The One About the Five-Star Weekend

This is a super late post.  During the three-day weekend last June, when everybody was going out-of-town, Hon-some and I decided to be trendy and went on a staycation.  We booked a room at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel for some R&R.

That bar of chocolate turned out to be sooooo good!  To think I don't really have a sweet tooth!

Free WiFi!  All the more reason to stay in!

We walked to Podium at noon and had lunch at Shi Lin.

Salt and pepper squid

This is what we really came here for.  Xiao long bao!

Saw this on the minibar when we came back to the hotel

Such a nice touch. :)

At the minibar, it was hot tea for me...

...and, THOSE for Hon-some! Hahaha!

The morning after, we had breakfast at HEAT.  The next pictures spell G-L-U-T-T-O-N-Y so brace yourself...

I love egg white omelettes.

Kadiri (yucky) ba?

Just when I was having a hard time keeping all that food down (wooshooo!), we found ourselves here on the last day of our five-star weekend:

 

Manila Diamond Hotel

But I'll spare you the gluttinous (spelling?) photos until the next post!  Haha!  Until then!

The One About My New Anthology Ish

Remember when I drooled over this particular magazine?  Look at what has arrived in the mail...

My third issue has arrived!

I can't wait to read it.  As I write this, I had just come home and had enjoyed a steaming bowl of hot noodle soup - perfect for the stormy weather.  Hon-some is snoring as I type and so I have a pocket of "me" time on my hands.  I just want to curl up on the couch with my new magazine.

Endless inspiration awaits...

Things I'm Loving Now (Series 1)

I have decided to do a new series on things that have caught my fancy.  I guess in a way I want to be reminded of things that make my heart skip a beat or at least make me smile.  I'm currently reading "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist and this series is somewhat my take on an "appeal for a celebration."

So here it goes...

 

 I recently bought a bottle of Acca Kappa.  Hon-some introduced me to it.  I have never taken a liking for perfumes.  I have always preferred colognes because I like smelling bagong ligo (newly-bathed) more than smelling like flowers with woody undertones.  Before buying this, I have been using Baby Bench colognes which smell lovely.  I love Acca Kappa, though.  I love how the smell mesmerizes and lingers.

My brother recently celebrated his birthday and he treated us to big, big, big burgers at Charlie's Grind and Grill.  I enjoyed their Chili Cheese Fries.  Thick wedges of crispy-on-the-outside-soft-and-crumbly-on-the-inside potatoes were smothered - literally smothered - with tasty cheese sauce and spicy chili.  Got the photo here.

 I have just finished reading "One Day" by David Nicholls and I absolutely love it!  I looooooooooove it!  I don't usually go for romantic novels but this one is right on the mark.  The feeling you get after reading it, I tell you, it stays on.  For days.  Literally.  It's a definite must-read.

 

I hope the movie version will be just as good.  I've liked Jim Sturgess since "Across the Universe."

 I have found this to be true:  a swipe of red lipstick on a bare face can make you look instantly made up.  On weekends when I have to go out and I'm too lazy to put on makeup, I put red lipstick on and it makes all the difference.  I'm especially happy because I have been looking for the perfect shade of red for the longest time and I've finally found my perfect rouge tube: Revlon in Crimson.

My wedding ring.  Ines de la Fressange of Parisian Chic (another must-read for those interested in French dressing) said it right when she said the only accessory a woman needs to wear is her wedding ring.  That alone makes one tres chic!

So that's it for my first series!  Hope you enjoyed it, lovelies!  Till next time!

Picture-Perfect Thursday: Wicked Randomness

Here are some images that have brought a smile to my face today...

Moustache pacifiers!  Genius! :)

Boob scarves.  Now that's just weird...

Oooh...I so want!

 

Where's Waldo? :)

Neville Longbottom becomes hot!  Seriously!

Have a great Thursday! :)

Note:  I got the photos here.

Picture-Perfect Thursday: The Sartorialist

I got hooked on Scott Schumann's blog a couple of years ago.  Now, even Hon-some borrows my copy of his book.  I love his blog to bits.  No other street style photographer comes close (well, maybe Garance Dore, his girlfriend). 

Here are some of my favorite looks:

Go drool over at his website!

P.S. Seems I can't post Picture-Perfect Thursday entries on a Thursday.  Please bear with me.  I've just started my new job and I'm still adjusting to the new swing of things.  

The One About My First Bento Box

I now get crafty play with my food... :)

The One About the Jewelry Bouquet

When I announced my engagement last year and had received good wishes from family and friends, a lot of them expected that I would churn out a "crafty" wedding, so to speak.  Handmade invitations and DIY wedding favors were just some of their crafty expectations.  While I have to admit that I am a big admirer of homespun backyard weddings like those in the States, I had to choose between being crafty - and thrifty altogether - and being relaxed and beautiful on my big day.

Creating invitations and wedding favors for about 200 guests would inevitably leave me haggard and so I went with the latter option.  Still, I wasn't about to get hitched without being a tad crafty.

Since the start of the engagement, I had been collecting vintage-looking jewelry.  Remember this post?  I had initially planned on making a entire wedding bouquet out of jewelry.  However, when I talked to my florist, the lure of fresh flowers was hard to resist.  I'm a sucker for fresh flowers.  If I could, I'd buy fresh flowers everyday and nix the room spray.

So my florist and I decided on a bouquet of white roses (which happened to be my favorite) but I asked her if she could include the jewelry "flowers" I had painstakingly made (I still have burnt fingers from the hot glue to show for it).  Delightfully, she said yes and this was how the bouquet turned out:

The purple flowers on my bouquet (the big one) were paper and fabric flowers.  Can't be seen much in the photo but I beaded some pearls as well and they served as elegant accent pieces.

I happened to make a lot of the jewelry "flowers" so each of my bridesmaids and maid of honor got some in their bouquets as well. 

 

The beaded flower at the bottom is a cocktail ring!

It was like a hidden gift as they could deconstruct the bouquet and use the jewelry after the wedding.

Happy crafting! :)