J Crew Style

One of my favorite questions to ask girls is "If you could only wear one brand of clothing for the rest of your life, what would it be?" H&M, Forever21, ASOS and Top Shop are always on the forefront of high street fashion, but when you grow old, I don't think you would still want to wear fashion-y items.

Can you imagine yourself in this outfit after 20 /30/40 years? (image via forever21.com)

Oscars Fashion Favorites!

I wasn't able to catch the show last night, but thank goodness for the internet I could still see all the lovely couture gowns and dashing tuxedos <3 Here are my personal favorites:

(Photos courtesy of vogue.co.uk, thesun.co.uk, huffingtonpost.co.uk, style.com, stylebible.ph)

My bet for Best Actress, Naomi Watts, who sparkled in this Giorgio Armani gown

Videos!

1. Trailer for Year Walk, purchase here: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/year-walk/id555916407

From a telegraph.co.uk review: "Year Walk is a bold, distinctive adventure, and one of the finest titles the App Store has yet hosted."

Pre-Oscars: Best Food Scenes in Movies

Pretty straightforward, I compiled a list of movies wherein I could almost taste the food on the screen or where I felt my stomach growling. Comment with your favorite food scene below :D

1. Ratatouille - My little brother, who normally doesn't eat vegetables, asked Ma to cook Ratatouille for him after we watched it in the cinema. She obliged, wanting to try it out too, but my brother bailed at the last second (to which I said, "More for me!"). Whenever I feel uninspired to cook/bake but have to, I remember this film and encourage myself with the quote "Anyone can cook!"

Here's a recipe for Ratatouille that's based on the movie:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/07/rat-a-too-ee-for-you-ee/

Ratatouille from smittenkitchen.com

Wowza!

One of the most memorable things that ever happened to me was when I won the Threadless dog hoodie challenge, besting Threadless' top illustrators with such a simple illo. I know they hold tons of challenges every year, but to be able to tickle people's funny bones and earn a lot of 5's - good gosh - I could not help but squeal at work when I got the email that my design won.  A lot of high fives ensued that day, haha! Still, I am by no means an illustrator, I consider myself a winner but I don't think I'll ever be in the same league as other Threadless illustrators.

http://www.threadless.com/product/4395/Tally_Ho 

Case in point: a fellow Filipina designer who's currently based in China, Hana Bascano. Her vector designs are so good. See for yourself! Images taken from http://shadowness.com/hanabacasno and http://hanabacasno.deviantart.com/#

Semi-productive Day

Watched the first quarter of District 9 on my tablet via Crackle, called up my parents because it's their anniversary (29th! Have to save up for their 30th :) ), chatted with my big bro online, ate breakfast and lunch, did my laundry, cleaned the basement, and in between all of that I managed to churn out two three Threadless submissions.

 I hope the animated gifs above aren't too much haha. First off:

ABS OF STEEL!

This one's for the Power Tanks contest, to motivate the wearer to work out. I had to look these up:

1. Pictures of robots (illustrated, mechanized and toys)

2. Abs - because I don't have any :P

3. Metal - or specifically, how light bounces off it

I had to do it with a minimum amount colors but still have the look of metal to it, and it had to look like it was actually hole-y/ripped. Whew!

A Great Love Affair

When my maternal lolo (grandfather) was still alive, I very rarely saw him without my lola (grandmother) by his side. She was always somewhere close by, even when he was busy in the kitchen cooking up a delicious storm. I remember how he would meticulously sort out both of their pills for each day of the week, glasses teetering at the edge of his nose, his eyebrows knotted in concentration. I dared not bother him, lest he make a mistake, and just watched him put each pill in their proper compartment. It was the same thing whenever they had to pack for their 18-hour trips to Manila or abroad, lolo would do it for both of them out of love for lola, because when they were younger it was she who cooked and did housework and took care of their five daughters.

To think that when he started courting lola, she tried to avoid him at all costs because a mestizo (a male of Spanish descent) like him would surely just be a player and break her heart. But my lolo relentlessly pursued her, she who loved singing and dancing at town fiestas and private parties, and eventually she stopped hiding from him and let him court her. Mama swears that they never fought in front of her and my aunts, and that whenever lolo was away, lola would say that she was feeling ill until at last when she sees him again, she would be miraculously healed. And oh, how they loved to dance! When lolo was still well he would always ask for lola's hand and they would, for a night, transform into their younger selves, eyes closed and hips swaying to the music. My cousin, Rachelle, was lucky to have danced with him on her wedding. Thank heavens my paternal lolo is still alive and kicking, and I hope by the time I get married I would have the chance to dance with him.

Having witnessed the kind of love that my lolo and lola shared, I cannot help but make it my standard of measurement of what love should be. For me, they embodied this oft-repeated passage:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Ack, sorry for being overtly sentimental, I took photos of my grandparent's photos (inception?) while I was in the Philippines and this was the perfect opportunity to reminisce and be thankful for them. I hope I will always be reminded of what love is supposed to be <3 Happy Valentine's Day to the sweetest couple I know!

Let's fall in love / Why shouldn't we fall in love? / Our hearts are made of it / Let's take a chance / Why be afraid of it

Let me leave you with a few of my favorite love songs (after the jump!):

Sketches

Listening to Mika while sketching some submissions for Threadless.

It's been a while (cue Staind), and I was really, really rusty. I think it's partly due to the fact that today is my late grandfather's birthday, making it hard for me to concentrate because memories of him kept surfacing throughout the day (like when I used to watch him comb his hair meticulously after putting some baby oil on it in lieu of hair gel, and when he and I reupholstered this beautiful cherry wood chair with a rose-print fabric my Ma and I bought from Michael's. Gosh I miss that chair, it's been in storage since early last year). I miss him sosososo much! So before I post my sketches, let me include this card I made for him :)

*Sniffsniff* I know I won't be seeing you soon Lolo, but I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful memories you left behind. I sorely miss your cooking, your jokes, and, well, YOU!

To lighten up the mood, let me conclude with the sketches I mentioned earlier :) I'm still processing some of them so please don't copy! Thanks, and hope they get at least a chuckle from you.

2013 Grammy Awards: Favorite Outfits

I always look forward to Grammys fashion because musicians tend to take more risks than those who attend other ceremonies like the Oscars or Cannes. I guess it's because they have more room for experimentation since their form of art is more expressive than, say, acting. Here is a list of who I think ruled the red carpet last night (all images taken from nydailynews.com):

Rihanna in Azzedine Alaia- the classiest outfit I have ever seen from her. It suited her perfectly and erased most of the bad ones from my memory.

2013 Grammys

To people like me who weren't able to see it live, here are blurry videos of the performances that we missed (these are the best I could find, there would probably be better ones soon):

A rushed version of A Team by Ed Sheeran and Elton John. I wish they slowed it down so we can enjoy it like wine - in sips, not like beer that you chug down.

Commencing Outfit Flood in 3..2..

Long absence = a barrage of outfits! I tried my best to take pictures of worthwhile ones, and since I have no camera-touting friend/boyfriend/mom around (which is almost always the case with bloggers, I will have to use this excuse until I can bribe someone to take my pictures regularly lol) these will have to do! Warning: most of them contain Forever 21 items, which were from the huge sale they had before Christmas break. I even bought a pair of hot pink heeled Mary Janes because I thought they were cute, but I don't think I'll ever really wear them. I definitely went crazy that one time ($5 shoes! $2 top!, etc.).

Wore the shirt I got from a Temper Trap concert underneath a Forever 21 cropped knit sweater. I was really cold so I added my favorite rainbow-striped scarf. Ta-da! To think I used to hate red :p

American Idol Best Bets

I was going to sleep early tonight but I clicked on one link for an AI audition, and 2 hours later I finally stopped myself from watching them because JULIE YOU HAVE TO SLEEP EARLY!!! It is late though, so I'm just going to embed videos of my top picks so I can at least say that I did it for research purposes (ahem). I don't really follow AI but the ones on this list are really great, and I wish them all the best for the weeks to come!

Males: