TOPAZ HORIZON

Because of some outfit-for-the-day sites I've become addicted to, I've snapped myself in some of my clothes these past few days. The photos aren't as nice (gosh, what cameras do these people use?), and the clothes aren't as amazing (how can I ever be as stylish as these people?) but it's a start.

Preview magazine's editor-in-chief writes in a recent issue that every fashionista's mantra is shop till you drop. Well, I shop, and for hours on end too, but i need never drop because I do almost all my shopping online!

Online shopping is the best for people like me who hate dressing up just to go to the mall (though I do like dressing up for dinner and the movies), hate parking, hate crowds. At home, barefoot and comfy in my cotton dresses, I sit in front of the computer and shop away. I've bought designer dresses, unusual shoes, vintage bags, rare books and my lovely art prints from various shopping sites online from all over the world. I can even get hay and other goodies for my rabbits because there is absolutely no decent rabbit shop in this country. Anyway, I'll tell you more about my favorite sites in an another post and will include pics of the stuff I've bought.

So how is online shopping? Well, it's not as easy as mall shopping, I'll tell you that. You have to have an international credit card or PayPal. But a lot of sites don't accept cards with non-US billing addresses. Then when you do purchase, there's the waiting period that can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks! The shipping fees can be expensive, too (the trick is to buy in bulk). Shipping can be a problem since a lot of nice sites from the US don't ship to Manila. You have to have a US address. So most of the time, I only shop at the local Multiply and eBay, and occasionally, I'd shop at sites that do deliver worldwide but FedEx can be very expensive (but safe. I love FedEx!). So when I hear that a friend or a relative is coming home to visit, I immediately ask if it's okay to have my shopping delivered to them! And that, my friends, is the best way to curb your shopping expense since I only get to shop big time when someone comes over from the US of A.

But--be still, my beating heart!--my husband just told me about the MyUS.com website. It's a mail forwarding service that his friends use when they shop for sporting goods and gadgets. The stuff they get comes out much cheaper because all the prohibitive taxes our government imposes on imported goods are stripped away. They said they've been members of MyUS.com for years and they like it for its professional and discreet service and that the service delivers fast and for much less. In fact, Vince tells me he's signing up. Oh dear, if he signs up, I'll bombard him with my shopping! MyUS.com promises to receive my stuff, repack it and ship it to my doorstep. They'd even do the paperwork for the customs.

So the bottom line is I get to enjoy the shopping selection in the US, the prices they have (my goodness, their fabulous shoes are like $8-$12 only) and the huge discounts as if I'm a US resident!!! With MyUS.com, I can buy practically everything for much less--magazine subscriptions, shoes, clothes, books, furniture, gadgets, toys for the rabbits and me, medicines and beauty products, jewelry, stationery... OMG. I'm trembling as I type!

Now I know we all have a relative or a friend abroad so I'm pretty sure this post got your attention. Wouldn't it be great if we didn't bother them anymore with all our shipping needs? My goodness, and all that shopping we can do! I can't wait!

Part of my job is to attend events, product launches and give interviews. Also, to appear on TV or pop up on radio shows to impart my wisdom on celebrity matters (hahaha!). Anyway, the stuff here are a few weeks old so that hopefully, you didn't see me on TV making a fool of myself. I'm not the type to promote my appearances. I did that once and then all I got from friends and family were, "Who did your makeup? You looked like a tranny!", "You look really fat.", "Why can't you speak in straight English?" (this was on a Tagalog morning show), and my favorite: "On TV, you look drunk." So strange! I don't even drink alcohol (I'm allergic)!

But Mary Kay sent me this YouTube link and it's so embarrassing but in a I-can-laugh-at-me sorta way. I'm the talkative girl being made up. I'm sure the Mary Kay artist was silently wishing me to shut up hehehe. You have to watch until the end of the clip where I'm smiling and then I thought the photographer was done and then he asked me for another shot. I'm so FAKE!



Below is a behind-the-scenes look of me and Nikki, associate fashion and beauty editor, on a guest stint on "The Sweet Life." We were talking about how to look good in anything, courtesy of tips from Hollywood stars. I'm wearing my silk Jill Stuart dress and beige Nine West pumps. Just sayin'! Look at hosts Lucy Torres and Wilma Doesnt. They are soooo thin! And pretty. Sigh!

Seriously though, guesting on TV is no joke. Aside from the absolute certainty that I am going to make a big blunder (I curse like a sailor and I have a tendency to spill secrets), there's the more distressing problem of waiting and waiting and waiting...

We were asked to arrive at 9 PM but the taping didn't start till 12 midnight. Then we were on that set for about 5 minutes. With editing, the clip on TV will run for a mere 2 or 3 minutes. But you waited a few hours just to have that done! It's not their fault. That's how TV really is. That's why I like live TV more. Sure, you have this HUGE opportunity to make a terrible mistake but at least the whole ordeal is over and done with in 15 minutes!

I love this Discovery Channel commercial. As regular readers of Topaz Horizon know, I'm a huge fan of this beautiful planet. So when Discovery Channel played this and I saw it, I got all misty-eyed. I always shout to the hubby when it's playing, "Baby, the boom-de-yaya ad is on!" And then I just sit in front of the TV and bask in the love of my fellow men for Planet Earth.



Nope, it never gets old.

At OK!, we have a running joke that Shiloh Jolie-Pitt is the twin of Tweety Bird. Whenever we have a feature on stars with striking resemblances, we always want to put Shiloh and Tweety in but of course we can't because that would be, uh, mean hehe. So you can just imagine my delight when I found this on YouTube:

I went to a medical spa recently where all my measurements got taken. Here's what took place:

Spa: Ma'am Frances, for your height of 5'4", you're underweight at 105 lbs. But your body is 20% fat. Although normal range is 20-22% for women, better if you're about 15-18%. So you're underweight but fat.

Me: I'm fat? But I need to gain weight?

Spa: Yes, ma'am. You need 10 to 15 lbs pa po. But see this flab on your upper arms and belly? That's fat. So you know that saying skin-and-bones? You're skin-fat-and-bones. It should be skin-muscle-and-bones.

Me: I'm fat.

Spa: Well, looking at you, obviously you're not. You're very very slim. You need to get rid of your fat first with cardio exercises and less fat in your diet. More protein. Then when your fat is lessened, you can start building up your muscles. Again, you need to gain 10 to 15 lbs of pure muscle. Less fat, more muscle.

Me: I'm fat!

Later at home I wail to my husband as he washed the dishes.

Me: Apparently I'm within normal range at 20% fat but instead of that comforting me, she goes, "Better if you're about 15-18%" range.

Vince: Michael Jordan was famously 9% body fat.

Later, I gripe to a friend, Ruby, who replies giddily, "Oh, I'm only 12% body fat!"

Sigh. These days, I stare at my thin self in the mirror with utmost dissatisfaction. Better start hitting the gym and stop eating all the junk I love. *sniff* *sob*

I've gone through my entire blog and decided to link up the people who actually read this blog. Oh, what a tedious thing to do. But I'm glad I did it because it's like the least I can do for the people who read my silliness.

Of course a lot of readers who left comments don't have blogs so I felt a bit bad about that. Also, I left out some blogs that haven't been updated (yes, I checked each and every commenter and their blog!). It's kinda unfair to link up people's sites and when you click on them, the dates are so long ago. It's not fun, no sirree.

So there! Leave me a comment (a real one, okay!) and I'll link you up! Hope you can link me up, too =D

Don't worry. No real spoilers here, but I'm not exactly discreet either. So read at your own risk!

I just finished the last book of the Twilight Saga and I must say the following:

1. Many events in the book took me quite by surprise, which is good. It's always a good thing when a writer can be unpredictable.

2. That said, just because a writer can surprise you doesn't mean the surprises are all pleasant. I didn't like a lot of things. A horrid name, for example. Ugh, I just can't get over that name.

3. While we were treated to a stylistic tool in the third book (Jacob's POV), to use that same tool in a huge chunk of BD was a little too late, a little too convenient, a little too lazy. I must admit, though, Jacob's part was the best read. Bella had become increasingly boring since the second book so the story told in another way and another voice was strangely a relief.

4. I miss, truly miss, Bella and Edward's love story. In this book, it wasn't really about their love story as much as it was about a family story. Make no mistake--Edward and Bella are even more deeply in love here than ever. But I guess marriage does that to any couple (including me and Vince. Sigh!): the focus isn't entirely on each other anymore; you include others into the circle. Not a bad thing really but... I just really want to say I miss that consuming, one-of-a-kind, maddeningly young, deeply private love story that is Bella and Edward.

5. I think I get the cover now. WOW! That was totally unexpected. But, like I said, that cover says it all--Bella has an entirely new passion and focus in BD. And never ever did I think that Stephenie would pounce that on us!

6. Last but not the least, Team Edward HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!

Okay, I'll stop there. But darnit, I want to discuss this book already! Everyone I know are still reading it, are done but are currently catching up on sleep they lost because of the midnight release and the subsequent marathon reading, or there's someone not done reading it yet in a gathering of those who've finished it so we all can't talk about it anyway! Anyone out there done with it? Comment!!!

*book cover image from Stephenie Meyer's site. Team Edward button from Cafe Press. Click on the button to pledge allegiance to the most swoon-worthy vampire in the world: Edward!


UPDATE: Okay, I've slept already. I've digested the book. And now, even with all the negative things I said above, I think that I actually really liked Breaking Dawn! I still don't like that name though...

As you all know by now, I am a shoe freak. So when I stumbled upon Sea of Shoes via another blog I haunt (Chuvaness.com), I just became addicted to this absolutely gorgeous family.

Here's the author of the blog. Her name's Jane Aldridge. She's wearing a Carolina Herrera dress with Balenciaga ankle boots (btw, good news: Balenciaga opens today at Greenbelt 5 in Makati!). She's not a fashion model, I think, which makes that great because I really can't be inspired by incredibly thin people who look hungry (though she and I are quite slim, too). I love how she can pair any shoe with absolutely anything in her closet... or how she can make anything look glamorous (exhibit A: the messy hair, exhibit B: the bathroom of her sister that they're demolishing).

This is her sister. Soooo adorable. I love her lipstick. I can't wear lipstick; I'm more of a lip gloss girl (my favorites this month are a frosty pink from Shu Uemura and a sugary gold from Mary Kay). Anyway, this cutie is wearing a pair of peep-toe lace-up Dolce & Gabbana heels with a mini dress from Marc by Marc Jacobs.

And this is their mother. Well, now we know where the girls got their good looks! (The dog looks cute, too, hehe) She wore her Chloe triple strap patent boots with Levi's and an American Apparel shirt. So chic! I wanted to buy those same Chloe boots in Selfridges in London and even Vince encouraged me to buy them but I just couldn't get past that price tag--a whopping GBP 365 (or PHP 31,915). Damn!

If, however, I suddenly have a lot of money, I think I can buy these Chloe lovers from this other blogger. Her blog, A Woman and Her Shoes, is another new favorite. It's almost like porn actually since I get really high looking at all the delectable pairs in her blog.

Ah, shoes! Gosh, I love Jane's blog so much, maybe I'll do something similar. But since I have very limited resources and very few clothes and no sense of style at all... well, maybe it's not a very good idea for me after all. Insert tragic sigh here!

OMG. You've got to watch this video of Michael Jackson and Britney Spears singing "The Way You Make Me Feel"!!! Two superstars on stage, singing live, feeding off each other's energy--it's electrifying.

Really makes you long for the good ol' days when real singing sensations entertained us. Not the crap we get these days. Well, at least Britney's back in the studio recording an album again. I really liked Blackout, and the critics hailed it, too, as one of her best. Sad that she wasn't able to promote it because her life was in such turmoil last year. But she's much better now, healthier, hitting the gym trying to get back her old shape. And she'll also be part of Madonna's big tour next month. And her video for "Piece of Me" just got nominated for the MTV VMAs. People really still believe in Britney!

Now if only Michael will also come back...

Anyway, here's another video that I love. At least Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Missy Eliot's still in the scene. That's quite a comforting thought really!