Do you remember 28th night of September?

Here is a picturesque view of my grandparents wedding reception on the 28th of September. It has been 50 years since that afternoon wedding in 1963. And this is the celebration of what matters most- family.

By far September has been the best month of the year spent with the entire family. This has been a momentous occasion my immediate circle of family has ever witnessed. I can never be more proud of my grandparents, truly 50 years of marriage is a remarkable stepping stone. True enough my grandparents relationship was never like sweets and roses but it's like old wine that gets better with time.

Bonne Chance Collections

I usually wear skirts and dresses except if I'm out on newspaper duty looking for reports running and roughing around the metro dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt. Whenever I'm free from duties I go back to the girly girl that I am. 

And what better way to show your personality than the clothes you're wearing? 

I'm the dress type of girl. I like the carefree feeling and the leg room wearing a dress gives you. I can casually pair my dress with my Vans Guate stripes slip-ons or Keds for a tomboy chic appeal. Or I can be full on girly with Mary Janes and pink flats. 

I stumbled upon Bonne Chance Collections through Jasmine Blu's blog and it is indeed a treasure trove of vintage flair filled with an array of feminine styles that is screaming my style. Too bad we don't have them here in the Philippines :(  

But nonetheless I fell head over heels with their whimsical collection so here are my absolute favorites:

Bye Bye Birdie 2 Piece Dress is by far my favorite pick of all. I love the vivid bird print on the circle skirt and the perfect pairing with the sweetheart pastel pink crop top. 

The gingham print on the Strawberry Lemonade dress reminds me of Sundays church and my little girl days of printed frocks. The dress is so 1950's retro with its peter pan collar and lace. 

The adorable print on this 16 Candles Bow Back dress is too cute for words. The fitted bodice wonderfully shapes your silhouette. 

The dress features a cutout bow back and a pleat skirt and I'd love to twirl in this dress it looks so playful!

While we don't have Bonne Chance in the Philippines I will take inspiration from their collection and improvise with whatever I can find here.

Favorite Movies

Rom-com endings usually involve someone catching a flight or a train ride with a lot of chasing and weaving into a bustling crowd that ends into public declarations of love sealed with a kiss. I remember ranting to a friend on the lack of originality on the spate of Hollywood rom-com endings that I've watched several times with me hitting fast forward on the closing scenes having enough of the mush as I roll the bitter taste of reality out of my tongue.

Roman Holiday is my favorite among Hepburn's film because of its bittersweet ending. A movie does not necessarily need to have the characters end up together to produce a happy ending. The opposite of the viewers expectation and the slight twang of disappointment filled with a sucker punch of reality making it charmingly it perfect. 

Midnight in Paris is just like the whiff and tang of cigar, the fizzles and clinks of champagne bottle as the movie opens on a beautiful montage of Paris. I have always thought of Paris as the cliched city of love but the movie sets the scene with its charm and warm cinematography that gives a decadent and romanticized feeling.  Midnight in Paris is my first Woody Allen film followed by To Rome with Love. I can't wait to watch his next film Magic in the Moonlight this 2014 starring my favorite actress Emma Stone. 

The clock strikes midnight a vintage Peugeot swoops Gil to 1920's Paris in magic realism.

"Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present."

Perhaps we are all stuck in the Golden Age Syndrome.

Senior IV

Welcome to University of the Philippines Park! 

It has not dawned on me yet that I'm already in my senior year. It's when you are in school seeing faces you barely recognize that's when you know you're old enough to remember. The upperclassmen have already graduated and ta-da you're suddenly in their place. Being a senior made me conscious of how much time I have left savoring every class and paper I turn in. Whenever I find myself slacking in school I always remind myself that I'll be missing my college days. An alumnus once told me, "your UP days will be over before you'll even know it so enjoy it while it lasts."

It's almost the end of the first semester. Unbelievable.

Photo credits to Aeda Minoza