TOPAZ HORIZON

In case you didn't know, the VW Beetle is my absolute dream car since I was a little girl. I remember thumbing through my Papa's collection of old Reader's Digest magazines and loving the Beetle ads. It was unlike any car I've ever seen and I wished with all my little girl's heart that one day I'd own one.

So when I saw on my Facebook newsfeed that the Beetle is back in the Philippines, I got really excited! I actually went to the VW showroom in Bonifacio High Street after a client meeting just so I can see, touch, smell and love the new Beetle!


The Beetle is probably the most iconic car of all time. Well, that's my opinion. I'm no car expert so when I look out my window and watch cars passing by, if you took away all the logos, I wouldn't know what the car brand is. But one look at the Beetle—even without the logo—and everyone knows what that car is!

The iconic shape hasn't changed much since 1939, although of course, with the advent of modern times and technology, the Beetle had to undergo a few tweaks here and there to cater to the evolving taste of car lovers.

How does one redesign a classic, though? Just make it cleaner, wider, longer, bigger, but still remaining true to its perfectly rounded shape!

I try to learn something new every year. I guess it should be "I try to learn something new every day" but I'm a mom and, believe me, I learn something new about myself, my kids, my husband, about life and about God every single day! So I try to take up something so completely far off from my everyday life. Last year, it was doll-making. This year, I learned how to make shoes. Or sandals, to be more specific. It is one of the most difficult things I've ever done!

The idea came to me suddenly as I was idly scrolling down my Facebook feed last month. I'm subscribed to the page of Craft MNL, which hosts regular crafts workshops. I'm actually not a crafty person. I'll do the occasional homemade cards but that's about it! Still, I subscribed to Craft MNL because I wanted to learn a skill, in case the world decides it doesn't need writers anymore haha. Anyway, I saw that Craft MNL had partnered with Renegade Folk to offer a shoemaking workshop, and I signed up!

The fee to the workshop is Php 3,000. The style of shoes we were going to make is called Summer Breeze and it's for sale on the Renegade Folk website for Php 1,450. So the workshop fee is actually Php 1,550 and that covers the venue, the tools (cutter, hammer, screwdrivers) and the instructor fee.

There were lots of straps since we were making strappy sandals. There was plain leather (silver, neon yellow, nude) and snakeskin leather (pink, nude). I chose pink, of course!

The soles were already pre-cut and pre-holed. Hehe, I made that term up. We had to squeeze the straps into the holes. That was not easy at all. We had to use screwdrivers to make the holes bigger.

Then we used a special set of pliers to pull the strap through the hole. All you need is half an inch of strap for each hole. Snip away the extra length.

Two holes down, eight more to go! That's just one shoe! My fingers were not happy at all, even though I looked happy in the photo haha

Yup, the bottom holes are for two straps each so that was an extra difficult step. Anyway, once all straps are in, you fit a foot form into the sandal, tighten the straps around it, then cut off the excess straps.

Tada!

So here's the assembled shoe. The insole with the straps, welt, outsole and heel.

Being pregnant, I had to step out of the room when it was time to apply the rugby to the welt. Our instructor (I forgot his name!) had to do that step for me. I do think that that was one failing of the workshop—the venue. Since we were going to be working with rugby, we should've been outdoors, or at least in a well-ventilated garage. Inhaling rugby fumes is not good!

Anyway, after applying the rugby and letting its sticky magic work for a few minutes, you help the sticky process out by hammering the welt and insole together. I suppose this is to get rid of air bubbles? The hammering step wasn't explained but hammer away we did! I also hit my thumb with the hammer. Ouch.

Once you've hammered in the welt to the insole, the straps underneath will make the welt bulge out. This is not going to be comfortable to your feet so you take a sharp knife or a cutter to level the material. This is careful work. You can slice yourself! After my hammer-meets-thumb incident, I did this slicing step very carefully.

And here it is! My almost finished sandals! Pretty! We had to leave them with the Renegade Folk people so that they can finish it by sanding the sides so that all the soles are perfectly aligned. But I took a photo of me wearing my new sandals (that I made myself!) and shared it with all my Instagram and Facebook followers:
Excuse the swollen pregnant feet and ankles! I insisted on getting my real shoe size (US 6) since my feet always go back to normal two to three months after giving birth. So there! I now know how to make sandals. I have a deeper appreciation for all my shoes now. Also, I am never going to buy cheap shoes ever again. The amount of work that goes into a single pair is amazing. That work should be compensated well so I guess cheap shoes mean the brand is paying slave wages to their shoemakers!

To shop from Renegade Folk, click here.

To check out Craft MNL's workshops, click here.

Now you know what to do this summer!

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I was at a lunch hosted by P&G Beauty at Manila Polo Club. They were celebrating Women's Month (yes, March is Women's Month!). It was a small party for magazine editors, newspaper journalists, editors of lifestyle websites, and then there was little old blogger me.

I haven't been attending events the whole of 2013 (save for a few blog advertiser events because, well, I had to attend those!). It was my first year to be a stay-at-home mom and a full-time blogger. I tried working as a freelance writer and newspaper columnist, too, but, boy, I realized I can't juggle too many things after all. Something's bound to suffer, and I've since accepted that I am happier and more effective if I just slooooow down and just relish my awesome life! It won't be this slow forever (I doubt I'll be a housewife all my life) so I will enjoy this phase while it lasts.

(But it was still kinda nice to see old friends again!)
Big perk of being pregnant? Everyone wants to give up their chair for you, so that's how I ended up sitting between P&G's Country Communications Leader Clint Navales and super host Issa Litton.

The lunch was P&G's way of picking the brains of the media, especially the women of media who create media for women. P&G said they did a nationwide survey of Filipinas from all socio-economic backgrounds and found these surprising beliefs:

• Women believe that men should still get the higher paying job. In fact, between a man and a woman with the same intelligence and credentials, women think the job should still go to the man. WHY? Because men are the breadwinners so they should get more opportunities and more money.
• Women also think that, for the same job, it's okay for men to earn more than women, and to get promoted faster. WHY? Same reason as above.
• Women use beauty products not to attract and keep men, but to hide their age. WHY? Because young girls want to appear older while mature women want to stay looking, I dunno, 25 maybe! Just reinforces the issue that women are ashamed of their age!
• Men are hired and promoted for their potential, women for their experience. WHY? Women need to prove they can do the job. Men just need to show up.

There were actually more but I'm reeling. I am in total shock. It's the 21st century and the Philippines is a modern country but apparently our beliefs are still medieval.

I am living in a bubble.

Dear readers, I don't think we women should subjugate men. Neither do I think women are the superior sex. I just believe that we should be given the same opportunities, the same rights, the same accolades, the same encouragement and support, the same appreciation. I'm lucky to be married to a feminist who encouraged me to pursue my ambitions and then respected my choice to be a full-time mom when I decided on that. He never put me down or put me in my place or told me I can't do things because I'm a woman. I hope all men can be like my Vince and all women can have a dad or husband or mentor or friend like Vince!

Don't let anything hold you back, ladies!


Let's celebrate Women's Month by destroying the boundaries and beliefs that hold us back!

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This was shot last April and now it's out. I'm a featured personality on Northern Living magazine! Here's a behind-the-scenes look:
Having my hair and makeup done by Lizzie Oren. We talked about the Chiz-Heart love affair. That was the hottest topic back in April haha.

Since we have no yayas, I asked my sister to look after Iñigo while I was at the photo shoot. Thanks, Jacqui! It was also very sweet of Inquirer Group to put the TV on a kiddie channel so Iñigo wasn't so bored. He did lose interest eventually so Jacqui brought him to watch me have my photos taken.

That's me dancing to entertain Iñigo. I wore my Karimadon wrap dress and Pedro gray pumps.

That's photographer Dookie Ducay telling me how to fix my angles and my smile.

That's a super bored super baby haha.

And here it is!
The photo that made it was the one of me wearing my Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress and Zara pumps. My face was also Photoshopped, in case you know how I really look like haha. Hindi ko kamukha si Cristine Reyes. Sabi ng boss ko dati, "Wag ka na umangal!" Haha, I'm not complaining! I just want to look like me even if Cristine Reyes is prettier than me!

Anyway, you can read all about how I feel about blogging and writing and mommy fashion and living in the Metro North in the June issue of Northern Living.


Check out Northern Living's Facebook page on how you can get a FREE copy!

Thanks, Northern Living! I am so thrilled to be in your magazine!

Now that I'm a stay-at-home wife and mom, I get invited to events that promote stuff like cooking, crafts-making, safety while driving, and basically stuff that are worlds away from the fashion and beauty events I used to attend.

I like this new phase. At the start, I found it very weird but now I find it fascinating! There's a whole wide world of fab events for wives and moms! And I don't need to put full-on makeup and blow dry my hair and wear excruciatingly high heels!

One such event I recently checked out was Anchor Home Chef Final Night. Yes, it was like a reality show that picked out the best recipes that reinvented ordinary food and used the Anchor product line. I didn't even know there was a contest like this! Had I known, I'd have totally joined! I'm kinda good in the kitchen so I think I have a fighting chance. Actually, I am very good in the kitchen. That's one of the reasons Vince married me!
But... after I tasted the winning recipe, I must admit the winner deserved the top Anchor Home Chef prize. But wait wait wait. I'm getting way ahead of my story! Here's the whole Anchor product showcase. I thought they only had milk, butter and cheese slices! There's cream cheese, culinary cream, and whipping cream, too!

I've known, used and loved Anchor butter for years and years. I remember my Mama singing the jingle when she'd serve sugar-sprinkled creamy butter on hot pan de sal for breakfast long, long ago. "Fresh Anchor butter!" I can hear her now and all I can think of is bright, happy mornings. Mama loved butter!

Anyway, the Anchor Home Chef campaign is all about promoting creativity in the kitchen. By using Anchor's premium products, men and women can create dishes using ordinary ingredients and make them ultra fabulous! I believe that, too!

There was wine...

... and cheese. But no one was really wining and cheesing because Anchor started the evening with a contest for all the guests. We were all asked to make a cake in a jar!

This bibingka cake was seriously amazing. At first, I thought it was going to be so-so but the sweetness of the butter cake and the saltiness of the salted egg cream cheese topped with the delicate nuttiness of the roasted coconut buttercream was divine. Divine!

Yes, Iñigo and I ate the cake. So we didn't get to participate in the contest! That bibingka cake was too good. I wanted to ask for more actually. I just got shy.

Here I am with hot mommy Jackie Go of Go! Jackie Go! and her baby Juro. He's busy munching on carrots. I don't know what my Iñigo was looking at. But this table was right beside the chefs' table so maybe Iñigo was looking at the chefs.

A friend and I were chatting one day. She was about to get married. I teased her, "Is he your first?" And at our age, we all know what "first" means!

"Yes," she replied. "As far as I'm concerned, he is. He's my first love because he's my true love. All the other so-called loves before him don't count."

And I laughed, long and loud. "You're so silly!"

But I know what she means. I've had boyfriends before Vince. But it was only with him I felt completely alive. Only with him, I saw my future. Only with him that I wanted to have children.

I've been kissed before but when Vince and I kissed the first time, I thought my soul opened up and soared and my skin tingled like it was hot and cold at the same time and and my heart, I thought it actually stopped. And after we kissed, I looked at him and said breathlessly, "You're my first kiss!"

And Vince laughed, since he knew I've been kissed before. But I knew in my heart—and my body knew it, too—that that kiss wiped all other kisses off the face of the earth and I was reborn. I knew then and there that I was gone.

He knew it, too. He asked me to marry him about two weeks later. I said no because his eyes scared me. His eyes said forever. I've never seen that in a guy's eyes before. So I knew I was his first love, too, because he may have had many girls before me but forever only happens once and his forever happened with me.

1999, Baguio. We didn't know each other when this photo was taken. We just happened to be sitting together.

I'm in this month's Real Living. Like, as me and not as a contributing writer. Like, my face and not as a byline haha.

I talk about my favorite things at my home. The font is tiny so you can't click on the photo and try to read. You'll have to get a copy! I promise you it's a good read—I have a story for each piece. Yep, that's why the font is so small. The artist was forced to do that to make all my words fit!


It's also a great issue filled with beautiful, airy, sun-filled homes. One day, Vince and I will build a house with huge windows to let sun and fresh air in. And it will have a large garden for the kids to run around in and where Vince can plant a garden and where I can nap under the trees. Sigh! I'm so inspired to work for our dream house now. That's what I love about shelter magazines!

Thanks, Real Living! Thanks to the editor-in-chief, my friend Rachelle! And thanks so very much to the writer Kaye for being patient with me!

I get a lot of questions about clothes I wear that are fit for breastfeeding. Mommies ask me that all the time because frankly, there's not enough stylish nursing clothes in Manila. I've been able to get a few nice ones but here's my current favorite:

Ashley Smocked Dress from Dote Studio, Pedro gray pumps, Longchamp clutch

It's a gray empire-waist dress with flared sleeves from Dote Studio from Singapore. I bought it and another nursing dress from Brandsfever. I won't be doing that again. The dresses cost me P4,197.63. Then when they arrived at the post office, I had to pay P1,786 for customs duty, EVAT, IPF, CDS and BIR stamp. I have no idea what the last three are but pay I must so pay I did.

Anyway, I love my Dote Studio dresses! They're made of really nice cloth unlike the many nursing mommy clothes out there, which are usually made of this horrible thin cotton-like thing that clings to every post-preggy lump. Just look at it. It doesn't even look like a breastfeeding dress!

I wore it to a lunch date with Vince at Circles, Makati Shangri-la...

My hungry husband.

I told ya I never brush my hair!

... and to coffee with my Wine Night friends at Apartment 1B in One Rockwell.

I'll blog about my other breastfeeding dresses and tops soon on August! Hehe, that's Breastfeeding Awareness Month. I want to take better pictures of my nursing clothes so that you mommies will see that your style doesn't have to suffer when you breastfeed!

I was watching Channel V and saw Taylor Swift's video, "Begin Again," and totally fell in love with all her dresses. All of them. I'm in the middle of revamping my wardrobe and I think I've found my style peg.

image from Glamour.com's story on bangs

image from Fanpop.com