Splurging is out??!

I think I’m a bit over my Gossip Girl Ga-Ga days… I’m a couch potato no more but officially a Twilight saga fanatic (the bookworm returns!).

Those of you who have read or heard about Stephanie Meyers bestselling book series would probably agree with me. It’s like J.K. Rowling meets Anne Rice in a teenage “Sweet Dreams novel” effect, which leaves you breathless as you turn from one page to another, wide-eyed with suspense and anticipation while your heart flutters from all the teeny-bopper romance. Vampires have always aroused my curiosity and fascination, I swear I can preach about it all day, but I will save you all from all the lackluster…. Just be sure to watch the “Twilight” movie (I can’t wait)!

On to other things…

I’m still supposed to be on a shopping ban ( I imposed October till December and am still halfway) but backslid a bit last weekend. Well, I wasn’t feeling in a party mood all week, I was even feeling under the weather on most days and hubby coaxed me to impulsively by 3 wardrobe pieces in less10 minutes time. What can I say… he put me on time pressure… I wasn’t even able to fit any of them but I swiped away… bad!

According to The Wall Street Journal latest news, if you are feeling guilty about shopping... you should be! Psychologists declare that splurging is out and self-denial is in, but that buying something cheap is just fine. Ok… I should learn to be more diligent.

Anyways, this is what I wore yesterday… It’s a plain dress which I also bought last September simply on “grab all you can in 2 minutes” – mode. It was one of those days when we only had to accomplish an errand and I, the cunning, scheming, imp that I am, decided to convince hubby to make a quick detour to a clothes shop and since we were pressed for time I grabbed this dress, together with another one I have yet to wear, and then we drove away without even trying it on (again…).

And so, after letting it sit inside its paper bag for a few days….(sigh hopeless isn’t it?), I stared at it and decided that it just was one of those big mistakes again…too flowery..too much patterns…to librarian-ish plus it was a wrap-dress and it had a waist-ribbon which seemed to stick out in the wrong directions... but since I was trying to live within the confines of my closet – I decided to snip the tags attached to it and dump it into the laundry basket…

And now, after a few weeks of hanging around in the closet… Little-Flowery-Dress takes it’s chance to shine!
div>

I added a little waist cincher to cover the ribbon which I just wrapped unendingly around my waist (if you call that a waist or at least what's left of it), and added some pearls (the necklace was made out of a leftover strand of pearl beads which we used for our wedding stuff...so they're plastic pearls in contrast with the real ones on my ears heehee.

Hope we all have a great weekend!!!

Dress: Mode (from Bangkok)
Waist Cincher: What Women Want
Shoes: Nine West
South Sea Pearl Earrings
Watch: Anne Klein
Necklace: local Lace shop

Bug-a-Boo

I know SATC movie is so "yesterday", but I still am loving SJP's looks, especially her Dior heels that stretched from complementing daywear to eveningwear... even formalwear, and because od that, I decided to allow my Dior-wannabee cutout gladiators to see the light once again.

I love my frilly dress... which I got for only a little bit more than $10 at a local department store...topped it off with a cotton vest from Old Navy... my dress had ruffles all over and I felt like a peacock or a colored flamingo wearing such a fluffy ensemble with 5-inch heels...

Oops... watch out for that little draft Marlyn!!

One of the main reasons why I decided to wear those heels today was primarily because I knew I wasn't going to do a whole lot of walking... I know I love high heeled shoes so much but I end up being miserable once my ankles and feet start feeling sore... but as all stories go... there always has to be a TWIST of some sort that messes it up.
Hubby, being the superhuman that he is, decided to ignore his tummy-ache and he ended up with a mega-aching-tummy-attack when while we were away from home, and after a few hours of contemplating on whether it was a "oh that's just gas" tummy-ache or a much more serious one.. we went to the ER to have him checked, and spent most of the evening/wee hours of the morning there due to clinical examinations left and right.

Hubby is ok, they found some infection caused by a stomach bug going around... so he has to take some antibiotics and pain-killers... poor thing... BOO TO BUGS... but other than that, thank heavens he's a whole lot better!

So back to the heels.....

And what do you think was the fate of my toes???

As clinical studies would go: None or Minimal discomfort ONLY.

Surprising!!

Good thing these two babies were in their "comfiest best".

Flower Power, TAGGED!

... Feeling like a Freesia flower (waiting to confuse a butterfly)...in a sheer chiffon dress and cut-out heels with tassles that reminded me of those penny loafers I used to wear back in Grade School when I had to wear a school uniform.
Ok... since I have nothing much to say about the outfit.... I've also been tagged by the gorgeous girls... Issa and Roz from We Wear Things. Yeeey!!!


here are the rules:
(1) Link back to the meme creator: Caz
(2) Link to the person who tagged you: We Wear Things
(3) Link back to the originator of the positive SA movement (as this is how this all started): Cheap Thrills

(4) List five reasons you love your state (I find Tennessee a special home to me, but I live in Manila, so I will talk about... you guessed it right....Metro Manila!!!).

1_ The Sunsets are always majestic! Think: Manila Bay, recognized all over the world for the best sunsets! I love staying at Sofitel (Formerly Westin Philippine Plaza) because apart from there great food...I get to view the sunset.

2_ Shopping! Manila has been a hub of both designer goods (I'm happy a lot of European brands have opened up stores here...think: Greenbelt 2 & 5) Chic brands (Think Zara, Topshop, Promod), export overruns sold in bazaars and night markets, local designers with such superb work (think: Archaeology Wing in Powerplant, The Ramp and Multiply) the choices are simply endless! Think about this, we have the biggest mall in Asia and "Malling" may already be considered as a sport here... heehee

3_ Food! Manila has a mixture of diverse cuisine. For a person with an erratic palate like me, it's so easy to find a place when I feel like having say Nasi Goreng for Lunch, French Macarrons for dessert and Sashimi for Dinner.

4_ The People. You'd be surprised to see how stylish Manila's crowd can be. Well, there are always tacky dressers... but if you have a keen eye, you can spot quite a handful of chic figures. Back in college, I used to be a night owl and a sucker for parties and hip clubs all because it felt so nice seeing so much well-clad people in one venue. It's also very fulfilling to have meaningful conversations with fun-loving people who are well-bred, well-read and already exposed to the world around us.

5_ Old Manila. Try googling Intramuros, Luneta Park, Chinatown, Paco Park and the like... since the Philippines boasts of such rich history, being conquered by Spain for hundreds of years...Old Manila gives us a snapshot of life back in the Spanish period... cobblestone streets, massive Spanish houses, lavish churches and courtyards. Manila was also once the trade hub of Asia, thus we have many Chinese (wooohooo for me!) migrants who have made and preserved Binondo (Chinatown), giving us a refreshing escape from the urban lifestyle with a glimpse of the rich Chinese tradition.

(5) Tag five people

I noticed many of you were already tagged so I wanted to expand this selection to different countries/locations and I decided to tag:


Rachel of Kaleidoscope Dreams

Allison of The Daily Alygator

Stella Wants to Die

Gossip Style's Zori

Trust Me It's Paradise's Dane

Dress: given as a gift
Heels: F21
Sling Bag: Mango
Watch: Guess

These Booties Are Made For Walkin...

It's Monday again... I Hope you all enjoyed the weekend as much as I did (I hope we had more days instead of having just 2). Surprisingly, though we went to a total of 2 malls in 2 days... I never bought anything yet (hurray! ok I cheated a teensy weensy bit... I totally forgot about it when hubby got me a pair of platform pumps which I was just trying on for the heck of it (they were on sale) as he was busy fitting some pointy loafers... I told him it counts as a "purchase" a "new thing" but he told me it was a lot better getting that pair than ending up thinking of them all night.
Boo to me!!

On to better things, here's an outfit which I wore last week (talk about being a slacker!). I wanted to highlight the red booties so I wore them with a dress in a much more subdued tone. The shirtdress had tiny white pinstripes all over and I found it really comfy, though it tended to hike up so much whenever I sat down.

I paired this outfit with my deep red Coach suede purse (not in photo), to make the reds pop!
My workmates gushed and told me they totally loved my shoes, though I told them I felt like Ronald McDonald because they were shiny little vinyl red things, but they were really comfy and I liked them a lot too. And one of them said only a person like me could pull-off something like this (I told them a whole lot of fashion bloggers will pull it off better than I do!).


Shirtdress: Betty Brand
Booties: Online Find from my recent Us trip
Bangle: Bazaar Find
Red Faced Watch: Hubby’s DKNY

In Living Color

Wore this outfit to work, and loved how the colors popped! I've been a great fan of bright hues and on lazy days like this one, I just wore a dress that fitted me like a drab nightgown... and then let the accessories do the magic!

I'm addicted to these waist-cinchers (I already have them in 7 colors after snagging them each time I see one!). I love how they instantly jazz-up an outfit, with a 40's kind of vibe...

To break the monotony of the aqua color, I added a white purse and white hoop earrings, to match the ivory buttons on the dress.


I got these shoes from my recent US trip... and got them to match my ceramic F21 watch.

It looks like espadrille wedges from afar but when you look closely, it's sides are made of a lined-up garter-like material which I found really cute. They reminded me of those garter dresses which I would have worn in a heartbeat, if only I had the guts to do so.


But I don't, and that's a different story, so for now... these shoes will do.

Let's go paint a rainbow, shall we???


Dress: Dressing Room
Belt: local department store
Shoes: US Online find
Watch: F21
Enamel Earrings: Mango
Small Hobo Bag: Coach