A Thrift Shop Gem in Cubao

This weekend, I had another one of those accidental solo ventures.


At sunset, I found myself roaming around Cubao, one of my favorite places in Metro Manila. There's something quite appealing about this place, probably its very Pinoy (Filipino) vibe. The hustle and bustle of this area in Quezon City is very grounding. Here, everyone shares one common platform (literally and metaphorically). I like sitting in that Mister Donuts in Farmer's, facing commuters as they move to and from the MRT station, simply observing how they go about their everyday lives and wondering about each of their own life narratives.


Cubao has always been close to my heart. I spent a large chunk of my childhood and adolescence in this place--taking violin lessons at Weinstein school of Music in Ali Mall for some years, having my hair cut at Jimmy Lu Salon (my mom's favorite in the 90's), watching Disney on Ice every Christmas at the Big Dome, getting my first-ever pair of glasses at Sarabia Optical & finally seeing the map of zits on my face at 13 years old, grocery shopping at Shopwise with the family every weekend until a branch opened in Commonwealth, spending 3-hour breaks at Gateway Mall in college, etc.


Post-adolescence and pushing to young adulthood, I still hold Cubao dear to my heart. One of Cubao's most amazing nooks is Cubao Expo, with its art galleries, thingmajiggy stores, restaurants (hello Bellini's & Pen Pen's!), cheap brand-new branded shoes, and of course, the ukay ukay's (thrift shops).


Opposite Cubao Expo, at the back of the bus terminal (the old Rustan's building), is a humble shop known as the MSM American Surplus. Okay, I know the word "American" may elicit some boo's (it did with me), but I think it's still worth blogging about because of the extensive, and I mean extensive collection of pre-owned products for sale in this shop.


After batting my eyelashes at the shop keeper and security guard, they finally allowed me to take some photos of the thingingymajiggies adorably littered all over the place.

Books for as low as FIVE PESOS. Book lovers' heaven indeed.

And I mean BOOKS - from Stephen King to Harlequin romance novels to Science Encyclopedias. 

  

"Reading is not allowed here. This is not a library. Thank you!"

Toy Kingdom.

Where's Beast?

Can you pull off this green pair?

Boot Booth.

Some pairs have never been worn.

Buying pre-owned shoes isn't for everyone, though it's still worth some ogling.

Heel Varieties.

Stacked Luggage. 

"Tweet" says the hat.

Vinyl records at 35pesos each. Sweet!

From printers to speakers, they got it all.

Plates of various kinds.

Cutesy Colored Utensils.

How adorable is that yellow ironing board, eh?

  

And this dispenser?

  
  

Glassware.

Watches for a steal!

Old and lovely..

This unique wooden cabinet would make a great laundry container, a book stash, or a hiding place for kids.

Choosing gear.

The balls you need are in here.

Be an instant champion for less.

Customers pouring in.

After all, who doesn't love a bargain?

Just be sure to disinfect anything that you buy!

♫♪,

Ivee  

Hippie-Inspired Chocolates

Hello!

This is my first-ever post, and I hope it goes well. (Let's see how this thing works.)

I intend for this blog to be an avenue to share creations, some of which are my own, others, probably just "stolen" from/inspired by other peoples' ideas. :)  A “creation” can be anything from a craft project to a written song. Let’s create!

Anyway. I held some sort of celebration last Saturday for my 24th birthday, and since I love giveaways I decided to hand out chocolates instead of knick-knacks. I combined the theme (hippie) with my, ahem, personality. Read: Sweet. *cough cough . :p

Since I am on a pathetically tight budget, I did what most smart yet bordering-on-poor people would do: RECYCLE. I was glad to see heaps of chocolate in the fridge in my parents' house, which were given by a family friend from Holland. Lovely. Nobody was eating them, so I had the liberty to tear off the beautiful packaging and replace them with something far less beautiful, yet equally interesting I guess.

Here's how I did it:

Gather the Chocolates. The wrapper designs are so lovely that I think I'll be using them for a future creation.

Carefully tear off the wrapper. I had to eat quite a handful of them because I wasn't able to tear off the wrapper properly. Not that I'm complaining :)

Trace the wrapper on a crazily-painted/dyed sheet of paper.  For this paper I simply splashed 2 colors of dye all over a sheet of pattern paper. You can also use watercolor or any type of coloring media. The trick is to just make it appear crazy and psychedelic.

Cut! No need to be perfect and use a goody goody ruler, darling.

Wrap and seal! It's better to use gluestick for this, but in my case we didn't have one at home. Better yet, you can use double-sided tape. Glue can be toxic, you know. Kidding.

Leave a mark. I wrote a good old 'thank you' on the wrapper, but you can be more creative and think of other things to write/draw/stick on it.

Present it. 

Serve it! Enjoy!

♫♪,

Ivee