Sunnysideup Arts: Another Styling Project

Here's another project I had during my Fashion Styling Class in DFW (Designer Fashion Workshop) early this year. We were tasked to create a pretend editorial spread for a magazine. Thanks to my childhood friend, I was able to finish and complete this homework.

The inspiration for this concept is the current lifestyle of women. We need clothes that are versatile, flattering but at the same time easy to adjust from one event to another. With just a jacket a party dress can be used for work (during the day) and party (at night).



The Title: Whether Ready
The Concept: Modern Women ready for any occasion (Work, Play or Me Moments)
Make up Artist and Model: Jill Ramos
Styling and Photography: myself

Sunnysideup Arts: Sewing Skirts for my Fashion Class

Early this year I took up fashion workshops in i-Academy. I grew up with my mom's garment business so it's natural for me to develop an appreciation and fondness for the arts and fashion.

I took up Pattern Making, Styling, and Basic Sewing. I truly enjoyed the classes and the expert tutelage of our instructors/mentors - Millet Arzaga, Pidge Reyes and Manny Marquez. Although I did get a little side tracked with all the business of life and work, I still plan to pursue my love for fashion. Once in a while I still sew and make my own DIY projects that I plan to wear :)

Anyway here's a glimpse of the skirts I made for my styling class. :)

Title: The Fool
Model : Istara Bon Gundry
Photographer: Paulo Navarra
Make up Artist: Angela Comsti
Hair Stylist: Miki Keirulf
Styling and Clothes: myself


Title: The Magician
Model: Princess Balderrama
Photographer: Jay Tablante
Make up Artist: Angela Comsti
Hair Stylist: Borge Aloba & Miki Keirulf
Styling and Clothes: myself

Sunnysideup Perspectives: Confessions of a Domestic Diva

Photo grabbed from the internet.
Acknowledging Jessie Steele Aprons

For the past three years I was on a sabbatical from the corporate world, hence I became a fulltime wife/trailing spouse,traveller, fashion and styling student, entrepreneur wanna-be and a domestic helper (for my hubby of course! :P)

When I was single, in my twenties and all around busy running the rat race, I always dreamt about having that sabbatical/vacation were I didn't have to think about bills, deadlines and office politics. I guess you can say that after 9 years of corporate life I felt tired,stressed and burned out. Thanks to my hubby, he allowed me attain that dream. For three years he supported me financially while I supported him emotionally as his career counsellor and his personal cheerleader. He gave me the chance to try be a kid again and just plain play as the world passed me by. I enjoyed it really, my personal fulfillment came from the fact that I was also able to contribute in his career growth as his wife.

Let me say however that it is not always a bed of roses. A wise housewife friend once told me "This kind of lifestyle is not for everyone." So for anyone contemplating on being a housewife here a few things you need to ask yourself:

• Are you comfortable spending most of your days at home?


• Are you ready to be financially dependent and on a budget? (Unless your spouse is extremely rich or you are a housewife/entrepreneur).


• Are you ready to cook and do household chores? (Yes you can always hire help but if you're like me you still get involved in training them and of course still doing some of it to get it right.)


• Are you good at finding ways to keep yourself busy and entertained? (Gym, Biz, School, Kids etc)


• Are you ready to give up your corporate career?

Right now I am back in the Corporate Grind. I truly missed working and the life of a employee. Never thought I would but I do. I validated that being a housewife is a noble profession but, again, it's not for everyone. Maybe I'm not one of the women cut out for this role. It has both perks and disadvantages. So should you decide to be one: Jump in with a big heart, wide eyes and an open mind. Enjoy the ride and live not on regrets or what ifs. :) I tried the life, I enjoyed it and am blessed and thankful to have had the chance to try it. No regrets!

Sunnysideup Thank you series: My love affair with Milk Tea

When I was in high school, I began to drink teas as Iced Teas. I used the concentrated powdered version of Lipton and added Kalamansi. I never was a fan of the Nestea ready to drink teas even then because they were too sweet and sugar was the only thing I tasted. I was then introduced tea leaves when one of my mom's closest friend offered us tea after dinner. From then on I always drank tea leaves - Oolong, Black or Green Tea etc.

As I learned more about the various teas, my love for milk tea also grew. It started with my first sip of Red Pearl Milk Tea in Easy Way, Sta Lucia branch. I believe I am one of the few early fans of this then new beverage trend in Manila and was truly sad to see it close shop.

Quickly was the next brand I began to enjoy but the in the next few years, their menu focused
more on sweet options like shaved ice Taro, Chocolate and other flavored juices so my favorite Milk Tea is now only available in a handful stores. By the way, I also tried Chowking's Nai Cha but it too is just too sweet for my taste.

Here's a few of my Milk Tea Moments

In the next years for my life, our move to China gave my tastebuds a greater appreciation for Milk Teas :) Our 2 year stay offshore allowed me to taste different brands like EDO and AH-2 in the Mainland, Comebuy in Macau, and other brands in Hong Kong.

Needless to say, I am hooked on Milk Teas. Now that we are back in Manila I am glad to find Serenitea. Finally I am able to enjoy the same quality of Milk Teas I used to enjoy in China. After several tries of their milk tea variands - Royal, Assam, Hokkaido etc - I now know my favorite. For now it's the brown sugary taste of Okinawa with pearl sinkers and 0% sugar. Kudos to Serenitea for their growing number of branches. My go-to branch is Eastwood. I am truly addicted; just last week I think I had 3 large orders of milk tea. Imagine if I had one branch next door? Oh Oh :P

By the way, I also like Bubble Tea in SM Megamall. I've tried their Royal milk tea and it's also good.

Will always LOVE, LOVE, LOVE tea, especially milk tea!

Sunnysideup Thank you series: My Pixie Cut

This week I had a haircut. It's a pixie cut reminiscent of my hair in college (albeit a bit updated). For 2 years I've been postponing this haircut since my hubby discouraged me; he always wanted me to keep my cut feminine and flowy. :) Good thing though, he now approves and likes my new pixie cut. Otherwise, I would never hear the end of it! :P

But since I saw the cut of Ginnifer Goodwin last week in an OMG news, I could no longer hold it off. I did it. I finally chopped my hair off and I'm sooo happy!

Ginnifer's cut which I saw via Yahoo OMG news.

My college hair

My hair now

Missed having super short hair - it's so manageable! Now I'm wonder til when I'll keep this and what's the next cut I'll try.

How about you, what's you fave hair cut?

Sunnysideup Thank You Series: My Top 10 Happy Food Thoughts

As I mentioned in my post a few minutes ago it's harder for me to smile and be amused but just a few minutes after posting I realized that there are food brands that do make me smile. These are my favorites. These are food brands that I can't get enough of and look forward to visiting. Truly the best way to get to a man or woman's heart is thru their stomach.

(Note: These are my personal favorites and I was neither paid or coerced to write these. :P)

10. Thin sliced Pizza Margherita (Pizzeria and Deli in Ya Hao Fang, Zhongshan, China)
9. Jamba Juice California
8. Hotpot near Scenic Hotel in Zhongshan. Unfortunately I don't know the name I only know how to go there.
7. AH-2 (My Milk Tea shop in Zhongshan China. I usually go to a franchise in Hua Bai Xi Chang owned by a very nice lady and her fiance.)
6. Comebuy (Milk tea shops I never fail to visit when in Macau or Gong Bei)
5. Korean Restaurant in a mall in Xing Wa, Zhongshan, China.
4. Sambokojin Eastwood
3. Chicken Bonchon Libis or Ayala Triangle (Medium or Small Combo of Wings and Drumstick. I like it Spicy!)
2. Serenitea Eastwood (I am addicted to Milk Tea)
1. Starbucks (My third place and home away from home)

Sunnysideup Perspectives: Back from my loong blogging slumber

I'm back to blogging. It's been harder for me to maintain my consistency in blogging and posting. The recent changes and adjustments made me lose my momentum and well downright lazy. It started with losing access to blogger and youtube during our latter stay in China. Then moving back to Manila we had to "re-plant" ourselves and didn't have continuous internet access for the first few months. Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses :)

Truth be told I think age is making me too serious so it's harder for me to look for things that make me smile, laugh, or be thankful. This is the main reason I don't blog because this blog, is about being thankful and happy afterall. I find it harder to laugh or smile. Less and less things are amusing. I think I need another revamp because Life is getting to me.

Anyway on the positive note, these past few months I've been getting feedback from people about how they've been following my blog and how they look forward to reading a new post from me. I've also kept myself busy with art and fashion activities. I'll keep you all posted by doing a post blog on all of these busy-ness.

As a parting thought, I guess what I've re-realized is that, we ought to keep it simple. I need to gain back my inner child and learn to smile and laugh again. Life is what I choose it to be and I need to be humble to live light and happy.

Sunnysideup Thank you series: Happy 3 Years!

It's our wedding anniversary today, 3 years to be exact. To celebrate we:

- ate at our favorite restaurant (Sambokojin). This is our current celebration resto and I celebrated by eating so much Salmon! So so love Salmon :)

- conducted our on DIY photoshoot to document who and where we are on our third year together. I practiced my amateur photography and styling skills.

Here's one of our pictures, the "photoshopped" version. The concept for this photo is documenting "us" - the fashionista and the football jock. I'm taking Fashion workshops while my hubby is now playing football in one of the teams of Arenaball Phils.

Happy 3rd year to my babe - my bestfriend, hubby and love! :)



***Acknowledgement to Nike Wallpaper which I used as background for our pic. There's no great gridiron field here in Manila so I borrowed this instead :) Thank you Nike! You are our favorite sport brand for rubber shoes and gears.

sunnysideup Thank you series: I Love New Years!

New Year is my favorite holiday! :) It's offers a fresh start, and it's celebrated with a bang -sumptous dinners and much awaited countdowns. This year I make no resolutions but I list my goals and targets. I feel and claim that this is going to be a great and superb year. And to welcome the new year we tried to replicate that feel of our dinner date last year at MGM Grand, Macau. We're not chef's but we're pretty much happy with what we've come up with.

This is our take of home made "fine dine" food and atmosphere. Can't wait for the next event as I look forward to another fine dinner with good conversation. Nothing beats the simple joys of good food with loved ones.


Happy New Year everyone and all the best! :)