Treat Yourself Right

crazy queue

It has been a tradition that every summer, there is some cold food trend that comes out and pops up every where like fungus. Haha. Not a good comparison, but it was the first thing that came to mind. A couple summers back, it was this shake thing with tapioca in it and, last summer, it was snow cups with the craziest amounts of toppings on it. I have to say though, that this summer has to be my most favourite trend, FROZEN YOGURT!

I have loved yogurt for the longest time ever... but could never find amazing FROZEN yogurt here in the Philippines. The past coupleof months, however, different frozen yogurt establishments have been popping up here and there...but none of them made me happy (because that should be their goal, lol) until I tried RED MANGO.

Red Mango is like heaven in my mouth. Since the first time I've tried it, I have been a supporter of the stuff. It's been my opening statement to friends that I run into. I've gone as far as to have meetings there just so I could have my yummy frozen yogurt.

Aside from it being the best tasting yogurt I've had in the Philippines... it is also healthy! I normally have my original flavoured frozen yogurt topped with strawberries and coco pebbles. If the strawberries aren't available, I always mix a fruit in with a cereal. It's the most amazing combination of cold, crunchy, and sweet...perfect!

Red Mango also has green tea flavoured yogurt that I think is superb with nuts and fruits. Sigh, I think I'll visit the place again this weekend. I really can't get enough. :)

Here's what I wore the last time I was at Red Mango...

nine west shoes, topshop by moto pants, macau bag, banana rep shirt, bali bangles

PS. Find Red Mango in SM Megamall ground floor, Eastwood's new mall in the balcony area, and there's one in Trinoma...I haven't visited that one yet. Eeek.

Elsie Gaches

Yeah, I'm sure you have no idea who that is. I had no idea who it was, too, when I first heard about Elsie Gaches. And I was annoyed at the fact that I needed to travel 2 hours to find out who Elsie Gaches was but I was excited at the fact that I was going to be able to teach children with special needs. For as long as I can remember, teaching children with special needs was something that came naturally to me and it made me feel like I was doing something right.


I musta taught 20 children one-by-one in about 4 hours. It was amazing. By the end of the teaching, the children were holding my hand and showing me the things they made. I was so sweet.



Apparently, Elsie Gaches was an American that came and put up a foundation to help orphaned and abandoned children with special needs. She put up this gigantic village where all these children are housed. A lot of them stay there from the time their found/brought there to their last days. The foundation does the best teach them to be helpful members of society and to live their life to the fullest. It was a really well maintained village and I really saw where all the donations and government went.

If you can, please try to visit the place and play with the children. They're a great bunch of kids. This is the only link I found.

Almost Famous

I finally found time to visit my friend's new store, Almost Famous. It's this tiny chic store somewhere hidden away in the mountains of buildings in the Fort. If my friend hadn't been promoting her store, I probably wouldn't have ever guessed there was it was there.

Upon stepping out of the and really look at the window display, you can see that the store would probably cost a pretty peso...and it does. But to me, each peso is totally worth it. You can see that the style and craftmanship of each piece is to a tee. Well, it is to be expected, after all, the store carries clothes from a bunch of local designers. I love saying that...local designers. It's a different feeling when you know that what your wearing is from a homegrown designer. I feel utterly proud.

The store layout and interior design is divine and the clothes totally embody the same feel. You really cannot go wrong with a store like Almost Famous. I'm sure it will be every fashionista's dream. So, get your butt off the chair and go visit the place...here's the map:

It's CB and Ri-ri...!

The crowd... crazy.

Yes, I went to the Rihanna and Chris Brown concert. Some people thought it was a waste of money but it was so worth it. Being able to dance around like an idiot (trust me, I look like an idiot when I dance) and sing the words along with the artists.... is awesome. I did get stopped at the gate becasue I had a bite size chocolate car in my bag. I found that rather dumb. Really, would a bite size chocolate bar stop me from buying food from the over-princed stalls inside? Of course not. I wouldn't buy anything from those stalls even if I was slightly hungry.

I found it crazy that they were pouring bottled water into cups!
HELLO! SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT PLEASE!

The moment I got inside, the crowd was so over whelming. The heat they were emiting was toxic so I stayed far enough back to be able to breath but close enough to see the stage. Haha. According to Rihanna, there were 70,00 people in the audience. 20,000 of that bunch were in the Gold section, the section where I was at.

It makes me sad that people can't seem to throw away their own trash.

I made sure to wear my Doc Martens to the concert. I was ready for people to step on me... and I planned giving a little kick when they do. Evil, I know. But I'm quite tiny and it's the most I could do. I also had to wear boots because the after-math trash of the concert could hurt my feet.

Sorry there's no outfit shot. We were all just so pumped, I totally forgot to take a picture. Next time, I promise. Haha.

Spinning Around.

One day, my friends and I got really bored and hungry so we headed out to eat at the best buffet ever; Spiral. It's one of those places where you can hang with your buddies and just stuff yourself silly. Which we did...to our dismay. Haha.

We made this game plan because we wanted to eat from ever country (yes, they have a station for each country). We started out with the appetizer counter which was actually a mash up of all the countries. Then we headed down to Japan, India, and so on.

On our way to China, we found out they were closing the buffet in 30 minutes. In one of my friends panic, she scooped up a plate and filled it with dumplings. A panic dumpling plate.

After eating for hours, the gluttons that we are, we decided to make our own dessert. My ice cream was mango topped with chocolate chips, syrup, gummie bears, and strawberry jam. So good. I wanted to cry at its goodness.

When we finally couldn't stuff our self anymore, we practiced our breathing. Haha. We couldn't even walk. It hurt to even roll to the side to face the person you're talking to. When we finally digested enough, we stood with our food babies and walked around.

For more information about the place, click here. You should really try it. Super amazing food.

Here's what I wore to our little food fest. Cotton, loose, black and flats is the way to go when doing a buffet. HAHA

Dress from Topshop. Sandals from Celine. Scarf from Macau.

Are You In Control?

For some weird reason, people have the tendency to assume I am a trendy adolescence. These people are my parents' friends and their siblings that I haven't seen in years. Every time they see my parents, they send them home with gifts to give me (a plus, I know). But since they normally have no idea who I am, they send whatever they think or see is "in" with the youth. I pretty much never see this as a bad thing... it gives me the opportunity to try new things out. This time, they sent me a bottle of Britney Spears' Curious In Control.

Okay, I have to admit that when I opened the packaged, I was very iffy about using Britney Spears cologne. I know it's mean but whenever I see pictures of her, she always looks like she hadn't bathed in days. Hence, my apprehension in using the stuff. I have no idea what could possibly smell good to her. But when I saw the bottle, I was like "ooooo...." It was so tacky, I loved it. Hahaha.

The colour wasn't much to be desired but the pump spray made me happy because I'm shallow like that. So, I sprayed away. It smelled like overly sweet fruits and candy. It wasn't at all bad. I think the smell grows on you and lingers long enough to make you feel relaxed. Can a smell really make you feel relaxed? Haha, that's probably how the cologne controls people. I dunno.

I don't think I'd buy myself a bottle after I finish this one but it was a good experience. Hahaha.

To buy your own bottle, click here.

Promise me, you don't fall into a tide pool or something

What can I say? I have fallen into the obsession just like everyone else. I love Twilight. I was skeptical at first thinking it was one of those sob-love stories that are so predictable but everyone seems to love so I didn't start reading it when my brother bought the first book. It looked so long and draggy (yes, I judged the book by it's cover) and I didn't have the strength in me to even pick it up. But the other day, I was looking through my list of things to do before the year ended and I promised myself that I'd read 24 books. Only having read 5 books, I'm far from achieving my goal so I decided to start reading a book a week until the year ends...just to make up for it.

And the only books I haven't read at home was the Twilight saga. I decided that it was long enough to finish a book a week. I WAS SO WRONG. The moment I picked the book up, I couldn't let it go. It was so wonderfully (or sadly, depending on how you look at it) addicting. I lost all touch with the outside world while reading the book. I lost track of time. I forgot to eat. I didn't reply/answer any calls, texts, emails, etc...I just couldn't let go. Every time I finished a chapter, I'd say, "this is the last... I need to eat..." And I COULDN'T DO IT.

Stephenie Meyer made Edward so lovable and so interesting, it was so hard to not want to know more about him. Yes, I've fallen into the cult of the Edward Cullen lovers. It's horrible but I can't get enough. I can't believe I finished Twilight in one day. It didn't even feel long.

Now, I'm excited about the movie. Sigh.

I don't want to tell you to go and buy the book. Really, I'm not that kind of person. I thought it was a great book but tastes differ. Give it a try if you fancy. :)