Sweater Weather

I really, really loved the weather today. It was gloomy, but not raining very hard. I got to wear my favorite stockings and my favorite sweater (that I steal from my mom, harhar). 

 Also, I decided to wear these vans that I got in Vietnam because they're pretty thick-soled and that's always good when it's raining. Admittedly, I did look a bit crazy today--but what's new. :D

Playsuit: online-thrifted from Lula Bop's | P350

Stockings: SM Dep't. Store | P 300

Sneakers: Vans | P 2,600 (1,300,000 VND)

Sweater: Zara | priceless, aka stolen from my mother's closet

 I'm really hoping that the weather decides to stay this way for longer. I know I promised I would stop wondering about the weather and whether or not it'll be to my liking, but sometimes I just cannot help it. I will elaborate on this in my next Coffee & Flowers post. 

 The only thing that I disliked about today's outfit was that this playsuit has gotten really baggy for me since I've gotten back into doing yoga and circuit training--that's one downside to getting into fitness, I guess. The sleeves kept threatening to fall off the whole day; I suppose soon I'll start wearing full-on sweaters over this. Oh, and also it's a bitch to go to the bathroom if you're in a hurry and wearing a playsuit. Apologies to the girls in line at the Miguel first floor bathroom earlier today!

And now, apologies to you for having to look at this odd mid-macarena photo of me. HAHAHA I set my camera on timer when I film and just walk around doing silly things--so, yeah. :)

Hope ya'llz had a good day!

Me To Know, You To Make Up

The neglect with which I've been treating this blog is horrible. I feel like I may as well not have it, but I don't feel like that's an option so I'm going to start treating this with more TLC instead. :) 

Today, I decided to take the first outfit post in ages--partly because I found my tripod and also because I had time today. I will try to upload at least twice a week--it's been a real challenge balancing this bit and The Torture Sessions but if there's a will, there's a way!

I'm not sure when, but it was probably when I started shopping online and thrifting (both at thrift stores and overrun stores) that I began to find it unbearable to shop at the mall for clothes. It just seems completely unreasonable to go into a store and buy something for a five times the price of something you could find elsewhere--and everyone'll be wearing that, too. Ick. 

To prove my point, I've decided to outline the prices of everything I post about from now on. Also, please ignore the only strip of colored hair from I attempted to dye my hair Targaryen-blonde. I'll do something about that soon. :))

This entire outfit was bought for under P500. So. Yes. Let's get on with it.

Jack Daniels crop-top: P150 | UM tiangge

a-line skirt: P150 | UM tiangge

gator-skin sneakers: P199.50 | SM Department Store

Wishlist: Berry Me March

March Wishlist by wina-puangco featuring wet n wild blush

In an effort to maximize and perfect and "do this with all my heart", I've decided to put up weekly wishlists which will be labelled according to theme, followed by what month they're made in. :D This week, I've uber been into berry shades: berry pinks, purples and oranges. I've also been absolutely coveting the entire Betty side of Mac's Betty & Veronica collection. Those pinks are just beautiful, I cannot even--

I've also been absolutely coveting Mac's super soft stippling brush and a couple of more affordable things like the Berry blush from Wet N' Wild and Avon's mineral foundation. Plus my beanie collection's been sort of blah lately and I've been wanting to get a couple more colorful hats for everyday wear. Most of the beanies I have are gray and it's just such a gloomy color! I'm thinking pink/tangerine? Or white?

Sweater Lovin'

Sweater Lovin' by wina-puangco featuring long sleeve tops

I wasn't able to mention this in my Feb Favorites post but watching The Carrie Diaries (which I will do a proper review on soon, swear) and Bunheads has really put me in the mood for some sweater lovin'. While I already loved sweaters to begin with, I usually go for more neutral sweaters and watching TCD and Bunheads has put me in the mood for something a little more playful. I do think I'll do some shopping this week or next week. There's just something so adorable and flattering about a sweater that a) fits well despite being a tad over-sized, b) has an interesting pattern on it and c) gives any outfit that always-appreciated pop of color. :) Hope you guys enjoyed this set!

Playing It Plum

I am currently in a colored pants phase. I bought a couple of pairs of colored pants and these purples ones are definitely my favorites. Below is what I wore this morning--ate Ria and I kicked off the day with breakfast here at home with ate Lyra and her kids, Sam and Rafa. We had the heartiest breakfast ever--pancakes, fluffy eggs and bacon. Muy delicioso. :)

Today and yesterday were super hectic--I've been out to so many places around here and I just think they each deserve their own posts, so I'm waiting until I get back to Manila to write about them. I'm so excited!!! This top is one of my favorite finds, ever--I really have a thing for the bruised color palette (blues, greens, purples, greys) and I was just thrilled that this went perfectly both with these funky jeans and my plummy yummy Maybelline lipstick.

Plus, this outfit was incredibly conducive for walking around all day! Flats are definitely the way to go around here, I'd say. ;)

Wore: top | California Apparel, jeans | South Denim, shoes | Centropelle

Rompin' Red

Today was very busy and very fun--so much so that a "Ho Chi Minh, Day 2" post will have to wait until I get back home. As I mentioned, I did a lot of shopping the first day I was here and because my sister has an awesome a) red couch and b) washing machine, we were able to do a little photo-taking before we left for lunch yesterday. I'm wearing a couple of the things I found here--both low and high--and I'm super excited to share them with you! I suppose this'll have to pass for a preview to what's coming up for the WinaWonders Store as well because I also bought a lot of stocks for the store. :D

Wore: top | thrifted, jeans | Calvin Klein, shoes | Ecco

Greyscale

Finally, my homesick tripod made its way home (after spending the past few weeks at my parents' office) and so I was able to take these outfit shots yesterday. One thing I really don't want to do is for the personal style part of this blog to go under--after all, that is how all this started--and it felt great to finally put this up. I was supposed to head to Vietnam last week, but because of a terrible debacle with the Department of Foreign Affairs, my flight got rescheduled; I was super sad because I was really looking forward to seeing my sister.

Luckily for me, she sent home a couple of shirts and this one was my favorite--originally it was a round-neck and those usually don't look good on me; on my teensy, tear-drop frame|I end up looking like one of those gym bags with strings that you pull so that it shuts like a mouth. So anyway, to remedy that I cut the collar off and turned it into a boat-neck top, I think it looks pretty cute. :D

Wore: shirt, a gift | jeans, Freego | shoes, Centropelle 

 Also, my old black Freego pants finally gave out (after 5 years of loyal service) a couple of weeks ago when I fell down the stairs at our printing place--tsk, tsk. Now, when I say I'm a creature of habit, I mean I'm a creature of habit: I thought I ought to get myself a new pair maybe in a different style but I found myself heading over to the Freego section of the Metro Department Store in Town Center and buying exactly the same type, size and color pants. They're wonderful, thank you very much.

TGIF, everyone and thanks for stopping by! ;) More posts to come!

Stitch It Up

I'm not sure how to feel about the lighting in our garden, nowadays. Since we've had the roof re-vamped it's been extremely sunny and all my photos make me look like I'm standing in front of a floodlight. Yay or nay? 

Anywho. I know I swore not to cut my hair, but I couldn't resist. I was looking through photos of Tegan Quin and fuck, that woman has wonderful hair. Anyway. Yeah. So I got my hair cut into an assymetrical bob. It's shorter in the back and longer in the front and I quite like it. No hair cutting until Christmas (hopefully), promise. I keep thinking that I want to grow my hair hippie-long but 1. I'm not sure if I can afford the hair productage that would entail and 2. I really like getting my hair cut. Sigh. It's a wonder I kept my hair long for so long (harhar) before having it cut last year.

Anyway, just running errands today. Wearing this striped top that's still on sale over at the WinaWonders Store. I'm going to be putting up a new collection in time for Halloween; my apologies for being on hiatus but there's been so much going on, what with the launching of MoarBooks, and working on Paperweight (getting legal docs fixed and stuff) and keeping this blog up and getting through my reading and studying for class. I solemnly swear I will get to that soon.

Wearing: striped top, WinaWonders Store | jeans, Freego | shoes, Centropelle

P.S. If any of you beautiful people want a copy of The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, check out the MoarBooks x WinaWonders TFIOS giveaway!

Dreaming in Color

Last night, I had the weirdest of dreams--I can't remember what it was about, exactly but I do know that it was extremely colorful. Methinks I've been reading too much Body World. Today is the first time in a while that I had to go out and didn't have to be at my destination by 9:30 in the morning, which gave me time to do this outfit post. :)

I'm wearing this blue top that I got from a factory outlet of Old Navy a couple of months ago. It's uber presko and today was crazy sunny (sunny like I haven't seen since sixth grade, when I got dismissed at 3:30 in the afternoon) so I was glad to keep things fresh and breezy. I am absolutely in love with the color of this shirt--vibrant without being gaudy.

Wearing: top, Old Navy | jeans, Freego | shoes, a gift

Throwing It Back

Back in the nineties, when I was a kid growing up and watching shows like Boy Meets World and CLARISSA I was very, very into the short-sweater fad. I used to own all types of just-short-enough-not-to-show-mah-flabs sweaters: my favorites were the printed ones (sunflowers, little hearts). Sadly, a teensy sweater for an 8-year-old will definitely no longer fit 21-year-old me. :)) But yeah. Anyway, I found this teensy sweater on one of me and Trizha's thirfting excursions  last July and haven't found weather in which it would be apt to wear it in (tiny sweaters are jabar no-no) so I decided to wear it today. :) 

My day went pretty well actually. I spent a good deal of it talking about funny things with Ron and Trizha (pedophile!) and then later on in the day, eating a ridiculous amount of candy bars at Ron's place while he read out one of the funniest bits of fiction I'd ever heard (somewhat appropriately, it was from The Infinite Jest). Plus, my second class (chemistry) got cancelled. This kind of sucked because that's the class I like, but on a happier note, I was able to catch up on some reading. :D

Wearing: sweater, thrifted | jeans, Freego | shoes, a gift

Summer Love

This shirt was a factory outlet find. :) If I'm not mistaken (can't look at the tag now since I'm wearing it) this is from Hollister. Lately, I've been very into the type of wear that 17-year-old me was into: jeans, colorful shirts and flats. Except now, I don't wear Chucks with everything and have abandoned both my braceface and penchant for dating assholes. Hahaha Anyway yeah. 

I spent the morning with Trizh and am staying over at a friend's tonight cause we're heading to the the Bloom Arts Festival tomorrow! :D

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Wearing: top | Hollister, jeans | ViseVersa, shoes | a gift

Blueprint

Since the sun's been back out and the university dresscode has been reinstated (except that the latter happened around two years ago and I'm still in denial) I've found that I need something to make the whole tights-under-shorts combo interesting again. And colored tights has definitely been part of that. Yesternight's outfit brought out the tights-hoarder in me and I woke up today and thought "why not do something in almost monochrome blue except with patterned shoes?" I think it works pretty well; or that might just be the wack-o in me speaking.

Anyway, homework and other things call. Have a good Thursday everyone! :)

Wearing: blue polo, a gift | tights, bazaar | blue shorts, thrifted | shoes, Centropelle

Cello Concerto

Tonight, I'm heading off to watch a cello concerto with my mom. :) And while getting dressed this afternoon, I couldn't help but think about how sick I was of seeing people wear black at these things so I decided to wear something crazy instead. Fingers crossed, my mom doesn't abhor what I'm wearing but well, I brought a beanie hat just in case this doesn't seem sophisticated enough. I know I can be crazy, thank you.

Wearing: vest | vintage, tanktop | Divisoria, shorts | Topshop, shoes | WAGW, tights | a gift

P.S. To all of you sweet, sweet people who are on here and send in questions about my book, you'll find a mini announcement in my last post. :D I know the details aren't complete yet, but a lot of patience goes into these things and I'll let you know when everything is set. Also, you can now follow progress by clicking on Project: Paperweight on the sidebar; that'll link you automatically to all related posts here on in. :) Have a good rest of the day, everyone!

Caramel Camel

Headed out to school today because I've got class and I need to pay my tuition (I forgot to yesterday). I've been thinking a lot about this sweater and how I'd usually call it camel-colored but I realized that it's also caramel-colored and then I got to thinking about whether those two words have anything to do with one another. :)) Anyway.

I'm wearing this shift-dress/top as a top today because the dresscode in LaSalle won't permit it as a dress and even if it did, I don't think I'd be comfortable commuting in this worn as a dress anyway because it's extremely girly and just not the kind of thing you can hop off a bus in. You can take a looksie at how it looks in dress-form here. 

Wearing: white shift-dress (worn as a top), Old Navy || Sweater, GAP || leggings, bazaar

shoes, Centropelle

 One of the things that I absolutely love about this outfit is the lace detailing on the shiftdress (worn here as a top). It's intricately made; it sort of reminds me of the weaving on a dream catcher or these crochet coasters that my grandmother used to make. :)

 I also thought I'd take some time out to talk about this really pretty lip balm. I've had this for a little over a month now and so I've more or less tried and tested it. The thing I love about it is the light pigmentation that it offers--lighter than a lipstick but still more than your usual lip balm. Plus, it comes in a berry-shade and I think that goes wonderfully with tanned, sort of olive, morena skin. :) Yayyy. This was around P80 at PCX, if I'm not mistaken. :D

The Cherry on Top

The lighting in our yard today was a bit patchy--it makes my head look disembodied, kinda--because we just had our tree trimmed so light breaks through in weird patterns, but it's not so bad I suppose. I'm heading to school today to fix some things. I'm feeling way, way better than I had felt during the weekend. I hate acid reflux, I really do. It makes your throat super sore and blah. This is especially torture for someone like me who drinks a lot of coffee because at the moment I can have like, half a cup or else my throat hurts like fakkkk. I also can't eat a lot of fruits, except bananas which I don't really like. And I have to eat on time. Being the type of person who eats when she's hungry and if she's especially absorbed in something will forget she's hungry, this is exceptionally tedious for me. But anyway. Health is wealth so yeah. Less coffee, more sleep. You can't work if you're dead!

Today, I'm wearing this skirt that I haven't pulled out since summer. I''ve really missed heading out in these girly, flowy silhouettes since the rain's started so I decided to take advantage of today's sunlight (and the fact that I'm not commuting today) to pull on this pretty cherry-print skirt that's been sleeping in my closet since April.

Wearing: skirt | thrifted, lace cover up | a gift, hat | Lula Bop's, sandals | BAYO, camisole | Bench

 I'm meeting up with my friend Joelle today and I wanted to share these art cards that she made; they're so, so pretty!!! Also, while we're on the subject of creativity, another piece, (a revised--but not final version of) Cesar is up on the writing page! I'll be making the official announcement about stuff for the book (title, when it's coming out, etc.) in a couple of weeks. :D So yay! Watch out for that!

P.S. To the winners of the giveaways, I've sent most of the parcels already. :D If you haven't received it, please tweet me (@winapuangco) or send me an email at gmd.puangco@winawonders.com and I'll go check on it's status. :) Thank you!

Made-Up Mimes

I really want to spend today writing and getting some rest; yesterday was extremely tiring for me because I'd spent the whole day on my feet and our neighbor's dog wouldn't stop barking until around three in the morning. I just didn't get a whole lot of rest yesterday and I'm the kind of person who can sick pretty quickly and I just don't wanna get sick again. 

But, yeah--duty calls. Being the youngest in my family is a lot like being the eldest; a lot of the time I have to take care of a lot of people and boy it gets exhausting but someone's gotta do it. So today I'm accompanying my older brother to his check-up and then possibly filling in at my mom for this reunion with her sisters because she doesn't feel well. I want to sleeeep. 

Anyway I thought I'd go with something right between classy and casual. I'm wearing this top from Sugaritta that I got years ago and haven't worn in more than a year along with black jeans  from ViseVersa and a red beanie hat from Lula Bop's.

Wearing: top | Sugaritta, jeans | ViseVersa, hat | Lula Bop's

Catching the Tail-end

This afternoon, as I was walking to class with muddied feet, I realized that lately it's only been possible to dress weather-appropriate for half a day. The mornings in Manila have been sunny and the afternoons/evenings have been stormy so it's a real challenge to get dressed in the morning. I had breakfast with a couple of friends this morning and my friend Francine was "dressed for rain"--boots and a long-sleeved polo and I was in this sheer top and sandals and what with the sun beating down on us I thought I'd been rained down upon by the gods of weather-appropriateness but as soon as the clock struck two this afternoon, it started pouring so yeah. Franny had it right after all. :))

I haven't worn these leggings in two years and it was really nice to pull them out and rediscover them. Plus, it's the first time I've worn this top this way--I usually tuck it into a pair of jeans and that's a shame considering how pretty the tail of this is. I also wore sandals today to kind of veer away from my usual go-to flats and while it sucks that my feet got wet, it wasn't so bad I suppose. :) I hope everyone's had a good day!

Wore: top | Shopluxe, leggings | Robinson's Department Store, sandals | BAYO

tanktop | Coco Cabana

Cut To Ribbons

I was supposed to head out to San Juan today to visit Keav and our friends Flexy & Karlo (the latter got sick with pneumonia and I wasn't able to go with them to the hospital) and just hang out. But unfortunately, some bank robbers decided to head over to the Madrigal side of Town Center and open fire and rob banks and do stupid things like that--so all my plans of leaving my house today were pretty shot. 

While the cancellation of plans does bother me, what bothers me more is that people were hurt because of that robbery and people just doing their jobs or just shopping or hell, just sitting somewhere and reading (which I do a lot) were put in the line of fire because other people needed money. I'm not going to say that I don't understand being desperate for money or for a way to live--I do. The recession was tough on our family too. And I would like to feel a sort of sympathy toward the bank robbers in believing that they probably needed money for something important enough to put themselves in harm's way but also, I keep wondering if it is that hard to get a job or to find an alternative to bloodshed? It might be, given the events but I somehow cannot believe that. Maybe the only way I can see that it's harder is in that you'll have to work everyday, get up at a time not of your choosing and head home at a time not convenient for you but you have to go do it anyway. Maybe it'll be harder in that you'll have to go without the DVD home entertainment showcase and buy your baby milk instead, but it is the way to a living without reaching for a gun. At one of the talks Chinkee Tan held this past month, he said that (one of) the reasons why the Philippines isn't evolving is because the middle to upperclass invest in education and try to promote jobs but the lowerclass will invest only in entertainment--and they outnumber us by far. And I've seen this in the slums during feeding programs and outreach efforts; in paper houses, these brittle people have more DVDs and televisions with bigger screens than me, as if they have forgotten that they cannot eat silicon. I can sympathize with a security guard--someone not exactly well-off either, but trying to make ends meet--getting shot for a baby's milk but risking a life for a bunch of fake blu-ray discs, not quite. I want peace. Cliche, but yes. And contrary to popular belief, sometimes thinking is the way to that. Like my high school Geometry teacher, Sir Ian used to say--common sense doesn't seem all that common and that is the smallest, gravest tragedy of life. I can only hope this shit doesn't happen again.

Anyway--on a lighter note: Here's the outfit that I'm wearing in (instead of out, haha) today. This was one of my favorite outfits back during Christmas time because it was effortless and breezy. I wore it non-stop with varying tanktops and shirts until one day, on our way to this Oktoberfest event, a friend told me I looked like a painter/women studies major so yeah--that kinda turned me off from the whole baggy trousers thing for a while but recently, I've been very ah what the hell about these things and you know, I'm just going to wear whatever the hell I want. It's a huge waste of these awesome pants and this ribbon-print top too. :))

I hope this day turns out well for everyone!

Wearing: top | bazaar, pants | Terranova, shoes | Comfit for Payless Shoesource