Goddess, I Am.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Christmas and all, but I absolutely HATE the mad holiday rush! It’s so annoyingly crowded everywhere that I end up with huge headaches whenever I go out.

And the traffic . . . Oh my God, the traffic! Cars are either completely stationary for hours and hours, or running into each other for no reason. I believe the average Cebuano motorist has a death wish around this time of the year, so it might be a good time to look into those life insurance quotes, if you’re going to be out in the streets.

Anyway, rant aside, The Husband and I were on our way to Arano’s in Guadalupe for dinner Friday night when we got stuck in the most horrid traffic jam near that useless Banilad overpass. We have been looking forward to that dinner for a while because we haven’t been to Arano’s in ages, but we were so hungry and cranky that we had to change our plans right there and then. Thankfully, our taxi was stuck just outside The Ranch in Banilad, so we simply crossed the street.

Now, we love, love, LOVE The Ranch. As far as restaurants in Cebu are concerned, it’s totally topnotch. But it’s just not the same when you’ve had your heart set on something else (read: Arano’s stellar fillet mignon), you know? But, I guess, it could’ve been worse. In any case, dinner proved to be extremely enjoyable, as always. I got to try yet another new Ranch specialty (“chicken fried” beef steak – strange name, I know), and it’s proven to be my favorite so far. So if you’ve never been to The Ranch, you’re definitely missing out.

Look how full I was, and I didn’t even finish the whole thing!

Striped long-sleeved pullover and black denim jeggings, both from Forever 21; Parisian booties; Cameo necklace from the Innuendo store; Pearl ring from Trappings

I’m making a mental note to take outfit shots BEFORE dinner, so I won’t look too much like a blimp.

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Hmmmmm . . . I like this weather. All I seem to want to do is sleep. That, and eat V-Cut potato chips. It’s not good for my waistline, I know, but it’s just so cold!

Today, I didn’t wake up until about 4 in the afternoon! And I didn’t plan on getting up at all, mind you. I only did because The Husband told me my Christmas presents from Chin turned up via courier. And oh, what pretty, pretty dresses! I just had to go out and wear one!

Is that you, Marilyn?

Loving the view from behind!

It was raining, too, so I got to wear my boots again. I have long since mastered the fine art of ignoring people who gape at me by telling myself that while my feet are warm, toasty, and mud-free in my boots, they’re shivering in their flip-flops. Ha!

Thrifted black blazer; Red belt from The Landmark; Opaque tights from Metro; Brown boots from Mongkok; Forever 21 long pearl necklace; Purple flower ring from Meream

Anyhow, while we were in Ayala, we came upon a car display, and I am seriously crushing on the new Honda City! At P800,000++ (including freebies from cheap auto insurance companies, I think), it’s not a bad price, too.

I hope my boss will give me a raise in January so I can finally buy a car. I can’t get one on loan, you see, because I don’t have the acceptable paperwork that banks ask for. So if I am to buy one, I’m going to need cash – lots and lots of cash. I’m just so sick of cabbing, especially these days when the cab queues are insane! Thankfully, it was surprisingly not too bad tonight and we got home in record time.

All in all, it was a good day, even when I spent most of it in a coma.

Thank you, Chin, for the lovely dresses. I’ll be sending pretty things your way, too, as soon as I finish shopping for the little girls.

Hmmmmm . . . The bed is beckoning again. Who am I to resist?

- Posted using BlogPress on Agrippa, the iPad

It’s ridiculous to lust over a pair of shoes for months, yet that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. The culprit? These gorgeous swallow and cat Mary Janes from Miu Miu’s SS’10 collection.

Then, out of the blue, Forever 21 released their own versions of these Mary Janes back in September (I think). No cats or swallows there, but they were apparently sold out within hours in Manila. We gals in Cebu never stood a chance.

But you know how they say that when you think about something long and hard enough, it’ll come to you? Well, I never stopped thinking about it, and one day, a Forever 21 pair was just there on eBay – brand new and in my size (which is miracle enough, mind you, with my midget feet) with no other bidders. Never mind that it was going for $70; I didn’t even give it a second thought.

Purrteeeee…

That’s the best I could do with the F21 label, sorry.

So I am now the proud owner of one of the most elusive and most coveted shoes EVER. They may not have cats or swallows, but they do have pretty little polka dots. My shoe-buying year is complete.

Now to learn to walk in ‘em nearly-6-inchers. Tee hee.

I’m on a high…

Probably one of the scariest moments of my life was when I bricked The Sister’s iPhone 3GS as I was attempting to jailbreak it. I’ve jailbroken iPhones before, but this was my first untethered attempt. What was supposed to take a couple of hours eventually took 24. And no, I did not sleep at all; I was that freaked out.

I ended up giving myself a crash course on SHSH blobs and got to know that beautiful thing called Tiny Umbrella. I had to make a nifty little microsim adapter, too, because her iPhone was locked to AT&T and the only AT&T SIM I had was the microsim that came with my iPad. Thankfully, that worked a treat, and to make a really long story short, I got her iPhone up and running again. Not only that, I actually learned a rather essential life skill.

I am once again contemplating on upgrading her current iOS version, which means a new jailbreak and unlock effort, so I figured I’d better do my research before I even touched it. I came across something called an iphone spy, which is apparently an iPhone data recovery tool. After reading up on it, however, I realized that it’s really no good for jailbreaking, but it does look like a nifty device if you want to catch a philandering spouse, or at least, recover a text message that you so foolishly deleted months ago – something that my scatterbrained little sister will have a lot of use for, methinks. Tee hee.

So why am I even writing about it? I just think it’s cool, that’s all, and I’m filing it away as something I could probably have use for if and when I do get an iPhone. Bear with me. And who knows? Some of you might find some use for it down the road.

I think one of the best – and worst – things about growing up and living in the Philippines is the inevitable tendency to rely on household helpers. I am 28 years old and married for over a year, yet I still don’t know how to cook, clean, do the laundry, or iron. Or more accurately, I simply don’t want to – not when we can hire a woman to do all these once a week for about $5.

And I’m not alone, too. The Sister is an absolute mess whenever The Nephew has no nanny, which is probably why most of the family dramas can be blamed on the crazy women she’s had the misfortune of hiring over the past 2 years. Aaahhhh . . . The horror stories I could tell you about thieving nannies and ex-stripper nannies and nannies with STDs – it’ll take me all day! My poor sister and brother-in-law had to constantly keep an eye on these loonies, which really defeats the whole point of having a nanny, doesn’t it?

Thankfully, they seem to have found a real gem in the current nanny, so here’s hoping the days of scary ex-strippers are behind them. Still, I can’t help but wonder whether a hidden camera or two would help matters. I have very ambivalent feelings about spying on the help, which is why I let The Husband supervise the cleaning woman whenever she comes in. Besides, he’s so anal about his tv stands and the floors and the laundry that he’s perfect for the job. He’s a natural tyrant.

What about you? Would you spy on the help?