Glimpse of Paradise

This is where I live. Watch and be amazed. 

I, for one, is a big fan of our country. The beauty it offers is limitless. The possibilities and the grandeur in simple things is overflowing. We have a beautiful culture and a very rich history. I have seen a couple of islands that are just too good to be true that one left me floored for a couple of minutes. Landscapes have wowed me as it seems like it was taken straight out from an art museum and was plastered right in front of me, rendering me breathless. I am not claiming that our country is perfect because it's not. But, really, who can point me to one? Let us just put it this way, there are lots of places here that I can consider a glimpse of paradise.

Good job, Department of Tourism!

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've had that Bloglovin button in my sidebar since time immemorial but I never really use it. Truth be told, I already forgot my password. But since I already have readers. Naks! About 10 of them. Hi, mom! Hi, husband! I reckoned it's time to put it to good use. Who's on Bloglovin? :)

Maybe it's also time I install that Google Friend Connect widget, yes?

Spellbound

This is one thing I will never get tired of. I think I will already be in a rocking chair, old and aging and the mere sight of fireworks display and I'd be this giddy, young girl fixated in the sky. Spellbound. So, how about this as a view from your window?

Girl Time

She's one of those persons I can totally be crazy with :)

Tsuya

Believe it or not, I am not very comfortable taking outfit shots. (My husband will object to this with all his might, strength and vigor. Probably with placards too. Haha!) Okay, I am not that at ease posting outfit shots. I totally admire those who can do so every single day as it is quite tedious. I have a handful (Husband will nod in concurrence until he breaks a bone or something) of un-posted OOTDs, as they fondly call it, but most of it I either dump in my storage or in my Instagram (polkabikini). But, I love this top so much I couldn't let it pass. I am a big, big sucker for white, dainty tops, bishop sleeves and cut-out details. Very feminine!

This is what I wore to Shu Uemura's Tsuya Skin product launch and intimate beauty workshop. For more details about the launch, visit:
http://www.stylecebu.com

Also, dainty tops like this will soon be released in my online shop, City of Vintage. Like us on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/cityofvintageph

What's your take on outfit shots? Give me tips! :)

Au Revoir

That freeing moment of awakening when you realize you have no more reasons to hold on. That one clear instance when it hit you that there wasn't really something there. That liberating feeling when you accept the fact that it was long over. That unbinding flash of relief knowing that it doesn't hurt you anymore. That split second lucidity when the throbbing stops. That unburdening feeling of letting go.

That. That, I celebrate now.

Au revoir, le faux-amis.

Yulia

I've been calling this peasant-style of a do medieval braid for the longest time. But when a friend told me to look up Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine, I found it more apt to call it Ukrainian braid. Even at the peak of her tumultuous political career, you won't see a strand of her hair that is not in place.

Photographed by my husband.

Arrow of Carnations

  HUSBAND AND I
09.24.2012   Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.   -Pablo Neruda

Photography and photo manipulation by my husband.

Daze

As Wonderful As Sunsets

People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don’t find myself saying, “Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner.” I don’t try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds.
 

-Carl Rogers