Birth/Death

It’s my birth month again. Reminiscing about my teenage days, I remember I was planning to die before reaching 20. It wasn’t out of depression or anything back then. I simply didn’t want to get older. I used to enjoy my birthdays during childhood, but the excitement turned into confusion when I reached 14, when I thought I just wanted to stay youthful forever.

I’m uploading these old photos because I don’t have enough time for a new shoot yet. These were taken by a friend about a decade ago. They are still my favorite. Photography: Cris Pangan (Circa 2008)

“Live free and die young with a beautiful corpse.”, I kept that in mind throughout my teenage days. There were times when I told people about my absurd ideals, and naturally, most of them just laughed it off and tried to talk me out of it. But I’m a person who’s not easily convinced, so I sticked with that thought for a while.

One day, I was chitchatting with a certain friend and when I mentioned it, she came up with a suggestion. She said, if I’m mainly concerned about the appearance, I could just look young. Age can just be a number. She even gave me some examples. I thought, hmm, yeah, reasonable enough. Okay.

I’m actually glad I’ve decided to keep on living. I’ve experienced more things and got to embrace the beauty and ugliness of the world. I’ve felt a lot more intense things and gained more knowledge along the way. (So, if you’re reading this right now and if for any reason, you’re considering to end your life, you may also want to reconsider it.)

Photography: Cris Pangan (Circa 2008)

 

Speaking of life, I’ve recently changed my career path. While I do love fashion and graphic design, the real reason why I’ve decided to take an art course was because I wanted to work in the anime and manga industry.

Anime style wasn’t really encouraged in Fine Arts, so I think I somehow lost it in the process. I started taking projects in the other fields I was drawn to. I enjoyed them and eventually, it seemed too late for me to shift back to my original plan. I may always look confident but I have a destructive level of perfectionism, so even though other people would sometimes praise my works, I just didn’t think they were ever enough. I had a bad habit of throwing my works away before they were finished. I wasn’t satisfied (on personal standards), so I stopped something which I used to love doing, which is drawing. I didn’t draw for a decade. (Yeah, such a long slump. lol)

But lately, just watching Loon and other artists who are really passionate for it brings me pleasant memories. It reminds me of my childhood days when I used to draw daily and how enjoyable it felt back then. That’s why I decided to grab a pencil again. I want to live my life with no regrets.

Photography: Cris Pangan (Circa 2008)

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from it. I thought it would be hard from this point, because I have to start from scratch again. That’s why when someone wanted to purchase the first artwork I managed to complete, I felt overjoyed and hopeful. Upon gaining more projects and getting even busier than before, it felt like a dream. I didn’t expect to gain everything so quickly. I didn’t even expect any result at all. Sometimes, we really have to take the risk to reach out for more happiness. It’s not a reason to stop learning though. At this point, there’s still so much to catch up on. I will also strive to manage my time to fit other things that I want to do, such as cosplay.

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By the way, for my birthday this year, I really want to thank Loon for making it special. Despite telling her that I have no need to celebrate, she still bought me a cake. I thought I was able to convince her that the body massage was already enough as a gift and not to get me anything else, but upon arriving at her place in Cavite, I still received a gift.

Yeah, her gifts are lowkey telling me to draw more. lol

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(Note: I wasn’t able to update my blog last month. Aside from being busy, one of my cats unfortunately passed away, so I was really down and I didn’t feel like saying anything at all. It’s really sad to experience this just before my birthday. Everytime a cat dies, it really shatters me. For now, I don’t really want to talk about the details.)

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Plants and Cats

What have I been doing lately? Well, there’s a lot. Aside from work and other things, I enjoy taking care of my cats and plants. I’ve been wanting to write an update regarding them and there’s a lot but I’ll try to keep it short.

First of all, a photo! :p I know it’s too early for Halloween, but it’s been a while since I’ve taken something cringy. =))

I wasn’t planning to become a plant lady and until now, I don’t consider myself to be one. During Christmas last year, I got myself a pot of red rose: something low maintenance. I wanted to have a rose garden (just like Shizuma and another character) and I thought that’s about it. I wasn’t planning to get anything else.

By the way, my roses still produce abundant blooms as always. ❤

Loon previously left her herbs in my care because they were too heavy for her to carry. She keeps on giving me cacti and succulents too.

Taking care of plants reminded me of my childhood. I used to plant fruits and vegetables with my cousin back in the days, and when I thought of it, I felt like planting something edible again. My parents would definitely love them too.

I bought some seeds when I came across a seller. I also informed Loon about it and she bought way more than mine. lol

Loon gave me a seedling tray when I came over her place. We were excited to plant the seeds.

Some of them started to grow after a few days.

Gardening assistant #1

Gardening assistant #2

Look at my proud bittergourd!

Loon’s flowers are so colorful.

Loon’s yellow roses. The petals are mostly yellow mixed with orange. They turn to peachy pink, then white as they wither.

We tried to germinate some seeds. Unfortunately, I lost some development photos. T_T

Up close

I was eating some lychee one day and I thought I should try germinating the seeds too. lol

Experiment #2. To be honest, I didn’t put a lot of care on these ones. I just tossed them into the soil to see if they’d develop… and they did! (Only slower than the others though.)

It was finally time to plant them.

Day 1: After 15 hours, some already started to peek out of the soil.

Day 2: They were growing so fast!

Here they are now. I’ll take better photos when the rainy days are over.

I had been planning to upload more things about cats too, but this entry is getting too long so I’ll save it for later! ❤

 

 

 

 

Loon’s Birthday

This update was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I was busy with other things so it got delayed. There are so many things that I want to write about, and I wanted to organize my thoughts before starting. I didn’t want to rush everything too much. Well, better late than half-assed. :p Here goes!

June gives me a special reason to celebrate every year. It’s Loon’s birth month! Ever since I met her, it has always been a happy month for me. It may sound cheesy but I always feel thankful that we’re born in the same era and that we’re able to meet in this lifetime.

For her birthday this year, we planned to celebrate it in their place. I went there extra early since she scheduled to have her wisdom tooth pulled at the beginning of the month.

I accompanied her to the clinic. Did the dentist also ask if we’re twins/sisters/cousins, etc? Of course, as always!

It’s a sensitive operation, so I wanted to ensure that she’d be eating well. We were on a soup diet for a week.

What I made for her: Mashed potato, mushroom soup, banana apple shake, pumpkin soup

When she got better after several days of bed rest, we went out to dine and watch Jurassic World with her family. I was having second thoughts whether I should go with them or not since I don’t often watch these types of movies, but Loon kept on convincing me about how good it is. She even made me watch the trailer while raving about it, and I found that funny somehow. And I thought, hey, it’s a rare chance to go with them so why not?

Yasss!

I also enjoyed the movie in the end (and the popcorn too. The ones being sold inside the cinema tasted better!). Although, as usual, movies about animals make me sad. That’s why I always avoid watching them.

The following week, it was finally Loon’s birthday. Few months back, she told me she’d want me to take a photo of her for her birthday this year. I wasn’t able to bring my dslr so I made use of what I had: my cellphone. lol

I was her one-man team. I styled her hair and yes, I also inflated the balloons one by one. *lol*

Happy Birthday! She wore the dress that her mom gave her. I gave her a book this year, but she doesn’t want to show it since it’s a secret. *lol*

We were joking around when I took the right photo. She dislikes it but I find it cute. *lol* It’s now my cp wallpaper.

This is one of my favorite shots.

With Pompom. This blog is getting long so I think I’ll write about her in the next blog.

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Extra:

Loon’s new crane game loot. It’s over a feet big!

New Blog Layout

After a year and a half, I finally updated my blog layout. Ah, it looks so refreshing. I think that the new theme matches summer and the upcoming rainy days. I’d been considering to change it since last year, but it took me a lot of time to decide since I was contented with the old one. I was torn about keeping my page black, since it’s more like me. However, white emphasizes Loon’s artwork and it’s my favorite color as well (or tint, in technical terms). Well, I tried to keep them both and used black on the edges.

I actually updated it last month, since I was so excited to use this header illustration drawn by Loon. This artwork was supposed to be for my Facebook cover photo, but it turned out so nicely, it would’ve been such a waste if I didn’t feature it in my blog as well. (Note: Her usual clients pay her with $$$$. I paid my “commission” in the currency of… mangga’t bagoong… and love. It’s priceless! lol)

Speaking of this, here’s something we recently wore. When I think of summer, I think of white and blue, like the bright clouds and sky.

It may look like it but we didn’t plan this photo at all. (lol) We came across this graffiti at SBMA near Dutyfree, during one of our dates. It matched the color scheme of our outfits. Unfortunately, the color of my pants didn’t register but they actually have light blue edges.

New purikura. Yay~

I also got myself some bluish flowers: hydrangea. Just like roses, I think that they suit me too. I fell in love with these flowers over a decade ago, ever since I first saw them in holic. However, I always hesitated to get one for myself since it’s so hard to take care of in this climate.

(L)Hydrangea (R)My hydrangea-colored nails

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Cat Feature : JYAN

To be honest, I almost missed my May update because I’m so busy with a lot of other things. But I really wanted to post something this month for one of my cats, Jyan. He started to live with us around this time, last year.

My nephew and some neighbors’ kids, knowing that I love cats, brought him near my place back then. I was not happy with their behavior of passing responsibility to others without proper permission, so I was not planning to adopt him at first. I just left him some food and water when nobody else was looking.

Later on, the sky was getting darker and it seemed like it was going to rain. Of course, I couldn’t leave him outside like that. When evening came and everybody was asleep, I went out to take him to my place.

I found him there hopelessly hiding behind some plants. His eyes were closed and covered with discharge and it felt like he was just waiting for his death to come. This sight made me feel so sad. I tried calling him, and he answered with a faint meow. I covered him with a shirt to pick him up, just in case he behaves wildly like some other stray cats. But he was so tame and nice. He didn’t kick, bite, or scratch me. He just let me carry him all the way up my place. When we arrived, I offered him some food and he ate like there’s no tomorrow.

(L)His photo when I first got him, with infected eyes (R)A few days later, he could finally open them. I also gave him some supplements to enhance his appetite when he got sick.

He loved playing with my hair and sleeping on my lap.

A very playful cat

By the way, I let my nephew name him. He suggested “John”. I messed up the spelling and made it “Jyan”, it sounds more cat-like. (lol)

Look at him now. Jyan turned out to be the sweetest and nicest cat I have. He always calls me through my window to wake me up every morning… at 8am (huhu so early)

Happy birthday, Jyan!

 

Do not Approach

Just in time for my March update! Due to my packed schedule, I wasn’t able to take new photos. I browsed through my files and found this backlog. I almost forgot about it. I realized it’s been a year! *lol*

(Photography: Hydrogenesis) We had this photo taken in the evening.

I know I’m not as active in social media as I used to be. I’m just too lazy on most days. But I still like to lurk  ̶t̶o̶ ̶o̶b̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶k̶n̶e̶s̶s̶e̶s̶ to stay updated. I think that not being active that much will also give me more time to work on the things that I really want to do.

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I only got back to Olongapo a week ago and I’m still catching up on a lot of things. I was planning to come back earlier, but Hide and Loon got sick, and I wanted to take care of them so I extended my stay. More than a month had been my longest stay in Loon’s place so far.

Loon’s cat, Hiss

During my stay, Loon and I found a new entertaining hobby. *lol* Crane games!

(L) Our first ever prize, which unfortunately got lost. (R) The growing collection of crane game loots.

(L) Loon in action *lol* (R) My outfit that day aka my latest photo (I’m wearing Loon’s hand-me-downs)

Loon can finally update her picture frame after 10 years literally. *lol*

On another note, I finally gained weight which I’m thankful for. I’m now back to 45kg, which is my usual weight and also my ideal weight. Thanks to my father and Loon’s delicious cooking.

Loon’s homemade foods. I’d like to say that she’s the ideal wife, but she’s way more than that.

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Last December, I started to get into gardening. I bought myself some potted roses and Loon also asked me to take care of her herbs (parsley, lemonbalm, and mint) and succulents. Whew, they are growing so quickly. I want to propagate my roses and to add some fruits and vegetables next.

My plants. Note to self: I need to move the lemonbalm into a more shaded area to avoid yellowing.

My rose grew over a feet since I first got it.

I always feel delighted whenever it has new blooms. The flowers have slightly varied colors; some are reddish and some are more on the magenta side. My mother told me that it might have been planted with a double graft or something.

Loon got herself some flowers too.

Staycation

RENOVATION + VALENTINES

I’ve been staying at Loon’s place longer than usual this month. Aside from a lot of things going on, this is due to her plans to renovate her room. When she told me about it a few months ago, I quickly threw in some ideas. Anything that has something to do with designing excites me. And well, when you are too meticulous and your girlfriend needs to have her room painted, you make some time and paint it yourself!

I already have a bit of experience when it comes to painting walls since I painted my own room (with my father) last year. It’s a fairly simple thing to do. And I really insist on doing it myself because as much as I’d want to hire someone else, it’s hard to find people who pay attention to small details nowadays. I randomly find myself staring at little crooks and paint slips and they somehow drive me crazy. (lol) I get the urge to retouch them everytime I see some wherever I go.

Loon also lent a hand and it took us a couple of days to finish everything. It was supposed to finish within 1-2 days but the seller seemed to give us the wrong type of paint, so some areas took a bit longer to dry than expected. That’s why we weren’t able to go out for a date on Valentine’s. (We expected the heavy traffic anyway, so there’s that too.) Though, it didn’t stop us from doing something to celebrate.

The tradition continues! This year, when Loon asked me what I wanted for Valentines, I thought of something challenging that she hasn’t tried making yet: chocolate lava cake. What she made tasted so heavenly~ She used four types of chocolates to make it. The chocolate lover in me is so pleased.  She also baked some pasta and garlic bread that were so delish~

On the other hand, she asked me to make something simple: custard pudding. Despite being a simple dessert, I wanted to make it more special than usual. I first considered incorporating some flavors, toppings, and designs (to be more extra lol), but in the end, I decided to stick with the original type since it brings out its charm the best. It was my first time to make it, so I was somehow expecting the consistency to be a failure. When I took it out of the mold, I was delighted to find out that it turned out a lot better than I expected. To top it all, I’m so glad Loon loved it too. 

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HOROSCOPE

We weren’t able to watch the dragon dance this year. I didn’t pay much attention to them in the past, but Loon finds them cute and she always looks forward to watching them every year. They are indeed lively and colorful and fine to see! Too bad we were not updated with the schedules. Gotta plan it earlier next year.

Shirt says “GLORIOUS” ❤

By the way, I was born in the year of the tiger (*gasp* huge clue~). When Loon looks up stuff about horoscopes, I enjoy reading them too. I don’t believe in the supernatural but it’s fun to have some sort of interest on things like that. Compared to religion and ghosts, I believe they somehow have a liiiitle bit more scientific basis, in terms of gravitational pull maybe.

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Extra: NEUTER

We’re taking them one by one. This time, it’s Hide’s turn to get neutered. He was being rowdy lately so Loon decided to get his balls snipped. (lol)

We were allowed to watch the sedation part. We were surprised about how quickly the injection took effect (a few seconds!). I always thought it took a lot longer than that, maybe 30min or so like the tablets.

By the way, Hide is behaving now and he’s back to his sweet and calm self. (lol)

A Quick Trip to the South

It was an unexpected trip since Loon just came back to Cavite after spending Xmas in our place. A few days after she got home, one of her cats, Hide, unfortunately got ill. He seemed to have difficulty breathing so we suspected it to be the flu. We instantly knew that he needed to get checked as soon as possible. But the problem was that due to the holidays, the vet clinics were closed. (It happened around New Year’s Eve.)

An old webcam photo of me and Hide

Another thing was that I still had two of Loon’s pet carriers, which I borrowed for my cats’ spaying operation. (As I mentioned before, there were like 5-6 of them and I didn’t want to buy so many and get stuck with multiple cages after the operation.) I could’ve shipped it but I wanted to assist her as well, so I decided to travel to Cavite immediately. We went to the vet as soon as I arrived.

(L)Off to the vet! He got some tiny wounds around his eyes due to scratching them too much. (R)The vet had to do some blood test for a more accurate assessment. Having blood extracted from the neck part instead of the leg was something new to see.

Hide was diagnosed with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) and we were informed that he probably got it from fighting with an infected cat. (You’re getting neutered soon!) The vet gave us some meds and instructed us to keep him hydrated.

The vet cats on duty!

Hide started feeling better when we gave him the meds, encouraged him to drink, and allowed him plenty of rest.

Bebe Hide lol (And yeah, I censored what’s mine to see. :p)

But oh no, Hiss got sick next.

He liked to sleep between us while he was sick.

Carrot got infected too.

Even if it didn’t look like it. lol

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When they all got better, finally, we thought we deserved a relaxing break. Loon wanted to go to a date to Tagaytay… to eat bulalo!

We checked some reviews and chose to try the most popular spot for bulalo. Loon had told me that Tagaytay is popular with their beef. It was actually our first time to try their bulalo so we were so hyped about it.

We didn’t expect the pot to be this big.

The verdict? Hmm… For me, my father’s cooking tastes way better. Well, my father is good at cooking so there’s that too. But technically, I think that the beef could’ve been more tender and the broth could’ve been tastier. I’m not sure about it but it seemed like the cooking time wasn’t enough to achieve this. It was sad because the meat had more potential if only it was boiled more slowly.

Loon bought some fresh beef afterwards, so her brother could make some bulalo at home. The vendors questioned her about her age, and while there’s nothing new, I found it funny because they kept on asking if she already had work (perhaps for buying that much beef lol). Anyway, as expected, her brother was able to bring out the flavor of the beef and when complemented with the faint sweetness of corn, it was perfect.

We’ve heard that Tagaytay’s coffee is good, so Loon got a few bags of kapeng barako for her father. I wasn’t sure if my parents would like it too so I got them some dried fish and salted eggs for the meantime. (When I got back home, I found out that they’re also fond of kapeng barako. Will also get some next time. A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶y̶s̶e̶l̶f̶,̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶.̶)

Something cool after the bulalo. We tried Cold Stone at the nearby mall. Worth it, definitely going back!

Have a look at what we wore that day.

I swear we didn’t plan to have a matching outfit this time. lol (Low photo quality since it was getting dark.)

Loon wanted to try the oversized longsleeves she recently bought. She wore it over a neutral top and shorts for a casual look. I think that the blue details of her shoes worked to balance the color of her topper.

I’ve always wanted to wear this top too, but I never had the chance to do so because of its thick sleeves that are too hot for typical sunny days and the sheer base that was too cold to wear for cooler climates. Tagaytay’s temperature was just right for this so I knew I should take this chance to wear it. I realized I seldom wear shorts nowadays too.

Check out the details!

I like the tiny blue shimmers the sleeves have when the light hits it.

Because of the subtle blue details, I thought of matching my blue heart-shaped shades with this outfit. I was delighted when I realized that the letter patches read “HEART” too. I also painted my nails with sapphire-blue nail polish. I like the fact that the bottle is labelled “sapphire”, since it’s actually my birth stone.

I borrowed Loon’s pink lipstick to complement the shades. Now, she says that the shade works on me and wants to give me the lipstick. lol

Selfie time!

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Cosplay?

Lately, I’ve been hooked to Houseki no Kuni. Loon and I spotted it in the list before it was released. As soon as she got her hands on the first few episodes, we started watching it. Due to having lots of things to do, I missed out for a while, but now, I’m catching up on the latest episodes.

I’ve been following some anime series from previous seasons and to be honest, Kakegurui ~almost~ distracted me from my original plans. Almost! I’ve taken an interest on Kirari, but afterall, the uniform wasn’t enough to get me motivated. (So maybe when I get enough time.) I really want to stick to my plans this year.

But now, some characters from HnK are just too cosplayable and everything seems interesting to work on. Plus, I like the art style since I’m drawn to characters with long legs. (Probably why I like Sailormoon and duh, Clamp.) Hmm… I kinda miss drafting patterns and sewing too. Let’s see!

Photo credits: 921yamato (https://www.zerochan.net/1680179), Ekita_Kuro (https://www.zerochan.net/2236531), Original Manga Page

I know that Lapis Lazuli would be the easiest to pull off. But I’m also drawn to Bort and Cairngorm. I’m a fan of Team Diamond, but I’m also into LapisxCairngorn. Ahhh, it’s so hard to choose. I’m torn!

 

Year-end

I know I haven’t been active recently but thanks for always visiting my blog regardless. Now, I’m back before the year ends. A lot has been going on and December has been as busy as ever. I’ll do my best to summarize everything that happened this month.

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SPAY
I have a lot of cats. Currently, there are 14 of them. (I’ll introduce them in the next post.) It’s a little bit complicated to explain but basically, I used to have mostly male cats. One day, one stray cat peeked in and she seemed hungry so I offered her some food. She kept on coming back every mealtime, until she eventually got comfortable enough to enter our veranda. A few days later, another cat who looked like her brother, tagged along. Rumours do spread fast among cats!

(L) The first cat was so tiny. We named her Liit. ; (R)Her brother, Monching.

Months had passed. Another white female cat peeked in once the first two got comfortable – too comfortable – to reside on our place. I had intended to have them spayed at this point, (my old cats already passed away too) but my parents didn’t agree because they belong to our neighbor. They didn’t want to do anything about them. The third cat gave birth to a number of litters and as soon as some of them got old enough, they uncontrollably multiplied. I knew I couldn’t allow this to drag on any longer. As much as I love cats, or rather ~because~ I love cats, I want to give them a decent life, and to help more who are in need. I know I can’t do that if my hands are full with too many of them. That’s why I decided to have them all spayed in one go.

There are no vets in our town that I fully trust, so we had to travel all the way to Manila. With the trip and all, I expected it to be extra stressful (Shoutout to Loon for all the help.) I planned to bring all 6 female cats, but one of them escaped before the trip, so we ended up with 5 of them. My cats behaved much better than I expected and I’m proud of that.

Bald spots after the operation

I found it strange that they extracted it from the side, unlike Carrot’s operation, but it worked out well. I can say that the vet who did the operation is adept at what she’s doing. I’m feeling relieved now.

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HELL-O BAG-YOW!
This trip wasn’t in our plans. As soon as my cats recovered, my family wanted to go to Baguio. And being the ones who are familiar with the place, of course we had to tag along.

Bought this at the bus stop. It’s my first time to eat tupig but it’s good.

It won’t be complete without Baguio’s strawberry-flavored ice cream and taho. (And yay to me and Loon’s matching nails!)

This petal fell on Loon’s palm while we were waiting for them to finish their boat ride. Beautiful~

(You might be wondering why I never share photos of my family members. Even though I try to limit the visibility of my posts, my accounts aren’t exactly private. I’m always concerned about their safety. Plus, I’m a very private person so let’s leave it at that.)

Loon and I decided to try Tsokolateria by ourselves since they all went to bed early.

Top: their classic batirol. I wanted to try several varieties but they were out of stock. ; Bottom left: Cream pasta with chocolate garlic bread ; Bottom right: Tsokolateria cat

We liked their hot chocolate drink and everything else despite the strange flavors. Not a fan of their pasta though.

The following day, we had a date at Forest House.

Finally, some free time off work and errands.

The place

Warm drinks + Cold weather = ❤

The food

Their soup was delicious and comforting to eat in the cold Baguio weather. I was planning to get the cherry peach cake but Loon ordered it for herself before I could utter a word. (lol) I ended up with the black and white cake. The fresh strawberry was perfect, the dark chocolate was okay, but the white chocolate was too sweet for me. I wasn’t able to finish everything. (I’m sorry, cake!)

The day before going back home, we went to Orchidarium since Loon wanted to buy more cacti for her collection. I got hooked into getting some for myself as well. (lol)

I think it’s easy to figure out which one’s my favorite.

Orchidarium cats

There were more cats in Orchidarium but I wasn’t able to take decent photos of all of them. As you may notice, the cat on the right side is missing a leg. Though, she was so sweet! I’ll upload a video later.

Obligatory selfie :p It’s blurry but I like it.

Outfit snaps

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HOLIDAYS

I teased Loon about not going to dates with her anymore and after that, we got bombarded with several projects which kept us busy. (lol) I’m so glad we were able to make some time in the end.

At Ben’s Kitchen

Outfit snaps

We already tried to tone it down but people still kept on staring for some reason.

Lastly, I just want to say how much I love Loon’s gift for me.

I think I need to buy a new cupboard.

Ahhh I love these! They are so beautiful. I can say that she really did put a lot of effort in finding these gems. ❤

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YEAR-END THOUGHTS

Despite all the hurdles, this year had been much much better than the last. I was able to get over a lot of things, including some long-term worries. Although in terms of cosplay, it didn’t end up as productive as I thought it would be due to more important matters, I’m glad I was able to dress up and go out more often than before.

Instagram Best Nine

All in all, I’m happy with my current progress and I’ll work on making it even better on the upcoming year.

Staycation

We had been planning to see each other again for quite some time. Loon was supposed to come over my place this month, but unfortunately, due to some important matters to attend to, it got postponed. She told me that the souvenirs she bought for me were accumulating and maybe she should just ship them as usual. I refused and offered to pay her a visit to pick them up instead. Besides, I told her she should treat me to a birthday cake since I sang her, albeit terribly, a Happy Birthday song over the phone. Next time she comes over, it’s going to be too late since that will be on my birth month already. I said I should eat that cake at all means. lol Loon dubbed me as the demanding visitor.

DAY 1

The trip from Olongapo to Cavite takes around 6-8 hours. I decided to take the 2am trip to arrive early and have more time to spend on the first day.

(L) She made me some waffle with bacon for breakfast. Omnomnom~
(R) I also met her cats, Hiss and Hide, again. Fatso brothers! I bought them bowties and they love me more than Loon now. LOL

For Day 1, we had planned to get a haircut together. We grabbed a quick meal before heading to the salon.

(L) It’s my first time to try Gyro. It reminds me of Persian Ave. (R) Loon tried Chatime’s Thai Milktea but it was too sweet. I swapped it with my lychee drink since I’m the one who can tolerate sweetness more lol

I haven’t had a salon haircut for over 5 years. It’s because I despise having to deal with most of them, especially the ones here in PH. I wanted to give Loon’s usual salon a try since I heard good things about it. Well, my haircut didn’t turn out as much as I envisioned but I loved it nonetheless.

(L) Before haircut aka full hikikomori look (R) After haircut, we look like hoomans again!

After shopping for a bit, it was getting late so we booked a room somewhere near. Loon brought her new domino and we had a match!

We already forgot how to play it so we googled. lol I won once and lost twice to Loon. I’ll definitely get revenge next time. 😡

DAY 2

The following day, we went out of town for lunch. That spot had a nice view but it’s such a shame I forgot to take a photo. Here, have some selfies instead. lol

Fridate~

I also took a photo of Loon which reminded me of the one from 2014.

(L) 2014 (R) 2017

We got something light for lunch since we were planning to eat bulalo somewhere else later on. After our meal though, we entirely forgot about the bulalo. OTL

I loved the mashed potato ❤

We were supposed to take a stroll and check out the newly-opened mall nearby, but it suddenly rained on our way out so we went back to Cavite instead. Had some coffee and light snacks and called it a day.

We had a short movie night when we got home. Also tried fire noodles while we were at it.

DAY 3

It was a gloomy day when we woke up so we decided to watch some movies before heading out. Loon’s nieces were nice enough to buy us some ice scramble. The taste was so nostalgic! It has been my favorite since elementary school days.

On our way out, we also encountered a maruya seller. It looked and smelled so nice so I wanted to give it a try. It was a lot better than usual. It was so crunchy and warm, I regret getting just two. We gotta learn how to make it this crunchy!

(L) Scramble. It’s a milky shaved-ice street food usually sold around schools. I like this better than ice cream! (R) Maruya is a fried mashed banana snack sprinkled with sugar. I had already eaten most of it before taking this photo.

We got some pizza, pasta and ice cream before checking out some stuff to buy.

(L) Photobomber Loon. It was supposed to be a solo pic! lol (M) Loon was too busy eating her coffee-flavoured ice cream lol (R) Sniffing caught on camera. (Smells so nice tho)

We had cake, finallyyyyyyyyy. *demanding visitor mode*

I wanted Cake by Katerina’s signature KitKat cake, which is one of my favorites. Though, it was not available so we ordered something else. For some reason, their new cakes aren’t as good as how they used to be. Might be due to a change of baker/ ingredients. Idk.

Ah yeah, of course, there was the obligatory “Kambal kayo? Magkapatid? Magpinsan? Ano pala?” comment, while we were eating. I feel like randomly being in Pinoy Henyo everytime this happens.

After having cake, we headed home and watched another movie. I was not able to finish it since I quickly fell asleep in the middle of Loon’s massage.

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Overall, I absolutely enjoyed my stay as usual. I really want to return sometime soon since there are lots of new establishments that are about to open. Gotta try them all!

Pasalubong /o/ Thank you, Loon!

Here’s a snapshot of our outfits for all three days. As usual, I chose something light and easy to wear. For Day 1, I wanted it to be gender-neutral and extra warm since I easily get cold from long trips. For Day 2 and 3, I chose something easy to pack up.

And lots of selfies!

I guess it’s so obvious how much we enjoyed playing with these. lol

 

Friday the 13th

When I woke up in the afternoon today, I thought how fitting it could’ve been if I started my blog on this day instead. Friday the 13th and black cats seem to go well together. Too bad I often lose track of the date as I rarely check the calendar. lol Anyway, what’s done is done. I hate dwelling on things that cannot be changed. To make up for it, I’ve decided to work on something else on a whim. I’m not really sure if I can finish it within the day and I’m not fond of making things impromptu but hey, how about doing it once for a change?

Because it’s Friday the 13th, let me show you a few of my favorite cat items. ♥

I love this top because it brings me back some memories. It’s the one I wore when I had a photo taken with Versailles. ♥

Top and Bottom: I bought them from some random shops at Harajuku 5 years ago. Still loving them.; Middle: A gift I received from Loon last year. It goes so well with my bag. So cute.♥ I will only use this on special occasions.

Bonus: Another Harajuku find. I wasn’t able to take a new photo because it’s so limp now (I hug it too much ok lol)

Hope you had a great Friday the 13th!