You Might As Well Be Walking on The Sun

One of my favorite things to do is hang by the pool (which makes me think I should find more interesting activities...hmm...) I know, I know. I feel like my life is in perpetual summer mode which is funny because the quest for bright and shiny is a never-ending thing for me.A lot of people have been asking me to show them outfits of me in coordinates and while I have done shoots a few weeks back, showing another one won't hurt, right? So here I am in flamingo glory, basking in the sun by the pool and for a moment... life is absolutely perfect.

Contrary to what other people believe, there are just some days when one just cannot go to their closet and pick out the first thing that catches their eye. Granted that I have obsessive compulsive personality disorder, planning my outfits or thinking about them and not just playing closet Russian roulette is more of the rule than the exception for me. I love matching. However, I need to emphasize that contrary to what the world thinks, being presentable does not mean sacrificing comfort for style. I personally believe comfort conquers fashion because if you feel iffy and start to get finicky with what you are wearing, automatically you will look like a walking fashion faux pas. So, skip the skimpy outfit, the shy high heels or the plunging neckline... if you know you would be more worried than confident in them. (Again, not a lot of people can conquer high heels. Years and years of wearing them has made my foot develop that high heel arch that I am actually sometimes in pain when I wear the wrong kind of flat shoes.) You don't have to be what you aren't and that is probably the one fashion rule I can share with you. Be in what you feel most like yourself in. This is not a form of laziness; this is saving time and making life easy for you. This outfit is an example. Now usually, I would prefer to be in swimming attire when lazing around the pool. This day was an exception as I was riding the crimson wave and just wanted to chill- dip my feet against the water and bask in the life in the tropics which some my take for granted but for me is a totally big deal. I really do not know how to survive and thrive anywhere else. 

Flamingo Print Mint Green Coordinates: Chase

Flip Flops: Havaianas

On that note, allow me to share today's thought on happiness (don't you just love the positive vibe of my blog?) Happy people know to take in the moment and live in it... because we all know everything is fleeting. Every struggle that comes will pass and at the same time, the great things, those once-in-a-lifetime moments will pass as well. This is why happy people live in the moment. (Whether the moment may be good or bad...) I think happiness is a sense of peacefulness and contentment mixed with the pursuit of one's deepest passions which is why happy people know that only a few things matter more than how much one loves everyone... starting of course with oneself. Loving yourself means respecting yourself enough to do for yourself what will make you the best version of you possible. On that note, don't take everything too seriously. The reason that happy people are happy is because they choose happiness and choose to do what will best facilitate it. For instance, if they are struggling with depression (as most people do, I believe... at least once in their life), happy people choose to get help from a professional for an objective assessment. No matter what, happy people exhaust all means available to get through it...through anything. Happy people choose to help themselves, to be brave and accept things they can't change, even when it seems most impossible. Happy people change what they can and try to fix a world gone wrong. In my case, when I was attacked so horribly by two people, I was definitely traumatized and depressed. I didn't know what kind of world would allow that to happen to people who happen to be "just there"... not provoking anyone. I was hurt, I was aggrieved and I hit rock bottom but instead of staying down, I decided to make the most out of it... not by calling my press contacts to feature me insinuating salacious facts and conspiracy theories against other people and by earning the public's sympathy... personally, I think that that move is absolutely tasteless. Instead, I took the chance of being in rock bottom to rise above and know that justice had to be served...and in the right way. I also knew that being in such a sad circumstance was fleeting and it was not going to last forever. I decided I had to acknowledge my emotions and become equally grateful to experience them all- the highs, the mids, the lows. I immersed myself in every emotional wave because I know that nothing is ever permanent, so I might as well enjoy the ride.

Most of all, like myself, I believe that happy people started their journey as broken people- they have had unfortunate yet unavoidable circumstances, setbacks and life events come upon them... not everything they wanted happened as they wanted it to happen and they were not handed the golden spoon for anything. I would know because I was one of these people and I turned out happy. That is the thing about happy people: they know suffering more than anyone else and that is why they can see just how absolutely beautiful their lives are. 

Happy people don't just happen.

Photos by: Celyn Jaravata

xx, JL

On that note, people always ask me what my beauty routine is. I know I have promised a tutorial which trust me, I am trying to figure out how to do granted I don't know how to use the zoom function in my SLR, so I would definitely be the last person to know how to turn it to video mode. But to achieve this sparkly glow amidst the sun, I would have to say that they best thing you to apply is a BB cream and my personal favorite is Maybelline's. I don't know if I have emphasized it enought but the foundation for great makeup is good skin. If like me, you have something close to that but some flaws or redness that you cannot help as that is part of your genetic makeup, then you may as well fake being born with it... and how do you do it? With Maybelline, of course. As hard as it is to believe, a dash of makeup never hurt anyone and you don't owe it to anyone to explain why you have a hint of foundation on your skin when swimming by the pool and that is exactly what I did as I did nothing more but use my trusty foundation brush (a trusty tool in my arsenal) and add one dab of Maybelline's BB Cream and it worked perfectly on my skin. I achieved the poolside glow I wanted and it was perfect. Oh, and did I mention it contained SPF? Now isn't that just genius?