Lounging in Peach

Thankfully, I have spare time this holiday season. It's all been rushing and working but at least I have some down time to spend with my family. So now I have the chance to lounge around in the second floor library barefooted and in a very sheer and lightweight dress of all things!

About the dress, I won this from a giveaway sponsored by Bejeweled Jhazz which is a wholesale dress shop from Las Pinas. The shop owner is very friendly. She keeps up with the latest trends in dresses, tops, bottoms and even shoes and this could be seen with her selection of clothes. You can check her photos in the shop too! There are many styles that are suitable for casual and formal gatherings. A visit to her shop would show that she is very organized with how she posts and categorizes her items, an order form could be found in the caption of each item.

The dress I picked out from her collection is a sheer, dainty chiffon sleeveless dress. It is so light and feminine that it could be worn for summer days like barbecues and gatherings in the garden. I think the photos show how much I enjoyed this dress and I did not even mind that I was barefooted!

I think I will be wearing polka dots for the New Year. What do you readers think? 

Credits to Damon Steine for the photos

Peach Chiffon Dress by Bejeweled Jhazz 

Peach in Pearls

Peach pearls 

I think I was about nine when I came across a section in my books of how pearls are formed. In some of my story books, there are stories about divers, children helping out in pearl farms, and how it takes years to form pearls.

Pearls are created inside a living creature: oysters, and pearls are the by-product of a process which oysters use to protect themselves. Pearls can both be found in fresh water and saltwater, and some pearls have also been found inside clams and mollusks.

Pearl in oyster 

Pearl formation begins when a foreign substance enters the oyster, and this irritates the oyster. The natural reaction is for the oyster to cover up that object with a substance called nacre. Thus begins the formation of a pearl.

Matching peach pearls with round beads

Some pearls do not come out as perfectly rounded ones, and some "disfigured"  pearls are called baroque pearls, with layers and excess nacre still attached to the foreign substance. There are so many shades of pearls these days, from black (which is quite pricey), to white, gray, pink and peach, and so on.

Cultured pearls are the result of irritants implanted by pearl farmers. The whole process takes at least 3 years. And of course, there is the issue of garbage and pollution, and uncontrolled oil spills which can damage oysters and this amazing natural process.

Wonder how many oysters were "harvested" to produce these necklaces 

Tiny elongated ones are called rice pearls

Peach and gold

Pearls being worn by aristocrats and the royalty have dated back as long as Cleopatra's time. In Stacy Schiff's book about the empress, Cleopatra: A Life, which will soon hit the movie screens, with Angelina Jolie playing Cleopatra, she reflected the wealth of the empress through her choice of hair accessories.

Angelina as Cleopatra based on the book written by Stacy Schiff

In Cleopatra's time, pearls were the diamonds of her days. And it is said that she wore pearls on her hair. This is the book cover depicting Cleopatra.

For interested book worms, Cleopatra: A Life is a biography and the writing style is quite scholarly. Although it has many interesting, exotic stories. Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer Prize recipient.

Cleopatra: A Life (2010) by Stacy Schiff

Pulitzer Prize Author Stacy Schiff