Ready For Summer?

Summer collections start to rise in EDSA billboards and mannequins are now wearing swimsuits in your favorite mall. Bandanas, straw hats and bags, sunscreen and tanning lotions have a bit increase in their retail prices. Can you feel the heat? It's summer! Are you ready?

The perfect season to hit the beach is fast approaching. If you plan to go out of town to beat the scorching heat of the sun, start planning it now. Planning ahead on where to go and what to prepare for a little getaway will help you save money and time! Beach resorts go up thrice in their rates during the peak season as well as bikinis, SPF and other essentials. Rewrite your summer checklist and update yourself on what you and your travel buddies need.

Let me help with this: where to go, what to wear, what to do, etc, etc! I'm not an expert but I hope you'll appreciate. : )

Diniwid Beach, Boracay Island

Where to go?  Boracay. Again? Admit it, Boracay Island is undoubtedly hailed as a top beach destination because of its highly-urbanized feel with the perfect view of nature's beauty. As much as I'd love to explore new places and discover remote islands, I'd still choose to go here for a short weekend vacation.

If you're caught between relaxing and partying, I suggest you to stay at Orinda Beach Resort. Its location is perfect if you want a piece of privacy while sunbathing. Located at Diniwid Beach (near Nami), you can take a distance from the crowd in Stations 1, 2 and 3. When the sun sets, ask the friendly resort staff to bring you to where the nightlife is. Take your time, no curfew. Party all night long! The 24-hour service will ensure you that they can safely bring you back to the resort after drinking and dancing.

Orinda Beach Resort, Diniwid Beach, Boracay, Malay, Aklan, Philippines.

If you want to skip Boracay this time, Bataan is a good choice. Guimaras Island and Bantayan Island are highly recommended too! Puerto Galera, like Boracay, is also a good place to "island party" and other places like Palawan, Bohol, Zambales, Pagudpud and La Union should also be considered.

What to wear? One of the few FAQs of my life is how many bikinis do I own and how do I manage to keep, wear, and mix and match them. Well, honestly, I don't keep track of the quantity of my shoes and swimsuits but I keep the designs, styles and types of those in my mind. Now going back to swimsuits, it's my mood who decides on what I should wear on the beach. My mood depends on the item I bought (if I purchased a bikini set, I tend not to mix and match it anymore, because some brands sell items individually). Topshop, for an instance, sells both a set and an individual swim wear but you can score a SET during their clearance sale.

Hot pink with "polka hearts" bikini set from Topshop.

Reversible, strapless bandeau bikini set also from Topshop.

For some mix-and-match techniques, which works simply the best especially when you're on a budget, looking for brands which allow buyers to purchase only an item is the easiest thing to do. Picture in your mind the colors, designs and prints of the swimsuits you already own. The best place to go is, of course, SM Department Store! Sunkissed and Coco Cabana specifically won't hurt your pocket. Keep your budget for other essentials or save it up for a bigger pocket money.

Lime green bikini bottom paired with a yellow bandeau and yellow/purple tribal bikini haltered top.

This photo above shows the original bikini bottom pair of my yellow/purple tribal bikini haltered top. I paired it with a graphic/zebra-print bikini top which I bought from SM Department Store's Sunkissed. I also paired this bottom with this:

...while the original bottom pair of the paisley top is worn with:

...a plain white haltered bikini top. :)

Now, when it comes to coverups, I have a few words for you: never cover up too much. If you want to cover your belly or cleavage, wear something like this:

Well, his is not actually a coverup. Knitted/crocheted clothes can also be worn as coverups. I tried to keep my belly here but didn't want to sweat that much so I kept the neckline open. The length is also enough to cover my upper thigh. :)

If you opt to show a sexier you without showing off your skin, chiffon bottoms are of help. Take these as an example:

Plain and printed chiffon bottoms from Betty.

Oh, by the way! Did I mention I only got these chiffon bottoms for only P150 each? I riri, riri, riri love SM Department Store! :)

What else to bring? You know what your travel essentials are, it's all up to you. My frequent hop to the beach gave me the idea to have a separate kit for the things I need when traveling, including: SPF body lotion, SPF face lotion, lip balm with sun protection, shampoo and conditioner (I recommend Sunsilk Weather Defense here), extra-moisturizing after bath lotion, and facial mist spray. These are my super top essentials aside from the toiletries and stuff.

And lastly, don't forget to bring your cameras and to keep good memories. No matter how near or far your destination is, regardless of what your face and smile looks like, the best trips remain the best when you know how to have fun! 

♥,

Marianne

Cebu 2012: The Great Santa Fe Beach

Cebu 2012!

To celebrate our eighth year together, Paolo and I went to the Queen City of the South with his good friend, Jeff and his girlfriend Jen. We booked our flight last January, thanks to Cebu Pacific's 699 promo that we finally decided to go here instead because we originally planned of going to Davao or Bacolod for our anniversary. We even thought of Dumaguete, actually!

Get your browsers ready, this one's loaded with photos. :)

At NAIA Terminal 3.

Paolo and I took the 6:50 AM flight. We anticipated the long travel going to Bantayan Island--three to four hours bus ride going to Hagnaya Port plus another one and a half hour ferry ride from Hagnaya Port to Santa Fe Wharf. Define air-land-sea transfers here. But when we arrived at Mactan, we headed to Mandaue City for a brunch. Then from the North Bus Terminal, we took the Ceres bus bound to Hagnaya (Php 150/pax). Four hours later, we took the Super Shuttle Ferry at the Hagnaya Port (Php 180/pax) to get to Santa Fe Wharf.

Welcome to Santa Fe Wharf.

Almost six hours of traveling, whew! All the blogs I read about getting to Bantayan Island said it was quite exhausting but after seeing such a wonderful town like this, you're gonna say, "It's worth the wait." I'm joining the bandwagon now. It's a paradiso! 

From Santa Fe Wharf, a girl holding a sheet of paper with my name on it waved on us. It's Anne. She picked us up, introduced us to Tita Doris and brought us to a very beautiful place called Kandugyap. Kandugyap, which means "house by the sea", served as our home for two short nights. It's a lovely piece of property in a long stretch of island in Santa Fe with big rocks and white, powdery sand and pristine, crystal clear blue water. The Mediterranean-inspired villa was exclusively reserved for us. It's magical, the view's breathtaking, everything was beyond perfect. And let me add an excellent service on that.

Kandugyap: House by the sea.

The boys took over the kitchen and Paolo did not let me touch anything there. Well, I didn't want to feel so useless so I prepared the table for dinner and also fixed and washed the dishes after. We had grilled fish, chicken barbeques and pork nilaga and had a few drinks at the cliff to end our first night there.

 Dinner is served! Thanks, boys!

First night, yay!

We called it a day after consuming two to three bottles of beer to wake up EARLY for the next day. Sunday morning, our host prepared scrumptious breakfast for us: fried eggs, danggit and other sorts of dried fish. The boys also cooked fried rice! What a good way to start our day!

Good morning, Bantayan!

The boys went to the market after our heavy breakfast to buy danggit, fried fish and squid for pasalubong because the locals advised us to buy directly from there. Danggits from Cebu come from Bantayan so we expected cheaper price. :) They also brought stuff for our lunch, including a "pogita" for only Php 80! Oh yeaaah!

And while the boys are out, here's what Jen and I did:

We took photos! Hee hee hee.

You know it. A good place deserves a mini photoshoot. Jen and I stroke our best poses to keep personal souvenirs. What can you say about the facade of our villa? Santorini-inspired! I can't find the right words to explain Kandugyap. All I can say is.. see it for yourself!

A better view of our exclusive villa!

Lunch of the day: Deep-fried breaded shrimps, tocino dried fish and ensaladang kamatis.

I love this photo. It somehow reminds me of Patty Laurel and I don't know why.

It's the most awaited beach time!

Oh. Yeah. No bikinis this time. Lolol.

I less than three this man! My belly's a witness! ♥

Chwaaaan! ♥

And oh btw, meet Jeff and Jen who looks like my bestfriend/cousin, Aieen!

"Day 2"

We will, we will ROCK ya.

Hand signs. 5 + 3 = 8 years. But Paolo kinda looks creepy here.

When we went back to the villa, it rained hard. Perfect timing for me to watch the Green VS Blue game of La Salle and Ateneo! The boys (as usual) prepared our dinner while the girls repacked our things for our departure the next morning. The clock ticked too fast. It was our last night in Kandugyap, sad to say. But looking forward, February 6 was just a sleep away to officially call our relationship an 8-year long. ♥

Monday morning. We all got up by 3:30 AM to take the 5:30 ferry ride but we missed it so we took the 7:30 ferry instead. By lunch time, we're back at Mandaue City and were surprised to see a lot of people outside. Moments we realized there was a 6.8 magnitude earthquake which was also felt in Cebu and a tsunami warning was raised three hours after we hopped off the ferry. Oh God, thank you for keeping us safe.

We kept going with prayers inside of me. We had our last lunch at CNT Lechon, bought another set of pasalubong at Island Souvenirs in Mactan and killed time at Starbucks right beside Island Souvenirs.

After four years, I had the courage to eat Lechon Cebu again.

My fake smile! The earthquake really scared me!

Eight long years. Our Iloilo/Guimaras trip during our seventh anniversary has just passed. Next thing I know, we're on our ninth, tenth, so on and so forth. It takes time, I know. But I must say, I'm enjoying every minute of us together. :)

♥,

Marianne