SUMMER'09: Cebu, Philippines (Mar25-27)

It's my first big trip as an adult (well, based on my age i am legal). Promo fare of Zest Air, 468pesos one-way. All in all roughly around 6-7k inluding pasalubong and transpo within the city.

DAY 1

7:50 flight MNL-CEB via Zest Air

9:45 arrival Mactan Int'l Aeroport (french??)

-taxi to cebu city

-Basilica Minor de Sto.Niño

-Magellan's Cross

-check-in Cebu Business Hotel

-lunch @ Gaisano

-Cebu Cathedral

-Cebu Cathedral Museum

-Shamrock

-Lapu-Lapu monument

-Yap-San Diego Ancestral House (di kami pumasok.. mahal 30pesos. haha)

-Casa Gorordo. Art Exhibits. Paintings by an 18year-old deaf girl, from i-dont-know-what school and yung isang set of paintings, nakalimutan ko name basta deads na sya.

-Museo Sugbo (only 5pesos, super info-overload. may guided tour inside which makes it super sulit)

-SM City Cebu (memorable because of the cellphone snatcher sa jeep. inches away from me. :)

-Hotel Massage Service

at the foot of Magellan's cross

Halo-halo, famous summer concoction in the Philippines, 35pesos @ Gaisano Foodcourt

Massage Service @ Cebu Business Hotel, 150pesos 1 hour or so

DAY 2

6:00- wake-up

8:00-grocery sa Colonnade

9:30- off to Tambuli Beach Resort, baby!

11:00- Tambuli East Resor

13:00-lunch @ the resort, consumable food and drinks.. 350pesos

16:00-off to hotel

18:00-to Ayala Cebu

21:00- I.T. Park (para syang The Fort, infairness meron silang "The Walk")

22:00- back to hotel

I am with Alvin... its so beautiful! we're the only Pinoys and di crowded unlike Bora

Yanah and I, livin tha life...

DAY 3

6:00 wake-up

8:00 Tabo-an Market for pasalubong

10:00 University of San Carlos (oldest school i think, since 1529)

11:00 lunch at some carinderia

12:00 check-out

12:30 Casa Gorordo again. Ms Mae told us about Tambuli Resort and even contected them for us so we gave her a li'l somthing. She's so sweet. :)

14:00 a visit to Museo Sugbo once more. Mr. Ray, the guide, who reminds us of Sir G. In some reasons... we gave him a li'l something too for being so so soo nice to us.

15:00 Fuerza de San Pedro or Fort San Pedro. Where we saw actual MTV shoot for a bisaya song. Sa souvenir shop din pala nito umiyak si Yanah. Hehe!

16:00 Basilica Minor de Sto.Niño for the second and last time. Bought rosary and even had a one-on-one experience with the Santo Niño.

17:30 back to the hotel

18:00 SM City Cebu

21:00 to Mactan Int'l Aeroport

22:05 CEB-MNL23:20 arrival in MNL

inside the USC's museum

with Ms. Mae of Casa Gorordo

with kuya Ray of Casa Gorordo

with Mr. Ray of Museo Sugbo

Santo Niño up-close

souvenir shop in Fort San Pedro

It was a funtastic 3D/2N trip! Next stop? Uhmm, I wanna try trekking in Sagada... waaa! am excited. :)

SUMMER'09: Balayan, Batangas Kathie's 18th (Mar21-22)

(Kathie's famille: L-R. Dad, sister Krachelle, Mom and Kathie)

So we went to Balayan, Batangas for Kathie's 18th birthday celebration. There was a band, famously called as "mosiko" in the local setting. It was a typical debut celebration in the province with a wide variety of food served for the guests and the family's house as the venue. The guestlist are mostly relatives and family friends or simply the "buong barangay". A tradition for debutantes that is becoming less popular nowadays.



The Post Party...



(spot me in the photo: wearing gray with black dress by Mint)

videoke, overflowing wine and beer are snobbed by the drinkers' and smokers' circle where I belong. We're in bed before 11pm. :)


Let the newbies learn! Haha!

Next morning...


since we are fully charged the next morning, we walked around the village and found a basketballcourt.


"kuya, pwede po makahiram ng bola?" I asked politely. Kuya, shirtless, handed me over the ball. And the score? 12-6. In favor of the twin towers, Salyn and Yanah. Tsssk.

so here am gettin ready to go swimmin... not in the beach, but it's her treat so, go! go!

One night only and the morning after @ Intramuros, The Fort and Warehouse 135

(Gray longsleeves dress; Cream bag by Mango; Black beaded necklace of 3; Violet ring; Pearl earrings; Black tights, Violet Pumps)

I've attended an event last night in Intamuros specifically in Clamshell II, organized by fellow third year Thomasian under the Tourism program. It wasn't 'good' as I expected it. Or maybe I was just too overwhelmed to know they're going to have some shopping, fashion, music and bar theme. There's no bazaar, just a small table with accessories for sale and everything is talk and yes, it was ____. Fill in the blanks. I'm afraid someone from their section might read this. God, am D-E-A-D! But the food's soooo great and the venue set up I'll give 'em a 9. (so, what's this? haha!)

My classmates and I enjoyed the rest of our night in the walled city by doing these:

Alvin came at 9 so we headed to The Fort Emba and Ascend and met with Swenny and Rej fresh from HK-Macau trip. Lalalala.. something went wrong with the list so Femme, Salyn, Jane and I decided to have some coffee and then walk around til we reached Market! Market! at 1am. Then at 2am, the whole cast plus 2 other classmates went to Warehouse 135 where we went "ohmygawd!". Trance music + MYLF (mom's you like to fcuk) + No-smoking-inside= LETS GO HOME! Demmit! Crazy trippings, ayt? Heee. :)

Ohh I love Kenley Collins!

This season's "bitch" and my favorite of them all, freelance designer 26 year-old Kenley Collins on her final collection allegedly committed a fashion crime: Plagiarism. Although this happened, I still love her. She did so good on the past challenges and I think she doesn't deserve the 3rd spot in the competition. ( Leanne Marshall won the 1st place, next is Korto Momolo) Project Runway is still airing here in the Philippines and it is 2-3 episodes to go before the final runway show. This vintage lady is cute in her stylin' with the 50's vibe. She does unique/vintage hair pieces and dresses, exactly the ones we see on her and sells them on her own online shop. I just love her.


Kenley did one dress that supposedly looked like a Balenciaga
(left:Baleciaga, right: Collins)

and her finale which was a wedding dress was a reminiscent of Alexander McQueen.

(left: McQueen, right:Collins)

In her statement in Entertainment Weekly interview the day after the said show, she tells...

"It's bulls---. I mean, seriously? You could accuse anyone of stealing from any other designer; it's all been done. It's crazy to think that dress looked like Balenciaga. I didn't know what they were talking about at the time, but then I looked it up, and it looks nothing like it. Either way, it's my design, and it was inspired from other things. It's really annoying and totally insulting to have them say your work is a copycat, which wasn't the case. "

and about her inspiration in making the dress...

First of all, you see me do that silhouette all the time, with the collar. It's a simple, '40s-'50s silhouette, and I hand-painted it with roses, and I was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the Victorian ''painting the roses red'' theme. And I started painting the fabric and rouging these roses, and I decided to make the dress a simple dress with rose leaves. It's very simple. And to say that it was taken from something that looks nothing like it — that looks like structured armor — it's nothing like it.

Some of her works that I'm totally diggin...

(Rockabilly Roll skirt available at http://www.kenleycollins.com)

(Model struts Ms. Collins' work on the finale of Project Runway during New York Fashion Week September 12, 2008)

the blog attack

(jelly, me and selle)

Automatically fell in love with that upstaging neon orange shoelaces. ME accesories, P30.00

Last christmas break, out of uselessness at home, I was actually thinking of a new blog site so I could welcome 2009 with my pouring thoughts. But apparently, I totally neglected that desire since I was hooked on a super disaster eating habit. I ate like my brother (btw, thanks bro to the jacket! that gray and blue jacket in the photo is a hand-me-down).

I had to jog. So bad.

Jog 3-4x a week. Eat healthy. Sleep more than the usual 4 hours. Smoke less. Drink...less (?)