Holiday hauls

A blink and a sigh, and it's the last day of November! Can you believe it? Christmas is almost here!

The best thing about having a job is having the means to pay for my everyday necessities and little treats for myself every now and then. I still love rewarding myself by splurging a little when I achieve or accomplish something, but I'm happy to say I've now become more discerning of the things I buy and have grown more conscious of my finances. Okay, enough with that long winding introduction, all I wanted to say is that I remember I started this blog sharing photos and stories of my shopping hauls. Now, allow me to be superficial for a bit as I think I'd like to do that again just because I missed it!

1 My True Love Gave to Me, a collection of holiday stories from various authors, edited by Stephanie Perkins. Holiday romances in fiction is one of my guilty pleasures. Think The Holiday, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, Let It Snow... I loved them all. I'm planning to start reading this book this week. 2 Washi tapes. I can't resist buying these tapes even though I know I won't be able to use them all up! At about P65 each, they don't exactly come cheap but what can I do? I am planning to buy more use them to decorate my 2015 planner. 3 Increments, Kapitan Bayaran, and Footnotes to Misplaced Items by Joanne Cesario and Michelle Bacabac. I want to support local makers and story-tellers so I get them whenever I get the chance. My favorite from this selection is Increments. 4 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I bought a bunch of eBooks from Amazon for my Kindle and this is one of the titles I got. I AM ENJOYING MYSELF THOROUGHLY that I paused reading because I didn't want it to end just yet.

I can't say much about the packaging except that it's flimsy and looks cheap, but I'm not complaining because I love the staying power, pigmentation, and staying power of BYS! Everything's crazy affordable, too! I got two lipsticks, a brow liner/ pencil, and an eyeliner, and they all amounted to P966. The SA at Watsons - Fisher Mall was also extra nice and gave me a lipstick case and a pouch even when my purchases did not reach P1,000. 

Optical illusion or stubbornly sticking to what is apparently my favorite print on clothes. YES, I LOVE STRIPES and I cannot lie. I also love polka dots and graphic heart and star prints. Basically I love patterns and prints on my clothes. The story behind this photo is that I went shopping with my friend Marsha wearing the dress on the left, and ended up buying the dress on the right. Can my love for black-and-white stripes be any clearer than that?

And finally, my Book Depository purchase that I was afraid would never come because of port congestion issues! I've been hankering for one of these Magnetic Poetry Kits for so long that I finally got one when Book Depository held a store-wide sale. I am enjoying this kit A LOT and am looking forward to getting more. The only problem I have with the Book Lover kit is that it didn't contain the word 'read' in it. It would've been perfect had that word been included, but oh well.

I also replenished my stash of watercolor pads and bought a set of watercolor pencils. I'm looking forward to practicing and painting more! I should write a post containing my newest artworks; hopefully I can get to do it this week.

So there! Twenty-five days before Christmas yet I've already bought myself about nine different gifts already. I should start shopping for my family and friends also, hee.

Enjoy the holi-daze!