TOPAZ HORIZON

I'm a certified Vince's Life fan. I want to say I'm the #1 fan in the entire world (I do have reason to be *wink wink*) but when I Googled Vince's Life, well, there are some pretty devoted fans out there who can quote entire passages from this romantic trilogy!

I betcha my 13th month pay (yes, I'm actually still officially employed) that these fans will freak out once they find out that Summit Books has released the second edition of Vince's Life. Edited by Vince himself and featuring new book covers by Boizei Malicdem, this new edition will thrill once more with the heart-melting story of how Vince found and lost and found love again.

My favorite book is the last one, The Wedding. Everyone likes the first book best because that's when Vince and Andrea fall in love, get together and break up. But for me, it's The Wedding that really made me swoon. It is the most mature, most committed, most romantic story. Plus, it's the best written. Of course, before you can appreciate the last book, you must read the first two first! So grab the entire trilogy!

Each book is just P175 and is available at all bookstores. So the three books is just P525. For such a great story, it's super affordable! Best gift to give to the girls in your life—daughters, cousins, nieces, wives, mommies, girlfriends. So they know how a real man loves and how they should be treated and what true love really means. Grab your copies now! Mwah!

I discovered Craft MNL on my Facebook feed. One of my Facebook friends took a crafts lesson and I clicked on her photo and that's how I decided I wanted to take doll-making lessons!

Now, I had thought that we'd be given blank dolls and then we'd just decorate them. But silly me, it wasn't a doll-decorating workshop—it was a doll-making workshop! We made our dolls from scratch! Here is my photo essay of my very first doll creation:

It all starts with handfuls of this. I forget what it's called. Let's call it stuffing! Wads and wads of this!

I made the head.

Here's the neck.

The yarn marks the eye and temple area.

Pins and needles! Yards of yarn!

That's our teacher, Jac Zapatos, a wife, full-time working mom to a toddler, and a doll-maker! Follow her crafty blog, I am handmade.

This is a really soft cloth. It's my doll's skin.

Stitching away.

Not very neat. Sigh. I haven't stitched in years!

Stuffing the limbs with more stuffing!

Head, arms, body!

Slim legs! The doll looks better chubby actually but since it's MY doll, I made her thin.

Skinny like me!

Closing up seams.

Pins mark the eyes. Then I satin stitched the eyes.

Making the hair with red yarn. Because I'm a redhead!

Super cute! She looks like me!

Tada! Our pretty dolls!

I forgot to tell you about this!

My life is surreal. First, Rissa Mananquil Trillo then Lucy Torres Gomez. Now Cecile Zamora Van Straten. I have only met Cecile thrice in my life and all those times involved food. The first time was the opening of Pepper Lunch at Power Plant and she personally attended to our table, showing us how to cook our food. The second time was at Cibo Greenbelt 5, when she sent over dessert for my friend Kate who was eating dinner with me. The third time was at Via Mare, when we all had merienda with author Samantha Sotto and then Cecile offered to take me and my son Vito home. There's always food with Cecile! That's why when I think of Cecile Van Straten, I think of food.

Yes, I am deriving pleasure from typing their full names. It's my way of convincing myself that important people read my blogs because I still can't believe it!

Thank you so much to everyone who take the time to visit Topaz Horizon and Topaz Mommy. All of you inspire me! God bless you all for the encouragement and support. Mwah!

UPDATE: Four times pala! The last time I met Cecile was at the launch of Magnum ice cream bar and we were surrounded by trays and trays of Belgian ice cream and coolers upon coolers of Magnum. So food pa rin!