my own leather satchel

because of thebaghag's mulberry alexa + frances' post about her own desire to own one, i likewise wanted my own satchel.

of course, it didn't help that emily loves her own alexa so much that she uses it enough to remind me to be on the lookout for a version that my taongbayan budget can actually afford.

at the forever 21 sale, i found a pewter satchel, and since the price was perfect, i snagged it up without thinking. it's great -- i actually love the color pewter -- but it's not exactly the easiest bag to use. so when frances asked her readers if they'd be interested in an affordable handmade leather satchel, i immediately fired off an email and hoped that i could get my hands on one.

as i was tidying up my room, i realized that long before i lusted after the mulberry alexa, my dad had already given me a satchel.

{my reward for winning my first case as a lawyer}

after graduating from law school, and with zero plans and zero prospects, i jumped at the chance to clerk for my former student's mom who had just been recently appointed to the court of appeals. the money wasn't bad, and at that time, i was a law graduate who had just spent the past five years (i was working + was in the evening class, so i needed an extra year to finish) earning a degree. i was so focused on graduating that i realized i didn't even know what i was going to do with my degree after i had earned it!

after almost three years, the "itch" to be a real lawyer (translation: abogado de campanilla) bit me, so i left my cushy government job and moved to a firm. one of the first original (in the beginning, all of my cases were passed on to me by the lawyer who had just resigned) cases was a labor case that i had actually prayed would be assigned to me. less than a year later, the labor arbiter came out with a decision in favor of my client.

i had just won my first case.

i was so excited that i immediately sent my parents as text message about the win. days later, i received an email from my mom -- apparently, my dad was so excited for me that he got me what he deemed a "lawyer's bag" from coach.

{my dad isn't a big fan of coach, but i am.}

side note: both of my parents aren't fans of the brand, and couldn't exactly understand why i liked the overpriced leather goods, so i was actually more than surprised that my dad got me this beautiful handsome leather satchel.

*sigh* while i totally love my new job, and while i don't miss the stress that comes from being a litigation lawyer, i truly wish that one day, i'd get the opportunity to use this bag on a regular basis once more.

pasalubong

i think i've mentioned it here before: i am a major sucker for presents. thus, when i first started working for the government, my brother teased me and said, "oh no, ate, you might end up being horribly corrupt."

i didn't.

it didn't change the fact, however, that my undying love and loyalty can be had with presents (and boys with mazda 3 vehicles, but that's another story entirely). so imagine my utter joy when i met up with tito gil + the entire baltazar clan once more and was given lovely, lovely presents.

like this bag.

and this perfume. (incidentally, it's the same perfume as last year's. wonder what's the fascination with carolina herera. do i tell him i'm partial to elizabeth arden fragrances?)

and these chocolates.

*sigh* i'm feeling the love.

incidentally, i'm so blessed with good friends cause theo, after learning my fascination with wooden hangers, ordered a bunch for me from ikea. happiness!!!

thanks for the lovely pasalubong!!!

the string of unfortunate events has finally ended ...

... i think. and i think it ended cause i finally got to wear the gold gown.

as for how the gold gown fared, let's just cross that off my memory bank. it was an unfortunate day through and through, beginning with expensive but not-so-pretty make-up, difficulty finding a cab going to the wedding, and almost taking the mrt back to qc in a gown.

i say "almost" cause you see, the gold gown, after it was worn, wrinkled, and utilized, stopped being a curse. the wedding ended at around 8, and we anticipated how difficulty it would be to get a cab at that time. and then my friends and i thought, hey let's try the back of the hotel, and there it was, a nice taxi with a driver who didn't blink an eye when i told him where i wanted to go, a driver who didn't ask for additional payment, and a driver who didn't complain when i missed a turn and almost couldn't find my way back home.

and then that same night, right after i washed off my make-up and took off the unhappy gold gown, my aunt arrived and gave me stuff from my family abroad: the crocs i asked my mom and dad to get for me, book 13 of the wheel of time series, a lovely coach bag from my ninong, and kisses in cherry cordial and mint truffle. it was pasalubong heaven, IMHO.

yesterday, i got to work with five minutes to spare. and, although i had to practice, pass by tita mayu's house to pick up stuff i forgot, and buy prixes for our activity in tuloy, i actually arrived at tuloy just in the nick of time. this morning, an empty fx was at the corner exactly when i needed it, and i got to sit in the train after one station.

life's good. life's fun. life is finally how i want it.

finally.

i was too caught up with the drama in my life that i had almost forgotten about a friend's sweet gesture

last friday, as i was too busy getting the entire house in order, a good friend dropped by as promised and gave me my pasalubong.

you see, he's now an expat in saudi arabia, and we both realized that we have a thing for ikea. so in one of our twitter chats, i told him, hey, get me something from ikea ...

... and a couple of weeks before he came home, he actually did.

but then, i was so busy that time, not to mention figuring out whether i really liked this boy or was just too caught up with the teasing, that i had forgotten about the present.

until we had lunch at pepper lunch (something we'd been planning also on twitter) and he mentioned his present. and i was overly excited to get it (but didn't have a car that day) so i was basically bouncing off the walls until he came with this package.

it might look small, but it was HEAVY. quite heavy enough that he had excess baggage going home. lucky for him, though, they aren't exactly strict with excess baggage in the middle east so he simply smiled his way through check-in.

when he handed over the present to me, i pretended to be more obsessed with cleaning the house (at that time i had less than four hours since mama's plane was to land) but the moment he left, i immediately "attacked" the package.

this is slightly embarrassing but i think i almost ripped the cord out of the base cause there were too many things "holding" each piece onto to the main box and i was just too impatient to get everything out.

of course, it need not be said that while i was too impatient to get everything out, i was patient enough to stop every so often and take pictures. hahaha.

so there i was, sweating and figuring things out and after a couple (or more) minutes, i had this:

lovely, lovely floor lamp.

that same afternoon, i got bulbs (soft white ... para kulay mayaman) and an adaptor (for a while i was afraid it was 110v, thank goodness it was 220v) and almost the entire night, i left it on pretending i was waiting for visitors.

i am too shallow that way.

thanks, theo, for your abounding thoughtfulness and generosity.