Filipino Farm
Farmville 2 is one of my favorite games. It is an easy game, but it is fun and you do learn things about farming like the different crops there are to plant. For example, I did not know what an Indian Lotus was until I played FarmVille 2 and saw it was one of the crops I could plant.
Currently, I am designing a Cebuano lesson plan and would like to include games. I have decided to design a game that would be similar to FarmVille 2. The only difference between FarmVille 2 and my game is that the students plant Filipino crops, fruits, trees, and flowers.
The Filipino Farm game I am designing will not only teach the Filipino students about the different plants there are in the Philippines, but also the Filipino names for the plants. For example, jackfruit in the Philippines is called langka and squashes are called calabasa. When teaching students about a language like Cebuano it is important the students know the different plants there are in the Philippines because lots of plants that are popular in the Philippines are not popular in America. For example, if the students go to the Philippines they will not know what a rambutan is unless it is taught to them because typically there are no rambutan being sold in American grocery stores.
I Once Dreamed of Becoming Coco
When I was in middle school, my English teacher, Mrs. Baringer gave us an awesome extra credit assignment for class at St. Thomas More Middle School on Hillcroft Road in Houston, Texas. Mrs. Baringer had us make over a witch. The witch needed a new outfit.
I was ecstatic about the assignment. I decided to create lots and lots of outfits for the witch. My inspiration was the movie, Clueless. I had just seen Clueless and I absolutely loved Cher’s clothes so of course my witch’s clothes was to be designed in the style that Cher, the star of Clueless would wear.
After that extra credit assignment I continued to design clothes and after that I decided to sew my own clothes. By the time I entered high school, fashion had taken over my free time and I decided I would not become a lawyer anymore. I designed clothes in study hall and made clothes after school. My Mom and my lovely Russian friend, Ella wore my clothes. Seeing my designs on them was thrilling.
In the fall of freshman year in high school, my Dad took me to see Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Pratt was a school that offered fashion design as a major and was located at the fashion hub, New York City also known as Zoo York.
I loved Pratt, but by senior year I decided to major in photography instead and attend Rochester Institute of Technology. I have to admit that part of the decision was because I did not want to leave my friends in Rochester, New York. When I started my photography courses at RIT I was a bit sad because fashion was my passion, but then at that point I was dreaming of becoming a fashion photographer perhaps.
When I was in high school though wanted to be a famous, successful fashion designer like Coco Chanel. I had read her biography and had seen her designs. I loved how she freed women from restrictive clothing and instead had them wear comfortable yet stylish clothes. To this day I like to learn about Coco Chanel. She had a mysterious past. She was an orphan who later became one of the most successful fashion designers in history. I am currently reading another biography about Coco Chanel and have seen the French movie, Coco Before Chanel starring Audrey Tatou.
I liked and still like to look through the Chanel website to see their latest designs. I also like to watch fashion shows on Youtube. Fashion is one of those things that’s just in my blood. I do not shop at expensive clothing stores, but from time to time I like to pretend I am a personal shopper with an unlimited budget provided by my imaginary client. I go shopping for my pretend client on the Internet and take screen grabs of my favorite outfits and match them with shoes, bags, and sunglasses.
My favorite sites to go to for creating the perfect outfit for my imaginary client are Chanel, Gucci, and Versace. I have been posting the “perfect outfits” I have styled on Facebook and Twitter and sometimes create a post about them on WordPress. I hope to someday inspire others to love fashion and perhaps they may want to be a fashion designer.
In a way, fashion was my savior in my teen years. It kept me busy reading Vogue magazines, looking at fashion websites, and creating clothes for my friends and family. Many of my friends and family did not know until about a year ago that I was still in love with fashion design. They could not tell because I typically wear t-shirts and jeans and I never talked about the topic of fashion. I always felt like if I mention how beautiful the new Gucci collection was my family and friends would think less of me because I liked clothes that were extremely expensive. I thought they might think I was shallow and materialistic.
After reading many fashion blogs I decided to come out of the closet with my passion for fashion and take screen grabs of the “perfect outfits” and post them on Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress. I liked how I was sparking my flame for fashion even though I was just taking screen grabs of beautiful clothes and pairing them with the perfect accessories. I will be posting lots more “perfect outfits” on my social networking sites. I hope ya’ll enjoy them and become inspired to follow your burning flame for fashion. I want to be that person to ignite the creativity in others.
Check out audio of me talking about my blog post above on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/m-therese-alanzado-lawlor/fashion-designing-by-therese-lawlor
One of My Favorite Actresses of All Time, Audrey Hepburn
I found this awesome Audrey Hepburn painting in Abreeza. The image has been turned black and white except the painting.
Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses of all time. She’s a classic one, but I love her. Her movies were awesome, timeless, and inspiring. The first movie of Audrey Hepburn’s I saw was My Fair Lady. It was funny, the songs were fun, and I loved their costumes. I especially like the horse racing scene (Ascot Gavotte) and her black and white outfit.
After watching My Fair Lady, I saw many other Audrey Hepburn movies like The Roman Holiday and whatever the Brighton Library had, but my other Audrey Hepburn favorite movie is the one everyone loves. It’s called Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The title is about Audrey having breakfast while window shopping at Tiffany’s a famous jewelry store in New York City. The movie is just so much fun and it’s very intriguing. I also really loved the song Moon River from there.
Not many Filipinos know about Audrey Hepburn, but when I first arrived in the Philippines in 2015 I saw an Audrey Hepburn painting in Abreeza and I wondered if whoever was going to buy that painting will have seen My Fair Lady or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Either way, they’ve at least gotten a great painting with an iconic actress on it.
Here’s the Ascot Gavotte scene from My Fair Lady:
