Bencab Swatch Watches

Kim's Christmas gifts to me this year were the 2014 and 2015 Bencab collaboration Swatch watches.

The Sabel Swatch was released in 2014, and was also packaged with a Bencab sculpture and a numbered watch. The watch that Kim purchased was in the regular Sabel Swatch packaging:

The Bencab+Swatch collaboration for 2015 is the Ode to the Flag. It is reminiscent of the Philippine Centennial Swatch released to commemorate the 100th Independence of the Philippines, but that one was a Zobel+Swatch collaboration.

I don't intend on wearing the Swatches, I just took them out of their packaging to inspect them further.

Under the specially designed packaging, the watches came in the standard plastic cases of Swatch. The 2015 Swatch's inner packet however had Swatch Club stamped all over it.

Here are pictures of the Swatches out in the wild for a photoshoot:

I really don't mind the size of the Swatch. I would guess without confirming that it is about 39mm. I'm used to wearing watches sized at 44mm upwards. However, the design is really intricately done on the straps and the watch face. The hour and minute hands are also quite distinct - it is noticeable even if the watch face of the Sabel Swatch, for example, is pretty busy with details. 

It was a good thing that Kim was still able to chance upon a Sabel Swatch - it was released 2014, and I suppose they have very limited stocks now. I had made inquiries on the Chinese New Year Swatch designs from the previous years at a Swatch booth, because Bencab also designed a Year of the Horse commemorative Swatch, and unfortunately, the previous years designs are no longer available. 

This further my resolve to purchase the Chinese New Year Swatch come next year - will not let the moment of getting another special Swatch pass me by again (here's to hoping that Bencab will also design it). 

The Bencab Swatches combines two of my passions right now, watches and art. I know I may not be able to afford a Bencab as of yet, but owning a piece, nay, two pieces designed by him at such an affordable cost of PhP 3,500.00 each, is not bad at all! 

Swatch can boast that they single-handedly revived the Swiss watch industry, so the designer-collaborations aside, owning a Swatch is an affordable investment to own a part of Swiss horological history. 

I hope some readers become convinced and go out to buy these beautiful pieces while they're still available!

Residents' Christmas Party in One Serendra

I have been organizing events ever since I joined my current employer last March of 2009. To be frank, I had no background in organizing events - back in New World Makati City Hotel, I was with the Front Office. Nonetheless, in Ayala Property Management Corporation, the position of Head Concierge is expected to be the events organizers of the properties they're assigned to. 

As it turns out, I have a knack for organizing events. It was a talent I did not know I had. When I joined One Serendra in 2012, it was to be the culmination of my career as an events organizer, because the events in this property have a budget of PhP 300,000.00 to PhP 500,000.00, not withstanding sponsorships that we can still get for each event. 

Big budget, unlimited possibilities for events equals loads of challenges, which glad to say, I have weathered through. 

Why am I being sentimental as I post this? Well, today is my last event in One Serendra. I will be managing a different Ayala residential complex come January 2016. 

My first day in One Serendra, I was asked to attend the Residents' Christmas Party for 2012, organized by my predecessor. And now, I'm sitting in the Piazza Veranda, 3 years later, praying so hard it won't rain for, surprise surprise, my last event which happens to be this year's Christmas Party. 

Currently I’m caught up in such a flurry of activities, as everybody’s racing to finish the set up for the party. Our caterer is Omakase, I have a Bonanza roast calf station, I have 100 bottles of wine, and 60 liters of beer – it’s supposed to be an epic night, I’m just really praying so hard for the clouds to blow away. Everyone, please pray with me.

Here’s to my last event in One Serendra!

Save The Black Shop

2015 has been full of nostalgia for me. My youngest brother came home and stayed with us for 2 weeks - he left 3 years ago to study in Australia. My sister is about to graduate college and we're right in the middle of getting ready for her graduation outfits, so I'm getting sentimental because there's a good chance she might take further studies abroad.

In terms of shopping, so many brands I remember from my childhood have started to make their presence felt this year also.

Around April of this year, my baby sister asked if we could go shopping for a couple of corporate attire outfits for her org's miting de avance. She was 3rd year at the time, and she was running for her college org's president. Most of her clothes are (ahem, ahem) party wear, save for a couple of Mango and Zara cocktail dresses that were subdued but very short. I decided to bring her to the Black Shop in Glorietta so that we can get her first office-wear outfit. She ended up purchasing a sky blue shirt dress and a pink shift dress with a black sheer neckline cover. She wore the pink dress to her miting de avance. She was the only one who took the dress code seriously.

A couple of days ago, she called me aside and asked me to purchase more corporate outfits for her, because she volunteered to become a lounge attendant at the airport for the VIP lounge in NAIA for the APEC 2015 delegates. She's actually to be paid for the 4 days that she will be in the airport next week. Her problem was that she didn't have enough corporate outfits - and that was the prescribed dress code. We ran off to The Black Shop again to get her more outfits. I was chiding her that the cost of her outfits were more than what she was going to be paid - of course, she was doing this really so that she could put it in her resume.

We almost went to The Black Shop in Trinoma, had I not been informed that it had closed already. I started interviewing the people in The Black Shop in Glorietta and they told me that there were only two branches left - the Glorietta and Megamall branches. They were shifting away from mall retail locations and transferring to showrooms in Quezon City, Ortigas, and Makati. Apparently, rent in the malls were starting to become steep for them.

I was kinda worried that this might herald their closing, I was assured though that they would still be around. In the early 90s, I often remember my mom dragging me to shopping marathons in Makati - The Black Shop was one of the stores where I would patiently wait for her to fit her pantsuits. I started to get sentimental and started taking pictures of the shop.

All items were on sale - my mom who insisted to be brought to The Black Shop also after dinner actually thought that it was already their closing out sale. My sister was able to purchase her first pantsuit, a blue dress (which she planned on using also for her Ateneo Med School interview) and 2 crisp long-sleeved shirts.

This is her taking a selfie with the blue dress trying to pair it with the blazer from the pantsuit.

While they're still there, please pass by and visit The Black Shop. I'm sure a lot of mothers have at one point experienced buying something there to wear to the office, they have been around since 1990. People my age and the millenials probably shop for their office wear in Zara, Mango, H&M, and Marks and Spencer (especially when they're on sale - GUILTY) but nothing beats local! (Wow, did I really just say that?)

Save The Black Shop!

P.S.: If you were to buy a dress, pants, or blazer from The Black Shop, the kind ladies there will be the ones to assist you having it altered to fit. How cool is that? I'll be driving back to Makati in a couple of days to pick up my sister and mom's altered garments.

The Black Shop

Ground Floor, Glorietta 4, Makati

tel. no.: 02.8468025

Casio G-Shock

Kim and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday, and he bought me a Casio G-Shock. First time for me to own a sporty-ish watch, and he got the color right. I also love that it has both an analog clock face as well as a digital read-out. Showing pictures of the white G-Shock below:

I'm wearing it now, and I love the fact that it is so low-maintenance (the watch, I mean, not this particular color). I was doing online searches for other colors of the watch that I might like to own, and this seems to be the start of another obsession for me.

Ingersoll Watch

I enlisted in the forum of the Philippine Watch Club, and started immersing myself in the discussions they had about watches there. Of course, my favourite part of the forum is, you guessed it, the market place!

My first order from a shop of one of the members, located all the way in Cebu, just arrived today. And here it is!

I was so excited to wear it, so soon as I was able to get it out of its box, I opened the butterfly clasp, and tried it on. Of course, I wasn't able to adjust the time as of yet.

Here's another picture of the watch when I got home.

Casio Edifice

Kim had been itching to purchase his first watch. We've been going around, window shopping for the right brand for him - nothing too ostentatious, a good solid reputation, Japan movement considering.

When we finally agreed that the best option for him right now was a Casio Edifice, we started looking online and in Time Depot for his options.

The Time Depot in Eastwood was the deciding factor for Casio Edifice. They had a good number of Edifice watches on display, and it was there that we discovered that they were on sale. The prices of the models were as low as PhP 3,995.00. It was in Time Depot in Market! Market!, however, where Kim fell in love with an Edifice watch design, so much so that he quickly purchased it.

Casio Edifice EFR-539D-1A

I was supposed to purchase the exact same model, because I was really gunning for it to be a couples' watch. To our dismay, Time Depot only carries one piece of each model.

It was just yesterday that we were able to visit another Time Depot, in Shangri-la Mall. Now, although they do not have the exact same model, I totally fell in love with this:

Pretty right? I bought it. It isn't quite couples' watch-ish, but its the same layout, only in a different colour. Which really shows that couples can still have their own identities from each other right? They are still individuals after all.

Well, when I got home, I started taking #watchfies of the Edifice, and to my delight, because of the #casio and #edifice hashtags I used, Casio's US Instagram account liked my photo.

Here are more pictures of the watch.

The resolution of my pictures are rather good, because of the 16 megapixel snapper of my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

It was a pleasant experience shopping in Time Depot, save for when Kim visited the branch in SM Masinag, where the staff were quite rude to him. Would you believe they laughed at him? Very different reception we got from the Time Depots in Eastwood, Market! Market! and Shangri-la Mall. Such a shame actually.

The Army Baker

It was my sister's birthday yesterday and we were debating what cake to get for her party. I was thinking of getting a Strawberry Shortcake from Baby Yulo in Forbes Park, but didn't want to have to drive all the way to Makati and then come back to Quezon City. It was a good thing that I didn't though, as the traffic was rather horrid this weekend. 

Instead, I decided to order a fondant cake from a good friend of mine, Ruby Anonuevo-Domingo, who owns and is the talent behind The Army Baker. 

The theme of my sister's party is Cath Kidston, she's pretty obsessed with that brand lately, even though she has been using Cath Kinston bags since she was in high school. So I asked Ruby to come up with a Cath Kidston themed cake, and here is the finished product:

The cake was so beautiful. All I had to do to dress it up when I received it at home was to put it on top a crystal cake platter and it was perfect. 

I got the cake also for a good price, considering the amount of fondant it required to cover the moist chocolate cake, and the cute details that I asked put on it. 

If you're interested in celebrating in style, please feel free to contact Ruby at 09985621782.

Hugot at Cevio Art Haus

I was quite happy receiving this invite today. I am so going to attend!

The Great Interior Design Challenge

Its a bit of a British invasion for the blog right now, since I'm neck-deep in preparing for my sister's Cath Kidston-themed birthday shindig at home tomorrow. I'll be pretty busy because I not only have to decorate the house, I also have to cook two types of pasta for her party tomorrow - and to add another challenge to that, my slipped disc has been acting up lately, probably from the stress that I've been experiencing with the drive to the office, and with the stuff going on at the the office.

Taking a bit of time to relax, and I was able to download the two seasons of BBC's The Great Interior Design Challenge. I chanced upon the first few episodes of Season 2 on Youtube, and I enjoyed it so much I decided to download both seasons, and it took about 2 weeks for it to be completed. Not a lot of people seed it.

I was already able to finish Season 2, and now I'm watching Season1, what a reversal, huh?

Well, I decided to write about Season 1's Episode 7 because I got a bit excited that they showed a Macbook. Fine, fine, I'm probably obsessing about Macs again like a rabid fanboy, but the Mac was just something that caught my attention, which made me pay attention more to that particular episode, and the designer that was using the laptop.

So how this show works, each episode is composed of 3 amateur designers from all-over the UK, with either a bit of a background dabbling in interior design. These 3 designers are given their first clients, and they are given 48 hours in a span of 3 days to transform the semi-identical rooms in the houses that are part of the architectural theme for that particular episode. They have to fulfil the designer's brief of the homeowners, while injecting their own personality, creativity, and originality in the process.

What I love about the show is the viewers also get to learn about the diverse and rich architectural history of the UK - which comprises the theme of each episode. They've designed rooms in Edwardian house, Victorian mansions, Medieval homes, boat houses on the Thames - you name it, they've probably shown it.

To introduce the amateur designers, they show glimpses of the contestant's own house. Now here's where it got interesting for me. One of Season 1 Episode 7's contestants, Johnny, was in-between homes. Yes, read between the lines. What was shown as his home was a Volkswagen van that had a mattress and three funky coats of his. He's a painter and decorator, but he wants to make the move to become an interior designer, and he was shown working on designs on his Macbook in coffee shops.

For the Mac alone, I was betting on him winning that particular episode already. And then he goes and pulls this off - here's a picture of the living area that he was to transform:

It seemed a bit bland and confused. A hodgepodge of furniture, and it didn't have an eclectic look. Plus, the homeowners wanted to update to a more modern look. After his three days, the room looked like this:

It wasn't a sure-win though, because the other two designers really came up with brilliant and excellent designs as well. What made the judges choose him was his bold risk to make the room asymmetrical. I myself would have preferred a symmetrical room, take the focal wall, build even shelvings on the side, and dress it up a bit. But his bold decision to create modern floating shelves, that (look at the edge) ate up into the entrance from the other room area, actually tied the two rooms together. Brilliant. For that, the judges chose him to be elevated into the semi-finals. He was shocked himself. He took a risk, and it paid off. The Macbook helped a lot too, I'm sure. 

Give this tv series a shot. It isn't noisy or full of drama, but the raw talent of these amateur designers will keep you looking forward to the next episode and the next episode and the next - you get the picture. 

Moschino and Macbook Accessories in Cash and Carry

I'm sure this post will be pretty weird, but I went to Cash and Carry in Makati today to attend a birthday party in the Jollibee there.

And I had a little time to go around the mall - it has been more than 5 years already since the last time I was there.

I visited Criselda's and I was finally able to muster up enough boldness to decide to experiment with my perfumes by trying to use Moschino's Funny. Funny is a scent I have been familiar with since 2009, because I had a resident in the property I managed before that would use this everyday - and we always knew if she was near or had just left an area because the scent always managed to linger. And it smelled so heavenly. When I got around to asking that resident, I found out the scent was not a unisex scent, but rather a femme scent. Well, it took me since 2009 to decide and debate if I wanted to experiment and try it on for myself - I swear, its the type of scent that really gets stuck in your olfactory sense. I finally took the plunge and bought a bottle. I was actually only thinking of purchasing their tester, the one with the plain cardboard box. But the price difference was minimal so I ended up purchasing the regular packaged bottle instead. 

I am so happy with this scent! I'm wondering if I'll receive raves or rants about it in the office. 

You know what else I found in Cash and Carry? Just a treasure trove of affordable Macbook accessories, and no I ain't talking about the Power Mac outlet I saw there. I was able to buy silicone covers for the various ports on my Macbook Pro - for all intensive purposes, I will be calling them butt plugs from hereon. 

These were quite a steal - they were just a hundred bucks. I also bought a set of these for my sister's Macbook Pro, hers were in fuchsia. It comes with 9 silicone covers. The ones in the picture above are the leftovers. I only placed butt plugs on the slots that I never use. So, that leaves the USB slots, the magsafe adapter (duh!), and the headset slot open.

I also bought a silicone cover for my keyboard. The brand on the packaging is Crystal Guard - I am not familiar with it. I actually have keyboard covers already which I either purchased in Hong Kong or Singapore, and they were roughly PhP 1,300.00. They were clear - I think it was a Moshi. I still have it, but although it was supposed to be designed for a 13" Macbook Pro, there was excess silicone on the sides that didn't fit flush into the recessed area of the keyboard of the laptop. This one, which I bought for PhP 200.00, as you can see in the picture, fits flush into the recessed area of the keyboards. Plus, it came in different colors - the options at the store were silver, pink, green, blue. Black was out of stock, so I chose the silver, which when placed on my Pro gives it a Macbook Air feel to it. 

Apologies for the picture, these were all pulled from my Instagram account, which you may feel free to follow: @isaacatenista.

Back to Mac

I'm finally back to using a Macbook as my home laptop. My previous trustworthy Macbook Pro was accidentally totalled when an officemate of mine spilled water on it. So after several months of deciding whether I was going to buy another one, I finally gave in and just bought another Macbook Pro.

Will be able to go back to writing.

Cibo's 18th Year Anniversary

Has anybody else seen this?

Based on what I read on their Facebook page, you order a dish, and the perfect pair to that dish will only set you back PhP 18.00.

I'm scheduling a look-see on this in Cibo over the weekend, and will post about it. This is very exciting!

Merm by Benedict Reyna of Ang INK

Here's my proud purchase from yesterday's Art in the Park. This could be possibly the most affordable painting in the event yesterday. I visited my Ateneo high school batch mate, Jomike Tejido, in the Ang INK booth and that's where I met the artist, Benedict Reyna, and saw this cute painting of his:

The painting is acrylic on a 6" x 6" canvas. Very very cute! Now all I need is a mini easel, and I can prop it up next to my other small paintings!

Ronald Ventura (Big and Small) in Ayala Museum

Kim and I were Art in the Park first thing in the morning, but parking was quite difficult already. We had to park all the way in Paseo Centre and walk to Salcedo Park. By 12NN, the place was starting to fill up with people, and looking at paintings was starting to become laborious. 

So, it was time to hie off to Ayala Museum to finally see the new exhibit located at the ground floor. The paintings are from the collection of Dr. Joel Mendez, featuring Ronald Ventura. 

Ronald Ventura made headlines in the local art scene when a painting of his, Grayground, sold in auction at Sotheby's Hong Kong for US$1.1M. 

In this exhibit we get to see his grasp on the human form. His technical expertise, without a doubt, shows that he is one of the hottest artists in the Philippine contemporary art scene. 

Black Rainbow, 2004, Oil on Canvas, 201 x 201 cm

Dream Series, Undated, Oil and Graphite on Canvas, 213.5 x  152.3 cm

Morning Rust, 2001, Mixed Media, 196 x 100.2 cm

In Memorial, 2001, Mixed Media, 226 x 152.4 cm