My interpretation of a Native American/Indian costume

2 months and a day since my last post, aka the day after the doomsday is over, I finally get to update this blog.

Last week was our company's Christmas party, and the theme was Wild Wild West. I had two choices: to either dress up as an Indian (Native American, to make it politically correct), or come in as a cowgirl.

I initially wanted to do cowgirl because it was easy and we have cowboy hats here at home. But the same reason made me switch to dress up as an Indian. Not that I don't want something easy, it's just that predicting most would go as cowgirls, I prefer to be a little more different.

What I wore then:

 with my friend Josie. 

This is the closest to an ~outfit shot that I have. Solos make me uncomfortable. HAHA.

The back story:

Looked for a lot of inspirations online, but we all know that we always have to work with what we have. So I went to the best place to look for costumes and other one-time-only-i-can-totally-alter/destroy-this types of clothes - ukay.

Got 2 items, in intentionally both colors, because I knew they'd go well with my nude shoes.

My officemate: "Saan ka nakakita ng Indian na naka-heels? Wala! Si Ghoent lang!"

OF COURSE. Haha.

Buying a new pair was not an option. Okay yes it crossed my mind. But my budget didn't allow so, again, work with what we have.

P85 - Suede-ish, fringe top. Jackpot piece.

P105 - Embroidered, stretch skirt.

You can pretty much see the changes I did. After playing with the top (and doing some research, of course), it turned out to be this:

Cut the bottom part, shaped the hem into a curve, and "fringed" it.

The skirt had more work done. It was originally an A-line long skirt (below the knees!), and it was obvious that with the kind of top I had, the A-line won't work. Hand-stitched it into a pencil skirt, then!

Cut cut cut, fold, back-stitch, fit, adjust adjust. Way more difficult than how the previous 8 words sound, but finishing it felt sooooo good I ate 2 cupcakes in one go!

Accessories:

The long beaded necklace I'm wearing has been with me for at least 4 years, I think. I bought it for 20 pesos at divisoria way back, but never actually wore it out. Finally, I can say that my 20pesos was not put to waste. T'was in fact super sulit!

My headband is something I made using crochet threads. I have plenty of crochet balls here at home because I once dived into the handmade notebooks business, and I used these threads to bind them up.

From my previous Ghoent Junior Cardstock Set.

Anyway, I braided a loooong piece and then connected it to form the ring, taking care that it has a snug fit on my forehead. I wanted it secure but not too tight to cause some headache or any form of marks.

The thread color is a gradient of brown, nude, brick red, and brown-black, which was perfect for my outfit's palette.

I did my bracelet from another item that I bought but never actually wore out. My 50-peso arm band that I got from St. Francis Square from maybe 2-3 years ago served as the base for the bracelet. I like that the color matches the skirt perfectly, plus it has that suede-ish touch in texture. My wrist was however itching and forming rashes everytime I tried the bracelet on. So I used the original hem of the top I got as a ~shield for my wrist from the feathers. It's made of thick soft stretch cotton so it solved my problem easily.

So not an elegant way of attaching the feathers. I just taped them inside! 

My other bracelet is just again a braided piece using the plenty retaso from my A-line skirt. "Locked" the bracelet by tying it across my wrist with a knot.

Very imperfect and unrefined = = perfect.

Makeup:

Sister: "Bakit one side lang? Mukha kang Bonakid!"

Officemate: "I am a betawoman." (referring to the Betadine commercial).

A lot of love!! Hahahaha.

Took this mirrorshot when I got home, approximately 8 hours after application. I had different inspirations for this, and since I didn't go for the authentic Native American but more of the modern authentic (if there is such a term), I didn't want to overdo the makeup. Googled for videos to help me with dark eyes, etc. All the help are always welcome, aka research.

Aaaaand that's it! The anatomy of my costume. 

What I spent:

P85 (top) + P105 (skirt) = P190.

If we include the red eyeliner that I bought, that would be an additional of P100.

P290 for the entire look, not bad. :)

I started scouting for pieces and researching for inspirations approximately 2 and a half weeks before the party. We can't really beat preparation.

Some party pictures below:

Don't you just love my co-MT AA's cactus costume? I helped him finish it by putting the cactus spines!

Oh and yes. We danced. Such bibo kids we are. Hahahaha.

Our friends Julius and Clang won best in costume!!! Totally deserved it. Clang gave me her extra feathers which I used for the bracelet, and headpiece accent. She made that headpiece she's wearing and whole costume from scratch! If I told you her costume's back story, it'll probably merit 2 blog entries.

I enjoy the challenge of making costumes, especially if I am in the mood. Looking forward to next year's Christmas party!

3 days til Christmas, have a good one everyone! :)

*Christmas party photos from Sir Alvin, Sir Archie and Eah

Red Velvet Cupcake by Sophie's Mom

First blood: Sophie's Mom
Price: P50
Branch: SM Megamall

The Cupcake Project's first in line, Sophie's Mom's Red Velvet Cupcakes. I haven't done any research at all about their history or who Sophie is or more importantly, who her mom is - but if you were wondering, maybe google can help with that. But I do know that they have their main branch at a village in the south (not a south girl here, sorry). Is that enough background? Hihi. Anyway, the mandatory cupcake shots:

The first thing I noticed at first bite was its firm cream cheese frosting. It has that semi-solid cream consistency, something that won't melt or run easily. The frosting is rich and I can really taste the sourness in it, new from the default sweetness of most [red velvet] frosting.

The cake is on the dense and packed side, which I like. It also has enough moisture to make it feel soft, and the frosting's creaminess provide the rest of the needed moisture to have it melt and dissolve beautifully in the mouth. The cake isn't sweet, and contains bits of dark chocolate which are a nice touch and will be appreciated by those who prefer the not-too-sweet kind of cupcake. It's filling, really.

OUT OF 5:

Melts in your mouth: 4

Moisture: 3.5

Packed or Light: On the packed side

Value for Money: 4

Raving? It's a good one.

The Cupcake Project.

A random addiction has hit me. CUPCAKES.

I am a dessert person. My favorite would be pastries, more than ice cream or candies or chocolates - but that's not to say I don't like the others. Anything that's sweet makes me happy. Pastries just are a wide range and I really appreciate how they are made and prettified to convince dumb and low-EQed buyers like me.

And caving to the temptation isn't really an issue. I say I reason well and I can pretty much justify whatever I want to do (or eat - except for budget issues), so my indulgence guilt only wins at a rate of 1 is to 4 (useless inaccurate statistic). Because when I can no longer defend my indulgence, I just drop everything and say, demmit. YOLO. Joke.

I've been craving (and yielding to) cupcakes for some weeks now and I've decided to start documenting. I usually prefer cakes but because cupcake frostings make temptations 1000x more difficult to resist, I've recently started exploring this side of the cake.

So The Cupcake Project is all about... reviewing cupcakes.

A. I don't know how to bake. So if you guys thought I'll be baking some cupcakes, I am disappointed at myself too. *pa-cute sad face*
B. I will only be reviewing 3 kinds of cupcakes:

1. Red Velvet. (just because)
2. Any peppermint-flavored cupcake. (because I love love choco mint chocolate, choco mint ice cream, and choco mint candies. So if I come across any peppermint cupcakes, I will have to try them out.)
3. A different flavor. (When I say different, it should be different. No just-another-chocolate-twist, or some variation of everyday fruit flavors. Very subjective but i'll try to find these types.)

I only have ONE Reviewing Rule:

It's all about the cupcake.

Meaning:

1. Its mass popularity (or the lack of it) is irrelevant to the rating of the cupcake.
2. The store aesthetics, the kind of service I received, and its packaging, no matter how tempting to include in the review, will stay out of it. (but may or may not be shown in pictures)
3. Price is the only non-actual-cupcake factor to be valued.

And another list.

What I like in a cupcake:

Obviously, this review is based on satisfying my liking. So I am sorry if we do not have the same opinions, but at least we'll get to know the cupcake from 1 (out of infinite aka the world population -- because I don't want to google the world's actual population) perspective. :)

1. I like 'em rich, dense, and sinful. (we're talking about cupcakes here. hahaha.)
2. I love surprises. (still about cupcakes. ya know, after the bite. haha.)

Disclaimer: I am not a food blogger. In fact, if you backread my food-bearing posts you'll see that in describing my meals, I only use "yummy" and "delicious" and other preschool adjectives. I will now though try to be more vivid. I just love sweets and I would like to remind myself of the experience I've had in eating them by storing them in paper (internet). (Deym. Maybe this is a bad idea. Creating another venue for temptation!)


So, game na ba?


I will start, not today. But will do soon! :)


*Currently eating the cupcake pictured above. :)*

Summer where it rains.

I finally, finally got to go out of town with friends now, from since approximately... I don't know, my birth! And I mean to a place where it requires an airplane to get to -- because Tagaytay etc do not exactly qualify ---- let's say, some place like Boracay. Boracay!

I spent the last weekend of September at Boracay with girl co-workers. I am currently the unica ija of the MTs so my girl pals at the office belong to another set of friends. Anyway, they invited me to go last mid September and because 1.) I've always wanted to travel with friends, 2.) the fare and accommodations were cheap and 3.) the schedule was perfect - fit seamlessly with my work sched (only half day friday leave!) and body hormones sched (you get me), it was a no-brainer. Count.me.in!

I had the flight booked that same afternoon, and only told my parents about it the day after. They can't do anything about it that way, I guess, and it was more of an FYI than a "May I" sort of thing. Sneaky. My Cinderella days are really now ~evolving. Haha!

Here are a few (I lie. I tried to paste in only a few but...) photos from that weekend:

Of course, plenty of pics just calls for filtering. The boracay stories will stay there, and among us 5. It was a gloomy Saturday then but was followed by a scorching hot Sunday; so at least we got to experience both sky moods.

I was able to get a few things from there, 2 of which are these:

Bottled salsa and vinaigrette. I am yet to taste the vinaigrette, and the salsa's already more than halfway finished. It tastes sour and may be bordering tomato paste sour (good texture/consistency though) but I love it that way! I just add in some basil and a pinch of salt to really bring out it's flavor (I havo NO idea of what I am talking about but I add them in anyway). Next time I go there, I'll probably hoard more of these. I think this salsa cost me P165? And the vinaigrette's only P120. Not bad.

I am still missing the sand and beautiful vibes from that beautiful weekend. I truly hope that more adventures come in at this last quarter of the year.

Thank You for all these!! :)

Friends Out of Convenience.

Relationships out of convenience.

I have this internal battle of 2 concepts going on in my head, for the past few... minutes. Past 15 minutes maybe. I wanted to tweet about it but I couldn't express my thoughts in less than 140 characters, so I shall go freewriting instead. Mind exercise.

"Friends, relationships, out of convenience."

I've only recently been introduced to this perspective. I didn't really look at things this way; and now that I know this angle, it's a pain to reconcile it with my past (I mean current) outlook. I like this and I like my old (current!) one also. Deym.

This "relationships out of convenience" idea says that the people in my circle are precisely the people in my circle because they just happened to be there. *I am so not eloquent right now.* I mean, my friends just became my friends because we happened to be seated side by side by side during the first day of school. Or because we all got hired for work at the same time for the same type of post. Or because we ended up as groupmates after being randomly grouped by the prof. That it all happened and developed out of convenience.

It's been introduced to me at a negative connotation, that I do not put myself out there "enough" so I only get to know people who happen to come cross my path. (note that they cross/ed my path, not us meeting halfway) There's nothing wrong there, I think, but let's just say I could be more there.

So what does it clash with in my pre-idea-explained-above self?

I've mentioned it in passing in my Chapter Two post.

"I am not the type of person to enjoy life through mixers, dating, or "meeting new people" in random (or not so random) places. That's just not me. I prefer the organic way of things."

That's pretty much it. But just to cook the idea more, my belief is that I do what I want to do, I do not do what I do not want to do, and I don't care. *not eloquent today. yes yes?* I mean, I like it organic. Nothing forced. Nothing out of my convenience.

Goodness, I think this is what others call "fate".

Right?

And I'd really rather not call it that, fate, because I do not believe in it (in its dictionary definition). I say I make my own fate. So if I decided to sit on that exact chair, fate did not bring me there. I brought me there. There's self empowerment and self direction and all that other self worth shiz underneath that backs up such belief, so it really isn't more "fate" as it is "wanting things to develop on its own."

Right?

I don't know.

And then there's just no reconciling it with having faith, in God's plan, that everything has a purpose. Which is it?

Still don't know.

Is this a cultural conlfict? Just a difference in upbringing?

My "conservative" (and I am using the word loosely here) preference versus the "I am young and up for adventures" side of self. That after I've known the rules, I get to play some game. It's just difficult to play it, right? After just knowing how to do it, to actually doing it. .  .  . And again I digress.

...

Regroup regroup. My thoughts are all over.


I think what I'm trying to harmonize here is that I like things to go to the direction that they do without me steering the wheel too much. I let it take its course, and I don't actively turn it blindly. And then there's the idea of not wanting to be limited. I want to know my roads, I want to see where I could be, whether or not I drive it there. And I could, if I wanted to, so I want to see those possibilities.


I still do not know if I am making sense.


Thank you for being boggled with me. Or if you're not, thoughts please? :)


And just so we all know where all this blab is coming from, all of these things are a product of some insights exchange with an officemate. We come from different backgrounds so there's a lot to learn from each other's side, one of them this whole trail. And yes, we were mostly talking about romantic relationships (bet you knew that already), because i'm single and officemate's not.


Cool to have new perspectives. Sorta twists your own. Good and bad. Good and Bad. :)

Today's Letter

August 26, 2012

Dear Friend,

Today I went to UST to accompany my brother for his USTET. Itay had a prior appointment so he couldn't take him, so my sister and I had to. I didn't want to at first but I figured it was an opportunity to go back to UST. I studied there for a year before I transferred to UP, and the last time I visited was when I was in my second year at UP. I used to always attend Paskuhan there with my ex-classmates. It's a Christmas thing/program of UST, something like the UP Fair but different. But it's an equivalent.

My sister took this photo of me, and I tweeted it. 

My tweet said "Windy UST." I miss rhyming words. I don't know why I had to tweet that, maybe I'm narcissistic. But I sincerely hope I'm not.

Brother said the exam was "okay"; he had difficulty answering science more than math. I taught him a few ~basic algebra concepts 10minutes before we left the house, just to make sure he has something to remember when he needs to. And to catch up on my guilt trip because I didn't teach him at all for UPCAT. I hope he passes.

---

2 weeks ago I went to tagaytay with my UP friends. I'd normally just refer to them as my college friends but since I told you about my first year being spent at UST, I didn't want you to get mixed up.

The original plan was for us to have an overnight somewhere, whether South or North. But I wasn't allowed by my parents because that was the week that the habagat just hit Luzon and it was I guess unsafe. I understand their decision. So the new plan was to then just have a day trip, Sunday of that week.

Saturday night I texted them for the meetup details. We still haven't decided where exactly we were going. 30 minutes later, they called me. 

"Hulaan mo kung nasaan kami." 

"I hate youuuuuuuu!"

They went to Laguna without me. I wasn't really thrilled by it, but they said that I could just follow them there by Sunday morning. That got me really excited. I have not ridden a bus province-bound, on my own. I liked the idea. It's an adventure before the adventure day trip.

They taught me the commute details and everything was set. I left the house at around 4am, and got at the bus station by 5. My parents were okay with it, I told them I was going with my friends to have a day trip at Laguna. I was actually surprised I didn't get a lot of questions.

The best part about the ride was the fact that I met a really nice girl, my bus seatmate. I asked her about the payment details of the bus, and how long the travel time was to my destination. We ended up talking the whole bus ride, approximately an hour and a half. Her name's Kristinasol, or Kristina Sol, I don't really remember if it's one name or not. The "Kristina" part of her name was random, mainly because her grandmother didn't approve of Katrina (I think because it wasn't on the Bible). "Sol" is her aunt's name, because her aunt won the bet that her mother was pregnant of a girl and not a boy. I find that story more cool than funny. I admire parents who name their children randomly, because it takes a lot of courage to do that. My parents obviously had it the other way around, to name me Ghoent must've taken ~time to be as it is. But I admire them for that as well, because they reasoned and really thought about it.

I think I know a lot about Katrina Sol more than I know some aquaintances from school or work. I found out that she's from UP as well, and we are about the same age. Her first degree is BS Agriculture from UPLB, and now she's taking up a second degree at UP Diliman, Linguistics I think. It's amazing that I can still remember these details even if this happened two weeks ago. She's focusing on Japanese ling, and I know this because we talked about her handouts that I saw her reviewing. She had a test pending the resumption of classes. It's refreshing to see someone review notes on their way back home. I mean it's normal to review on your way to school, but when you see someone review on the way home, that's something. She said she didn't want to get bored along the way, but I think she's just really a good student. 

She showed me a box that was giftwrapped in a special Japanese way, and told me about her buying the fabric at some store that sold them cheaper, instead of getting bandanas that were priced 4times more expensive. We talked about groupings, how she gets away with introducing herself as a freshman. She's petite and pretty at that. And she is on her first year after all.

We also talked about her family. She was on her way to Laguna to have a "family meeting", and she said they've always had family meetings since she was eight. And she was always aware of family happenings, if they had or didn't have money, etc etc. They scheduled a family meeting that day at Jollibee, because of the Habagat. Apparently their house was greatly affected so they couldn't even meet there. But she was happy that her family's safe, and I was happy they were too.

It was a great start of the morning, really, because we talked so much that when my friends asked me where I was, I would reply 10minutes late because Sol and I were talking a lot. Even the kondoktor became our friend because I kept on asking him if my stop was already near.

When I finally had to leave, we just said goodbye and thanked each other for the nice ride. It's the first time I've really talked to a stranger, and everything felt pleasant. It was a good morning.

---

I then met with my friends and we decided to go to Tagaytay, at People's Park in the Sky. We did a lot of talking, got lost because google maps wasn't aware that he recommended a route that involved a private subdivision. We took a lot of pictures when we got there. Here are a few:

We went back to Manila after that. We were tired and all the pictures and road conversations and breakfast and lunch conversations were all enough for us. It was a really good day.

---

It's a long weekend so I don't have work tomorrow. Too bad our supposed Monday get together with my workmates got cancelled. Well, next time.

There always is a next time anyway. Right?

Love always,

Ghoent

-----

I'm currently reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, so you guys know how this entry is patterned to it. I am really liking the book. :) I'm almost done, but I'm trying not to finish it just yet because it's a great read. The book had the main character Charlie describe one of the books he read (it was Charlie's professor, actually) as "Easy to read but difficult to read well."

This book's not far from that. It's a light read, but I know everything means so much more than it does up front. And I'm taking my time in realizing all those. I'm really appreciating it. :)

For the girls out there, here's one of my favorites:

It's like he would take a photograph of Sam, and the photograph would be beautiful. And he would think that the reason the photograph was beautiful was because of how he took it. If I took it, I would know that the only reason it's beautiful is because of Sam.

I just think it's bad when a boy looks at a girl and thinks that the way he sees the girl is better than the girl actually is.

---

This entry's so long. I should've probably broken it down to two or three letters/entries.