[SUPPOSEDLY] WORLD PREMIERE: Those Comfy Flats from Sassy Girl

Before I get to world premiere my violet flats here, my kikay officemates had expressed their interest to get their own pair. And so did this machunurin guy for his real-life boss. (Congrats again, Weenee! Best wishes, Aberdeen!) I can still recall how almost everyone clamored for the red pair, got discouraged with the possibility that we'll report to work donning the same footwear and quickly realized it's not really a big deal if we do. At least we know one another and we could agree not to be seen wearing the same pair during lunch outs and post-shift adventures (yeah, right!) AND it's hardly as humiliating like it did when I sat next to a fellow passenger or crossed the street with a fellow corporate slave wearing the same purchase from Solemate. Seriously, I have an average of 1 encounter per week!

Luckily, my friend Valerie Dy put up her own shoe business and started producing these comfy flats and espadrilles for P400 and P470, respectively. They don't have any boutiques and online presence as of presstime, so what are the odds that I line up in queue next to a woman in the same flats in a coffee shop or in the cinemas?

Anyway, we gals agreed to world premiere our chosen pair when all our orders arrived. However, EQ is not so common after all. We all wore it to the office as soon as we received them (they came in batches) so they were slightly untidy when we finally got to do a pictorial outside business hours. Keber na! We'll try again for our second pair!

Sassy Girl flats also come in printed designs! If you're interested to see the swatches, shoot me an email to Lornadahl.Campilan@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send you the photos.

Let's vault in!

L-R: Chi in lemon, Mommy Jo in light blue, Elaine in red and moi in violet

Chi and her lemon flats

Elaine and her red flats

Yours truly in oversized blouse + bandage skirt + violet flats

1st Red-Meat-Free Birthday!

So I'm the last extra seksi woman in this planet to hear about the recently celebrated International No Diet Day. Shame on me! I didn't get a chance to take photos of what I stuffed myself last Sunday. But that's to my relief. According to my food journal, I had chicken fillets from fastfood chains that day. And we all know I could do better than that. Since I have no pretty photo/s to post to commemorate that day, let me take you to my past life, back in the days when I took delight in self-loathing for breakfast, diet pills for lunch, insecutiries for merienda and imaginary grapes for dinner. And there were times I skipped dinner. Remember the 18:00 diet? How about this diet myth below?

Found via Google search yesterday. Can't find my source anymore today.

Just like most women, I had a hard time accepting myself. Like I detailed here, I was this instant standout among my skinny, prim & proper classmates and playmates as a kid. Everybody had this compulsion to pinch my cheeks and arms then give me a bear hug. In any order. However, when one reaches puberty, it's not cute anymore. This went on until college. Eventually, I found myself getting addicted to aerobics as response to the unpleasant turnout of a romantic relationship.

Speaking of, my best friend Atong recounted how last night's rerun of the Koreanovela Ugly Young Ae (season 4) went. She passed by a quarreling couple outside a motel. The girl was unwilling to go that  far but the guy was insistent to enter the gateway to heaven. Young Ae intervened, speaking up for the poor girl. The guy remarked she should mind her own business as their concern is something she never experienced and probably never will. He went on to say the F word.

Since that incident, Young Ae was consumed with inadequacy and ate nothing but cherry tomatoes. As we all ladies with dieting past would know, she spewed fire to everyone who approaches her. That includes her secret boyfriend, Wong Jun. There was this one scene when he reminded her that he NEVER asked her to go on diet. That he adores her just the way she is. Awwwwww.

Thanks to some spoiler (read: Atong), I found out that they parted ways in the latter season.

Ugly Young Ae via Fox Filipino and tvN

Just the same, any self-respecting ladies should break up with whatever fad diet she's on. Particularly if it poses a great damage to one's health. I've had my share of sad tales that I brought upon myself and there's no way I'll take a return flight to that depressing stage in my life. It's not true that we won't attract any guys if we carry excess fats and other so-called undesirable physical attributes that media continue to force-feed us everyday. As an African saying goes: beware the naked man who offers you his shirt. We can't be ready to love a man, his family and his mission if we can't even begin to love our beautiful selves - great features and flaws alike. Besides, what's not to love about ourselves? Don't be the last to realize what's lovable and irreplacable about you, girl!

Break-up message from HotChick.BookSeries's fanpage

***

Have I told you that today marks the first year since my liberating break-up with red meat? The fuel behind this plunge to vibrant, plant-based diet was for mostly for wellness reasons; I dream to regulate my energy level to juggle all the visions I've gathered into my plate, to address and prevent health issues to cripple me from living a full life, to help our local farmers prosper and others. My chosen vehicle: commitment to at least 80% raw food diet. This journey so far can be described by on-and-off struggles to fight the cravings for dairy products, white meat and junk food. Should I allow the 1-year-mark to pressure me to take this aim to the next stage? My mind screams a resounding yes. If I managed to abstain myself from red meat, how hard can it get to say goodbye to my next targets?

How did I do it? Whoever said the body follows whatever the mind instructs was right. I saturated myself with  news about meat shop malpractices (selling double dead meat, etc) and dreaded diseases and its prevention. This paranoia worked for me; I started looking for organic produce and healthier, affordable options. Perhaps it's time to re-read those literature so I can motivate myself to eat healthier. Looking back, I find it funny how I went cold turkey on red meat and, inspired by Pi Villaraza's almost 2-year coconut diet as he detailed on his book "Conscious Trance, the Journey to the Dancer Within", decided to do the same for a week. I lasted for 1.5 days. I managed to go on high raw food diet for the next 3 weeks, then slowly re-introduced fish. Then chicken. Up to now, I still find it hard to quit on growth hormones chicken. But, hey, February 2012 witnessed me go growth-hormone-free! There's hope!

Anyway, before I prepare for the mounting pressure that lies ahead, let me show you how I celebrated my first red-meat-free birthday so far. I had my make-up done (yes, it deserves a separate blog entry!) and had cucumber + carrot + mung bean sprouts (togue) + cilantro salad for lunch. Photos or it didn't happen, yes?

Nama Nama's basic salad with crabstick. Birthday candle NOT included.

The celebrant!

Reminiscing About Antipolo Earth Fest 2011: Earth Cafe

Earth Fest 2011 wasn't all about workshops, concerts and shopping. As you, dear readers, probably expect from me, it's one huge hunger game wherein Lakapati and I and our enzymes emerged as happy victors. Mother Earth is the only planet in this universe that grows mouth-watering provisions like vegetables, fruits and chocolates, hence, we earthlings have a reason to celebrate unceasingly.

And so we stuffed ourseves silly with goodies from Earth Cafe throughout our stay in Pinto Art Museum. Lakapati had been egging me to try Laya's 6-meal course of living food, but the P1,000 tag price made the raw foodist angel and meat-loving devil perch on each shoulder for so long until I officially missed the chance to experience their offering. If my memory serves me right, interested parties must confirm before 18:00. Now that both Earth Cafe and Laya had closed operations as Chef Ricci and his wife Irene had moved to the United States, you have no idea how regret tastes like.

So I shall attempt to move on by looking back. This gastronomic experience, I recall, was the last delightful feast I gifted myself before my decision to end my beautiful-yet-harmful friendship with red meat days later. It was the start I needed. Truly, the earth's abundance never tasted this good!

Spicy eggplant puree with cilantro pesto

Thai tomato basil soup with lime cilantro cream

Grilled veggies sandwich

Coconut & cashew-crusted tofu in ginger honey with organic red rice

Grilled spice-crusted free-range chicken strips with Asian-style slaw in ginger soy dressing

Me and my iced honey soy latte

 

 Honey soy latte

Dark chocolate with black pepper tart

Cashew mango kesong puti spring rolls with table cream cheese dip

Also, the cafe served green smoothies! Too bad we have no photos to prove it.

Aside from these, we also feasted on Marie Gonzalez of Kitchen Revolution's samples during her demo that Sunday. To my surprise, me and my big smile made a cameo apperance on her recollection how the Earth Fest went! Check this out!

Photos by Lakapati Basa.

Reminiscing About Antipolo Earth Fest 2011: Qi Gong

My best friend Lakapati never had a hard time persuading me to spend the weekend in the highlands to celebrate the Earth Day(s) last year. And I wasn't being the typical kaladkarin best friend ha. After making a quick scan of the parade of talks, workshops, concerts and merchants that await us in Pinto Art Museum, I was immediately consumed with immense excitement and thirst for new learning. They had me at zumba, yoga and qi gong.

If my [poor] memory serves me right, we both arrived in the museum Saturday morning right after the yoga workshop. Zumba class followed  next, but I found myself marveling at the revamped artspace. I went looking for the artifacts that used to stand here and there and I took it upon myself to describe to Lakapati its erstwhile appearance during my first visit in 2009. Change is always good and I'm so grateful how the curator and the other people behind it made sure it was splendid.

The following day, we were very early and got lucky to catch the qi gong demo. I wasn't really sure how it was different from tai chi, but I was convinced regular practice can help balance the chi, calm this restless mind of mine and...and...and tap the hard-to-reach realms of awareness so I can reach my full potential (ok, I got that from Google search).

The demo begins!

Qi Gong with the master, Mrs. Henrietta S.M. Rosana

The Qi Gong group in Antipolo performed to the soothing music during the demo, then invited us to follow their example. They made us stretch our arms, reach the lower limbs and make formations in slow motion. All those while we align our movements with our breaths. It sounded like yoga, it looked like tai chi and it felt like both combined. There were challenging poses that made me embrace fear again for my weak knees, but my mind fought such  negative thoughts. I was so distracted that I hardly noticed Lakapati documenting my practice. Where did my cam-readiness go?

Although I prefer fast-paced dancing for workouts, I find this qi gong session equally enjoyable. I actually broke into beads of sweat and felt stretched and thirsty afterwards.

It's been a year since I had this lovely experience and I feel bad that I had no chance to do a follow-up. I remember how my yogini best friend Grace raved how yin yoga (slow) complemented her ashtanga yoga (active) practice and how it helped her open her hips and other body parts. I imagine qi gong would promise the same benefit. Now where to take qi gong classes?

All photos by Lakapati.