my personalized bracelet

...just got better!

then <3

 now <3 <3 <3

want one? visit my store.

urinary tract infection

and i quote makati medical center's patient discharge slip for me,

"An infection in the urinary bladder can also be called cystitis or simply UTI. The symptoms often appear suddenly and may include burning on urination, pain in the lower abdomen, spasm of the bladder, and blood in the urine. About 30 percent of all women experience UTI in their lifetime, and 40 percent of women who have had an infection will have a recurrence."

i belong to the 40 percent with recurring infections. i experience uti two or three times a year. and i am guilty that i usually do self medication due to my familiarity with the symptoms. my last visit to a doctor was at a clinic near my previous workplace about two years ago.

but this morning was the first time i saw blood in my urine. and that got me thinking of seeing a doctor. i should have done that three days ago anyway. thanks to kate i was able to reach mmc. she waited until i was admitted to the emergency room before leaving - just to be sure i wasn't going to back out, haha.

the two doctors who talked to me said the same things i've heard from my past consultations. they required me to take a urinalysis before sending me home.

instead of going home, i opted to go to work. i usually say i report to the office despite not feeling well because of the air conditioner, internet connection (albeit slow!) and the television. but today it was for company. if something bad will happen to me it is better that i am not alone, right?

i called the mmc around 4 p.m. for the urinalysis results and i was relieved that i don't have any life-threatening disease. i was worried it has to do with my kidneys, in particular. but of course that's not reason for me not to take my medication seriously. i also hope this time i can keep the habit of drinking lots of water.

hammertime

i have been meaning to install some fixtures in our unit. we have no access to anyone with a nail drill so i had to go through the process the conventional way.

i was all set this morning. but halfway through my project, i heard a knock on our door. it was our building's maintenance personnel. he said one of the tenants at the ground floor was complaining about the noise. i was shocked because i was at the third floor and no one, even my next-door neighbor or anyone from the second floor, was complaining. i told him that i was informed that it is okay to do this kind of work between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. it was already 10 a.m. then. he said yes it is so but that particular tenant is really always complaining about everything and he is worried that mr. tenant might bring this up to the administration if i don't stop. i was furious at first because (1) he is selfish (maybe he wants to sleep but i want to do my house chores because this is the only time i have!) and (2) i have this theory he's been bullying mr. maintenance judging from the worried look on the latter's face and mr. maintenance mentioning "taga-inquirer kasi yun e..." several times during our conversation. well i work there too! but i just rested my case for mr. maintenance's sake.

once every 30 minutes, however, i would continue with my work. slowly and surely. and hell yeah, i was still able to finish installing everything.

who's the fairest of them all?

 

this one's inside my cabinet

not very sturdy but will do for now

old people need reminders, haha

my new hobby

i was surprised by the excited reactions from my friends upon learning that i am now into costume jewelry making. so, let me just clear that i meant simple jewelry made of inexpensive materials and not those over-the-top large stage costume jewelry (maybe i'll get into that in the future).

i've always loved buying small trinkets and keeping them in a box. i just like looking at them once in a while for a dose of cuteness. i know, it's weird. for a while, i just buy silver charms and dream of someday upgrading to white gold and platinum. but recently i discovered the joy in cheap metal charms. or maybe i just got poorer, haha.

so, anyway, i started customizing jewelry with this bracelet i got from papemelroti. i changed some of the charms to better reflect my personality/interests.

when i went to brunei in november 2008, i got to buy a few silver necklaces just for the pendants so i have chains that i never get to use. just two weeks ago, i found a pair of spoon and fork earrings and now they are cute pendants of one of my silver chains from brunei.

i also made this simple bracelet from one of my silver necklaces:

i am currently working on a blog for selling my creations. please feel free to browse through my first pieces here.

my basyang week

basyang was the first typhoon i experienced away from home. that night she landed (july 13) could have been more bearable for me if i were not alone in the unit i'm renting in makati. i just can't get myself to sleep with the wind howling that night. i even gulped a bottle of vodka cruiser (electric pink!) but it didn't help. i was that scared. things didn't get any better as the night deepened. shortly pass midnight, there was a power outage. it happened while i was at the toilet. my initial reaction was to get of the unit and run to the floor lobby where the emergency lights automatically turned on. but the wind was so strong outside and with my tiny frame i swear i could have been blown away if i stayed out for five seconds. so i retreated inside my room and held on to my pocket led flashlight.

i don't know how i eventually fell asleep that night. but my last time check was around 3:30 a.m. and i was thinking about waking up to stormy nights in the province and running to my parents room and squeezing myself in their bed. i remembered writing about this in my creative writing class in college. our professor told us to write about one thing we fear. i had a hard time thinking about what my fears are (matapang ako e!) but then i ended up writing about how i am afraid of being in an enclosed space while it's raining and i can hear the raindrops on the roof and the wind howling outside. i wrote that living away from my parents then meant curling under my blanket and crying myself to sleep when the rain is eating up my courage.

i woke up early the following morning. but before getting up, i curled into a ball on my bed and cried like i was just required to. our power lines were still "unenergized" and i would later find out that the unit has also lost water supply. great. and i still had to walk on ankle-knee floodwater on my way to work. but don't you worry, because i was wearing my plueys.

it was also our 109th monthsary (july 14) and kim texted me that morning that he can't date me because the weather in bataan is still bad. i was feeling so kawawa na but then he arrived! surprise!

dinner at kfc amid the dark makati

our unit's power lines were "energized" around 8:30 that night. the water came back shortly after. happy monthsary to us!

we continued our monthsary celebration over the weekend. we spent a good deal of our time in the malls - trinoma, sm mall of asia, glorietta and greenbelt.

bigmac and chicken nuggets dinner

my latest shopping spree included:

for me: top P1,690 (zara, 40% off); skinny jeans (zara trf, 40% off); dress, P2,795 (topshop, 50% off)

my birthday gift for kim, P3,490 (zara man, 40% off)

i also got a blue guess shirt for my mom (it's her birthday on july 29) and a gap jacket for my dad (it's his birthday on september 8). i wasn't able to take pictures because i don't want to take them out of the paper bags na.

i also bought chains and charms for my latest hobby. i am making costume jewelry, particularly necklaces and bracelets. i am thinking of selling some of them. but for now, i am just enjoying making pretty things, hehe.

on saturday, we watched the last full show of inception in glorietta's 2d cinema for P0.50 only! we super loved it! the film is more than two hours long but you won't notice because it's that good. if you haven't seen it, go now and don't forget to tell me what you think about the ending!

on other news, i finally got my digital camera back from the service center! *\0/*

sorry, you missed cebu :(

friday food trip, etc.

july 9, 2010. i was supposed to go to edsa shangri-la mall for the eiga sai but none of my friends expressed intent of accompanying me. good thing my college housemates emman and chat were set to go to up diliman so i just tagged along.

and of course, we were in shorts and rubbershoes.

we decided to have a food trip in between chat claiming and applying for translation of her diploma. 

barbecue lunch at the beach house

P25 ice cream at the up shopping center

P10 cheese corn at casaa

mang larry's isaw baboy/manok, P3 per stick

sbarro dinner at trinoma

what we missed: football boys (to emman's disappointment), teaching chat how to ride a bicycle (the bike rentals are on a per semester basis), monay with cheese, turon, fishballs/kwek-kwek/cheese sticks, and those awesome cheap burgers near our boarding house in knl heights.

aside from getting myself so full, i also got to buy some cute stuff from the up shopping center and pop culture in trinoma.

erasers, stick-on notes and labels (diliman republic)

necklace with sewing kit pendant, P399 (french dolls)

* * *
i was able to watch one film from the eiga sai. it was also my first japanese film festival experience (boo me!) but i hope to get to watch more movies next year. the film i saw was tokyo tower (mom and me and sometimes dad), which revolves around a man's recollection of his childhood, while taking care of his sick mother. the movie was so touching. it made me cry and look back on my life, particularly those involving my mom and dad as well. 

to cap off my japan experience, i had sango!

P230

saturday off

finally! for the first time since may, kim and i were on a day-off at the same time.

i was still glued to my bed when kim arrived from bataan because i got home from videoke night with the girls around 6 a.m. already. i barely remember opening the door for him, haha. when i got up finally at 11 a.m., he was doing some research on his laptop while a kettle of water is boiling on the stove. my kettle never whistles, haha.

so, anyway, the rest of the day was spent mall hopping - glorietta, greenbelt, market!market!, serendra and then bonifacio high street.

i got myself a new murakami book at that huge fullybooked store at bonifacio high street. it was my first time there and i loved going through all the five floors of that bookstore. 

i also finally got kim a copy of the bro code, which i reserved at powerbooks in greenbelt for our 100th monthsary. i know, it's eight months late but it wasn't my fault! to be fair to myself, haha, while waiting for the copy, i purchased the on-the-go version of the book via the itunes store.

the wind-up bird chronicle, P425; the bro code, P575

 i was able to buy two pieces of costume jewelry at market!market!

necklace with robot pendant, P100; with clock pendant, P160

i also got this box of labels containing more than 100 stickers. they're so pretty!

P995 (powerbooks)

i found a lovely selection of postcards and stick-on notes at powerbooks but they're quite expensive so i decided i'd give in to them some other time, haha. kim promised to get me one booklet per month when he has extra money in the future, hihi. 

i was still not over the stick-ons so i  just had to buy this relatively cheap but cute superman, ultraman and spiderman stickies set at fullybooked.

P55

i also got a free bookmark from powerbooks.

after shopping, we had a greek marathon. t'was a very happy day! <3

me and the girls

june 30, 2010. for this month's angels' night, we had our usual catching with each others' lives session over tea at the coffee bean and tea leaf, greenbelt 3.

july 1, 2010. my long-overdue date with my cousin glaiza finally happened. we just thought of having coffee (her treat, yay!) the night before. we met around 9:30 p.m. at starbucks, 6750. we had a super fun hard time trying to take a self-portrait of the two of us, hahaha. a group from another table kept looking at us. sorry, guys, we haven't seen each other for six months already!

one of the better shots, haha

i rarely give my real name when taking orders and use my boyfriend's nickname (kim) instead because people usually misspell my name. but since my cousin ordered for me, she gave my real name. and surprise!

they spelled it right *\0/*

i ended up sleeping over her unit in pasig. oh yeah, team spontaneity! we were up until 4 a.m., talking about anything and everything. we might have ended up sleepless if we didn't notice the time. we also had to wake up by 7 a.m. to prepare - she for a tagaytay roadtrip with her boyfriend and i for a breakfast date with kim.

she said she'll treat me to dinner next time. and i said i'll treat her to a movie after. sounds like a plan <3

july 2, 2010. videoke with my mean girls at centerstage. singing started at around 8 p.m. and ended at five the following morning, haha. but gerlie's voice was fresh like that of an angel sighing through and through, hihi.

missing: karen, sha, ching & andy