'Tis the season to be sunny.

the beach

the sun worshippers.

summer, finally.

energy, serenity, & bliss.

in my element.

soaking in the sun.

Pat on the back, I just survived two months of no beach!  Now that I'm out of no-beach-rehab, I can't promise I'll stay no-beach-sober for long.  In fact, I relapsed right after I got out.  Who wouldn't?  I was welcomed by a good buddy named summer.  It's been twelve friggin months since we last saw each other, we needed to celebrate our reunion!  Summer's staying around for three months and begged that we do beach at least three times a month. Of course, this beach-junkie said yes.  I missed you a lot, summer.  I'm glad you're back!

photos shot in:

Basdako Beach

Moalboal, Cebu

Philippines

One island, eight ladies.

I've always had this little thought in my head about getting stranded in an isolated island with my friends and I always end up thinking about doing a fashion photo shoot instead of figuring out how to survive or get out of the island alive. Sounds silly, fashion over survival?! hahaha! Of course I won't pray about getting shipwrecked and be swept away in an island! So during our team outing island hopping trip last week (see previous post), I attempted to translate that crazy fantasy into reality when I took photos of my office mates in their bikinis! I don't know how I managed to take these photos and do the creative direction at the same time, I swear I was a little tipsy by this time. Thank you ladies for being so game that day! You all look cute in those swimsuits!

Models:
Sher
Carmelli
Krishna
Rea
Lavina
April
Joi
Prinz

Location:
Pandanon Island, Bohol

No sun but still fun.

It looks like summer’s going to end soon this year. Today’s bright sunny weather should have been the case last Friday during our island hopping tour but it wasn’t. The earlier weeks of May normally would be the hottest during the season but it’s obvious, our weather system is pretty f*cked messed up. Yes, I blame it on global warming. Despite the gloomy weather last week, everyone was having a blast during our little excursion. I’ve been on a similar island hopping tour three times before but last Friday’s got to be the most fun. It was my first time visiting Pandanon Island, an island with an easy access from Cebu but is already part of Bohol. Overcast skies didn’t stop us from getting wasted having fun at sea. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits despite the cold weather. I normally would not have as much fun at the beach (or at sea in this case) if there’s no sun but surprisingly, I had a grand time. This trip turned out to be a trip of many firsts for me too! Here they are, randomly enumerated:

- taking photos of 8 ladies all wearing two-piece swimsuits

- island hopping in a big boat, in a big group

- sharing 2 dozens of 1.5 liter Coke and Sprite with 19 others

- drinking rum coke from 9am ‘til 3pm while on board an outrigger boat

- picking sea urchins with a huge fork

- jellyfish stings/itch for the year

- peanut butter sandwich on board a boat

- island hopping on a cold cloudy day

- not eating chips at the beach

- squeezing in my butt in a tiny jeep with 17 others on our way home

It sure was another trip to remember, especially with these jellyfish stings that will scar in the next 2 or 3 months!

Chilling Out With Friends and the Lemon Soda Vodka

The original plan was to head out to the beach that Sunday but not everyone was too keen on the idea of spending that day for a tan retouch. Of course there had to be a plan B and plan B's happened to be one of my fortes (I think). So daytime was spent at home watching shows on cable while indulging in a binging spree. What I hate about weekends is the fact the I always end up waking up really early in the morning (usually between 4am-5am) and I never get to sleep during the day again and I always end up in front of the teevo eating. Arrggh! The beach would have been a perfect alternative. So later that day we settled for plan C with plan B being at a friend slash officemate's house talking about whatever while drinking our all-time fave soda vodka. Nevertheless, plan C was just as fun! Spent the night with 2 gay men (talk about being openly gay), 3 straight men(1 eventually walked out after a shot or two), and a straight woman (are you straight girl?), and yes, soda vodka was still on the menu topped with chats about anything under the sun. Well it was really more on gossiping about people who were absent that night! lol

Location:

Route Stop

Salinas Drive, Lahug

Cebu City

What I wore:

Black V-neck Tee by Baleno

Cuffed Denim Cutoff Shorts (Thrifted)

Metallic strap Flipflops by Havaianas

Some Few Thousand Feet Above Sea Level

"I want our Christmas party to be held in some place that's exclusive for the team." -our boss's directive when we planned out this year's party. Immediately, all index fingers pointed to my direction. I was tasked to pick the venue for the event (as usual). I didn't complain since it was not that rocket-science of a task. I'd rather do that than do Excel charts, business analysis reports and the like. But it turned out that I wasn't only in-charge of finding some place exclusive for us, I was assigned as the event-organizer. Still I did not complain. Okay, I did whine a little. We've had Christmas parties in a hotel that served all-you-can-eat buffet meals twice, we had one in a native restaurant, one in a videoke bar - all of which are far from what our boss is looking for -exclusive. So I thought of closing down a popular club for a night but the idea turned out to be too ambitious- we cannot afford it. What about a house party? This was the best idea given our restraint slash budget. The next question was whose house? Everyone went silent. Then I remembered this house on top of the mountains that has the best view of the metropolis and it has swimming pool too! Problem solved. All that's left was giving the rest of the team members their individual tasks and we were all good to go! The party was a success (as usual...lol) but too bad, our boss didn't make it that night due to an emergency.

The House

Aza and Patrick enjoying the pool

Amazing View Behind

White Shirts (unplanned)

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show/Videoke

Food!!!

Exchange Gifts

Games

Booze...

Breath-taking View

Location:

Roosevelt Mountain Resort

+63-323466503/paseojen@yahoo.com

http://www.roosevelt-resort.blogspot.com

What I wore:

Plaid Button-down Shirt (Thrifted)

Basic White V-neck Tee by Warren

Denim Cutoff Shorts (Thrifted)

Shoes by Vans (Authentic)

Flipflops by Havaianas (Silver Metallic)