Goddess, I Am.

Somebody (I can’t say who because I’ve been sworn to secrecy) seriously needed a mountain of winter clothes, so we decided to go a’thrifting one unbelievably hot Wednesday. Now, we haven’t thrifted for at least a year, so we were a tad rusty (read: lazy).

First, we went to the ukay place atop the Mercury Drug in Fuente, my best friend Aileen’s favorite haunt. We probably stayed no more 15 minutes, though, because 1) we were toasting in that huge unair-conditioned room and 2) their stuff was crap. How Aileen manages to find really good stuff from that place is beyond me. But then, I’ve thrifted with the woman, and her zeal is unbelievable.

But I digress. We eventually ended up at this place right across Gaisano Country Mall (right beneath UC Banilad). It was roomy, organized, and best of all, air-conditioned! Now that’s more like it! It was such a comfortable shopping experience that I almost forgot we were thrifting.

Our winter bunny ended up with over a dozen winter coats – all for about P2,500 ($50)! Seriously, her loot is making me want to move out West, too, just so I can bundle up. The Sister got a really, really awesome corset top (among others), and I’m jealous. Worse, she refuses to lend it to me.

I didn’t end up with much because I just bought a load of dresses that week and The Husband was already freaking out at the state of my closet. Instead, I got him a pair of shorts and some really, really cool t-shirts as a bribe.

Still, I just couldn’t go home empty-handed. I got this really cute top with a rather sexy cutout at the back. I couldn’t help it; both my tattoos are on my back, so I can never have enough backless tops. I tried this on with leggings, and my, oh my did it look good! I’m now this close to rethinking my anti-leggings stand!

Now, my other find is definitely my favorite. A few months ago, I was drooling over a nautical Topshop dress that I refused to buy on account that it was too expensive for a dress. Said Topshop frock literally haunted me for months. I saw it everywhere, from magazine spreads to pop displays. I can’t count the number of times I almost caved, but I never did because I’m a model of self-control (at least, I like to think so).

Imagine my joy when I found a close-enough replica:

Oh, and it has a darling lace hem, which I think makes it even cuter.

This P150 frock is definitely going to be a part of my Singapore ensemble. Methinks this will look awesome with my new yellow Keds Rapture Boat Shoe, a gift from The Mother.

So it looks like we’ve found our new favorite thrift store. We already gave the staff our phone numbers, so they can let us know when they’ve got new (old) stuff. One of these days, I’m going to hunker down, clean up my closet, and get rid of some of my clothes. I’m going to need all the room I can get with all the thrifting I will be doing from now on!

When we joined the IT Park Christmas Nights bazaar a month ago, the experience was nothing short of stellar. Everyone was so nice, from the customers to the organizers to the exhibitors. We got along well with our neighbors, helped each other out regularly, and even gave each other discounts. We had fun and found the whole bazaar thing such a great experience that we didn’t think twice about joining this month’s Sinulog bazaar.

The second time, however, is definitely not a charm. Sales are a bit low because people are too engrossed with the Sinulog revelry to think about shopping. We’ve had really bad weather practically all week, so the exhibition area has been constantly wet and muddy, and we even had to close 3 hours early on Friday night because the rain pummeled the tents quite badly. Worst of all, we somehow ended up with the next-door neighbors from hell (or at least, from China).

Since day one, they’ve done nothing but complain. First, it was our flooring; they claimed it went through our side of the wall to theirs (it didn’t). Days later, it was the life-sized tarp of my best friend, Aileen, who happens to be Innuendo‘s image model. They claimed that it was blocking their display when it was definitely within our boundaries (even the organizers agreed with us).

They kept at it for days, attacking my poor cousin who was manning the booth incessantly and even kicking the tarp stand! The way they were carrying on, you’d think they were selling awesome stuff like ipods or eggcups, but no, they were hawking cheap silver jewelry.

But I digress. It all came to a head last night when The Husband confronted them about it. When he asked them what their problem was, they started yelling and gesticulating madly in broken English. Then one of them started pulling on our tarp, and almost tore it off! I then told him off, and he advanced towards me like he was going to hit me. So The Husband yelled at him and told him that if he does that again, he (The Husband) was going to tread on his head. I pulled him away, told him to calm down, and he turned his back on them because I told him to just walk away.

Next thing I knew, said Chinaman grabbed one of those plastic Monobloc stools and hit The Husband on the head. The Husband grabbed him in a headlock while the other Chinaman joined the fray. By this time, the whole force of the brawl propelled all 3 men, like, 50 feet away from where it started – all within 10 seconds or less.

Now, these Chinamen are both rather short and scrawny, so The Husband handled them fairly easily. I was half-expecting them start going all Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on The Husband, but really, the whole brawl just looked a bit like a couple of tiny hyenas trying to fight a tiger.

It was over as quickly as it started. Guys from the other stalls and some customers broke up the fight. The organizers came over and tried to sort things out. Naturally, two rather different versions of the story were heard from our side and from theirs (and their 2 skanky girlfriends/wives). They were going to be moved to another stall, but unfortunately, none of the other exhibitors were keen on moving, so we’re going to have to live with them for another week.

The Husband ended up with a couple of bumps on his head that are now thankfully gone and a banged up knuckle where he hit one of ‘em Chinamen’s teeth (said Chinaman was seen inspecting a loose tooth later). We called the cops, but they wouldn’t come after the fact, believe it or not. We were going to go in and file a complaint with the police, anyway, but the organizers begged us not to, saying it was going to give the bazaar bad publicity, blah blah blah. By this time, we were all exhausted, so we decided to just settle for an apology.

If one good thing came out of this whole mess, it’s that the organizer has told them that we can display the tarp all we want, as long as it’s not beyond 20 inches of our wall, so I daresay that we won’t be hearing any more crap from them within the next few days. Funnily enough, we haven’t even used those 20 inches because we were actually being considerate about their display, but because of this incident, we’re definitely going to use all our 20 inches now. Ahhh, the stupidity of the human race.

Still, I wish none of these ever happened. I hate it when The Husband fights. Why can’t men just talk? The excess of manliness is way too much for my sensibilities.

I grew up in a Christian sect (which shall remain nameless) that staunchly discourages the celebration of Christmas. Nevertheless, I’m a big fan of the holiday – not only now that I’ve left said sect, but even back in the days when I was quite the active member.

Because of this upbringing, however, I don’t see Christmas the way most people do. For one thing, the religious implications are completely lost on me, so I’m not going to go into that. I simply see Christmas as a time for family, friends, great food, and of course, presents.

This year’s Christmas is definitely one of the best ones – EVER. I’m thinking it’s probably because so many great things happened this year, and everyone in my family just has so many things to be thankful for. Not only that, because most of us work at home, we haven’t been obliged to go to this or that party to socialize with people we may or may not like, so our holidays have been spent with the very people we wanted to celebrate with – each other. Most of all, the coming year is going to be a big ‘un that’ll bring about a spate of huge changes that I can’t talk about right now, so I guess thinking about this time next year is making everyone want to make the most of this year’s holidays. (Plus, this year saw the return of mum’s famous “turbo chicken”, a family favorite that we haven’t had in at least 5 years!)

And then there are the presents. Everyone in the family gave the best, so we all received the best. No, I didn’t get any of the gadgets on my wish list, but I did get a lot of stuff that I wanted and needed.

First, there’s the fabulous new bed and mattress that The Husband and I decided to give ourselves as a Christmas present. The bed frame and headboard are made of a soft nubuck, which is really lovely to the touch. It’s also Queen-sized, a bit of an upgrade from our old double bed. The thick, firm foam mattress is somewhat recessed with a good half-foot nubuck border/frame around it, so I’m not likely to fall off the bed anymore.

We were actually eyeing it for months at SM’s Our Home where they had a camel-colored one on display, but when we finally decided to buy it, it was gone. I nearly burst into tears! Luckily, the salesman told us that there was a chocolate brown one still tucked away in storage, and when he showed it to us, we had it reserved right there and then. I’ve had zero insomnia since it was delivered a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I don’t think I’ve slept so well in my entire life! It’s well worth the $500 price tag!

The Husband and I decided to get the bed because we couldn’t decide what to give each other for Christmas. The idea was not to give each other presents anymore, but somehow we ended up getting wrapped presents for each other, anyway. I got him a Casio Edifice chronograph; he got me a Moleskine Daily Planner because I didn’t win the giveaway (sniffles). He couldn’t find the Moleskine Color-a-Day sort, so he just got me the plain black one because I already had a red Starbucks planner this year. I’m so happy! Moleskines are L-O-V-E.

The rest of this year’s haul was quite as impressive. Chin gave me my present earliest: a beautiful notebook made of all native and recycled materials, which is a great addition to my ever increasing notebook collection (yes, I have one!). The best thing about it is that Chin has its twin – isn’t that sweet? I wasn’t able to take a picture of it, though, because I didn’t have Caesar on me that night.

My best friend, Aileen turned up the morning of Christmas Eve with a fabulous Guess? bag – in purple! Now, I’m extremely bag-challenged. I hardly ever buy bags because I usually just take whatever my mum isn’t using (she has LOADS), and I would normally use whatever bag I’m currently using until it’s worn out beyond recognition. It’s nice to have a pretty new bag of my own, for a change.

My uber generous mother surpassed herself this year. The whole month has been a constant stream of surprises from her. I got a pair of jeweled wedges, several fancy Wacoal underwear, a fancy jewelry box, gorgeous white gold hoop earrings, and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. The rest of the family got a ton of really cool stuff from her, too. Our mum is definitely the most awesome one in the world!

From my sister, her darling Mike, and everyone’s darling Xabier, I got an extremely cool portable laptop stand and cooler in hot pink. It’s totally ergonomic, and I’m working more comfortably now. Octavian is also kept nice and cool at all times, which I’m hoping would prevent heating problems in the future. A week without Octavian is a week too many!

From Tita Pilar, my sister’s mother-in-law, I got a beautiful pair of pearl stud earrings, which had me squealing with delight. I love, love, LOVE pearls, but I haven’t worn any in years! I gave all my pearl jewelry to mum before I left for Thailand, and I’m just so happy to be wearing pearls again.

Yes, aren’t Christmas presents lovely? Why, I love ‘em so much that I’d be quite happy getting promotional tote bags!

What about you? What did you get for Christmas?

I love pretty clothes. Even more so if I get them for free. You can imagine how happy I was when, out of the blue, my best friend, Aileen, decided to give me this to-die-for jacket:

Did I mention it was a bebe?

I’m saving this for next month’s 5-day Hongkong trip with The Husband. This will go fabulously well with my white, super short distressed denim skirt from MNG, and the nameless (definitely not Dansko) boots I ordered online:

I was contemplating tights, too, but I figured it might be a tad overkill. After all, it’s Hongkong, not Alaska. Gold jewelry, however, is non-negotiable. Hell, if my not-so new hairstyle makes me look like something out of an old N.Y.P.D. Blue rerun, I might as well go the whole hog!

We got back from our (late) week-long Boracay honeymoon on Wednesday, and I still haven’t recovered from my holiday mood, so I’m blogging (about time, too!), instead of working.

Don’t worry. I won’t bore you with all the holiday details. More often than not, The Husband and I travel to relax, so we didn’t do much in the way of adventure. If anything, it was a fairly uneventful trip, save for a little drama that involved my Macbook, Gaius (more on that later).

We did spend a couple of days sailing and island hopping/snorkeling. The Husband identified not one, not two, but SIX different species of clown fish, which predictably drove him into paroxysms of pleasure. Yes, the man knows his Nemos.

He also made friends with barnacles…

…and a crab that clung to his shorts for dear life. (Sounds a bit wrong, doesn’t it? LOL.)

I, on the other hand, spent most of my time lying on the beach, reading The Grass Crown (the second book of Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series), drinking milkshakes aplenty, swimming (or more accurately, jumping because the waves were huge), and showing off the effects of my diet pill of choice.

Readers of this blog, be warned! I’m about to strut my stuff.

Day Two (we only managed to catch the sunset on Day One):

This is a bebe bikini loaned to me by my best friend, Aileen. I’m trying to come up with a good excuse not to return it (sorry, Lhen!).

Day Three:

I spent more time in a wrap because we were island hopping. I only ever got to take it off while we snorkeled, only to wear a ludicrous life vest instead. Plus there were 3 Arabs (ick!) in our group who were openly ogling me and getting The Husband a bit worked up.

Day Four:

This definitely isn’t the most flattering suit in my wardrobe. I bought it from a seller in Multiply, and I realized that the bottom was much too big for my new frame. What a bummer.

Day Five:

This one here is an interesting one. This was designed and created by none other than my sister, Peachy, who is about to launch her own swimsuit line (Innuendo – watch out for it!) before the month ends. Chin called this The Bondage Suit, and I’m inclined to agree!

If I were to describe this suit in one word, I would use ‘precarious’ because, well, it is – but in a good way. The top did fall off a couple of times while I was in the water, but it’s mostly because the waves were B-R-U-T-A-L! She will, however, change the bandeau design somewhat so that it stays on no matter what.

Here’s what it looks like from the back:

It hugs, it flatters, and it’s definitely one of a kind!

Day Six:

This, by far, is my absolute favorite suit of all time! Again, this was created and designed by Peachy for Innuendo. Unfortunately, I didn’t get enough pictures of the fantastic details (I’m banging my head against the wall right now – truly!), so it’ll have to wait until we can get the site set up and the stocks uploaded.

In a nutshell, the right side of the bandeau top is cinched with a biggish O-ring. So are both sides of the bottom (where my hands are conveniently positioned – argh!), so we’ve got some really bare areas that are downright sexy.

My dear sister also made me a hot pink, skintight dress with the same O-ring detail:

I’m calling it The Naked Dress because it literally felt like I had nothing on the entire time I wore it. This is one dress I can wear over and over and over.

More detail up close:

Now enough of this vainglorious posturing.

When I first visited Boracay in 2007, it changed my life. It made me see exactly what an empty, meaningless life I was living. I had a corporate job that I absolutely loathed and absolutely no idea of where I was going.

And so it was that barely three weeks later, I packed my bags and moved to Bangkok with a bit of help from Chin and her Bangkok-based friends. I met Steve on my very first day at my new job, started dating him a month later, and the rest, as they say, is history. It seemed only fitting that I take him to the place that made every single thing that has happened since possible.

We’ll be back. And who knows? Maybe we can stay for good.

More pictures here – some quite good, some downright embarrassing.