march means the beginning of summer

Manila Summer.

1. Clear blue skies and constant sunshine that is too hot to sit out in at midday.
2. Getting into hot cars after sitting in the scorching parking lot.
3. Sun that beats down on your olive skin, browning and bringing you a summer glow in 10 minutes.
4. Reading books in your backyard.
5. Ice cold shandy with San Miguel.
6. Frizzy hair.
7. The smell of heat pounding on the tarmacked roads.
8.. Warm humid air that sits heavily around you and sweating even if sitting in front of the fan.
9. Beach. Ocean. Sand. if you have time to get away from the concrete jungle....
10. .... if not, there's always the pool and garden in the folks' backyard.

London Summer. 
(When it comes)

1. Deck chairs, picnics and ducks at Hyde Park.
2. Cool, non-humid breeze that touches your skin as you walk down the roads.
3. The inability to get brown while sitting in the park for a whole day or the hope to get colour on your  one hour lunch break.
4. Reading a book on a bench at the closest park.
5. Magners and ice or a shandy in the beer garden of a local pub.
6. People drinking out on the streets of central London.
7. Day trips to Brighton or Bournemouth just to see the ocean.
8. Notting Hill Carnival & music festivals.
9. Hot, sweaty people fighting for space on the tube where there is no ventilation or airconditioning & 58° buses. Makes you want to just walk.
10. Walks down the South Bank along the Thames.


As the date comes closer to my brother leaving for London, I crave to be heading there with him.
And as much as I love our tropical summers, I will always love London summers. This is when I miss it the most.

I always felt alive and free.

drawing fashion.

stretched out. skinny. body dysmorphia in full effect. the stereotypical model body.

makes me want to work out all day, everyday.
but it makes wonderful illustration.
the wonder of art, hey?

check out illustrator Pippa Mcmanus at workable fixative for more of her work. she loves length in figures, draws high fashion, used splotches of colours but my favourite of hers are when she keeps it simple with black and white. but then again, i'm biased. black and white anything always gets my attention.

i keep coming back

dear manila,

oh, how you frustrate me sometimes.

and at times how you anger me, how you have people who discriminate through religion, how some people judge you because of what you believe in, how you have people who look down on their own nation,  how you have people who don't believe in your capabilities in being a country that can thrive, and how you have people that cannot see your potential to do so.

but i know that beyond all of this, there is something there. something that allows me to believe that there are people out there who have not given up on you. there are people who trust that you are what they need in their lives. there are people there that believe you are the place where they can be someone, a place where they can be successful and a place where they can be whoever they want to be.

they are the ones who believe beyond the frustrations.

they are the ones who left first world countries to share their international education with their countrymen.

they are the ones who share hard earned knowledge with you.

they are the ones who come back home.

they are the ones who believe in you. maybe you can begin to believe in them too.

breathing

in the light of everything going on in the world...

without being selfish or anything else possibly disrespectful to other countries in turmoil, i needed to breathe in a simple, ordinary moment in my backyard, and count my blessings.

and as much as i have been so desperate to catch my breath, i realise that my personal turmoil is nothing compared to theirs.

and all of a sudden, i am grounded.

making time for firsts

 

via French by Design

its in the air

there is wedding fever in our house.

and if i would do my wedding all over again I would have more of this:

and i would be wearing this...

Photos from style me pretty , camilla styles, ruffled

cupcakes and carnations

 

two families meet.

cupcakes and carnations.
coffee and tea.  biscuits and profiteroles.
the breeze and soft sunshine.

the perfect sunday...

the universe is playing tricks on me

so much for writing you a letter.

you're not really helping.

instead you are playing tricks.

either you are truly horrible, or you have something in store for me.

... something earth shattering
.... something groundbreaking.
.... something humbling.
... something just right.
..... or something that truly fits me.

let's hope fate crosses my path.
and
let's hope i work hard enough to find my fate.

i am boundless imagination

Left brain: I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.

Right brain: I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

 Wow. I love this. 

And I'm trying to convince myself 

that I am a little bit of both but the only thing I can link myself 

to in the left brain is how I love the familiar .....

then the rest of my right brain takes over.

First seen in my Tumblr world, but from ads of the world here and here....