red dress up high

Something about this red dress hanging off a second-floor balcony-slash-fire-escape seemed really dramatic. I couldn't not take a snapshot of it.

photo shoot at work

After weeks of preparation, we finally had our two-day photo shoot for our client last Thursday and Friday! It was an amazing experience putting together all the settings with Luca (the prop stylist) and his team, ogling over the outfits Peter styled and watching as the photo assistants created lighting magic under Cyrus' direction. There was also Ludo, Mr. French digital technician, who kept a watchful eye on focus and lighting on the iMac screen whenever Cyrus fired his camera and Erin who made sure everything was going according to schedule. Everything went pretty smoothly! I'm still bummed that we weren't able to set up the green living room we had planned for the first day, but oh well. The "hobby room" and the "music room" from the second day turned out great!



It was a bit overwhelming being surrounded by so many beautiful people. One of the models who we cast as the older, slightly "not-so-pretty" guy turned out to be the hottest in the bunch. *insert Rietje's sigh here* (She had a major crush on that guy, Philip.) Even the stylists were gorgeous! Funnily enough, I found out that Peter, the wardrobe stylist, actually used to be a model himself but has since decided it wasn't for him and now styles outfits for people like Maroon 5. He has got himself an amazing job, I must say!

I was pretty flattered though when one of the models, Ming, came out wearing an outfit that looked eerily, okay, exactly, like mine! I don't think Peter had done it intentionally, but he later joked, "You're my muse!" when he saw the "similarity".


Here's me in the "bachelor pad" setting


And here's Ming in the "home office" setting with Peter

I wanted to grab so many things off the clothes racks they had brought there. They were mostly filled with goodies from J.Crew and Club Monaco. *sigh* If only we could keep the clothes! Peter said had we been in L.A., we would probably have been able to keep them. Sayang!

my summer friday

This is how I spent the afternoon of my third Summer Friday! (We get four Fridays of our choice off between Independence Day and Labor Day.) I haven't touched my acrylics in almost two years... actually, make that three! I haven't touched them since I finished Color Theory class in my first semester at Parsons.

I remembered I still have a few blank canvases left over from my art student days so today I decided to paint on one of them. Before I could get started, I actually had to go out and buy a palette from Lee's Art Shop a few doors down because I realized I'd thrown away my old one. (It was probably unbearably stained.) When I got back, I then realized I only had one paintbrush left too. I was hoping I had a thinner one around but, oh well, I didn't want to go back out again, so I made do.

I'm really not a painter, and I've only used my Guerra paints for those Color Theory projects that took Cel and I forever to finish. (I still cringe thinking about the grayscale half-painting half-collage piece that took us 10 hours each to complete! Haha) I wasn't really expecting a masterpiece of any sort to emerge from these hands of mine. I was not gifted to be a painter. Haha, I must say though, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out all things considered. I couldn't really fix things that needed more detail because of the width of my brush, but I don't think I ever intended to fill in the details of my face anyway. I like doing faceless sketches and paintings; it makes life so much easier. *grins*



Sooo, this might look familiar... because it's based off the picture I posted maybe 3 entries ago, hehehe :) Now that I've finished cleaning the palette and putting all the paint back into my art box, off to other things! I'm really excited for Karaoke tonight in K-town! Jared has been talking about organizing this for over a year now, and it's finally happening! Hurray! :)

miso soup mishap

Today I decided to forgo my recent obsession with Soon Doo Boo from Manna Kitchen and revert back to my former obsession of Oyakodon from Ennju. I had my bowl of chicken and egg on rice in front of me, my chopsticks in hand, and my eyes glued onto my computer screen. I was watching White Collar on Hulu during my lunch break and was well, busy swooning over Neil Caffrey (Matt Bomer, I love you, your style, your suits and your blue eyes!) Next thing I know, I had spilled a spoonful of my complimentary miso soup onto my pants, and not just anywhere, but right at the crotch! I was horrified. I had to wait a good 30 minutes for my gray pants to dry and for the spot to disappear. Thank goodness nobody needed me and had wanted me to come over to their desks! Else I would have had to stand up looking like I had peed right through my pants! *laughs* Hayayay.

ramen coma

I think I might have slurped down that bowl of Shoyu ramen at Terakawa Ramen much too quickly. My tummy is not feeling all that well at the moment. The ramen, from the soup, to the noodles and that perfectly soft-boiled egg, was so delicious I just started stuffing my face with it all. Now I am regretting not taking my time with it. Food comaaaaaaaa...

my hair in a bun

This is the first time I've worn my hair in a bun since I had my last ballet recital when I was, I don't know, maybe 4 years old? *laughs* It was actually fun taking all those bobby pins and just sticking them in "strategic locations" to keep the strands in place. Quite fulfilling! I still don't know how the auditioning ballerinas who I see waiting in line on 19th Street everyday on my way to work keep their buns so neat, without a hair out of place. It's definitely a learned art.

Anyway, I wore a super comfy no-fuss outfit today. I felt like I was walking around in pajamas! I really love my hot pink top, it's super soft and flowy. I remember wearing this to my brother's birthday dinner almost exactly a year ago. How time flies!

red mango graphics

I know this Red Mango store has been open for almost 7 months now, but I never really got to "celebrate" this illustration that I created for the counter wall at the SM Mall of Asia. I remember working on this graphic over countless wintry nights at our poorly heated sublet apartment on W 51st Street (I would sometimes wear my puffy down jacket over my pajamas because it was so cold in there!) I've never seen this store in person, and I haven't seen the SM Megamall store either. I guess everything will have to wait until I'm back in Manila for the holidays this December.


The illustration
I was a bit bummed to see they hadn't gotten the measurements right and had zoomed into the illustration and cut away a large part of it when they applied it to the wall, especially since I'm sure I was working on the right size/proportions. Oh well. Achi said she could have it changed eventually, but I don't think we're ever gonna end up doing that. I wish the illustration didn't end up getting zoomed in this huge though (especially since I might have some curves there that aren't as smooth as I would have liked them to be! hehehe oops!)


As seen at the SM Mall of Asia store
Another thing I just finished working on last night is a new set of slides for the rotating TV menus we have at the stores. I remember having done the first set a year ago in haste because we were opening the first-ever Red Mango Philippines store at TriNoma in a few days. I've realized, now that I've done the second set, that the first set from last year looked quite bad! I guess my design sense has been taken up a notch since then! *laughs* It's funny how different you can feel about something once time turns its hands. It's amusing looking back on things you've done, things you were actually happy about or even proud of, and seeing them now and making a face thinking, "I actually thought that looked good?" Hehehe.

Overall, I guess I still retained a bit of a feel from the first set, but I've just buttoned it up a bit. And so I present a before-and-after snapshot of a couple of the slides on the menu. At the very least I think I've been able to make the slides more cohesive as a set the second time around :) Or do people think otherwise? Oopsie if they do hehe!