and so the countdown begins

I'm so backlogged with my reading "assignments" already and I feel I'm going to have less time for it since it's bazaar season soon. But then again that also means more trips to suppliers and more time spent on waiting which means time to have my nose in a book (or ebook).

Still on my Anna & the French Kiss read which is taking me forever to finish because it is in Spanish and I find it easier to read it on the computer than on my phone which means I only get to read before I go to bed. Anyway, I was out yesterday and as usual I paid a visit to my favorite shops- book stores! Lookie what I found~

FINALLY!!! I have Jessica Thompson's This Is A Love Story. I've been looking for this book for, like, ever! It has been out of stock for the longest time and I can't find copies on the internet also, so when I saw copies in Powerbooks yesterday, I grabbed a copy right away. The best thing was it was on sale at 20% off. I'd just have to rein in my expectations for this book or I might end up being disappointed. Thrifted Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl and a Sweet Dreams novel from Book Sale. I'm so happy ☺ It really doesn't take much to make me happy- new (cheap) books and Twister fries & Coke Float from McDo do the trick.

Speaking of Twister fries, I have relapsed and am back to my sweets-soda-rice-and everything else diet. Not only am I devouring everything that's bawal but I'm eating them in big portions and frequently. I feel so bloated na naman. I blame this on Twister fries and the fact that it's only here for a limited time- parang mas justifiable yung mga pig-outs. Like yesterday, I ate rice and soy chicken, hakao, had Gong Cha wintermelon, shawarma and mocha frap. Lahat ng bawal. I feel so guilty for eating too much. Self-restraint, where art thou?

P.S. Got myself hooked on Suits. I have a new fictional character crush- Harvey Specter! And oh I just remembered, it's September soon- new season for my beloved series ♥

awkward s02e09: homewrecker hamilton

Episode 8 (Time After Time) was EPIC! It was the moment of reckoning- in other words, nagkaalaman na. I do not blame Jake for feeling betrayed by two of the most important persons in his life. After all, he was taken for a fool by them and he did witness it with his own eyes. 

Jenna has a lot of nerve to ask Jake why he broke up with her. She didn't know Jake already knows her history with Matty but she kissed Matty the night Jake broke up with her! I mean, while it's obvious that she's still very much into Matty, shouldn't she steer clear first of Jake just to give herself time to sort out her feelings? 

Jenna was asking for it...

For the first time, I agree with Sadie. Well even if technically Jenna didn't cheat on Jake, it still was wrong for them to keep Jake in the dark. But the thing is no one really knew about Matty and Jenna, except for Ming and Tamara. So I was actually wondering how did Sadie know??? 

omgeezers. ang haba ng hair ni jenna.

Oh my, what's Jenna gotten herself into? I swear that girl has come a long way from being "invisible." Actually, it is annoying of her to break Matty's and Jake's hearts. I wish she could just choose between the two and not prolong their agony. 

Gah. The anticipation is killing me! We've only got 3 episodes left and they're going to combine episodes 11 and 12, I guess that leaves us with only 2. Buti na lang it's September soon~ Gossip Girl, HIMYM, Hart of Dixie, Bones and Suburgatory!!! And oh, Downton Abbey :D

update on my current reads, et. al.

I have a newfound love for books and I have the YA and chick lit genre to thank for it. Actually, more of the YA genre. If before it was more of an imposed thing I have for myself because, now it's more of a WANT. But gaahd, the prices of these books nowadays! If I were to buy every book I want to read, I'd go broke. [okay, commercial lang 'to but I hear Downton Abbey's opening music. wee ☺] 

Conversations with God

I've been reading this for, like, ever now. Actually, I did attempt to read this 12 years ago. I even found a circular with a reply slip from high school. It has been that long already. I really want to read this but YA books are stealing the spotlight from this rather interesting read, too. 

Anna and the French Kiss

A lot of blogs on YA books highly recommend this. I have high expectations for this but then again I am constantly reminding myself to keep it low. We don't want to spoil its goodness with unrealistic, high expectations. Though I haven't gone very far with this one also because it is in frickin' Spanish. Albeit difficult, I will finish this book. Doing so will be hitting two birds with one stone- finishing another book and putting my Spanish speaking chops into practice.

Pride and Prejudice

I wanted to know for myself, first-hand, what's the fuss over Mr. Darcy; why women are swooning over him. I think watching the movie (the one with Kiera Knightley) first before reading the novel is a good idea, because then I can put faces into the names without imagining too much. Ha. Plus, it's like you already have a framework of the storyline and the book just fills in the details. 

I'm already in Chapter 10 and so far I think I know why Mr. Darcy's swoon-worthy ;)

So there my three books which are taking forever for me to finish reading. I'm only 7 books away from my [measly] 24 books per year goal! Hopefully, I could reach my goal even if bazaar season is near and I'd be very busy by then. 

Et. Al. 

Dinner at Kare Kare House before daddy leaves for the province tomorrow morning. I loooove food. I swear. Cutting my food intake is too much torture! Plus, this twister fries and McFloat promo in McDo isn't helping at all. I hate it that I am always hungry :/

In other news, I bought new nail polish- those with magnetic chuva effect :)

Nice, no? I'm not really fond of getting manicures. That is weird for someone who has a nail spa for a business. Well, I love making lotions and other stuff that are used in nail spas so I guess we could say that I like what I do. But man, I hope I really could make big moolah from my fragrances. Peg ko si Joel Cruz eh. Charot. Pero in fairness money machine ko naman ito, it makes money with or without me. Yun lang, it's not much. 

Good vibes, I attract you. 

Bawal kontra bulate.

hanep buhay

I'm officially 11 kiaw poorer. Just like that. Boo! What was supposed to be a vacation on a budget turns into  budget-no-more. But it's also our fault for not insisting what we want. Whatever. I just wish for more orders. Anyway, went to Divi last Monday to meet with Jo and discuss our non-budget accommodations when in Singapore. But you see, I never go to Divisoria for gala purposes. I first had to go buy my fabric and ribbons in preparation for my Christmas bazaars.

Arrived at Lucky Chinatown Mall a little past 12 noon. We had lunch at Max's which was actually more expensive than my Cyma lunch with Juno. Weird, huh? Pero in fernez, busog naman. We had kare-kare and half spring chicken. And unlimited 7Up of which I had more or less 8 refills, with the last refill tasting like water. To Starbucks after so we could discuss already our hotel accommodations.

Ang mahal ng internet sa Starbucks ha! P60 for an hour. I should've brought my Sun Broadband stick para P50 lang- 24 hours pa yun. Oh well. I thought of it the night before the Divi trip. I should've put it in my bag that night pa lang. Especially pa naman ako aligaga ever at late to remember these things.

We're booked in V Hotel Lavender. Hay goodluck na lang to me and my funds. Hello Skyflakes at instant noodles! Fakkit.

Anyway, happy pa rin naman my Divi trip. I bought nail stick-ons for the plaza and a blouse for P100. I also bought an aroma diffuser/humidifier to add to my product line for the bazaar. Huzzah! Which reminds me I have to take pictures of it already for pre-orders :)

But guess what's the highlight of my Divi trip...

This.

me love you long time ♥

I finally bought a calculator with receipt output! I love it. 

To end this post, here's my latest attempt on nail art:

I used China Glaze For Audrey for the base. Revlon Love That Red for "animal print"  

And that's my sugat :( Ouch talaga. Ang pangit pa. Syempre first reaction ko nung nakita ko yung sugat ko ay, "shet di na ko puede magpa-wax." Chos. 

Sana September na. 

basil yo!

After being holed up inside the house for three days straight, went out with AD to run lots of errands- BIR, Meralco, supplies shopping. What better way to reward myself (and my driver, AD, hehe) than with good food. She wanted to try this new Thai food restaurant near White Plains and although I had an inkling na mejo parang expensive siya, she had me at "Thai food."

Very nice exteriors, no? This should be my peg for my Asiatica-inspired nail spa.

We sat near the man-made falls/fountain and koi pond to maximize the ambiance, haha.

The sound of cascading water was relaxing but I was seated right opposite the sunroof chuva kaya medyo masilaw, eh I'm slightly sensitive to light. Ergo, masakit na ulo ko pag-uwi.

Really nice interiors, too! I really want my spa too look like this. I wonder how many tealight candles they use up daily...

Anyway, we were really hungry and fortunately, it didn't take long for them to serve our food.

Oh hello there, tom yum! I missed you ♥ But you see I have a problem- I can't tolerate spicy foods anymore and I love spicy foods! If before I can devour extra spicy tom yum, spicy dilis and vinegar, now there's this specific area under my tongue that hurts when it comes in contact with anything spicy. Depressing, diba? Pero keber, inuman na lang ng iced tea pagtapos. For ulam, we ordered Creamy Pork Curry. Super spicy at mild na pala yun sa lagay na yun. I love kaffir lime but I ♥ coriander more. Instead of Coke, I opted for Thai Iced Tea which was only P85. Anong sinabi ng Thai Iced Tea ng J.Co? Waley.

Super yummy in my tummy. May casualty lang- yung dila ko. Pero keri lang. It was well worth it.

AD said I should check out their comfort room and the Lemongrass liquid hand soap~

lightbulb moment. wahehe ☺ 

Dining at Basil was a pleasure both for me and my tummy. Hopefully I can come back soon to try their other dishes and hopefully my taste buds will be ready for some spicy action that time.

Exit.

repeat performance

Living in the lowlands is the pits. If before we thought that Ondoy was out of the ordinary, meaning it was a once in a lifetime, then we were wrong. Last Tuesday, August 7, it started flooding AGAIN. It wasn't Ondoy proportions (ie. chest-deep floodwater inside the house) for us, but in other areas the damage was just as horrific. Actually, the water began to rise Monday evening while I was busy doing this

my Rooftop Prince marathon (and a new BB cream- pasalubong from my ate's friend. how thoughtful, diba?) and waiting for my sister to come home. She arrived around 12 midnight and the flood outside was just outside our gate. I couldn't sleep cos I was constantly checking on the water level outside (and watching RTP) and I finally got to sleep around 3 am when it stopped raining and the flood level already subsided to just ankle-deep. 

But lo and behold, patikim pa lang pala yun. Woke up to heavy rains again in the morning and come lunchtime, pataas na naman ang tubig. Time to evacuate mommy's stash!

My mom has this stock room downstairs with her stash of fabric and clothes circa 1980s and most of the stuff moved upstairs were those. Kahit nung Ondoy, sila na rin to. Mainstay sa buhay namin haha. Anyway, stacked the furniture on top of another in preparation of the floodwater. Our driver's motorcycle was already harnessed from the grills of the garage to avoid being submerged. Joey (my sister's dog) inside a small box in our room. Everyone and everything cramped in such a small space. 

The water entered the house but thank God it was only ankle-deep this time

that's actually floodwater inside our living room- buti na lang hindi na tumaas ang tubig. Also this flood isn't muddy as the last time, so clean-up wasn't as tedious. Around this time, electricity was out. My only source of information of news was my cellphone's FM radio. I really hate listening to 92.3 News FM but I figured out this was the time having an AM-format radio station could come in handy. However, when I tuned into the station, they were playing songs. SONGS. No news about the flood. Kung kailan sila kailangan mag-balita, hindi sila nagbabalita. I tuned into 97.1, GMA's sister-station, but was disappointed that at times like these, inuuna pa nila ang paglalandi- you know, those Wanted: Sweetheart show formats, binabaha na Maynila, nakikipaglandian pa sila sa radyo. At syempre, alam ko talaga :P Buti pa 89.1 may silbi. 

Thankfully, the water never rose higher through the night and come morning, no water inside the house. I actually woke up to scrubbing ang people cleaning the floor downstairs. But it's still flooded outside- 

excited lang nanay ko maglinis. The flood only subsided completely Thursday afternoon. 

In spite of this, I still have a lot of things to be grateful for:

1. The flood never got bigger/ higher.

2. The flood didn't enter my place of business which means I don't have to do any major renovation done sometime soon. 

3. There was ample supply of food in the house. Translation: busog pa din. 

4. There was electricity majority of the time. 

5. Internet-access. 

6. We were all safe and there were no major damage to our stuff. 

I wish I could say the same for AD. The flood was deeper on their part of the village so submerged and kalahati ng kama nila. Now they're planning on renting somewhere flood-free. Sabi ko I'll take care of her table muna, hehe. 

Anyway, may paparating na naman na bagyo. Let's just hope and pray that flooding like Ondoy and that Habagat chever doesn't happen again. Aside from prayers, I guess samahan na rin natin ng pagtatapon ng basura sa tamang lugar. I always see ATM receipts scattered all over the place when the trash bin is only inches away from the machine. Sobrang effort ba itapon sa basurahan? O kung walang basurahan, ibulsa man lang muna? We don't need to be college graduates to understand these things and what's sad is even college graduates do not know how to throw their trash in the proper places. Okay, preachy na kung preachy pero totoo. At least I am not guilty of this. And oh, I do segregate my trash. 

RT 2012: downton abbey

I must admit that the first two episodes bored me. Thank goodness I stuck through it because the following episodes were just lovely, especially Matthew Crawley ♥

Of course at first I cringed at the fact that Mary and Matthew are first cousins (and I mean that in a non-Karen Smith definition) because in present time, that is actually incest. Even if the law says we can marry our second cousins, it still feels incest to me, so what more your first cousin!!! So anyway after I got over that and accepted that to them it is acceptable, it's all swoon from then on. Matthew is Downton's version of Mr. Darcy. He's so proper and nice and dapper.

Aside from Matthew Crawley, here are the other things I loved about Downton Abbey:

1. The dresses. They're pretty, lacey and frilly although one should be thin to pull them off. 
2. Mary Crawley. Although I initially didn't like her, with the non-mourning over her cousin Patrick's death and that incident with the Turkish diplomat, but I learned to love her as the story progressed. 
3. Sybil + Branson. Who would've thought, right? Although I think Branson brainwashed her to think she loved him, haha! Kung makaquotable quote naman si Branson, matindi- "Look, it comes down to whether or not you love me. That's all. That's it. The rest is detail." At ang theme song nila ay Love Will Keep Us Alive. 
4. The efficient househelps. I swear I love it how Carson and Mrs. Hughes kept everything running smoothly even in times of distress. You just gotta love their loyalty and how they respect and love their employers very much. We all wish we could find good house helps who would remain loyal to us through thick and thin, don't we? 
5. Matthew + Mary. I love them. They're so good together. I swoon over them, especially when Mary told him that if she'd tell him about the scandal that he'd despise him and right after she told him, he said, "Mary, I could never despise you." **squeeee** And that final scene (Christmas Special), "I haven't forgiven you because I don't believe you need my forgiveness. You've lived your life and I've lived mine. Now it's time we live them together."   

Ayan may dagdag na naman sa aking susubaybayan sa September. Super thank you Juningning for the recommendation and for Seasons 1 and 2! Because of Downton, I have this penchant for English literature. After I read my YA reads, will try to read Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Tried to watch Pride & Prejudice last night but there's just something about Kiera Knightley because I can't stand her. Maybe I should watch the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy :)

RT 2012 book 17: fifty shades darker by EL James

So okay I know I've said I'm not a fan but since I've started with the first book of the trilogy, it was inevitable that I should also read Book 2. Plus, I'm really really really curious to know why Christian doesn't want his hairy chest touched. Ha.

Fifty Shades Darker is actually a very easy read because it's the same thing over and over. Christian dictates Anna what to do. Anna hates being bossed around so she goes against Christian's orders. Christian gets angry and pouts. Anna rolls her eyes but gets turned on with Christian's pouting lips. Christian gets turned on and twitchy-handed over Anna's eye-rolling. They have sex. Repeat. Yep, that's pretty much it.

My Pet Peeves In This Book:

1. Can Ana please stop referring to Christian as "Fifty"? Cos seriously, every time she refers to him as such, I see 50 Cent in my head, hip-hopping to P.I.M.P. 
2. And what role does her inner goddess play here? Every time she mentions her inner goddess in her chaise lounge or cartwheeling, I swear I want to get my hands on her and squish the living daylights out of her. I think the story would do fine without the annoying alternative personality.
3. I've mentioned in my 50 Shades post that the book reminds me of Twilight. Well, I found out after reading Book 1 that this was originally a fanfic of the Twilight saga because the author was unsatisfied by the lack of "action." Naman. Dito, puro action. Aside from Twilight, the book also reminds me of Dexter, the serial killer (not the one with the science laboratory and a sister named Deedee). Christian  was neglected and unloved as a child and he saw her mother die. Very Dexter, no?
4. Anastasia, please stop wondering why Christian chose you. He is probably a vampire who thinks your blood smells good. 
5. If Ana really wanted Christian's BDSM tendencies gone, she should at least help him deal with it, not give him a night at the Red Room of Pain. Here he is ready to change for her and settle for "vanilla" sex then she goes, "What can I give a man who has everything? Oh, maybe I can be his sex slave for the day and he can whip my butt all he wants." It's the same banana. No pun intended. 

Haven't decided yet whether or not I'll read Book 3. Seriously, I'm wondering ano naman ang panama ni Jack kay Christian Grey, aber? And if ever they're really making this trilogy into a movie, they should cast Matt Bomer as Christian. Not Ian Somerhalder, like what majority of the 50 Shades Filipino fans want. 

Mas malinis tingnan si Matt Bomer diba? Of course, Ian Somerhalder's handsome and that stare is piercing, but Christian Grey's supposed to be clean-shaven at mukhang good boy, imho. Whatever. Kahit sino na lang as Christian Grey, wag lang si Kristen Stewart ang Anastasia. 

Currently reading Anna & the French Kiss but man, it's taking me longer than expected (with these easy-read YA books) because it's in frickin' Spanish! I'm thisclose to quitting but I must stay strong and put my rusty español into practice.