halfwhiteboy

With summer starting to heat up this part of the globe, all I can think of is the beach. Well, and what to wear to the beach. I've been searching for new stuff at a safe distance--that is from my computer--and found a few good swim shorts from Philippine brands . I also started checking out some foreign brands that have stores here and now I'm excited even more. Here are a few of the pieces I found: Zara I've always loved this Spanish brand and it did not disappoint in the swimwear department with checks, tie prints, and paisley. Though still limited for now, the pieces are perfectly short, allowing the wearer to show some thigh for a sexier look. At Php 1,595, I think it's a pretty good deal already. Checked swimming shorts, Zara.

I'm loving all the short shorts I see from British top retail brand Topman and Spanish label Zara for their 2013 swimwear offerings. There's a good mix of color, conservative, and bold prints from both of them. So could you blame me? Topman When Topman opts for color, then it's color -- and neon at that! Also loving the bold tropical print in the other piece here.

This was taken last Friday, officially my last working day of 2011. I'm taking the remaining four days off. So I'm arms wide open, thankful for the work year that was, and for completing my yearlong self-glorification project that is Project Look Book . Yes, I did it. If there's going to be a Year 2, I still have a couple more days to decide on that and if ever, how I intend to do it this time around. I'm wearing here the second of two Randy Ortiz for Bench polo shirts I bought last month (the first one I wore more than a week ago ). It's got the same banded hemline at the bottom and the same narrow neon collar, only this time it's orange instead of yellow. Wore Topman jeans and Zara sneakers and I was good to go.

Busy day. But everything's alright because it's Friday! It's that day of the week when people at the office usually enjoy going out for lunch more than on any other day. Well, today I did just that with a couple of my colleagues. We were basically just spending our little prize money from that Christmas decorating contest  we just won; sort of a celebration if you may. As for today's outfit,  it's pretty simple and relaxed. I wore my black Collezione polo shirt with the Philippine map on it paired with light blue jeans from Topman, and then Chucks to complete the look. But I went a bit crazy with my shoot...

Big day tomorrow as SMART launches the iPhone 4S here in the Philippines. There's this huge event happening at the Powerplant Mall in Rockwell, Makati City from 10PM till about 4AM the next day. So everybody's going gaga over it. Meanwhile, it was Day 2 of our strategic planning session and so my day was pretty tiring in a cerebral fashion. Funny that just sitting around thinking and arguing makes one really tired by day's end. But it does make one tired. At least I got to relax with my outfit: jeans and a t-shirt. Awesome!

Was out for the first of a two-day planning session today, so I got to wear something more casual. The polo was something I got from Bench while shopping for some gifts a few weeks ago (of course, I also gotta have mine!). I love the narrow neon collar and the banded hem at the bottom. It's from a collection by local designer Randy Ortiz for Bench. So this whole designer-retailer collaboration trend has now reached Philippine shores. From the likes of Lanvin and Versace for H&M, Missoni for Target, here we have Rajo Laurel for Wharton, and M Barretto and Ortiz for Bench. So who's next?

Got to wear my new shoes today. In a vapid attempt at justifying my purchase, I always say "It's meant to be" to somehow ease the guilt that comes with shelling out money. And this is why I say that this pair was meant to be: I originally spotted them at Prima Linea in Greenbelt 3, which were also available in another color but I loved this one better. Unfortunately, they didn't have it in my size, so maybe it was not meant to be, I thought. A week later while I was in Cebu, I saw them at a Linea Store in Ayala Center -- and they had it in my size! Meant to be after all!

I feel like I'm overdressed today looking at this photo. But really I'm not. A blazer can really work wonders in dressing up any outfit. And how could I be overdressed when I'm only wearing a short-sleeved shirt underneath?

Attack of the gigantic me! Sorry for the late post. I've been busy last Friday because of our little Christmas decorating contest at the office. The atmosphere was so festive, I didn't have time to blog. My weekend, on the other hand, was restive and I still didn't have time to blog. The least I was able to do was sift through megabytes upon megabytes of images to use in this post. Festive as the day was last Friday, I was clad in black that day. My colleagues in our group all wore black to be consistent with our black Christmas theme. Here's how it looked:

Sorry but I've been busy decorating yesterday. Like I've said , we have a Christmas decorating contest within our department and we had to put everything up by Friday for judging. It's nothing really big and it's all in the spirit of fun but bragging rights are priceless. I'll show photos of what became of our office in another post. And since I've been too busy to blog, picking my Thursday outfit was done on auto-pilot. I also had to be comfortable because I would be dealing with lots of tape, glitter and nylon. Hence, the pink pullover and pinstripe pants. But just to add a bit of flair, I wore this feather necklace from Topman.

Nearly everyone here at the office is busy decorating for Christmas. There's a small contest within our department, that's why. Clusters of cubicles were grouped to form teams, and judging will be this Friday. We're four in our group, and our rather ambitious concept has been constantly met with challenges. We're going for an elegant black Christmas with silver and plum accents. There will also be some Christmas art printed on transparencies. But would you believe we've been to several bookstores and shops already, and every single one of them ran out of stock for black colored paper? Major problem. So far we've only managed to hang a single transparency sheet and we need to complete everything by tomorrow night. Good luck to us! Today I wore mint green on gray, and for leather, I went for black. The whole outfit's pretty basic and safe. The gray blazer was in hand for warmth whenever the AC got too cold for comfort. It actually doesn't match the...

The local weather bureau said we have a rainy week ahead. That doesn't sound so pleasant, what with Christmas coming and everybody's out shopping and attending parties. But we gotta deal with it. Today was a lazy day with just a gray pullover and black pants. Good thing I decided just before leaving the house to throw this scarf around my neck. It may not be freezing outside but inside the office it can be. Even with the scarf's basic black, white and gray color combo, it instantly brought life to my outfit. At least that's what I think.

I'm back to work after a brief visit to Cebu, and look what we've got at the lobby just before the day ended: Lots and lots of apples! They were giving one each to anyone interested. It's but part of efforts to drum up anticipation for the arrival of the iPhone 4S here in the Philippines (and the end of the exclusivity erstwhile enjoyed by another carrier with the iPhone's first four incarnations). "We believe everybody deserves an apple." is the campaign, which I find cute. Now on with today's outfit. I wore a vest from Penshoppe that I got while shopping for gifts to bring to Cebu. Sorry but every time I shop for someone else, I can't resist the urge to get something for me as well. Anyhow, I love it's light brown shade, something I don't think I have in my wardrobe. Plus it was on sale! I wore a plain white shirt underneath paired with light gray pants and brown shoes. I kept it clean and simple.

This was yesterday's outfit. Apart from a busy day at work yesterday ( Why do I always feel harassed the day before I go on leave for a vacation? ), My Bibe 's really sick and she's got me worried. We're already in Cebu right now to visit my mom and sister but My Bibe's still sick, so I really couldn't enjoy this trip. I just hopes she gets better by tomorrow. Anyhow, after black and brown last Monday, it's black and blue for Tuesday. The blue isn't jeans, though, and no, I wasn't trying to pull off a Steve Jobs. I was just a bit lazy, that's why. Good thing I had this jacket on hand to break the walking boredom that is my outfit.

My day was entirely spent on one of several planning exercises for next year. Tomorrow we'll have another one. That said, I feel so drained by day's end. So I have to brace myself for another round tomorrow. And because I wasn't really going to spend my day doing my usual workload, I decided I'd wear jeans (and I was the only one in our group who did although few noticed). I definitely still had respect for Thursday, so I dressed the jeans up a bit with a long-sleeved shirt and leather shoes. I also chose dark jeans because they tend to look more formal than those in lighter shades. I accessorized with a necklace and some beads.

Some people can really get on one's nerves. They're like mosquitoes that, no matter how many times you shoo them away, they still insist on pestering you. And so there's no other solution left but to spray insecticide on them. But of course we can't do that with humans. I don't want to think about it anymore. Move on with happy thoughts...happy thoughts... Today I was hoping for the same cold weather as yesterday. Unfortunately it didn't come. But at least it was still cooler than what we normally have in this tropical country of ours. The office air conditioning was still cold, though, so the scarf (which I just recently bought from Bench) came in handy in the absence of a jacket. It's a simple outfit, actually, with the shoes being the only item that gives this ensemble some oomph. But then it's also a good thing to have just one statement piece while keeping everything else understated.

I woke up to a rainy Tuesday morning and was pleased with the considerable drop in temperature. The only problem was that I didn't want to get out of bed at all. But eventually I did. Today I'm wearing blue with brown. Pardon me for my insistence on brown because I simply am too lazy to change bags at the moment. So yes, my outfit is entirely anchored on my bag, which, ironically, I really don't get to photograph and include in my Project Look Book posts. While the blue worked perfectly in lighting up an otherwise gloomy day, the trench was a last-minute addition. I mentioned the temperature drop, so I expected the AC in the office to be colder than normal. And of course, I was right.

Runny nose by day, clogged sinuses by night. This is just so not the way to go. If it's any consolation, though, I'm quite happy with the not-so-warm weather today. It makes staying inside the office so friggin' cold -- and I'm enjoying every bit of it! Well yesterday was quite the fiesta in the local news scene: former President gets a TRO from the Supreme Court, former President tries to board a plane for Singapore (for medical treatment), Justice Secretary defies Supreme Court and orders Bureau of Immigration to bar former President from leaving the country, former President leaves airport and proceeds to local hospital for the time being, and then everybody weighs in on the issue. Whew! Maybe the former President should have just left through another airport north of Manila, the one that's been named after her father (the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga), and not through the one that's been recently dubbed as one of the worl...

11.11.11 it is, huh? To me it's just another date except that after the first twelve years of this millennium, we won't get to see such a curious pattern again until the next century on January 1st, 2101 (01.01.01). So okay, it is special because it doesn't come by often. And our last chance to revel in such an occurrence would be on December 12th next year (12.12.12), at least for those reading this post today (unless you get to live beyond a hundred years). Moving on, I'm motioning "crazy" with my hands in the photo below (moving in a circular pattern) for no particular reason other than the fact that I'm wearing a tee from local brand Mental . Maybe I'm going mental. If my memory serves me right, I think  My Bibe  got it for me last year at some bazaar. Mental has their own stores, though, scattered across several malls here.

I realized that today is my dad's birthday. I don't really know where he is right now; perhaps somewhere in Copenhagen. I don't have any communication with him and I haven't seen him since I was, like, seven or eight.  After my parents's divorce, my single piece of communication with my dad was a letter from him back when I was a freshman in college (I wrote him first). I still remember how I felt then. But when I wrote back, with high hopes of reconnecting with him, I never got an answer. I guess that was it.