Vigan is a place up north that I have adorn so much even if it was only now that I was actually able to visit it. I love to see historical places when travelling - it was never about the shopping that excites me but the different historical places. :)

On a hot summer I wouldn’t be able to resist ice cream :) Their dirty ice cream is much better than the ones in Manila. For the value of 20 pesos I was able to get a towering dirty ice cream with SUGAR CONE and theirs was much creamier than the ones here. :)

We went to the north during the days where festivities are at its peak in Vigan which is why there a lot of colorful designs hanging in their homes. Such a lovely place to walk into during the summer :)

See how old these places are. :) The structure of the old homes amuses me and how I wish I could have stayed here the whole day. I would to take shots of these building at night. :)

Eating at Cafe Leona for lunch! Normally I wouldn’t like staying in places that looks not maintained but how could I resist this one? It had the old designs still preserved! At the back of my sister is like a counter which they still actually use. They still open and close it when placing some orders out.

It felt like it was the Maria Clara days in this old restaurant. :)

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

SweetCandice x The Fashionable Asia Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

After our Pagudpud trip, a few minutes ride are the windmills! Such a nice place to go to and you could use the shadow of the windmills as the shade for the hot weather :)

These windmills could be actually located in Bangui, Ilocos. These are as well used as power generating tools.

And here is my parents walking under the sun for a photo op. Couple shots are even famous to the aged ones. Hehe.

Here is my happy family, who are all wearing their hats under the hot weather :) 

Next stop is the Ilocos rock formations, so I couldn’t stand the heat anymore and was not able to go down to the beach and visit the rock formation. Instead, I had my little bonding time with this kid. 

Say hello to Tayshaun once again ! :)

The nipa hut that we stayed in was quite cool as compared to staying in the airconditioned car in the afternoon. So I had this kid roaming around in the hut with his grandfather taking care of him. :)

And the last stop for the day was the old Lighthouse. I took a far shot of this lighthouse as the doors were closed upon visiting this tourist spot. I am quite unsure if they locked it permanently but during this time there was nothing else to see but its exterior.

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

SweetCandice x The Fashionable Asia Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

Photo credit to Nick Vujicic Live in Manila

I know this is not the usual content of my blog but at one point I’d like to share my faith to every single reader and to show my inner soul to each one of you. I hope I get to pull you closer to me after this article. I may never know how you may react on this after nevertheless, I still would like to share you about this faith and experience.

To break off from my vacation articles from this summer (which I will continue tomorrow :) ), I with my sister attended our weekly service and having Nick as today’s speaker was such a great blessing.

As you can see he has no limbs and arms, the first few minutes you see him you’d feel a bit awkward on how he could actually function without his other parts. And as I would remember my dad would say “Once you get your hands cut-off everything is over” and seeing him debunks those words. Seeing this man who has totally nothing is just powerful with his talk on how many people would love to hear him and the chance of having more people to believe in the Christian faith.

Something that made me realize today, He let me have a wrecked life to make me discover more about Him. I’ve seen myself hopeless and have no clue how to get back up. You may say that this was a ‘coping mechanism’ but for how many years I’ve lived a horrible life and an unperfect one but the day I’ve accepted I cannot do it alone and when I accepted him gave me happiness.

To those who know me and see me daily they know that in all trials I always have that smile on my face which I never had back then. Today I must say God trained me well to be very kind and have patience to people as my experiences made me understand where most people are coming from. He gave me strength and be able to say it’s OK when my Father says ‘No’ to my prayers. He has taught me well to have pure faith in Him that when all else fail just hold on Him tighter because like Nick I may not be disabled but I am emotionally damaged from the past and even on my everyday living as people may hurt you and put you down.

I’d like to share a Christian song’s lyrics that keeps me going on everyday no matter how down I could be:

Through You I can do anything

I can do all things

‘Cause it’s You who gives me strength

Nothing is impossible

Through You blind eyes are open

Strongholds are broken

I am living by faith

Nothing is impossible

I’m not gonna live by what I see

I’m not gonna live by what I feel

Deep down I know that You’re here with me

And I know that You can do anything

I believe, I believe

I believe, I believe in you 

As Nick would say it, God hears all our prayers and you don’t need to pray for it over and over again until you get a ‘Yes’. Pray that you may understand His answer when He says ‘No’. Pray that He gives you strength and show you the right direction and believe that what He gives you as a Father is what’s best for each and one of us.

I am not perfect and may never be perfect on my Christian faith but I would still like to keep on learning and be better for the Lord. Today I am thankful as this is the 2nd Sunday that I am attending the weekly service with my younger sibling. I am thankful for the Lord for guiding me in my family on slowly bring my family near Him. 

I hope I somehow blessed your Sunday and may God work on your life slowly, day by day just how He revealed Himself to me. Feel free to send me messages as I would love to hear about your faith as well. :)

So I still wouldn’t want to post my full outfit shots as I would like fashion and travel be on a different post. I hope you’d be patient til I finish all my travel stories before you’d see my summer fashion outfits. :)

Moving on.. :D

Meet my sister! Oh, she’s also a Lasallian - hello to our family’s alma mater :D

The whole time we did bond under the nipa hut, boy it was too hot during the month of May. I suggest that if you are not a big fan of VERY HOT summer, don’t go on the peak months of summer. Really hot :|

Oh ~ behind my sister is the beach of Pagudpud, this is the one in the Hannah’s resort. And so many people as well :|

So we ate at the hannah’s restuarant and at last a cold place near the sand and the beach. :)

Here is my sister, my cousin marc and my shobe. :)

Here is a nice nature like place past the Patapat bridge in Pagudpud. How I miss my high school days where we get to see such places during field trips.

And say hi to my family, this is the bunch of people that I travel with yearly. It makes all the travel very fun and wishing that the trip will never end. :”)

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

SweetCandice x The Fashionable Asia Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

As always, the summer wouldn’t be complete without the Amoranto clan yearly trips. This year we went on a local trip since we’ve been spending so much on out of the country trips, our family decided that this year we will be visiting a Philippine destination to explore our own. :)

Upon arriving at the Java hotel I thought we were going to visit Sand dunes, however, the plan didn’t push through as the kids as well as the parents went to the playground instead and had fun :|

How cool can my family even get? Parents and kids bond well. :)

Here’s a proof that our parents were playing and having fun in the playground. My dad is even swinging the swing as high as he can :)

We stayed in a small hotel but it was a very nice and intimate place. I like how peaceful the place was.

And here is a trike that we wouldn’t normally see in Manila. I think it could carry around 8 passengers. :)

So here is to Day 1 of my Summer trip!

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

SweetCandice x The Fashionable Asia Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

The Fashionable Asia or TFA as how I would normally call the online store has been one of my favorite clothing / bag store online. This online store started out with ladies’ fashionable clothes, to couple shirts and now they also have bags.

Recently, the owner has already opened another online account as their 1st account has been already filled with clients. With their 2nd online store open to public, they would also like to sponsor a giveaway with SweetCandice. :)

To know more about the mechanics please ready below, keep on joining ladies: 

1. This giveaway is open to Philippine residents only and the giveaway will end on July 14, 2013

2. There will be one (1) lucky winner (based on the highest pointer) will receive a bag

3. Chosen winners must email Candice.Amoranto@gmail.com 48 hours prior to the announcement of winners. Failure to send an email will void your entry and will automatically mean that we will raffle off another person to fill your slot.

4. Click this LINK, you will be directed to the comments page of this giveaway. Leave a comment on Disqus with your name, tumblr (optional), email address and twitter username. The Disqus comment box could be located at the end of this post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you Carla for making a sketch of one of my fashion outfits. :) I still highly admire your skill and wish I could create human sketches as fast as you can do it and as great as how you do all those shades =D So excited and looking forward to more of your online baking journal and sketch artworks. :)

Have a safe trip and I will see you in a few weeks. Enjoy Carla! :D

By the way, Carla is also the owner of my on-going giveaway : SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

Please do follow her blog and keep on sending your entries for the giveaway <3

It had been more than a week since I last posted an outfit entry - just quite a bit busy with all the events this summer and I couldn’t share everything in one entry. :)

Pardon for the messy closet as well. :)

Lately I am quite fond of sheers and as I said in my previous outfit post get ready for more sheers this summer! :D

The sheers normally just look simple and wouldn’t have much of a design but as it is - the way the cloth drops down to your body is stylish enough for you to get away with just it. :)

So I got these geek glasses from a thrift store upon my visit on the Manila Ocean Park. I just wanted to give it a try on how I’d look like if I’d hug my Ms. Geek in me. :)

So what can you say about this look ? Not sure if I was able to carry it well though. :D

CANDICE X top by SM department store, geek glasses by thrift store

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

Just a brief background about Iya, well Iya has been my batchmate way back in gradeschool til high school. Both of us are Paulinians by heart I must say. :)

So, as I went back from my vacation trip I just had the night off to rest and the next day I’m back to catching up with people. 

Iya celebrated her birthday at Persian House in Paseo de Magallanes.

Hey there pretty looking birthday celebrant :D

At first Iya and I had some catch up talk :) It had been a while since we really had a talk. Apologies as well as I wasn’t able to take pictures of the  food as I was quite star strucked with having to meet Ricky and Claire Diokno.

So, this couple are my table buddies for the day and thank you Iya for introducing me to them. :)

They are such nice and lovely people, I sure had fun chatting with them and I’m glad I have new found friends from the fashion industry . :)

Away from our table, here is Ms. Jen of Snoe, Dawn, Henri Villegas and more fashion bloggers. I didn’t get the chance to talk to all of them but it was fun to be able to sit in with Dawn and Henri :)

I’m excited to work with Henri as well by the end of this month :D

I sure was on a food coma that day as we had 2 main course (apart from the appetizer), 2 desserts as well.

I love Golden Spoon as I usually get my desserts there when I’m in work. But this time I couldn’t finish it all up as I was quite full from the kebab and shawarma that was served earlier that day.

A giveaway was also given to those people who have attended the little get together. Thanks Iya for this one - I don’t know if I should be sharing about this one but for time being all I have to say is I love the presentation of this giveaway. :) 

It is simple but elegant and would definitely say that it is for us girls :D

Happy Birthday Iya and goodluck in your future endeavors! :D

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

I’m pleased to announce the winner who will be receiving the giveaway prize for the SweetCandice x J.Cuppacakes Sweet Giveaway!

Winner: Sheela Marie Castillo

Item:  300.00 peso worth of GC

The full copy of the GC will be emailed to you with the instructions on how you may claim the prize. :)

I know this is a late post as I was too busy with my up north trip but still I’d love to share to you my other trips this summer :D

When I got in the hotel and after all the check-in procedure I just couldn’t help myself but run to the pool first before lurking around the other parts of the hotel. 

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is a favorite of our family specially their Paseo Uno buffet. I would normally get discounts in this hotel as my mom is a Privilege card holder :)

I am not a big fan of the sport: swimming (though I took swimming lessons back then and am capable of diving properly to the pool - how I miss those days) as when you are under facial treatment they discourage you to bathe under the sun or swim on pools because of the chemicals that may touch your face. But I will never run out of love looking at the blue sea or pool.

It had been a few years already since I last visited their hotel proper as I would be normally seen in their buffet area. I was in awe when I saw this Chinese restaurant in their 2nd floor, it is very sophisticated don’t you think?

And guess what? The restaurant paired the elevator with its theme just for this floor. Lovely Chinese lanterns :)

And hello dear room! I just love the ambiance of the yellow light, it makes the guests feel cosy.

And they have fresh fruits as well :)

I also have this thing for washrooms, having nice interior on such part of the room is one of my favorites. :) 

I just love how the perfect lighting was placed in this little cut of the suite. Perfect for a shoot (which will be on the next few posts) ! =)

And it seems like see-through bath tubs or shower area are the in interior these days for our washrooms. Quite awkward when there is a mirror on the other end of the room :|

OOOh. And I just can’t stop myself from taking a few shots of these complimentary washroom utilities. They have, Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Gel, Lotion and Mouthwash. Don’t you think these items look too cute? :)

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)

Last week, I went on a trip to the Salcedo market with my mom and here are some photos of our adventure (great food and great selection):

Here are some of the things that we bought and which mom normally buys when my dad and mom visits the Salcedo market:

Here is the Japanese cakes (image above) in different flavors and we’d normally get white chocolate, chocolate and cheese. :) 

Mom would normally buy her little pandesal as well from this stall (image above).

And this s my love’s favorite - Baklava (image above). So, I got the Almonds and Pistacho (on the bigger container) worth PhP 280.00

And brought home food for our weekend lunch at home. :)

They also had these stalls in the middle which makes it give the “Filipino” feel in the market area.. It’s not all about food stalls on the side but we have vendors with their push carts as well :

Go drop by the Salcedo market every Saturday morning specially to those who are fond of tasting a bit of everything :)

Have you already joined my giveaway? Please do check the following on-going giveaways:

SweetCandice x J.Cuppacake Sweet Giveaway!

SweetCandice x Creations by Carla Giveaway!

Just a little thank you gift for my lovely readers. :)