TOPAZ HORIZON

I'm in St. Luke's Global City. I only came here to interview an OBG for an article on prenatal massage for Smart Parenting magazine. But I found myself roaming about, too!

I like it here. It's so big and new and shiny and bright! The hallways are wide, there's real piano music playing in the lobby which has paintings, sculptures and nice modern furniture. I have other reasons (they're all in my mommy blog) but I forgot to add that I also like that I look so pretty in the mirror of this clinic. And when you're pregnant, you like mirrors that make you look real purty! 
Oh, I'm wearing an oversized tank layered over an oversized t-shirt from Gingersnaps. These are suuuper soft! Shoes are triple-bow gold flats from Schu. Bag is a Longchamp. Necklace is Liz Claiborne (see necklace in the mommy blog post). 

Thanks, GQ! Any magazine with Johnny Depp on its cover is the perfect magazine cover really. What a dreamboat!

I don't know if you know but I'm a teacher. I started by teaching Sunday School. I was also a preschool teacher ten years ago. Today, I may be a magazine editor but I still teach my staff (and other magazine staff!) about making a magazine. It comes very naturally to me, teaching. I like getting knowledge and I like sharing it as well. And I've been blessed that some people have actually called me their mentor. That's such a big role and to be called one is amazing!


So when Theodore P, a DLSU student, requested that I visit their college class and give a talk about the celebrity magazine industry, I was excited. And nervous. Well, part of the jitters came from looking blotchy because of an allergic reaction to an acne treatment facial I had a few days before the talk, but I was nervous because I haven't been in a classroom as a teacher for so many years. Thankfully, the allergy subsided the day before my talk.

When I entered the classroom and everyone started taking their seats, I felt a tad more comfortable. But it was when there were a few latecomers that burst in—this is a pet peeve!—the old Teacher Frances snapped back and I was in business.


I had a lot of fun at my talk. Theodore warned me that their professor can be intimidating and will grill me about magazines. I assured him I'd be fine; she may be teaching it but I'm living it. And at the talk, their professor was such a sweetheart! She and her class asked a lot of very good questions. They were difficult questions, too (I love difficult questions!), which says a lot about their level of interest and intelligence. I could've gone on and on and on but, alas, we only had an hour and a half.


Well, I found the experience so invigorating that I really don't mind doing it again! It's so lovely to be surrounded by young people. They're so beautiful and they don't even know it. Remember when I said that my hubby says I can still be mistaken for a college student? I used to believe him until I actually saw hundreds of college students at the DLSU campus. They're so young and perfect—the bright eyes, the taut skin, the shiny hair, the swift grace of limbs, the refreshing unsophistication and (I envy most of all), the flat tummies!



If you're a student (or a teacher) and would like to have me over and talk to your class, drop me an email! If I have time, I'd be glad to go.

To Theodore, Bianca and Pau, thank you for inviting me to your class. I really enjoyed myself and I'm glad your class had fun, too. I wish we had more time, though! I'll keep an eye on you three—I have a feeling you'll be big names in the media one day!

August is almost over and if you haven't done so already, please grab a copy of OK!'s August issue--if you can still find a copy! We dedicated the entire issue to Hollywood's cutest babies and so far, it's been a hit. My personal favorites are Suri Cruise and Harlow Richie Madden--such adorable cuties, so animated and present and alive! Vince also likes Suri. He and I want a little girl like Suri.

Meanwhile, while I'm promoting the August issue to you, my staff and I think it's already another month--as I type, we're working to finish the last few pages of the October issue. While everyone's talking about rain fashion here, the OK! staff is all about warm clothes for the -ber months and we're already lining up gift-giving ideas for Christmas. This is why I do my Christmas shopping in September and have all my gifts wrapped by October because I think it's December!

While all that chaos is happening, our September issue is now available and it looks oh so good!!! It has our annual Hollywood's Most Beautiful List and--surprise!--Robert Pattinson is this year's easiest on the eyes. I'll have to re-read this issue, though. Because we made it in July and my head is filled with October pages and plans for November-December, I don't remember September, which makes it tricky for me to promote it when I'm on my radio/TV tours! Did I make sense?!

I do want you to just take away one thing from all that confusion above--pleeeeeeease get a copy of OK!'s September issue! Not only does it feature 20 stunning pages of this year's hottest stars, it's also bursting at the seams with celebrity beauty secrets, explores the sexy ten-year marriage of Posh and Becks... and, well, you'll have to grab the issue to find out more about the issue's other treats! Hope you get a copy this weekend!

Meanwhile, here are the things I'm going to do this weekend:1. Sink into InStyle's September issue. It's thick again! Yey! The past few issues have been alarmingly thin, making me fear that my favorite magazine will suffer the same fate as the other magazines that were killed this year.
2. Check out Pluey's fab promo at the Rockwell Urban Bazaar. It's been awfully rainy; my Rain Skimmers aren't enough. Must buy boots! Then I just might win an extra 6 pairs!3. Add more products to my Help Mio Fight Cancer campaign. I've already added some new products donated by my fellow editors. As I type, we've already raised PHP 14,000++! Thank you! But we need to raise more so I hope you drop by my beauty blog and shop, shop, shop!

This is a post script of sorts to my Sony Vaio story. Vince and I were invited to the Sony Vaio launch last Tuesday and I was excited to go since Vince very rarely attends events. I was pretty keyed up to dress pretty for him and go on a "date." (I know I'm silly!)

Anyway, as party invitations are wont to do these days, Sony's invite said to come in elegant black. Everyone complied with the black part. As for the elegant bit? That's another story. I was a bit disconcerted--it looked like a funeral. Having just watched Michael Jackson's memorial the week before, it gave me the chills.I do want to say that my husband--in a crisp black long-sleeved Zara button-down shirt, slim black Levi's and sleek leather boots--looked quite yummy (sorry for the terrible photo!). Lesson here then is if you must wear a dour hue, make sure it's perfectly tailored and made of quality cloth.

The general opinion is black is a safe color (or non-color) and fashion magazines always tell you to have a little black dress in your closet. While this is true, black can also make its wearer look miserable and common so the lesson here is to choose a style that brings out your best qualities--the shape of your body, for example. One of my favorite LBDs is this H&M number, which I debuted on the colorful set of Juicy. It hugs me in all the right places so even though I'm stick thin, the dress makes me look like I have boobies and an ass!Black can also enhance the color of your skin. Yes, a deep rich black looks marvelous on most skin types--depending on the cloth, my skin looks very white or creamy with a deep black. Some blacks are grayish (makes me look sallow), bluish (makes me look deathly pale) or brownish (makes my skin look dirty). Put the cloth against your face to find out which black suits you. Also, since black is very somber, embellishments like beads, sequins, embroidery or prints can cheer it up.

Oh, and as you can see from above and below pics, another way to make black less serious is to expose skin. Lots of it! The seriousness of the color balances whatever you'd want to show off--be it cleavage, arms, back or legs.
At the Sony event, I wore my Jill Stuart dress with a full skirt and a delicate print of pale pink flowers. Here's a better photo (taken when Nikki and I were guests at Lucy Torres's show The Sweet Life):
It does not look funereal at all. Nikki also makes black festive with a spangly collar and a short hem. Wilma meanwhile chose a dress in silk chiffon making her look soft and feminine.

Wearing black isn't as basic as the fashion mags would have you believe. But there's no need to despair. Just keep in mind the following: cut and tailoring, cloth quality, style. And if this just frustrates you, well, I always believe a bright smile makes black less grave.

Want to learn more about wearing black? Look to Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. Both women have elevated wearing black to an art. Now if only their taste in men could improve...

Now, before anything else--I have a blog giveaway going on! While I'd love to be raffling off free family trips to Disneyland, shopping sprees at New York or free vacations, I'm starting with free beauty loot from Maybelline! Scroll down to the next post for details. You have 5 more days!

Now back to regular programming.

Bunny ears are so cute. They twitch about constantly. Even when my rabbits are asleep, their ears are like satellite discs that turn to find the slightest sound. They seem to have a mind of their own really!

Now, Louis Vuitton had come out with their silly Bunny Ears for their Fall/Winter 2009 collection. On the runway, the Bunny Ears looked fab.
On the cover of Vogue Russia and atop the head of my favorite model Natalia Vodianova, the Bunny Ears looked fierce.
On my rabbits Galadriel and Matilda, the Bunny Ears (just stiff paper!) looked adorable.

Now, the Bunny Ears on Madonna...

Hmmm. Let's just say Bunny Ears are for the young and effervescent!

One of my favorite mags is Vanity Fair and they just launched an online poll called, "Who Is The Most Handsome Man In The World?"


But in the poll--as I type--Robert Pattinson is leading with a whopping 102,291 votes while my dear Johnny has 15,572. People, the question is who is most handsome not who has the most unwashed hair.

Johnny is the coolest, sexiest, smartest, handsomest man ever! Well, he's a step below Vince Sales, of course, but no one on earth can topple my man off the top of that list. I mean, really, it's unfair to even put Vince on that list because the hubby is the bestest of the best ever!

But back to the poll. Pleeeease do me a favor and vote for Johnny Depp (not Brad, George, David, Leonardo, Hugh, Clive, et al!). I want Johnny to win! Help!


*photos from Vanity Fair's website

TV commercials these days are just crap. They're mostly inane and stupid and just assume the viewer is just as stupid and inane. Remember when it was actually a joy to sit for the commercial breaks? These days, I use those breaks to surf other channels, go to the loo, check the ref for food, or write Colonix reviews in my new beauty blog.

There are a few good ones that I do enjoy. Like this one from Close Up:


And this one from Sony Bravia three years ago:


And the "First Time, First Love" commercial of Coke! So '80s! (Yes, I was born in the '70s so I have a pretty good memory of this ad):


The '80s were the golden age for Coke ads but my favorite was the Pepsi commercial starring Fred Savage where he was writing a love letter to a girl and he was inspired by the drink, prompting the girl to realize, "I feel like... a Pepsi." So sad I can't find it on YouTube!

But the ad I truly truly love is this vintage Apple TVC that my husband tells me brings back memories of another age.


We feel every word because Vince and I have always been the misfits, the rebels and troublemakers that people never really understood. I know my parents always worried about me, afraid I'd end up dead because I always stirred up trouble but, hey, I turned out okay! The funny thing is, as media people, Vince and I are both in positions where we can actually mold the minds of our readers. It's crazy that we are where we are. We have dangerous thoughts and someone is actually paying us to spread them!

By the way, I found this vid through the utterly wonderful poet Susannah-Cole. She inspires me with her words and her images, and we are both "secret keepers of hope," believers in moving the world forward one blog post at a time.

End of April. This time last year, the sun was blazing down in unforgiving rays--no surprise since April is always the month we fear our eyeballs would melt from the heat. This year, however, it's raining buckets. Global warming indeed.

This time last year, my husband had just left Playboy Philippines because he realized that if he was going back to the magazine world, he might as well do T3. He had just begun settling back in when we were all told to pack up and move to our new digs.

At last, we were leaving our basement office in Robinsons Galleria! Good-bye to the rats, the cockroaches and the strange dust that coated our desks and computers. And hello to the new home of Summit Media!

For security reasons, I won't post pics of our new office. I will, however, show you my table. It's all cluttered with memos, drafts, press releases, page plans, signature proofs (that's the test magazine pages), invitations and bags upon bags of beauty products. I'm very cluttery. So embarrassing! But I can always find something in that awful mess!

And this is my favorite place: The library. Don't mind the empty-looking shelves--we've got tons of magazines from all over the world!

So a very happy anniversary to Summit Media's lovely new office! I love working here really. Oh, let me rephrase that... I love playing here. Yep, I feel like I'm paid to have fun and that's why this is the best gig in the world!


P.S. Grab the April issue of T3 (it's the bikini issue!) with this remarkable-looking woman on the cover. This is the result of that post I wrote about the yacht and the helicopter. Click here if I don't make sense.

And have you gotten yourself OK!'s April issue? It's our special 4th anniversary issue! It's our best issue yet--anti-aging secrets of Jennifer Aniston and 8 other stars, 69 of the best gowns this year, an exclusive interview with Wolverine star Hugh Jackman and MORE! Be a good Topaz Horizon reader and get a copy now!

Okay, I don't want to whine but I just want to express shock over the fact that I am now 111 lbs. Don't roll your eyes just yet. When you're 5 feet 3 inches with small bones, that's 11 lbs too many. When you're in the magazine business, that's 20 lbs too many. I kid!

Anyway, I was reading Glamour and they have this story on women who did something different for one month and afterwards, there was a big difference. Someone wore red lipstick and everyone paid more attention to her, someone ate more veggies and her skin became better, while someone exercised for just one minute every day and she became thinner and lost a few pounds. One minute. Every day.

So I've been doing 3 sets of 10 reps of push ups, sit ups, tricep curls, hip raises, leg raises and squats while I watch The Insider or any show with gossip really (except Gossip Girl. I can not stand that silly show). I find watching entertainment news helps--especially when I watched the coverage of that infuriating Chris Brown pleading "not guilty" of assaulting and making grave threats on Rihanna. Seriously, this guy needs a dictionary. Be a man, Chris, and own up. Geez, he's not only an abusive mess, he's also delusional, a liar, and a coward. The frightening thing is polls done on US high schools say that girls think getting beat up is okay! Girls, abuse is never okay! No one has the right to hit you and abuse you. Damn, this issue gets me so angry that when I'm doing my push ups, I find myself doing them more fiercely!

Anyway, I started my gossip-show regimen last week. I tell you that first time was bad, the second time--with my aching muscles--was worse. But now, well, I still look flabby but I'm stronger. I'll do this for a month and we'll see where this goes!

Quick post! I was tagged by M of Cross My Heart and Kiss My Elbow (interesting name...) way back in November and Bucca of Whatever She Said, Then I'm That in February. So here goes!

This is called the "6 Things That Make Me Happy Tag." According to the rules, the things should be unimportant. Oh my. If they make me happy, then they are very important! Hence, I had trouble doing this tag. But I will try to put the silly I-can-do-without stuff that make me happy here.

Anyway, here are the rules:

• Mention the person who tagged you
• List 6 unimportant things that make you happy
• Tag 6 blogs, state the rules and notify them with a teeny comment on their blog

And without further ado...

1. InStyle, Vanity Fair, Elle, Allure and Glamour! Especially InStyle, which I've been collecting for a number of years now. That should put this magazine in the "important" category but I want to think that it's a want not a need.

2. manicures and foot spas - I don't like massages and body scrubs but I do enjoy a good foot soak and scrub now and then. I indulge only when I have extra cash. Most of the time, I just do it myself in my little bathroom with a scented candle lit and all my lotions and potions surrounding me.

3. the pomodoro soup in Cibo - tangy tomato chunks in a rich tomato sauce. Yum. Whenever I feel exceptionally sad or happy, off to Cibo I go for this soup!

4. my red hair - I love it. I think I'm really a redhead! I think I'll be a redhead for a while. But I know myself. I do get bored with my hair color after a few months so while my passion for this red lasts, I'll keep it. I'm thinking of purple next...

5. my pillbox collection - it's modest but growing slowly and the pillboxes are so tiny and pretty, I can't help but smile whenever I see them!

6. online shopping - I buy a lot of things online because I'm lazy to go to the mall. And with the easy online payment services available today, e-shopping has never been more secure and fun to do!

I tag: Eternal Sunshine, Kaith, Uninterrupted, Belle Lumiere, Nevergirl's, Tales of the Domesticated Husband's Wife and I Am Overjoyed. These women have got to be some of the most inspiring I've ever met so I'm very curious to read the unimportant things that make them happy!

And by hot, I mean literally sweltering hot. This week was just filled with events: product launches, store openings, press conferences. Ack. No matter what we did, our hair was plastered onto our scalps, neck and foreheads! Makeup melted, dresses were glued to our backs, and greetings were reduced to those deplorable air kisses. I love Manila but when it gets hot like this, I just want to stay in front of the A/C.