Pasalubong

My mom just got back from Chicago. She went there for two weeks to visit our relatives in LA and Chicago. I got too excited since I know some (if not most) stores there sell dress patterns. My mom knows my style and she has seen the clothes that I’ve been sewing since September. I was too thrilled she got me Burda Style skirt patterns and New Look dress patterns!

My sister and I got new clothes and accessories from Forever 21 and stuff from Macy’s. They’re great even if they’re at a cheaper price! (The set of cute hairbands were sold for $1.50.) I loved everything my mom bought! We also got nail polish from Art Deco. My sister got the Light Blue perfume from Dolce&Gabbana and I got a perfume from Burberry as well. I never expected it but my mom gave it to me anyway. My aunt got us Kate Spade bags! They were also trying to get our dog a collar and leash from Coach O_o. But I don’t think it’s necessary. (For P250, I can buy a good collar and leash at our local pet store. ) I am really thankful for the bag! I’ve been looking for a good yellow bag for ages! It’s a good thing, I didn’t result to impulse buying with the money I have. I’ve been really poor since the day I left school so I have to save up.

I tried to fix the positioning of the bags but meh. Never mind.

However… my grandmother who has always been really kind and loving gave me a hundred dollars plus a set of jewelry. I was touched because Lola Dising never forgot about us. She gave me those as her graduation gifts for me. And also, I’m glad that she’s well. I really miss her! I also missed my mom! We’re going to the US this Spring. I hope it really really pushes through! *fingers crossed*

——————–

While Brad was being treated by the veterinarian, I went around Market Market to check for new stocks of fabric. I saw this Sabina Peach cloth for P100/yard and bought a yard of  Swiss Cotton for P95/yard (for the waistband). I knew I had to buy it to match the skirt pattern that my mom bought from Burda Style. Heee~ I’m a penny pincher. So yes. I always look for cheaper alternatives. When I discovered the magic of sewing my own clothes, it was like a breath of fresh air for my doomed wallet.

Also, my mom asked me if I wanted to enroll myself to a sewing class. I agreed right away! And she asked if my sewing machine is still functioning well. If she’s hinting on buying me a new machine, I’d love to. But my grandmother (Lola Dising) previously owned this and I hold it dear to me.

PS I’ll post a picture when I’m done with the skirt. I’m actually working on a shredded shirt. It’s kind of getting on my nerves since for my first try, I went for the complicated design right away. I actually left it for a while. It’s been two weeks since I started.

PPS And why do I feel like I might be posting about the clothes I make, like and their cheaper alternatives in the coming days? This turning into a “pseudo-fashion blog”? Acck!

PPPS Watch out for our shirt business. We are called The Ink Stains. We will be selling original t-shirt designs. I’m partnering with my college friend. We’re already done with the web design. It took me about two days to finish it. Multiply CSS confused me a lot.

The Archipelago of Kisses

I have nothing else to really blog about since everything’s a bit slow in the past few days. And my thinking cap’s not exactly functioning. However, I found something from Jeffrey McDaniel that I’d like to share with everyone. I found out it as a nice read.

We live in a modern society. Husbands and wives don’t
grow on trees, like in the old days. So where
does one find love? When you’re sixteen it’s easy,
like being unleashed with a credit card
in a department store of kisses. There’s the first kiss.
The sloppy kiss. The peck.
The sympathy kiss. The backseat smooch. The we
shouldn’t be doing this kiss. The but your lips
taste so good kiss. The bury me in an avalanche of tingles kiss.
The I wish you’d quit smoking kiss.
The I accept your apology, but you make me really mad
sometimes kiss. The I know
your tongue like the back of my hand kiss. As you get
older, kisses become scarce. You’ll be driving
home and see a damaged kiss on the side of the road,
with its purple thumb out. If you
were younger, you’d pull over, slide open the mouth’s
red door just to see how it fits. Oh where
does one find love? If you rub two glances, you get a smile.
Rub two smiles, you get a warm feeling.
Rub two warm feelings and presto-you have a kiss.
Now what? Don’t invite the kiss over
and answer the door in your underwear. It’ll get suspicious
and stare at your toes. Don’t water the kiss with whiskey.
It’ll turn bright pink and explode into a thousand luscious splinters,
but in the morning it’ll be ashamed and sneak out of
your body without saying good-bye,
and you’ll remember that kiss forever by all the little cuts it left
on the inside of your mouth. You must
nurture the kiss. Turn out the lights. Notice how it
illuminates the room. Hold it to your chest
and wonder if the sand inside hourglasses comes from a
special beach. Place it on the tongue’s pillow,
then look up the first recorded kiss in an encyclopedia: beneath
a Babylonian olive tree in 1200 B.C.
But one kiss levitates above all the others. The
intersection of function and desire. The I do kiss.
The I’ll love you through a brick wall kiss.
Even when I’m dead, I’ll swim through the Earth,
like a mermaid of the soil, just to be next to your bones.

Teaching my dog to say ‘I love you’

How do you even teach a dog how to speak? Well. I got tips from people who taught their dogs how. It’s fun to do it because it’s actually cute. It’s also a way for me to show my lovin’ for my baby boy.

You see, I own a pug. Well.. My family owns a pug. We named him Brad. When my dad brought him home, we just fell in love with him instantly. He was just a tiny tiny puppy. Now he’s 26 pounds. He also eats like a monster now. I love how he’s incredibly sweet. He is like my non-talking best friend but he seemed to understand me. It’s weird. But it’s probably our connection.

This is Brad. He’s a spoiled “brad.” Photo taken by Amanda Zabat

Recently, I saw a video of a Siberian Husky saying I love you to its owners. Then I wanted to know if it’s teachable to pugs. Then I saw this video which made me go “AWWWWWWWW!” as I watched the whole thing repeatedly. I’m really motivated to teach Brad how to speak those three words. It would take a lot of patience and dog food for this to happen.

Since yesterday, I’ve been telling my Mom, Dad and sister about the trick. They’re completely up for it. Even my Dad after dinner started saying I love you to Brad. I found it really cute~!!! By the way, you have to set a tone for a dog to get the clue and for it to set in. And don’t forget the dog food! Once I’ve come around to actually have Brad say those words, I’d definitely record it and write about it here.

My Yearbook Space

If there’s something really remarkable about Tina, it’s got to be her determination to make a difference in this world. She’s out to set the world on fire (in a good way, of course). Though there are people who underestimate her capabilities, she does not let them topple her, but instead continues to prove them wrong by concentrating on her passions. Resilient, strong and different – a combination only Tina could handle.

Ala Project Runway

Being a bum isn’t the most pleasant thing especially when you’re 6 months into it. To make my year-long vacation productive, I decided to engage myself into things that interest me the most. So what have I done so far? I’ve managed to immerse myself again in digital arts such as typography and vector art. Photography never tires me and I still am practicing so I can improve my craft. AAAANND Right now, I’m into sewing clothes.

It started with my cousin who went on vacation here last July. She’s only 14 years old and she has already sewn a lot of clothes. Since we’re in a bit of recession now, I thought that it would be a great idea to learn how to sew my own clothes and save up! I’m a bit of a penny pincher when it comes to my own money. It’s a different case if it’s my mom’s though. :3

I made a blue tutu as my first project. It took me a day to make this. It’s basically a no-sew project since I just learned from a website that you can just do it by doing knots around a garter. This was taken days after I finished it. I still plan into making the whole thing shorter and fluffier.

After that project alone, I’ve been buying myself a lot of fabrics for my future projects. I have about ten now. And the most expensive I’ve ever bought per yard is less than 200 pesos. My mom has been really supportive of this. She even told me that I may have inherited my grandmother’s (her mom) skill in sewing clothes. I’m actually using my grandmother’s sewing machine right now. It’s not the old fashioned one were you do everything manually.

I made a black dress as my very first sewing project. It’s the real deal now. I copied the design from a dress from Topshop’s website. I’m a bit embarrassed about the outcome of the dress since it’s not the best. My mom said it’s forgivable since it’s my first. I will still alter it so I can use it when I go out of the house sometime.

Last Sunday, I finished my very own skirt out of Twinkle Star satin. I downloaded a pattern from BurdaStyle.Com. The skirt was supposed to be a tulip skirt. However, while fitting the garment, I thought it would just be nice to leave it as that. As I got nearer into completing the skirt, I got too excited. I almost didn’t sleep! The fabric I used for the skirt is fairly cheap I tell you! I buy my fabrics in Metro Gaisano and Carolina’s, by the way. But Metro Gaisano’s fabrics are much cheaper than Carolina’s. I still plan to buy more in Divisoria. Once I come around into perfecting my sewing skills, I’d probably sell them online.