I Dream of a Blue Summer

Now before I begin I will begin listing my litany of excuses for not updating:

(1) My dad was recently diagnosed and treated of Stage 0 cancer they detected on the polyp on his large intestine. He has undergone elective but major surgery and is now doing well. The results of his biopsy are clean: no trace of cancer anywhere. There is no need of chemotherapy and radiation. :)

(2) I was learning how to cook new dishes...chicken in gata, sarciadong isda, sinigang na baboy, oriental chicken and other things.

(3) I discovered Sango (the best burgers evar) and the Japanese co-op beside it that sells Japanese grocery items at Php 68 bucks. Now I don't have to torture my pocket in visiting Sakura. All of which are available at Mile Long Creekside right beside the Pharaoh club.

(4) Watched a hell lot of anime. There's only so much I could do when I was waiting my dad recover in the hospital. (^^);;

(5) My half-sis just arrived from the US on a 'surprise' visit. It was'nt much of a surprise when everyone pretty much told me when she was arriving. My dad and my aunts are lousy in keeping secrets much to my sis' dismay. We had fun, we ate out and we shopped a lot.

Which leads to my latest post.

Since my sister Pam was only here for only a few days, she was forced to a great deal of lunch and shopping invitations. One of those invitations involved me and two aunts who lived in the far south, in a place called Sucat, Parañaque.

Once there we were treated to series of interesting small shops along BF Homes. The first one of which was a shoe store called Step-Rite. From there I was treated to two pairs of sandals that cost me less than Php 500 bucks each pair. In fact one pair cost me Php 190 and the other cost me around Php 490, not even reaching Php 1,000 bucks.

The sandals were of good quality and very sexy--absolutely perfect for the days I feel like being sexy and girly. The store surprisingly enough carried big sizes. Most small shoe stores won't bother with anything bigger than a size 7, catering to the tinier, malnourished forms of most Pinays. See my new shoe darlings here and here.

Step-Rite can be found along Aguirre St., BF Homes, Parañaque City (tel #: 842-9303)

The second store we visited in Sucat, was not a shoe store, but a rather gorgeous and fantastic bead shop where I was treated to a matching set of indian inspired beaded bracelet and necklace worth Php 1,500 total (much thanks to my tita for buying them for me). I'll post pics and details next time. :D

My second shoe discovery was found closer to home, particularly Glorietta's Shoe Salon--the name of the shoe store alone raises much protest on my poor wallet, as compared to previous store, a pair of shoes bought at the Shoe Salon would equivalent to five to seven pairs of shoes at Step-Rite.

However there are some things that my wallet would just have to swallow and take it like a man.

God, that just sounded wrong.

Anyway, I'm here to talk about my latest foot purchase from Sanuk. The story began when I limped around Glorietta in the latest torture equipment developed by the inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition. My boyfriend taking pity on me and my blistered feet, suggested a visit to the Shoe Salon. I've been combing for hardy shoes with the comfort of flip-flops for several weeks to no avail, especially when the rainy season started and my current tatami tsinelas, were getting too dangerous to wear on the slick sidewalks. I was so desperate I almost succumbed to buying those horrid Brazilian tsinelas that are so the rage right now.

I don't care who made it or what it is, it's still friggin' tsinelas, and i'm not paying Php 1000 bucks for something I can get for a quarter of that amount without much noticeable difference.

Then I discovered Sanuk...actually it was my boyfriend who pointed them out. I tried out a pair, and my god, my feet were praising the heavens above. It was like wearing moccasins, only better. I tend to have sweaty feet particularly when it gets humid, but my feet were kept surprisingly dry and presko (fresh). The sole was comfortable enough and it endured my shopping trips and my walks with much comfort. Not even my branded pink ballet flat style sneakers were as comfortable.

Here's a picture of my latest Sanuk "sandals/shoes" here.

The only downside is that it's rather expensive, hitting me for about Php 2,300 more or less, but I was so happy with it that I dragged my dad the next day to buy him a pair as a belated birthday gift. :) He's very happy with his pair and happily wears it during the weekend. He's got sweaty feet like I do and at his age, he's been looking for something comfortable and yet wearable without feeling too under dressed--and like me he has no intention of wearing tsinelas even if they're made in Brazil or something. Sanuk satisfies both his needs and uses it almost exclusively when he's not in the office.

Just a warning that men's shoes tend to be a tad more expensive than the womens, my dad's pair hit me for almost Php 2,900 plus.

For more info and see some of their new stuff, visit Sanuk's website here.

Never in all my twenty six years did I ever consider myself slim, or svelte, or even petite. No, I can be described as either stout, big boned, and the most flattering would be curvy. The biggest advantage I have at stick people is that I've got hips and breasts that have never touched an A cup. Yes, I'm proud of my bazooms, thank you very much.

Now the biggest problem for any curvy girl living in this country is that looking and buying for clothes can be a challenging.

Challenging to downright impossible unless you're the daughter of the Sultan of Brunei and can afford to shop in Marks and Spencer for all your size needs. You can't find huge size brands at any store that doesn't price them at 3k or higher, and if you did find something the pants length are too long and had to be altered, subjecting your expensive pants at the mercy of the seamstress who might just flush your 3k down the toilet.

The only seemingly alternative was to shop on those plus size stores/brands with horrendous fashion sense and designed for a body that resembles a whale than a human female, ugly and unflattering.

So I've done my fair share of shopping and I've found a neat store that's very friendly to the more generous female form. Dorothy Perkins is a must place to shop for a good pair of jeans and glam rock shirts. I bought a pair of jeans and saw that they had sizes that are even too big for me! They come in three lengths: short, regular and long so I didn't have to worry about alterations anymore. The jeans price range from 1K~2.5K Php which isn't so bad considering the quality of the material involved.

Their glam rock shirts are also generously sized and are usually less than 1k. It's also a good place for the 'little people' (child people/stick people) to go to since they also have a selection for the petite.

The downsize is it's a UK store so there are some fashion styles that aren't well...let's just say there was this stoplight orange blouse with a black jumper style mini skirt that made me stare in horror, but over all, Dorothy Perkins is the place to go if you're looking for bigger sizes without the necessarily matching price tag.

I just wished they sold more stuff that I've seen featured in their website. Well you can't have everything. :D

Wooo...It has been a while. Well a lot has happened. Nothing earthshaking intensity but enough to put on this blog anyways. I'll be giving the usual half-assed excuses for not updating, being busy blah blah. So I'll skip to that and get on with the ranting...

1. Disable Friendly Ramps and Elevators were sorely lacking when we went to SM Makati last week. My mother had just been released from the hospital and had difficulty walking around so I was busy pushing her with a wheelchair when we went out. We decided to drop by SM Makati to get some shoes. So we got dropped off at the ground floor and went up a rather steep ramp and tried to hunt down an elevator to the second floor, only to realize that if wheelchair bound people had to get anywhere they had to use the employee elevator, found at the back of the shop..a noisy clanky thing with broken up and down buttons. If you want to use it, you need to continously tap the elevator doors and hope that the guy operating it from the inside will hear you and stop. =_= Say what?

I understand that mall was fairly old, it's been around for as long as I've remembered it to be, but for chrissakes, the place just went through a major overhaul/renovation! It's practically spanking brand new with their building expansions! And yet not one thought about putting something like maybe an elevator for the handicapped or elderly! I'd probably expect this oversight in malls located in the boonies, but this is Makati! Premier business and commercial district of the country! WTF?

Please note that the owner of SM mall owns the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall ever to be built in Asia (I think). If you're going to neglect something like this in one of your premier malls what am I to expect if I get to the Mall of Asia? One of the reasons why I even bought my mom that new wheelchair was to explore the new megamall with her. But given this horrific experience with the newly renovated mall near me now, why should I even bother bringing my mom there? Unlike the Ayala malls, which have very friendly wheelchair ramps in all their entrances and more than one elevators in their malls, that mall was a horrible experience. Lesson learned? Do not bring disabled/handicapped people to SM. PERIOD. I certinaly won't.

2. Cavite kidnappings, I got kidnapped two days ago and was dragged courtesy of my mom and aunt to the boonies. I do not like the boonies. I do not like any place that does not have skycrapers, huge malls, fancy restaurants, paved roads and wifi. Yes, I'm an urbanite, and I live in a city. So what? At least I don't live in a place that has roads that look like a landslide when it rains, or take four to five hours just to get to work/school, or stare slack jawed when you see an iPod or a laptop.

Yes, I can be nasty, so what? :P It's my blog. I'll write whatever I want.

There is nothing to do here but eat. Granted my relatives cook very well, but I was watching my diet. Plus the kidnapping did not give me any chance to get some overnight clothes, or even pack the laptop or even my celphone's charger! I ended up eating more than what was healthy and at a late time--it was 10:30pm that time (I was a stress eater), suffered a stomach ache after (my stomach isn't used to having a heavy meal so late at night) and missed my aeroclasses for the next morning which I have been dying to try out and signed up for. Arrggghhh!!!

I don't care about this place or about spontaneous vacations. >_< They should take all that 'fresh air' and 'good food' up their goddamn asses!

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Well this is all the ranting for now. It's midnight and I need to sleep. x_x I'll continue again when I wake up, and hopefully with pictures next time.

Next blog entry: Cockfighting (Sabong) and my new SL home. ^_^v