alone but never lonely

It was my Me Time again yesterday. The boyfriend let me wander off on my own so I hauled my sleepy ass down to Alabang Town Center.

I just saw how different the place is now. It is slowly turning into a mini Bonifacio High Street of the south. They've added restaurants and shops there, making the place less outdated. About time, right? The town center had been there for ages.

It's pretty festive there yesterday, being Easter Sunday.

I started writing this blog post yesterday in a coffee shop, while watching people. I had to tune out the white noise though so I blasted my eardrums with Amanda Palmer music. Anyway, the splurge of the day award goes to this gem right here:

A hardbound collection of T.S. Eliot's poems and plays! Originally priced at 1,215 php, I pointed out that it has cosmetic damage so they gave me a 20% discount on it. New price: 972 php.

(Are you writing this down? Because you should. That's a life lesson right there. Boom. You're welcome.)

I'm really not OC when it comes to books. Mine all have been dogeared because I don't trust bookmarks. But you always have to look for newer copies and if they don't have one, then that treasure is yours for less! I've been looking for an Eliot book for ages so this is just an awesome find.

Also... You all know how much of a notebook hoarder I am, right? Wellllll... Ok just look at this for a second before you tut-tut:

I mean, how can you not get one. They're all so very pretty. No, no, of course I don't need it. I just wanted one. Because it's purrrrrty. I know, it's all id in this body. No superego. At. All. Oh look, mini me's!!!!!

Anywaaaaayyyyy, a few bucks short but happy, I decided to go home. Here's the downside of commuting to ATC. You have to ride a jeep to Festival mall and walk to the vans that will take you home. It didn't end up too bad because I got this...

The whole process took less than 20 minutes. The stamp itself was done in 5 minutes! I was so happy (and a little broke) that I didn't buy that Daenarys Targaryen vinyl toy I saw. I got this bespectacled cat instead for 320 php. Woot!

Maybe you're thinking, "that poor girl has no friends she had to go on her own...." Don't feel sorry for me guys! :) There's this line in one of Amanda Palmer's new songs which says, "I like being alone with people. Yes, that's how I like it." That's when I realized that there are other people like me. I like being alone with people around me. We're a weird bunch I know, but who isn't.

Till the next adventure comrades!!

the Christmas haul

I was happy to be able to go to the St. James Christmas bazaar last year because that's where I found the most amazing gifts. You know how it is when it's about 1 or 2 weekends away from Christmas and you still haven't decided what to give your favorite people yet. There were a lot of people there too but it was not as crazy as the malls.

I also got to shop on my own because the boyfriend gives me this look like, "I love you and I support you but geez my feet are killing me can we please wrap this up and go home....?" So I leave him to his UFC and out I go shopping. I went to the mall that one time and bought, ermm, stuff that I (would probably) need (someday). And, gifts.

But this post is not about the gifts bought. Mostly because my family reads my blog. This is about the stuff I bought on the side. One does not simply stick to one's Christmas shopping list. It is folly.

So here it is! I bring you...

The Christmas Haul of 2012!!!

Alice in Wonderland sticker notes
- 150 php, St James Bazaar

This set includes 8 pads of sticky notes, each with a different size and design.


Mark Ryden postcards
- 600 php, Fully Booked

I've always been a fan and this had been one of the luckiest find ever.


Tara McPherson stationery
- 250 php, Fully Booked

I remember collecting stationeries like this in high school. I was so stoked to see this. It's in the same area where I found the Mark Ryden prints.


2013 planner in Turquoise
- 245 php, National Bookstore

I love the color! And I also love the layout. You have one whole page for each day of the year. And it's compact! It's just as small as my pseudo Moleskine journal (see next entry).


Venzi blank journal
- 99 php, National Bookstore

The poor man's moleskine. 70 gsm with blank pages. Not bad for a cheap ass notebook. The pop of pink is what caught my attention but it proved to be a pretty cool notebook when I used my colored pens on it.

Pretty pretty stuff. I sure hope these things help me keep organized. 2013, bring it!!

lonely lonely, that is me

It's the first time that I don't have the beau in tow today for this week's weekend loot. He's feeling under the weather these past few days. I wanted to be with him this weekend but he told me he didn't want me cooped up with him and risk getting the flu myself. "Off you go. Do something crazy," he said. So off I went.

My brain seemed to focus on nail polish these days so I went to the Festival mall to gawk at nail polish. I know, it's sort of lame but when I'm trying to grow my nails back, I obsess about nail color. I think I change colors every week. So anyway, I get there and bought these two: color 319 from BNC and color 05 from BK, which is matte.

Why I forgot to take a picture of the place is beyond me. Probably too excited to see the gray one on my nails. Hehe. So after that, I went to my usual haunts: Booksale and National Bookstore. Bought a couple of stuff from there which are really inspiring. Rummaging through books and magazines made me thirsty so I went to the Coffee Republic at the 4th floor for some Tiramisu Mocha.

This was lucky find. It was out in the open, just waiting for me to pick her up.

I brought my notebooks along with me. One for lists and one for blog posts. 

The one for lists is a DIY. It's made from recycled scratch papers, an old folder, and colorful tapes. It's a DIY listography notebook.

 This list is a bit outdated. I've managed to put more clutter in my bag these days. Oh look I even described my notebook here! I just realized that was there when I was making this blog post. Heh.

Post-coffee break, I went to California Nails and Day Spa. Again, for the life of me I don't know why I didn't take pictures, like a normal blogger would. Luckily, they have their own website! Look at the pinkness of the place! Let me just say that although it IS pricey than your regular manicure place, it is totally worth it. I've never had such attention given to my nails before. I was literally there for 2 ++ hours. That's about one hour per hand! I love the place, I love the products they use, I love how they do nails. I'm coming back, there's no doubt about that. 

Oh! I also bought a new notebook for blogs/notes/"musings". It's a bigger notebook than what I usually buy (see above). It's a regular notebook (Blue Feather padded notebook) and I just wrapped it matching colors so that it would look like a hardbound book. I know, it's dorky. But I'm pretty fickle with my notebooks. 

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

P.S. My blog is undergoing renovation right now, so pardon the mess. I'm still trying to figure out the new blogger features.

P.P.S. ...and yeah, I miss you, internet friends. :)

weekend loot

I know I've seen this girl somewhere...

It's that girl from those Japanese candies! Peko-chan!!!! 

I knew I had to buy this pair of cuteness. :) 

weekend loot

So I was reading Katrina's blog post about her Japanese books when I remembered something I haven'ts done in months... go book hunting!

National Bookstore has this huge collection of Japanese hobby books, though most of them were about sewing and origami. I'm not much of a seamstress so when I browse through that particular section of the store, I usually just buy the origami books. I decided to check it out again this Saturday in hopes of finding "gold". I ended up buying 4 books I absolutely cannot put down... at 20% off!! Am I lucky or what??? more after the jump!

weekend loot: "for the love of sarah" edition

I can't believe he talked me into walking/finding Johnny Air in Makati. I think it was more or less (probably more) 10 blocks from our office and he decided that we should walk there from work. Good thing it wasn't hot and the sun was a bit friendly that day so I said let's go and off we went on our little adventure.

The boyfriend purchased these 7 inch goodness from ebay a few months ago. We picked up his loot last Saturday.

It was nice to see him all smiley and excited with his loot. Haha! I mean, cmon, he just got his Field Mice and Northern Picture Library vinyls!! 

It was worth the walk, I realized. We stayed at home that weekend and just listened to these all day. 

Aaaaaaaaand that's just half of it. ;)
Stay tuned for weekend loot part 2: for the love of moz edition!

weekend loot

We went to the mall yesterday with the aim to walk aimlessly. We usually go to anywhere with books (Booksale and National Bookstore) and/or record stores (Odyssey) and were able to snag these gems:

• Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth by David Browne (Php 164)
• Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (Php 315)
• Permanent: Joy Division 1995 (Php 500-ish... I think...)

I learned about Jonathan Safran Foer though Carina (nothingspaces.com) as she is a HUUUUUUGE fan. I've been reading a few pages and I must admit I'm starting to love it. :) Thanks Carina! 

We trolled around the mall, watching kids like we always do. 

(the boyfriend tries to hide. he's camera shy as you can see.)

(and he's content with taking weird pictures of me. hello wonky eye.)

BTW, it's nice to see everyone using paper bags in this mall. I guess it can be a pain especially if your carrying food (my baked potatoes from Wendy's almost fell out of the paper bag due to moisture) but still...

Have a great week guys! :)

100% daintiness guaranteed!

I think I've trained the boyfriend to keep an eye for cuteness. So while we were at the mall this weekend, HE spotted these.

what is it?

a coin bank!

guaranteed! ;)

vintage typewriter = ♥

This weekend, we went to Greenhills for some much needed shopping! Haha! It's a good thing that the boyfriend enjoys shopping as much as I do so I can drag his ass to places. We saw a lot of stuff we wanted to buy but I was only able to buy a few necessities because of this:

A refurbuished Smith-Corona typewriter! This is my 2nd typewriter. The first one was a Smith-Corona Corsaire Deluxe which was given by the boyfriend. I'm not sure what model this is but I freakin love it! Dear boyfriend, thank you for carrying this ginormous thing from Greenhills to Laguna. Love you! xoxo

weekend loot: 08-14-10

it has been an amazing weekend for us. i always, ALWAYS look forward to weekends because it's 2 full days of treasure hunt!

this weekend, the boyfriend and i managed to snag these:

CHEAP ASS SLIDE FILMS!!

and this one's about 35 years old. it's older than i am. haha!

cute cucumber eye patches

heart shades. because one can never have enough.

and lastly, 3 cute new wrappers! 

weekends = best days ever!