The Top 10 Things I want to Do Before 2011 Ends

1. Ice Skate
2. Pay all my debts
3. Write an Unusual Story
4. Buy three pairs of good quality shoes
5. Give Christmas gifts to the whole family
6. Buy a new digital camera
7. Have a new part-time job\
8. Do business
9. Go on a shopping spree
10. Play bowling

Three

I think I shall never see
A grade as lovely as three
A three that's earned with blood and sweat
When failing is a serious threat
A three I asked from God all day
Knowing prayer is the only way
Exams are taken by fools like me
But only God can give a three



*from my Midterm test paper*

Lonely Planet

I used to love holidays. It's those days when you can sit on the couch and have a movie marathon with your friends, play basketball with your brothers, ride the auto with your Dad to the family's farm, have overnight at grandma's, or stay home and cook fish fillets with mom.

I'm hundreds(or thousands, i don't know) of miles away from these people. I can only go home during Decembers and summers to them. During single day holidays or two, I'd have to stay at my dorm and I always run out of things to do. It's so hard. I become lonely. It's so much easier back home, but I'm left with no choice. I want to finish college, anyway.

I remember me and my brother when we were little. We were fighting over something and mom told us to stop it. We shouldn't fight over things. We should share and cherish things and moments we're together because one day, after college, we'd have our own families, go on our own ways. When that time comes, we won't be able to see each other on a daily basis. Mom said it would happen after college, when we'd have our own lives. I didn't knew it would happen to me before college. Caught off-guard, dumbfounded - that's me. I guess I'm on lonely planet.

Dear John,

Long were the nights when my days once revolved around you
Counting my footsteps praying the floor won't fall through again
And my mother accused me of losing my mind
But I swore I was fine

You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain
And I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules everyday
Wondering which version of you I might get on the phone tonight
Well, I stopped picking up and this song is to let you know why

Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone
Don't think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home
I should've known

Well, maybe it's just me and my blind optimism to blame
Or maybe it's you and your sick need to give love then take it away
And you'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand
And I'll look back and regret how I ignored when they said run as fast as you can

Dear John, I see it all now that you're goneDon't you think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home

Dear John, I see it all now it was wrong
Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played with?
Your dark twisted games when I loved you so
I should've known

You are an expert at sorry and keeping lines blurry
Never impressed by me acing your tests
All the girls that you've run dry have tired, lifeless eyes
'Cause you've burn them out

But I took your matches before fire could catch me
So don't look now
I'm shining like fireworks over
Your sad, empty town

Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone
Don't you think I was too young to be messed with?
The girl in the dress cried the whole way home

Dear John, I see it all now it was wrong
Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played with?
The girl in the dress wrote you a song
You should've known

You should've known
Don't you think I was too young?
You should've known
http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/taylor-swift-lyrics/dear-john-lyrics.html

Not new in manila

Sow! It's been months now since I first stayed in Manila. I could still remember the first day I got here - I cried then. I missed my daughter so much at that day and it seemed years to the next time we'll see each other. Cheesy. 


Now, I'm already having fun here in Manila. I can stroll at many places in Manila without getting lost. I also have bought many things now. Most of my things are bought from Manila already and I've kept the ones that I brought here from back home. However, I still miss home. I miss the routines I had back at home. I would wake up 6a.m. even in class days and then it's my daughter who I first see when I wake up. After breakfast, mom and I chat at the dining table about things happening under the sun. I also miss bathing in warm water like I did back at home on a daily basis.

I am now realizing that I am growing up and am slowly separated to my family. Anyway this is what happens when kids grow up, they move out, they settle down. I have four years to go in college and after such, I need to find a job and support my child - not be a burden to my family. Fours years to go - that's all I have and I'll have to be on my own. Now I wonder, why did I wanted to grow up so fast before. Why did I wanted independence so early?

Manila has been quite a home to me now. It has cradled me. I'm very grateful to God and my relatives her, specially my aunts for giving me an opportunity to study here and making Manila a warm place for my heart. It's a wonderful place to be at. I've stayed here for only quite some time yet but I believe I would love it here. I now have many friends here and I've reconnected with some relatives I haven't seen for quite a long time.
Manila's my crib now, I'm not new to it now. :)

Things-things-things

So, it took some time before I started blogging again. It’s all because I wish I had more time to spend with my little girl. However, I wasn’t able to really have the exact amount of time I want to be with her while I stay in Mindanao. There’s just so much work around the house that we barely have an hour straight enough to play. When I wake up, I fix the bathroom, wash the clothes and blanket she’s peed on, clean the house and many more.

                Just a few days from now, I would be in Manila to start college. It’s a tough thing to be away with your most precious one. For almost a year, I was so careful lying down in bed because little Denise sleeps with me and with one careless turn I might hurt her, lying down on her hand or arm, etc. and I can imagine from now, at the very first morning I wake up in Manila when I arrive, I would be still careful but when I’ll look at my side, there’s no little Denise lying there, and it’s a different ceiling. :C

                But then, that’s life. Sometimes you have to be far from your love ones for a while, for a while. It maybe for fulfilling your dreams, for yourself, for them. And it’s amazing how in the midst of the hard preparation I am doing for being away from my daughter, God has given things to help me cope up.

                I can’t wait to share this! I’ve got a new online job, and it’s the first that I have. It’s writing spun articles. It’s quite hard but I’m blessed to have a boss who can understand. The schedule is flexible and the best part is I can earn money. I love my job and I always thank God for it. I really hope I would be in this job for a long, long time. I want to train in this job and to improve even more. As a writer, I love this work which rotates in articles, and you know, when it’s something you love that you’re doing, it’s not work anymore. You enjoy it.

                My plan for the money that I’m going to earn from this job is to set aside the tithes, and then use some to reward myself, and save it. Just four years from now, I want to start building my own space, maybe just with my family, or in Davao(where I always wanted to live). However, I have college ahead of me and I might absorb some more things that might change the way I look at the future.

                The bottom line of this article is things come after things. Take a look at the title and see how it’s enchained. Nothing ends up one, and in life we should chill and enjoy everything that comes our way. Some things we don’t like, some things we love, but that’s the way it is. It’s so good to be alive. 

Bag-a-holic!

I am such a bag-a-holic! I’ve been to almost every stage of wearing a bag, from backpacks in elementary, to sling bags in high school, and finally shoulder bags in college. I love bags. I can put in every single thing that I would want to bring with me. I can even use it to make a statement, even by simple just standing in a corner, my bag does the work to not make me look like a fool. So, here are the bags that I am very proud to have.

So, that's pretty much it. I love my bags, and they love me back! Ü

I recommend this movies!

Perfume

As a writer, I appreciate literature, so much. Therefore, I love watching films that have a different twist in its story, films that you don’t normally watch. I like films that go somewhere, and have a real story. That’s why I fell in love with the movie, “Perfume.” After I watched it, I literally wanted to grab a copy of it for keeps!

It rotates around an adolescent man, who has the best nose in Paris. He works for a perfumer, and later on made a perfume. It was an expensive one. The cost is the lives of many beautiful women who have wonderful fragrances of their own, from their own human body. Interesting to know that the man didn’t have any smell of his own.

While you’re watching this movie, it’s like you’re dreaming you lived in old Paris charm. It just brings you somewhere. You’ll agree how lovely this film is after you’ve watched it.

Pearl Harbor

Another thing that I appreciate is history. Everything that there is now is because of what was before – democracy, freedom, technology breakthrough, everything. Watching Pearl Harbor was like being one with the U.S. military when they attacked the Japanese. While you’re watching, you are like cheering for them to win. It was like I was being a patriotic citizen of America.

I am not an America, but I love America. It has helped my country, Philippines to improve so much. It has lent huge hands of help to my country many years before I was born until today. I also love the accent of their speaking, the freedom that they have, and its land where I want to go to someday. I see that America has so much comfort in it.

I don’t really understand the Japanese. There’s a spot in my heart that sees the Japanese differently, bad different. For a certain, it’s because of the pains that the Japanese has caused my countrymen’s who lived many years ago. History has put to writing the bad things that they have done the abuse that they did to my countrymen many years ago. I know that they will pay one day.

I am also struck about the love story rotating between Danny, Rafe, and the girl that they both love. I almost cried when Danny was dying and Rafe told him he couldn’t because Danny’s going to be a Daddy. It was a moment.

This movie, you should watch.

My Labor Pains

“The best way to understand your mother is have a child of your own.”

I hear that line from adults a couple of times before. Older people often say that our parents really had a hard time on us when were born for us to be stubborn. I wasn’t able to get the logic not until the time that I gave birth to my first child.

I waited for long months. Every month felt like it was a year. During my pregnancy, I had back pains, I was bored inside the house every day being alone, it felt so hot, my whole body was big, my feet was swollen, and every morning my feet cramped so painfully. Those hardships lasted for more than nine months because I was overdue. My pains were prolonged.

On the ninth month my doctor decided to induce me. I was happy that finally I could mark a dot on my calendar of the day my pains will end. Later did I know that it was the most painful day of my pregnancy. I came to the hospital the day I was ordered to. Many pregnant women were lined up the door of the doctor’s receiving room in the hospital for check up. I was sitting outside with my mom when a doctor and a nurse looked at me and I could tell from their face they understood why I’m there.

It was eight o’clock. After five minutes, the nurse told the doctor that the room and the apparatuses are ready. The doctor and nurse called me to the delivery room. The nurse helped me with the white gown and assisted me to lie in the bed where women deliver their baby. The doctor placed the medicine for inducing in me and ordered the nurse to confine me.

 Since there was no vacant private room, I was temporarily confined in the breastfeeding ward. I met two patients, one was in the case of ectopic pregnancy and the other, her baby is sick. I wasn’t bored because I had companions, but the room is too hot since the sun is directed to my bed. The ventilation is poor so I had to be patient. The mother of the sick baby told me how she gave birth. She labored for two days.

I was nervous because I didn’t know what I was going to feel. I didn’t know if I would be able to bear the pain of giving birth. Most stories of women giving birth are of pain. At one o’clock at noon, I started to feel my womb contract. It was not that painful but I felt uncomfortable. It’s like it’s a pain under my chest and at my back. As time goes on the contraction’s interval comes closer and closer, thus more painful at each time.

It was until I didn’t know if I could still bear the pain. It is like clusters and clusters of pain of menstrual period attacking your womb at the same time. I held the metal head board of my bed so tight hoping it would lessen the pain if I would exert effort, but it did nothing. I was so devastated by the pain I felt, I was so painful. I can’t think of a word terrible enough to picture what I felt at those moments.

I felt some kind of relief when I was transferred to a private room during my fourth hour of labor, however the pain is still there. My mother and her aunt didn’t know what to do but tell me encouraging words just so I could cope up with the pain. It was so painful that every time it struck I couldn’t move even my eyes, because it would let loose and I’d feel more pain. I would only hold tight to whatever is near my hand. It was late, but we all couldn’t sleep. Sometimes I would shout. I didn’t know if I could still bear the pain.

I was at my eighteenth hour of labor , I was transferred to the labor room right next to the delivery room. It’s horrible, feeling and everything. The room is cold, and there’s blood on my bed and floor, and my whole body could feel the pain. I was brought twice to the delivery room to check if it’s the baby’s time to come out. Every time the doctor would say “no,” it feels like I feel more pain. On my twenty-first hour of labor, I was brought to the delivery room to finally deliver my baby.

I asked the nurse to turn off the aircon because it was so cold. Extreme pain, I could feel. I didn’t have the strength to push my baby anymore because of my twenty one hours of labor. So, the doctor decided to forceps the baby. It was a hard time for me and all of us inside the delivery room. Until, I heard a baby cry.

It was my baby raised upside down. It was the best relief I’ve ever felt. I cried. It was worth all the pain. Now, in my hands, is the precious baby I have long been waiting for. 

Baby's first four

I can't help not to share my baby's first four teeth. How cute is this picture, huh? I took it for remembrance. I'm just a bit worried, because they say that kids whose teeth grew early have the possibility of having their teeth damaged easily.

I don't have strong teeth. Most of my permanent teeth were damaged as early as twelve years old. I now have tooth fillings and a tooth canal. From eleven to thirteen years old, I have frequent tooth aches, and that's also the time when my teeth started to have damages.

I want my child to have the best set of teeth. That is why I set it a goal every day to clean her teeth with a clean cloth while she's young. When she get's older, I'll teach her how to brush her teeth three times a day. I heard brushing your teeth more than three times a day would also make the teeth weak.

Our pearly whites score on the charms we have every time we smile, that's why it's one of the things I take most care of, of my daughter.

Too soon

I remember when I was kid, I always wanted to do things older people do. Given that I'm surrounded by a lot of adults. Only me and my younger brother are the kids in the house. I wanted to do the dishes, I want to wash clothes, I want to sweep the floor, but they wouldn't allow me because I'm too young. It is not bad to help, but I do not know how to do it properly even if they teach me, because biologically, I'm still incapable.

Until I grow up to be a school girl. I started to be given the responsibility to help around the house by doing chores assigned to me. And at that time, I didn't want to do things I used to called "work of the old people" anymore. I changed.

When I reached high school, my parents talked to me about getting into relationships. I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend while I am still studying. However, due to peer pressure and other "humanitarian forces," I got into relationships, some are serious relationships. And now, I have sown the fruits of the works that I've done, both negative and positive.

Don't you realize? Many of us wants to get where we want to be, even if it's not in time. We race over time, wanting to be where we want to be even if it was not yet meant. In our own point of view, this is right because this is what we want.

Most of the time we love to do what's forbidden. In the end, I found myself stopping schooling for a year, and this whole year I realized so many things. It might be normal for us to change every stage we grow to. However, it is important to take in guidance from experienced people(specially parents). Yes, we make mistakes, but is it not better to avoid it? We do learn a lot in mistakes, but long as we can learn lessons in easy ways, why not?

I know I may not be good at this. However, due to my life experiences, I want to share that we all normally go extra steps fast. Most of us want to grow up too soon, but what would it be like if you were not prepared. It's very difficult believe me. However, when you're already there, it's a challenge for you, how you handle it.

I ♥ Julia Montes

I don't know why I like Clara so much. I just find her really pretty, no matter how contrabida she appears to be. I like Mara too, but I like Clara a lot better.

I used to hate her when it was not yet found out that she's the real daughter of Garry, but now that she's poor already I like her so much. After she and Mara had been kidnapped, she became a good girl, except for the fact that she's hiding Garry's secrets about the kidnapping.

So, a couple of days ago I researched about her. I learned that she's half German, and her real name is Julia Schnittka. Most half breaded Filipinos are really attractive, and she's one of them. I believe she's a tall girl, and I can't wait to see her in person. Specially for the fact that I'm moving to Manila this June, I think I would have more chances to come to her mall shows. She may be a contrabida on television, but she's a sweetheart.  I'm a huge fan of her.

I still like Mara for Christian. Julia Montes would be paired up with the best teen star that will look great with her. I just think that she's too pretty for Albie Casino? (I'm a fan of Albie too.)

I'm always watching Mara Clara, and I'm thrilled for more 'moving' episodes. I ♥ Julia Montes!

To all the foods I love

I love food! So, this post is a tribute to all the food I love, from street food to expensive food. I just feel a different kind of happiness every time my favorite food would touch my taste buds. And I know I’m not plainly just eating, I’m having a moment with my favorite.

So I’m going to start with my favorite street food, “kwek-kwek.” What I love about it is that it’s not exotic, but it tastes exotic. The outer covering of the egg, gives the eater a different view about the egg. When you eat a plain egg, it’s boring. We’ve all have eaten eggs since we were born, like it’s one of the cheapest morning meal, the easiest to cook, no fun. But then when you eat kwek-kwek, it’s all different. The mixture of the bread and the egg, when you eat it together, with the seaweeds and the vinegar (probably is a twist because you don’t normally eat it with eggs), there’s a twist in the taste. You appreciate the egg, you appreciate all the different tastes.

I super love carbonara! I’ve first tasted it at a restaurant in Tagaytay and I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s no wonder. Its distinct taste really joined with the fettuccine’s wide pasta, becoming really flavorful. It’s so creamy, it’s like you drowned in its creaminess. And then, all the other flavors blended really well. I’m looking forward for more carbonara in my life.

Since I was a kid, I really love chicken. All my birthdays, I couldn’t have no chicken in the table. My mom knows how to fry chicken into a crispy, juicy, delicious fried chicken.  I couldn’t eat less than four pieces of fried chicken, every time my mom cooks them. Imagine having the bite the crispiest chicken in the world, and your teeth sinks into its tender and juicy meat, which allows the juices to spread into your mouth, and as you chew with your eyes closed, it’s just heavenly!

Ritter Sport chocolate in Cereal, is now my favorite chocolate. I used to have Toblerone as my my no.1, and I still love it until now, but Ritter Sport is my new love. The sweet chocolate and the crunch as you bite into its delicate squares are just so amazing. It’s the chocolate I have long been looking for. From the packaging to its taste, it’s a winner.

Red Ribbon Coffee Crumble is worth every penny. I never really loved cakes except for the icing, but every crumb from this Red Ribbon cake won’t be wasted if I would be eating it. From the icing, to its delicate chiffon, I just love its taste. The nuts inside it add an exciting texture, and another praise for its tender chiffon that melts in the mouth. It is a sweet confection. 

lomo: candid-ate of beauty

I am the kind of person who loves to see beauty in different forms, whether in perfection or imperfection. I believe perfection is preferred by most of us, but I often see it as a 'winner by default' in the real scene. So, I take pleasure more in the beauty I see in imperfection, candid.

So, my new interest is ‘lomography.’ I actually didn’t know what that is before. I first encountered that while I was reading the magazine, Celebrity Living. Megan Young’s room was featured there and so are the things she has in it. She has a collection of lomo cameras and pictures. By then, I wasn’t struck by interest.

Then I was browsing Sulit.com.ph. I was looking for DSLR cameras, since I wanted to buy one because of its very intelligent capture of pictures and the speed it has. And then, these colorful plastic toy cameras called “lomo cameras” caught my attention. I wonder, ‘Is this the new hit in photography’? Out of curiosity, I researched about it.

I was amazed by the candid beauty of its photos distortions, exposures, and imperfections. It maybe looked like a ruined photo, but it was an art. So, I decided I want a lomo camera. I would probably earn for one. Look at the pictures below. These are wonderful shot from lomo cameras.

This is a Super Sampler lomo camera shot.

This was shot using a fisheye lomo camera.

It's like every motion is caught in this shot.

Look at how pretty this picture is.

One word: candid.
I love candid. It's captured unaware beauty.

Haterade

People who were born with good genes are not those who are super pretty. I believe they are those healthy enough to adapt to other people (who also has genes)!

I really don’t see the sense of why people hate. I mean, I understand that people have different tastes, and so what? Hating people doesn’t only rely on your scientific abilities. Your attitude also counts. It’s not just plain hating, it’s judging people. And in this case, in this article, I mean the people who hate because of what they see outside the book.

I have a friend ( let me guess if she is ‘til now), who is constantly hating me. I deny the reasons, because I don’t want to think it. However, somehow, I try to analyze her, and it just makes no sense. I respect her opinions about me, that she is a hater-friend because she jump simply don’t like me. In the case of directing the point, she is treating me quite nice because we are in the same circle of friends, but in her own self circle she doesn’t like me at all. She pretends to like me because maybe, she wants to hang out at my place where our friends hang out.

She hates me because she thinks I’m a social climber. She wears on clothing line that’s very adorable, and here comes me, who also loves the clothes in that line. And when she saw me wear one of the clothes from that line, she went saying to one of our friends she won’t wear that line anymore and it’s very obvious it’s because I was wearing one shirt from it. Still I see her wear tees from that line.

She is also one of the people I know who have the best profile layouts on friendster. And I just feel bad when she makes me looked like I tried to hard when she visit my upgraded profile. I don’t like that she always makes me feel like I’m COPYING HER!! I am not! Look at how different my stuffs are! Look at how entirely original I am! And do you hold Artwork’s copyright? Oh come on.  I look better on their shirts.

Sometimes, I break down and give in to her hating, that no matter how much I want to like her still, I begin to hate her. I am trying to be really nice to this girl. Yet, it pisses me off every time she looks at me that stupid way. I am different and unique and has my own style, so don’t look at me like I’m trying to clone you, because I never did and I never will. I wouldn’t trade my own self to become like you or anybody else for the world!

There was a man long ago, and he said, “You haters must die.”  Haters, what do you think?

sweet childhood

My sweetest memories are those of my childhood – priceless.

Nothing compares better than having to wake up in the morning without any alarming thoughts of school, lovelife, and responsibilities. You’re plainly waking up without any pressure forming in the start of the day/ all is easy-breezy. You’re a kid.

All you need to do is obey mom and dad when they say finish your meal, take a nap in the noon time, and don’t mess up in the living room. Then at night, mom sends you to sleep with your favorite fairytale story from an all-time favorite classics book. Haah… my childhood. I miss everything about it.

Back then, my grandmother would buy me the toys I want. She would also let me eat all my favorite food. All I need to do is ask. I was and still am my grandma’s favorite and companion (everybody could tell).  However, I’m also as close to my parents.

My heart is closer to my father, as a child among my parents. I’m a “papa’s girl”. I remember father arriving from work, bringing me home crayons of set of 8’s almost every day. The crayon box was wrapped in Manila paper material. I was always excited opening it, even if I already know what’s inside.

It never fails to give me happy thoughts every time I remember my younger days riding my father’s old Kawasaki motorcycle. I am riding the tank, father’s driving, and mom and my younger brother Jasper sits at the back. We always stroll around town that way. I could roughly remember the breeze striking my face and that adds exciting.

Mom and I share one thing in common even from my childhood – we love beautiful views and houses. Mom often buys magazines of beautiful houses and house arrangements. I browse them too. Maybe it’s no wonder we both have the love for home so much. I don’t know if it’s because women have softer hearts. Among the family, most of the time, it is the two of us who loves being with the family most of the time. I know my father loves being with the family too, just like us.

Another thing I love about my childhood is the family (all my relatives) bond we had. In the case of my mother’s side, we don’t have our annual reunion since my great grandfather died. I don’t know if that only the reason, but things between the family are quite different now. We still see each other, but not that often. 

In my father’s side, we see each other annually, mostly December. I am always happy to see them. Specially most of them have come from far places like Manila and Koronadal City. Some of them came from abroad. I’ve been the youngest girl cousin for more than ten years, and I love that I have many ates and kuyas.

My favorite toy when I was a kid was my doll house. I don’t have it now to pass to my daughter, because I’ve already passed it on to some other unfortunate children. I didn’t know then that I would have a child too soon. I should’ve kept it for her, but I’m going to buy her, her own.

I adore everything about childhood. And now that I’m a mom, I want my child too enjoy her childhood too, not grow up so soon like me. Childhood I’d say, is one of the best miles of my life.

Fashion episode

High-wasted mini skirt, a top that goes well with it, patent hills, dangling earrings, dark French curls – I always want to wear these every day.

I can’t help but fall in love with fashion. I watch shows about fashion every day – The Rachel Zoe Project, America’s Next Top Model, Project Runway, etc. I get inspired by amazing fashion creation I get to see evolve every single day. I know fashion rotates around time, like the ‘70’s styles for example. It’s come back. Still, every time a fashion history comes back, it is always enhanced and gets better.

Designing clothes was one of the first primary steps I took in fashion. I never had it as a business and I’ve never designed for someone, but I’ve always drawn clothes and it really had a big impact in me. That made me realize that I love clothes, I love fashionable things, and I want to take steps further.

The fashion world is influential. It has penetrated to the youth. Even though it’s not a necessity, clothes and shoes at times, have become more sellable than food. I have been thinking that peer pressure also had something to do with it. However, we can be fashionable without giving fashion a bad name. Here are some tips, and I’ve tried them myself:

1.       This is my favourite: Ukay –ukay

It always feels like a shopping spree in the ukay-ukay! Don’t you want the pleasure of purchasing some branded clothes for only 50 pesos, 30 pesos, and so? Patience through heaps of clothes will give you the satisfaction in the end. You should only be really wise in choosing. Don’t buy something that looks overused.

Fact: I bought a Diane Von Furstenberg dress for only 50.00, a Tommy Hilfiger jumper for 10.00, and a Gucci skirt for 50.00 – all authentic, all ukay!

2.       Mix and match

You always hear this cliché. Yes, the trick is to fit the pieces that go well together. You can mix old clothes to new clothes, branded clothes to unbranded clothes to achieve the look that you want.

3.       Invest in timeless pieces

There are clothes that never go out of trend. These may be branded and pricey. These also may be affordable. These clothes will last until almost forever. And so, in a way, it will help you save money, because they last for really long time other than the cheap-quality clothes you buy over and over.

4.       Wear everything with attitude

Remember that regardless of how grand or how cheap the clothes you are wearing, it all depends on the way you wear them/ you will pull it off if you wear them properly and with confidence. It will make the difference.

5.       Wear colors that complement your skin tone

Do this not only with the clothes you’re wearing, but also with you make up. You’re make up should go with what you wear. If you’re wearing something conservative, don’t wear wild make up.

6.       Recycle

Remember what I said about old fashion, coming back revived and enhanced? You can do that to your clothes. All you need to do is bring some of your old clothing to the seamstress for some adjustments and voila! Your old clothes will be good as new.

Being fashionable, isn’t a luxury, or s splurging point all the time. It also brings out the best in you. When you wear fabulous clothes, it gives you confidence. It makes you feel good about yourself. So go on, make your own fashion episode!

the pleasure of travel

"I want to see the world, so I could tell others to see it in a different way."

It's a sin; I envy a person who’s travelled so many miles already. It's one thing that I want to do with most of my life. The world is just so big to waste time sitting and not go see it. I've always dreamt of going to many places like Paris, and have my picture taken under the Eiffel Tower. In fact, I've contracted my high school classmate who has spent most of her life since, in that part of the world, to come with me on a vacation in Paris after graduation. So, she could take me to the many beautiful places there.

I’m in love with Europe, though I really haven’t been there. It’s pictures and the movies that were set in Europe just appeal so much to me. Who wouldn’t want to be in a place like that. The flowers, the houses, and the people’s accent are just a few things that wooed me to it.

I also want to see New York for real. I could feel the chill every time someone who’s been there, tell me about how fabulous New York is. It would be really grand to walk in its fashion streets and spot some celebrities along the way or in boutiques. I would like to go shopping there. Most trends start there.

These are the places I want to go to:

Paris, New York, Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Boracay(again), Palawan, Baguio, Australia, San Fransisco, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Bali, Cebu, Vigan, Germany, Singapore, South Africa

That’s quite a lot, you may say. I’ve read an article from a news paper a couple of weeks ago. The writer said she’s planning to spend her retirement in travelling the world. She too, have her own list of places she wants to go, but I wouldn’t want to wait ‘til I retire. Life is long by days and years, but it’s too short for all the opportunities and chances that are coming in and let gone off. So, being eighteen, I want to take advantage of my young age, to start earning for places I want to go to. In having dreams and goals in life, I know age is just a number, but it kind of plays a role too.

I want to meet different culture, have more learning, taste more food, meet new people, and have more various views in life. That is some of the things why I want to travel. I want to see many beautiful things; I know the world has a lot of it. I want to explore and nurture myself even more. I believe that life doesn’t only happen in a box, or in a bubble, or in any four corners or five. Life happens everywhere, and I want to reach all the endless limits of the world. Let’s travel.

ETC fan forever!

Tell me, who isn’t in love with fashion!

The world is dominated by an enormous population of fashionistas.  Where on earth would you find a girl who is capacitated and not have a penchant for pretty things that surround her when she enters the mall or a boutique on Sunset Boulevard or any fashion stores all over the globe.

            A huge part of my heart is implanted to the fashion industry, which of course, I belong yet, but I love so much! That is why, this article is dedicated to one of my loves, my favourite channel, “ETC.” They’re moving on March 2, 2011. Isn’t ETC the best fashion channel yet?

I don’t know about you, but I am obsessed with pretty little fashionable things – a chic leather jacket, sparkly dresses, seductive stilettos, and so much more! It’s like every time I watch ETC (the most fashionable channel I know), I see the celebrities dressed by Rachel Zoe, Leighton Meester on Gossip Girl, Project Runway, and I can’t help but covet on what they are wearing. It’s just every girl’s dream.

I often try to wake a designer (if there is) in me by sketching dresses in my notebook. The only problem is, I’m incapacitated to spend for its making. Those sketched clothes have to wait ‘til I have the money, because ‘they will be.’ And you know, it’s really inspiring how every time I watch ETC, I get an overdose of ideas about fashion. I see clothes, jewelleries, shoes, and how the celebrities carry them in their fabulous human bodies no matter what shape they are.

            Yes, we all know that it isn’t just about what clothes you wear, it’s also about what attitude you wear, it’s a role you portray. Are you the mean girl, or drama queen, or the bitch who has it bad? I’d like to play the role of a girl next door with a sunny disposition (I hope you wouldn’t mind). Leighton Meester carries herself so well on Gossip Girl. She’s just so class. So is Blake Lively. They’re both elegant and exciting.

            Taking a step further, I love the slangs and styles of the four pretty liars on Pretty Little Liars. Geez, I love Hannah and Caleb together. I don’t know, I find Caleb’s haircut complementing his character. There’s something about his face that would make you want to dig him up. Aria’s situation is a bit messed up, from family to loved life, but she kind of gets well with it though. Spencer, Spencer, Spencer. She is so in a dramatically scary situation. Talk about “the snagged sister’s boyfriend, slash I found out he’s kind of like a killer, slash he is now my brother-in-law” drama she’s now in. And what about Emily? I kind of think she’s the least exciting, but I know she’ll get better since she one of Toby’s friends, who for the record is admired by Jenna, one of the controversial people in Pretty Little Liars. I hope that all makes sense.

            On Vampire Diaries, I think Ian Somerhalder is a lot cuter than Paul Wesley. I think he should be Helena’s love interest. And Helena, there’s something about her look. She’s not “typical.” Her aura, from the television is just different, good different. She’s a chic.

            Project Runway inspires me to bring out my inner designer, be it jewellery designing or about couture. I see the accessories, the clothing, and the inspiration. There’s just so much more about fashion, I know, still is to come. I just think that if there’s one thing I would love to do aside from writing, it’s designing. I don’t know if I have the nose for fashion, but I am pretty sure I have the penchant for gorgeous and flawlessly beautiful fashion.

            One more thing that I love about watching this channel is that I get to be introduced to fabulous clothing brands. I love going to thrift shops and bargains, so when I go there, I look for brands like the ones I see on ETC, and guess what, patience over the heaps of bargain clothes give me the satisfaction of finding signature clothing. Anyway, I wouldn’t buy any that look overused and are not in good condition.

            ETC fans, let’s all be one with ETC on March 2, 2011 and they make the BIG SWITCH. I’m an ETC fan....forever!

Relative reconnect

02/26/2011

So this day was so tiring. It’s my brother’s belated birthday celebration. It was just a simple birthday party, me and my relatives. There were no other people invited. It’s been a long time since I haven’t been able to have this time with my family (and relatives). It’s hard to deny what went wrong about our clan, just so our yearly reunion had been stopped seven years ago. That’s why this get-together has been so refreshing.

                I was able to chat with my cousins for more than five hours. We talked about lots of things and shared the things our “every days” were filled. I and my cousins went into the same high school. Even though I graduated ahead from them, we all know people from the batches of our circle, that’s why when we talk about someone, we won’t be “out of place.”

                You know, family means a lot to me. I admit, sometimes I hate some of my relatives, the ones who try to own much of the properties that should belong to all of us and not just them, but later on, I still find in myself the love for my own blood. My family are the people who never fail to soften my heart. When I say “family,” I don’t only talk about my parents and siblings, I mean my relatives too.

                I sometimes find it hard to pull myself away from crying, every time I look back at my childhood. It was when during Christmas, we go to the ancestral house, and everyone brings their own dishes to share. I play with my cousins, we sleep in one bed no matter how many we are, our aunts and uncles sing videoke, and everybody is merry. I just miss those times. When my great grandfather died, that was like our last reunion, and it was a sad one.

                I’m just happy now that we all get to reconnect. I’m also happy that my brother is happy during his birthday. Among us siblings, he is the least whose requests are granted. I pity him sometimes. I love him. This was such a wonderful day. I don’t only get to see my brother happy, I also get to see most of my loved ones.

Starting over

            
 I wish I could start blogging again exactly on my 18^th birthday, but then I’d have to stay home and watch over my baby. There’s no internet at home, not until I had my grandma bought me my laptop. However, the WiFi signal is crazy. Sometimes the WiFi owner puts it off.

                I have had a couple of blogs since then, but I wasn’t able to maintain and update any of them for long. So, now, I am hoping I could maintain this one forever. Let me show you my life.

                I am Joayra Gem D. Pamplona and I was born in a small town in the Philippines. There’s not really much happening here, but I love this place, Kabacan. My grandparents are one of the very first settlers in this town, which is why we know almost everyone who lives here, tracing some of them as the next generations of the other first families who settled here.

                I was raised in a Christian home. My parents gave me and my brothers the discipline that we needed, but sometimes, we’re just so stubborn to obey. That’s why we often get into trouble. However, I also try to be good, because I don’t really want to deal with the anger of people. Sometimes, I see myself as the black sheep among my parents’ children, realizing all the pains I have cost them. I don’t know why I accidentally happen to bump into bad things all the time. I never intentionally hurt my parents. I love my parents, and I know it from the bottom of my hurt, since I was a kid. I know sometimes I get mad whenever they don’t let me do what I want, but I love them still.

                I couldn’t count with ten pairs of hands the bad things, and the heart aches that I have cost my parents. However, there was one thing that I certainly am sure hurt them the most. It was in high school when I was excelling in my extracurricular activity, as the school Editor-in-chief. During that moment, I was high, because of the position, popularity, my winning in the writing competitions, and I barely have time to spend with my family. It was when I was like I was very far from them. And there was a boy, who took me very far more away from them – my boyfriend. But that was not just it, worse things happened like...I was pregnant.

                Upon knowing, I was so depressed at that time. All eyes and ears were on me, at school, at the neighbourhood, just everywhere. The news broke even to other schools. It’s not surprising. It’s a small town. From there, I was not just scrutinized, and depressed, and judged. I was also forced to grow up. And by then, I learned multiple lessons and principles in life:

·         It is always the right thing to wait. All things, as planned by God will eventually come to you in the right time, at the right place. To hurry, will cost you something, or some things.

·         At the time, when bad weather airs into your life, you will know who your real friends are. You will know the people who are taking advantage. And your family will stand by you.

·         Outside of marriage, love shouldn’t be the overruling factor. Consider everything, since everything is involved. Decisions should be analyzed along with its incoming consequences. You don’t want to regret anything in the future. So use your mind, the proper way, and set your heart aside for awhile if it’s not yet the proper time.

·         Listen to the advice of godly people. You know they’ll advice you with the light of the word of God, and it’s always better.

·         Prayer goes a long way. It was during those times when prayer was the one thing I needed the most. It was when I reconnected with God, it was when I ask for His help.

·         Think before you speak.

·         Life is as beautiful as you make it. It’s not a race. It’s a journey. So, take your time.

A few months from now, I’m going to college. I’m excited and thrilled. I’ll miss my baby since I’ll be many miles away from here. I wouldn’t even be there on her first birthday. I bet I’m going to cry that day. However, I know that life is still beautiful. And one of the reasons I’m here on earth is to enjoy it.