TOPAZ HORIZON

... and two readers will win a Body Shop Sun Lustre Bronzer from Body Shop's newest makeup collection, the Sun-Kissed Makeup Line.

London is a very busy city. So many things to do, so many things to see, so many things to visit, and nothing very good to eat!

(To be fair, despite its notoriety for bad food, British food wasn't really that bad; in fact, it was quite okay but since I come from a country rich in spices and dishes exploding with flavor, everything I ate there tasted bland. It made me very sad, I wept.)

So Vince and I are utterly exhausted. For one thing, though we went there in the summer, it was bitterly terribly cold. The cold seeped in and settled on our bones and muscles, making us stiff and cramped. To make matters worse, London is a walking city. We walked and walked and walked with our already sore and cold muscles. I don't think we ever walked and climbed stairs and ran to catch trains that much in our life ever! On the good side, my butt and legs now look great! On the bad side, we are so very tired.

Lost in the Underground. Well, not really. The tube can be confusing at first but within two days, we knew our way around!

I don't know if you heard about this but bubbly TV host Rachael Ray got herself into a scandal last week when her Dunkin' Donuts ad featured her with a fringed black-and-white scarf wrapped around her neck. I've seen this scarf, called a kaffiyeh, around a lot of Hollywood necks actually (Joshua Jackson comes to mind) and I was even thinking of featuring it in my magazine since it is obviously a Hollywood fashion craze. It's sold here everywhere, too--malls, tiangges, street vendors, etc--so clearly I shouldn't ignore this new trend. Then this whole Dunkin' Donuts thing happened and I found out that the scarf is associated with terrorism.

''The kaffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,'' conservative commentator Michelle Malkin wrote in her syndicated column. "Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons," she said.

Well, there you go. What is just a fashion craze for us is, for some people, a political statement.

For example, I was utterly horrified when the Japanese flag with the sun rays coming out of it used to be fashionable here. That was the flag of the Japanese Occupation! How can Filipinos forget our terrible history when the Japanese invaded us and made our women their whores? My husband's grandfather survived the infamous Bataan Death March. From 1941-45, the Philippines was subjected to devastation--not just the physical land but also our people, our spirit, our dignity. Sure, kids these days weren't alive when the war happened but I still have my grandparents' words echoing in my ears and I believe the Imperial flag is something Filipinos should never wear.

It's not just me. When Prince Harry wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party, the whole of Brittania went into an uproar. He was just having fun (it was a costume party, for heaven's sake!), but as a British citizen and the grandson of the queen who lived during and steered her country through World War II, the costume was a terrible faux pas. The prince was forced to apologize but his royal subjects were deeply offended by his innocent fun.

And when Cameron Diaz brought a Mao Zedung bag on her trip to Peru, the Peruvians were outraged. In the 1980s to early '90s, Peru was devastated by the Maoist Path Insurgency that left 70,000 Peruvians dead. Her bag, which she bought on a trip to China (and looked really cool, I think), was definitely not cool in Peru.

Or when American missionary Gracia Burnham was forced by her Abu Sayyaf kidnappers to wear a veil, Christians in the US were shocked. Since she was not a Muslim, they believed that Gracia forced to wear a veil was an act of terrorism, too.

I've heard so many stories about people getting into fights or even getting killed because of a T-shirt. Vince, for example, won't be bringing any of his football jerseys to London. We heard that if you're wearing the wrong football jersey and you got off at the wrong tube station, you can get into trouble very quickly. When I was 18, I headed home after PE class wearing my gym shorts when a woman suddenly pointed at me and screamed, "Girls who wear shorts steal other women's husbands!" Oh dear, I cried so much and I was wearing crappy shorts, too!

To most of us, it's just a piece of cloth but, as every die-hard fashionista will tell you, every piece we wear is a statement. High heels, mini skirts, thigh-high boots, tube tops, baseball caps, bling-bling, leather jackets, Mao Zedung bags, Imperial flags, a veil, a scarf associated with terrorism, et al... innocuous clothing perhaps but these offend some people.

What should we do??? I don't know! Me, I believe in freedom of expression. So if the person truly is making a statement with what he's wearing, then I may not like it, but I'll respect it. And perhaps we should educate ourselves more on every piece of clothing and accessory we buy and wear. After all, some people have died because of the clothes they wore. So you might as well know what the hell you're dying for!

KV Caidic from Paranaque City!

KV won my silly little contest that asked readers to guess where Vince and I are headed for our much anticipated but always delayed honeymoon. We're going to the magnificent city of London, people! And we're leaving next week! Hooray!

The entries are published in the comments section of that post. However, I didn't publish the wrong answers. Most of the answers were correct; after all, with the tons of clues I gave, it wasn't really very hard to guess, right? But KV was the very first one to give the correct answer so applause applause!

Congratulations, KV! You get your very own bottle of Burberry The Beat. Reply to my email asap so I can send you your prize asap!

To the rest of you, thanks for joining and keep checking this blog for more contests. I plan to give away freebies every month!

P.S. Get to know KV and check out her blog here.

Hehe, not really but it's getting there!

Observe my URL. It's now www.topazhorizon.com! It's like a real website! It's part of my plans for this blog. I've already edited out my too personal posts from the last two years (that was painful, I must admit) and I've begun steering this blog to what matters to me most outside my marriage--the things that make me happy, like movies, magazines, TV shows, music, shopping, etc! Yes, I'm not going to be unhappy and heavy and gloomy anymore. I want to be fun and light and, er, shallow!

This is super exciting for me! This blog has been a great source of release for me in the past when it came to dealing with life's harsh realities, but now, since I'm older and hopefully more mature, I want this blog to start being something else--be a good and happy place, where I can be thrilled about the stuff and ideas that tickle me most, to delight the readers that often stumble upon it, to inform these same readers about how wonderful life is and the fabulous things that make it wonderful.

So good luck to me! And hope you can stick around while I deal with the birth pains. I'm not really good with the Internet and websites and all things related to that. But one must keep learning! If you have any suggestions, please email me at frances@topazhorizon.com. Wow, I have a personal email address! Isn't that great? It excites me a lot but actually, I don't know if that email address works (haha!) so please email me there so I can see! So many things I have to learn with this new beginning!

So, like I said, Vince and I will be flying off to the United Kingdom (I won't say where exactly because I have an ongoing contest) in two weeks. We just bought luggage. Thank goodness Robinsons Galleria has a Bag and Shoe Fair this whole month of May because we were able to buy beautiful luggage from Echolac. Actually, I was content to buy a cheap local brand but Vince said, "If we must buy something, let's check out the expensive brands first then we'll work our way down." He's right; we may actually be able to afford it! And we did!

Echolac is a Japanese brand and from the moment we heard that line, "This is from Japan..." we were sold. So we're super duper happy because we now have lovely respectable luggage that we're sure won't get mangled at the baggage area.

... and the first correct answer gets a special prize!*

Vince and I are finally going on our honeymoon! After one year just setting up our new and beautiful home (yep, all our money went to the darn furniture), we've decided to be proper newlyweds and have sex in another land.

Now, we've always wanted to go to this place because...
1. the locals speak English so we don't need to learn another language
2. Vince spent his formative years there so it has a special place in his heart
3. I've always been fascinated with (and thoroughly studied) their history, especially their royals
4. I don't like beaches and wildlife. I'm a very urban girl. So we decided to visit a city.
5. Many of our most beloved authors, historical figures, and actors come from this land.

Well, we finally got our visas (that's another story for another day) and we bought our plane tickets yesterday and we're booking our hotel this weekend. I've been looking at many tourist sites till my eyes bleed, just planning the itinerary. We're both so so very very excited! A honeymoon!!! At last!!!

Here are the clues to where we're going:

This city is one of the oldest in the world and boasts of impressive centuries-old palaces, cathedrals and other magnificent architectural wonders.
Buckingham Palace

St. Paul's Cathedral

My wedding was featured again last night on an ETC show. Actually, they were featuring Kate Torralba as a wedding gown designer but since Kate said I was her favorite bride, the show used photos from my wedding.

Now why was I Kate's favorite? No, it wasn't because I'm her friend. She liked me best because I wasn't a bridezilla and I let her do whatever she wanted. All I told her was the color motif and that I don't want to look like the traditional bride; instead I want to look like I'm on my way to the Oscars! When Kate showed me the initial sketches, I got scared--STRIPES! I was thinking, "Good lord, we're going to look like psychedelic zebras," but aloud I said, "Well, you're the designer, Kate, so you know better." Anyway, thank goodness I didn't impose myself on Kate because she came up with gowns that were incredibly beautiful.

Anyway, I'm making this post because I noticed that a lot of readers come to this blog because they were searching "wedding", "kate torralba", "archbishop's palace", "entourage gowns" on Google. Well, here's a list of our wedding suppliers. They come highly recommended and they are so very reasonable when it comes to prices. Have a happy wedding!

Ceremony: Contrary to its name, this is a small chapel, charming and near everything.
Villa San Miguel, Archbishop's Palace
438 Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City
531-7069/7034

Reception: Very classy and again, in the middle of everything. And the food is amazing.
Le Souffle at Fernando's
G/L Amorsolo Square, Amorsolo Drive, Rockwell Center
890-6543/7630

Photographer: He's the lifestyle photojournalist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer so his specialty is candid shots.
Chito Vecina
Unit 4D-4E Casa Bougainvilla 3834 Mascardo St., Pasong Tamo, Makati
www.chitovecina.net
809-6190

Jeweler:
Goldenhills Jewelry
Level 3A-053 Expansion Mall, Robinsons Galleria, EDSA cor. Ortigas Ave, QC
631-8146, 299-6122

Designer: No need to add anything! =D
Kate Torralba
Greenbelt 5, Makati
0917-6221229

Tailor: He's the personal tailor of former President Erap Estrada! He charges an arm and a leg, though, but my groom (and my little pages) looked fabulous!
Napoleon Arienza
0917-5295028

Makeup was done by my old high school friend. Love him!
Jigs Mayuga, Chief Makeup Artist for L'Oreal Paris
0917-5748556

Hair was done by a friend, too. We didn't even have a trial session. Ney just made me look perfect from the get go :
Ney Guesse, Chief Hairstylist for L'Oreal Paris
0915-2089007

Hair coloring: Louis is the best when it comes to hair color. Your hair will look like it's naturally that gorgeous. Even my husband tells me that he now appreciates Louis because he can tell which ones have bottle-colored hair!
Louis Phillip Kee
Louis Phillip Kee Salon
G/F One McKinley Place,
Bonifacio Global City

Florist: From the very beginning of our relationship, Vince got me flowers from Holland Tulips. It only made sense that they do our wedding!
Holland Tulips
www.hollandtulips.com.ph
807-7854, 809-2435

Stationery: I think they're the cheapest quality stationer in the country. Emphasis on quality.
QP Designs
www.qpdesigns.com
733-2339/2307

Cake Artist: People talked about the wedding cake for weeks! They forgot everything else. That's how good the cake was.
Gel Colet
0917-5367829

String Quartet: He's my brother, yes, but he's very very talented and will make any wedding special.
The Manila String Machine
http://manilastringmachine.blogspot.com/
Theodore Amper
0918-9066377

If you didn't understand all that then I'm sure you'll agree with Vince who swears I've gone absolutely crazy. He thinks that I'm a little too old for the Twilight books, but he patiently went with me to bookstores as I put myself on several reservation lists for the fourth (and last?) book, Breaking Dawn. And I've also convinced about five people to read Twilight, and I hope through this blog, many many more will read the series (Hey, Stephenie, I ought to get a commission here!).

Now I'm not going to talk about the books at all. Suffice it to say that the plot goes a little something like this: simple city girl moves to a tiny town where she's strangely attracted to a ravishingly good-looking boy who happens to be a vampire who is dangerously attracted to her blood but because they fall in love he won't eat her up and so both of them have a seriously life-or-death relationship that I can't stand because the sexual tension is driving me crazy but they can't do it because she might end up as dinner! And that's just the start!!!

Darn. I can't wait for Breaking Dawn. I think I'll really go insane by the time August rolls around.

On a side note, because of Twilight, I really really want a Volvo. Then I watched Iron Man yesterday and now I desperately want an Audi. Okay, so I dream crazy, too, but you never know!

*images from Stephenie Meyer's official website