Pit Senyor! Sinulog is just around the corner. I now sense the joyful and lively vibes in the city brought by the drumbeats beginning to fill the air and festive colors popping everywhere. I know you’ve heard a word or two about this festivity. Maybe you’ve seen it on TV, social media or heard about it from a friend or strangers. Sinulog is known to be the first biggest and grandest festival in the Philippines!

Sinulog is the ritual prayer-dance in honor of the infant child Jesus, the Holy Child of Cebu also known as Señor Santo Niño. He is known to be miraculous. The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, done to the sound of drums. Sinulog Grand Parade is the most anticipated part of the event. It is the very exciting and fun highlight that one shouldn't miss. Dancers from all over the country gather and perform their dance interpretations in the street which lasts for 9 to 12 hours attracting millions of viewers all over the world. I still remember my chaotic but fulfilled experiences with this!

As years passed by, Sinulog has grown from purely a dance of faith into a sophisticated festival nowadays. A lot of enthusiastic parties also take place in Cebu during this vibrant season.

In this post, I will name some fashion tips you can pull off during Sinulog festival. Are you guys ready to celebrate? 

1. Styled Sinulog T-shirts

Sinulog T-shirts are just a grab in every mall corner and street stalls. Ditch the common look of cotton shirts and loose blouses. This is the perfect time to opt for a customized t-shirt. What I meant for that is the hand-cut and styled t-shirts then pair it with tattered jeans or denim shorts. Guys and gals can do alike! If you have no time to do this, head to Island Souvenirs in SM City and Ayala Mall and let them do the styling for you at a very small fee.

2. Fancy and festive hats/headdresses

In order to combat the heat while watching the Grand Parade, one must wear a heat protection on our heads - a hat or any headdress. Umbrella is not advisable especially because it is going to be a jam-packed event. When it comes to hats or headdresses, I do not mean the normal hat that most people wear. I mean the colorful and vibrant ones because guess what, we need to blend in! It is a colorful celebration afterall.

3. Henna tattoo

This is my most favorite thing to get during Sinulog. I always make sure I have this. I love art secretly (though art doesn’t love me, lol). I want it to show on my body even at least once a year. Henna tattoos have also been used to adorn women's bodies as part of social and holiday celebrations for centuries. So there is nothing wrong to get this.  Speaking of that, I should go the next day and get this on my arms. So excited!

4. Colorful eyeliners and eyeshadows

These are for ladies. Take a rest from the normal black liners you wear everyday. Wear the bright and colorful ones. Choose the colors that symbolizes your personality. Bright eyes, bright life! Yay.

5. Colorful hairs

No, do not get a  permanent hair color treatment in salons and toss bunch of pesos. Fake colors for your locks on this specific event can be bought in malls and pharmacies at a very affordable price. Plus, they are washable.

6. Bulky earrings
I personally love to wear bulky earrings but I can't do it in the office because I would look like a joke. I sometimes would wear them if I go shopping though a lot of people would look at me and think if this girls is just okay. For some of you who are like me, this is our time to pull these cute stuffs off. Remember to choose the vibrant and colorful ones always.

7. Face paints to spice the look
Sinulog celebration would be incomplete without face paints. This is another thing I always look up to. We can pay a small amount of fee to have an artist stylishly put it on our face that would match our Sinulog outfit. Or if you want to get it free (like me hahaha), head to Baseline street and come out like a wet chick that just finished swimming in a pool of body paints. Your Sinulog t-shirt would look like a canvas of all the mixtures of paints too. The outcome is a beautiful mess . Just the perfect thing I like.

8. Old-school shoes

Sinulog celebration also means lots of walking the streets because there are no vehicles. Roads are closed by authorities and there are road blocks scattered everywhere. Make sure to have your shoes ready. Nope not the brand new one you just recently bought and love the most, but the old one that even if hundreds of people would step onto it, you'd just be okay. See to it that your lovely feet are comfortable and can move freely.

9. Vibrant phone case
Almost all of us love taking pictures. Millennials be like picture here, picture there, picture everywhere. (I am guilty of it.) Put your phone in a waterproof/sweat-proof case in order to avoid getting it wet from all the paint and water wars along the streets.

There you have it! I hope you'll have a memorable Sinulog celebration.

I can’t believe we are now in the year 2018! It feels like January 1, 2017 is just yesterday and yet here we are, facing another year, welcoming another chapter of our lives, embracing another set of 365 days to work on achieving our goals and being awesome. Before I initiate a kickstart of my 2018 year, I figure to mention worth-sharing events and activities that happened in my December 2017. 

December means Christmas Season to most of us. Especially to us Filipinos, December is the festive time of the year. This is one of my favorite months because aside from the fact that there a lot of holidays with red marks on my calendar, there are lots of celebrations over food, too. (Of course!). A lot of really great things happened during this month that made me happy and caused positive impacts to me. 

To mention, the following are some highlights of my December 2017:

Christmas Party almost every weekend!

From setting up the Christmas decorations and playing Yuletide songs, part of Filipinos’ tradition is to throw Christmas parties almost everyday. Yes, you heard it right! Philippines has been known to have the longest Christmas season in the world. When you say about Christmas Parties here in my place, it usually means a joyful celebration about Jesus’ birth month usually eating together over sumptuous foods, exchanging or giving of gifts to your friends, colleagues and families as well as giving appreciations to the people who matters to you and played important roles in your life. Sure, you can do this everyday, which really is the right thing, but doing it during Christmas Parties makes it also appeal extra special and remarkable at some point.

In my case, I celebrated it every weekends because I have work during weekdays. Since I am a member of a few organizations here in Cebu, I had attended lots of parties. This also means a lot of preparations that range from dress and heels to wear, gifts to buy and schedules to comply.

Optum Christmas party –  My team joined a caroling contest. We had to do a practice. It was a little bit exhausting, but very amusing and entertaining as well.

Alumni Scholarship Christmas party – I was one of the organizing team of the party. With me being the incharge of the party program and the prizes, I bought gift cards in SM City mall and picked lots of goodies in Ayala mall to give as prizes to the lucky participants.

Blogger’s Appreciation Night – One of the nicest things celebrated was be my 1 year of being an official blogger. I joined one of Cebu’s blogging group named Cebu Blogging Community with the hope of growing my network of friends and improving my writing skills. Being part of the party was such a night full of positive feelings that I did the challenge. Now my additional challenges would be consistency and continuous improvement of the stuff that I am doing. It’s nice to receive a pat on the should for facing and completing the organization's challenges. They turned out into something helpful to me personally, too.

Google Developer’s Group Cebu Christmas Party – My GDG Cebu family holds a special place in my heart. Everyone in my team is close to me, they know me and I can literally share anything as long as I want to. This party was full of Trivia from artists, to general facts and even to technologies. We had lots of games and lots of  yummy prizes. Compared to my alumni organization, nope, I was not part of the organizing team of this party. I am glad about it. Hahaha!

Christmas party with college buddies and other close friends – With the very busy schedule almost all of us have, giving a time even sometimes to be with the friends whom I shared memories with when I was still schooling is important to me. We had Karaoke during this even if we are not singers. This made the experience so much fun. The building's wall had cracks everywhere because of our terrible voices. Hahaha!

I won best dress awards.

Christmas parties are associated with dresses, heels and other cool clothes you like to pull off. If I am to be asked, I’m personally okay with me dressing myself elegantly and putting on colorful dusts to my face like a pro because I have been always sitting on my office chair wearing corporate attires, t-shirts paired with jeans during dress down days, pajamas and loose dasters or bulky sleeveless at home. Putting myself into fancy dresses and heels even once a year sounds great to me.

I visited my hometown Canlaon City and celebrated Christmas day with my family.

I had never been home for almost two years already due to corporate job responsibilities. What makes my December 2017 quite special was the fact that, I went home to Negros province and be with my parents and siblings once again. I treated them a day of eating what they wanted. We went to one of the calm parks in San Carlos City near the seashore. We also went to one of the beaches in the island with our neighbors.

One tragic accident happened though. My brother was rushed and admitted to the hospital because he encountered a vehicular accident that caused him to pass out for 5 minutes. Gladly, he's just okay. Only burns on the legs and minor cuts were the issues. Our motorcycle was properly crashed too so I needed to have it repaired.

I knew someone closer to my heart.

For some time now, I have been dreaming for that someone compatible to me both emotionally and intellectually. I am not into rushing things just to be clear. Rushed things often lead you to stumble and fall. I don’t want that. I just want someone whom I can share about anything under the sun and not judge me for it as much as possible. Then, I meet this someone. He is a stranger at first, but I found this connectivity with him both emotionally and intellectually in a small span of time communicating with him. Not to mention, our humors definitely click. So, looking forward for a stronger bond in the coming days.

That are some of the cool things that occurred in my December 2017. I know a lot of awesome adventures and great happenings are waiting for me out there as the days pass by and as I continue my journey. I am very excited to experience them with open arms. How about you, what are the cool stuff that happens in your December?

(more pictures tomorrow)