As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Saturday, September 09, 2017

A "Yes" to the Dress... Saturday, September 9

I only had about 4 hours sleep before I had to get up and coach my Empowered boot camp.  I was up all night because of the sugar rush and tummy ache from that milkshake-from-hell and because I was stressin' over my dress.  I had looked over the wedding invite and noted that it said us women have to wear long gowns.  

Thank God for time zone differences!!!

Jumped on WhatsApp and messaged the Captain.  

"What would you consider a 'long dress'?", I asked him.  He responded with a picture of various long dresses he had Goggled, most of which were to the floor and very flowy.  My dress went to about my knee, had a high slit and had a deep neckline.  It was black and I thought it was formal but I also didn't think it would be good enough for this wedding but I'm on a tight budget, as in I have absolutely no extra money beyond what I can spend on food and training.  

"It's all about how you carry yourself and less of what you wear," the Captain wrote.  "You are a pioneer owner of a boxing club, a businesswoman.  Just stand tall", he then added.

True... very true.

So with my black dress on I got dressed up, got my hair done and figured out how to do my own makeup.  Then I picked up and escorted from my condo to the church and from there I joined the rest of the crowd and waited for the service to start.

Everyone looked absolutely beautiful.  Seriously, they were all gorgeous and at first glance I didn't recognize a lot of the familiar faces.  The ladies all had pretty gowns on and most of them had gotten either their hair professionally done.  I did too.  It wasn't expensive, after all I do only have half a head of hair, so I was treated to getting a salon in Makati to do my hair.  I was offered to have my makeup done too because I really have limited makeup and I honestly don't know how to do eyeshadow or eyeliner to save my life but I figured I'd do it myself.  My hair was curly and loud, like I had asked them, and I knew they had pretty much used about half a can of hairspray in my hair so it'd be good to go, good to last the entire evening.  

The wedding was absolutely spectacular and my favourite part of it was probably the vows that Joanna, the bride, and her groom had written for each other.  They're so in love and it was awesome to share a part of their love story and hear some of their history together come out in the vows.

As I left the wedding reception and called it a night, Joanna (the bride) was the last person I said goodbye to.  We posed for a picture together, I thanked her for inviting me and told her that she was by far the most beautiful bride I've ever seen.  "This wedding was mind-blowing", I told her.  We hugged, I kissed her on the cheek, and off to my condo I went.

I was a bit uncomfortable in my dress tonight and not because I didn't think it fancy enough but because it showed more cleavage than I'm use to.  I laughed with some friends there and said "the leg and the breasts came with the dress".  Everyone said I looked beautiful and I did feel beautiful.  I definitely didn't feel like I was wearing a $20 dress.

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