TOPAZ HORIZON

Happy Monday, y'all! I haven't been updating here because all my updates are in Topaz Mommy and Beauty For A Living. I wrote about my surprise baby shower, gifts from NIVEA Baby and my 4D ultrasound results; and also the latest offerings from Kenneth Cole, Revlon, Ferragamo and LUSH. So if you'd like to know what's up with me lately, do visit my other blogs. Thanks!

You can also join my blog's Facebook page. Just click on the badge on the sidebar!

Based on recent blog posts, it looks like I'm swimming in money. So I guess it's kinda strange when I start talking about how baby stuff are so expensive, I don't want to spend on baby clothes, and all my gasps and exclamations over the cost of having a baby. Well, I'll tell you a secret: I really set aside a budget for everything!

I'm not an impulse buyer. I will sleep on something I saw in a shop window for days, weeks, even months! If I really want it, I take out envelopes and mark them: "Topaz Ring," "Maternity Dresses," "Sunglasses," "Eyeglass Frames," etc. So, for example, my budget for maternity dresses is 10K. Every pay period, I will slip in 1K or 2K or P500 in that envelope, whatever amount I can set aside after paying the bills. When it finally reaches 10K, BAM! Off to the stores I go and so it looks like I went on a wild shopping spree!

Then when I say, "I don't have money for that breast pump!", it's kinda true. I just mean the envelope marked "Breast Pump" isn't ready yet. 

Here's another secret: When I go on a spree, I don't bring the cash. I usually charge it to the card so that I collect points. I don't despair because I actually already have the cash to pay for my credit card purchases—they're just in my little envelopes. And I always pay the balance in full to avoid fees and other charges. Of course, I can afford to do that because I've already spent a lot of time saving up for it!

I also usually don't get money from my salary. I use the money I earn from blogging, eBay and writing projects. The money that comes from the paid blogging network I belong to is the best because I feel I get it for free. I just write posts and I get $5 for each blog post. It's a small amount but after a month or two, it really adds up. That's how we buy our Threadless shirts from the US and film nerd tees from London. Blogging money!

So though I might appear I'm throwing away money, I'm not. I scrupulously save every extra peso (emphasis on "extra"!) so that I can shop! It takes a lot of discipline and patience but the reward is oh so sweet!

First, let me establish that I love coloring my hair. That's me in October 2009, the last time I had a color job done at Louis Phillip Kee in Greenhills.

When I was a young girl, I absolutely adored supermodel Linda Evangelista because every time I saw her in magazines, she'd have a different hair color. My Mama was the same. In her family, you see, white hair appears really early so she colored her hair in various shades of brown and burgundy all the time. She was gorgeous!

So when I started sprouting white hair when I was 15, I begged for color. My parents allowed me to do so on my 18th birthday and I've colored my hair ever since! I've been blue black, mahogany, blonde, chocolate, chestnut, strawberry, magenta... The only colors I haven't been are green, pink, platinum and purple!

So my chief agony all the time I've been pregnant is I have been forbidden to color my hair! I've been complaining complaining complaining nonstop about my roots. While other mom-to-be's are happily busy with shopping for bottles and baby clothes or worrying about their health and asking around for medical insurance quotes or even maybe exercising and taking Lamaze classes, I've been obsessing over my roots.

I'm normally not a whiny girl but these past few months, I've been whining about it constantly. My OBG and my hubby refuse to be moved by my whining, however. They are adamant: You CANNOT color your hair!!! So after agonizing over recent photos like this...

... I went to a salon and had most of my hair chopped off! I now look like this:

I actually wanted a Carey Mulligan crop so that all the colored hair will have disappeared but the hairstylist said gently, "You're hormonal. Let's do this gradually." So we agreed that I'll drop by every month for a trim so that by the time I give birth, I'd only have an inch or two of blonde tips.

Argh, il est vraiment horrible! I swear that my first beauty act after giving birth is a complete hair color--deep magenta with strawberry red highlights and mahogany lowlights!

There are benefits to reading this blog, people. Most say they get entertained, some say they are moved and cry, while others get to win prizes! Now, if you're a fan of Topaz Horizon's Facebook page, then you know I held a raffle for the first 150 likers. These were the prizes:

Tani Villamora won the bag. Very lucky girl! I said on the FB wall that it was a Kenneth Cole Reaction; it's actually a Kenneth Cole New York.

Kristine Dianne Millet won the Body Shop loot. She was super delighted!

Mina Gonzales-Politte won the NARS stuff but since she's based in the US (and I specified that the winners have to personally claim their prizes from me), she graciously said that the next name on the list can have her prize.
So Bea B. Panti-Gonzales won the makeup by default. However, she hasn't claimed her prize and I really have become too busy now to go meet her so I don't know what to do.

I met up with these beautiful ladies in Red Mango at Greenbelt 3 so that I can get to meet my readers. I chose the yogurt place because I've heard about how yummy the froyo there is and I wanted something healthy so I wouldn't need a Lipofuze after I give birth!

Anyway, it was so nice that we hit it off immediately, like we'd known each other for years! Well, they have an advantage since they've been reading my blog so I will confess that I felt a little shy to meet them. If you're a regular reader, you'd know I'm a bit of an anti-social most times. But I must say Tani and Tin made me feel so comfy that we were soon sharing stories--from heartbreaks to Brazilian wax!

Congratulations, Tani and Tin! Thanks for reading my blog and for making the time to meet up with silly old me. Enjoy your prizes!

I'm the sort of girl who appreciates gifts like a clothes steamer, a top-of-the-line blender or a 7-piece all clad copper core cookware set, but hey, I won't say no to these beauties... Presenting the Tiffany & Co. Filigree Heart pendants!

This design is actually resurrected from 18th century French and English jewelry. In Tiffany’s version, a delicate heart is filled with a pattern of seven petals around a keyhole. Of course, there's a key attached to the pendant.



Now, if you prefer a bigger key, or maybe just a key, then nothing can trump Tiffany's Keys Collection. The keys here are from the new collection, and these range from the simple to the intricately bejeweled!

Now if you're wondering why anyone would have a key for a pendant, here's the history: In the olden days, people locked away their jewelry, photos, secrets and other precious possessions in beautiful boxes. Even albums and diaries had locks! And of course when people traveled, they had steamer trunks and train cases. The safest place to put your keys is around your neck! 




I adore them all but my heart is set on a certain topaz ring that I want for my 34th birthday. I have 6 months to save up for that ring. So these pendants will be for another occasion... maybe when I'm super duper rich!

Tiffany & Co. is exclusively available in Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-la Plaza Mall. 

Photos courtesy of SSI and Visions & Expressions.

It was the deadline week of OK!. The last week is always deadly for me and my staff but I made it more stressful by penciling in my OBG and facial appointments, too.

The pregnancy is going very well and my OBG prescribed these new vitamins that are so frakkin' expensive but are supposed to have all the vitamins and fatty acids and minerals my baby and I need. Then I also have to do birthing classes, a 4D ultrasound and the usual lab tests. Drain my blood away now, why don't you? It's a good thing the hubby and I have jobs!

So even though I'm already spending a lot on this pregnancy, I went shopping! Bought three dresses from Tango, a dress from Warehouse, sandals from Celine, new eyeglass frames (they're red!) and yet another dress from Kamiseta. It's so adorable! But I have to bring it to the seamstress because the shoulder straps are too long. Will have a decent photo taken as soon as that dress is ready.

Oh, and I bought a new cellphone, too, from the Big Sony Sale. It really is a big sale! I love my new phone. Had to buy a new one because my old Sony Ericsson is more than 5 years old and it's dying on me. Will write about the phone soon.

Oh, and I finally put the Facebook Like button in my blog! It's soooo cool! If you wanna know how, let the Third World Nerd teach ya...

And you can also join my Facebook fan page. I'm meeting a few "likers" tomorrow--they won my FB Fan Page raffle. So fun!

Last night, OK! managing editor Lana Chan and I attended the Sex and The City 2 premiere at Power Plant Mall. It was thrown by Solar Entertainment and I had a lovely time seeing old friends.

You see, unless my job requires me to go out (for example, to an advertiser's event), I haven't really been socializing since I got pregnant. Three reasons: I'm terribly sleepy, I had really bad acne in the first trimester, and I'm more susceptible to infections and diseases. When I got pneumonia, for example, that happened a week after I attended an advertiser's event. So I'm pretty much cloistered lately.

So last night was fun. There was a plethora of style--I had fun checking out dresses, bags, jewelry, heels, boots, hairstyles. Really, I think I've been cooped up too long! Thank goodness for Facebook (and this blog!), people I haven't seen in months (some, years) were not shocked to see me pregnant. We were all pretty much up to date with each other's lives!

I didn't go in the theater to watch the movie, however. I always seem to get sick when I'm in a crowded enclosed space! So I bid my friends buh-bye and went off to Sango to buy my yummy husband his dinner. 
Vince and I have always loved Sango's burgers, but after two pregnancy-induced nausea fits, we haven't had any. Thankfully, last night, my nose was cooperative! When I got home, Vince just also arrived from work (and he was soooo happy to see me! So cute!) and we had a grand time munching away happily.

So that was my night! How was yours?

Last week, Mariel made me the most delicious carrot cake in the world (read why in my Topaz Mommy post). Just look at it!

Yummy yummy yummy! Even Vince said it was amazing and Vince does not eat vegetable confections!

Then a few days ago, Nicole sent me red velvet cupcakes that she also baked for me! Wow! These were such a lovely and tasty gift.

Truth to tell, my OBG will send me off to get a colon cleanse if she ever finds out I've been stuffing myself with sweet stuff. Because, contrary to what people say, pregnancy is not the time you can eat anything and everything you want. This is the time to eat healthy and in small portions throughout the day. Which is driving me totally crazy because I want to eat, eat, eat all the sweet, fat and salty food in the world and I can't! That is why I am not a fat pregnant woman, by the way, because I am really trying to follow my doctor's strict diet regimen of vegetables, fruits and other yucky healthy stuff.

But how can anyone resist the goodies above? And the love of friends? I mean, they didn't buy those cakes--they baked them for me! Thank you, Mariel and Nicole. You are the bestest friends a girl can ever have!

*Mariel posted her carrot cake recipe! 

I don't believe it! I wasn't part of the hordes of women who watched HBO's Sex and The City but it was such a huge pop culture hit that I knew Sarah Jessica Parker, or rather, Carrie Bradshaw may have worn a different fabulous brand every week on the show but she used just one and only one computer on every episode: a Mac!


But for the upcoming movie sequel, Carrie will be typing out her thoughts on a--gasp!--HP Notebook.


Well, I'll be honest with ya--it's pretty much discombobulating. It's like watching Transformers and seeing Bumblebee is now a GM, not a VW! Weird. Hewlett-Packard's marketing department did its darndest to partner with the franchise (and successfully so) but I dunno. It's just not right!

The Mac is the computer designed for creative people--that's why we all have Macs at the editorial department (mine is a mighty impressive iMac). Macs are used by musicians, photographers, copywriters, art directors, fashion designers, writers. I really can't explain why (I'll let the Third World Nerd do that) but Macs just seem to be designed in such a way that creative people intuitively know what to do with it. I knew from the moment I switched one on that a Mac and I had something beautiful going on. It's like love!  

So writer and design-crazy Carrie Bradshaw and the Mac were just the perfect partnership. They made sense. But Carrie and HP? Hmmm. This I gotta see.

Of course, I'm not putting PCs down at all. I am, after all, typing this blog post on an HP Mini. I got a Mini because it was cheap. And I wanted to keep my computer-related stuff at home simple--surfing, blogging, photo storage, emailing, eBaying. I didn't want to take work home--which is what the Third World Nerd does, hence his MacBook Pro, iPad, iPhone. He has nothing against PCs, too, since he also used one for gaming and downloading. I chose a PC for home because I wanted my online doings at home to be simple, no fancy stuff. After all, that's the HP promise: The computer is personal again! But when it comes to doing creative things (from simple to heavy duty!), there's only one baby for that job: a Mac.

Read more about this shocking new partnership from Popeater and The Guardian UK.

UPDATE: It's not what we think! Spot.ph has the story here.

If you've visited my husband's blog lately, you'll know that we have an exciting new gadget in the house, which is driving the Third World Nerd crazy happy. He's so cute really.

This, of course, means we should slow down on the purchases with the impending arrival of Mr. Jelly Bean. Actually, that would be "purchases unrelated to babies" since I just got a list of stuff we supposedly need for a kid and that list is mighty long. I've already looked at how much things cost and am seriously upset.

For example, an Avent electronic breast pump is about P13,000 here, but if I buy from the US, it'll just cost me $140, or P6,200. Same goes for a lot of baby stuff--they're cheaper from online shops so I guess this means we'll use Johnny Air again.

We really really love Johnny Air! I think from now on, we'll buy our things from the US because Johnny Air ships absolutely anything and everything for an inexpensive shipping fee! We've already bought books and toys and gadgets and we really love the service. Although, we bought small and light stuff so maybe for big stuff, like a Sony or Samsung HDTV, we'll have to get from here!     

So there. Must save money now. And yet, I still want to buy this yellow topaz ring I saw in a jewelry shop last week. It's been haunting me every day! And we also saw these cute puppies for sale from Project Lightning!
Awwwww! Cute little critters! I can totally see my son with a beagle! Vince wants Jelly Bean to own a dog. Research has shown that children who had pets were more responsible, healthier, more compassionate and--this is the interesting part--were less likely to get pregnant/get someone pregnant out of wedlock. Well! That's a good enough reason for me! Thing is, we live in an apartment. With a rabbit. So maybe we'll get a beagle in 5 to 7 years' time, when we'll maybe live in a house with a big garden!


*breast pump photo from Philips online shop. Puppies photos from Project Lightning's Facebook page. Don't forget to "like" Topaz Horizon's FB page!