Google Campus Week 1

Dress worn as a skirt from ELLE, White cropped top from H&M, Hat from Forever 21, Shoes from Primmadonna, key necklace from Greenhills, Owl ring from Charlotte Russe, Black and White bangles as a gift, Satchel from Greenhills

This is my first outfit post without a fandom related title. It's mainly because I couldn't really think of a Harry Potter related title to this except for it being like standard Hogwarts robes pre-sorting. And then this week, i'd wear different house colors per day. It's Google Campus Week at school and if you wear the assigned color, you get a free Kit-Kat. Coincidentally, the four google colors correspond to the four Hogwarts Houses as well (although a bit brighter). Look at me, relating everything to Harry Potter... u.u I can't help it, Harry Potter is my past, present, and future (lol taken out of context, Tom Marvolo Riddle sounds like an overly enthusiastic fanboy). But this week, It would be about the Google Campus Week.

Thus, the generic fashion blog title of "Google Campus Week 1".

This is the first week that i'm actively putting some sort of theme to my outfits (apart from that week when I wore yellows + florals mostly, which was a total accident). I only found out that it was Google Campus Week last night after I had already painted my nails like these, then i thought that it would be perfect! I've always wanted to sport black and white nails and even if I did it a bit messily, I'm happy with it and it would definitely go perfectly with the outfits for this week!

So, a perfect way to start Google Campus Week is to wear neutral colors!

Not gonna lie, I'll probably wear these shoes the most this week. 

See you!

House Pride

Dress from Greenhills, Black Cardigan from Ross, Grey Wedges from Lucky brand

Okay, I know this is sort of a late post, but when we got back last night, we were all so tired and stuffed and just wanted to crash on the bed and sleep for the week.

Gold bangle as a gift, cross connector ring from Forever 21, cuffs from H&M

But wait, why am I so "dressed up" (if by dressed up, you mean wearing heels)? 

Yesterday was the baptism of my nephew, José León. 

We were instructed to wear something inspired by the mafia, and i'm not really sure I understood what that means because all I thought of was black and gold et voila.... mafia.

I think I did a good enough job because I ended up having the same motiff as a Johnnie Walker bottle.

I specifically wore this dress yesterday because it matched the tablecloth on the restaurant my family and I are going to eat in later on in the day.

See how pretty this restaurant is? We ate at the Golden Bay Restaurant for dinner.

Notice how the embossed pattern on my dress totally fits with the tablecloth, right? I was so excited, too! When we got to our table, they instead laid out the red tablecloth and it made me feel so bad because I own the exact same dress in the exact shade of red as well!

This all looks so Gryffindor, huh? Which fits, too because my nephew is named after the lion. I initially named this post "Gryffindor" but then I noticed that most of the colors present were more Hufflepuff than Gryffindor, which kind of doesn't make sense because I'm a proud Slytherin, but there isn't a speck of Ravenclaw here anywhere... basically, I'm not really sure what to name this post.

This is Circus (follow her on instagram @instacircus) and she took the opportunity to claim a bishops hat napkin! We forgot to take pictures of the food because when it arrived, we were so overwhelmed that we had to dig in immediately. The food here is amazing! (I think they have their menu available online as well).

We actually booked a VIP room (which is why the tablecloth is different).

And here is the cake I made for Leon. It's chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing and it's supposed to be a lion, but whoaa, baking cakes in your toaster oven is hard. I don't even know how to ice properly and baking this cake was a disaster. After baking, I passed out and slept for 13 hours. (I baked this on Saturday night so that I won't have anything to worry about on Sunday morning).

Next time, I'll definitely try harder with baking cakes, or maybe I should just stick to cookies from now on. 

Fizzing Whizzbees

Wide sleeved shirt from Fad District, Pink skater skirt with suspenders from DJ chic Collezionne, Sneakers from Converse with Tokidoki laces, Tote shoulder bag from Aeropostale, Ring from H&M, necklace from Charlotte Russe, beaded bracelet from Kohl's, Gold bangle from a gift

Fizzing Whizzbees are a popular magical sweet sold in Honeydukes sweetshop in Hogsmeade. They are large sherbet balls that will cause a person who sucks on them to float a few inches off the ground. Rumor has it hat this phenomenon is due to the secret ingredient of dried Billywig stings because being stuck by a Billywig will make a person levitate for a few seconds. However this rumor might just be an inspiration from the urban legends about sweets, including Bubble Yum, the world's first non-hard chewing gum, which was softened through spider's eggs. (From the Harry Potter Wikia).

I named this outfit after Fizzing Whizzbees because it's color is primarily pink and it's very girly and light which makes you feel like you're floating--like you couldn't care less what other people thought. And that's probably one of my biggest new year resolutions (haha, three months in and I'm just now talking about my new year's resolutions).

What exactly are my New Year's resolutions? Honestly, I'm not quite sure. 

Maybe the first obvious one is to lessen my intake of inappropriate starches (what my sister calls bags of chips). I used to spend at least P200 per week over those--don't judge me, I love my cheap chips to bits especially if you're eating them while marathoning a whole bunch of TV shows (see list of current fandoms to the right of my blog, aka Hannibal, mmm that tends to get both me and my sister lose and gain our appetite). But this is as far as I go towards "healthy living". 

"Healthy Living"? Nope. Pancit Canton 4EVER!

Lately, I've spent my money on baking supplies. A new baking supply store just opened recently (if by recently you mean within six months) near our house and they're owned and staffed by the friendliest people ever. (I'm going to make a post about them this Saturday, if they let me!). And yes, this is another of my New Year's resolutions!

However, my real new year's resolution is this blog! I may be a month late in actually taking it seriously but hey, better late than pregnant never. I'm starting out to be more positive in my life. I've noticed that if you surround yourself with negative thoughts then you will always only perceive the world to be negative. It's finally time to stop being so pessimistic and to take pleasure in the little things. 

It could be watching a really heart breaking movie in one of your classes. 

I sat alone in the back and cried my heart out for Enjolras and sang along to the songs and told the guy in front of me to join me in barricading the classroom on Monday!

Maybe take joy in using your free period to browse the internet in the university computer lab? Time well spent.

Or really good notes you took in High School. These are my AP US Government notes that I studied again today because I took part 2 of my diagnostic test. So far, I feel really good about it---it could even be the fact that you tried your best in your academics. I mean, hey, you may not be the smartest or the brightest, but at least you know you put an effort into things.

Wilson Jones Binder from the Office Depot

It could even be as simple as a pretty binder that totally matches your outfit, really.

And that there are little pretty things. But honestly, this ring is so attention grabbing that I tend to keep the ribbon side inside my palm (and I may love wearing rings, but I love to fist bump more. Aaah problems).

Know that the ground you walk on is here because someone made it so. Know that the world exists because of the harmony of nature--inherent opposites.

Just, moral of the story? Don't let anyone stop you from doing anything. Don't let the fear of embarrassment hinder you from doing anything. Live life like crazy. and procrastinate doing your 10 page final paper due tomorrow because #YOLO

Eeylops Owl Emporium

Asymmetrical dress from Hot and Delicious, black jacket from Market! Market!, gold necklace from Charlotte Russe, Floral headpiece from @cottoncandyonline on Instagram, gold bangles from H&M, Gold cross connector ring from Forever 21, heels from White House Black Market, gold clutch from Arden B.

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Hello, meet my owl, Chocnut. He's an Eastern Grass Owl and unfortunately, he does not deliver mail.

He eats mice everyday which can get a bit expensive. It's really hard to feed him because you'd have to knock the mice unconscious first before feeding him... sometimes, you tend to get attached to the cute little mice.

One time, our driver caught a huge rat in his house. It was about as wide as my forearm and nearly as long as Chocnut himself. He enjoyed eating this rat. He started by piercing a slit on the back of the rat's neck and then slurping the innards. He fed on that rat for about two days.

Anyway, I wore this outfit to my friend Sarah's debut. 

Sarah's party had a winter theme and I probably figured that that translated into "blue" and "winds", which was precisely why I wore a bluish asymmetrical dress (because the flowy ends look as if there's a slight breeze or something).

I was also one of the 18 candles—and to me, that's quite amazing, really. I've never really been legitly part of a debut program before, so hopefully I didn't do too much of a bad job.

Here's a bad picture of my gift to Sarah! I can probably disclose what I got her now that her party's over (I do she's opened her gift already). I "carefully" chose these items for her. It's a shame (not really) that I wasn't part of the 18 treasures instead! Haha! I wanted to tell her ASAP what these gifts were and why i chose them, so instead of saying it infront of everyone, I'll put it here instead.

1. My own copy of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" — I opted to give her one of my personal favorite books instead of buying a new one. There was this quote I read somewhere that said something like books are windows to your soul. With each book, you spend a considerable amount of time with it and you share this adventure together; the book gives you a part of itself, and in return, so do you. By giving her my own well-loved copy, I had hoped to somewhat be part of the journey she'd go through while reading "Cat's Cradle". 

A few weeks before her birthday, she asked me about which kind of genre I enjoyed reading most. I told her it was sci-fi dystopia with hints of war and the like. I told her anything by Vonnegut would be perfect, thus, i opted to give her a copy to save her from the trouble of looking for one instead.

2. A pack of cute post-its — I have this habit of always tagging the books I read (or writing on them, hah! I'm so sorry). It was sort of a habit I picked up from High School AP Lit. I put post-its on parts which I find interesting or particularly symbolic and what not ("How to Read Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas C. Foster, anyone?). I do this because I love to analyze works of fiction. For "Cat's Cradle", however, I had already removed my post-its from my copy so that when Sarah starts the book, she won't have any breadcrumbs... no spoilers whatsoever.

3. A microwaveable tea cup — Obviously, a warm cup always goes perfectly with any book! Although I do have a confession to make; I'm not quite sure if this cup is microwaveable... there was no indication on the cup whatsoever. The saleslady told me it was, though, so I'm trusting her. (Sarah, if you are reading this and it turns out that it wasn't microwaveable after all, I am so sorry!!!)

4. The dry ingredients of a microwaveable chocolate mug cake — to go along with the microwaveable cup. I am a sucker for DIY because it makes me feel productive and like I can fend for myself. I wanted to share that feeling with Sarah!

5. A sachet of Twinnings Earl Grey Tea — also to go along with the cup. A nice warm cup of tea with a good book is perfect.

The only thing missing from this set was either a warm, cozy blanket, or socks.

I don't have pictures from the party, though! :( I'd have to wait for the official pictures (which I'll add on to this post once I do get it!)

But being part of the 18 candles means that you have to give her a "wish" and this is what I told her: 

Before i start, i want to Thank you for thursdays. 

Now that you're 18, you have more opportunities open to you. You are now fully capable of taking them and squeezing every single benefit to your advantage. You can do it.

But before you start, I want to share a few pieces of advice and things you should not ever forget. And these things I'm going to tell you are things that hold a very special place in our heart.

Be the hoper of far flung hopes, and the dreamer of impossible dreams. Because In dreams, you go to a world that is entirely your own. But then again, no dream is impossible because you already know that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be truth.

Only you can simply walk into Mordor. 

remember that life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa. The bad things don't necesarilly spoil the good things or make them unimportant. Because Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, as long as you remember to turn on the light.

But if you're still stuck on one particular thing, just EXTERMINATE. make it KNEEL and bow down before you. You have an army. 

These events, they're gonna happen fast. They're damn near impossible to see. So, don't blink.

Finally, as you embark on your journey, may the odds be ever in your favor. Use the force.And boldly go where no one has gone before.

As i end my speech, i want to ask you; All of time and space, everything that ever happened, or ever will, where do you wanna start?

Our friendship is based on so many fandom references so I thought that by putting a lot of fandom references in this simple wish, it would mean more because now, it doesn't come from just me... It also comes from all of the characters that we've devoted most of our lives to. Haha!

Whoa, this has gotten long. I had quite a lot of fun at the party (i sat next to her high school friends instead of the college table, oops! It was because I sat next to our mutual friend, Jasper!!).

Finbourgh Flick (Backlog)

Sweater from Terranova, grey plaid skirt from H&M, white polo from Ralph Lauren, boots from Forever21

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I absolutely love this sweater because it is the perfect color of Slytherin house. Basically, this whole outfit clearly shows my house pride. 

Yes, I am a Slytherin, and that's something I am immensely proud of. People are always quick to judge Slytherin house to be full of evil doers—which I will not deny, Voldemort and his followers were mostly Slytherins, and even the Slytherins during Harry's year were mostly against him. But at its essence, Slytherin is a house surrounded with qualities to be proud of.

We are described as ambitious and cunning, which in the real world, is something everyone needs to have to achieve ends. If one is always completely honest about every single thing to abdolutely everyone, then that may be the one thing that can hurt you. Forgive me for spouting Hobbes philosophy but I am a firm believer of the realistic perspective that men are inherently evil—that everybody in this world is in it for their gains. Everyone must adapt an attitude of self-preservation to ensure survival.

And speaking of the realistic perspective, it is with this ambition and cunning that leads slytherins to power. Whether it be soft power or hard power, this position entails slytherins to be natural leaders. And to get there, one must be resourceful to identify each and every aspect that may help them reach their destination, whether it be from establishing connections by surrounding yourself with the right people.

Hah, this has gotten out of point and rambly;

I had initially planned on writing about how the sleeves of this sweater remind me of Quidditch uniforms minus the gloves and how if I've always wanted to be a chaser.

I swear Harry Potter is not my only fandom (although it is a thing that makes up about 90% of my life).