Ensembles Wear My Design Winning Dresses are Now Here!

Ensembles Wear My Design Winning Dresses are Now Here!

ENSEMBLES proudly presents the 8 deserving ladies and gents who stood out with their creations and won the Wear My Design Contest for Spring 2014! (See last year's winners here.)

The 8 winners will not just get acknowledged as the designers of their creations, but their winning designs will also be worn by ladies all over the country as part of Ensembles Spring Collection! How awesome is that?

Here are the Ensembles Wear My Design winning dresses:

SHADOWS by Clarice Joyce Tan (left) is fondly described by the designer as inspired by ninjas: “strong yet elegant, which this dress embodies.”

Michelle Marie Sacramento’s CURVE (right) aims to emphasize the body’s natural curves and instill confidence at the same time.

Marielle Lacar's design entitled CARLEENA (left) is “a constructed dress inspired by the modern Filipina – exceptional, creative, confident, practical & spontaneous.”

BLACK & WHITE (right) is a creation by Richard Enriquez: a “structure simple” piece yet “strong with a woman’s essence on it.”

Jacinta Theresita Bravo’s “fusion of classic cuts, modern folds and unusual color combination” is fittingly called UNORTHODOX SOPHISTICATION (left).

Danjamel Bobis’ MEL (right) is a “simple – crisp – elegant dress that can be worn at any time of the day at any event.”

BLOOM by Merie Sheryl Clarete (left) is all about a lady’s blooming independence.

Bernard Escalona’s SUNDARY DRESS (right) in a soft color palette captures the ease of a Sunday afternoon.

As you can see, all of these winning spring dresses embody the Ensembles’ woman: feminine yet strong and independent. The dresses range from materials using laces, stretch woven, double knits and charmeuse, all made up of carefully picked fabric to accentuate the female figure.

So, whether you want to look simple yet classy, or simply want to amp up your corporate attire into a fashion-forward piece, the Spring Collection is sure to provide what you want and what you need.

You can visit Ensembles' website at www.ensembles.com.ph or like their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/EnsemblesOnline You can also follow them on Twitter at @EnsemblesOnline :)  

Ensembles Wear My Design Winning Dresses are Now Here!

View Park Hotel Tagaytay - A Virtual Tour of Their Newest Suites

View Park Hotel Tagaytay - A Virtual Tour of Their Newest Suites

View Park Hotel Tagaytay has held a special place in my heart ever since I stayed there last year. In fact, whenever somebody would bring up Tagaytay or would ask for a good place to stay, View Park Hotel Tagaytay would always be my number one recommendation.

As such, it shouldn't be surprising that I pushed and pushed and pushed for our MadTV.ph season finale to be shot there, despite the outrage of my Northern friends who wanted to stay in a more accessible hotel in Manila. :p

All of that outrage vanished the minute we got to View Park Hotel Tagaytay, though. After all, what is not to love about that place?

While I already loved the room that I stayed in last time, I fell even more in love with the room that we stayed in this time.

The thought of sleeping on that bed alone made me feel ultra lonely, though, so I convinced Miko to stay over for the night, even though he originally wasn't supposed to. Waha! My powers of persuasion prevailed! :p

Check out the rest of our room:

The perfect shower for couples?

Haha. It was a bit of a hassle for us, though, coz Miko and I are just friends, so the other person had to wait in the living room while the other showered. Lol.

Aaaaand what really made this room stand out from the previous one that we stayed in: the living room and dining extension. It really felt like condo living!

Although there was a TV in the living room area, there was a TV in the bedroom, as well. :) No fighting for channels here!

Just a quick segue lol: brought my trusty and spacious sequinned Mango overnight bag to Tagaytay with me. :)

#MikAnj

Photos clearly do not do the place justice, though. To get a complete virtual tour of our room, the latest suites of View Park Hotel Tagaytay and a complete virtual tour of the place for that matter, watch this:

View Park Hotel Tagaytay - A Virtual Tour

Hope you enjoyed it! Will be writing a blog post on their Presidential Suite along with another video of our last MadTV.ph episode for Season 1 soon. Stay tuned! :)

View Park Hotel Tagaytay - A Virtual Tour of Their Newest Suites

The Prince Who Saved the Superhero

I had a rough start to 2014, to say the least. This might sound dramatic, but my heart was in an intense turmoil for a few months before 2013 ended and I could feel it break almost every single day of 2014. There were times when my teenage-heart would think about morbid thoughts of death and there were times where I tried to bury my feelings in the arms of another guy.

That didn't work, of course.

On a particularly extremely-down day, I was on my way back to an event from taking a quick barre3 break, when I heard someone singing "You and Me" by Lifehouse. As much as I appreciate good singers, in general; there was something very different about this one, though. It gripped me and I found my feet crazily looking for where it was coming from.

That's when I saw him. Of course, I took a video right away.

My initial plan was to take that video and leave, but I couldn't. His voice had a hypnotic quality to it that drew me to it like wild Pokemon to honey. Let's just say I completely forgot to go back to my event after that. Lol.

Truth be told, I actually tried walking away twice, but found myself turning back after a few steps because he played John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" and Snow Patrol's "Run". Definitely my kind of music!

During the most desperately intense OMG-I-love-your-voice-and-your-song-choices moments, I resisted the urge to jump up and down and resorted to crazy-tweeting instead. Here's the least crazy one. :p

You can just imagine how crazy the others were.

Follow me on Twitter: @the_lil_miss :p

I finally gave up trying to leave when my friends said they were coming to the Fort and succumbed to sitting on the grass and listening to this busker sing for three straight hours. My friends showed up an hour later than they said they would, but I didn't even care.

Words cannot describe how much I needed that night. To just sit there alone with my thoughts, surrendering to this unknown person's voice and falling in love with songs that shaped me as a person all over again. For three hours, the heartbreaker ceased to exist and my heart felt whole again.

It's difficult to describe. I tried to describe it in a note that I left in the busker's hat and this might sound dramatic again, but his music saved me. Living proof that superheroes need saving sometimes, too. :)

I fangirled like crazy when I got home and tried searching for him everywhere. My greatest fear was that I wouldn't know where to find him when I was at an ultimate low once again, and although it took me all sorts of desperate keyword searches on Google, I finally found him: Prince Valencia.

I was happy to learn that he busks at BGC every weekend. And even happier to learn that he has a SoundCloud. :) Check it out here:

http://www.soundcloud.com/dundee-prince valencia

Enjoy! :)

Who knows? Maybe his music will save you, too.

Winning Isn't Everything.

I'm not exactly sure when it started, but ever since I can remember, I always aimed for one thing in life: to win. I never really noticed this hamartia of mine until recently, though.

I was reading "Ender's Game" (a book that I finished in just 3 days) and the first line that I highlighted was this:

"I have to win this now, and for all time, or I'll fight it every day and it will get worse and worse."

vintage glasses from Four Eyes / dreamcatcher necklace and floral connector ring and bracelet from Quirkypedia / beige crochet vest from Forever 21 / dress (gift) / foldable bow flats from The Little Things She Needs

When it comes to arguments, I never back down. I hate admitting that I'm wrong, even though there are rare cases when I am.

Winning is also the main reason why I find myself rooting for the Lannisters in "Game of Thrones". They may not fight with honour - whatever that means lol - but they are smart enough to win (so far anyway).

Seriously… I'm all about winning. This probably explains why Jeron Teng > Jeric Teng in my eyes. This also explains why I got so kilig whenever Carl Grimes said, "I win!" in "The Walking Dead" Season 4 Episode 9 yesterday. He is my new hero.

"I win!" is a regular part of my vocabulary. And whenever I want something - anything, really - I always tell myself, "I will win."

Anyway, the point of the matter is: I feel this need to always win. Always. And when I don't, I refuse to talk about it. Ever.

I once won second prize in an essay-writing contest in Thailand and I won a scholarship prize of Bt10,000. I never gave the check to my parents (I found it in my closet recently) all because I didn't win first prize.

Yup. I couldn't admit to my parents that I was only second-best, so I tucked the check away and never spoke about it. That's how much winning means to me. Cray cray.

And then came Prince.

I was being angry at the world, as always, a few days ago when Prince told me that "Life is unfair. We take what we can and we suck it up." "I don't believe in that," I quipped. "Never settle. Always WIN." And then Prince told me, "You'll never be truly happy if you don't know how to settle."

And that's when it hit me: I never settle. That is why I get so depressed sometimes. That is why I need saving most of the time. That is why my relationships with people - friendly and romantic - fail all the time. Because I don't know how to settle.

That is why I am so unhappy.

It's never too late to open your eyes and change for the better. Winning isn't everything. Life should include sacrifice and compromise every once in a while. It should be about giving your best and moving on and doing better when you don't get what you want.

This realisation may have come a lil late in my life, but I'm glad that it did nonetheless. It's time for me to stop being so hard on myself and on others and to be more optimistic about life, in general.

Who's with me? :)

TBDress Offers Great Second Wedding Dresses and Evening Dresses Chicago

Whether you are on the lookout for beautiful second wedding dresses or just evening dresses, in general, TBDress has got you covered.

I don't know about you, but I oftentimes get into this pickle where I need a beautiful dress, but just can't find exactly what I want in local stores. There are also times where I just feel like I want something different - something that other women around me do not have. When this happens, I scan the Internet for ideas and TBDress instantly caught my eye.

I'm not a huge fan of long evening dresses. Fortunately, there are all sorts of different kinds of evening dresses that the modern woman can choose from nowadays. Here are some of my favourites from TBDress:

This dress is cute yet sophisticated enough for evening wear, thanks to its well-placed adornments.

This one is perfect for both evening wear and day wear, so you can definitely make the most out of it once it is in your closet.

If you'd prefer to stay safe, then black is always a good color choice for dresses. These two are both classy and formal.

Now, while I've never been married and really don't have any plans to, to be honest; I couldn't help but browse through the second wedding dresses on TBDress, either.

For the first time in my life, I actually envisioned myself getting married. Haha. Seriously. I'm not a fan of classic white wedding dresses, so these didn't fail to catch my eye:

Who says you have to follow the norm when it comes to weddings?

Aside from that, TBDress.com also provides hundreds of other beautiful dresses for women all over the world at very low prices. The best part is that they even provide custom-made dresses to suit your every need.

So, whether you need http://www.tbdress.com/Dresses-For-Second-Wedding-Informal/ or http://www.tbdress.com/Evening-Dresses-Chicago, turn to TBDress.com - you can't go wrong!