My Autumn

Sometimes, when you think that things can't get any better, they turn out for the best.

Just like how I met Marvin, My Love. When we met 5 months ago, I never thought that my world could get more colorful. Since it was Grad season, companies hold career days to recruit. It was in such that we meet. I approached and sat beside him to mingle a bit. Then, voila! We are now a young couple venturing the world together.

Our first picture as a couple. Naks!

I love how we can just be crazy and fun together, enjoying the simple things like MRT and car rides, Mondates, window shopping, groceries and errands and just chilling with our families. With him, every task is light and bearable. He always encourages me to do my best and telling me "Kaya mo yan!" As for him, I always try making him laugh. I love making him laugh. He is too serious about things (Marvs is kinda OC-OC). I feel special when I do that.

Love the Top Right picture! Oha, endorsing the bow I handmade pa ah!

My life has indeed become more colorful with him around. The things we experienced together are special and very memorable.

Food
Everybody's fave bonding time! I eat. A lot. But with him, I tasted variety (and ate a lot more. *Straight face*) World class taste test daw eh. Haha! He is a foodie who loves Japanese and Asian cuisine though he is not limited to that.

Japanese food! (L) Lunch with his Finance Thesismates at Omakase in Ayala Triangle
(R) Dinner with Marvin and Donna (My sister) at Nodasho Japanese Restaurant in Little Tokyo.
More on our foodie and "fashYOWN" blog soon!

Chinese! (Top) Breakfast at Emerald diner in Manila
(Bottom Left) Dinner at North Park in Market! Market!
(Bottom Right) Dinner at Ersao in Eastwood

Let's go Western! (L) Dinner at Sizzling Pepper Steak in Trinoma
(R) Breakfast with Marvin and his mom at Antonio's in Tagaytay.

There are so much more undocumented food escapades! Until randomly, we thought, "Hey! What if we make a foodie blog?" We actually thought of names like CORNgee, mix of corny (yessir, I am!) and congee (my ultimate craving at that time). But CORNgee fails to serve a greater purpose. You'll find it out soon!

Going Places

I know our love is going places. Literally. He has expanded my world in the spatial sense by being lakwatsero and lakwatsera almost every week.

Travel! (Top Left) Puzzle Mansion in Tagaytay
(Top Right) Despicable me in IMAX at SM Aura
(Bottom Left) Date with 1st year UPSE Barkada in Wakeboarding park, Nuvali
(Bottom Right) San Fabian Beach at my Mom's hometown, San Fabian Pangasinan

More than discovering a place, each place we go to becomes meaningful to us becaue it was filled with laughter, corni-ness and good vibes. Even ordinary places like foodcourts holds treasured moments to us.

Photo Ops

Marvin always take pictures. As in ALWAYS. Almost half on his album are candid shots. And he's always online. So if there are already nice pictures in his smartphone, he uploads it immediately on Facebook with matching Foursquare tags and all that! If you could see my Facebook wall, you'll mostly see "Marvin Singson Managhaya tagged you in...," "Marvin Singson Mananghaya said he was with you at....," etc...

Not that I am complaining. There really was a time that he's like my status writer, all my wall posts came from him only. Haha! Anyway, I'm trying to be more online because of work and personal businesses.

Random OOTDs at Random Places

But more than our SABAW-ness, I love how we can also engage in intellectual discourse about serious things like the economy (our undergraduate courses are both Economics but he also has a degree in Finance), politics, gender inequality, idealism, education and a lot of things. It was refreshing for me because I can't always do that often to most people.

But more than that, we were already planning for a more productive (in economic sense) venture together. We're building our BUSINESS! Watch out for more in the following days!

Shoutout to my co-star in this blog: We can do this. Together. :)

Love,

Carmi!

Photos are grabbed from Marvin's phone, Carmi's phone, Irene Arzadon, Kevin Estopace and Tita Kit's phone.

One Sunday Morning

Sunday is Church day!

That's why I always make it a point to dress my best. I always pick up something comfy and decent more than what's fashionable. But it's always a win-win situation if you achieved both. Using some of my basics (and most often used pieces) I was able to have this look.

Leopard top, printed skirt, stiletto necklace, turkish bracelet and gold watch (hand me downs)
Belt (SM Dept. Store) 

Shoes (Chelsea, SM Dept.)

All of these pieces I own since time immemorial. Haha!:)) I think I was able to pull off a decent but nice outfit. After attending mass together, my mother, sister and I went to SM Fairview to shop.:)

I am planning to use my 1,500 worth of CHEMISTRY GCs I got from ACLE (See here: http://carmi-desu.blogspot.com/2011/08/novice-inspiration.html). The first time I tried to spend my GCs was in SM Annex but for some reason, they weren't accepted so, I went to SM Fairview next. 

When we got there, the lady said that they accept GCs but since their system is down, they have to call first to ask. I was worried because we might not be able to use the GCs again. Good thing, they accepted and processed manually.

I waited for almost a year before using my GCs because having a tight budget, I see to it that I'll buy what I really need. Even if it took me so long to use my GCs, it wasn't my first time in Chemistry. I always pass by the shop to check all items and choose what I really like.

What I like about Chemistry stores is that they have a bright lighting unlike other stores with fluorescent lighting, you're not sure if the color of the item really looks good on you or the lighting is just nice.

The boys and the girls side

Girls side

Who doesn't love a sale?:)

Accessories! (That's my sister taking the photo and my mom. Haha!)

More accessories in the counter.

Another thing I love about the store is that it has unique dressing rooms! They're very safe and private plus it's air-conditioned! Mirrors are also sky-high (exagge! Haha!).

Some of my choices:

Denim vest

Patterned dress

Demure dress with my sis' pink floral top

Seems like from a 50's movie

Checkered vest and denim semi-corporate skirt

The first time I saw this skirt, I fell in love! I saw it first in Annex and it's definitely one of my picks. In the end, we bought these.

Pink Floral top for my Sis, Denim skirt and Floral blazer for me!

I chose these because of functionality, it can be used in corporate and casual settings. When I shop, I always get my sister at least one item. She's very matampuhin. Haha!

Chemistry is not only a his and her brand which often comes out very "matchy". In Chemistry, each piece has a connective thread with the other pieces, enough for mature couples (even singles) to express their style and inspiration. This makes them unique and a stand out from other brands. The prices are moderately affordable too. I'll surely come back for that denim vest I saw earlier. Haha!

Thank you Chemistry! 

Love, Carmi ♥

One of the best things 4.0

Day 4: Bags up for Baguio!

Disclaimer: All photos were grabbed from Precious Bustamante.

After 3 days of hot beaches, it's time to get that summer cool and where could you get that? Where else but Baguio! Termed as the Philippines' Summer Capital, it's no surprise that this would be one place we couldn't miss. Aside from its cool temperature, Baguio is famous for its historical places and cultural landmarks.It's no wonder that even foreigners are drawn to the almost 8-hour drive from Manila and 4 hours from San Fabian just to experience the uniqueness of Baguio.

At the Lion's head

It was my fist time to see the Lion's head. Since we don't have our own car and use only the public transportation, we don't pass through Kennon road. We also stopped by the Kennon Road viewpoint and the Ifugao Village.

View of Kennon road

Mini-rice Terraces

The bakasyonistas (with my Mom)

The Cousins

The young. Haha!:))

Family picture!

We had a unique Baguio experience. Instead of going to usual places like the Burnham Park, Mines View Park, etc.. We went straight to Philippine Military Academy (PMA). This is by the influence of Uncle Roger works for the US Navy (bongga!).

PMA is the home to our young cadets where they train and develop. Aside from that, they have turned it to an educational place by putting up old models of tanks and artillery used in the World War 2. I also learned (from Uncle Roger) that the training grounds were located at Teacher's camp before moving to their present location. 

Alumni Tribute

Tank Babes. Haha!

Love this picture

One of the most interesting part of our trip is visiting the PMA Museum. We wanted to see how the military people train but because it's a Sunday, officers are on a break and their families are allowed to visit them.

My mom. Ordinary Cadet room.

Uniforms throughout the years

Donna, me, Ate Presh and Auntie Perla

                                                 

 The above are class seals of every batch. They also use Filipino terms such as Bagwis, Matikas, Maragtas among others.

Outside!

Some aircrafts

Tree house.

Of course, since officers are all around the area, we didn't miss the chance to be photographed with them. Yeah!

Female Cadet

Navy

With the Cadets

An officer in camouflage!

In the Ranks

Cool!!

More photos in PMA. 

At the Head Office

If you're wondering why I'm not wearing a jacket it's because it was hot. Weather patterns have changed much even in Baguio. Before, you always have to wear jackets all day. But not anymore. Still, it's cold in the afternoon and night.

We had lunch at Rosebowl. It's a well recommended chinese restaurant especially for family gatherings. And the food was delish too! Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures. We attempted to go to Minesview Park but the crowd was just crazy! There were so many people, as in, shoulder-to-shoulder. Wild!

After eating, we went to Teacher's camp to settle our lodgings. Then we went to the Bell Church. Here are some pictures.

Main entrance gate

Interior

Bawal dawww!! Hahahaha!

Uncle Roger

Uncle Roger is soooo cute! He's one of the funniest persons I know and who would have thought he works as the Combat Director for the US Navy? Looks can be deceiving, huh? No wonder why he and Aunt Mae are still very sweet to each other. Aunt Mae even call's him her boyfriend. Haha! Uncle Roger only answers with, "Ang hirap talaga maging alipin." :))

Lovely Couple.

After going to the Bell Church, we went to La Trinidad for the famous strawberry farm and picking area. However, heavy rain fell and we weren't able to come closer.

Lettuce

Protected strawberries

The price for strawberry-picking is P500 per kilo per person. And we were like, "That's crazy! We can buy strawberries for only P300+ per kilo at the markets." I don't know about you but I'd rather buy strawberries at the market though strawberry-picking seems fun too.

We went to SM Baguio a bit to buy DVDs and Bibingka. They were my aunties favorite things to buy. Almost every mall we went to, they bought DVDs. (Note: I'm not complaining!:))

With Uncle Roger and my sis

Since it was raining, we ended our day with a soup diet at Chowking in SM Baguio. That's it for Day 4 but not yet done with Baguio.:) More on Day 5!

If you wanted to know what beaches we've been to, please read the ff:

Super Subic!  http://carmi-desu.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-of-best-things-30.html 

Into the heart of Pangasinan  http://carmi-desu.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-of-best-things-20.html 

One of the best things  http://carmi-desu.blogspot.com/2012/06/one-of-best-things.html 

Love, Carmi!