Outfits, videos and a threadless design

Exciting news guys and gals, my latest design for Threadless is up for scoring! Be a dear and vote for it here <3

Astro Basketball

Growing up, I remember watching a lot of basketball games with my father on our small tv and cheering with him even if I had no idea what was going on, seeing him play in his former company's league (I think he was an MVP a couple of times too? I need to verify this, though, but I'm pretty sure that despite the height disadvantage, he was a great player :) ), and in later years seeing him transition into coaching teams in my youth group, Youth For Christ. That was his other passion, aside from serving in Couples For Christ and jamming on his guitar during lazy Saturdays. Which is maybe the reason why, as "un-sporty" as I am (soccer and wall climbing being the only ones that I really like), I can tolerate watching basketball a lot more than watching football, and thus understand all the hype surrounding that particular game. The design above is a wink to my dad's love for basketball and a nod to one of my many childhood obsessions (I used to reread one particular book on Space during summer vacations). I hope you like it enough to give it a five :) And oh, an interesting tidbit: I asked my older brother to sketch it for me after describing in detail how I wanted it to look like, and he got it 100%! Awesome :D

Here's my outfit for today, in celebration of the uncannily warm weather we're having. Huzzah! I am so ready to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom on Wednesday ^_^

Button-down shirt: Halogen (similar shirt from Jones New York here)

Pants with belt: H&M (I will start collecting these, they're easily one of my dressiest and comfiest pair of pants!)

Leather bag: Cole Haan's Daisy Triangle Tote

Dressing room: Nordstrom Rack (I was returning an item that I intended to use for a contest and saw an opportunity to take an outfit picture hehehe)

Flats: Calvin Klein (my favorite pair, previously mentioned here)

Necklace: Burlington

Here's a closeup of the necklace, which I absolutely adore:

It's a chain of five pearl flowers, each with a rhinestone cluster in the middle - perfect for spring!

Progress?

For posterity's sake, a compilation of my creations:

03/2011: Ma's birthday, Red Velvet cupcakes

Dirt Track Racing Cake!

Yesterday was a double celebration as it was both Easter and my nephew's 4th birthday! So of course I had double the food hahaha jk but not really, I definitely felt the aftereffect earlier today (was really groggy and sluggish). Easter morning was spent on whipping up a car themed birthday cake from scratch, based on a recipe from Hershey's website and a basic buttercream recipe I found online. Are you ready to see it? Here it is! (Controlled sloppiness is key to this cake: it's supposed to emulate dirt track racing, after all!)

The dirt track is made out of crushed chocolate cookies while the grass is tinted vanilla buttercream frosting (kelly green gel tint, lots and lots of it)

Drooling over..

Beautiful, white leather bags. Just because.

white-hot by white-lily featuring a zipper bag

Nothing much

1. This morning, I was about to wear a top that I bought in the Philippines (but had not tried on, because I was in a hurry then) when I realized that I could not get it through my head. I kept thinking that there was a button somewhere that I missed, hoping in vain that I will get to wear it. Alas, it seems that it will be an impossible feat, and I will never get to don it unless I rip the neckline to fit my gigantic head :(

2. Star Trek Into Darkness is one of the movies I'm looking forward to watching soon, but at the same time I'm dreading to see it. Why? Because my current favorite actor, Benedict Cumberbatch (from "Sherlock," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "The Hobbit," to name a few), is the villain! Will I spew bile at his mercilessness or smile at the deep timbre of his voice? Ah, I guess I just need to remind myself that he is an actor by trade, and while he is amazing at it, he is but another person living on the other side of the world. (Watching Sherlock is making me want to try my hand at forensic chemistry, though.)

3. I used to hate my hands - or more specifically, my fingers. I would stare enviously at other girls' units, wishing they- what people describe as "candle-like", long and elegant - were attached to me, too . Mine are shorter and stubbier compared to my Ma's, and there were times when I was a kid that I would secretly give Pa the stink eye for dominating over Ma's genes and passing them on to me. That is, until I saw that the very same ones were on Pa's mother, my Lola Annie. She who bore 8 daughters and a son with my Lolo Manny, who cooked all their meals (with Pa as her constant companion at the wet market) and made sure that their school uniforms and work clothes were washed and pressed and neat. Not to mention, whenever I went to visit my paternal grandparents during my recent trip to the Philippines, she would always have food that she knew I missed laid out on their table, and with a smile would urge me to have some more. One of the best days I had was when I took the family out to Laguna for lunch. On the way home, she remembered that there was a store famous for its Buko (coconut) pie, and she stood in line, out in the heat for a long time just to buy boxes of it, while all of us waited in my cousin's van. The next day, I was greeted by more food prepped by Lola Annie, and like she promised, one of them was a dish I sorely missed and longed to eat for years (escargot and fern in coconut milk). "We already had some last night, and we saved this portion for you because you said you love it!" Squeals and thank yous rushed out from me, I kid you not. Now, whenever I look at my hands, I no longer scrunch my nose at them and try to superimpose those of hand models on them (I still appreciate nice hands though, but I'm ok with mine! In fact, I'm blessed to have them). Now, I smile and remember how thankful I am for Lola Annie. I may have inherited Lolo Manny's love for writing, but it is with the hands I inherited from Lola Annie that I write and type with.