A Few More Learnings

One shouldn't commit a mistake twice when he said he had already learned from it.
Wounds and bruise hurt, and even if they're healed, they left scars to remind us of things. In life, we are given options--to stay or to go away. Which one do we have to choose?
Watching Gossip Girl for years now, I realized that my life isn't that far from what Blair or Serena or anyone else there has been going through. I'd like to write a book someday and collect all the beautiful quotes written and said, and share my personal stories on it. And just like Blair, the Chuck of her life both love and harm her.

Love isn't enough. You must be happy, too.

Season 5, Episode 20 - Salon of the Dead.
Dan: I don't wanna just melt into your world and lose myself completely. We need a balance.
Not all opposites attract. And not all differences can be changed. They simply have to be... accepted.

Season 3, Episode 12 - The Debarted
Gossip Girl: Sometimes reality comes crashing into us. Other times it dawns on us slowly, despite our best efforts to ignore it.
Reality hurts, it's even more painful than getting inked on the body's boney parts.

Season 1, Episode 10 - Hi, Society
Gossip Girl: It's often said that, no matter the truth, people see that they want to see.
How important other people's opinions are?

And lastly...


Season 5, Episode 17 - The Princess Dowry
Gossip Girl: Even when we think we know everything about the ones we love, there's always a skeleton in their walk-in closet.
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Marianne

Leighton Meester in Manila

Five days have passed yet the feeling of seeing someone you adore so much is still new and fresh, it's still alive. It was so surreal for me! May 26, 2012 is one of the many dates in my life that I will forever and will always remember.

You know how much I love the fictional character Blair Waldorf. I can pass as one of the biggest and diehard fan of Gossip Girl in the country, ditching all other series only for this. Try Googling my Multiply blog. If we're contacts, you will know how much I pegged her wavy hair topped with a colorful headband. Whatever Blair says, I quote. I even incorporated her in my everyday life... well except for her love-hate relationship with her best friend, Serena. I know you got me. Whoever Blair loves, I love them for her too--be it Nate, Dan or Chuck. But of course it's only Chuck that she loves, therefore it's only Chuck that I also love! Even the French macaron craze, I had a box of Laduree delivered straight from France! All these and more, oh dear you know how much I love Blair!

But there goes this girl who made me love Blair Waldorf. And we all know who she is. Her name is Leighton, but she's not the crazy bitch we have all heard. She may be the good girl who gone bad, but when I saw her, she's the Leighton Meester I idolize. Simple, humble and even more beautiful than Blair Waldorf.

I wouldn't love the character of B if not for her. And even if she played the role of Vanessa or Jenny or Georgina, I would still vie for Leighton Meester.

And so!!!! Thank you, Penshoppe for bringing all stars in the Philippines, especially the biggest star of my life! I have never fangirl-ed before, I screamed like who-cares-if-someone-hears-me-scream-like-this! I shouted her name for countless times, told her "I love you" that even Mario Maurer couldn't understand why I was the only girl who did not go gaga over him.

I was seated in the front row of the runway and right in front of the stage. I was so blessed! The opportunity of seeing not just your girl-crush or whatever but seeing someone you never thought you would be seeing. It was like that. On the day Penshoppe confirmed that the Queen B was coming, I was thinking of going to NYC only to look for her. Then the radio played her song with Cobra Starship. I thought it's just a coincidence. But on that very same day, I was given the word not to lose hope of seeing her in person.

It may sound shallow, but trust me, I've gone sleepless nights! It's like a grade two student who can't sleep a night before his educational trip. And on the very same day I couldn't eat, I skipped breakfast and lunch and only realized I needed a meal two hours before the show.

The moment I arrived at SMX, I was surprised to see my media pass rated VIP. Taking a photo right beside her is more than enough, but what's important for me is to see her in person. We were not asked to fall in line, luckily. I seated on the section where fan girls like me would die for. Again, it was surreal. It was perfect. And God, she's so beautiful.

All photos (c) Marianne Marcial. Indulge in the beauty of the great Queen B with cutesy Mario Maurer! Xo Xo

Digicam on my left hand and iPhone on my right hand, both in action capturing the moments I will endlessly long for.

I looove this photo of her and Mario ♡ --

Leighton on the runway --

iPhone photos --

I love you, Leighton Meester!

Sorry to bombard you with photos, these are also 30% of what I have taken. I swear it was insane seeing her! She's so pretty, slim and so cute to say, "Thank you" to all her fans! Ahhhhh! I was out of my mind and didn't think of taking a photo of myself with her behind me. :D

 My seatmates Dale, who gave me passes, and Marj.

The entire Penshoppe fashion show will be posted in another entry together with the other shows I watched with my Aikabee. It's all because I want to dedicate this purely to me seeing Leighton Meester, living my dream for an hour or two and her noticing me.

Xo Xo ♡

♥,

Marianne

Girl Next Door

I was planning to clean my drive because the desktop computer I use at work is performing slower than the usual. I brought DVDs with me to save backups and delete some personal files but guess what happened, I found recent photos of me from my iPhone photos folder. These were taken on the last week of September and what made me giddy to blog about these two outfits? MARiS and Laduree, my two latest addictions!

We don't have a body-size mirror at the office and every time I wanna see how I look like, I ask my office chums to take a picture of me. Pictures speak a thousand words, right? And of course I project whenever they snap and tap my ever, so dear iP. (Oh, just to be sure, we do this during breaks, not on office hours!)

 All the colors I love: blue-green, violet and pink.

I also couldn't believe that I sported the Miss Pastel Necklace from MARiS at work. People here are often dressed in jeans and plain tops except for talents (actors, anchors and reporters). I'm usually spotted wearing dresses just to be safe! :)

Blue-green dress from Aeropostale | Black tank top from Gap | Feather necklace from MARiS | 

Violet ballet flats from Solemate for SM Department Store

Next ~

Sumo smile!

I wore this during the final fitting of our gowns. Before picking Jovy and Susie up, Pao and I lined up for ATM to get some moohlas. The boyfriend suddenly took a photo of me while talking and I was so ready to smile!

Crazy for Laduree part two.

My last piece of Laduree is the pistachio flavor and I made sure to have a digital copy of it to please the Blair Waldorf in me! The red car behind me got the boyfriend's attention, ergo the background. I was also wearing the MARiS Camie feather hair clip!

Black lace coverup from Landmark Department Store | Black tank top from Gap | Feather hair clip from MARiS | Leopard print shorts from Landmark Department Store | Bejeweled flat sandals from Mom

♥,

Crazy For Ladurée

You know how much I love Blair Waldorf. Her style, her character(!!!), everything she does, I wanna do. And even if I'm not an elite like her and that I'm not from NY, I have an inner Blair Waldorf in me. We both like Audrey Hepburn, we both have Jenny Humphrey and that we're crazy about Ladurée macarons!

Omgaaah Blair Waldorf is made of class ♥

Whenever I feel like eating macarons, I go to Bizu (and now Sweet Bella at Burgos Circle). To note, the closest Bizu branch from where I'm located is Greenhills so I usually fail to fulfill my cravings. Last week, I was dying to have some macarons and the good news was... a former classmate from college who's now a flight attendant flew to CDG before flying back here in MNL. She Twitpic'd me a box of Ladurée and begged her to buy me a box of 8. The flavors of my choice are: Red Fruits, Raspberry, Pistachio, Chocolate, Rose, Vanilla, Praline and Mint and Strawberry.

Just a little background about Ladurée: it is a luxury pastries shop from the ever luxurious city, Paris. History says that it is the brand that invented the double-decker macaron shells with a creamy ganache filling. The perfect description for “le Macaron”? According to its very Parisian website, “These small, round cakes, crisp on the outside, smooth and soft in the middle, are the most famous creation of Ladurée.” It is also the pastry brand which took charge of all the cakes used in the film Marie Antoinette starred by Kirsten Dunst.

Now that I've finally tried Blair Waldorf's favorite, I can swear by this description. I can forever munch on this. I even found myself sleeping beside its box. But of course I shared the macarons to my parents, siblings and Paolo because the best things in life must be shared to all, especially to our loved ones. :)

My oh, so precious box!

Les Macarons: two almond meringe shells with butter cream or ganache filling ♥

"Crisp on the outside, smooth and soft inside."

Raspberry, Pistachio and Chocolate.

Chocolate, Mint & Strawberry and Coffee

Vanilla, Praline and Rose.

© Photos by Mai Marcial. 

It's official! I am craaaazy for macarons! I've tried Bizu and Sweet Bella and next week, I'm gonna try Empire. Also, I was also informed that McDonald's in Paris also serves macarons. Can't wait to try each and every macaron in the world! 

If you have suggestions on where else I can get/order/buy macarons, please let me know! Email or tweet me! Thanks! :)

I really love channeling the inner Blair Waldorf in me! Okay forgive me for being such a social climber (my haters say I do it best hehehe) but never mind, I'm a Prince(ss) Macaro(n)!

♥,