14th Ave.

Philippine Fashion Week Day 6 - Bench x Michael Cinco

Mon, 28 May 2012 22:00:00 +0800

Can I just mention how phenomenal the set design was for the show? I know it doesn’t quite reach the bar that Louis Vuitton and Chanel raised with their Carousel catwalks, but it was definitely something.

More photos before and after the show after the jump!

Met up with Nades to get my lip balm! Haha. Apparently, she bought some of her friends with her that day.

Hi Guen and Marian! Cutie-patootie Guen kept saying “po.” It makes me feel old even though I’m not.

Jesrhel and I were trying to figure out if the white statue included in the set was indeed a statue, or some person they paid a huge amount just to stay still for the whole show. Haha. It was really a statue, we discovered that when the show ended.

Je was kind enough to bring me as her plus one for this show. She saw my tweets going gaga about Allison and figured that it would be okay to bring me. Haha.

The show opened with the motion clip featuring Allison and some smoke from a smoke machine. It did smell different so it was probably infused with Impalpable, Michael Cinco’s new eau de parfum for Bench.

Top model Jasmine Maierhofer opened the show with a breathtaking gown.

You can see Dominique to the left looking just as great! Her exit was on the other side of the runway so I couldn’t get better pictures.

The ladies were all covered up and when the male models came out, it was a bit startling since they were just in underwear.

Allison Harvard’s collaboration with Bench and Michael Cinco was fitting for her personality. The show was slow, dainty, but nonetheless, fierce.

To the left, you can see Michael Cinco with his signature shades and all-black ensemble. Looking closely, you will find how meticulous the details are in Allison’s dress. If I had a better figure, and money to burn, I would buy this dress.

Thank you Je for tagging me along, I had a great time. Bench did a sensational job with this show. I’m most certainly going to try and check Bench every so often.

A couple of packages

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:08:00 +0800

Don’t you just love getting packages from different parts of the world? I know I do!

I got home yesterday night with a package waiting for me by the bar table. I was confused though, I haven’t ordered anything that was scheduled to arrive that day. And I didn’t order anything from Singapore either. I figured out what it was the minute I carried the box though! (See lower-right photo) I LOVE IT.

The rest of the photos are from a package I was expecting to arrive tomorrow night. It’s basically just a couple of item samples from New Jersey. I am having fun touching the paper from all the books they sent me. I never thought I would find happiness in various paper swatches. Hahaha *weird* And of course, the folding guides! Who knew such a thing existed? I didn’t and I’m ecstatic now that I have one.

Speaking of folding guides, I should really start working on that brochure for the school elections. I’ll be back in my blogging mojo as soon as I get election stuff out of the way. :)

New theme: Coral in the Sea

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:32:00 +0800

Two-column, fully-customizable, mobile-responsive Tumblr theme. For more information, check out the theme page.

Use this to get your Instagram ID.

P.S. If you’re wondering how I get to have high-resolution images on my blog, I upload them via Flickr. Get the Share code for the size you wish and remove the width and height values :-)

Style Pinboard: High Waist Shorts

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:01:12 +0800

If you’ve ever tried to take a peek at my hard drive, you would see that I have way too many folders of just about everything. That includes design resources, ebooks, fonts, etc. I have a whole folder dedicated to fashion-related items as well. Within that folder is a couple more folders sorted very weirdly. It has come to my senses that I’ve been saving way too many pictures and doing nothing with them, aside from browsing through them occasionally.

What else should I do with them? Make a collage of course! That way, they don’t “rot” in my folders and I can actually practice on layout designs. My skills have been rusty, as of late.

DR. DENIM ‘NINNY’ SHORTS - 3,290 PHP (£48) - farfetch.com
VINCE Linen High Waist Shorts - 9,665 PHP (£141) - boutique1.com
Sand High Waisted Zip Short - 2,280 PHP ($53) - missselfridge.com
ALICE by Temperley Libre laser-cut leather shorts - 25,590 PHP ($595) - net-a-porter.com
MOTO Ice Stripe Hotpants - 2,755 PHP ($64) - topshop.com
Mara Hoffman High-Waisted Shorts - 10,580 PHP ($246) - saksfifthavenue.com

Product photos and prices from Polyvore. Outfit photo from Cupcakes and Cashmere.

I love how versatile high-waisted shorts can be. Pair one in a neutral color with a simple button down, throw on a structured blazer and you’re good to go.

Pair a statement tank top with either leather or patterned high-waisted shorts, and you’ll look equally fine. This is how I would probably wear it.

If I had a lot of money, maybe I would buy everything on this pinboard. But even if I did, I can’t really give myself enough reason to spend 10k or 25k on just shorts. I can show these pictures to a custom tailoring place near my house and have it made for a big fraction of the price though!

Fonts I Like – A&B

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:27 +0800

I know I did a bunch of Font Fridays last year, but it didn’t push through. It’s pretty hard looking for new fonts every week. What I’m doing this time is digging from my own font collection, and sharing with you guys the ones I really like.

I’m doing it alphabetically this time, and maybe not weekly. Maybe once in every two weeks. This week’s roster includes typefaces from the A and B family.

I can’t remember where I downloaded/bought these fonts though, so just feel free to do a quick Google search for their names. I know they’ll show up.

The gift of family

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:06:00 +0800

The above picture is a family tradition. Every time we have a reunion, we either leave footprints or handprints in cement and leave it as stone steps in the garden. The last time we got to do this was in 2005, and we weren’t even complete that time.

The primary reason we allwent back to Iloilo was to celebrate Lola’s 90th birthday. We did celebrate it here in Manila with just the family but she wanted to celebrate with her friends and family back home.

We flew back not knowing what was going to happen except for the few planned trips. My cousins and I have never really “bonded” before so I didn’t expect anything to happen. I was in for a surprise.

1 - Pizza Party for my aunt • 2 - First group photo in years • 3 - Mina • 4 - Family time!

1 - Late night walks at the highway • 2 - Timmy drinking from a bamboo cup and his cutie patootie jeans • 3 - Last dinner at some Thai place in Plazuela • 4 - Timmy unamused at the amount of powder he has on his face

1 - La Familia • 2 - Steps at Plazuela • 3 - Walking to Smallville • 4 - Lola, 90 and her sister, 93.

1 - Cotton from the cotton tree • 2 - Climbing trees • 3 - That pedicab at the back is older than me • 4 - Timmy’s blue tongue

1 - Before heading out to lunch at Tatoy’s • 2 - You can cross the highway at night with no fear at all • 3 - Second children, we don’t drink alcohol so it’s lemonade for us • 4 - Timmy asking for his 4th stick of ice cream

1 - Sunset at New Zealand • 2 - My cousins and scared Timmy

Our bond grew a lot stronger and we’re hoping we can do it again soon. With the older ones already having jobs and us living in Manila, it’s quite hard. Word is we’re going to do this again when one of us gets married. That doesn’t seem too long, I’m sure the wait for another reunion will be worth it.

Tutorial: Jump Pagination

Sat, 05 May 2012 13:59:00 +0800

Tutorial request from handmadepride granted! I figured it would be a tutorial I could make in less than an hour so I worked on it as soon as I had breakfast this morning.

It covers the code given by Tumblr to make the links and a few styling examples from me to help you get started in applying the design to your own blogs.

The tutorial is posted on my tutorial blog (that definitely needs a makeover). Click here.

New blog layout (again).

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:00:59 +0800

When I worked on Andie’s Tumblr theme, I realized mine wasn’t mobile-responsive. It only looked nice on desktops, okay on tablets, and ugly on smartphones.

This theme is a fresh take for my blog, I usually stick to my 960-grid layout, but I had to change it to 1140 this time. I must say it wasn’t a big challenge as I was expecting it to be! I’m starting to like coding for responsive websites more and more actually.

So what’s new with this layout?

I now have a Flickr feed on the sidebar, it took quite a while to figure out to work the code from their badge but I made it! All my posts will now have a “read more” break, as for the old ones, I’m working on it. So if you see any posts popping up on your dashboard that you’ve already seen before, that’s the reason.

Included in this theme is a blogroll for the blogs outside of Tumblr that I read, a brand-new About Me page, and a Services page for all your theme needs.

Three social media buttons at the end of every post! Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

I’m still working on a few more tweaks to the theme, but everything should be done in a day or two.

Sooner or later, I will be adding a “Recent Comments” section on my sidebar, so if you could ever so nicely drop a comment via Disqus on my posts, it will be greatly appreciated :)

Mountain Living - San Rafael, Iloilo

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:23:00 +0800

It’s been years since I last hiked up a mountain trail. I’ve only hiked on one mountain, and it’s the same one we visited during my recent vacation. My grandfather bought us this land when he was still alive, he knew we would be putting it to good use. Aka getting ourselves much needed exercise while enjoying fruits of his labor.

It takes us a 2-hour ride from the city to reach the mountain. I didn’t get much sleep from the night before, so I slept for almost the whole trip going there. The long trip is worth it once you reach the place though. You’ll see endless farmland and forestry, and that alone, is enough to make me feel relaxed and stress-free.

Day at the Farm - Mina, Iloilo

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:01:00 +0800

After a day’s rest from our Guimaras trip, we headed out to our farm in Mina. We didn’t really explore the actual farm though.

I would have ridden the Karosa but my cousins tried it and they didn’t have a very pleasant experience. The carabao would randomly stop in the middle of their “tour” and do a number 1 and/ or 2. All I know is that it’s full of coconuts, bananas, pineapples, and some other trees.

Our food was caught and cooked fresh that day. It was very different from what I’m used to.

We drank from bamboo cups as well!

For the most part, I just walked around the area and took pictures of the scenery.

Overlooking the farm.

Bamboo trees were everywhere.

This was the old house of the farmers. The structure grew weaker over time so they had to build a new one at the other side.

We ended the day with some floating lanterns. They would have looked great at nighttime, but then we wouldn’t be able to see the trees. So we just lit them up at almost dusk and left the farm to get some rest for the next day’s adventures.

P.S. If you wanna see hi-res versions of the photos I include in my blog posts, check my Flickr page.

New Zealand

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:01:00 +0800

No, I didn’t go to New Zealand. For 10 whole days, I was in Iloilo. There’s this big space of land and forestry just behind SM City where my cousin brought me. They even had “spotted” cows! They were native-colored though. Haha.

I didn’t have my camera the first time we went there so I was bummed. We stayed there until nighttime, I saw so many stars and I badly wanted to take a long-exposure shot but couldn’t.

The next time we went there though, I made sure I had my camera. We were only there during the sunset before we moved on to Smallville to have dinner.

I haven’t been to a lot of places but I know that Iloilo has one of the most beautiful skies, there’s not even a hint of pollution in the air.

You can actually see the control tower of the old Iloilo airport from here. The old airport was just 5-10 minutes away from our house, now it takes us a whole lot longer.

The next time I’m going there, I’ll make sure that I can stay until nighttime. Hopefully, the land would still be a public property and no high-rise building will be under construction.

Guimaras

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:22:00 +0800

It’s been years since I last went to Guimaras. That time, we stayed in Nagarao Island. We went island hopping this time instead of just staying in one island.

A 10-20-minute ride from the city (Iloilo) will bring you to the port where small boats transfer you to Guimaras. From there, you ride a jeepney to find the resort that provides island hopping.

We stopped by Trappist on the way. It’s a really beautiful place with monks and nice trees. I didn’t take a lot of pictures there and on the Mango Trade Farm, but both places were absolutely divine. Here’s some more pictures I took during the trip:

We rented two boats that day. The one in this picture is the “adult boat” aka the boat with all the food so we had to sneak out some of their food every time we had an island stop.

I swear, Guimaras has the clearest waters and beautiful islands. You can see the corals when you sit at the edge of the boat and just look down at the water. You could see tiny fishes and a lot of jelly fish.

I can’t even put into words how divine this place is. That water by the shoreline has the best gradient.

The only dirt you’ll see on the beaches are those of twigs and dried leaves. And maybe you’ll also get to see some little crabs floating about.

This was the view from where we ate our lunch. I would love to revisit the island and just sit and stare at the waters.

How cute is this? It looks like a mini-volcano exploded or a whale is floating up in the sky!

Approaching our last stop.

We had the whole island just to ourselves, it’s crazy. You could walk along the shoreline and go further back into the forestry area. I would kill to have that sort of privacy and relaxation again.

Ending this post with a picture that I would love to paint sometime soon. You guys should try to visit Guimaras if you can.

Hammock Afternoon

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 19:17:00 +0800

Third day. Today was quite uneventful. I woke up way too early because of the workers. Who does construction stuff at 6AM?

I finished my second book today, it’s just been three days and I’ve already finished two books. I’m loving how this vacation is turning out.

The afternoon got a bit boring, considering that there’s not really much I can do here. I finished watching the latest episode of Gossip Girl then headed out to get some rest on the hammock. I brought my camera along with me and took some pictures.

I ended up getting dizzy after a while, but I love how the pictures turned out. We’re supposed to be heading out for dinner tonight, but the rain’s pretty hard so plans are cancelled. I still have a week left so we’ll just have to do it another time.

I’m just glad I’m not suffering under the Manila Heat today. I would stay here longer if it was possible.

Iloilo 2012 | Day 1

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:23:00 +0800

I woke up a few minutes after 6 to get ready for the airport. Nikolo was going to pick me up roughly an hour after that. I was so happy he agreed to drive to the airport since Dad wasn’t available. There’s always a first! Hopefully we won’t have to do this often, I’d rather bring him along to my trips than just have him drive me to the airport and send me off.

We always fly via Cebu Pacific but for some reason, my aunt booked us tickets via Zest Air. I wasn’t very happy about it, I was already used to the good food places at NAIA Terminal 3 and I haven’t been to the Domestic Terminal in so long. If I remember correctly, the last time I stepped foot in the Domestic Terminal for departure was before high school. It was cleaner than I last remembered, so I guess that’s okay. Our flight was delayed for around 30 minutes though. I have never been on a delayed flight. Ever since I was little, we’ve never had a delayed flight.

Also, when I fly, I make sure I get the good seat a.k.a. the window seat. I exchanged places with my cousin to get the good seat. There’s just something about being able to see the land from above, the sea, and the sky with the countless clouds. I always grab this opportunity to take pictures I can only take once.

I’m not sure if this is Taal. Why would we be flying over Taal if we’re going down South? But then again, if this isn’t the Taal Volcano, then what is it?

I wonder where this is, it looks like a very nice place to spend my vacation. You can clearly see how shallow the shore is just by looking at the picture. I’ll see if I can get hold of a large map here and find out what this place is.

This one is probably the Sierra Madre mountain range, it’s one of the things I look forward to seeing when I’m on the plane.

How much more beautiful can these clouds get? I like cumulus clouds, but cirrus clouds have always been my favorite.

So thankful I didn’t get the seat next to the wing. That happened before, and the wing was visible in every picture I took.

What is this place? It doesn’t look like Boracay from above. It looks really gorgeous though. This island will go to my “to-check-on-the-map” list.

Cute clouds! You can see their “shadows” aka the land area that gets protected from the obviously glaring heat of the sun. The middle cloud looks like a turtle to me.

This has got to be my most favorite shot out of the whole flight. We’re already in the vicinity of Iloilo when this was taken. The vast field makes me happy.

Last shot of the clouds before I took a video of the plane landing.

It sucks that we didn’t get to use those tube things that lets you get to the airport without having to walk on the ground.

A quick lunch at the Lamesa Grill at SM City before we headed back home. The interiors of the place is beautiful although it seems a bit disoriented to me. One area looks like the one for private functions – well-lit and with good air conditioning. The other area looks like a party place – it had mood lighting and huge ass speakers.

I had the Pork Sisig Combo Meal which was.. okay I guess. It had too much onion, and it didn’t have egg. I like my sisig with egg. It’s almost like a requirement for me to eat sisig with two servings of rice. But I didn’t do that this time. I was saving room in my tummy for…

Halo-halo. I know it looks different, but that’s because it’s sort of like a serve yourself thing there. It’s eat-all-you-can halo-halo for just 99 pesos. Where can you get that in Manila? I don’t know any place. I like it with too much milk and sugar syrup plus a lot of ube and cornflakes. I don’t eat halo-halo a lot, so the “toppings” I got were the same ones I put on my frozen yogurt orders. You can never go wrong with mango and cornflakes together!

I will be here for 9 more days, so hopefully, I get more pictures and get to blog about those days as well.

A few days ago, Andie asked me a few questions about fixing her...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:47:00 +0800

A few days ago, Andie asked me a few questions about fixing her Tumblr layout. I gave her basic instructions, but she ended up commissioning me instead to make a custom layout for her. According to Andie – “my brain has limited patience with CSS and themes.”

She gave me a blog URL that served as the inspiration for this, plus a few key points. The good thing about the blog inspiration was its minimalist concept. That’s something I like to work with. She had the freedom to choose the fonts as well. I normally don’t deviate from my usual Helvetica or Lucida Grande fonts, but I think it worked well with this one.

The best thing about this layout is that it’s completely responsive! Although, I think she has turned on the option to “Optimize layout on mobile devices,” so you won’t be able to fully enjoy it on smaller screens.

If you’re into music and fashion, you should definitely check out her blog.

P.S. If you would like to commission me for a custom theme, drop me an e-mail at moniquetendencia@gmail.com. Prices start at Php 750 for one-column layouts, Php 1,000 for two-column layouts, and Php 1,750 for three-columns and up. Custom headers and widgets have added costs.

P.P.S. I will be going home to the province for 2 weeks, so replies to your e-mails will be sent out by then.

Monocromatico I

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:04:00 +0800

A short two-part series as I try to get back into photography again. Shadows, silhouettes, and light void of color.

Cinematic: A Photoblog Theme

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:39:00 +0800

This theme supports 40+ customization options and hi-res photos. This theme looks best with just one post per page.

Visit cinematictheme.tumblr.com for a live preview and a list of the customization options. Drop me messages there for other options you would like to see.

Install Cinematic Theme

To the best boyfriend

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:02:00 +0800

I have a lot of things to be thankful for because of you. The rides home and the stories we come up with during the trip, the attention I always crave for, the hugs and kisses, the trips to food places we’ve never tried, and a whole lot more. There’s just way too much so I’m keeping it short this time – thank you for being awesome.

I hope you enjoy your chocolate chip cookies. Those were made with love <3

Happy birthday Nikolo :)

Freebie: Lightroom Presets

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:41:00 +0800

I played around with some of the Lightroom controls this afternoon as I was working on some photos. I thought I would make some presets for myself just for fun, but they turned out pretty “decent” so I’m sharing them with you guys. It’s my first time though, so don’t be harsh with the comments/replies! I hope you like them :-)

[Download]

There are six presets in the zip file. Double-click or drag the presets to Lightroom to install.

Trips to Thrift Stores

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:01:00 +0800

Recently, I’ve found myself visiting thrift stores more often than usual. I’m thinking of making this a regular section in my blog, but that depends on the amount of items I find. I usually leave the stores empty handed, but there are times when I do get nice stuff.

I would have made this post earlier had I not lost my tripod mount. And my camera’s remote also ran out of battery. I found my mount after weeks of searching and Nikolo gave me a spare battery he had.

Here’s some of the stuff I purchased within the past 3 weeks.

Oversized Red Cardigan (Php 60)

Black Zip-Up Poncho Cardigan (Php 60)

Gray Sweater with Sheer Striped Sleeves (Php 60)

Tan Leather Backpack (Php 60)

Don’t you just love thrift shopping? Getting good stuff without having to shell out so much money makes me happy.

Do any of you guys have Pinterest? Follow me! Or comment on this post with your e-mail addresses so I can send you invites.