My 13 Lucky Monkey Hubby Tee

Last week, I finally received my very first 13 Lucky Monkey t-shirt! 🙂  I’ve been wanting one for sooooo long.  Thanks so much for sparing me one, Mr. Lucky Monkey! Hahaha! I know I wanted a size small but it was reserved for someone else so the large will do! Because if I don’t take this, I may never have one EVER.  LOL!!! Kidding! These shirts were made by our friends from Good Government (Instagram: @goodgovernment) So sorry for what I’m about to do to your awesome t-shirt…

Ok, so here’s the large tee 🙂 I would wear this shirt as is for sure and maybe just fold the sleeves.  But I wanted to do something different with it.  I know some of my friends have been doing this for years, cutting up oversized t-shirts and turning them into something new.  So I decided to try it out with this 13 Lucky Monkey t-shirt.

So I got one of my favorite tank tops so that it would be easier for me to cut the shirt.  This one is from Be.Everyday, a local brand that I was so happy to discover during the Whitespace Pop Up earlier this year.  Check out more of their cool tank tops at their Instagram account: @be.everyday.ph 🙂

So using chalk, I just traced the sleeves and made the armhole just a little bit bigger so that I can use this shirt over my sports bra when I go indoor cycling.  Yessss 🙂  Hahaha! Arte.

You can cut the shirt using any ordinary scissors but I used the largest one I had so that there will less zigzags when I cut.

Then you can just fold the shirt in the middle to make sure both sides are equally cut.  Then just smoothen the edges 🙂

Looking good 🙂

Now to cut the bottom part.  Again I traced it with chalk.

Then cut…

My Be.Everyday shirt is shorter in the front than the back.  So I just followed the pattern 🙂

Tadaaaaaaa!!! My 13 Lucky Monkey tank top… I call it my Hubby Tee.  Kasi galing kay hubby yung shirt… Corny ba??? 🙂

And here is my first Hubby Tee 🙂 LOVES IT!!!

Here’s my macho picture of me wearing my Hubby Tee 🙂 Hahahaha! Macho talaga 🙂 Pasensiya na sa aking feeling “siga” pose.  Haha! 🙂

Watch out for my next Hubby Tee at binigyan na ako ng isa pang shirt to cut! Woot woot!!! Thank you, Mister Dante! 🙂

An Afternoon of Bibimbap, Street Shopping and Poop Bread in Seoul

Isabel, enjoying the freezing cold weather 🙂

After our very hectic morning at the Secret Garden in Korea, (that would be in a whole new different post…Hehe!) we were excited to head out to lunch! Starving and tired from hill climbing, we chose the nearest Korean resto we could find 🙂 Luckily, we entered this resto that served Bibimbap!  Just exactly what I wanted at that moment… RICE! HAHA! 🙂

Meals in Korea are quite affordable 🙂  This Bibimbap was about P300 per dish.  Here it is pre-mixed.

Here it is, mixed and ready to be devoured.

It also comes with a side of pork.  YUMMERS!

Enjoying lunch with my besties, Dom and Clauds! 🙂  They have Coca-cola that’s half the size of a regular can.  Love it 🙂

Before our trip, my friends would research on places to go to in Korea.  When they described Insadong-gil to me, I knew I would love it there…  Insadong-gil is the main road that leads to more alleys with specialty shops, art galleries and coffee places.

It was like a flea market with antique goods.

Traditional Korean delicacies…

Hats, hats, hats…

Socks, socks and more cute socks…

Meet my friends… the Shoperones 🙂  Always on the lookout for cute stuff 🙂

Ice Cream, anyone? 🙂

Traditional Korean costumes for kids 🙂  How cute is this?!

It was just cuteness overload left and right.

I love how traditional meets modern in this outfit 🙂

So many art supplies stores here.

And winter clothing…

Nice postcards and lots of stickers and posters of Korean actors.  Haha!

Chimes…

Was very tempted to buy this Kitty bag.  But the eyes are kinda freaky… 🙂

So happy there were lots of toys here!  Was able to get Damien some robots as promised.

Snacking on some chicken with a nice sour and spicy sauce 🙂

I enjoyed this very much.  It also had sticky rice balls.

This was really good, too.  Thanks for sharing this with me, Isabel.  It’s an empanada with Japchae inside.  So yummy!!!

We also just had to try their POOP Bread 🙂 yes, a pastry shaped as poop!  For some reason they are fascinated by this.  Haha! Well, I can totally relate because my son loves talking about poop as well.  LOL! 🙂

People were lining up for this so it must be good.

It reminded me of pancakes shaped as poop… Haha!

Oh Damien would have loved this.  Haha!  He even has a story about a poopoo island.  LOL! 🙂

It was quite yummy, I must say… and I loved the warm brown bean filling… 🙂

Poop snackin’ with my friend, Claudette 🙂

And that ends my little tour on Insadong-Gil… Hope you enjoyed that stroll with me at one of my favorite spots in Seoul 🙂

Have a blessed Holy Week, my friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee in Queens Park… Gangnam Style!

I am still so high from our recent trip to Seoul, Korea.  I was with my best friends from high school and we all have never been to Korea 🙂  So it was so great to explore a new country with my oldest friends 🙂 This wasn’t really part of our itinerary but ever since the song “Gangnam Style” became so popular, we’ve always wondered… what exactly is in Gangnam??? 🙂

So we took the train to Gangnam.  Dominique was the assigned “trainer”, our train leader.  LOL!

So after three stops here, change trains, two stops there… (I think…) we were in sunny but damn cold Gangnam! 🙂  I think it was about -15 degrees at that time.  All I remembered was that my ears were in pain.  It kinda felt like the pain I get sometimes in the airplane!

It was a beautiful day but just too cold to walk outside too long.  So we, the islanders, headed towards our destination, hands in our pockets, our scarves covering our entire heads and our legs walking as fast as we can to keep us warm.  Haha!

We didn’t enter the Galleria but it reminded me so much of Harrod’s in London.

I absolutely love trees without leaves.

Queens Park was just about three blocks away from the train station where we came from and I never felt this happy to enter a heated room.  Haha!  The sunlight was not enough to keep us warm.

Queens Park is a bakery and cafe.

So many goodies you can take home.

All the cakes looked so delicious.

Finally we were at our table for five.

The cafe was quite big and spacious.

Lots of natural light coming in 🙂

My friends and I were actually craving for some breakfast food after all the kimchi and bibimbap 🙂 Hehe  So we shared an order of Eggs Benedict.  Soooo yummy!!! The caramelized onions were delish.

Claudette ordered some ice cream. Look at that beauty!  It never really melted.  Haha!  It was that cold.  LOL!

And Isabel ordered some cheesecake with fresh fruits.  So refreshing to look at and eat 🙂

Mike had a slice of this awesome cake!  It had some chocolate, banana and mocha cake in one slice! OMG.  Sorry, I ate most of it! Haha!

And finally, of course, my cup of love 🙂  Gangnam love 🙂

This was probably our most expensive meal throughout our trip!  Haha!  Just to give you an idea… The coffee was about 10,000 won which is around P400, the Eggs Benedict was 20,000 won, about P800.  LOL!!!  But it was worth it 🙂  At least now I can say, I had brunch Gangnam style! 🙂

We missed our other friends, Angela, Ria and Kris! 🙂  You’ll see more of them in my other posts about Korea, a whole lot more to come!

Kung Hei Fat Choi, everyone!!! Here’s to more adventures 🙂

 

 

 

 

My Love for Tote Bags

One of our final stops in Tokyo was the Kinokuniya Bookstore.  Since most of the books here were in Japanese, I just walked around, just browsing, not looking for anything in particular.  Then suddenly, I saw this section.  OMG.  Full of super cute magazines WITH tote bags inside!!!  I started getting super excited!!!

And one by one, I checked out the magazines with their corresponding free tote bags.  These magazines, as I was looking through them, were actually different brands of mostly clothes and accessories.  The magazines were like their catalogs for the season. What a brilliant idea!!!  I wish they had these here… or start doing it for fashion brands here in the Philippines! 🙂

Most of the ones that I bought were 1,500 Yen.  That’s more or less Php750 each.

The first one I chose was a brand called Malaika.  I love ethnic stuff! 🙂

This was the magazine or catalog for the brand with their 2013 collection.  Pretty cute stuff! 🙂

I love this one.  My favorite among the ones I purchased 🙂

Tried a selfie. LOL!

The second one is from a brand called Earth Music & Ecology.

Super duper cute, too 🙂

And last but not the least, Moomin.  I really liked the character because she looked like the Wicked Witch from Oz, Elphaba, and I love her 🙂

Love the color and design of this one 🙂

I love totes… This last one that I got was not from Kinokuniya but somewhere in Ameyayokocho 🙂 I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a Chanel bag, so this tote bag will do for now 🙂 Haha! I got this also around the same price, 1500 Yen, I think 🙂

Love my new tote bags.  Love these because they’re shapeless, they’re light, it’s so easy to dump all my things in it! 🙂  I actually wanted to buy more but all I could hear was my husband whispering, “Don’t you have enough totes already?!”  Fine. These four will do… for now 🙂

Have a happy and tote-ful weekend, everyone! 🙂  Message me if you happen to find irresistible totes like these here, please! 🙂

I Miss My Tokyu Hands

One of the things I miss the most in Tokyo is TOKYU HANDS.  Their motto is so true….

“When you visit, you find what you want!”

And you can lose some calories, too, because Tokyu Hands has about 7-9 floors of stuff I love… from arts and crafts to clown makeup to little gadgets and cameras to leather swatches… Ugh… love love love Tokyu Hands.  My husband also loved the hardware and also the section that’s dedicated to shoe care 🙂

I didn’t take that much photos of the store itself because I was just so overwhelmed with all the stuff you can find here.  It’s so convenient!  I mean, if you were to start a project, you can find everything you need in one place.  It’s just so amazing.

They even have on-going workshops within the store.  I can stay here all day, I tell you! 🙂

I think they were making leather wallets 🙂

This one, I wasn’t sure what they were making 🙂 So fun!!

Out of all the stuff I saw in Tokyu Hands, I was hooked on these Hooked Zpagetti crochet hooks!!! Got me some new hooks, 10mm and 12mm sizes to match…

…these Hooked Zpagetti yarn/cloth.  It’s like shredded cloth!  But the label says high quality recycled cotton 🙂 I had to jump for joy when I saw these… (deep inside. Haha!)

These were the chosen ones…

I’m planning to make tote bags out of these!  They might be too heavy/warm for a scarf unless it’s thin.  I’m so excited to start my Tote Project!  Haha! 🙂  Watch out for it!

Have a happy Wednesday to you all! 🙂

Write Here Write Now By AA

I just wanted to congratulate one of my dearest friends, AA Patawaran, for finally launching his book,

“Write Here Write Now”.

The book launch was held in Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4.

I haven’t seen Arnel in such a long time and I couldn’t wait to see him! So when I was about to line up to greet him, the usher told me to get a number.  Gasp! I’m number 125! Was so excited pa naman to run up to Arnel! LOL! But I waited for my turn like a good girl 🙂

My one and only date this evening and all evenings 🙂 Naks.  Hehe…

While I was waiting to have my book signed by the rockstar author, I was enjoying their sweets and shots. Hehe!

And enjoying the company of dear old friends just like the good ol’ days, says Hector from Sense & Style Magazine 🙂

With the super talented photographer and friend, Mitch Mauricio 🙂

Was so excited to finally say hello to AA! 🙂 Arnel is actually our Ninong at our wedding and has remained the giver of the wisest advice especially when it comes to raising our son! Hehe 🙂 Yey!  It’s almost our turn! Couldn’t wait to give Arnel a big hug!

Arnel and I have been friends ever since I started out as a professional makeup artist.  Almost all of my favorite and most memorable photo shoots were done for Sense & Style Magazine, together with the awesome team, Hector, Guada, Krizette, Nicole, Jerry, etc! I miss those days!!! 🙂  And ever since then, we remained really good friends!

To our dearest Ninong and friend, CONGRATULATIONS on your book! Cannot wait to start reading it!  I know it will help me express myself better through words.  I am not a writer but I consider myself a storyteller.  (Sana lang tama lahat ng grammar ko sa post na to. LOL!)

AA, you have always been an inspiration to me like a big brother I look up to!  🙂  I am such a proud sister!!! Hehe…

Cheers, Arnel!  We will make things happen 🙂

Training with Mister Kimura-San and Team Shu

Learning never ends.

  I was so looking forward to this day.  It was the day when we would finally get to try using Shu Uemura’s Holiday collection 2012! 🙂  Not only do we get to try the newest collection of Shu Uemura but we also had a talented guest makeup artist/trainer from Japan, Mr. Kimura-San! 🙂

I just couldn’t wait to see the collection!!! 🙂

My sister from another mother, Claire 🙂  We were both so giddy with excitement checking out all the goodies in the bag! 🙂  First thing we found… the two kinds Karl Lagerfeld False Eyelashes.

What a beauty! 🙂

With my sisters, Angelique, Omar and John! 🙂  Sayaaaaaa!  Parang blockmates lang!!! Where were you guys when I was in college?!?!

Checking out the stuff at the trainer’s table 🙂

And now I unveil Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Holiday Collection 🙂  I’m sure you guys have already seen or even tried the collection since our launch.  Mr. Kimura-San taught us how to use and maximize this collection! 🙂

Check this out!!! Limited edition Mon Shu eyelash curler!!! 🙂 soooo cute!!! I want to use this as a bag charm!  And also so I can curl my lashes anytime. LOL!

Yey! Snacks for the training 🙂  Hungry makeup artists… not a pretty sight. Hahaha!

And now, may I introduce to you, our awesome trainer and makeup artist, Mr. Kimura-San! 🙂 Such a rock star. Haha! 🙂

The first time I’ve ever seen the team so quiet and attentive 🙂 hehehehe

We each had our own models for hands-on training 🙂 Thanks for taking my photo, Claire!

My model for the day was Mercy.  Just finished doing her base 🙂

Mr. Kimura-San going around to check our work.  He was a great teacher, very helpful and was very patient to answer all of our questions 🙂 Of course, we can’t live without Nadia, our translator 🙂

After doing the base makeup, time to break for merienda first! Woohoo! 🙂 Break na kaagad?! Hehe

Definitely one way to make us makeup artists happy… FOOD 🙂

Okay, ready to move on with the training… Happy tummies!

Mr. Kimura-San will now start the demo using the first eye and cheek palette called the smoky velvet palette 🙂

He started with the socket line…

Then filled the whole lid with the olive green shade.

Also applied under the eyes and highlight on the browbone and inner corners of the eyes.

Blended beautifully.  He told us that we don’t have to use all the colors in the palette all at once or it’s just going to look messy.

Mr. Kimura-San used the blush on the apple of the cheeks.  That’s the one on the bottom right of the palette 🙂

Included in this collection are four gorgeous shades of lipsticks!

Luxe Burgundy and Parisienne Pink.

Celebrity Beige and Mon Shu Red.

Mr. Kimura-San is now applying Mon Shu Red 🙂

The Associates checking out the first look 🙂

And John… with his favorite brush! Hahahahaha! 🙂

And now using the prestigious bordeaux eye and cheek palette 🙂

Love the color of this painting liner 🙂

Mr. Kimura-San doing a demo on the other eye 🙂

Now it’s our turn 🙂

Mr. Kimura-San fine-tuning what I did to Mercy 🙂

The finished product of the eye makeup after it was Kimura-Sanified 🙂

So happy with the palettes!  Easy to use and the colors definitely suitable to most women! 🙂  Can’t wait to use these palettes on my clients! 🙂

Omar practicing on Angelique 🙂

Yeeeeey!  That was such a fun and very informative sesh!!!

Thank you for the opportunity to be trained by Mr. Kimura-San! 🙂 He was awesome!!!

John and Omar mingling with Mr. Uchiide-San and Mr. Karl. LOL! 🙂

Team Shu Uemura Philippines! 🙂 (not the complete team though)

It’s your turn to try this awesome collection!!! Will be available again in stores very soon! 🙂

Happy Thursday, friends!!! 🙂

Karl Lagerfeld x Shu Uemura x Umu

Last October 9, 2012, it was time to unveil the Mon Shu Girl 🙂

Karl Lagerfeld and Shu Uemura has done a collaboration for this holiday’s collection!  This was so exciting for all of us because a few weeks before this launch, we already knew what was in the collection and also were trained how to use the products.  (More of the training in my next post!)  Mon Shu Girl is the cute little girl that is on all of the packaging for this Karl Lagerfeld x Shu Uemura collection 🙂

This exclusive and intimate event was going to be held at Umu, the awesome Japanese restaurant in Dusit Thani Hotel 🙂

Yey. Yey. Hooray.

Call time was 11am.  And as most of you know, a hungry makeup artist is not really the best person you’d want to deal with. Hahaha! Sooooo… LUNCH FIRST 🙂

A feast of Japanese food was waiting for us at UMU… Ok, time to dig in, people!!! 🙂

Meet cutie makeup artist, John Pagaduan 🙂  He’ll be doing a quick demo on how to use the KL Palettes to the bloggers’ event that afternoon.  Looking fresh and radiant, sis!!! 🙂

The Mon Shu models 🙂

The Mon Shu models with their very talented artists, Patrick Alcober and John Pagaduan 🙂

Look at how cute those dolls are! Tamang tama lang yung position ni Ate sa likod… Hehehe 🙂

Wonderful set-up for dinner!

Photo shoot muna with the team habang wala pang guests!!! 🙂

With my uber talented team mates: Sharon, Angelique, Patrick, Hanna and John 🙂

With the fabulous Omar and gorgeous Angie! 🙂

Our hot mother, Nina, presenting the KL x Shu Uemura Collection.

This event wouldn’t have been possible without Nina, Nadia and Karen! 🙂  Great job, ladies!!! And looking smokin’ hot that night 🙂

My Shu Uemura family picture 🙂

With the lovely, Karen, my model for the evening 🙂

With THE Ogie from Khiel’s! Thanks to you and George for fixing my thick, unruly hair! 🙂

Presenting the collection…  More on these products on my next post!  Watch out for it!

Ladies and Gentlemen, dinner is now served.  Was looking forward to this 7-course meal at UMU.  Wonderful!

Sparkling Sake.  Ang sarap pala nito!

Appetizer: EBI DEPOU YAKI or baked prawn with special sauce and THREE KINDS OF MAKI. 1.Dragon Maki: unagi, avocado, cucumber and cream cheese  2.Soft Shell Crab Maki: rolled deep fried crab on vinegared rice 3. Umu Maki: salmon, mango, cream cheese.

Clear Soup: Tori, shitake, shimeji, oyster mushroom, gobo, spring onion, shiro kosyo or in simpler terms, it’s clear soup with chicken, assorted Japanese mushrooms, spring onion and white pepper.

Yakimono: Suzuki Teriyaki, hajikami. (Grilled seabass with teriyaki sauce and marinated ginger)

Sarada: Kaisou Sarada which is seaweed salad with onion dressing and Chawan Mushi, lapu-lapu kani nameko.

Rice Dish: Edamame Fried Rice, green soy beans and fried rice, and Yakimono (Wafu Steak, tamanegi, asupara, which is US Rib Eye Steak with onion and asparagus).

Dessert: Shiro Miso Ice Cream and Pistachio (Home-made Japanese White Beans Ice Cream with Pistachio Powder).

Thanks to everyone who took time out from their very busy schedules to be here.  Thanks for all the support!  We hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did 🙂

Me and Mon Shu Girl would like to wish you all a very happy weekend!!! The collection will be out in stores October 20, 2012 🙂

Tsuya Skin: Japan’s Word for Ideal Skin

I always look forward to our training sessions by Shu Uemura 🙂  I obviously love the brand and get really excited when they have something new… 🙂  And I get to see my team mates whom I love to bits 🙂

Each station was beautifully decorated with flowers, lamps and petals… But do you see that pretty little bottle over there??? 🙂

Oh my gosh, so scientific… I never really liked Science growing up. Haha!

With my beautiful, “fresh” team mates all in white 🙂  (Pwede na bang maging soap detergent endorsers? Ang bango!!! Haha!)

From the left: Angie Cruz, Me, Claire Diokno and Angelique Dinglasan 🙂

AND HERE IT IS… Are you ready for this??? Presenting the newest skin care product of Shu Uemura…

TSUYA SKIN.  Which means “IDEAL SKIN”.

Shu Uemura always believed that “beautiful make-up starts with beautiful skin.”  And this is sooooo true.

Now what makes someone’s skin ideal?

“We analyzed  more than 5,000 individual cases of Asian woman’s skin to scientifically understand what is needed for skin to be perceived as ‘ideal’.  We found that ‘ideal’ skin came down to six key parameters: SMOOTHNESS, PORELESSNESS, TRANSLUCENCE, AN EVEN TONE, A FINE TEXTURE and GOOD SKIN COLOR.  When all these factors are present, skin radiates beauty… this is what makes ‘ideal’ skin.  In Japanese, we call this ‘Tsuya Skin”.  – Team Shu Uemura

The newest cleansing oil of Shu Uemura is called Ultim8 (Ultimate) 🙂

Tsuya contains a miracle molecule called Rhamnose that can apparently reactivate skin’s youth power switch.  This will help the skin regenerate 🙂

So what does Tsuya promise to give you???

Perfect and ideal skin in just seven days 🙂

Lovely set up for our training sesh 🙂

With our hot momma, Nina Solano 🙂

After applying a few drops of Tsuya Skin all over the face in the morning, it is best paired with this Tsuya Skin UV Under Base 🙂

Accredited Shu Uemura make-up artist, Patrick Alcober had all the right answers 🙂 And there’s our lovely trainer, Nadia, listening to Patrick’s insightful answers 🙂

Claire’s extensive collection of Shu Uemura brushes… *sigh*

Patrick doing the demo on Cecille Ramos, who has perfect skin 🙂

The very talented make-up artists of Shu Uemura: Gee Vee, EJ Mallorca, Riza and Roy at the back 🙂

The very next day, I started my 7-day challenge 🙂  I started applying Tsuya Skin every morning and night 🙂

All you need is this much for the whole face 🙂 I really loved how this serum smelled and felt on my skin.  After applying this, I always feel instantly hydrated.

After applying Tsuya, I applied this UV Underbase 🙂 It already has a little bit of coverage to cover up my blemishes 🙂 I set it with some loose powder 🙂

This is all you need for the whole face.  Even less, if you just want a very, very thin layer of this UV underbase 🙂

I’ve been using Tsuya Skin serum for over a month now.  Every morning and every evening.  I honestly couldn’t tell if my skin was really improving.

I only realized that my skin was really improving when my husband suddenly said recently, out of the blue one morning before I left the house, “May photo shoot ka ba? 🙂  As in papakuha ka rin ba ng picture?  Parang ang flawless mo today…” LOL! 🙂 Naaaaaaaaaks!!!  I thought, hay naku, binobola na naman ako nito.

“Seriously… Are you going to have your photo taken today?” – Dante.

Hay naku, tama na, Dants, TAMA NA. 🙂

AND THAT MY FRIENDS, is the true test of the product. LOL!  If your husband actually notices something different. GOOD different. HAHAHA! 🙂

No, but really, my husband is my ultimate “judge” without him trying to be 🙂  Everything he says, whether he likes it or not, affects me greatly. LOL!  Like for example, when he says, “You did something different with your makeup today”, that is his nice way of saying, parang may mali. LOL! 🙂

So you could just imagine how happy I was when he said the magic word… “flawless”!  And I immediately thought…

OMG.  It actually works.

Please take time to watch this video to have a better understanding of  Tsuya Skin 🙂

Tsuya is our little secret 🙂  Don’t tell your boyfriends or your husbands about Tsuya ha!  They’ll soon notice a different glow in your skin… Just wait for it… 🙂

Tokyo, Cotton and Tea at Mall of Asia

How can I resist an invitation from my family to go to MOA (SM Mall of Asia)???

My older brother, Ochie, was buying lunch that day and… Cotton On, one of my favorite stores, just opened in MOA… And of course, I just love hanging out with my family! 🙂  The field trip begins at Tokyo Cafe!

In the very first photo were our starters.  I haven’t had breakfast yet so I was STAR-ving!  We had the Mango Chicken Salad, a chicken salad with ripe mango, grapes and romaine lettuce (P225), Clam Chowder, creamy chunky soup with clams, potatoes and bacon (P135) and Gambas Al Ajilo, garlic, shrimp with hot green peppers sauteed in olive oil (P291).  All were yummy.  Or was I just super hungry? No, they were quite yummy 🙂

For the main course, we decided to have two types of pasta: Japanese Carbonara (the one on top), creamy pasta with a hint of Japanese soy sauce and ground pork (P232).  It reminded me of Yakisoba 🙂

And the second pasta dish that we ordered (the one at the bottom) was the Creamy Ebiko Pasta with shrimp, karashi ebiko and cream pasta (P278).  My dad loved this.  He loves seafood pasta in red sauce 🙂

Fried Chicken for everyone! 🙂 We ordered the Chicken in a Basket, Japanese-style crispy fried chicken served with gravy and fries.  We got the Family Pack with seven pieces of chicken (P430).

There’s always room for dessert.  We tried the Azuki Parfait, layers of sweet red azuki beans, vanilla and green tea ice cream topped with whipped cream (P138). A refreshing dessert 🙂

And lastly, we wanted to try their Banana Hazelnut Crepe with bananas, hazelnut spread, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup (P135)

Overall, lunch was yummy!  Servings were just right.  Each dish is really good for one person, except the family size friend chicken 🙂

Now off to do a little exercise to burn the calories from lunch.  A walk towards Cotton On is what we needed. Haha! 🙂 I was soooo happy when I found that they were bringing Cotton On to Manila!  I always shop there when I go to Hongkong and recently when I went to Singapore! 🙂  It’s affordable, the clothes are comfy and wearable, I just love it.

But today, I promised myself I would just be window shopping.  So I just took some photos for you guys to see what’s in store!

I love these “2 FOR 1000” signs! Makes you want to dig in and buy two right away!

So many sandals to choose from!  I tried one pair… Very comfy… BUT NO. Control yourself, woman!

Now this table with the skirts was a big temptation… The “2 FOR 1200” sign was flashing before my eyes.  If I did break my promise to myself that day, two of these skirts would have been mine.  But NO 🙂  I cannot.  I literally cannot. I am just too broke right now. LOL!

The also have cute accessories and wallets/iPhone cases, etc 🙂

They also have a lot of clothes for guys! 🙂  They really had a lot of stuff in there!  I was so not disappointed with the size of the store and their goods 🙂

Really happy you’ve arrived, Cotton On!  Even if I didn’t purchase anything that day, I’m happy just knowing I can go back there anytime! 🙂

I usually take a very long time shopping in Cotton On when I’m in Hongkong and Singapore.  Now I can just gracefully walk into a Cotton On store and not scream to my husband anymore, “OH MY GOD!!!! DITO MUNA TAYO SA COTTON ON!!!” LOL! 🙂

Another temptation that day was DA.U.DE (da you deh).

A friend told me about their tea lounge in the Fort beside Wildflour and apparently they also sell their tea in Kultura both in SM MOA and SM Makati 🙂

The wonderful and knowledgeable Da.u.de saleslady made me and my brother try a cup of papaya tea each.  OMG.  In like three minutes, I was enjoying a hot cup of papaya tea! 🙂

She made the tea using this super cute pot!  This so perfect for tea lovers.  The pot is about P600+ and the tea ranges from P300-500 🙂  This is a great Christmas gift.  Ahem-ahem. Haha! 🙂  ALMOST broke my promise on this one.

I still have to try the real thing though at their tea lounge at the Fort.  I will be visiting soon, Da.u.de! 🙂

This was a great afternoon with my folks, Kuya Ochie and Chris 🙂  And please, a round of applause, I did not break my promise…. 🙂  (Oh, I just purchased some yarn… but that’s not considered “shopping”. Haha!)

Have a great weekend to you all! 🙂  Let me know if you get to visit Cotton On this weekend and what you purchased!  I want to know what you guys bought! 🙂