I Wish You Love...

I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss
But more than this
I wish you love

And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health
And more than wealth
I wish you love

My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best, my very best
I set you free

I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love

I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love

Linking up to:

Grow Some Flowers In The Desert

This Tory Burch babydoll has taken me from Singapore to the USA to Egypt to Jakarta. I have paired it with jeans, shorts or by itself. I have paired it with various colors of tank tops as underlayer. Perhaps I can even wear it one day as maternity wear? Hahaha... Anyway, the price is not cheap, but since I bought it in Marshall (or Ross? or TJ Maxx? Forgot.), it was a good deal. A splurge, but also a steal. And seeing how versatile it turned out to be, I have no regret whatsoever!

Here I wore it to visit the Giza Pyramids in Cairo!

I'm not into assymetrical clothing, but I love the assymetrical effect of the flower and fir leaves patterns. Scattered, but wonderfully scattered.

Chiffon babydoll: Tory Burch. Skinny jeans: Forever21. Wedges: Voir, Malaysia. Purse: Les Catino.

Third Chance: Serendipity

One of my favorite chick flick movies is Serendipity, starred Kate Beckinsale and John Cussack. And as much as I believe that one makes her/his own destiny, I cannot deny that there is a higher power beyond human intelligence that has His hand in shaping our lives. Some call that power God. Some call it luck. Coincidence. Serendipity.

Now, I fell in love with this purple-ish magenta tartan purse the very first time I laid my eyes on it. However, since I've already had a similar bag in red, I resolutely turned my back on it and walked out of the store. Two weeks later I came back to the store to see that it has been marked down from the original price of about USD 60-ish down to 30 dollars. Still, I didn't budge. Another two weeks had passed before I happened to be in the store again. And lo and behold, there were only two bags left - one in this gorgeous purple-ish magenta, and another one in lovely shade of aqua blue. AND the price has been reduced further to about 10 bucks each. I grabbed both of them on the spot. It was sometime in December, and up till now, I have no regret. It was meant to be. It was serendipity!

I guess the ever generous Father in Heaven decided to give me the bags afterall since I was being a good girl and restraining from buying them on the first and second time. Haha!

See? Standing tall and firm on the face of temptation breeds extra sweet, delicious fruits afterall!

Now, don't you think it's just justifiable that I created the whole ensemble today to match the purse? Have you ever decided what you're going to wear based on your bag first, then choose the rest of the outfits to match?

"Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart's desire."

(Psalm 37:4)

White blazer: Zara. Magenta top: MK Klein.

Black slacks: office uniform by Invio (got loads from years of office uniform accumulation).

Bangles: Shanghai. Multicolor bracelets: Naughty Stores (MKG 5).

Purse: Les Catino (Lotus, MAG). Wedges: unbranded (Plaza Semanggi)

Purple flower necklace: Singapore Chinatown haul. Key necklace: Hang Ten. Earrrings: old collection.

Green Flower, Cabbage or Broccoli?

What is this? A huge green flower? A giant cabbage? Light green broccoli?

I got this green, round, flower shaped bag with gold metal clasps a long time ago at some thrift store somewhere in Texas. Was it Fredericksburg? I can't remember. But it's old and long forgotten, until I saw some pretty similar, spanking new bags in various colors with the same flowery style a while ago at the mall. I was like, hey, I've already had a purse like that! Isn't it just adorable?

And yeah, I think by now, no one would blink an eye seeing me taking outfit pictures every morning or during lunch hour at the office, haha!

Tan jacket: DKNY. Black slacks: office uniform by Accent. Copper colored shoes: Yongki Komaladi. Cabbage green purse: thrifted. Flower pearly earrings: thrifted. Military style necklace: bought online. Camay long necklace: Bugis Junction, Singapore. Camel striped top: Bebe. Avocado green vest: Japanese vintage, Mom's. Bracelets: Shanghai Tang, old collection, gifted.

I usually don't go for army style, but this necklace is just gorgeous I had to get it.

This is how it looks without the jacket.

A while back, I wore the Bebe striped top with lacey dusty pink vest and jeans in last year's post.

Do you think it looks better with green or pink vest?

Ow, Jenny and Catherine of Modern Modest Beauty kindly featured me in their Lovely Things Thursday link party. Thank you, Ladies! I'm glad you think my post about painting nail poish over old accessories will be helpful to your readers!



Linking up to: 

Sunshine N Flower Maker

Good morning, Sunshine!

Today's post is inspired by my little three-year-old niece, Ella, and her mother, my cousin, Deasy. A girl or a woman who is a 'sunshine-maker' - quick to smile and laugh, has a healthy dose sense of humor, always try to find good in any situation and has a joyful character and positive energy - is a blessing to many people around her.

Most irritations in daily life are usually small and unimportant, yet sometimes we tend to overreact to them. Everyday, we face many situations where we have the choice either to pout, whine, stomp our foot and raise our voice in loud complaint; OR letting go of the negative feelings, smile, channeling our energy into more positive thoughts, and even reply with kind words. A woman who can deal with these troubles in everyday life while remaining wholesome and kind, is a sunshine maker. She brings light to dark situations, giving people warmth, positive energy, clarity and hope.

I believe that the key to shine your inner light, your inner sun, is a thankful heart. Be thankful in every circumstances. No matter how bad things seem to be, there must be something good about it. The problem is, most of the time we cannot see nor understand it NOW.

Life must be lived forward. Unfortunately, it can only be understood BACKWARDS. If all else fail, at least try to remember this: God, who created Heaven and Earth, the almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent God, DOES knows what He's doing. Even if at the time you think He doesn't. He knows better than us.

So, let's light our inner sun and practice being a sunshine maker everyday. Try to smile more and complain less. I'm sure you'll be happier, so do the people around you.

Difficult? You bet. Impossible? I don't think so. At least we can try. ^_^

"Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks."

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Anyway, this is a cheerful ensemble I wore sometime last year for running some errands and meeting a friend for lunch at a nearby mall. I think it's apt for the title, don't you think, Friends?

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Baggy yellow top: Banana Republic. Skirt: madeover from an old pair of jeans (Hence, notice the patchwork-style pleats at the front, it's more beause of lack of fabric than a fashion statement!). Sandals: Carrefour. Necklace: unbranded children necklace! Earrings: Warna (MKG). Bag: Guchi (Sogo).

Other ways to play with the flower children's necklace:

See the original post here.

And here.

Linking up to:

In Not So Many Colors

The only constant thing in life is change. We've heard that simple truth for umpteenth times, but more often that not, change still takes us by surprise.

A colleague of mine just resigned today. He is the first person to resign after more than two years; hence it's like a wake up call for everyone that in this life, people come and go. Very few people stay and become a permanent fixtures in our lives. And if the time comes for them to go, you cannot hold on to them. You may want things to never change, but life is not like that, whether you like it or not. Therefore, if you have friends who have been with you since kindergarten, or even high school, and still remain close after all these years, consider yourself lucky. Very lucky indeed.

Love this pearly thrifted flower earrings. Found them in a street fair during my US years.

Just give them a swipe with alcohol to disinfect, and voila! And of course, the scarf I tied around the purse chain strap is a thrift find, as well, from Miami during college spring break.

Linking up to: 

Colored Bronze: If You Don't Like It, Paint It!

Don't you think the colors of this necklace is just so pretty?

I've been attracting to purple shades lately: lavender, fuschia, periwinkle, silvery pink. To me, the purple pallette looks and feels like... fairy. Yes. Fairies. Like Flower Fairies, those sweet, tiny, elusive magical creatures you used to read about in Hans Christian Andersen's children stories. The ones who live in the garden, inside of flowers and mushrooms and have dainty wings and ride on butterflies. I'm no fairy (of course!) but I can feel fairy-like wearing this fairy-color flower necklace.

Well, just yesterday, that very same necklace looked like this...

Not very pretty! It looks like... bronzy color? I got it online and on the website it looked silverish, which was why I bought it. I was quite upset when the package arrived, so I decided to do something about it, with the help of some nail polishes.

You see, the original bronze-colored metal of the necklace turned the nail polish color into a somehow more subdued shades, but the polishes still keep their metallic sheen and subtle luster., which look very pretty on the flowers. A little note: I don't choose these particular colors then go out and buy them in new bottles of nail polish. I chose these colors because they happen to be the ones I have in my existing nail polish collection.

 A closer look...

Whining is not cool. If you don't like something, change it! And if you cannot change it, well, let it be. After all, life goes on whether you're happy or not, and none of us will get out of this life alive, so, better enjoy the ride!

"She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing."

(Proverbs 31:22)