the ubiquitous yellow shopping bag

i was an ortigas girl when forever 21 first opened. i must've been part of the .001% who wasn't terribly excited.

oh, i read all the blog posts raving about its opening. and i saw all those shoppers with yellow bags milling about. i think i must've gone in once, or twice, but i never really saw anything i wanted to buy.

yesterday was the megamall three-day sale. being the obedient underling that i am (ha!ha! as if i needed any form of encouragement.) i accompanied my boss to megamall after our seminar. first stop: forever 21.

the crowds, long lines, dearth of dressing rooms, and heavy bag (i had just come from a seminar, remember?) notwithstanding, i scrounged with the best of them. and i fell in line. and i swiped that debit card (no credit card for me ... it's toooo tempting!). no worries -- i was prudent: i started the line with 6 items and ended up getting only 3, every single piece intended to be used for work, hence an "investment." (i am so a lawyer that i can actually justify purchases!)

after a year + another branch later, i have finally been converted.

on a side note, we passed by bayo and kamiseta and my boss was like, "where are all the people." simple, i replied, they were at forever 21. told her that if we had P10 for every forever 21 bag we saw, we could've paid for everything we bought between the two of us. and you know what, we probably would've had some left over.

yesterday's mini-miracle

you know i love shopping. and you know i love sm shopping even more. and when sm shopping becomes sm bargain shopping, well, i am in retail therapy heaven.

and yesterday, i was in retail therapy heaven.

a long time ago, i saw this amazing katsa (canvas) and chrome laundry hamper. it wasn't your usual katsa and chrome laundry hamper, though. it was the kind which would allow you to separate your whites, coloreds, and delicates. i wanted it sooooo much, except (1) it wasn't in my budget and (2) it won't exactly fit in my bathroom.

it looked something like this:

it was one of the few times in my life that i walked away from something i loved, but I knew i had to be practical.

and then water happened.

then my washing machine broke, forcing me to finally buy the automatic washing machine i've always wanted but wasn't possible without water happening. because the washing maching was more expensive than any other washing machine i've bought before, i stuffed it in the maid's bathroom, which i've begun calling "the laundry room".

yes, i'm pretending to be westernized and all that by having a laundry room instead of a maid's room. so fitting, especially since i don't have a maid to do the laundry which i'd have to do whether i wanted it or not.

anyway, with all the home improvement stuff i've been doing, the cleaning, getting rid of stuff, and organizing to make things pretty, i've realized that hey, i can now get the laundry hamper/sorter and put it in my laundry room!

and so began the search for the laundry hamper which, for some reason, wasn't in any of the sm branches i visited. and we all know how many sm branches i actually visit when i'm on the search for something i want.

yesterday, i found myself in sm southmall, fully decided to buy it. so i actually approached a sales person and asked for it. and, miracles of miracles, this sales person actually knew what i was talking about! not only that, he volunteered to call sm megamall when i said that it was where i spied the coveted laundry hamper/sorter.

so i waited, and i waited. i checked out the other stuff i wanted (but not available in the color i needed, boo) and surprise, surprise, he came back with the laundry hamper/sorter.

it was the last piece. i tried looking at the price tag from where i was and noted that there were "before" and "now" prices so i was happy with the fact that i was going to get it cheap. what i didn't know was that i was going to get it dirt cheap.

it used to be P899.95. then it was marked down to P699.95. what it didn't say on the sticker was that the lovely, lovely piece of laundry magic was now only P270. 80% off, baby!

then the cashier asked if she could check my points, maybe i'd want to use it. so i said okay. i had around 80+ points. so i used P70 and paid P200 for my laundry baby.

P200 ... that's about a cup of coffee at starbucks and a tiny pandesal. or a pedicure at a salon. or the a tooth of the zipper of an LV bag.

guess who went home as giddy as a cat?

you truly have it ALL

oh henry. you truly are a genius.

and that's not even cause of the flat rate open parking that's open as early as 7am (although i will admit i benefited greatly from it). it's because you truly have thought of everything.

i mean, i've always known that had i been organized enough to keep the personal copy of my NBI clearance, i could have renewed it at sm megamall building b. and the last time i renewed my license, all i had to do was go to the lto satellite office at sm north and i was done in less than an hour.

what i didn't know, though, was that i could get my nso birth certificate (as well as nso documents) from at your business office at sm megamall. and while i could have gotten the same online, yours cost half of what they charge!**

that is just amazing. i mean, not only do i avoid the hassle of lining up at NSO, it also means that i have yet another excuse to return to megamall even after i switch jobs. you are SO smart, my dear henry.

now if only that lovely RL fuchsia floor pillow (a new product, it's so crazy lovely that i want it so bad) would go on sale, i'd be in heaven. then again, with that bit of home shopping spree i did last night, i think i already am.

hugs and kisses,

rosa

*image from http://www.people.nfo.ph/businessman/henry-sy-sr/

** while the online e-census charges about P315, and the nso birth certificate delivery costs P330, they deliver your document right at your doorstep. in the case of SM, you will have to pick it up from megamall, so the additional cost comes from the courier expenses. however, take note that the delivered birth certificate may be claimed only by certain individuals (you, parents, siblings, children) which makes it a bit complicated if you plan on having it delivered at home and the only person there is your maid.

the future's so bright, i gotta wear shades

by now you must know i am a huge bea alonzo fan.

and in the unlikely event that you don't, well, i'm saying it here, for the record: i am a huge bea alonzo fan.

that said, i must also admit that in my wildest fantasies, i'd be bea alonzo. once upon a time, i even launched a BEAutiful project wherein, in true bea fashion, i wanted to lose weight, pretty much the way that she did before she did one more chance.

*sigh* to be young and with john lloyd by your side.

now, all ramblings aside, i must admit now that the reason behind this post is that yesterday, i bought my very own pair of pacific blue sunglasses ... for P215.00 (or something like that). here's the back story:

i was crazy tired, not to mention crazy sleepy, so true to form, i spent an hour or so walking around my favorite mall. i got a couple of stuff that i intend to wear for the KL trip, checked the home stuff (and found treasures which i ended up not buying, good job me), and was at the second floor just walking around when i spied the area where they sell sunglasses.

now, because of my unusually round face (and head, and body ... yes, all of me is round), i've always had difficulty buying sunglasses. as a matter of fact, for the longest time, i had to live with squinting against the sun while driving. then i read how squinting makes you get wrinkles, and i started spying wrinkles around my eye area, so i said to myself that i gotta go on a quest to find shades that'll fit my face.

it was tough at first, but thank goodness that oversized frames became a huge thing, and boom, all of a sudden, i could find some that would fit me.

the first pair i got my friends called my "aging artist leaves rehab look". it was dark, it was round, and i got it from one of those ubiquitous i2i counters. i loved it and actually wore them a lot, until i gave them to a friend's sister who loved them too and wore them a lot. why'd i give them away? well cause i found pair #2 -- square-ish frames from bayo.

the bayo sunglasses were light, and i loved the case, except that (1) i lost the case and (2) the frames started peeling. i guess it might have been cause i wear them even when i'm on the water, hence the saltwater makes the plastic icky. so i used them until i found pair #3 - my "oh-so-sad-someone-passed-away" shades.

and, not to make light of my grand-aunt's death or anything, but i actually bought them the day before my grand-aunt's funeral, and i wore them to said funeral, and that's it. they're a pair from charles and keith, and i love them so, and i actually wear them all the time. and they're still fine.

but, unfortunately, it has nothing against my uber-love for bea alonzo and my desire to buy shades from a brand she endorses.

(okay, the fact that the shades are (1) cheap (2) fit my face perfectly and (3) did i say cheap? factored in too☺)

so, now i have a new pair of shades.

incidentally, i was actually intending to write more about shades -- right now my future is feeling so bright and i'm terribly excited about it. maybe that'll be part 2 instead.

shoe love

you know me. i love shoes.

to even use the word "love" might be an understatement. but let's just say that that's the most extreme emotion one can feel for some inanimate object that can never return the feeling no matter how hard one tries.

having established that my heart more than flutters at the thought of shoes, let's just say i try not to buy shoes full price. because given the amount i already spend on shoes, buying them full price would make me financially irresponsible already. and, come on, we all know that if there's one thing i'm responsible with, it's with my money.

yes, i really am, notwithstanding the accusations that were hurled my way when i bought myself ferragamo sling back pumps for my 30th birthday. come on -- not only were they Php5,000 only, they also were my exact shoe size. no making pilit, no corks -- it was as if god knew then that i was going to pass the bar and needed lawyer shoes to wear on my signing of the roll.

once in a while though i fall in major love with a pair of shoes. and when that happens, all thoughts of fiscal responsibility, savings, and never paying for anything full price flies out of the window.

enter my merrell shoes.

a week or so before my HK trip, i stumbled upon lovely addidas ballerina flats. i didn't try them (i found the sale price still prohibitive ... in hindsight, it really wasn't, at least compared to what i paid for my merrell shoes) but it entered my mind that i needed non-rubbershoes, but with rubbershoes comfort, walking shoes for my upcoming vacations. i had envisioned lots of walking, for which rubbershoes would really do the trick, but i figured that i don't really look great with rubbershoes and shorts.

however, we searched high and low in the week leading up to the HK trip but i wasn't able to find anything that made me happy. so i ended up walking around HK in my ratty, dirty pink ballerina crocs. they were comfortable, and i still love them dearly, but i wouldn't mind replacing them for the vietnam trip.

so the night (yes, night!!! i was cutting it close!) before my friends and i were set to leave for vietnam, (and ironically the night before a hearing! crazy lawyer girl) i went on a search for some non-rubbershoes walking shoes once more. my store of choice, SM. oh, henry sy, you must love me so.

i first saw the fila stand. there were cheap shoes (not that cheap, but let's just say i wouldn't mind paying that price for those shoes) but they weren't exactly what i needed. they would look great with jeans, but not with my shorts. so a big fat x. i checked the others and while i marginally liked some -- and even tried on a couple -- there was always something wrong. one which was really cheap hurt the back of my ankles, and if it hurt just walking to and fro the mirror, i can't imagine how much it would hurt walking around an entire city. so goodbye cheap, pretty shoes. there was another one i liked -- i really liked -- but they didn't have it in my size. the guy said he could order one for me, but i didn't have the heart to tell him i needed them in less than 24 hours. nahiya ako.

so i left sm and walked around the mall. some were okay, but as i said, unless they had the word SALE marked on them (or that tiny second sticker saying it's now so and so less than the original price) i wasn't really tempted. this girl wasn't going to pay more than what was absolutely necessary for shoes that might not see the light of day once i ceased being the globetrotter i briefly turned into this year.

and the i saw the merrell shoes at sporthouse. they were lovely. and expensive. so i walked away. i looked at more stores but none came close to the merrell shoes. oh there was one -- and it was mighty cute too -- except that they were for kids. me and my juvenile taste.

i went back to SM to try the others once more, especially the one-size bigger shoe but, unfortunately, it really was one size bigger and there was no way it would fit my feet. i tried on even shoes i marginally liked once more but by this time, i knew i was a goner. i truly had fallen in love with the merrell shoes.

add to that the memory of my mom praising the merrell shoes she wore all over HK (and her entire manila vacation for that matter) and i could not help but want the shoes.

so i looked at them. and looked at them once more (they also had a booth at SM ... kanis). and i walked away. they were beyond my budget. they weren't on sale. and while they were exactly what i wanted, it wasn't like i was going to climb mountains and cross rivers and need protection from oil slicks. as a matter of fact, all i was going to do was walk along the paved streets of ho chi minh. so i needed none of the fancy-shmancy stuff that went with buying hi-tech shoes.

so i bought snacks. and looked for a raincoat (my aunt's instructions). and i went back and looked at the shoes once more.

sigh. they were pretty.

so i said, hey, maybe they're pretty, but they (a) won't fit me well, (b) won't look good on my feet, or (c) didn't have them in my size. so i told the saleslady (who was already laughing at my indecision by this time) i wanted to try them on.

and they had it in my size. and they looked great on my feet. and they fit me like a glove. i couldn't have asked for more.

i closed my eyes, and paid for them, and prayed that lightning wouldn't strike me for spending that much money on a pair of shoes that i won't ever get to use regularly. then again, they made me extremely happy and happiness isn't exactly something you could buy in a box ... unless they were these pair of shoes.

p.s. here comes the sad part -- SM is having a mega shoe sale this coming weekend and merrell is going to be one of the brands on sale. i want to go (cole haan is going to be on sale too) but there's a part of me that's scared to see my merrell's on sale. i might just die (or some approximation of it). after all, remember the puma's i sort of wanted but passed up on? a week later, they were 50% off.

comfort clothes

a long, long time ago (also known as *gasp* four years ago), i went to baguio without a jacket.

or a sweater.

or anything to ward the cold away.

i thought, hey, it's the middle of summer. and because of global warming, baguio isn't as cold as it used to be. so i saved on precious luggage space (cause i always overpack on the wrong things) and brought stuff other than a sweater.

then we got there and it was cold.

well, maybe not by much but it was chilly and with the wind chill (naks!) factor, it was cold enough to make me need a sweater. or jacket. or anything to ward the cold away.

thank goodness there was an SM with a surplus shop (since i never buy anything that's not on sale. wait, i do, but most of the time. so there.) and within minutes, i came out with a sweater that i loved.

see:

i loved how it had a "sleek" line and it was long-ish so i felt it made me look thinner than i really am.

and we all know how i love kidding myself about that, right?

notice that the shoes are also blinding white? well, here they are closer:

yes, they're also new (at that time). except they're not from surplus shop. they're from SM (oh how i love henry sy so much). and they were on sale. and they were in UP colors. and i've wanted not-gym shoes-not sneakers - but perfect for jeans - in something like leather rubbershoes for the longest time. and these were just perfect. so i also got them.

anyway, i digress.

so i got the sweater and i was warm in baguio from then on. and i used the sweater sporadically over the course of the past four years (it hardly gets to be that cold anymore).

and yesterday, i brought it to work.

and somehow, under the garish white work lights, the once perfect hoodie, with a vintage feel to it, just looks old, and faded.

did i leave it for too long in the sampayan? or is it simply too old to be wearing around in a place where i'm supposed to be charging by the minute?

you know what's crazy? those pair of shoes? i've sold them in a garage sale for Php100 already. yet as for this hoodie, i can't imagine giving it up yet. i slipped it on and it felt perfect -- just-right warm, fuzzy, and the long-ish length still makes me feel oh-so-payat. and we all know how important that is, right?