TOPAZ HORIZON

My dear readers,

I am storming the gates of heaven for a little boy I hardly know. His name is Jose Emilio, or Mio, he is 5 years old and he is fighting for his life.

I know his mother, Jasmine Mendiola. We used to work together--she's the former fashion editor of Total Girl and she's a makeup artist so we've been at a couple of shoots in the past.

Jasmine is a fighter, very tough and very strong. I only hope her beautiful child inherited some of her strength because he's going to need it in his fight against leukemia. Mio has acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the white blood cells. These cells fight infections. When a person has ALL, his body has a harder time fighting infections.How does one even explain to a five-year-old kid that his body has rebelled against him? The diagnosis was made just this week so we are all just reeling from the shock and praying, praying, praying. Jasmine has started a blog--it's very raw and emotional and reading it is heartbreaking. I can't even imagine what she is going through as she writes:

"He knows he’s sick and yet he remains thankful to God in our evening prayer for the toys he receives, for the nurses and the medicine that will help his 'owie' go away. I have yet to give him the world I promised him.

I think you’ll all agree when I say that Mio deserves this army. His childhood is the war I wage. I’ve always thought I had forever with my little boy and I used to just want it to pass us by so he can be a grown man, the kind who is everything good, smart, healthy and handsome.

I’ll have to put that on hold and fight this battle NOW... I have nothing but your love and support although I hate being over-bearing. But like any parent, I will beg, borrow or steal. But we are good people with kind hearts. I can only ask for you to rally the gates of heaven so my son—and all the other children in the world unjustly suffering this illness to have a chance at a normal and yes, dramatic life."

At this point, we all don't know how to make this mother's pain go away so I will very humbly ask my readers to help Mio fight his leukemia by donating whatever amount you can to help finance his chemotherapy. We will appreciate anything you can give at all!
If you wish to contact Jasmine, please visit her blog, The Enemy in Mio's Body. And please keep Mio in your prayers. We need those most of all. Thank you!

DONATION UPDATE: Gosh, the PayPal donate button isn't working. Sorry! (Thanks, Rowie for telling me about that!) While I try to figure out how that works, the PayPal email address to send your donation to is prettypeddler@yahoo.com.ph. I'll coordinate with Jasmine on how we can make donating easier--I know some of you prefer G-Cash or bank transfers. Again, thank you! Please spread the word!

ANOTHER UPDATE: I'm selling beauty products to raise money for Mio's treatment. Go to my beauty blog (click here) and please shop! Thank you!

all photos from Jasmine's Facebook account

First of all, I'm not angry anymore. After listening to me rant and rave like a lunatic last Tuesday night, my husband wryly told me, "Well, if you handle trash, expect your hands to get dirty."

Indeed. So I won't complain anymore even if I am now a lot poorer because I just paid for some celebrity's new clothes. The company will reimburse the cost so I'm not too upset except that I'll have to watch my spending until the check comes!

On to better news, I will happily share what's making me really excited today:It's an ant killer! It's a poisonous substance that attracts the little critters. It doesn't kill them right away. Instead, it's more insidious, allowing the ants to bring the substance back to the nest and feed the queen ant and larvae ants with the poison. It's fascinating to watch... and a bit horrifying, too, as the ants come out full force to devour the poison. So you'll have to replenish with a drop or two because the ants get really greedy. Then after a few days, no more ants! There are absolutely no ants in the house now!!!This is such a fantastic find! Now if someone can just make a batch of this stuff for that celebrity pest... I kid, I kid!

Terro Ant Killer is available at Handyman for just PHP 149.75.

Wow, what an awful day. Had a shoot with a celebrity today. Celeb's manager asked that we give the entire outfit. When we said no, manager got really angry.

I wasn't there because I was attending a very important advertiser's event but I got so upset because the manager was treating my staff with so much disrespect. Some people take advantage of the fact that the boss isn't around by bullying the staff, and they usually get away with it because the staff gets cowed into submission.

I'm so angry. And I'm really ugly--in every sense of the word--when I'm angry. I just can't believe how some people feel they're entitled. And the celeb brings home millions of dollars (that should be a clue to you) so if celeb and company really wanted the outfit, why don't they just buy it? What's PHP 23,000++ to them?

You know what makes me feel worse? I feel like I betrayed my team by not being there to protect them from these ravenous wolves. I'm angry because my staff were helpless and being taken advantage of and I wasn't there to help them.

In the end, I told Lana to just give them what they want. I don't like fighting over money--it's bad form and utterly tasteless.

Oh, and as long as we were spending money on the star, I guess we should have gotten the star new underwear, too. The star's undies were in terrible shape. Shame.


I'm going to sleep this off now. Comments turned off for this post as I don't want anyone posting their guesses--right or wrong, I won't be able to say! All I can say is tomorrow will be a better day. Good night, folkszzzzz...

I just want to share my favorite new thing. Well, it's not so new since Vince bought it for me soon after our second wedding anniversary. But I just had to share because it's super hotness!

I said I wanted a pink netbook, right? Then I ended up buying a little black beauty a few months ago:

Well, with my darling baby needing protection, I needed a laptop case. I looked and looked and everything was either too big or too small (the HP Mini's screen is wider than most netbooks). And must all laptop sleeves look so horrid? So as Vince and I wandered into a luggage store, this little cutie called to me.
Isn't she pretty? It's a Samsonite Black Label Signat Mini Attache. It's pink. I'm sooo happy! Vince thinks it's so retro cool. And it actually is retro--this is a re-issue of the 1965 design. I learned that from the little leather label here (sorry, my photos are terrible!):
Because it's Samsonite, we didn't think we could afford it. The original price was PHP 11,390 (USD 238) but--wonder of wonders, it was on sale! It was sold for a huge discount--Vince got this pretty pink sweetheart for just PHP 3,970 (USD 83). Unbelievable. Sold!

Ah! Look at that! It's like it was made for my HP Mini! And it has a little compartment for the charger and pockets for my USB sticks and little odds-and-ends. Love it! Thanks, Vince!

Some of you know I love the rain. Some of you know I love shoes. And all of you know I love Vince! Now I'll tell you a little love story.

On a perfect rainy September day ten years ago, Vince took me to Enchanted Kingdom. I had never gone there before and, because of the rain, it was nearly deserted. There were no lines for the rides and we spent the entire day running through the puddles, kissing under the rain, getting soaked on the roller coaster, riding the ferris wheel and thrilled at the prospect of getting hit by lightning. We were young and we felt immortal. It was one of the best days of our life. I paid for it dearly however: I came down with a terrible case of pneumonia and, worse!, my pretty ballet shoes were ruined beyond repair. I never went splashing in the rain since.

Then this pair of cuties arrived for me:This baby is called Rain Skimmers and it's brought in by the same lovely ladies who introduced Plueys here (thanks, Em!!!). The shoes are made of lightweight matte rubber and lined inside with comfy cotton in adorable prints. I love it!!! Mine is the Nola style--a subdued and elegant blue. It's comfortable and simple and stylish. And because it's rubber, I can walk through wet streets, even wade in CCP's fountain perhaps--yes, even with the pond aerators on!--and not worry about ruining these shoes! Just look at it--that's serious rubber, girls.There are three other styles--Audrey (white polka dots on black), Kelly (olive) and Vicki (multi-colored dots). Each pair is PHP 1,450 and comes with a free pair of heel protectors worth PHP 200, but again they throw this in for free! And did I mention how utterly comfy it is? Now I'm singin' and dancin' once again!

Be fashionable this rainy season! Get your own pair of Plueys boots or Rain Skimmers flats here.