Of unsmotable Girls and bohemian trustafarian wardrobes

I have this tendency to become obsessed with fictional characters on television series. First, there was Rachel Greene form FRIENDS, Karen Walker from Will and Grace, and Daenerys from Game of Thrones. These days, my sister and I have been watching the first season of Girls and although I am pretty sure I'm an uptight bitch like Marnie, I have been nursing a girl-crush on Jemima Kirke's bohemian trustafarian character, Jessa. She's too pretty not to have a crush on. 

I mean, her fashion sense has totally inspired me to dress like a bohemian hipster. Case in point, I am totally obsessing over her printed Zara palazzo pants!:

Of course, it's quite difficult to achieve considering my wardrobe is a cross between Marnie and Shoshanna's prim and proper girly styles; BUT, I am now un-regretting the numerous Topshop cutesy tops I bought since Jessa has found a cool way to pull them off: with jeans and rainbow barrettes!

No, I don't think I can pull off a kimono in broad daylight or wear a hippie wedding dress but it's nice to know it can be done. 

Time to stock up on hippie/hipster/bohemian pieces! Who says an uptight bitch can't dress like a free bird?

Date me at Draft Gastropub

It's only Tuesday but I'm already craving a relaxing night out this weekend. Work combined with graduate school has proceeded to suck the energy out of me. If anything, I'm only craving Draft's sticky date toffee pudding for my sweet tooth, beats alcohol any time. 

For a fruit lover, I don't normally eat dates but this concoction is really a must-try. Soft-baked pudding swimming in toffee with a scoop of vanilla ice cream--yum! It's so good that I just want to order one for myself and I'll be a happy camper all night long. 

What's nice about Draft is that it's the perfect place to hang out with a date, family, or friends. In fact, I first heard about the place from Jake's dad who has treated us there twice. They have a wide selection of imported beers, they offer cocktails for the ladies, and I LOVE their food! Plus, it doesn't get too noisy and the crowd never gets rowdy so it's just my kind of place! 

Speaking of food: friends, meet Draft's Fully-loaded Burger! Their half-pound Angus beef burger with all the trimmings. I also like the bleu cheese burger but this one's huge enough for two. For pulutan, the potato wedges and mozzarella nuggets are your best bets.

Happy times with the boys! I tend to stick to caipirinhas while they prefer Stella or Beck's for beers. This place, in my opinion, has the best ambiance for a fun night with friends. In fact, it's where you hang out if you you're in your early twenties and want to feel like a proper mature adult. There's none of that teen party place vibe or the stuffy wine bar atmosphere. It's perfectly in between and not at all pretentious.

wearing Zara dress as a top, vintage denim shorts

Take me on a date there this weekend? :-)

Appreciating architecture with DLSU's newest building on the block

Say hello to DLSU's newest building on the block: the Henry Sy Centennial Hall! They launched it with the Centennial closing to mark DLSU's 100 years of Lasallian presence in the Philippines. I must say, it's worth giving up the football field for--the whole thing looks awesome! All glass panes and white swishy things and everything.

It's amazing how they were able to maximize the space and only used half of the football field. The resulting effect is a wide-open space of green grass leading to the entrance. Ah-mahzing! They blessed the grounds last June 15 but the building will be officially open by August (I think). I can't wait to ride the long escalator and just basically check out the study halls and how they'll design the interiors. 

I love my alma mater. Here's to greener days ahead!

Wardrobe pegs for rainy days

It's stress season so every once in a while, I flip through my Mango catalogue for some comfort and inspiration. They're also on sale so I'm dragging my mother later to buy some key pieces which she'll hopefully offer to buy for me, for free. 

I already bought the white eyelet top below but I made a big mistake of checking out their online catalogue. Once you realize you can't pull off a look with just a couple of pieces, you can't sleep until you finally have a workable capsule wardrobe. Damn you, Kate Moss.

Little Tokyo series: Oishinbo!

It's raining like crazy and I'm weirdly in the mood for sushis and bento boxes. I miss Little Tokyo dates on days when I'm craving authentic Japanese. Jake and I are overly fond of Kikufuji and Seryna when we're in the area, but since Lil Tokyo is notoriously closed during off-peak hours, we ended up trying a new place the last time we were there.

Oishinbo's in the inner patio and was one of the three places that were open at 2pm. Since they were offering bento boxes and we were really hungry, we decided to give it a try.

Overall, I loved the salad and the katsu. Considering how Oishinbo means "the gourmet" in Japanese, I think their food delivered and came at an affordable price. I would still prefer Seryna and Kikufuji but when it's late in the afternoon and all the choices are closed, you have to settle for the next best thing. 

The ambiance was low-key and unassuming, so don't expect a fine dining atmosphere. I can imagine the place jam-packed during peak hours which should lend that frantic Japanese vibe to it. Gotta love the old-school Japanese interior!

And of course, Urameshiya was still closed. Jake and I never seem to get the chance to visit the place, granted that it's only open from 6pm til around 2am. Maybe on our next Little Tokyo food trip we can finally have a yakiniku dinner date?

wearing Forever 21 tube dress, Topshop vest, Rubi flats

Pigging out on NY food at Borough

The boyfriend and I finally decided to eat at Borough after a year of just trying their oven-baked cheesecake. Last time we ate there, the place was still in the soft opening phase so we were itching to try most of their food last night. As a result, we ordered waaay too much food for the two of us. I was already nursing an acidic tummy on my attempt to drink a caipiroska with my French onion soup.

However, that was some awesome French onion soup. I couldn't get enough of the gruyere cheese and the crostini!

This being a New York-inspired joint, we also ordered the buffalo wings. No, not the chocolate wings but the usual kind. It did not disappoint. And we do know our buffalo wings. I also loved how they were generous with the dip, it even had chunks of bleu cheese!

Jake had the all-beef cheeseburger which, for Php 400, should be worth the price. I only took a tiny bite but I think the boyfriend enjoyed it with the fries. The patty was HUGE. The home-made brioche bun was also a huge plus. I've always had something against store-bought burger buns served in restaurants. 

My order, though, was the highlight of the night. I had the BBQ-pulled pork sandwich in a homemade hoagie with coleslaw and served with a side of Borough chips. I can't stop thinking about this sandwich. It was THAT good! The pork was perfectly barbecued and pulled into tender strips that filled the whole thing. I'm already craving for another one. I was torn between this and the cheese-injected portobello, so no regrets! 

For dessert, I had veto power over Jake who wanted to get the oven-baked Brooklyn cheesecake again. When we first tried Borough, he laughed at me when I said I wanted milk and cookies. Feeling like a silly kid, I ordered the cheesecake like he did. So last night, he finally conceded to trying the cookies. For such tiny things, they were yummy! Freshly-baked sweets served with cold milk are my weakness. I DO wish they were bigger and served more of the chocolate chip variety, though.

Happy times!

Oh, we also saw Prometheus before dinnerinks. This should have been my face after the movie. Jake fooled me into watching a movie about ALIENS. Argh.

Charlie the Unicorn

Call me stupid. Call me shallow. I cannot deny that these Charlie the Unicorn cartoons made my entire day. No, make that my entire week! The boyfriend made himself useful and posted the YouTube link on my wall early this morning.

I've already taken to talking like pink and purple at work. I already tend to annoy my officemates like so, hence it's a pretty easy task. Now I'm just re-watching episodes 1 and 2 (which are my favorites) to pick up some notable lines.

Happy days are here again!!!

What made your heart race today? Useless crap from Topshop

Welcome to another edition of stuff I definitely don't need but who cares I want it:

I definitely want need another blazer for work to add to my collection. I want one in denim or something bright. And preferably one that goes well with my daisy dukes.

And I need coral pants, just because the Duchess of Cambridge herself wore them. Oh, Kate Middleton. I'm going to replicate your entire wardrobe one of these days.

I also want this cut out tunic. I haven't tried it on at the store but I think I can pull it off after a week or two of dieting. Or maybe I can just not breathe and do that "stomach in" thing the whole time I'm wearing it?

I recently made the rounds at Zara and Mango and have spotted some key pieces I need. Oversized blouses, candy colored denim shorts, pastel blazers, and some denim jeans. Now, where do I get the money? I'm really starting to hate the extreme irrevocable measures I've imposed on myself when it comes to saving money. Seriously.

P.S. I'm definitely saving up for Cotton On, though. I will never forgive myself if I don't shop on opening day.

Photo cred

Exploring the el trio of Zambales: Camara, Capones, and Anawangin

I've never explored Zambales beyond Subic before this summer. I always thought it would be a boring place since there's not much buzz about the beaches and let's be honest, Subic's not really on top of my favorite tourist spots in the country.

However, any place that gives me a whale-shaped rock formation and lets me pose like a mermaid (or a small balyena, depending on how you look at it) is a place that I will instantly fall in love with: friends, meet Camara Island!

This is actually the first of three stops in our island-hopping trip. And coincidentally, Camara was also my favorite stop. I loved the smooth stones dotting the shore and the rock formations surrounding the island. We were told that at low tide, there's a sand bar connecting the island to the whale rock. Amazeballs!

Up next was Capones Island. Ironically, this was the place we were most excited about because we've already done our research and couldn't wait to climb up to the light house and stage a pictorial along the golden grass on top of the island. However, our boatmen decided the waves were too strong on the side where you can dock to head to the light house and brought us to the beach side instead.

The beach was actually nice, and the rock formations were a winner. However, it was a bit of a letdown especially after you've imagined yourself trekking up to a lighthouse. I was all ready and raring to try and scale the boulder to get to the other side of the island but our boatmen were insisting it was time to head to Anawangin. What is it with boatmen and party pooping?

And then came Anawangin Cove. I have heard stories about the beauty and sheer wonder of the place. Imagine a beach that leads to a river surrounded by a forest of pine trees. Sounds amazing, right? WRONG. The place was too crowded and they made a fence where you have to pay just to go inside the "camping area". I can imagine that at one point, it was a breath-taking location. From afar, Anawangin Cove looks postcard-perfect; but when you see the trash and the declining beauty of its natural wonders, reality starts to sink in.

 

We managed to take some nice photos inside the pine tree forest and tried to ignore the stares from the campers. I read that Anawangin Cove has a quieter, more secluded, and definitely cleaner twin called Nagsasa Cove but it's about 2 hours farther away by boat. We were not willing to add more hours to our boat ride on the choppy water so we made the most out of Anawangin. We also tried to snorkel in vain but all the corals were dead. Yeah.

Instead, we channeled our frustrations into silly poses. When life gives you lemons, do a yoga pose in front of strangers...on top of a tree stump.

And sway with the (non-existent) wind.

Or pretend you're in a movie and happily splash your feet in the river while clinging to an ant-infested branch.

 
And basically, just camwhore your way around.

Dracarys

And Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen has done it again!!! The Khaleesi and rightful Queen to the Iron Throne kicked some serious ass in the season two finale on a quest to retrieve her stolen dragons from the weird looking fella, err sorcerer, at Qarth. I cannot believe how epic her scene at The House of Undying was, despite reading about it in the book. And now, I'm more obsessed than ever! I love how they managed to preserve her strength and willfulness from the books straight to the boob tube. Big props to Emilia Clarke for playing Daenerys perfectly!

Now, here's to hoping they spice books 3-5 up a little and change the storyline to let Dany cross over to Westeros RIGHT AWAY. I want to see her kick some Lannister ass! I just finished A Dance with Dragons (book 5) and Dany's still over at Meereen trying to build an army and to hone her ruling skills before crossing over. I say girl needs to claim the Iron Throne right away! In fact, I don't really mind if they just center the whole thing around Dany. Okay, I'd like to see Mance Rayder. And probably Cersei and Margaery's inevitable clash and bitch fight. Oh, and I can't believe they pushed thru with the Winterfell scene, that was heartbreaking. Theon's demise was more or less expected. Nevertheless, here's to an even more amazing season three!

Photo cred

Pundaquit's Capones Vista Beach Resort

And just like that, summer is officially over. The first typhoon of the season is just around the corner and if you were planning to get a last-minute tan, forget about it. I already miss sunny days by the beach but I'm already looking forward to gloomy days and rainy nights. I, for one, love the beach when it's raining.

Speaking of summer, I finally got to check out Zambales this May and went island hopping around Capones and Camara islands and the famous Anawangin Cove. We stayed at Pundaquit in a beach resort with an awesome view of Capones island. I must say, for such a tiny town, Pundaquit has some awesome resorts! Our place, Capones Vista Beach Resort, was a wonderful discovery in a place where we thought would be a blah. Zambales should really tap into promoting itself.

They have two pools, and we particularly loved hanging out at the infinity pool overlooking the beach. This being a surfing spot, the beach was practically unswimmable unless you were a really strong swimmer and on a suicide mission. The sand was also dark and coarse so lounging around wasn't an option. The infinity pool was a big plus when we gave up on the shore.

And with a view like this from my spot, I really can't complain:

The resort's also at the end of the beach strip so you can claim a quiet spot away from the locals and tourists. Too bad the water's always too wild for a quick swim, though.

We stayed at one of the double bedrooms along the pool. I forgot to take a photo but each room has two queen beds, a TV, shower and toilet, plus its own veranda where you can eat breakfast delivered from the nearby resort restaurant. They can use some improvement service-wise but overall we were happy with how clean and well-maintained the place was.

Pundaquit beach is also the jump-off point to reach Camara, Capones, and Anawangin by boat. The resort arranged an island-hopping trip for us which took half a day. It's way better to do it in the morning while the waves are still manageable. We were clinging to our life jackets on our way back around noon and were very lucky our boatmen knew how to navigate around strong waves. For the seasick, there's also an option to hike from the beach all the way to Anawangin Cove but it would take around 5-6 hours. No, we did not even try to attempt that hike.