I’m extremely thankful that Nicky Roa created an illustrated portrait of me. Not only is he a designer and stylist, but he’s also an amazing Fashion Illustrator. He’s been telling me about this since last year because this was supposed to be his Christmas gift for me but we never got to see each other. But now, I’m so glad that he took photos of it so I can finally see how it looks like.

Isn’t it amazing? I really love what he did with the illustration, especially his detail on the eyes. But what’s more amazing about this is that this was done by hand. He also made one for our good friend Paolo Crodua. I can’t wait to finally receive the real thing and displaying it in my room. Also, Nicky is now blogging here on tumblr. Follow him at nickylately.tumblr.com to contact him for illustration commissions and to see how amazing he really is. Once again, thank you so much Nicky!

All photos were taken by Nicky Roa.

Unlike most of you people, I’m not rich, yet. So sometimes when I buy clothes, I do an age old practice that my mom passed on to me, which I have mastered quite a bit. I do ukay-ukay or thrift shopping. Fortunately, there’s a lot of these stores near my place and I found these babies.

I got this really nice Bass topsider. It’s still in very good condition. And it’s very comfy. It’s even prettier up close. I feel like it’s very “grown up” because I always saw my dad wear this when I was younger. It’s a nice departure from my chucks.

I also got this Lumberjack topsider. It looks really old, but it’s still in very good condition. I think a round of shoe polishing and cleaning will make this less scruffy.

As an avid thrift store shopper, I  think I’ve managed to stock my closets chock full of great vintage and thrifted stuff that I wear in my everyday life. It can be a challenge to make a thrifted item look more modern, but I think that’s the fun part of all this. It’s really amazing how much you can get without spending so much money.

So, over the last couple weeks I have been secretly plotting a new blog design layout. After countless days of sifting through fonts, width sizes, ccs codes, tumblr theme docs, and lots of trial and error, I present to you my new blog layout!

Or if you’re reading this off my blog, then it’s what you see around. It’s very simple. Black & White, No lines. Very Me. I used Greying by Gabriel Wee for my base theme and tweaked the hell out of it to my liking. For those of you who are following me on twitter, you might have seen a few tweets flying around ranting about Google Web Fonts, which I just recently found out since I live under a rock. The fonts I used are Lato Normal 400 and Droid Serif Normal 400, all courtesy of Google Web Fonts. For my “logo” I used the font Code Light from Font Squirrel. I really like the whole layout. I hope you’ll like it too. 

This year for Sinulog, I was only able to attend the novena masses and the solemn procession. Obviously there’s no photos of the grand parade because I just watched it on TV. I was cozily nestled at home while everyone partied their heart out on the streets. Hopefully I’ll be able to go out and party next year. I feel like this year, I want to take the religious side of the festival more seriously. The Sinulog Festival always makes me so proud to be Cebuano. Can’t wait for next year. Pit Senyor!

Last January 12, 2012, I was invited the launching of Cebu’s first online fashion magazine, BLANC Magazine Online. It was held at Yo.U Restobar in Cebu City. The night comprised of a fashion show, the presentation of the BLANC Staff, the presentation of their first issue and of course, the reveal of their first ever cover. BLANC, as they would like to put it, is an online fashion and art magazine dedicated to the underground youth, the vague and the implicit. Put up together by Cebu’s most artistic and experimental young minds, BLANC is the unconventional probe of the Queen City’s distinct chronicles on the latest in fashion, androgyny, art culture and streetstyle. I’m glad that I was able to contribute to their first issue. I’m really excited to do more for this magazine. It was also a great opportunity for me to meet the members of Cebu Fashion Bloggers, which I myself is a member. I met with old friends, and made new friends as well. For me, it was a great way of putting myself out there. I can’t wait be with them again in future events. 

1. Blanc Magazine 2. My favorite looks from the Abstraq Fashion Show 3. The Models 4. Dress by Edward Castro Shoes by Aia Tupas 5. Blanc Covergirl and Queen of Cebu 2011 Bee Urgello 6. With Philip & Eden (Photo by Philip Lapinid) 7. With Mac (Photo by Philip Lapinid) 8. Eden Villarba 9. Gillian Uang 10. Yves Camingue 11. With Chyrel Gomez 12. Blanc-ception 13. Van Dela Bajan & Nicky Roa 14. Patterns, Heels and Rain 15. The fabulous people behind Blanc.

Visit their website www.blanc-mag.com to know more about the magazine. Click here to read the January-February issue of Blanc Magazine Online. 

Also, in keeping with tradition, here are my 12 resolutions for 2012. Because just like before, I’m still delusional enough to believe in them. I wasn’t able to stick with my resolutions last year. But that’s not stopping me from creating and recycling resolutions for the new year. 

1. Focus on my long term goals.
2. Take more and more photos this year.
3. Eat Healthy and Work Out.
4. Travel outside of the Philippines.
5. Be more friendly and make lots of new friends.
6. Quit the affectations.
7. Slow down on the materialism and keep a simple lifestyle.
8. Be a better boyfriend.
9. I need to be nicer to myself and to other people around me. 
10. Spend more time with my family (i.e. vacations, trips to the beach)
11. Give More.
12. Love More.

So that’s that. I hope I can’t stick to it as much as possible. It’s better to have goals set that to go on with the year without any plans at all. The photo above is the only decent firework photo I got on New Year since I was still buzzed from all the wine and from the food coma I was nursing courtesy of my mom’s lasagna and ham. Anyway, have a prosperous 2012 everyone! I hope you can stick to your resolutions as well.

In keeping with tradition, these eleven photos are some of the highlights of my life from 2011. This year has been a year of discovery, growth, loss, forgiveness and love. These photos really mean a lot to me, so I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed compiling them. Happy 2012 Everyone!

Yes, I am still alive. It’s funny when I have to explain why I have been away. I was very busy from work that I mostly spend my mornings and afternoon asleep. For lack of a good writing skill, here is a photo essay of what I have been up to since the I’ve been away.

1. A Beautiful Rainy Morning 2. A few of my favorite Books. 3. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein 4. Richel Reyes 5. Palm Trees 6. Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 7. Scene of the Crime 8. Pretty Pastry 9. A self portrait of me wherein I am not wearing a shirt whilst I am enjoying the cold rainy day.

P.S. This might become a weekly thing now.
P.P.S. December is my birthday month. I will be accepting Birthday gifts in cash or in kind. You have at least 13 days to do that.