Ch-Reese-Mas

The December Issue of InStyle is one of the issues I anticipate the most. This is the issue where they countdown the 100 best style moments - something that's always a joy to read about and look at.

So, just like the September and November issues, the December cover girl is also someone I look forward to. 

And this Christmas month's headliner is someone who I've always enjoyed watching - especially during her stellar turn in "Legally Blonde."

Reese Witherspoon!

Now, how to get my hands on this issue...

FMM: A feel of Bofill

You know you're old when the songs you listen to as a kid is now considered "Classical Music."

That's exactly my feeling after seeing the title of this youtube playlist that has a lot of my favourite songs.

And speaking of "feelings," one of the reasons why I keep on going back to this playlist is because of one of Angela Bofill's songs. It's a ditty from the 80s that I'd listen to as a grade school kid.

Angela is no stranger to this blog, having been a Friday Magic Madness regular. And upholding that tradition, one of her songs "Tonight, I give in" is today's FMM song.

Yes, tonight I give in to the feeling of listening to Angela again.

Ramune-neration

Ramune Soda is huge in Japan. It's almost like their national soda.

But for some reason, Mark and I never really tried it when we were there.  Actually, even when we were there, we never really got wind of it. Soda-wise, I guess I was more focused on Fanta Grape. (Harhar!)

Strangely though, my knowledge of Ramune Soda came from "Strictly Dumpling." The host, Mike, featured it while he was in Japan, and he also brought some bottles when he went to Mexico.

Since then, I've been thinking of Ramune and trying it.

Luckily, they have it in Daiso!

Now, we have Ramune in the fridge and I can't wait to try it.

Splice of Life

Presenting my latest favourite buy from the Bench store at Lazada!

It's a spliced t-shirt!

These are 2 shirts spliced together. The left side is a graphic tee in navy, while the right is a heather gray cotton tee.

Actually, I spotted this shirt as early as September, but they'd run out of stocks quite quickly. But wanting it so bad, I'd place it in my wishlist and check every so often to see whether it was available again.

And true enough, a piece (yup, just 1 piece) was available early November. Knowing the 11.11 sale was just around the corner and this will most likely be snagged by then, I didn't waste any time in adding it to my cart and checking it out.

Now, this shirt is mine! Woohoo!

It's been a while since I've been this excited about anything from Bench. So, that says a lot.

Color Story: Blanc Space

As a fashion color, “white” has to contend with a lot of limitations.

White is bridal.

White is for gala day.

White is for first communion.

White is for Labor Day.

That’s just some on the things that “white” has to contend with.

Personally, though, I like how clean and classic white is. Whether it’s an oversized shirt, a shirt dress, a blouse or button down, it gives any look a clean and carefree vibe.

Same goes with White denim. It might not be the usual or traditional choice, but it’s very classy and classic. 

Like this pair from Elizabeth and James. Yup, it’s still part of the Kohl’s stash that Biboy sent. (Thanks, Bibs!)

To make the whole look very easy on the eye, Impaired it with this off white loose tee from Penshoppe.

Together, the look is so easy, breezy, fresh and clean.

Ah the wonders of White!

Printed Matter: Tres Chic

Fashion illustrations have always caught my eye. 

It's always interesting to see how different artists draw and interpret chic women. Some have more realistic takes on the subject, while some are more animated and exaggerated.

This print is a good balance of the two. The proportions are slightly exaggerated, but the rendition of the clothes and accessories are realistic.

Looking at it, I can imagine this to be Iris Apfel and her squad when they were younger.

That print of 3 chic women isn't in a fashion magazine. It's on a dress from the latest Holiday 2021 collection from Plains & Prints!

 They really make super chic, wearable art!

A (Scorpio) Night to Remember

No, this is not a post about Shalamar.

This is about last night’s get together for the Melrose Scorpions. Which includes me!

Since there were 3 celebrators (Lisa Girl, Cutie and myself), the background was apt because the online meet went on 'til late at night.

As the meeting was wrapping up, everyone agreed that a face-to-face meeting is long overdue.

That should happen soon.

Eleventh Heaven

It was early this year when I first saw this dress from Stella on the Lazada website.

As I've said multiple times on this blog, the Stella brand in Robinsons Department Store is one of the most fashionable and underrated department store brands. Their designs, fabrics and details are really top notch. In fact, I've been a fan since 2014.

And this yellow dress with a side drape was no exception. 

From the first time my eyes were caught by the dress, it went automatically into my cart. Back then, it was P899.75, which is still pretty cheap considering the design and fabric. But somehow, I'd always forget to check out and buy it.

Then, a few weeks ago, they brought down the price by P100. That time, I decided to finally buy it - because of the discount. But for some reason, I wasn't able to.

Last Thursday - 11.11 - I finally realized the reason why I kept on missing the opportunity to buy it the past months. It was because of this.

Yes! That dress which was originally P899.75 was just P111.00 during the 11.11 sale!

That was the impetus for me to finally get the dress out of the cart and finally buy it!

Oh the pleasant - and affordable - surprises that 11.11 brings!

FMM: I've got a Philly

There are days when you just want to get into a 90s kind of R&B groove. When that happens, there are a lot of go-to groups from the 90s who fit the bill perfectly.

Today is one of those days, so my mental playlist was scanned for music under that genre. Music that we'd listen to often back in the 90s but haven't been played in a while.

And this is my Friday Magic Madness song choice for today:

"Motown Philly" was one of Boyz 2 Men's upbeat dance hits. Although they were more known for their slow, romantic ballads, they also had a number of danceable tunes. Just like this one!

It makes me want to do the Harlem Shuffle all of a sudden.

Wait, make that the Philly Shuffle.

Ben there, done that

Ben & Jerry's always brings back happy memories in Tokyo.

During summer time, Mark and I would walk down Omotesando and pass by the Ben & Jerry's store along the main road. We'd go inside and order a few scoops to nosh on while traversing the road from end to end.

Each time I did it, Mark would try different flavours while I'd stick with my usual Cherry Garcia.

Last Saturday, on my birthday, Mark went back to our Ben & Jerry's days by sending me a few pints of the ice cream to make our celebration cooler. Which it definitely did.

He said he tried looking for my usual Cherry Garcia, but it wasn't available. So, he sent a gamut of flavours, including my other fave - Phish Food!

Trust Mark to make my birthday both sweeter and cooler.

Stripe Three!

Pinstripes are such an elegant pattern. It’s classic, chic and preppy.

And if you have 3 different types of pinstripes in one, then that’s 3 times the class, chicness and preppy-ness.

Observe this dress from Plains & Prints!

Whee for three!

This Oreo has Brownie points

Another day, another new Oreo flavour discovery!

There's this shop on Shopee that usually has imported Oreos. But their stocks usually run out fast.

A few days ago, I chanced up on this awesome flavour, and they still have it on stock!

We all know what happened after that!

Oreo as excited as I am?

Red Letter Day

I'm an old-school kinda guy. 

Aside from still writing cards and letters, i'm also equally thrilled each time I receive cards and letters.

Just like these ones that were sent to my for my birthday.

The beautiful, handcrafted card is from Claire. The drawn postcard is from my extremely talented goddaughter, Audrey. And the 2 letters are from Audrey and Aidan.

These surely adds "Happy" to "Happy Birthday."

Triple Double

The awesome thing about Kevin and I celebrating our birthdays just 1 day apart?

A 3-day celebration!

Yes, it's true. We had dinner for Kevin last Friday, then dinner for me yesterday, and tonight...

A street food get-together for the both of us!

This is a Sunday well-spent.

Double the fun

Thanks to the fact that my nephew, Kevin, celebrates his birthday just a day before mine, we always have an excuse to have a double celebration.

Family and close friends know that I don't like celebrating my birthday. Mainly because I'm not comfortable being the centre of attention, even for a day. That's why having someone to share the birthday spotlight is a huge plus.

Just like tonight. We had our usual garage dinner with some of our neighbours to celebrate our birthdays.

And while technically, I'm the one celebrating my birthday today, whenever people greet me, I can always point to Kevin and say: "It's his birthday, too." Then, the attention is deflected. Woot!

Double celebration. Double the fun!

FMM: What to do?

Phil Fearon and Galaxy is my go-to whenever I'm in the mood for feel-good 70s music.

I've written about one of their big hits - "Dancing Tight" - a few FMMs ago.

And this Friday, they're making a comeback! It's another one of their big hits from the 70s, "What do I do?"

To answer their "What do I do?" question:

I'm going to bop my head and groove to this song!

Spread the news

Being a chocoholic, you can't imagine my thrill when I found these spreads in one my online snack haunts.

I'm a huge fan of both Twix and Maltesers, so, finding out that they're now available in spreads is awesome news to me!

Meals with Mark: Pho you and pho me

Pho Hoa is one of our "regulars."

Mark and I have a list of restaurants that we regularly go to when we want something familiar and fool-proof.

It's actually an extensive list that also includes Recipes, Pancake House, Italianni's, TGIFridays, Max's, Yabu, Rack's, Shakey's - among many others. 

Since Mark was going to the office today, we took the opportunity to have Al Fresco lunch. And looking around the area we saw several options - all familiar, but what stood out was one of our regulars.

So, lunch was at Pho Hoa!

Since we went to a "regular," even our orders were our regular fare.

There was one of the regulars that we weren't able to order, though. The Hot and Sour Soup which is a staple on our Pho Hoa lunch and dinners.

We'll have that soup next time! 

Throwback Tuesday

This photo from 30 years ago just reinforces a well-known factoid.

I'm my Dad's carbon copy.

Check him out in the upper right hand of this shot.

At first glance, it felt like looking at myself!

Well, at least I know what I'll look like in a few years.

At a Floss for words

Even before the whole "floss-trend" in the Philippines brought about by Bread Talk, I've already been a fan of floss bread.

It all started in HKG. Outside our office in AIA Tower, there was a small bakery where I'd buy breakfast before going to work. My favourite bread was this rectangular bread filled with baked beans and topped with floss. 

I'd have that around 3 times a week, and never got tired of it.

Maybe it's because floss reminds me of my childhood. Back then, floss was better known as "Mahu" and we'd buy it by the gram at this Chinese delicacy stall in Unimart, along with kiamoy, champoy, dikiam and Twin Cow.

Since then, I'd gravitate towards anything with floss - bread, maki, you name it.

And this weekend, there's a new addition to my repertoire: 

I'm excited to see whether this will be an addition to my flossy faves.