And so it begins...

Today is the first Sunday of advent. Thus, the Advent wreath is up at Sagrada Familia. And the congregation is ready and happy to begin the new Liturgical Calendar.

To quote a famous Christmas carol:

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

It's a "Stil"

After doing many a videos on the ubiquitous "pastil," today was the day when I actually get to try it!

Saw this Pastil place in Cubao, and they served Tuyo Pastil. And being a Tuyo stan, this was a no-brainer.

It's actually good. No frills, full of flavour, and it's just P55!

This 'stil is a steal!

FMM: Go to Geils

Okay, let's push this model idea another day.

Back in 1981, The J. Geils Band had this huge hit. The song was about a model, although it's a model appearing in an adult men's magazine. 

"Centerfold" tells the story of a guy who had this high school crush. The girl was a very wholesome, almost angel character. But one day, he discovers that she's the centerfold of a men's magazine that he purchased.

It's a upbeat and happy song, but the lyrics are actually kind of melancholic. It's that counterpoint that makes this song fun to listen to.

So, let me listen to it again.

WATN: Great Deyn

Speaking of models, I'm missing the quintessential model of the 00s, Agyness Deyn!

This English actress and model was the epitome of the androgynous look. From her short, blonde locks to her versatile features - she was literally a chameleon who can shift into the different roles that the fashion world gave her.

As a fan of Greek Mythology, it was also such a thrill to watch her play Aphrodite n the "Clash of the Titans" reboot. That further upped her cool points for me.

It's been a while since I've seen her on-screen or in magazines. 

It would be great to see her back.

Gerber, baby!

Kaia Gerber is fronting the December 2024 issue of American Vogue!

First of all, can we just marvel at the fact that she looks so much like her Mom! 

Then, the clothes are just divine! It's playful, but it's high fashion. Only Marc Jacobs can pull-off something like this.

Why isn't anyone carrying American Vogue in the Philippines anymore? This issue needs to be here, stat!

Once a King

A decade ago, CD-R King was THE go-to store.

Back when CDs were useful and essential, this store had in in all colours, sizes and designs.

Then, they diversified into anything and everything electronic. From USBs to phone chargers to phone cases. Taking it further, they started selling small appliances, even scooters!

And just when you thought their trajectory was on the up and up, suddenly they started dwindling and disappearing.

Last Sunday, was in Robinsons Magnolia and was surprised to see this:

Not sure if it's still open or permanently closed. But seeing it made me reminisce on the brand and how big it once was.

Found in Translation

Here's an example when you ask AI or a computer program to translate text from one language to another.

Reading it, you know what the essence is. But the way it was translated to Tagalog was so mechanical and artificial. You look at it and think: "heck, no one talks this way."

Really, nothing compares to the human touch.

Putting the "fab" in "fabric"

Textured fabrics never fail to catch my attention. Whether it's a patch, a weave or a embossed detail, little grace notes like these really elevate a fabric.

Just like this one.

It grabbed me by the collar and let me to it the moment I saw it from afar. The fabric looks so luxe and rich, thanks to all the details it had.

The fabric was from a Stella full skirt. It''s so gorgeous! Since the fabric is already a showstopper, the design of the skirt is very simple and classic.

Because there's a lot going on with the skirt, the top had to be simple, but with a twist. This Kashieca blouse was just that. It's a knit blouse with speckles of gold that are so subtle, but they shimmer when the light hits it.

This is yet another fab holiday outfit idea.

A perfect foil

As Christmas nears and parties are starting to kick-off, the need for holiday outfits is once again upon us. Well, upon my sister, to be exact.

Since the holidays are all about sparkle and shine, those are the elements that I'm looking for when looking for a holiday outfit.

Two weeks ago, Mark and I had lunch with Patrick at Alabang Town Center. Passed through Metro Department Store and found this gold, foil skirt. 

It doesn't look like it in the photo, but it's actually gold foil. It's also light and pleated, so it moves very gracefully.

In the same store, there was this knit top in beige, which was a good pair for the skirt. The boat neckline, extended sleeves and material make it classic and muted enough to match with the brightness of the skirt.

It's a perfect outfit for a casual yet chic Christmas party.

FMM: Good Garbage

Call it a hangover from that talk about trash.

Back in the 90s, one of the CDs that I'd often play and replay was from "Garbage." The band - headlined by Shirley Manson - was the epitome of 90s angst. Their sound was a good mix of rock and grunge, which made it head-bang-y without being too heavy.

Their 1998 album, "Version 2.0" had a lot of great songs. But this has to be my most replayed one:

"I think I'm paranoid," has that right amount of energy. This was our go-to OT song when the teams would burn the midnight oil for campaigns.

I think I'm enjoying this again.

Cap it off

Oh, the things you find when you rummage your old stuff.

It gave me such a thrill to find this:

My McDonald's cap!

This was my cap during my crew days at McDonald's Commonwealth in college. It still has a lot of the pins I collected from contests, milestones, awards, and the like. Back then, collecting pins were all the rage, and it's so great to see that my pin collection (some of it, at least) is still there.

This re-ignited my wish to be a crew for the day, yet again.

Keep off the grass

In another edition of "This is why we don't deserve nice things."

Grass and greenery are supposed to make you feel relaxed. But seriously, how can you relax if you see this:

Unfortunately, a lot of people still don't have that discipline of disposing trash properly. Gosh! How difficult is it to hold on to a bottle until you find a garbage bin?

It's disappointing how a lot of people still have this trash mentality.

All decked out

It took longer than usual this year, but finally, our Christmas tree is up!

Of course, the accompanying accoutrements have to be there. The dancing Santa has been with the family for more than a decade, and it's still singing and dancing as if it were his first day.

All that missing now are gifts under the tree. After that, we've decked the halls for the holidays!

The Proper word

I was today years old when I realised that this was the correct line from the wickedly popular song from "Wicked."

All this time, I thought it was "With the proper poise..."

Let me file this under "misheard lyrics" now.

Rokh-ing it!

Here's the first outfit out the gate.

Ate decided to wear the pants and skirt combo - one of my faves from this collection.

She paired it with a simple knit shell and cut-out mules to give the pants the opportunity to shine on its own.

I'm so glad we were able to get these Rohk items.

GU are here now!

Mucho thanks to Kris, my GU x Rokh collaboration pieces are here!

I'm sure Ate Bullet will rock each piece!

FMM: Designed with Love

Since we're on the subject of "design of a decade."

That blog title was actually inspired by Janet Jackson's album. In 1995, she released a "best of" album that featured her best songs from 1986 to 1995. And looking at it now, it's mind-blowing when you realise that it's been almost 3 decades since this album was launched.

With that, today's Friday Magic Madness song is from that album.

"That's the way love goes" was originally launched in 1993, which makes the song 31 years old now!

Despite its age, this song remains timeless as ever.

Design of 2 decades

Whowouldathunk?!

It's been 20 years since H&M started doing their designer collaborations!

The first one was with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, and that caused such as stir.  The items were flying off the shelves in a matter of hours, and it's something that's still true for some of their designer collaborations until today.

Among the plethora of brand they collaborated with, my fave still has to be Lanvin.

They actually released a capsule collection featuring selected pieces from the different designers. They didn't carry it here in MNL, though.

Here's to the next decade of collaborative designs!

Fruitful

While the Philippines' 7-11 game isn't as great as Japan or Thailand, we're slowly making strides in offering more food choices.

One of my recent discoveries are their fruit cups.

They're fresh fruits, conveniently cut and ready-to-eat in a cup. I've been having this for breakfast for a few weeks now, and it's consistently good.

More fruit options, please!

Pack it in

One of the advertising processes that I'm really into is packaging design.

Even if I'm a writer at the core, I've always dabbled in the art side of things. Throughout my career, I've done many designs - from logos to packaging - that were actually implemented. When we were in Cebu a few months back, we passed by the Globe building and saw the "Globe Innove" logo that I designed more than a decade ago.

When my niece, Toni, told me about her chocolate business, I volunteered to design her label. Thankfully, she agreed.

Et voila!

My vision for the label was young, fun and chic. Thus, it's more minimal in approach, but has youthful colours, graphics and fonts.

I'm happy to be part of Toni's passion project. And I'm sure she'll pack in the sales!.

Taste of Childhood

It was one random weekend.

Suddenly thought of checking out Merced Bakehouse - a classic bakeshop that has been around since my childhood.

This is where my parents used to buy our birthday cakes. They also had a Russian tart that they'd buy for me whenever I'm sick. And they also had a restaurant that served classic Pinoy fare.

On that random visit, the memory of their sotanghon soup popped in my head. Et voila!

Ah yes! It's still as good as my childhood.

Packaging is everything

As someone in the creative field, one admirable thing about Thailand is how nicely they package their products.

Check out this bottled water:

Yes, water is a commodity, but with the right packaging, it can turn into something chic and unique.

Wish we could do that here, too.

One skirt, two ways: Doing denim

There's this denim skirt from Regatta that's been in the stash for almost a month. Couldn't find the right top for it, so it couldn't get dispatched yet.

Thanks to my recent BKK trip, that skirt will not only be dispatched, but there are 2 ways to wear it.

First is this Ines dela Fressange knit top from Uniqlo. The relaxed silhouette and colour gives the whole ensemble a fashionable ease.

Second is this mixed denim top from Pratunam. The denim parts complement the skirt's hue, making this a perfect pair.

With the right top, this denim skirt became two chic!

M&M

Nope, this isn't a continuation of yesterday's M2M post.

It's about the fact that Mona & Maricar was able to join my family birthday dinner!

(And Gary, too!)

It's a long overdue meet-up, which I'm glad finally happened. And as expected, the time felt too short.

Time for a part 2 soon.

FMM: Don't say it

After seeing the poster of M2M's upcoming concert in Araneta Coliseum, that's when the fact hit me.

This singing duo's most famous song is already 25 years old!

Gosh! It feels like yesterday when "Don't say you love me" started playing on-air. And now, it celebrating it's silver anniversary? That makes me feel really old.

Say it isn't so!

Leyva level

Was beginning to wonder if Plains & Prints wouldn't have a designer collaboration this year, then this happened.

This year, they tapped another young designer to create a capsule collection for the brand. Michael Leyva is known for his modern, architectural shapes, and is a fave among stars and socialites.

His collection is centred on this modern, scarf-like print. It appears in a lot of the pieces, but he also has a lot of plain coloured items with thoughtful details that make it pop.

The piece that caught my eye was also this dress:

It uses the same scarf print, and the top is a simple shell-style, but with a lot of darts and details that make it different.

As always, Plains & Prints takes local fashion to another level.

Tadaaah!

As a person who still writes and sends cards, receiving one is always a thrill.

Claire is a kindred spirit who does the same. She never fails to send her beautiful and unique handmade cards. And here's her creation this year.

True to her blog's title, this truly is a "Tadaaah!" moment.

Sab-baptism

Today, we welcomed Baby Sab to the Catholic faith.

Congratulations, Kevin & Yrish! Knowing how wonderful you are as Catholics, I'm sure Baby Sab will grow up to be an exemplary person of faith.

Rock the Boots

This weekend trip to BKK made me realise how much I've missed Boots!

This store was my go-to gift shopping place way back during my HKG days. We'd often have meetings and shoots in BKK, and I'd spend my time at Boot's, hoarding shower gels, hand creams and other beauty products.

And that's still the case up until now. It only took one visit to the Boot's across our hotel, and my shopping spree commenced.

Boot's rocks!

Salad Days

If there's one thing that I've been eating every day and with every meal in BKK, it's this:

Som Tam!

This is my all-time fave Thai food. It's papaya salad with the right combination of sweet, savoury, sour and spicy.

I can eat this every day! (Oh wait, I already did!)

Young & Rowdy

One of the advertising experiences that I'm truly grateful for is my stint at Y&R HKG.

It was an unexpected move which ushered in a lot of firsts for me. That included my first time living abroad, first time living alone, first time managing a regional account, first time in a multi-cultural environment, among many others.

The experience was great. But what made the experience truly awesome were the friends made in HKG. Our team was composed of people from Australia, Canada, China, India, Sweden, Thailand and HKG. We were so diverse, but we gelled together and became fast friends.

Despite the fact that none of us are in Y&R HKG now, the friendship still remained. We've stayed in contact and try to see each other whenever possible.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Had the pleasure of meeting up with Prem. She was the Account Director for the personal care account which was my main account back then. We had a good 3 hours of catching up, but it felt like it wasn't enough. Before we parted ways, we talked about having a reunion with the other Y&R peeps soon.

Now that's something to look forward to.

FMM: Kazero to ten

Since we're in Thailand, today's Friday Magic Song is Thai-ish.

It's actually a song by a French duo called Kazero. Back in 1986, they had this global hit entitled "Thai Nana."

Because it's in French, people really didn't know what it meant. But it was so catchy that it gained ground and people found themselves singing it. That includes me.

That's a perfect feat for a song.

Ain't it Grand?

While the chic, modern and streamlined hotels are aesthetically eye-catching, I'm still partial to old-school hotels. Ones with big pillars, made with a mix of marble and wood. It gives off a vibe of grandeur that a modern hotel lacks.

That's why Arnoma Grand Hotel in BKK is one of my go-to hotels in Thailand.

Most people find the style old and retro, which it is. But it does it in a way that feels classic and nostalgic, which just further adds to its charm.

And the fact that it's at the centre of a number of malls - including Platinum Mall - makes it an even better choice.

Dive right in

Seeing this sleeping cat reminded me of Olympic divers.

His sleeping pose looked like he was in the middle of doing a dive. It looks like his legs were locked into his arms, and the way it's stretched is very sporty looking.

Guess this cat made sleeping a sport.

A tale of two Halloweens

As October winds down, the Halloween fever heats up.

Trick-or-treats abound, and that's actually a thrill for me since I'm a fan of making treat bags.

With 2 events - one at home and one at the office - my treat bag skills went on overdrive and was able to put together more than a hundred bags! At first, it felt like an overkill. But the fact that it was wiped out, and some people were asking for more, made me think "I should've made more."

So, here's the one at home:

And the one at the office:

It's really twice the fun!

Highlighting creativity

Seeing ads like this reaffirm my passion and love for this industry.

It's so simple, clever, and more importantly, the product is at the centre of the concept. Which is what real creativity is all about.

This is definitely one of those "I wish I made this ad myself" moments.

Oh baby!

 Look who joined us for our Sunday garage dinner?

Baby Saab is in the house!

This is cuteness overload at its cutest!

Designer insects?

My first thought that it might be a knock-off brand. But since it was in Central World, it had to be legit.

Turns out, it's just a misspelling. The name on the logo is correct, and it was the name on the directory that was wrong.

Wonder how Guy Laroche would feel if he found out that his brand was turned into a reviled insect.

Proofreader please!

FMM: Denver Ditty

During our monthly birthday celebration last Tuesday, our guest busker called us up to the stage to join us for a song. Of course, we were very reluctant. But in the spirit of good fun, we decided to just give it a shot.

The song they asked us to sing was this really old song from 1974, and is a classic folk bar song from John Denver.

"Annie's songs" is such a laid-back and easy-to-sing song. That's why even if we have no singing experience, it was fun to sing along with this ditty. Also, that was the impetus that led to making this today's Friday Magic Madness song.

The funny thing about this song is that people think the title is "You fill up my senses." After all, that's the main lyric that you hear over and over again.

This song really filled up our senses.

K-cool

Koreans have a thing for dresses over pants. I've seen many a K-drama where the main characters are rocking this look.

In one of my mall runs, saw this dress at H&M that was perfect for that Korean look. And this is the ensemble.

The lace top and inner blouse are both from H&M, while the jeans are from Lovito.

This dress is definitely O-K!

LFLTAT: Jump Twice

There's this stall inside Puregold Cubao that has long caught my eye but never gotten around to check out. It's a small stall filled with denim products in all shapes and sizes.

After a grocery run, the decision was reached to finally stop by and check out what they're selling. And boy, it was such a good decicsion.

They had a trove of denim jumpers, and the price was surprisingly cheap! And with less than a thousand pesos, was able to put together not just one look, but two!

LOOK # 1:

This light denim jumper had a tapered silhouette and pockets in front. To keep things simple, got a ribbed tank top from Straightforward to complete the look.

LOOK # 2:

This one was a dark denim jumper, also with a shape that's cut close to the body. To create a contrast, the inner blouse is a loose, striped shirt from Uniqlo.

This is twice the chicness for just less than a thousand!

This way comes

This just might be the reason for Mark and me to go back to the cinemas.

We watched the play way back in 2014 and was thrilled. 

Now, a decade after, it's time to see whether something Wicked this way really comes.

Little Miss Sunshine

Nope, this isn't about the Abigail Breslin film. But mind you, that's one of my favourite comedies.

This is about celebrating the birthday of our very own Miss Sunshine - Jing-jing!

As she celebrated her milestone birthday, CAO peeps from past and present gathered to show her how much she's changed our lives for the better. Back in SMC, she gained the monicker "Sunshine" because of her warmth and radiant personality. 

Even after my SMC exit, we've remained steadfast friends and we've had the privilege of partying, traveling and just being goofy and silly together. There's even a group name for our group - JKLM - and I'm the honorary member.

Happy Birthday Jing! As the Stevie Wonder song goes, "you are the sunshine of our lives."

It's the "S"

No, this post isn't about Skechers.

What it's about is how the letter "s" can change a word dramatically.

Observe.

Spotted this at Don Quixote in Shibuya. 

Admittedly though, "Emergency Exist" sounds like a cool sci-fi film.

Proofreader, please!

Do your Pilati-s

I've never heard of Zara doing designer collaborations before, so this window display at Zara in Ginza totally caught me by surprise:

Apparently, they have this collaboration with Stefano Pilati for FW 2024. 

Yes, Stefano Pilati. The creative genius behind the resurgence of YSL in the 2000s, and eventually, Zegna in the mid-2010s.

Strangely, though, there were no lines nor fanfare on the collab. In fact, the sales clerks at Zara were even drawing attention to the collection by walking around the store, brandishing selected pieces.

His collection was composed mainly of trousers and blazers. It's the "masculine tailoring with a feminine twist" approach. Saw an interesting shirt dress with ruffles, a suit set with strawberry prints, and a structural LBD.

Was contemplating on buying a piece or 2, but after further scrutiny, they're very special occasion pieces that you can't use everyday. So, it was a pass.

Visually interesting, but a pass.

FMM: You'll Shirley like it

Upon thinking about it, there are a lot of famous singers named "Shirley."

One of them I've written about several times, and that's Dame Shirley Bassey.

But this Friday Magic Madness post isn't about her. 

It's about "Shirley & Company."

This popular disco group from the US was headlined by Shirley Goodman - thus the name. They had a string of hits in the 70s, but the son they were most known for was their 1975 hit.

"Shame, Shame, Shame," was a phenomenon and became a hit both in the US and Europe. Listening to it now, it has that very Motown vibe that makes it a joy to listen to.

So, there's no shame in listening to this song on repeat.

Rokh it again!

After his collaboration with H&M early this  year, Rokh is back!

This time, he has a collaboration with GU.

The thing was, when we were in Shibuya, the collection wasn't launched yet. They only had a preview rack, and it allowed you to check out the clothes, but you couldn't buy it. Just yet.

It was frustrating because you could see how nice and different the pieces are, but you can't buy them because they're still a few days away from the official launch.

Good thing there's the GU x Undercover FW collection to help me not feel too bad.