"Style is knowing who you are, what you want, and not giving a damn." - Gore Vidal

Rampa Day

I went to the product briefing at Thomson Reuters today, so I whipped out my sky-high gladiator heels which I haven't worn for a long time. Of course, I toned it all down with a casual top and pants. A skirt and fancy top would be too OTT.

So now I have a few blisters, but dedma, it was nice to walk in heels again.

oOo

Things I'm loving:

Am loving this new designer, Rachel Ford. Just fresh out of Parson's. Streamlined and so modern.

James Perse bedding products. One side is cotton, the other side is their signature soft jersey. Thread count: 500. Ahhh! It's almost enough to make me do overtime work to afford the US$500 full duvet. What's not to love?!

And speaking of wanting to dress using a "uniform", somebody did using the same dress (7 versions) and accessorizing in different ways as an experiment in sustainable fashion. Wearing a "uniform" makes sense to me. I suppose that's why I envy how men can generally wear the same thing, tweak it a bit and people don't really notice very much. Hmm. Maybe I should get more gray v-neck t-shirts.

I checked the site and they kinda cheated kasi she would layer the dress with OTHER clothes. Hay ayaw.

Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava's Brooklyn apartment. It looks really quirky and unstudied. I likey. I miss New York.

And finally, Band of Outsiders new lookbook. Love!

Maintenance

I love Manang to bits. She has been with us since I was this ..... tiny (reference: waist). Haha. But I was infuriated when I discovered bleached white spots on my purple v-neck t-shirt. *Cry* The soft, almost tissue thin Pima cotton one.

I told Mom about it, and she couldn't quite grasp why I was so devastated. To her, it was just a very thin t-shirt. She nonchalantly suggested I dye it.

Oh. End of drama. Problem solved. Will try to do that this weekend.

oOo

Speaking of V-necks, I want to wear my white Bench V-neck t-shirt tonight with a blazer and my tailored black and white gingham shorts but I can't find it. "Pulling my hair out" I have a feeling they put it together with my dad's other white shirts, thinking it was his. Have to find it.

oOo

How do you balance a passion and lust for life with spiritual detachment? I want to have both. Is that even possible?

Sleep is my Best Friend

• I'm Lola. I'd rather go to sleep than gimik. How lola.
• Ganito na kalala. I have so many rakets, I have to pass them on to someone else na, hindi ko na kaya. Unless I didn't sleep at all pwede.
  
• Pera versus health? Health. Este wrinkles versus health? Health. Ay beauty pala
• I did all these pre-employment nonsense on a Tuesday and I accomplished all of them. I was half palpitating, going through an anxiety attack thinking of how terrible it will be to line up to get my NBI clearance. But it pays to Google. I went at the best possible time: 3 pm on a Tuesday! The line was really short and we finished after 30 minutes. Wow, ladies and gentlemen, record yun. BPI rules man (sorry BDO ang bilis nila as in phenomenal 20 minutes to get your ATM account and ATM card).
  
• I don't know if I have agoraphobia, lining up phobia (what is the phobia for lining up?) or just plain government phobia, but really, it has happened too many times to ignore. I literally feel like blacking out when I'm in a messy, disorganized government office where I have to line up and do not know what I'm supposed to do because there are no signs, no information sheets, no semblance of ORDER. LIke when I lined up to help my cousin-in-law get documents at NSO (she was in a hurry or else we would have just did the courier thing). Pero my God, I was going to faint.
  
• Oh during the People Power revolution that ousted Erap, I was squishd by so many people in front of Robinson's Galleria, I almost blacked out. I had to run out from the crowd and sit on a curb along POEA to breathe.
• I slowly got a little bit of rice, flour and sugar into my system again. Bad. I can feel the difference. Am strictly going back to the detox diet again.

Long Weekend. Not!

For me, it isn't. I still work LA time, so have to drag myself to work nights. Would work great except I keep having to stay awake daytime for raket, for dad's business, to drive mom around, personal errands. My sleeping patterns have become like my diet: sporadic and spread throughout into naps.

Naku tama na ang drama.

So now I've become a napper. Apparently, a lot of famous people were nappers. An hour to three hours throughout the day and night work fine for me so far. Apparently, this is what they call power napping. My friends and I call it micronapping. Am worried though about the effects on my health. Must squeeze in exercise and rest in between everything. Apparently I'm doing okay naman based in this article.

What else? Let me bore myself (and you who read this):

• Discovered 5-in-1, 6-in-1 and 7-in-1 coffee stuff. If I have to have coffee, might as well have all these antioxidants and vitamins, too, right?
• Loving Herbal Henna from India, which is kinder to my hair than chemical dyes.
• I haven't shopped since my last shoe purchase. That's like forever. I think I'm growing.
• I've streamlined my makeup to 3 items: Shiseido Peach Rouge makeup stick, MAC concealer and Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil. Ocassionaly, I would use Fashion 21 liquid liner (this stuff works!) to line my eye. But basically, that's it. I wanna get rid of all my makeup now.
• I love fashion, but after a certain age, you have more important things to think about than what to wear. So I like the idea of wearing a uniform now/ Like the way Michael Kors always wears jeans, a t-shirt and a blazer.
  
• I realized I should travel more within my country, too. Maybe I should fly off to Batanes soon.
  

Oh the night job ends end of the month. I move on to Thomson Reuters September 1. :)

Keep Walking

There was a Johnny Walker billboard on EDSA that had this as copy. Am certainly not the market for Johnny Walker, but I could relate to the concept somewhat.

It's been tiring for the past few months. Tiring trying to balance being a good daughter with trying to work out my own personal goals. I want to calmly embrace doing both with grace. But it's not easy to have grace when you have eyebags, a puffy face and sore muscles from lack of sleep, crying from frustration and just sheer exhaustion. No grace when I don't have the leisurely time to painstakingly pick out my outfit every morning. To do the usual maintenance of being a girl. No grace if you have drive people around despite the puffy face and wrinkled clothes to the grocery or the bank.

And if you smile, it just doesn't work any way 'cause the eyes don't match the mouth. I tried eye cream. Doesn't work. Sleeping 8 hours every night helps though. And am not getting that any time soon so will just have to rely on coffee and icy cold spoons on the eyes. I am willing myself to smile, to be a cheerful giver.

So it was a nice change to have gone out this week, once for work really but it helps I am working with friends. The other one, I grabbed a beer-a beer!-with Marc just before heading off to work. I don't even really drink.

I am thankful am doing fine despite everything but I have all these lists in my mind that I need to tick off and am wondering if it helps if I just crumple up that piece of paper, throw it in the trash can and just be satisfied with what I have right now. It really isn't supposed to be that complicated.

I've achieved most of what I wanted to achieve in my lifetime so far. But it seems, each time I achieve a goal, I want to achieve more. Such is the tendency of humans, and I suppose that was what the old sages have constantly reminded us not chase. These worldly goals are never ending.

Detach. Live simply. Accept. Amen.

Sharing

I downloaded some useful and interesting PDF files off the Made to Stick website. Am curious as to if it's just one of those trendy books that says the same thing as other business books. So far, it just says the same thing as other books about communication and advertising. Not convinced to buy it BUT they ARE useful.

Here sharing with you so you can see for yourself. Click below for the attached PDFs. :)

Tinkering

Downloaded Fring and fixed my phone settings. It's funny how much time that takes--oh about 3days?

So now I can Skype, YM, Twitter, lastfm, Gtalk, MSN, AIM, Facebook and more on my phone using Fring. And if you're in the US, you can make free calls anywhere according to the Fring forum (click link to read the excited guy's post about it).

It's a bit complicated (it uses Google Voice etc) BUT am thinking, they can always just use Skype to Skype on their phone. It's still free. Duh. Even YM to YM on the phone. I guess he was just excited to see that it CAN work.

I also have a Duo line already. Yay it's a nice piece of technology. Now I can talk to Shelyn and my clients anytime and there are no metered charges.

Am having problems making WeFi run. It's an app that detects the best free WiFi connection, so you can automatically connect without having to use Globe minutes. Am frustrated that it keeps saying "File corrupt." :( Still figuring it out. Maybe there is an alternative. It can really help shrink your phone bill.