hello benj!

Confetti and Cupcakes : HB Turns 1!

8:59 AM

I can't believe it's been a year since I re-launched this blog. I never thought that I would have readers that would genuinely care about the content of the site but I do now (yay!) and for that, I am thankful. HB has grown from personal to lifestyle to fashion to coffee to "whatever-I-think-about-writing-about" blog. I never planned it this way but I can't say I'm unhappy about it. It has become a window to my thoughts and a way for me to connect with people through the content that I publish. Even though sometimes, I'm late, you guys visit me here anyway. :) To celebrate the festivities, I asked help from my workmates (down below!) to help me take photographs for this post. (As always, thank you guys!)

As some of you might know, this is not my first blog. I was once a fashion blogger a few years back. I was just trying out blogging at that time in hopes of finding ways to amuse myself. I also wanted to share with my friends where I got certain pieces of clothing so I thought, what better way to share than through a blog? I loved it so much that I immersed in the blogosphere almost every night. I would comment on blogs from all around the world, drooled at outfits from LookBook NU, scrolled through majorfashion.tumblr.com (a must-visit site for my sister and I way back 2011) and watched how Blair Waldorf, Serena van der Woodsen and Jenny Humphrey styled their outfits because I believed back then that black ribbon headbands and sequined shirts were the bomb.com. I can't believe how much I've grown, style and personality wise. I was such a huge fan of accessories back then but now, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a chunky, chain necklace (which was a staple wardrobe item for me back then lol). It's just not my thing anymore.

As we're celebrating (yes, you're part of the party too!) let's take a short trip down memory lane, shall we? Here are some of my favorite moments from past blogs. And to add a little bit of fun, I'll be sharing below some of the fashion faux pas of the past! Hahaha have fun and happy anniversary to us, dear readers. I truly am thankful for all of you. Kisses :*

There you have it, ladies and gents! I know how cringey the last set of photos are but it's just so fun to look back and laugh at yourself sometimes hahahaha. Kidding aside, I really am thankful for you, dear readers. For always clicking the link whenever I share my new post, for always reading the content that I share and most of all, for sticking around. Thank you for the collaborations, the inspiration and the love. See you next week and hopefully, next year you'll still be here too. :* Love lots, Benj.

Coffee Shops

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4:03 AM

I know it's a bit late but I have here the second post for Bintana Coffeehouse! I do apologize for not posting it earlier this week. I came home late due to the rain and the traffic. Cebu is slowly turning into Manila and I'm terrified. Anyhoo, enough talk about the weather and the traffic. I'm finally sharing with you a little something about my social life! (Yes, I do have a social life. I'm not as hermit as you think hahahahha). Scroll down for more photos!

Say hello to Faith! She's a web developer and a cutie *tee-hee*. I love that she's game for just about anything including helping me with the site ❤︎. She helped me get rid of the sidebar of Hello Benj and I couldn't be more thankful! She saves me from the humiliation of dancing in public by joining me dance and laughing at ourselves. If you want, you can follow her Instagram. She has a "rule of three" kind of feed. Go ahead and click this 👑 link to know her more!

This one right here is Jennica. She has the driest, most sarcastic sense of humor and I freaking love it. She talks in a monotone voice even when cracking up jokes. She has the artsy-fartsy bug too! We bond over watercolor illustrations and minimalist fashion choices. If you want to see her artworks, click this ❤︎ link! She'd love to meet you all!

The rest of the photos are taken by Jennica and edited by me! It was a collaboration I've always wanted to try out. A collab where photos are taken by someone else and I edit them. Faith was the Yu Tsai of the shoot hahhaha! If you watch #ASNTM you'd know what I'm talking about! Alrightie, this is where I bid adieu. I won't write more about anything else for now but do know that this isn't the last of this series! I will post a step-by-step process of the V60 brewing method done by Sarah next week. Watch out for that. See you next week, dear readers and enjoy the rest of the photos!

Cebu Blogger

Bintana Coffee House / Where Am I?

4:09 AM

This charming, quaint coffee shop stole my heart. Tucked in behind St. Patrick Square and Saint Theresa's College, this place is a hidden gem worth the visit. It has such a homey feel (which is what I personally look for in a coffee shop) and it's simple, modest interior and artsy mural made me feel just right. And the fact that they take their coffee seriously here just sealed the deal for me. I take my coffee like them,too. Black and seriously. Very seriously.

It was such an honor to be working with Sarah (Bintana's owner) for July's posts. Thanks for indulging my coffee curious mind! She gave us a mini lesson on how to properly make a cup of good ol' black coffee. I am definitely signing up for their next Coffee Appreciation Class. She also talked a little bit about how the cafe that she had in mind was turned into reality This made me more inspired to have a cafe of my own. Someday... maybe someday :) We loved that she was willing to share with us her thoughts about coffee. She was also quite the charmer as my friend took her photographs that day. We had so much fun!

Kare-Kare : Php. 180

I'm not joking when I say that this is the best Kare-Kare I've ever tasted. It's made with honest to goodness ingredients and they follow an old recipe that's from their family. It felt very nostalgic to us! Legit lutong bahay.

Brownie : Php. 70

Mango Shake : Php. 80

Their coffee is good as fuuuuuuck. I apologize for swearing. You'll understand when you taste it. Sarah is very passionate about coffee so you bet your ass that if you're going to order a cup from them, you'll experience the legit coffee that other commercialized cafes do not offer. You have the freedom to choose your preferred brewing method (or if you're just as curious as I am and you want to taste all just order three cups hahahaha). You can either have it French Pressed, Dripped or the Vietnamese way: Phin. They offer three different beans too. Local Blend, Single Origin and Civet. You can follow them on their Instagram and like their Facebook page, btw. It keeps you updated with their events, workshops (yes, they do that too!) and menu changes. Go and follow now!!!

I have been saying we and us and I just realized that I haven't even introduced you to these two. I'm not sure I want to yet, actually. I feel like they deserve a different post so I'll just leave the other details for next week's post. For now, I wanna say thanks to you guys, for helping me shoot! Love you!!! Mad props to the one in red for being my photographer that day and for the one in white for being the Yu Tsai of the shoot! Hahahahah! We definitely had so much fun it didn't feel like work!

I did say "a series" of post, right? So keep on the lookout for the next 2 posts all linked to Bintana Coffee House. For now, that's all I have to say about the place. I hope you visit them too! If you do, don't hesitate to tag me or send me a photo. I'd love to hear from you!

See you next week. Xo, Benj.

Feel Good List : 10 Things You Can Do For You #SelfLoveSeries

8:25 AM

Hello and welcome back! Coming at you straight away with 10 little things you can do to give in little kicks of self-care and self-love. Some are quite personal but you can try them out and share with me your thoughts about it. This might not be for everyone but I'm still excited for the ones who can relate. Let's get started!

1. Watch a movie alone. Like, literally alone. No social media posts, no telling a bunch of people that you're going to watch a movie alone, now whatever. It makes the experience private and special.

2. Listen to Ted Talks. You're learning + getting inspiration. It's a win-win situation.

3. Listen to a podcast that talks about things you genuinely care about. Currently, I'm listening to The Minimalists podcast by Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn.

4. When you're travelling home from work and have the chance to see the sky as you walk to your bus stop or any terminal or anytime you have the chance to look up the sky, pause for a moment. Look up and feel the immensity of the world and know that what makes you anxious, uncomfortable and unhappy about your current life right now won't really matter a year down the road. You deserve to think about things that makes you happy no matter how dreadful you think things are right now. You have the right to do that and you have.a.choice. Remember that.

5. If you want to wear a sleeveless top, a tube top... or anything that exposes that one part of your body that you are insecure about but it's like, too hot out and you just don't want to wear a t-shirt? Just wear it. Wear that floral halter you bought that one time (pair it with a skinny jeans!), or that cute off-shoulder breezy top you love. Just fucking wear it. Wear them for you.

6. If you want to wear a bikini, just wear a fucking bikini. So what if they stare? Put your sunglasses on, get those Instagram-worthy tan lines and flip yow hair.

7. Have a solo dance party. Put on Britney Spears on Spotify and shake that bootehhh!!

8. Speaking of Britney Spears... remember that if she got past the whole 2007 phase, then you can get past anything.

9. From my big sister: "Face the mirror butt naked and wiggle your booty. Laugh at all the wiggles because your wiggles are cute!" (Important side note: My sister is wiggling in front of me and it's making me laugh so hard ahahhahhaha)

10. Lastly, celebrate small achievements. It could be as simple as finally being out while wearing
a booty short you hated because you have cellulites or finally being able to talk in front of the class without stuttering. It all depends on what small achievements are for you. When I do celebrate small things, I usually just write them down and buy myself a flower or two. :)

So, I hope you found an activity or two from the list! I might actually remake this post in 3 months or so. Let me know what you think about that. Thanks so much for reading and making it to the last paragraph. Share with me your Feel Good list! I want to know. See you next week!

A Day In The Life Of

Fuck Imperfections : Journey to Self Love #SelfLoveSeries

7:51 AM

I've decided to make the month of June all about self-care and self-love and to start if off, let me share with you my personal journey with trying to love myself. This is a bit lengthy so just a heads up. But if you can read until the end, let me know. Thanks again for being here, dear reader.

I've heard it all.

"You could be a blogger. Just not a fashion blogger because you're not skinny enough."

"Maybe if you were just more quiet, guys would like you."

"You're such a mess."

"You cheeks are too big."

"Your nose spread out too much when you laugh."

"You're charming. In a funny way."

"You only look good in pictures."

"Magaling ka kasing umanggulo" (You reaaalllyy know your angles.)

I never felt that I was different until people made me realize that being the chubby friend, the "noisy" friend, the too-clingy friend was wrong. I never thought that expressing myself freely would bring so much hate that it caused me my peace of mind. I never thought that my body would be a prison of hate and judgement. I never thought that I'd be hating myself when years ago, I had the persistence of a bull and the confidence of a motherfucking boss ass bitch. I've never felt more cowardice than when I'm putting on make up, more weak than when I'm speaking up, more egotistical than when I'm loving my body.

So I silenced the opinions in my head.

I stopped writing my thoughts thinking that I'm annoying everyone.

I tiptoed on what I post on my blog when it comes to outfits.

I shied away from attending events, birthdays...

I stopped loving myself because I hated my body.

This mindset had taken its toll on my health and personal life. I've been dieting and exercising only whenever I feel like my body looks big. I've been trying to eat less to fit into a certain size... almost everything in my life revolved around looking a certain way.

It exhausted the shit out of me but I kept going because I thought that pressure would morph me into the beautiful skinny, fair-skinned standard of the media. I ate less, slept more. Fed my brain with ways I could have spent my time instead of eating. I thought I was taking care of my body by starving it evil calories and sugar.

And instead of making me feel good about myself, it made me feel worse.

I would dread at how slow my diet is giving me results so I'd amp up my fasting and sleep more. I'd look at different threads on the internet such as the Pro-Ana movement and #thinspiration. I wouldn't want to go to public restrooms because I wouldn't want to look at, see myself in the mirror in public for fear or feeling uncomfortable the whole day I'm out. I just hated myself so much.

The truth is, I don't even know why I wanted June to be all about self-care and self-love. I'm not even close to loving myself. Right now I think, maybe it's because I know deep inside that this journey towards looking for ways to be happy with one's (my) self and sharing it with you, dear readers, will help me. It gives me peace to know that you're here to really read what I have to say. And I promise you, you won't regret it. I'm so ready to be okay with the skin I'm in: media standards and all. I am done taking revenge on this body that has taken so much bullshit from my head and what I've been doing to it. I want to take care of myself. I want to love myself because I deserve it.

This month, I will be sharing little ways to give in little kicks of confidence and self love. The tips are somewhat personal but don't worry. I bet you'll still get a tip or two from this series. Everyone deserves a little bit of help and a lot of self-love. I'm quite excited (but of course, very nervous) about this series. Do spread the word. Not about the blog, but about what you'll learn with me throughout the month.

Ending this post with a quote I read somewhere. See you next week. I can't wait to share with you what I have in store.

A Day In The Life Of

Messy Bessy

9:10 AM

Starting this blog post with an apology. I haven't posted anything since April and for that, I apologize. I actually have been doing a lot of research as to what my brand is because I legit want to blog more seriously this year. And I am taking this seriously! Which is why it took me so long to produce another post for you guys. I don't want my posts to be just another "backlog" so for the past few weeks that I have been MIA, I have been contacting and have been collaborating with people and store owners to create content for the blog. So, watch out for more consistent and diverse content soon! But enough about that for now. Let me show you how my first visit at Coffee Prince was! Scroll down for more :)

Coffee Prince is the perfect Instagramable cafe for artsy-farts like me. The place is filled with murals and paintings made with different art styles. There was even a table that is painted with a Yayoi Kusama inspired piece. I didn't have enough time to take photos of the whole place but I will definitely visit Coffee Prince again soon so expect a sequel of this post all about the cafe. For now, allow me to share with you the afternoon I spent with Hanna, photographs, flowers and the sunshine.

We didn't plan the day at all. To be honest we were just wandering around Capitol looking for a place where we could relax and take her new 35mm for a ride. We saw the sign from their back gate and went in. She ordered a Cookies and Cream Frappe (she always is such a sweet tooth) and I had their Iced Cappuccino. I actually made a little "thing" for their Iced Cappuccino. It's on the last part of the blog post.

The weather was moody that day. We arrived with the rain and left with the sun blinding us as we walked to the jeepney stop. Before heading home, we passed by Pan De Manila where we ate churros and pandesal. I hope I get to have more afternoons like this. I have been a bit busy with work. Well, not busy-busy but a 9-5 job is a 9-5 job. Time with the sun is what I lack. Hope I get to collaborate with more photographers during the day this coming June.