history
When you’re too in love to let it go
Guess who’s getting a makeover.
I found a Tetsuwan Atom shirt in that ukay beside Lolo Oboy‘s. An official Tetsuwan Atom shirt. In a thrift store. And it was CLEAN. And there weren’t any damages! If that wasn’t an awesome find, I don’t know what is.
But the thing is: it’s a boy’s size. Although I’m no newbie in wearing men’s shirts, this one in particular isn’t very flattering for me. It’s too short to be a proper shirt but too long to be a baby tee, the lines are too straight, and the neckline is just wrong. I look like a girl forcing myself in a little boy’s shirt….which is exactly what I am. Haha!
I’ve had this since January, but I have yet to wear it because of the reasons above. I’ve tried wearing it, but had to change out of it before leaving the apartment. It just did NOT work.
But it’s an awesome shirt! Just check out that holographic design sewn on it!
So. My solution? A pair of scissors. Mwahahaha! I contemplated cutting out the design and sewing it on another shirt, but, after looking up some tutorials on shirt cutting, I have another plan in mind.
I totally forgot to shoot before and after pictures. Drat. In the photo above, the t-shirt was already cut. But I did it with a cheap (and rather rusted—ACK) pair of scissors, so the result wasn’t very…satisfactory. BUT I shall buy a good pair of sewing shears and fix it. I promise. I shall post a photo when it’s done.
Title from “Fix You”, Coldplay.
Car je suis l’amoureuse, oui je suis l’amoureuse
Fact#1: I love t-shirts.
Fact#2: I’m a Chuck fangirl.
During the Chuck tweetup tonight, Happy gave me the Chuck logo printed in reverse on transfer paper. And also the Team Bartowski print I wanted on a shirt.
So:
Chuck t-shirts. I’m gonna make them.
I don’t know how yet, but if—nay, WHEN—you see me in a Chuck t-shirt in this blog, then you know I was successful. Or, since I’ve never ironed a print on a shirt before and that photo right there was the first time I ever SAW transfer paper, maybe I failed miserably and just got somebody else to make the shirts for me. I’ll let you know.
Title from “L’Aamoureuse”, Carla Bruni.
and she said, “love it all, love it all, love it all”
If ever you find yourself in Congressional Avenue, try to swing by Circle C. And if ever you swing by Circle C, go to the second floor, find the Gallery, and look for a little nook called Punya. They don’t have a banner, I think, but it looks like this:
And has these:
Good stuff, yes? I saw the stall today while I was in search of a necklace to go with my plain old shirts. I found exactly what I needed with the help of Ruby, the girl watching the stall. I wasn’t able to ask her if she actually owned the place or not, but I do know that she can make necklaces for you while you wait. They can be as low as P80, depending on the pendant and the kind of chain/string to use.
She makes the necklaces. And also wears them.
(Also, she likes photography, so she happily let me take photos in the stall. She even let me try out her Olympus DSLR. I can’t remember what model it was. Haha!)
I only got a really simple necklace, but they’ve got tons of other stuff. From earthy to metal, from goth to bordering on tweetums, from big rocks to playful plastic. I’ll definitely go back there. And if you’re in the area, try to visit, too! 
Title from “Love It All”, The Kooks
You could be anywhere
“If we could sit together a moment
And talk forever just to pass the time . . .”
- “I’ll Meet You There”, Owl City
Gray boatneck top, Baguio ukay, P80. Unbranded jeans from Circle C. Mother of pearl bracelet. DKNY bag from my mom. G-clef necklace from Cebu (which you probably can’t see). Nokia cellphone lol.
Lori took this shot of me at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf after we watched Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
So this blouse. It’s my one and only loot from Baguio. It’s expensive for Baguio ukay, I know, but it’s niiiiiiice~
And, yes, I’m loving boat necks. (And stripes, too, but there aren’t any stripes on my clothes today. Haha.)
I see a new lover coming
Yesterday we swung by Tiendesitas to have dinner after our trip to Enchanted Kingdom. We were exhausted and hungry, so, in an effort to ignore my growling tummy, I turned to the clothes shops nearby.
See, I’ve only been to Tiendesitas once in my life, and that was within the year of their opening. At that time, we went shopping around for Christmas gifts. If I remember correctly, we bought a couple of lamps and other house decors, and more than a few trinkets and keychains. I don’t remember seeing (or much less going to) the fashion section there… Either it wasn’t there before, or I just blocked it out since, y’know, I hate shopping for clothes.
So, anyway, I’ve heard people saying that you can buy nice clothes there. But since I’ve always viewed Tiendesitas as (1) far from our house, and (2) on the high end, I never really had the drive to go back and check it out.
Well, as it turns out, the clothes there are good mix of proper and funky, laid back and formal. As for the prices, I saw more some mall-priced clothes, some tiangge-priced clothes, and some ukay-priced clothes.
In the short time that Ate Steph and I browsed 3 shops, I was able to buy a 50-peso senseless shirt and a 150-peso excellently embroidered shirt. I almost bought a long purple tank top for 100 pesos, but I didn’t get it because I already had one. (Which, in hindsight, was a pretty lame reason. I should’ve gotten it.) To say that I was happy with my purchases would be an understatement. Will blog about them soon.
There was a band playing nearby; I reckon we did our non-shopping for 3 songs, which is roughly 10 minutes. That’s pretty good time, if you ask me. Now, what I need to do is learn how to commute to Tiendesitas…
So. The verdict? Tiendesitas = non-shopper-approved!
Title from “Chances Are”, Apostle of Hustle.
try to find one who’s gonna give ya true lovin’
I hate shopping for clothes. That’s common knowledge. But what I hate even more is shopping for shoes in department stores. Why? Because when I was a kid, we had to do it at the start of every school year, and we had to battle with other moms and kids buying new school shoes, and I had to take off my shoes, put on the pair in question, try walking in them, take them off again, and put on a new pair and on and on and on and ARGH I hated it.
But tonight, guess what I did. Shopping. For SHOES.
After work. I went to Trinoma to look at dancing shoes with my mom. See, I’ve been ballroom dancing for years now (not that my form is perfect, but I dance for fun) but I’ve only had one pair of dancing shoes. For years, I passed by dancing shoes in the mall, glanced at them, but never actually got a new pair. I chose instead to semi-torture myself with regular shoes while dancing.
…Er…yes. I chose pain over shopping. Gah.
Anyway. Back to tonight. My mom was there before me, so she had already chosen the brands I was to look at. We looked at Milani first. I quickly chose around 5 pairs of shoes and asked the salesman to get them in my size. Three of those pairs weren’t available in my size. So, I tried a pair. I loved it. I tried the other pair, and decided that I still loved the first one. My mom asked me if I wanted the salesman to get the other designs that I was looking at while waiting, or if I wanted to look in another brand. I said, “No, I’ll get this one.” My mom chuckled and muttered, “Non-shopper.”
Why, yes, that’s exactly what I am.
Time spent shopping for my new dancing shoes: 10 minutes.
Title from “Shop Around”, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
Are you and me gonna happen soon
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Fashion Market. I remember that time a few years ago when I went with our family to check the newly opened mall out… and I actually remember buying a few pieces there. (Of course, my parents paid for it.) I remember buying a hematite bracelet there back when nobody was wearing it yet. I think I bought my tangzhuang-style blouse there.
I didn’t go to Market! Market! often for a few years, because it was three cities away from our house.
But now, it’s right across my office.
I’ve been working here for two years but I think I’ve only gone shopping there for one or two times. Yes, I hate shopping, but I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I mean, I’ve gone shopping in other places recently. Why not visit the “bargain hunter’s heaven” (as Ayala Malls calls it) when it’s right across the street?
About the photo
I was bummed out today when I realized that I was wearing my Monday uniform, which meant I probably won’t have any blog post. But then, while staring rather listlessly out the window after the work day finished, I saw the well-lit Market! Market. And then realization hit my quite painfully on the head.
Title from “Are You & Me Gonna Happen”, E. I don’t usually do song titles, but methinks this one fits my post.
Weaving in and out of line
“the sidewalk’s full of merchandise”
- “Lion in a Coma”, Animal Collective
Today Sara and I fulfilled our plan to go shopping in an ukay-ukay. We went to the one Noelle wrote about, the one right next to the Anonas LRT-2 station.
Confession: When we got off the jeep and I saw the sign saying “Lolo Oboy’s”, I felt giddy and excited and scared. Let’s face it: thrift stores kind of scare me. SO MANY HANGERS. @_@ I attempt to go in them, but I’m usually unsuccessful in finding treasures, unlike other people I know. I didn’t want to screw the whole op and leave an ukay heaven empty-handed. (Like what I did in Baguio, for example.)
But still, I marched forward. After all, I wasn’t charging on by myself.
So. Like Noelle said, the place was four floors of thrift shops. Sara and I checked out the first shop there, and, after painstakingly browsing through the racks, I saw this gem. But it was too small for me. Drat.
After several more minutes of browsing–and, to be honest, I was starting to feel my energy draining from me already–I delightfully found two tops I could buy. They were the kind I needed, and they actually fit me well! Sadly, though, the price was much higher than I expected. But I got them anyway.
Lesson learned: thrift stores near the entrance of the mall/ukay center are more expensive. Therefore, go deeper. Or, in this case, go higher. Sara and I went straight to the top floor. And, behold! There were racks that had clothes for P50 each, and even P10 each. There were LOTS of cute skirts, but I didn’t get any because, like most people know, I don’t do skirts. But if you love skirts, you’ll probably enjoy looking through those racks.
We looked into several more shops, and I surprisingly bought a couple more tops. Yey! But as happy as I was that I was being productive, I was feeling my shopper stamina reaching a critically low level. If I was a game character, the health bar would probably be in red.
One observation about Lolo Oboy’s: as cheap as the items were, you cannot get discounts from the tag prices. I mean, you can’t haggle with the salesladies. Being used to tiangges, this is pretty much a new thing to me. And there were also rather expensive items (for ukay standards, anyway).
In the last shop we went into, I very nearly got this Zara bolero that was priced P380. It was rather thin and creased, but it was Zara. It looked reaaaally nice on me, and since boleros don’t usually work with me, this was a rare find. But I said I was only going to get items lower than 200. I already had to break that for a rare, rare shirt (I’ll blog about it later and show you why), so I decided that I would just have to hunt for a cheaper, unbranded bolero.
So, in summary, I did not leave Lolo Oboy’s empty-handed, and the expedition to Anonas was rather productive. It drained me a bit, though, and made me realize that maybe I’m still not quite ready for mega ukay experiences yet.
Gah. I have a loooooooooong way to go to being a real shopper. *sigh* Someday, maybe. Or maybe not. We’ll see.
The time to shop
I grew up happily receiving (and wearing) clothes as gifts (hand-me-downs and brand new ones alike) from my parents and three older brothers. It made my life easy. I didn’t have to think of what clothes I should wear. I didn’t really care whether or not I’m in fashion, as long as what I’m wearing was comfortable, and doesn’t look ugly. Walking through malls in search of clothes exhausted me. The boutiques in the mall were the bane of my existence, and, despite my mom’s efforts, I made trips to the fitting room with a heavy heart.
I hated shopping. I still do.
But I realize that I should start putting some effort into my wardrobe. After all, wearable hand-me-downs from my brothers get fewer and fewer as my body shape became more different from theirs. And I can’t really rely too much on raiding my mom’s closet, especially when I’m about a good foot taller than her. (And she needs her clothes, too!) And, really, I can’t rely on other people for my clothes forever. I must, then, must face that which is called shopping for clothes.There is a time for everything. And the time for me to learn shopping is now.
But don’t get me wrong. I hate shopping, I still do.
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