Tuesday, April 23, 2013

What's up this summer?

It's officially the first week of summer vacation for me! School ended only last Wednesday. And although I only have 4 subjects and 2 school days last term, the end-of-March-beginning-of-April is always the hardest part for us trimestral students since it's the time when other schools are done with their academic year and there's nothing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram except posts on how they're enjoying the beach, bored at home doing nothing, catching up on different series while we are left to face the toughest part of the term since it's usually when papers flood and of course, there's the final exam. But finally, summer is officially here for me! 

As I made a vow to update this blog regularly and make it more personal, here's a post to do just that! Nope, no outfit shots on this one. Just me, my thoughts (turned into lengthy sentences) and an update on the past few days!
Dear everyone, please stand and do a slow clap! 
Yes, that's me driving. And yes that NLEX outside the window. I've had my driving lessons last year (as seen on this post). I was too lazy to practice regularly that's why I'm still not very comfortable with it. But last Saturday my mom needs to buy something outside so I decided to volunteer my rusty driving skills since it's just around the neighborhood. And by Sunday, they had me driving thru NLEX and EDSA on our way to church. My parents trust me too much, haha. But successfully, I've managed to bring a total of 4 passengers to our destination (without any injuries whatsoever haha).  
This summer, I'm trying something new! I decided enroll Plana Forma after months of the "Am I fat?" "I'm so fat" rant. This is my first ever attempt to fitness. Haha. I've always been too lazy for any kind of exercise and too lampa for any kind of sport so I'm giving Plana a try. I've read so many good reviews about it - people who went from size 6 to a size 2 in just a few weeks and hearing that was enough motivation for me. :)) 
Although it has been called "addicting" by many, I was also aware that was infact intense especially for beginners. The main goal of Plana is to tone the muscles with pilates and aerobic movements that are particularly hard on the thighs and the core. They even call their students "thigh warriors". And thigh warriors we were! It is indeed intense and you can literally feel the burn in the thighs. As in literally. The core exercises were a bit better for me, since I started doing pilates at home this year. After my first session, I was half expecting to see a Miranda Kerr-like abs on me upon looking at the mirror. Sadly, there still wasn't none. 
After Plana, I headed to yet another first this summer - an internship! Since last term I only had 2 class days, I spent most days bumming around the house with my face infront of my laptop all day. That's why this summer, I wanted to at least be productive and do something worthwhile. Also, since we're finishing college this year, most of my batch mates have applied to different multinational companies for a summer apprenticeship in preparation for our actual OJT and to vamp up our CVs. Being the bandwagon-er that I am, I did the same even if I really wasn't that interested in working seriously for a big company this early. Not that I didn't want to work. I just want something that interests me but something that will teach me stuff as well. 
And I think that's what I got! I landed an internship at Aranaz! It sort of a fashion internship but I would be helping on the marketing and retail department so it's also something useful! I just had my first day yesterday and so far everything's going well. It's a relaxed environment with cool bosses. I work with the Aranaz-es themselves. Something my professor suggested. She said that it's better to work for a company where in you're directly involved in the job. She encourages us to go for small companies since according to her multi national companies would just ask us to file papers and get coffee.
I even have my own desk! My very first desk! Gosh, I feel so legit. Hahaha. I get intimidated easily though, like on my first day I was asked to do a social media plan. It seemed a little complicated upon hearing it but once it was explained to me, it was pretty simple. I have the tendency to psyche my self out so hopefully this internship will teach me to chill right out and cope with situations well.

More updates soon! :)

Love, Paola xx

Monday, April 8, 2013

HK Outfit: Sweater and Jeans

This officially concludes my Hong Kong posts! Combining our third day into this post since our agenda that day was shopping! Not much pictures since, you know, shopping means business. Haha! Compared to my last two HK outfits, this third one is completely unplanned. But I woke up that day leaning towards simplicity and I figured that it's just gonna be sweater and jeans day! But I couldn't let it end with that. After all, simplicity is big challenge for me. So instead of a plain sweater, I go for a sparkly knit and instead the ordinary blue jeans, mine has floral prints on it! To finish it off, I put my hair in a high top bun, put on some gold bangles, and I was good to go!

I was supposed to pair this sweater with a printed skirt and some sparkly gold accents - sparkly necklace, sparkly belt, sparkly shoes! Then the pants was originally meant to be paired with my pink fur scarf that transforms into a fur coat. Two fancy outfits simplified into one!
Perfect backdrop!
Sweater - Debenhams | Pants - H&M
 Sunnies - Mango
Gold bangles - H&M
Bag - Longchamp
Shoes - Topshop

Sharing just a few photos that day! For the past two days, we experienced a hot weather but during our last day, it got very, very cold with some drizzles and strong winds! I seriously wanted to bring that kind of weather to Manila!
 Fog covering the buildings!
City streets!
We also visited Disneyland Hotel to do some souvenir shopping! Mickey and Minnie says goodbye!

That concludes my HK posts :)

Love, Paola xx

Thursday, April 4, 2013

HK Day 2: Ocean Park

From Disneyland the day before, our second day in Hong Kong was devoted to Ocean Park. That's two straight days of amusement park! I was super excited for this more than anything else since it's a chance for me to see pandas in person for the first time! I'm not really sure when this panda obsession of mine started but for a long time now I've been delighted with them which eventually led to a big, random collection of anything panda. So to finally see them in person brought such anticipation!!!! Before heading out, we toured our hotel first. We stayed at the Disney Hollywood Hotel. It's more contemporary and has a different feel compared to the Disneyland Hotel that we stayed in last time but it was beautiful as well! 

The theme of their garden was the movie Cars! 
Transportation is very convenient in Hong Kong. You can practically reach any destination by train. After taking the train, we rode the bus that that will take us to Ocean Park. I love double deck busses! It've ridden one before but this time was the first time I got to sit at the front most part of the deck! Whenever we passed by bridges, I would duck cause I keep feeling like we're gonna hit! Haha :))

Finally here!!!! :)
Our first stop was the Grand Aquarium! 

I find this really beautiful! It's tall cylinder full of fish! 
Sharks swimming above.
They provided an effect to the jellyfish's aquarium! The lights change to different colors which makes it seem like the jellyfish also changes their own color. 
Then finally it was time to see Pandas!!!!!
Outside the Jockey Club! Took so much pictures here because there were so many people but I wanted a solo picture with them! Haha


AND TADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
ACTUAL PANDASSSSSSSSSSS AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I hope you get even just a bit of my emotions by the number of exclamation points I used! Haha they're basically the laziest mammals on earth. They just spend their day lounging around, chewing their bamboos in a cold, air conditioned room! No wonder I like them, that's so me! Hahaha
Ocean Park is Panda Heaven! Well, aside from having real pandas, they have tons of panda merchandise! 
The red panda! It's cute but.. original pandas still has my heart!!! This just looks an orange skunk to me. Haha not criticising though, it is a panda afterall. :))
Then we rode the cable car to get to the other side! It was my first cable car ride and I was actually in a state of panic the whole time. It was such a looooooooooooooong ride!
 Ocean Park Tower!
Thrill Mountain! This is where all the crazy and wild rides are! 
Hair Raiser! I really, really, really wanted to ride this roller coaster but I just do not have the courage to go alone. People have always asked me the greatest disadvantage of being and only child and up until now, I didn't have an answer to give. Now ask me and I'd say that we have no one to ride the roller coaster with! :))
Flash! This ride I don't regret because even if I have a hundred friends to ride this with, I wouldn't dare. :))
Penguin! Didn't know they were so cute too! When we first entered, I actually thought they were statues since they were so immobile. 
So faaaaaat! Haha
After lunch, we went to see the dolphin show! 
Dolphins are so intelligent, seriously! I am amazed at their learning capacity!
Now that I can put a check mark on seeing pandas in my list of wishes, I'm adding a new wish: to swim with the dolphins! Ahhhh someday, someday! In Hawaii, maybe? 
These sea lions came to play as well!
After riding the longest escalator ride of my life, this is what we see! 
Abyss! I was so close to riding this ride alone since it's pretty much like EK's Ekstreme but I chickened out the very last moment. :)) After walking around some more, we ended our Ocean Park adventure and headed back to the city to have dinner!
Hong Kong at night! 
Saw this man/horse at the station! 
And at every train station, they have Okashi Land aka Japanese snacks heaven. I loooooooooooooove Japanese snacks so much! Meiji, Lotte you name it! But my ultimate favorite snack is Pocky. Although we have it here in Manila, it's different ours is imported from Thailand and the one from Japan taste so much different! 
I was so happy being surrounded by Japanese snacks that my mom actually said it's like I did grocery shopping! Haha my Pocky loot and all its different flavors is keeping me happy until now! 

Then we were back to our hotel and called it a day! Day 3 up next! :)

Love, Paola xx