Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Review: My new Skechers GOwalk 3 sneakers

My husband said out of the blue, “Hell has frozen over.” That’s because he saw my shoes in a pile in the hallway but instead of the sky-high heels he associated me with, he saw ballet flats and sneakers. It was the sneakers that did it actually since I had switched to flats when I got pregnant with Vito more than five years ago. Then the day came that I had to run after little boys, and I switched to sneakers because ballet flats just can’t compete with seriously fast little legs.

So, yep, I’m now a sneaker mama!

Who else has the same experience, trading her heels for sneakers? 

Who’d have thunk it that I’d love my comfy mommy lifestyle? And I love that my new propensity to seek comfort has not meant I've sacrificed style. In fact, I'm finding it fun to match my for-heels-only clothes with my new sneaks. Or shorts, at least. So fun to be ultra comfy now in shorts and sneakers!

I picked out my new Skechers GOwalk 3 last week. I chose this pair because I've never had black sneakers before. I love it. It is sooooo comfortable! I first fell in love with Skechers because of my GOwalk 2. Then I needed shoes for the gym and so I got Skechers Sport, which I love, too. But I wanted shoes I can wear outside the gym and onto the streets and so I checked out the latest walking shoe of Skechers. 
While out for work...
...and while working out!

 The GOwalk 3 offers a more comfortable walking experience, whether I'm on flat streets or on rocky terrain. I don't slip at all. And since the sole is a bit wide, I also don't trip, which happens when I'm wearing narrow shoes. I'm guessing it's because I lose my balance? However, since my feet are narrow, I noticed that I really needed to lace up my shoes tight or else my feet start moving about too much inside the shoe.

Anyway, close up photos first:
This came with black and white laces but I switched it to all black. 
Love that black material it's made of! Parang tela so my feet don't get hot. 
I also like this hole! It makes slipping on the shoe much easier.

The GOwalk 3 has Goga Mat™ Technology. That means it has high-rebound cushioning—walking on marshmallows, I keep saying, and it still feels like it! It also has Memory Form Fit design. That means the foam padding around the heel doesn't flatten with use. So I can keep on walking and walking and walking!

 When I turn over my GOwalk 3, I see pink circles. That's not just decoration. Those are the GOimpulse and GO Pillar sensors that provide more flexibility. I read that it also gives you feedback for a more responsive walking experience. I don't know how that works so I can't explain it but I do feel like my body feels better—like I don't get tired easily from walking. I guess that means my body is responding on its own to the shoes. It also helps that these shoes are super light. When you pick them out sa store shelves, it feels weird at first how light they are. Like I think, "Are these strong enough? They're practically weightless!" Guys, they are super strong. I've read reviews from marathon runners attesting to the strength and durability, comfort and flexibility of Skechers.

Love them! Go get a pair now, too! Even my sons love their Skechers. I'll do a post on their shoes soon!

 Check out the Skechers GOwalk 3 at the following Skechers stores: Glorietta 2, TriNoma, Ayala Fairview Terraces, SM North Edsa The Annex, SM Mall of Asia, Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Place Manila, Gateway Mall, Lucky Chinatown, Market Market, Festival Mall, Alabang Town Center, SM Fairview, SM Dasmarinas, Paseo Sta. Rosa, Marquee Mall, SM Pampanga, SM Clark, Ayala Center Cebu, SM City Cebu, SM Davao, Centrio Mall Cagayan de Oro and LimKetKai Mall CDO. Also available at SM Stores: SM Makati, SM Manila, SM Megamall and SM North EDSA.

Visit Skechers on Facebook! Follow @SkechersPH on Twitter and Instagram! 

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Monday, September 28, 2015

Goop helps new men's lifestyle brand Covetton. The advice is gold!

And golden tips not just for Stephen Colbert but also for everyone with a lifestyle blog or website. Like me!

But first, a background:

Last week, new The Late Show host Stephen Colbert poked fun at all the lifestyle brands popping up everywhere. Watch:



Hilarious because it's so very true—every single thing he said. But, hey, I love Gwyneth, Reese, Ellen, and Blake! Why? Because unlike many people, I don't want my celebrities to be just like us. I want them to be gorgeous and perfect, impeccably dressed, living a lifestyle that is so impossibly fantastic, that will always be beyond my reach. I want them to be goddesses. I mean, there are women that inspire me to be better, to make me aspire for more. Then there are women that I just want to entertain me, and not entertain with tabloid drama but with an ethereal, out-of-my-world kind of lifestyle.

Yes, I love all these lifestyle brands my favorite celebrities are doing! Even though we all know that their brands border on the ridiculous!

I loved it especially when Gwyneth, my former life peg (former because her marriage ended and I can't aspire for that!), retorted to Colbert's mockery of her Goop-ness with this clever article: 6 Fail-Proof Tips for Launching a Men's Lifetsyle Site. I snorted with laughter when I read this welcoming line, "It's about time someone brought a sausage or two to this clam bake."

What I appreciated more was the advice she gives. Here's the not-so-funny summary hidden underneath her 6 cheeky tips:

1. Look good.
In the world of social media, what you look like matters. Whether you see that as fortunate or unfortunate, that's how the online world works. People think if you look good, you're credible. It's not as shallow as it sounds. If you want people to think you care about what you write about, then you must care about all the other details—including your appearance.

2. Be in the know.
You have to be the first to report an event, a new find, a new recipe, a new everything. But as there is, crazily enough, nothing new under the sun, you can also just retell something old in a fresh new angle, give it a new spin, make it your own. If you're the first, people will share your article or photo. If you're original, then even better.

3. Promote in every way you know.
In the vastness of cyberspace, how do you stand out? Yep, you may be original but if no one knows about it, then all is for naught. Use SEO, use click bait (ugh, I know everyone hates this but it works), and promote your blog/product/website/article on every social media platform.  

4. Create a reputation for curation.
Share what you love. Be generous with what you know. People like finding out about new stuff, what works, what doesn't, what's worth spending on. You don't have to be Goop-levels about it, but once people know you like certain things—from colors and words you constantly use to food and places you adore!—they associate you with it and will always think about you when they encounter it. For example, I always think of George Takei when I see, "Ohhh myyyy." I think of Barbie when I see bubblegum pink.

5. Cook. And eat.
Well, as Goop said, "every lifestyle brand worth its salt has a food section." But what a food section does is it makes the brand relatable because we all eat. We're all interested in food. We all love food. And we all like people just a bit more when we know they love to eat. Even when the ingredients are all kale and chia seeds and quinoa, right???

6. Have integrity. 
But seriously, whether you love simple hearty meals or a menu featuring Russian caviar, whether you enjoy a staycation with your favorite DVDs or indulge in jetsetter holidays, whether you decorate with thrift finds or with furniture flown in from Scandinavia, always feature stuff you love, you tested, you approve. Don't feature it just because it's new—do so because you love it. Don't blog about a TV phenomenon because it has 25 million Tweets if you don't genuinely follow it. Be yourself. Be honest. Be real.

There you go—advice from the queen of all lifestyle brands herself (sorry, Martha Stewart!). Now, let's all do what Goop says! Good luck!

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Thursday, September 24, 2015

My roles in life

I just realized this year that I am an entrepreneur because my blogging is my business. It's not a hobby anymore.

Hobby. It took me ten years of blogging to realize that this blogging isn't a hobby. I was thinking of this over the last few months, how all my life I've avoided labels. Just ask Vince. It took me a long time before I finally agreed to be called his girlfriend even though I was, duh, his girlfriend. After we married, I resisted changing my last name because I couldn't see myself responding to "Mrs. Sales." When I started blogging and people asked if I was a blogger, I used to say, "I'm not a blogger. I just have an online journal." On a plane to London, a woman sitting beside me asked what I did for a living. I replied, "I work for a magazine publishing company. I write. I edit." And she said, "You're a journalist." And I replied, "No, no. That sounds so serious!" 

Fear of commitment, that's what it is. As Dumbledore told Harry Potter, "Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." 

I didn't like labels because I was scared to be tied to them and the responsibilities they came with.

Well, here we go: 

I am a wife. 
I am a mother. 
I am a writer. 
I am an editor. 
I am a journalist. 
I am a blogger. 
I am a friend. 
I am a sister. 
I am a businesswoman. 
I am a child of God. 

Funny how someone who always proclaimed that she's so proud to be who she is couldn't embrace the names of all that she is. Doesn't make sense, right? Well, to me, back then, to claim a name meant putting myself in a box. If people identify me as a blogger, what will happen if I give it up? If I become a wife, what happens when the marriage ends? If I tell people I'm a Born Again Christian, what happens when I fail and sin? Better to be safe and just live quietly.

Well, I'm finally claiming all these roles. Motherhood made me do it. That was what did it. Motherhood was a role I could never run away from, and accepting that role made me embrace everything else. And you know what? I love this new life of roles. I guess it comes from now knowing who I really am and not being afraid to be that. There is no longer the insecurity that plagues the young. There is no more doubt. I am who I am and I like me very much. Fabulousness and flaws.
Enjoying all my roles. Here I am mother, blogger and teacher. 

Wow. I'm finally proud of who I am. I guess I never was. Felt like all my life I was trying to prove I was somebody but deep inside I wasn't really sure that somebody was someone to be proud of. Despite all I've accomplished in career and life! Imagine that! 

Thank goodness the years have changed me! I love growing old. That's why I think I'm coming out of my shell now. I'm open to do workshops and meet my readers, meet new people, because I now truly believe I have a lot to offer and I'm also willing to learn more. I want to tell people who I am and what I know—not just what I think—and hope this can help them. I want to add to my roles. I'm now humble enough to ask for and accept help to grow and mature. I'm also now confident enough of whatever I've achieved. I'm enough. Whatever and whoever I am now, I like it. Of course, I want to improve myself (as wife and mother, most definitely!) but I also know I'm doing okay. Yes, I'm okay. 

I hope you're also okay. God bless you!

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