I'm one of those people that Twitterverse calls "typical atat Pinoys" who braved the opening day, along with my college dance troupe friend, Jayson. It was not planned, we found out about it and spontaneously decided we should go right after our shift. We were both on night shift so we thought it'd be a good idea. Not.

Especially if you're really impatient, like me, it is never a good idea to go shopping in an opening day. I guesss I just had to experience it for myself as I missed Forever 21's chaos. I must say, it is a good life experience. Will I do it again? Maybe, if there's good company. Also, most probably, I will, for Cotton On.

So here goes. I tried sneaking up on people to take shots. Sorry if I can't post your names here. If you are in the photo though, just holler and I'll include your name.

Old guy happily walks by with his purchase.

My favorite subjects were mostly my line-mates since Jayson has still not yet arrived. Again, sorry for invading your privacy. I must say that I really loved the crowd. Everyone were wearing comfortable clothes, you won't see girls in frilly dresses that look alike. Just lots of line photo-taking and nice people.

Cute shoes! I want.

And when he finally arrived, we also got to swap taking photos of our haggard selves to remember this day by.


In fairness to MOA, even with the shizoprenic airconditioning, the lighting is really good. You can almost say that we had an 8-hr sleep. Almost.

I'd say the long line going to the store was nothing compared to the chaos inside of the store. I wasn't even able to take photos because there were too many people you'd bump into. The line to the cashier was another story, it was painful. It spanned all over the store, zigzaging into aisles. You could even do your shopping while in line to the cashier. But since I didn't want to stay put, here's when I took advantage of taking product shots, if you could call it that.

First off, the ones I really wanted to just buy stuff from the items currently on sale. Jayson, on the other hand, kept on getting clothes that aren't.

<...Forgot to bring my SD card, will continue with the post some other time>

It is the day we all dread, may you be a student or a working professional like me. What's to love about Mondays! This day says to your face, "wake up to reality, lazyass!"

So in order to make things better, we compromise. For me, it's having fresh Avocado shake.

You see, growing up, we had lots of fruit-bearing trees in our backyard. It was the province, after all. One of them is a mango tree, but it rarely gives us fruits. Our avocado tree, on the other hand, would give us big basketfulls of fruit.

You might not believe, or may, but I was the one picking them off the tree. I would climb branch to branch. I even have a branch which I like to call "my spot" because when I have my neighbors over, I do not want them wandering in my tree spot! I'm very territorial when it comes to our trees.

Yup, that was how we roll. We also like to secretly hitchhike at the back of trucks, but that's for another story.

Haha. What a tomboy I was as a kid.

So anyway, from the fruits that I garher, there will be almost three times a day where I'd make my avocado shake. I'm also very territorial with MY blender. I would not take it lightly if you use it. I am the only one who blends.

And that is the long story of how drinking avocado shake on Mondays make me good to go.

Disclaimer: Title coined by the juanrepublic here. I do not claim to be the best of it as I could think of many people who are a lot better but it's nice to see people actually liking this certain photo collection of me. Also, I get to be the queen for once so yay!

Doing jump shots has been my thing whenever I go swimming. You see, I don't actually "swim", not because I don't like to but because I don't know HOW. Yes, You can always call me the Palawenian Who Can't Swim.

So there I was, on a beach somewhere, wearing a cute two-piece swimsuit. Of course I'll have to produce a picture that would make me remember the place. And since camwhoring in swimsuits is something I couldn't actually just post around and be proud of, I started doing this thing that would catch attention (hello, this is miss attention whore!) and something that not everyone could do, hence my jump shots.

I think this started around summer before my 2nd year in college. Kaso hindi pa uso non ang DSLR kaya camera phone lang gamit ko. Back then, I was still too shy to do it. I would place my phone on a stable platform and set the timer so that no one would have to see me doing silly poses and jumps.

Fast forward to my first summer getaway with my officemates in my first year working, I got this photo.

La Union Year 1

It was hyped the moment I posted it. I got comments and compliments. But I do realize now that I do better jumps now.

Then beach trip after beach trip, I simply won't return home without one.

Bataan

Bataan

Bataan 2

This next one, was from Laiya. Seriously, this bikini is getting the most jump shot mileage. Every beach trip, I bring at least two pairs. This orange pair I bought from House of Vanita, I always bring as backup. Can you guess why? Yes, I DO have other pairs. Many pairs in fact. I used to think I had to buy another pair for every beach trip so now I have lots. And of course, the moment I pick my ass to do these shots would be the time I'm coincidentally wearing the backup bikini.

Laiya, Batangas

Sometimes, I tame them down when I'm with other people.

La Union Year 2

Nagsasa Cove, Zambales

 I actually tried this next one, without thinking what I'd do. I was a bit pressured. I was being shot by two people and I felt like I had to do something spectacular so they won't get disappointed. I knew I had to do something different, or else it would defeat the purpose of doing the same exact thing, just on a different beach, won't it?

Baler, Aurora

For my second Spanish Peeling process, I asked my dermatologist what I can do the make the peeling go faster. He answered, "The secret is to not make the peeling noticeable, a good moisturizer can do that."

That right there can cover my entire face. Do note that I have skinny hands so the amount is relative.

He then suggested an over-the-counter drugstore moisturizer that I never thought would change the way I feel about moisturizers. It's a common name so I'm sure you'll recognize, and in case, like me, you are also living under a rock, I also included photos below.

Oh, it's Cetaphil moisturizer by the way!

You see, before this, I was only familiar with the facial wash. And if you are also familiar with them, you'd recall that the packaging has a off-white/blue/green color palette. So silly me, went looking at Mercury Drug for the same. I was so unsure when I saw a Cetaphil moisturizer, boxed in pink and off-white, however was afraid to ask if there was another one. (Read: Easily intimidated by sales attendants)

Been using it for a month, hence the condition of that box

Easily, after one application, I fell in love with how it locked the moisture in. It was not greasy on the face, like how Myra gets after a couple of hours, and a little goes a long way. I wanted to test it first before I rave about it here but then I got so hooked that I never got to post about it.

Price: PHP468 at Mercury Drug. Quite pricey for drugstore moisturizer, I know, but it is worth every cent.
Will I  buy this again? In a heartbeat! I just need to find a way how I can consume all this.

Do I need to explain this? Are there even people who don't watch Two Broke Girls? But just in case you need a primer, here's Tin's post, because I'm feeling a bit lazy (and tired). Also, I do realize that in order to be on the same page with TBG, I should also have money coming in, aside from money from my day job. Else, my total would forever be on zero, unless I also commit to save.

Yes, there are apps out there that could certainly help make me aware of my expenses, but I tried that for two weeks, since January 2, 2012, and then I stopped. So here I am, pressuring myself to commit in front of everyone who might be reading.

Day 1

Expense tracker app brought to you by Piggie.

Hi, I'm Jenn, and I'm trying to save. Really bad start, wouldn't you agree? With one craving, I suddenly made myself 120 pesos poorer. I can't  pass by Bread Talk and not buy a cheese floss, or two. So now, I'll just remove that route completely. NO MORE MARKET! MARKET! STOPOVERS.

As for my food situation, I long for the day my mini-fridge would finally get fixed. It's such a hassle to cook for one, and turns out to be more expensive too, that's why I often resort to fastfood. But really, I want to make an effort to go to the talipapa nearby to buy fresh produce, and then cook once for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do I have enough willpower?

And last but not the least, my morning commute total up to PHP55. Absurd price, when I can really just make it PHP16 every morning. It's just really hard to convince myself that walking isn't a chore, especially in the morning.

On a totally random note, I end Day 1 with a Walgreens "I Walk" quote:

2Lbs. Original Price: Php800. Sale Price: Php500

March 28, 2012.
On our lunch break, me and my teammates decided to spend hard-earned money on the S&R sale. We went to the nearest branch, which is the one in BGC and right off the bat, had problems in inching our way to the parking lot. So we decided to fall in line first, while the designated driver parks the car.

Such a letdown, that day. Imagine our frustration when we saw the line before the door, only to be pushed down further when we saw that line going through the whole parking lot, up to the parking exit.

But do you know what was more irritating? That is to know the next day that THE line was for the pushcarts. If you were to go, cart-less, then there wasn't a need to fall in line. It's not as if we'll do bonggang shopping. We just went to buy stuff we want, at a fraction of the regular price, like chocolates, SPAM, etc.

Come Thursday, my teammates returned. I didn't. I was working from home. My teammates, knowing how much I liked pistachios, asked me if I wanted them to buy me a bag. I said yes. Needless to say, it was a good bargain. And surely, I will be registering for my own membership card and shall gear up for the next S&R Sale around September (?)