Vday. 2009

                                                                           my valentine's day flowers from lover.

Ok. So I haven't blogged in a while and I missed it a lot. But the past few weeks have been uber busy for me: appointments, work, teacher meetings, over time, late night errands, dinners, etc. etc. the list goes on and on and on. Whew! But I'm happy about the long weekend which means I'll have more time to clean, cook, exercise, watch tv, pig out and surf the net. I really miss going on vacation and just imagining a trip to a beach far far away from this freezing weather makes my heart skip a beat. I cannot wait to wear a freaking bikini. :)

                                                                                             The night's special sushi

Valentine's Day was a blast. We had dinner at Yuzu in San Francisco and their sushi...ahhh...DIVINE. I just looved their Salmon Sashimi, Valentine's sushi special, Black Dragon ( I have to say this: Theirs was the best dragon roll I've ever tasted so far.) and Yuzu cake which was basically just pound cake with vanilla bean gelato and yuzu syrup (i think there was a little caramel in it though). Thinking about it again makes my mouth water. I can't wait to go back there again. The place was pretty small but it was also very very cozy which we loved. They had these really tiny cast iron teapots where they put their soy sauce that looked so cute. I couldn't help but take a picture: as is tradition every time we eat at a new resto. So we really enjoyed our little fancy albeit not so expensive Japanese dinner. It was our best Valentine's Dinner so far. Cafe Bastille last year was also great but it wasn't as fun and enjoyable as this year. First of, last year i ordered coq au vin and it was A LOT and i didn't really enjoy it, I gave it to Paulo. We swapped but then he ordered foie gras and you know i'm not so much of a fan of said dish. It's really good don't get me wrong but it was just too rich for me. 

                                                                                                  My little teapot.

                                                                                 

Moving on, yesterday I bought these really really HIGH wedge shoes at American Eagle. I was originally planning to get their cute boyfriend jeans but they were too long for me, as always. So i spotted these cute white ones but I didn't have a size! Good thing I decided to get brown ones (thank God the last pair was a size 6) and now I feel like 5'2" which is, hey,  already very OK for me. So the retail therapy turned into major guilt after like, 5 minutes, but what the heck, I realized at 4'11" I deserve shoes that make my legs thinner and a step closer to Miranda Kerr's. Just kidding. but yeah, I love them and I feel a bit sad because it's raining like hell today and I can't wear them.

But I'm thankful and giddy-happy our little japanese Valentine's night really, really rocked.

Saturday Mix.

I recently dyed my hair brownish black and am still getting used to the color. I'm always used to having brown hair and I never realized the big difference it makes even if you just go a few shades lighter. But I finally did it after much thinking. The color makes my hair look a lot healthier, thicker and surprising shinier! I'm super enjoying it right now. :) And so now with the new hair I decided to invest on a good nude lipstick. I don't know why but right now I am obsessed with smokey eyes. Elle magazine had a beauty feature on it with excerpts from Bobbi Brown's book (I think) on how to properly put eye make up. I tried it today and it didn't look much like Bobbi Brown's smokey eye version but I will keep trying until I perfect it. Impeccable make up application is the best thing ever. So anyway, enough of my random raves. Will blog on more exciting stuff next time. Ciao!

Miss Independent.

This week in Oprah is about living your best life ever. I've been watching out for it but then now that they're airing it, I'm back at work and obviously, can't watch. I am keeping my fingers crossed in the hopes that I can catch a reply somewhere. Hello?!? Someone needs some serious advising here in all aspects: fitness, spirituality, health and most importantly money.  Ever since I've entered the workforce and have earned my own money, I have to say there are times when I've gotten a little irresponsible with my finances. Blame it on impulse shopping and a unending addiction to fashion magazines and books. I know they sound useless because I know at this age I should be saving money BIG TIME and investing some. But here I am struggling every new year's eve with the same resolution. To learn how to save a whole lot more and to make my money work for me. It's just that most of the time, I'm too scared to take risks in money but as I get older I seriously feel my financial clock ticking. I have to do something about this. I'm not getting any younger and I have to be independent not just emotionally but financially as well.  Money experts always say, you should invest as early as possible, as young as possible. Waaaah! Where.What.Why.When. So many questions, so many things I need to learn I feel like a sponge I just want to absorb all the tips and lessons on handling money well. 

So where exactly am I getting at??? I don't know. I just want to be a lot wiser with my money this year. I want to make meaningful purchases. I want to be more mature. To be braver. To take more risks money-wise. To be financially independent big time: what every woman should be with or without a man. Someday I want to be effing rich that I could splurge on something really big like expensive jewelry just for myself and just because. you know?

   

I have to quit buying fashion magazines at cover price. shit. Well, at least that's a start. 

Balance 101.

I learned today that what I need to perfect is my sense of balance in life. It's not that easy but I am positive that this will be my goal for this year aside from learning to re-love my self. To have that balance in life, in my work, relationships, friends and most especially in my dreams. I tend to focus too much on one thing that I end up forgetting all the others, I end up heading nowhere and frankly very lost. I lose time and my priorities get mixed up. It's never a good spot to be in. I never thought of this until recently. I really need to loosen up a little bit. You know, use my time wisely and learn to love the present moment for what it is. I'm a Leo and my dreams and aspirations most of the time take the no. 1 spot, I easily forget how it is to live truly, fully and peacefully. Oh life. I'm glad I finally got that part figured out. BALANCE, BALANCE, BALANCE. 

Tomorrow I will wake up early so I can learn how to cook a decent breakfast. I will enjoy a hearty Saturday lunch with my family, this time really fix my closet,  and go to the airport with lover's family to drop his dad who's going back to Manila. (As I write this I kind of cringe, the word "lover" kind of sounds sexy in an awkward way)  But I will enjoy the rest of my Saturday afternoon and will make sure I have a blast till night when we invite some friends to come over for some drinks. I will drink. a lot more than usual, I promise.  

PS. I will start dieting on Monday and I won't be completely satisfied until I get that Kate Moss body. Boy, did I just talk about having some balance in my life? Why am I even blogging about shallow vanity issues again???

PSS. Will try harder for balance. 

PSS. Image is obviously a Versace Ad. 

I'm sleepy, it's 2 AM. Signing off, MK.

New Year's 09

NYE. A lot has happened last night. Can't begin to tell you. First up, I made a promise to myself that THAT NIGHT, I would be my prettiest, sexiest, fittest, and most of all, happiest self. And I did make it a point to have a blast, thankyouverymuch. I didn't care really about anything that could disrupt my mood that night. No questions, no wants, no doubts just pure contentment and peace. Grateful and optimistic that this 2009 is going to be my year no matter what. That God is going to bless me and my family tremendously because He loves us so much. I just know it. And I know that God will make this year better not just for me, my family and friends, but for every single person who has made it a point to really open their hearts to feel His great great love and countless future blessings.

Last night, for the first time in a long time, I didn't have to worry about anything. I felt happy and thankful for every single thing God has given me these past couple of years. To think that I have weathered the storm and somehow, have come out of it, still happy, a lot wiser and a lot stronger. I may have had a lot of questions, but's and what if's  but I learned last night that you can never really lose that joie de vivre. That somehow, no matter how caught up you are in life, it's just a matter of choice. Happiness is there if you make it a point to acknowledge it in you every single day. 

Right now I feel so blessed. And I owe it to myself to dedicate this year to loving me. Because at the end of the day, the only time I can say that I have been a good friend, daughter, sister, future wife is when I have first and foremost come to love myself, flaws and all. That no matter what happens I will love myself because I am all I'll ever have. Does that sentence even make sense? You get my drift. 

So I just want thank every single person who is a part of my life, who was a part and who will be a new part of my life. Thank you. I'm sure life won't be as kick-ass as this if it weren't for all of you. Life is good. As always. ILOVE IT.

Now moving on to the things I plan this year.

1.  I've decided to start detoxing this weekend. Now I'll see how that is going to work.  Going vegan every now and then is good, I just could never go the whole nine yards with it. I learned that I am too selfish to give up cheeseburger, hotdogs, and bacon. So going vegan one day a week won't be so bad. 

2. I have this new fetish for fresh, new, sexy, lacy but CLASSY lingerie. It's just something I figured out to be really liberating.

3. Practice my French. It's been years, I seriously need to start.

4. Change the apartment's furniture. 

5. Get a new passport and I need a good picture too.

6. Renew my California ID.

7. Our wedding :) I haven't got a dress yet and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed hoping my bank account could, with open arms, handle that Phillip Lim white grecian dress I've been drooling over forever.

8. My next dream purse. 

9. I really really want that golden wallet..

10. Lose weight.

11. Invest on a good pair of black leggings.

12. Go to a beach, please. 

13. Drive a car.

14. Clean my room, as in seriously clean it that every time I come in I actually forget where I am.

15. Prepare a Japanese dinner. oh yes, and buy a decent tea set. 

16. Get a teeny weeny tattoo??? What do you think? 

17. Read more books.

18. Take more pictures. 

19. Go more places. cheap thrills like free museum trips. I miss doing those things during our free time.

20. Make it a point to enjoy enjoy enjoy and celebrate Saturday brunches.

There you go, my new '09 list. I'm excited I can't wait. But I know that the most important thing I have to accomplish this year is to learn how to truly and unconditionally love me. 

Happy New Year Everybody! :)

Modern Love.

I've been collecting interior design magazines for quite a while now even if I have no idea how it's done or whatever. I just love looking at stylish, eco-friendly, modern homes. But really, how do they do it??? Fixing our home's console took me a good three hours. Just thinking of where to put the lamp, the picture frames and my two little buddhas was harder than I expected. But thank God I actually did it and my mom seriously thanked me for it.

So anyway, to make the long story short, I finally bought a decent interior design magazine. Well, more of a furniture guide of the hottest brands and the up and coming ones. But I love it to pieces and I'm so excited. Someday when I get my million dollars I will make sure I get pretty damn good furniture. But daydreaming/drooling aside, I've been seriously scanning through this book/mag for almost a month now. It costs a lot more than my usual magazine budget but I thought that somehow this'll be really worth it. So there. I'm so happy and giddy. My smile is from ear to ear and I'm jumping up and down like a lunatic. I'm in love with it. 

But since I still don't have my million dollars yet, I don't mind settling on the cheaper version. They still look quite the same to me. I'm not an interior designer and definitely not an expert so I have an effing good excuse to skimp on workmanship, material, etc. etc. I think. Yeah so anyway, I decided that if the time comes I win a Bingo game or some Parish Dance raffle, i will buy these beautiful furniture from IKEA and it would actually cost me only a little over 500 dollars. Amazing? Right.

But on a more serious note, I just received this in the mail from my aunt who lives in Manila.

It is fucking sick. Why?!?!? How?!?!? Who is this moron?!?!? And why again?!?!?! God, i tell you some politicians in the Philippines. That's precisely why we Filipinos freaking suffer all the time!!! People who actually have the authority to make big history-changing decisions in our country are psychos. Damn it, they just made my blood boil.

Sweeter The Second Time Around.

I've always enjoyed blogging and there never was this loveandhate relationship with it. But after almost 2 years of not writing, it suddenly feels so weird and foreign. It's like learning how to bike again and really, this whole ritual of writing kind of brings me back to my old self 4 years ago where everything started. I suddenly feel 21 again.  

Time flies. I think I've said this a million times already. I'm turning 26 for crying out loud. If you round that off, I'm technically 30. I don't mind but sometimes it gets a little scary. You reach a point where seriously, you start forgetting your age. i get confused a lot. 23, 24, 25 and 26 all sound the same to me. I feel the clock ticking extra faster nowadays and I'm sure my friends have also noticed that.

I learned that the more you age, the more you mellow down. In all aspects of life. Friends, family, finances, lifestyle, etc etc. Friends, well, as you age you learn so many things about people. You can easily now distinguish between good and bad company. Peer pressure becomes hardly existent. You tend to attract truer friends or people who have brighter and more positive outlooks in life. Angst and insecurity, out. Family becomes your number one priority and suddenly you realize that creating a warm, peaceful, happy home can actually be very fulfilling, interesting and seriously relaxing. I've started collecting interior design magazines even if yes, i live in an apartment with my whole family with no real say in furniture, etc. etc. But still, i love looking at cozy, clean and fresh looking homes in pictures. They make me happy. Finances are more planned and thought of. I wish I am being very responsible with my money. Splurges are mostly on investment pieces. On things I can use forever and ever. And I'm proud to say that i can count on my fingers, the number of handbags i own. Books and magazines though, i am most guilty. I've got thousands. I would choose wisdom over fashion anytime. Things have really mellowed down i tell you. Lifestyle wise, I've been trying (God knows how hard) to eat healthier. More vegetables, more fruits, more grain, more water. But sometimes it's just so hard. I love Japanese food so i try to tell myself that green tea, vegetables and fresh raw food might be a healthier alternative than the usual but then the topic of mercury comes up. I'm struggling but I'm there. Exercise comes once in a while, when there's extra time but at least now I really do believe that exercise doesn't make you more tired. 

A lot has changed since i stopped writing almost 2 years back. My past blog has been more about ranting. More about what to do with my life. I hope this new one reflects the new me. The path I've decided to take, the new adventures I'm so looking forward to. God, can you believe next week is already 2009? My only wish is that i make the most out of everything and be the best I can be to everyone who matter to me. I want freedom, happiness, peace and contentment. I want to love unconditionally. To be what He wants me to be. 

I feel so blessed and I'll keep reminding myself of it. I am going to miss 2008 but I'm also going to welcome 2009 for whatever it'll bring. i will love it no matter what. I will love it freely, openly and hopefully, i'll keep my fingers crossed, unconditonally.