Hey guys and dolls!

Got nothing to do this Saturday morning while waiting for Outbreak Manila? Ever wanted to try out Zumba or Kickboxing or Street Dance but don't want to invest a lot of money in it till you've tried it for FREE? Are you an environmentalist with a mind for recycling?

Then boy do we have the perfect event for you!

Come to Assumption College this Saturday, July 28 from 8 am till 12 noon for FREE fitness aero-dance classes like Zumba, Kickboxing, and Street Dance plus fun and environment-friendly workshops by the different student organizations in Assumption.

Not your cup of tea? We have more!

We will be having a fashion show where the gowns will be made entirely out of recycled materials by our very own students! Uh-huh, think Michael Cinco from ANTM Cycle 16. Fierce, right??

PLUS, you get to enjoy a very unique Poi performance still by our very own Assumption students and you get to have freebies from us as well as from our partner, Garnier! Whew! 


Want more good news? EVERYTHING IS FOR FREE. The most we are asking for you as a form of entrance fee is to bring as much recyclable materials as you can to be donated to different beneficiaries. Why are we asking you to bring recyclable materials? Because for every recyclable material you bring, you get stubs which will serve as your ticket for the different activities we have in store for you this Saturday.

Hungry? Yummy food cons will also be present during the entire event plus free water for all you dance-lovers out there! Have any questions? Feel free to email us at ac.asaec@gmail.com or text/call us at 0916-698-9656. We will be more than happy to answer you!

See you there?

See you there!

Don't forget to view our video! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa69G9HtF2U

**DISCLAIMER: Our activities differ from details in the video. Please refer to this blog post or contact me at the details posted above for further details, inquiries, or concerns

I remember this fairy tale I didn't like as a kid; I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with this fairy tale -- Cinderella. Why I didn't like it, I'm not sure. But that's a tale for another time. 

For now, let's rewind to the past. From what I can remember, these two step-sisters tried to fit their foot into a single shoe, hoping to fill the role of the prince's future wife. I always found it peculiar and a trifle foolish. I mean, why would you try to fit into a shoe that you know will never fit? 

Now let's return to the present. With everything that's been going on, I feel like the two step-sisters -- trying to fit into a shoe that will never fit; trying on a role they were never suited for but still anxiously and desperately hoping they can be what they were never meant to be. I feel inadequate. I feel miserable. I feel defeated.

But see, here's the thing. If I can't fit into that shoe, then why not just buy another one? One that is just my size. Why would I try to confine myself to something? If the shoe doesn't fit, throw it away, donate it, burn it -- but don't keep it. Squeezing your foot into a shoe not your size is painful at least and humiliating at best.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that even though I may not live up to others' standards, I am my own person. I will not bow down to pressure, expectations, or even my own insecurity -- all of those I threw out of the window a few hours ago. I will be a person who enjoys a waltz with challenges and a battle with expectations.

Whatever anyone's expectations of me are, whether positive or negative, will be noted but not dwelled upon. So for those who think I can't do it, and for I who think that I cannot do it; that I am squeezing into a shoe that will never fit -- just wait till I prove you wrong. I'll smash that fragile glass and buy myself a five-inch red leather patent pumps that fit snugly and watch me sashay down that street with a confident smile and a cheeky twinkle in my eyes, knowing I've triumphed over you and myself. 

I am not those two step-sisters who tried to squeeze into a shoe not their size. I am not Cinderella who waited for someone to rescue her. I am not the cat who tried to eat those nice rats (if I am ever to be a cat, I would be the most physically affectionate one. Preferably with a black coat and deep blue eyes). 

I am me. No one can define me; no one can bring me down -- not even my own self

Always and Forever

I may not write professionally, but what I do know is that I write with whatever intensity my emotion has while I type furiously at the keyboard or write at full speed to jot down what I truly feel. I don’t write as frequently as I would hope, but when I do, I write with all my heart and soul I can offer.  

Hence, reading past messages from me to my (now) ex-boyfriend quite jarred me -- I was completely in love with him.

I mean, I know I love him, I still do.  I know that much. But I never thought it was that deep and lingering and…sweet -- and passionate. As I was browsing through my sent emails, trying to find it in me if I could erase them, I decided to read through them one by one just to see what I had written and to let what we had permeate through me.  But what I read completely took me by surprise. I was in love. I was completely and utterly in love.

I know it’s not the most comforting thing in the world right now. I just went through a breakup of my own doing, and coming face to face with the past isn’t really the right thing to do as of the moment. (i.e. it may influence my decisions, blah) But, oddly enough, a sense of relief washed over me.

What I’m doing isn’t wrong – neither is it right. But I do know that I have to do this; that I am doing it for the both of us, even though we may not see it clearly now. I know some people won’t understand, but it is something that concerns me as well. I had to get out before my issues hurt the both of us in the long run.

But that is not why I’m relieved. I’m relieved because at least I know that what we felt was real; what I felt for him was real. And, even as we try to move on with our lives as strangers like we were before we met, I know I will always hold that in my heart; that what we had wasn’t ‘just something’ – that, for a time, it was everything. At least I know that even though we will be going our separate ways, we once had a love that was true and gut-wrenching and almost unbreakable -- something that freed us from the harsh realities of the world when we sought solace in each other. At least, even if someday we pass by each other at a street or at a mall, wearing a different kind of smile we knew from before and, possibly, another person linked in our arms, we once knew that kind of love -- our love.

And that, at the very least, will forever remain with me – even if ‘we’ didn’t reach always and forever.

WTA45 'Kira Kira' (brown) Lenses Review

I know I did a brief review on these lenses a while back, but I thought they were a bit short so I decided to do a more detailed review on them.

Here they are under natural light:

I have to say, I love this pair of lenses! They blend well with the natural color of my eyes, giving them a very natural look with the enlarging effect. As mentioned before though, I am not comfortable with lenses, so my eyes get veeeeeeery sleepy after about two hours or so. I don't know if that happens with anyone else. lol. So for comfort's sake, I don't use it very often. Maybe once every month. 

And these photos show how they look like under normal lighting:

Normal eyes ^ (sorry my eyes look so worn out)

Annnnd with circle lenses on. Not much of a difference save for the size. Neat, eh? 

 Overall, I really, really LOVE these lenses. They are so natural-looking and so enlarging. /please Comfort, of course, is still 50/50 for me. But I guess that's just between my eyes and I. haha. I would recommend this if you have naturally brown eyes and you just want that enlarging effect without those unnatural-looking designs. Of course, they have a variety of colors to choose from, so again, if you just want the enlarging effect without compromising the natural beauty of your eyes, go for this design. I highly recommend it. /blush

New Start!

Typical Filipino room with an electric fan, wooden sliding windows, and wooden flooring

Yesterday I decided to clean my room.

BUT WAIT! There's more. ;)

What's better is that I cleaned for a total of 7 hours (4 hours, break, then 3 hours) without sleep and without food. LOL. Isn't that just awesome?

No. I was just feeling miserable so I think I decided to punish myself. Masochist, eh? But still, at least it was a productive misery, right? ha ha. Well, it didn't start off as punishment, but it certainly became one. I mean, 7 hours? C'mon. You're probably thinking I could've cleaned the whole house with that amount of time. Well, my room has been uninhabited for about a year now, and my room has experienced no cleaning -- and I do mean NO cleaning whatsoever in that span of time. Any kind of cleaning at all? Naught. Not even arranging things. It just became a sort of dressing room for me.

Anyway, now that you know I'm a slob, here are some photos a day after major cleaning day:

Too bad I didn't take a 'before' picture. I swear, without any exaggerations, that you would not recognize it as a room by a girl (but the pink walls are a give-away). You'd think it was a warehouse with the mountain of clothes and bags on the bed and on the floor, shoes just tossed aside after use.You get the picture /dignose

I don't really name my stuffed toys (except this one teddy bear that has been with my since babyhood. I named him Nathan), didn't know where to put these, so this white tiger stuffed toy was wearing Tootsie's cone of shame and my two wacky headbands. 

YES, INDEED! (I hope)

One of my favorite authors -- Philippa Gregory! I've read all her Tudor novels and her The Cousins' War novels. I actually read some books of hers in this Powerbooks branch entirely free! /wahaha Others I've read in PDF format, so I didn't buy them anymore. Although if I do get a job, I plan on buying all her books though I have already read them

Already discarded some clothes that I wasn't using, a LOT are in the laundry basket, yet I still couldn't fit  them all inside my closet. So, why do I ALWAYS have nothing to wear when going out?? O_O

My growing collection of novels. Incomplete 'cause I couldn't find the others.  Started liking novels around freshman or sophomore year in college hence, my writing has improved since then. I am now an official fan of books (especially historical ones). I have a small book collection, but I've finished a lot of books at Powerbooks for free (LOL) and have read more in PDF format. I so want a private library when I get rich.

And what do you know? I found a LOT of interesting things in my pile of stuff. It was like a blast from the past!

Me and my best bud's final project for our Humanities course.  Prof was so mad at us when we tried to boycott her class 'cause we thought it was already free cut (also got the go signal from our block rep) And it was me, my best friend, and our other friend who ran into her. A lot of our block mates already left. As we were about to go down the stairs, the elevator doors opened and there was our professor. She looked at the bags we were carrying and with a baffled look, questioned us as to where we were going. We were stunned in our place. It was so terrifying especially for a freshman. We felt like we were in a horror movie of some sort. LOL. She was oozing with anger when she called everyone back. But on hindsight, it was pretty hilarious. /nobigdeal

Good time, good times.

Historical fiction & non-fiction books area :]

By the end of the day, I was sore ALL OVER. Carrying thick high school books, piles of clothes, and everything else are no walk in the park. I appreciate our house help more now. -_- I wonder if anyone else's room is as messy as mine was? LOL

One week hiatus, she says.....

Well, so much for one week. It ended up being more than 3 months! Whew.

/sweat

Honestly, I haven't been into blogging that much lately. When I was younger I used to love it, but now I prefer writing in journals whenever I would want to rant about something or if I want to let something out of my system (i.e. expressions of anger or melancholy, you get the drift). But since finals are over and it's already our summer break, might as well update my blog that has been gathering dust in the internet world. (If such a thing is possible, hehe)

As you can see, I tweaked my blog a little (a lot) just to 'girl' things up a bit. I found my blog's former colour scheme a little too.... morose. lol. So I added more touches of pink here and there to keep it a bit more upbeat without deviating too much from my preferred colour scheme.

Hmmm.... what else have I been up to lately.....

Ah! I found this twitter account that tweets from the bizarre to the funny to the downright nasty scandals/rumours/facts about history's famous figures. His/her account's name is @historyweird, you should follow it. It's really interesting. And by interesting I meant I spent 3 hours deeply enmeshed and highly entertained by this page. haha! It really is a source of recreation for me, reading these types of information, especially since I am a huge history fan (with emphasis on Japanese and English history). If you visit my twitter account, I am following at least 20 twitter accounts devoted solely to tweeting historical facts. LOL. How nerdy can you get, right? I don't know what about history that draws me in. Maybe the enigma of it all. Or the tragedy. Or even the possibilities (a lot of what if's). My best friend's boyfriend once told her that he believes in reincarnation (I do, too, actually) and that when we feel a strong, unexplained connection to a person or a place or anything, it means that in our past life/lives we were strongly connected to that person/object/place. I have a very strong, unexplained fascination with English and Japanese history, so what does that make me? LOL. My best friend tells me her boyfriend theorizes that I must have lived there in my past life or I may have been strongly connected to that place. Logic may not agree, but I would like to think so. A romantic idea, don't you think?

Well anyway, I think I have rambled on a little bit too much despite saying I prefer writing on journals. haha! Just think of it as sharing some interesting (I hope) tidbits that I've picked up along my hiatus. I will try to update my blog with reviews, tutorials, or, God forbid, more ramblings! lol.

To end it, here's a funny sample of his/her tweets:

1631: Charles I's royal printers cause outrage when they print hundreds of Bibles, missing the 'not' from 'Thou shalt not commit adultery'.

Hello, Tootsie

Oh, hello scruff ball!

RANT

Blogger, why can't I post any comments on any blogger page??? It keeps saying choose a profile, BUT THERE'S ALWAYS NONE TO CHOOSE FROM. =D>

Date!

Yesterday, a good friend of mine dropped by the school and said she needed to unwind so we had lunch and a bit of window shopping. We went to Glorietta 4 at Food Choices and had Omurice at this newly-opened 'Korean' food stall.

At first we thought it was such a good choice. Just look at this little thing! It was so cute (and convenient).

So when the buzzer did go off, I went there and got my order. I ordered the Beef Omurice, and they gave me Seafood Omurice. I didn't even get mad or bitch out in the slightest and told them pleasantly that the beef one was what I ordered. The lady in the cashier who was in charge of my order ROLLED HER EYES and said "Akala ko ba..." THE NERVE. I didn't even give a flip about it and she has the nerve to roll her eyes? THE WORST SERVICE. Next time I go to food choices, I will definitely get their name and even take a picture of their stand. *fuming* /shock

Their 'Omurice' isn't even a proper omurice. It's just plain rice inside. 

Thank god their beef was a little better, but I can't say the same for that rubber they call 'pansit'. Took me minutes to fully chew through it (seriously).

What we ordered: Beef Omurice, Sausage Omurice, Kimchi (which, still, did NOT taste good), fruit magic in strawberry kiwi with yogurt (LOVE!), siomai, potdog red iced tea. Can you spell glutton? There were just two of us! LOL

To be fair, it was very filling to the stomach. For around P119 it was a good eat.... for someone who was hungry enough to eat a horse. But the service was just downright awful.

Afterwards, we went to National Bookstore to buy a planner for Daine (my friend mentioned above). She just couldn't wait to scribble on her new planner/journal so she decided to do it on our next destination. lol

We went to Tutti Frutti yogurt shop next, so by this time we were completely exhausted from all the walking. We ordered Pomegranate and Melon flavored yogurt with strawberry and green tea mochi balls. I totally did not color coordinate the two when I was putting the toppings (I actually only realized it now. lol), but it turned out so cute! We also added some cornflakes, btw.

After a good rest, we then went to Globe Telecomm to pay for something I ordered online. Hint: IT'S SKINFOOD'S WHITE GRAPE FRESH PACT!! I read some great review about it online, so I decided to try it instead of buying my usual The Face Shop's two way foundation. I'm just waiting for its delivery. I can't wait!! Novelties rock. <3

Then we went to landmark to buy a new mascara for me since my old one was flaking already. Of course, I bought the usual Maybelline Volum Express Hypercurl "Cat Eyes" mascara. I tend to stick to the tried and tested unless with money and heard some good reviews about other products. hihi

*gasp* everyone can clearly see my ugly undereye bags. :(( But this is how the mascara looks when applied. I think I'm going to do a tutorial on how to apply this mascara correctly to get its full effects. Maybe after midterms. :D

After that we just browsed around landmark for some comfy pyjamas then off to SM Makati to browse around the shoe department and at Forever 21. We were exhausted, but we we drooling whilst inside the store. After a lot of ogling and drooling, we decided to go home, and go home we did. We reached our houses feeling like we've been shopping a lot the whole day though we didn't really buy much. lol. But at least we got to hang out before midterm exams week. AJA! 

Maybelline Aqua Gel Liquid Foundation

So for today, while I am drying my toenails' paint, I will be doing a review on one of my favorite foundations -- Maybelline Aqua Gel Liquid Foundation.

Photo not mine. Couldn't capture mine on  photo because it's stained with a lot of eyeliner marks from the time my eyeliner bled. :))

First off, I have very oily skin. It has improved now because of my updated skin regimen, but it's still oily nonetheless. This foundation is water-based, unlike most foundations which are oil-based and clogs your pores. This foundation is absolutely divine because it glides on smoothly to your skin, it's easy-drying, it's SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT -- it feels like nothing's on top of your skin. I just love the texture of it. So this is really the only foundation I can use here in the Philippines for the daytime. To make it easier for reading, I'll list the pros and cons in bullet form like a good beauty blogger does (joining the bandwagon. hehe)

PROS:

- lightweight, almost feathery feel

- water-based (does NOT clog pores so no oily-ness throughout the day)

- matches my shade perfectly, their lightest shade is not too pale for me 

- does not oxidize

- small, compact size so it's easy to fit in the make-up case

- buildable in coverage

- the skin can breathe because of it's consistency (and because it's water-based)

CONS

- because it's water-based, the coverage isn't much. 

- and that minimal coverage doesn't last long if you're sweaty, though mine stayed put for hours even though I was literally sweating like a pig

For me, who has oily skin and who sweats quite a lot, very easily, I would give this foundation a 4.5/5. I just love it for everyday use. It may even trump my bb cream (because it feels so heavy and oily on the face). Who knows? I'll update this blog with photos of myself when I get the chance to photograph myself with this foundation on.

In conclusion, for those who have oily skin, this baby's the one for you! I just love, love, LOVE it. <3