college ball, frustrations, and a LOT of pictures

i spent saturday at the araneta coliseum, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the opening ceremonies of the university athletic association of the philippines (uaap) season 71. my school, the university of the philippines, is this year’s host and my oh my did we put on a great show. i can say with all honesty and without bias (well, maybe a little) that it’s the best opening i’ve seen so far — and i’ve attended the last six programs.

the rest of the day was spent wandering around malls. i went in several sports shops like nike where i felt really out of place with the way i was dressed. then i watched hancock in the evening. it was funny, yes, but turned out to be a bit of a let-down in the end. i don’t know, i think i expected way too much from it.

‘diyosa’ shirt – rockwell

black pleated skirt – thrifted

green stirrups – from korea

strappy wedges – thrifted

eel bag – vintage; thrifted

school jacket – u.p.

***

i really, really want this dress. it’s been splattered all over fashion blogs (at least, in a couple i’ve seen) and i’ve literally been stalking it at the topshop site. sadly, it’s nowhere here in manila, although there are some cute button-down shirt versions of it that i am SO tempted to buy instead. but i have been a loyal stalker, wishing for nothing but the gingham dress-perfection that’s been haunting my dreams.

so i’ve been scouring other shops (including children’s brands, mind you) in search of a good alternative. i found one in a thrift shop and it was pretty okay, with 3/4 sleeves and a tent shape. i was about to buy it but saw there were some damages to the fabric, which made me think it just wasn’t meant to be.

while at the thrift shop i was also able to find this a-m-a-z-i-n-g pair of red mary-janes, exactly what i’ve been looking for. they even had perfect, wooden cone heels to boot! and here’s the kicker: they were topshop shoes, in great shape, at $10! so why didn’t i buy them? they were too big. the saddest moment of my thrifting life, it was.

but i did get to try on about a thousand dresses there (most pictures of which i’m not posting here), so in the end it was a lot of fun..

(sorry for the poor-quality pics, the battery was running low..)

these are really pretty chinese laundry sandals that i didn’t buy, although they were my size and were in stellar condition. i make odd choices sometimes.

also, while browsing through the clothes there a sweet girl named judee recognized me from my blog, which was all kinds of embarrassing (because i looked so YUCK) but also really very cool. she was very sweet and helpful and as it turns out, we graduated from the same high school!

thanks for the lovely time, judee! see you ’round.(;