Bottled Sky

I have many feline qualities, a fact rarely lost on the people around me. I’m often told by both close friends and mere acquaintances that I remind them of a cat. I get a lot of kitty gifts because of this—cards, plushies, stationery, and even original art. My personal favorite is this picture given to me by a classmate on the last day of a photography class I took in college:

On the back he wrote, “To the only cat person I know, I’ll remember you every time I hear a cat’s meow. So here, take this picture and forget me not.”

I definitely won’t

Have you ever seen a doghouse on stilts? Our dogs, TJ and Oreo, have one. My mom designed it to look like a bahay kubo, a traditional Filipino bamboo hut that’s usually elevated a couple of feet off the ground. Why? Well, our dogs seem to prefer it over normal, flush-to-the-ground doghouses.

It all started when TJ was a puppy. He was the most rambunctious little fur ball. As adorable as he was, sometimes he just got in the way. He’d scamper around our feet when we carried stuff, the heavier the load, the more persistent the scampering. He’d steal ingredients from the kitchen while my mom cooked. Once he stole a raw potato, hunkered down with the spud in between his front paws and proceeded to peel it with his little teeth—I guess he was trying to help For the family’s health and sanity we started enforcing timeouts. Whenever we needed some peace we would place him on top of a particularly high coffee table in the living room.

He became so accustomed to being on higher ground that when we built him a normal doghouse, he rarely used it. Just last month, we finally had that old doghouse renovated and put on stilts to suit TJ’s affinity for elevated spaces.

Now even Oreo loves hanging out in their little house on stilts. They’ve actually dug a Labrador-shaped crater under it, so when one of them is occupying the “second-floor,” the other can take advantage of the shade underneath. It’s the cutest thing, I swear! I tried to get a picture of them in the doghouse, but they jump down to greet me every time they see me approach. So until I acquire some paparazzi-style zoom lenses, I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it

What good is a shoe addict’s blog without random bouts of shoe worship? I, therefore, present to you my favorite stilettos:

These were a joint gift from Chrissa, Tin and Albert. They asked me what I wanted for my birthday two years ago, and I immediately said shoes. It’s almost an automatic response for me They agreed, so we went to the mall to hunt for the perfect pair.

I love these shoes, because they’re such a unique color—silver-brown with a nice, soft sheen. I’m also quite fond of the ribbon detailing, the peep toe and the little cutouts. They’re sexy without being over the top. And even though they’re stilettos, the heels aren’t so high that I can’t walk in them. I’m not saying they’re uber comfy, but at least they’re tolerable.

I bet you won’t be able to guess the strangest place in which I’ve worn these shoes… I actually wore them in an operating room. I went to the American Eye Center, the same place where I had my laser eye surgery, to have a sty removed. My dad, who drove me to the clinic, questioned my choice of footwear before we left the house:

Dad: That’s what you’re wearing to surgery?!

Me: Why not? If I have to walk around a public place with a bloody bandage over my eye, at least my feet will look good!

I had to wear paper booties over my shoes during the operation. It was a good thing the heels didn’t tear through the paper After the surgery, my dad and I met up with my mom at the supermarket and had dinner at a restaurant. People kept giving me weird looks. (They obviously hadn’t yet realized that stilettos were the perfect accessory to liven up post-surgery bandages.) It was a lot of fun! I love it when I baffle strangers with my eccentricities.