Patty

Journal

We Threw a Harry Potter-Themed Bridal Shower for our Best Friend

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No Gryffindors were harmed in the planning of this party.

All the way back in high school, my best friends and I (henceforth known as the Fingals) would always wonder who would get married first. We could never agree on an answer, but we knew that whoever it was going to be, would be special for all of us.

Fast forward to last year, Dani got down on one knee in Italy and proposed to our girl Sam. Having been together for seven years then, Dani and Sam have always been our OTP, sharing so much love, warmth, and creativity between them despite enduring long periods of time not seeing each other. Now they’re going to be canon, and we couldn’t be happier.

Everyone started getting in a frenzy thinking of the bachelorette: A wild weekend in Hong Kong? A girls’ beach trip to Bantayan Island? With Sam swept in a flurry of preparations for a big wedding, we couldn’t possibly get her away for more than a couple of hours. Also, she requested things to be innocent to accommodate younger family members, so we turned to the next best thing we could think of—one that has defined Sam’s fangirl identity, as well as our friendship from years and years back.

We threw her a Harry Potter-themed bridal shower.

Travels

Travel: 48 Hours in Taiwan

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Where would two hours take you? Given Cebu’s current situation, you could be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a Friday night—a rainy one, if you’re that unlucky. Or you could be flying through the clouds to Asia’s secret gem, Taiwan.

With a visa-free program until 2019 and more flights to Taipei, this quaint island north of the Philippines is now a quick getaway option—perhaps even better than the currently more popular Hong Kong and Singapore.

What Taiwan lacks for in terms of theme parks and other commercial tourist destinations offered by the latter two, it makes up for an enviable currency exchange rate—perfect for those who want to indulge in the night markets and food scene the country is best known for. But make no mistake: Just because it doesn’t have Disneyland or Universal Studios doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a lot to offer. In fact, you’d be pleasantly surprised at how different Taiwan’s appeal is.

Fashion

Ooh-Sala-La, or How I Gave Up Wearing Heels… ish

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(But not really, because your girl has to compensate somehow for the height)

I’d like to think of this as a companion piece to the last thing I wrote, which was about going through the aftermath of a back injury through an unexpected accessory. This time around, it’s a different coping mechanism—one that’s very near and dear to me: Shoes!

Considering the aforementioned height (precisely, the lack thereof), I’ve always been a fan of high heels. Wore them the moment I could, and you can bet on anything I blew past the maximum heel height requirement my college uniform required. Did it matter if I occasionally struggled a little while walking downhill towards the campus’ Mango Avenue gate? Of course not. I was tall!

So you can imagine my horror when the good doctor from the Cebu Orthopaedic Institute told me to avoid wearing high heels post the apocalyptic event that was me getting a lumbar strain.

Wellness

A Really Funny Thing Happened When I Got a Backjoy

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Wow, when Backjoy said they were out to, “Change Your Posture. Change Your Life.” they weren’t kidding.

It’s a well-crafted phrase that sums up Backjoy’s promises, likely crafted by someone who makes more than I do, which is kind of fair considering all I ever come up with are lame puns and even lamer copy. But for the love of postures and lives improved around the world, someone please find this person and give him or her a Pulitzer or maybe a new crystal ball, because this is prophetic.

And to think, if I didn’t suffer through a lumbar strain, I wouldn’t have known about this sorcery. All the decisions I’ve made in life have led me towards owning a Backjoy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Travels

Travel: 50 Hours in Singapore

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Two days are barely enough to explore a foreign place, yet somehow I’ve found myself taking the shortest of trips to two destinations within the span of a year.

It’s not like I’m some crazy rich Asian who can jet off to a neighboring country for a weekend on a whim. Crazy, definitely. Asian, undoubtedly. Rich? I’ve partaken in so many Yee Sang tosses that I’ve made a joke out of them already, because what prosperity? Really though, in Taiwan‘s case it was for work, and for Singapore… well, I wanted to make it home in time for the season finale of Game of Thrones.

Also, two days is slightly more practical than flying to Singapore just to satisfy my cravings for authentic Laksa and Hainanese Chicken, and go back home—an idea that really had been simmering in my head for the longest time.

Since I now seem to be well-versed in the art of short vacations, yes, I was able to make the most out of those 50 hours—Merlion optional.

Journal

On the Other hand: The Woes of Being a Lefty in a Right-Handed World

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In a world where right-handed people are prevalent, the ones who consider their left hand to be dominant are singled out as the freaks.

Sure, it may be shrugged off casually as a once-in-a-blue moon quirk now, but the days when such a revelation entitled a sit-down interview akin to the Spanish Inquisition weren’t really far off.

It probably doesn’t sound much coming from someone who’s only 27, but faint memories of being taunted by childhood friends and classmates are enough to validate this point.

“That must be so weird!” they’d exclaim. “Why aren’t you normal like us?”

Needless to say, the little tendrils of self-doubt that would flourish much later in life were cultivated at this point.

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Wellness

I Just Had My Best Period Ever

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No, I’m not talking about the punctuation mark—that one, I’m already quite fond of, following long and run-on sentences. By periods, I mean exactly what you’re thinking: That rather sexist phenomenon that occurs once a month (give or take) as a gory form of punishment for not having buns in the oven.

That period.

And yes, I did just say I had my best one ever. (Are you reading this, SunStar? My period deserves a Best of Cebu award.)

Truth be told, that’s a statement I never imagined myself making at all. As much as that one Kim Chiu commercial tried to convince me to “Have a happy period!”, I never viewed those monthly visits as pleasant—tolerable, sure, if I don’t get monster cramps along with them. They were inconvenient at most, considering the mess they left (“Did you murder anybody today?” “No, I’m just on my period.”). Don’t even get me started on the smell.

So how is it that, at the ripe ol’ age of 27 and having dealt with periods monthly for the past 15 years, I’m now suddenly changing my tune about my female body functions? Ladies and gentlemen who have not clicked away from this post so far, I introduce to you my new best friend, Lena.

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She’s a menstrual cup.
Wellness

This Fun is Run: Run for ERUF 2018

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It’s been a while since I talked about anything on here, let alone write about fitness (In Memoriam: The Manuelle’s Crossfit Career, 2015-2016). I was so obsessed about that part of my life that it seemed impossible for me to ever stop, but all it took was to miss one session, which turned into a week, then a month, and here we are, two years and 20 pounds later. Holy f*cking sh*t, self, you’ve really let yourself go.

I could go easy on myself and say that a lot happened in that time frame: I left my job (basically ending a five-year career in the media industry), dove headfirst into a new business venture and feeling my way around, oh and I got a high maintenance (but handsome!) doggo, among many other things. But they’re not really excuses—not when I managed to find the energy and time before. If I was able to do it then, why not now?

Funny enough, it was my dog who reignited my interest in going back to working out. Look, he’s a chow-chow, and they’re well-known to be the laziest dogs around these days, probably as retribution to the canine universe for making them war dogs in historical China. But my dog, my chow-chow somehow managed to complete a 1K run and all for charity. Gryffin = 2; Patty = 0. If that mindset won’t make anyone want to step up their game, I don’t know what will.

A week ago, Gryffin and I—along with my dog’s best friend Antonio Java of Rider’s Block—joined Marco Polo Plaza Cebu‘s Run for ERUF 2018. It’s an annual fun run they hold as a celebration of their anniversary, as well as to benefit the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation. I’ve known about this event for years, but never participated in any because I actually hate running, even at the peak of my fitness journey. But who could resist when there’s a special dog category involved? So, here we are, all in full GoPro Hero5 Session glory.

Beauty

So, I got glutathione and everything I thought I knew about it was a lie*

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Yeah, yeah, I get it—I’m pale AF and I have no business injecting it into my bloodstream, go home Patty you’re drunk and all.

Much has been said about how so-called standards of beauty—particularly in the Philippines—are way too idealistic, overly unrealistic, and just… well and truly f*cked up. No thanks to society, I had prepubescent, unwarranted anger at the gene gods for (1) not making me tall enough, and (2) not giving me thick, straight, luscious black hair which defy explainable physics.

I’ve conquered and even embraced some of my insecurities (except maybe during those times I find myself scrolling through Pia Wurtzbach’s Instagram, but we all have moments, amirite?). If anything, I legitimately feel s/mad about these “standards” and the products encouraging them, and how they make people—especially girls—think less of themselves.

It’s exactly for this reason I was quite dismissive of glutathione—or in retrospect, my long-lasting misconception of it. But

*to be fair, I didn’t really know much. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks to Finessa Aesthetica, which opened its branch in Cebu a few months ago, I now know better that it goes beyond skin whitening.