vintage [clothes], vintage-inspired [glasses], crafty things [for DIY], and new [gifts!]. I hope this rainy July will be A-okay.

Sunshine Corazon

Yellow, as I may have mentioned in a previous, previous blog, is not my favorite color. It's my sister's favorite color. Yellow may as well represent the Philippines these days, and probably for six years because our current president is a famous yellow (too much smoking makes you yellow) guy.

But I found this beautiful pair of yellow pointed flats with rhinestones at a thrift store and I just have to have them. I even hid the pair from my sister for a while for fear she will get them. It helps that she's about 2 shoe sizes smaller than mine. :D ha! I debuted the pair today and I was very happy and my feet felt beautiful until the shoes broke through my skin and I had to buy a pair of slippers at the mall! Bleh

But they're beautiful noh?

And...speaking of yellow.. have you seen the pilot episode of Glee Season 2.. with Charice! I'm not a fan of Charice but I find her very cute in her Telephone duet with Rachel. Rachel's sooo envious and mean already.. but I look forward to seeing more of Charice and the whole of the Glee gang. :) I'm also praying for Javier Bardem to appear in one or more episodes. He's currently my new crush.

Tatah!

a favorite thing

I use a Pentax Asahi (1970s) manual film camera and it's one of my favorite and treasured vintage find. :)


Photo from An Education via Lace and Cake

Summer Shopping

I regularly edit my closet -- like once every three months. I am not a fan of hoarding too much clothes. I want my clothes displayed properly because I want to wear them. I don't want to store clothes for "future" use. I have a feeling that clothes, like people and other living things, have feelings too. And that if you are happy wearing them, and you take good care of them, they will never disappoint you. :)

I keep clothes that make me happy when I wear them. I sell/give away clothes that make me look & feel frumpy, do not flatter me and makes me fidget. I want clothes to be practical, comfortable, and special.

The past months, while shopping for the Shop, I have also picked few items to add to my closet. Most of these clothes, I realized, are meant for summer, which for me, means only two things -- Holy Week and fiesta. My summer starts with Holy Week and ends with our town's fiesta, on May 15. That's summer for me. :)



1 - Moschino overnight bag
2 - Pentax MV-1 manual camera
3 - 3 tops
4 - 3 vintage dresses
5 - black body-con vintage dress
6 - short-sleeved floral jacket
7 - 2 hats
8 - yellow floral scarf
9 - floral pashmina

Excluding the camera, all items cost me P965. Not bad, noh?

Oh, and if you've noticed, I didn't buy a new pair of one summer must-have -- a swimsuit. That's because I am, admittedly, not a beach babe. I am actually just contented in recycling my old pairs of swimsuits. :D

How about you, lovelies? Did you do your summer shopping already? Or is summer shopping really necessary?

Lucky Find: Yay for Bodysuits!

Left-to-right: DKNY, Excursion, no label

I have always thought bodysuits are for older women, athletic women, ballet dancers and Madonna. But ever since seeing The Cherry Blossom Girl wear an American Apparel bodysuit, and she styled it great, I was on the search for bodysuits. My first very lucky find was the DKNY body suit, thrifted, of course, and fits well. I have been extra lucky to find two additional body suits, the gray striped one and the lace one. :)

I find bodysuits easy to wear because they don't bunch in the waist area, and they form the body. They feel like t-shirts but are not wrinkly. I've been praying to find silky bodysuits like those sold at Italian boutiques here in the city. No luck so far.

All are thrifted and all were bought for less than P50 each.

Lucky Find: French Macaroon(s)

I envy people who are making a living out of things they love to do. I love my work -- tracking billion-dollar bankruptcy cases in the U.S. and writing news about them -- but this work bores me sometimes, like today. And it is especially hot today that all I really want to do is read, or write a little, with a pitcher of mango shake beside me. :D

In the past days and months, I realized I haven't posted about my "lucky finds" -- beautiful finds that are cheap, and almost free.

So, to start, I have finally been lucky the day before Valentine's Day when I visited a patisserie here in the city and they have macaroons for sale. I have visited often in the past but was always unlucky because the macaroons are always sold out.



For P28, I think, the macaroon was a heavenly bite. I prefer black/dark chocolates over sweet chocolates and this macaroon was on the "dark" side. It was a perfect treat, except, of course, it was too small and expensive.

Lucky Find: Favorite Blouse

Many things have come and gone. And many things I have always thought of selling, or giving away, or throwing. But this blouse, from the moment I laid my eyes on it (in one smelly corner of the Carbon Market ukayan), I swore to keep this for the rest of my life.

I bought this for about P10 before I graduated in the summer of 2005. I was truly intent on wearing this to my graduation day underneath the sablay and I have even stitched beads all over the blouse to make it look more vintage. Of course, this is not a blouse. This is an undergarment, but thought this should pass for a blouse.

I was really excited to wear this and had a pixie-style skirt done by Rey Humberto Villegas. But when Mama came to the city and saw this, she was so appalled and took pity on me she took me to an impromptu shopping spree at Loalde in Ayala Center. I couldn't find anything in Loalde that fitted and had to settle to a cream cowl-neck blouse (which became off-shouldered when I wore it). Mama insisted I wear the Loalde blouse and, to please her, I wore it to my graduation rites.

I kept the Loalde blouse, but left it in my Mama's closet in the province.

But this... I'll never part with this.

And when I get married...
Hahaha.. I wish Mama won't take me to another impromtu shopping spree. :D

Lucky Find: Guess Cut-off Shorts

go or no? :)

Lucky Find: Cafe Antonio's Caramel Latte

In our recent trip, my boyfriend treated me to dinner and coffee and a cookie at Cafe Antonio's, near Dumaguete's famed Boulevard. For dinner, I ordered fish fillet and my boyfriend ordered squid in oyster sauce. None of the dishes were superb. Not really intending to buy/drink coffee (I have a no-caffeine rule after 2:30PM), I asked my boyfriend to buy the two of us one cup of coffee -- caramel latte -- to take out to our walk along the boulevard.

The coffee was great! I loved the coffee; i think it would be my favorite dessert. And the price is not bad -- only P60 for a cup.

Photo by Joel Lopez.

Oh, what I'm wearing is a thrifted vintage mid-calf dress.

Thrifted!

Yesterday, I went thrifting and managed to score... another pair of harem pants for P40! :) I don't know what's gotten over me, but the pants fits perfectly and comfortably. I also scored a pair of yellow Jessica pants, but which are too tight in my hips, and a black satin skirt, which I'm going to shorten and put up in the Store for sale in December as the waist is too tad tight for my liking. And, I bought a black lace dress, which I think is going to be my go-to little black dress. The dress is a dream come true. :D

I'll post pictures of them later.

Lucky Find: DKNY Bodysuit

I bought this together with the harem pants last Friday. As I've said in the blog before this, this reminded me of the 80s. The suit is very comfortable to wear. And it is DKNY, something I could not afford to buy at full price (or even at half). I bought this for P20.

Lucky Find: Bows

I am inclined to list these bows for sale at the Shop but I don't know who to price them.

Harem Pants: Is it a Go or a No?

A nearby thrift shop had a supersale Friday. I managed to snatch several items (which I will put up in the store in December), including this pair of linen high-waisted harem pants that fits me well.

I have mixed feelings about the pants though. I love the high-waist, the fabric, and the way it is fitted (but not that fitted) in the ankle. But I am not a lean woman. In fact, I am blessed with child-bearing hips, and I think the harem pants will just highlight that fact more.

So, what is it? Is the harem pants a go for me or a no?

Lucky Find: Velvet Ribbons

When I was a kid, my grandmother made me wear all the velvety dresses that my mother's younger cousin handed down. Everybody in town thought I was a pretty little girl. I thought the dresses were pretty stiff, itchy, and hot (my mother's cousin lives in the United States and I live in the Philippines!). Reminiscing those days, I realized I wouldn't hesitate to wear those outfits (only in bigger sizes of course!) if only to make my grandmother happy. :D

This black velvet bow the size of my palm will come the nearest to those childhood velvet outfits. I bought this bow, which was originally a hair clip, for P5. The clip was no longer functional so I ditched it. I can imagine a lot of outfits where this bow would be appropriate. And, I am also wearing this bow during this weekend's series of photoshoots for the shop's November uploads. :)

Me excited!

Sneak Peek: Coco Chanel

midnight blue dress, Chanel Boutique

One day while thrifting, I chanced upon this midnight blue button-down Chanel dress. Of course, because it was a Chanel, I grabbed it and tried it on. And I was lucky because it fitted me. I brought the dress to the laundry shop. But when I got it, the dress was shrunk to a whole size down.

I think I made a mistake as the instructions said to have the dress dry cleaned.

The dress will be posted at the shop in November. UPDATE: Someone has already reserved the dress! Wohoo! Thank you, dear!

Lucky Find: Scrunchies

I don't know when was the last time I wore scrunchies -- maybe when I was a little girl. Since highschool, I think I have preferred wearing plain black thin ponytails, or sometimes rubber bands. But cloth ponytails are better because they don't "eat" my hair.

Anyway, I read this blog about scrunchies in Jenni Epperson's blog, and saw the Wondergirls of the Nobody, Nobody but Chu (sorry!) fame wearing scrunchies . . . in their arms! :D

And because I am such a cheapie, and I don't want to spend more than P50 on hair ties, I said I'll be lucky if there will be scrunchies for sale, and luckier if I'll find scrunchies that fit my taste.

Boy, I was lucky. Because the thrift shop haven has a pile of scrunchies in their store for P5 each! I bought three -- in the safest colors, pink, black and grey. But will probably be back for more.

I have already transformed the black one into a headpiece... I'll show it to you one of these days when I have found a fitting headband to attach it to. And the pink one is perfect as an arm candy. The grey one, I still don't know how to use it. Maybe just as a scrunchie? (how creative) :D

By the way, the banner photo of the blog, is, yes, the pink scrunchie.

Lucky Find: Studded Leather Belt

I have never been a fan of belts . . . I have always thought they only have a utilitarian use -- for holding up pants/shorts/skirts that are too big for me. In that regard, I only had one black leather belt with a silver buckle for three years, then I added one thin belt with a silver buckle in patent blue leather last year, and I was happy. :)

I am not a follower of the belt-shoes matching rule (because I have few shoes and fewer belts). But since I found my thrift store haven, I've found myself buying more (and more) belts. I am, of course, drawn towards vintage leather belts, like the one above.

And, fixing up outfits with my new (but old) belts, I realized how much belts ommphs an outfit. Not only are they utilitarian.

P.S. I am singing (croaking rather because I have colds) to The Corrs! I have been a fan when I was in highschool and haven't heard from then since, and I didn't expect I can still sing along to their songs after all these years. Weeh! Thank you boyfriend for the songs/albums. Mwah!

Lucky Find: Scarves

Scarves! At P20 each! :)

I found a new haven for thrift shopping. Although most of their items are piled up, meaning I have to dig up to find what I am looking for... But their bags, shoes and belts are hanged making it easier for me to choose. They also have a very helpful staff (or maybe my suki staff is the only one who's helpful?) because he carries all the goods I have chosen while I continue browsing. Plus, the owner is a charming old man.

November Bags

Something to look forward to in the shop's November uploads. :) Five bags, actually, but I couldn't fit the fifth one in the collage. :D Sorry.

Past Finds

A hot pink summer dress (label: Hollister) that I probably bought a year ago or so. Probably, because I can't remember when I bought this or where. All I know is that this piece of sexy summer dress was brought before November 2008 as I already wore this during my boyfriend and my 2nd anniversary in Bohol. Only wore this dress twice. And this dress is a little big for me, especially the bust part. I am putting this up for sale at the shop as part of my November uploads.


I found this dress (label: Clio from Paris) very princessy and would have loved to wear this if I am a princessy person, except that I'm not. Well, we girls have a little princess (or queen) inside of us but I think the dress is too kyoot for my age already. And the sleeves are also a little tight for my taste. So, I am also putting this up for sale in the shop in November. :D