from Nine West.

Waiting for the School Bus...

Nah, not really. I'm waiting for my cousin to pick me up for school! But I've always wondered how it would be to be part of the school bus/shuttle service. Growing up, I did have a carpool with my cousins, and it's brought us much closer with each other, not to mention taught us all patience and understanding.

This morning, I wanted to relive my early college days, way before I had any semblance of girly-ness and took to wearing skirts and dresses outside formal occasions. My first two years right out of an exclusive high school, I lived in round-neck tshirts from Mango (I had one in every color imaginable), blue jeans, and three pairs of sneakers, one of which was red. It was pretty easy to dress myself then.

If I were about to enter freshman year this year, I would probably wear something like this outfit composed of a basic tee (now much more embellished and a bit kikay factor but not too much), blue jeans, white sneakers, and the ubiquitous pop of red.

Punchy Pink

Packed a punchy cocktail mix today with this "vintage" skirt I haven't worn in a year!

The great thing about ukay is that you never know what to expect. Over the years, it has made me a lot more adventurous in terms of color, shape, genre, you name it! My pre-ukay closet probably consisted of blahhh Giordano and Mango t-shirts, a bunch of black tops, and blue jeans. I know. Can't imagine, right?

These days, I can't get enough of color and prints!

Gems!

The post title is in honor of our outfits' gemstone hues (we didn't talk about it, promise!) and what these ladies represent in my life -- a blessing through and through.

Had a lovely dinner with our Dgroup sisters yesterday in Wheatberry Cafe along Scout Tuason. My only (clear) outfit photo was one with these two gorgeous girls, who have been guiding me in my spiritual walk for the past year.

me with Queen and May

Write it down!

Have you ever written down something you wanted and it came true? That's the power of the written word! A few months before, I set out to become a more disciplined, more self-controlled version of me, in terms of shopping. So I wrote a list of what I should STOP buying, and first on the list was shorts  and crochet tops (I'll save another post for this topic), and a list of what I should look out for, since I end up buying the same things and getting soooo bored by my closet.

Upon realizing I have very basic colors and silhouettes in my shoe rack, I put down "gemstone sandals" -- whether heels or flats -- on my To Buy list to spruce up my footwear choices.

And looky what I got ON SALE in Hong Kong! :) Ta-daaaaaa!!!

Steve Madden flat sandals in a perfect shade between tan and brown, with gemstones! Love, love, love! Aaaaaaahhhhhh. Just looking at them now contents me like a relaxing chilled mocha drink :)

Seeing Spots

After an exhilarating week, I was ready to collapse on my bed when I got home from an overnight class yesterday afternoon! But nooooooo, not just yet... I picked myself up, changed into shorts and a shirt, and headed over to help with a bazaar in an attempt to get rid of my closet overflow. Then headed back home,   put on -- oooh, looky what the maid misplaced in my rack! -- my mom's blouse. Heehee.

"Something misplaced" always manages to brighten up my day just as "something new" does! :)

Listened to the ethereal Ateneo College Glee Club, back from their successful Europe tour, and caught up with these familiar faces that always feel like home. It seemed like almost yesterday when we were together on our European tour. It's been five years, I can't believe it!

After all the frenzy I had this week, I was seeing spots. And they actually manifested in our choice of wear. Great minds think alike!

myself, Glacey, and Cas in Cas' favorite print -- dots!

The night was filled with so much love, it was worth the effort to go out. Must make a constant effort to fight hermit mode :)

Blouse from Hong Kong.

All Out, Jill-Style

Last week, in celebration of my 27th birthday, I decided to go against my usual grandma-hermit-anti-social mode and do the complete opposite of what I'd usually do. Three rule-busters:

1) Had birthday drinks (which started past 8!!!) instead of a birthday lunch, which was more along my regular waking hours ;p

The Outfits That Didn't Make It

...to my HK trip, that is.

Here's a quick look at some of the clothes I tried on but didn't make it to the suitcase. As mentioned in my post the other day, I like trying on several outfits while packing. It makes for a messy room, but a more organized and well-planned trip in terms of outfits!

Here's the first one I mixed and matched.

I got a little nauseous, and I'm sure you can understand why. Can you say color-blocking overload? :D

At least the coral shorts made it! See it worn here.