60 Days of Sunshine

I went to sleep thinking I was laying on the beach. This morning I woke up disappointed comfortably tucked in my bed with no sand in my hair. It must have been the lifestyle story for a flip flops brand that I’m currently working that disillusioned me. Well I must have written a compelling one I hope.

I'm never a beach person but how I would love to trade places to be there right now. I can picture myself dipping my toes into the cool waters, the sound of the lapping waves kissing the shore, the crunching sand between my toes, the smell of brine and sunscreen in the air. It would be perfect to curl up with a great book and laze on the sand all day. 

The forthcoming days of prolonged sunshine is upon us. Come to think of it I never do enjoy the warm season in fact I dreaded it the most. It was the harbinger of discomfort, the sun blazing in all its glory, the humid air blowing on my face making me feel all prickly and sticky of sweat. I admit I was not really appreciative of summer days mainly because its presence does not really make a difference for us living in the tropics. Having only dry and wet season it would just be any other day only more intense. Days of bliss are only apparent for students who are out of classes but for a working gal like me I hardly have any vacation.

When the weary bones of city life takes its toll on me there's nothing that salt water can cure. How I long for days where I can be magically transported to the pristine white sand, the gorgeous gradient of green to the deep cerulean blue waters of our local resorts only 30 minutes from where I am but seemingly so far away. Deep sigh..

Can I have that too at least once? I swear I'll make my 60 days of sunshine worth it. 

Writing life

What is passion?

I open my recently bought journal and stare at its fresh pages as I leaf away the blank spaces, smoothing my hands over its smooth surface I feel a throbbing ache urging me to write. The words "CREATE" emblazoned on the empty pages. I am empty, reduced to a minuscule nothing so long since I let creativity course through my veins and into the ink of my pen.

The days when you don't feel like writing you should write. I repeatedly tap my pen on my desk, unscrew and screw its cap off the clicking sound oddly comforting as I wait for words maybe a prose or two to materialize. I am sitting here observing sights and sounds but I am drawing a blank. How many unfinished posts have I abandoned never having the courage to finish, not knowing where I trailed off?

I guess there are days such as this when nothing comes out no matter how much prodding you make you're just churning out crap. Even so I will write what frustrates me.

Write the banal, make the ordinary extraordinary. I figured I live such a pedantic life nothing interesting is worth making stories from. But what can be more bland than not creating something? I am not dexterous with my hands but with a keen eye for detail and vivid imagery even my clumsy hands can make something out of sheer observation. I should not let it deter me.

As long as I continue to sit here burying my face in my hands anxiously waiting for the wheels in my head to turn (sometimes forcibly cranking it myself) even when I feel the fiery zeal wavering I'm not putting that flame out, that is passion and that's how I know it hasn't run out of me yet.

Here's an excellent piece of advice

Once you go LORAC you never go back

I have zero experience in makeup. In college I never dabbled in beauty because I didn't really think of it as a necessity but even then I was already watching countless tutorials on Youtube as past time. It was only during my entry in the workforce that I took the plunge, also it helps me look the part.

For a beginner in makeup the LORAC Pro is a high end product and I figured if I'm going to put anything on my face then it should only be the best that I will always reach for. I took the fuss with this product as this palette is not readily available in the Philippines so I had to pre-order mine online.

When I first got the palette I marveled at the variety of shades and how I could wear all of them.

The LORAC Pro palette consists of 16 eyeshadows (half shimmery and half matte). The shadows are versatile, pigmented and blendable with great color payoff.  

This palette is a great investment with a number of great looks you can create from the swatch of eyeshadows available. My favorite everyday shades for work are Taupe, Mauve, Sable and Espresso. 

I hope to build my own collection soon! 

We went Skycycling

It should be called Soul Cycle. Your soul will literally leave your body. I have done adrenaline inducing activities before and all of them requires you being suspended up the air in a wire. Zip lining for the fourth time in a row and now onto this batshit crazy idea pedaling your way on a 200 meter cable 60 feet above the ground. I thought I'm living such a pedestrian life why not another extreme adventure for the books! Also I screamed my lungs off of expletives the whole way and I had a record breaking feat of biking. I didn't move my head an inch and kept training my eyes to the finish line (don't look down) for fear the bicycle might keep wobbling and dismantle from the cable. Good to say I didn't die midair.

Me moments before my soul left my body

 An idyllic view. I can sit down here all day, read a book and stare at the lush greenery.

We conquered the heights now here's a picture of the most comfortable moccasins.

Book Wishlist

I am nearing the end of my goal to read at least 20 books for this year and I'm exhilarated to have come up with a line-up of my books to read for 2015. I can't wait to get lost in their wonderful stories. I'm literally on a whirl just adding titles on my 'to read' list, time to shut off from the world brb.

Ever since I have been hooked on the comedy show "Parks and Recreation" I couldn't stop obsessing over  Pawnee Indiana and the rest of characters as they come up with sundry projects for their town. It's seriously the most underrated comedy show. What's amazing is they produced a book on the fictional town Pawnee The Greatest Town in America written, curated, proof read and ran through spell check by Leslie Knope. The book is a must for Parks and Rec fans.

Still on the subject of Parks and Rec is the woman behind the character-Amy Poehler. I can't wait to get my hands on her memoir!

Most of my books are a mishmash of comedy, historical fiction and some of Amazon's Best Books of 2014 (authors I have yet to discover). It's bound to be a good reading year! What's on your 'to read' list?

I was told there would be cake

The biggest and looming question I ask myself which I can never make sense of a definite answer is 

“What’s next?”

A big question mark seems to be hovering above my head.

When I was fed up with my parents telling me what to do, ridden with teenage angst and all I aspired to fast forward to adulthood where I can be independent, sashay my way to a fabulous life. Turns out it isn't what I always expected it be.

In college it was easy to map out your plans when there’s no expectation and responsibility yet. Your only goal was to learn as much as you can. From graduation to landing on my first job into the induction of adulthood I can make sense of Taylor Swift’s 22 ringing in my head right now.

                               “We’re happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time”

When the excitement wanes and you are faced with reality, panic begins to set in. Is this what I am supposed to do my whole life? Is my work recognized? Where do I see myself 5 years from now?

One of the tell tale signs of going through a quarter life crisis is the rising sense of “I've got to get out” and the feeling that you can change your life.

Also you tend to throwback consistently listening and watching to Disney song and movies, I am listening to my High School Musical playlist as I type this blog post. Everyday the thought of quitting  and following my dreams is a normal occurrence. I just want to pack my bags Eat, Pray, Love style but then the hard truth reaches out to slap me on the face that I don’t have the financial capacity to realize it.

Looking around I can’t help but compare how my peers are advancing in every aspect of their life and I seem stuck in the hole of normalcy and boring. I get panic attacks of living my life ordinarily contrary to my great expectations of changing the world or myself or taking after some worthy cause or discovering my passion. We have been told that we should make the most of our twenties. And I am not doing anything sensible to make my life worthwhile. The age where everybody’s next biggest milestone is getting married and rearing babies is dawning near *dry heaves*

Being an adult or trying to be an adult feels like I am teetering in my mother’s high heels filling in a role awkwardly. It’s a charade of keeping it all together when you absolutely have no idea what the hell is going on. It doesn't fit and I feel trapped.

My anxieties constantly claws into my consciousness I have not come into grips with the crisis yet but I have made reminders on how to deal with it

1.  Don’t be too hard on yourself, its okay that you still haven’t figured things out.
2. Take things one step at a time. Live in the present
3. Comparisons will kill you
4.  Loosen yourself up, make room for adjustments. Things are not always how you expect them to be
5.  Accept that life doesn’t always have to follow a certain time line to get to your goals. Admit that your dream to be a CEO at 25 is totally unrealistic
6.   No rush it’s not about the destination it’s the journey of getting there
7.  STOP OVERTHINKING

Thanks April. I'm just gonna wing it! Screw it! 

Wardrobe rehab

One of the biggest challenge in managing one's finances is practicing the art of contentment. When you are trying to save it takes a lot of effort to live by the fact that you are fine with what you already have.
Awhile ago I was doing a closet inventory I realized don't have many clothes (when a girl says she doesn't have a lot of clothes it's actually the opposite) but I do think I have enough to get me by. The more we shop and promise to ourselves that the pieces we recently bought is enough to last us it actually makes us want MORE. Every morning I stare hopelessly at my drawer deciding what outfit to mix and match or repeat. I've been shopping my whole life but I still have nothing to wear! Do you feel the struggle of not being contented?    

I came across Project 333 a wardrobe minimalism challenge that dares you to live on 33 pieces (excluding underwear, house/workout clothes) for 3 months! No shopping. Basically less is more and the challenge is your fashion versatility whilst keeping your personality.

Having recently graduated my closet is full of pieces I'll never be able to wear to work. My university staples consisted a good majority of sleeveless tops, university t-shirts and SHORTS (not very work appropriate). We didn't know any dress codes in UP and wore as if we just rolled out of bed and nobody cared especially on Hell Week. You can come naked like the Oblation and you are welcome. Office life and dress rules was a bit of a culture shock for me given the fashion liberty we had at school. No more carefree shorts and sneakers wearing me!
So building up my work wardrobe and reinventing my style towards a more career forward power dressing started me back at one. Finding decent clothes was hard enough making your budget fit made it even harder.

3 months on the job I think I've built enough basic pieces to be able to mix and match so I'm taking on my spin off of Project 333 work clothes edition. Being on a wardrobe rehab feels cathartic but a practical way to control and identify your wants versus need. I hope I can begin my savings while still enjoying other pleasures other than the joy of retail therapy after all there is more to experience than materialistic things. Now let's see if I can veer away from the temptation of window shopping and Pintersting further expanding my coveted pieces 😂