dear jeepney driver

I wish you wouldn't stop in the middle of the road every 3 feet. While it's fun to play that old game in gradeschool called "Pepsiiiii... 7-Up!", playing this with you each morning makes me late for work. If you really want to play, we can opt to play Taguan (hide-and-seek) where you hide and I [don't] seek. Now that would make me so early for work! Habulan (tag) is another option... hmmm, but only as long as I'm not your passenger. So okay, fine. For the safety and sanity of your passengers, we can continue to play "Pepsi, 7-Up" as long as your Pepsi's are much longer and your 7-Up's are fewer and farther between (read: please pick up and drop off passengers only at loading/unloading zones).

Pepsi, 7-Up requires at least 2 players where one is the "it" and stays in front facing away from the other players. The "it" shouts "Pepsi" and prolongs the word ("Pepsiiiiiiiii") to signal to the other players to advance toward him. When he shouts "7-Up", the other players need to freeze. When a player is able to tag the "it" after several rounds of "Pepsiiii... 7-Up!", the "it" chases everyone and whoever gets tagged becomes the new "it".

Photo from here.

  

i'm just asking...

Do you notice the eyewear or the flower more?

I'm just asking... :D

Photos from theessentialist.

Unpoetic Poetry

I've never been a lover of poetry. I prefer prose. But I do love Dr. Seuss' books as bedtime stories for my son because the rhyming makes it much more fun to read out loud.

I'm not much of a fiction-writer either. I tried when I first discovered Willow Love. I was enthralled by the poetic bits of stories she imagined from a single beautiful photograph. But when I got myself a photo to write about, I ended up spending 30 minutes staring at either the photo or a blank computer screen.

But just a few pages of The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones inspired me to push my boundaries and try again. This time, I tried to rhyme without being poetic. And this time, I tried to write fiction without being profound.

Here's my first attempt:

We both knew it was over;

even before this one:

this latest fight

about gum.

Does it mean something

when I look back

at all we've been through

And think...

Boy, I will really miss

(maybe a bit of his hugs)

But more, so much more,

borrowing his beautiful bags.

Will not win a Pulitzer, I know. But hey, the point is I pushed my boundaries. And that was really all I wanted to do. :)

Photos from theessentialist.

the news

I confess. I don't read the papers anymore.

What I know about current events, I heard from a certain blue (non-angry) bird.

And I figure, if it's important, it will prevail long enough for me to hear about it from my mother. :D

What about you? Do you still read the papers?

Photo of Diane Kruger from stopandpicture and of the Twitter bird from here.

drive-by

Efficiency is of high importance to me. So I never go to a mall to go to just 1 store at that mall. I have to be able to tick several things off my to-do list when I make the effort to park.

So for those places with only 1 place that is of interest to me, I have mastered the art of the drive-by. I wish all restaurants had a drive-thru, but since they don't -- I place a call to that 1 establishment I want to go to, order what I want and request them to bring my order out for me. You don't even need to get down from your car! Now, isn't that efficient? :)

Some of my staple drive-by establishments are: (1) Sonja's Cupcakes at Serendra for my favorite Vanilla Sunshine cupcakes (and my daughter's Berry Delight). (2) Bubble Tea Megamall where I order Royal Milk Tea with extra bubbles. Yes, of course I love tea with dots (er, bubbles). I drive by the Basement Parking entrance ("Johnny Air Cargo exit" is how the Bubble Tea people know it) and they're ready to hand over my delicious polka-dotted milk tea! (3) Reyes Barbecue on Kalayaan Avenue. I know! Am cringing as I admit this. But hey, Aristocrat pork barbecue with java rice and achara is comfort food for me. I pass Kalayaan everyday on my way home from work. And on days when I work 14-hour days and leave the office close to midnight, I make that call to order my pork barbecue. Because I feel worse about working so late and getting home when everyone is already asleep when I go to bed without dinner (because am too lazy exhausted to reheat the dinner I missed and the maids are already asleep to do it for me)... So I place that call for my comfort food. And working late doesn't feel so sad anymore.

I have yet to try and get Bar Dolci to bring out an order of Butter Salted Caramel macaroons. Hmmm... to-do item for tonight! 

So if you're as lazy as I am and want to give my staple drive-by establishments a try:

Sonja's Cupcakes Serendra - 632-8560308

Bubble Tea Megamall - 632-6387479

Reyes BBQ Kalayaan Ave - 632-4031880

This isn't a regular service so make sure to request for it nicely. And remember to tell them to bring out change. And please tip them well! After all, they did make the extra effort of walking out of their store to hand you your order.

Photo from sparklesandpretending.

my fear of ostriches

I know it's odd. But of all the animals in the animal kingdom, ostriches scare me the most. They terrify me. Their bigness, their ugly black and white feathers (or is it fur?), their gigantic beady eyes. So you can imagine my horror when I saw these Louis Vuitton window displays.

I don't mind the ostrich eggs display.

But the ostrich? Especially this one with its neck traversing 2 whole windows!

With the ostrich's beady eyes staring at you. Creepy!

[shudder]

And anyway, don't they look prettier this way?

Vintage Hermes Mini Kelly

Kara Ross Lucis Ring Lizard & Seafoam Ostrich

I love the seafoam color peeking out. I would have preferred for the silver to be in the python material Kara Ross Lucis uses rather than in lizard.

 

Bulgari in olive ostrich

I know, this is circa-2008 on Halle Berry. But I just love the relaxed shape in the luxe skin. And the color! So effortlessly elegant!

Photos from thefashionprophet, worldofamici and purseblog.

dear girl who lets her boyfriend carry her purse

Thank you for showing me that chivalry is not dead - that gentlemen still exist in this age of equality of the sexes. I truly hope to raise such a well-mannered gentleman in my son. I hope he will grow up to be a man that opens doors for women and pulls their chairs.

Though could you draw the line at purses? It's just a waste of all the fitting you did when you bought your bag: does it look good on my wrist? My shoulder, my hand? My wrist again? My hand? My shoulder? Or even the fitting earlier that day when you chose that purse over all your other bags. Since you considered if it goes well with your outfit today and most likely didn't consider if it goes well with his, maybe you could refrain from having him carry this one thing. It just makes him look more genteel than gentlemanly. After all, even if says he wants to carry it, if he really wanted a purse, he would have bought one for himself.

But go ahead and let him carry everything else. :)

Enjoy your shopping weekend!

Photo from sparklesandpretending.