ten million snaps for mcdonald's alabang and its free wi-fi connection :)

burger king started the trend, and usually, a big company with gazillions of consumers will ignore giving a free service like this on account of the fact that people will still come whether or not there's wi-fi. but you did, and for that, you'll be seeing more of this customer in the future. thanks, george yang.

self-induced poverty, i've come to realize, is something that'll truly change your life.

i wish i'm doing this self-induced poverty thing in a bo sanchez-like manner, meaning that it was a call from god to trust him more. unfortunately, i'm doing this simply because a whole lot of expenses have decided to make themselves manifest. add to that the money i spent for my armpits, and i'm in for a very rough summer. imagine (1) replacement bumper; (2) participation; (3) clothes spinner; (4)car registration; (5) car comprehensive insurance.

under normal circumstances, car registration and insurance will be paid for by my mid-year 13th month pay but that together with the other things is driving me a bit crazy. those, together with the armpit expense, is making me a whole lot crazier.

ultimately, though, it's the fact that i'm saving up for my own LV speedy 30 is what's forcing me to basically ignore the mall and all the stores therein. the fact that the exchange rate is climbing and that LV had a price increase recently (i know! the bastards!) aren't helping things.

and, oh, there's a camera i want pa ....

see, i'm clearly in over my head ... way over my head.

but the fact that i'm ignoring all forms of retail therapy, well, that might just be the best thing that's ever happened to my bank account :) until i pay for that crazy speedy bag :)

the quest for hairless and blemish free armpits

warning:you might be in for a blog entry with "too much information". stop if it gets to be a little too personal

i'll admit it to the universe: i've always hated my armpits (together with certain other parts of my anatomy). i love my smile, i love my eyes, i've even learned to embrace the fact that i have ginormous legs. i have never, however, accepted the fact that my armpits are dark and ugly.

believe me when i say i've tried everything. when i was a kid, my mom didn't want me to pluck so i wouldn't get chicken skin, so i shaved. then i learned that shaving made it darker so i tried waxing. but waxing left me with chicken skin so i went back to shaving. i've tried every single shaver known to man, but i still ended up with ingrown hairs and, yes, dark armpits.

i've also tried everything to make it lighter. tawas - the powdered kind - left me sweaty. all whitening deodorants had no effect. i've tried roll-ons, sticks, creams, powder, spray, gel. again, no effect. i've even tried lemons.

at the end of the day, i've come to accept that: (1) unless i stop shaving they'll continue to darken and (2) no amount of over the counter treatment can fix my dark armpits.

so, i've tried out godiva skin station's ipl hair removal. i've finished my first session; i've got seven more to go under the promo. after this, they recommended undergoing diamond peel to make it smoother and hopefully the same color as the rest of my skin.

right now i'm so broke i can't even buy a bag that's on 70% off sale. but then if this means pretty armpits - and hopefully they do - then i'm ready for the self-induced poverty.

and if it doesn't, well, i might have to raise holy hell.

while the pay isn't amazing, there are a couple of good things about being a lawyer in the judiciary.

the very flexible working schedule. (and i can't help but emphasize the word very!)

the "money lines" once in a while.

the stress-free lifestyle.

and, once a year, the baguio session.

being from the second highest court in the land, our baguio session isn't as long as the supreme court's session: while they spend a month in baguio, we only get to spend a week in baguio.

but a week is still a week.

especially if it's a week of doing virtually nothing, except, probably, watching golfers from the balcony of your hotel room.



uhm, about the hotel room, well that isn't a standard except that i have a generous boss. a very generous boss. again, emphasis on the very.

because while we could be stuck in the cottages like the staff members of the other justices, we got "stuck" in baguio country club.



doing, well, nothing.

and since my boss is really, really generous, we not only slept at the country club, we enjoyed the country club lifestyle as well.



including brunch at the camp john hay clubhouse. by the way, i had pork chops. yummy!



of course, all good things must come to an end. after two days of enjoying the country club lifestyle, we had to go back to the real world, a.k.a. the court of appeals compound.



still, i had the most fun baguio session ever. just check out the humongous smile on my face.



(but between you and me, gay had an even BETTER baguio session.)

p.s. being who i am (a shoe addict AND an SM fan) i had to pay homage to my favorite mall ... and buy a lovely pair of rubber shoes on sale. gay said the colors reminded her way too much of the UP Maroons. i agree. but, being the major school snob that i am, all i can say is well, thank god i have the right to wear these colors!

happy easter, everyone!

i know i said no shoes till easter.

and i really, truly abstained from buying a pair the entire lent.

promise.

but what's a girl to do when her aunt offers her never been used tory burch patent flats on good friday?

you accept them, right? especially if accepting them means your aunt doesn't have to deal with the fact that she so loves them but they're waaaaay too big for her.

easter, if i may say so myself, came a wee bit earlier this year.

lovely, lovely easter shoes. what makes them even lovelier is the fact that as i was on the bus on my way to nueva ecija, i had been thinking of getting lovely patent leather flats in black to go with the "gretchen barreto blouse" (don't ask, but g, r & i sort of name our clothes too. for better identification.) i bought last tuesday that i had planned on wearing to lingkod's easter celebration.

after all, isn't easter supposed to be better and bigger than christmas for us christians? and christmas, if i may say so myself, is the perfect time to get new outfits. so if you go get one for christmas, why not for easter which, translated in filipino, is pasko ng pagkabuhay.

anyway, if i'm going to be really and totally honest in here (it is still lent, after all), I must admit that the shoes do pinch a bit so i've taken to wearing them around the house, while watching tv, while lounging in bed while reading a book, while (okay, this can be totally embarrassing already) just admiring how my feet look on them. so far, i think they've expanded to the point that my feet won't atrophy and fall off from lack of blood circulation. of course, i would still have to road test them and i know in my heart that i wouldn't dare wear them if i were, say, commuting for fear that i won't get ten steps away from my house until i go running back to put on a pair of havaianas.

nonetheless, i love my new easter shoes and i think they're the modern day version of cinderella's glass slipper. don't you agree?