TOPAZ HORIZON

Correction:I measured the bag and it's actually 14 inches long!

Hello, bag lovers! The prototype of the 13" satchel is here!

This is the dark chocolate color. It's darker than the photo.

Still a prototype. We think the flap has to be shorter, about midway the bag and not two-thirds of the front.

Comes with a strap pad to protect your shoulder

The strap is removable.

Strap is also adjustable. Hardware is sturdy.

A lot of people requested for a top handle so here you go! That's added cost, though, so I have to rethink the pricing!

A 13" laptop fits fine (the laptop is halfway in so that you can see it). We also put a divider made of goat skin (it's stiffer) but I think it's best without. What you think?

The dark chocolate finish is cool. Remember how I was iffy about the uneven tanning? Well, Uncle Buck improved it and so it's now more uniform, no more swirly bits. If you want to see how that looks like, drop by Cole Haan this weekend and ask for the hand-painted messenger bag:

As you can see, Cole Haan's finish is uneven, which is the same finish as our bags. A lot of people have assured us that this adds character to the bag. Also, no two bags are alike because of this handpainting we do!

The 13" satchel will be offered in two colors only: tan and dark chocolate.

But we have to talk to Uncle Buck about the leather inside. I kinda think the unpainted side looks so white. It's actually cream but since the outside is a deep dark brown, when you open the bag, the cream is just suddenly so white. Do you think we should put a cloth lining inside? What kind of patterns and prints would be nice? But a lining is extra cost! Things to think about!

About the 15" satchel
We decided not to offer the 15" size anymore. We saw the prototype and here's what we found:
1. At that size, a bag made entirely of genuine cow hide is just so heavy.
2. Being heavy, magnetic snaps just won't cut it. When you lift the bag, the snaps fly open. So buckles are necessary. Didn't we say we don't like buckles?
3. A 15" is actually huge. So it looks so... manly! No likey. Unless you're a guy reading this or you're a woman who wants to have a bag custom made for your man.

I wore a K & Company forest green shirt dress that is absolutely unforgiving. It's soft and comfy but if you have fatty bulges, good luck. I squeezed myself into a Spanx body suit and I still got asked how far along the pregnancy I was.

No, I'm not pregnant.
The bag is my old, worn out super soft moss green leather sack from Topshop. Love it!

I wore my Urbanog multi-color platform heels. I was towering over everybody! I miss towering over everybody! I'm mostly in flats these days. Result of mommyhood.
Then, because my dress was beyond simple, I had to wear something a bit flamboyant. Nope, the shoes weren't enough! So I took out my feathered headpiece from Singapore and now I felt perfect!

Of course, when I posed beside society columnist Tessa Prieto Valdes and Visions & Expressions PR powerhouse Ginggay Joven, I looked so plain Jane!

For more on Pond's latest skincare line, click here.

I'm greeting all the new people popping by my blog. Yes, new blood! Was checking my blog's stats today and was pleasantly surprised to find that I'm now getting close to a thousand visitors a day!

Click to enlarge so you'll see that the highlighted part says I got more than 900 visitors last week!

That's an average of 800 unique visits and 1,300 page views daily. Not bad, not bad. My goal is a thousand visitors a day. I've been told that once you hit a thousand, the blog grows exponentially thereafter.

My Google Page Rank has also gone up. I don't exactly know what PR means. It's not about popularity, I read, since most sites score a 3. A high PR rank means your blog has more value to Google. What does that mean?!

Topaz Horizon scored a 4. I'm impressed! I don't know what I'm doing but I must be doing something right!

Summer is definitely over because today I dusted off the leather jacket and checked twice if I brought my umbrella. I don't mourn the end of summer because I've always been a rainy kind of gal, the fatter the raindrops, the louder the thunder, the better. Of course, it's best with a really thick book!

But I can't say I didn't enjoy the sun this year, especially since we have a little boy now. And, oh, how he loved our trip to Shangri-la Mactan!

We went there with Vito's entire Sales family (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and swam and ate and slept to our hearts' content. I won't show the photos of Vito's cousins here since they're all of school age but since Vito is too young to protest, let me show off my handsome boy's pics!

Vince shows Vito the jumbo jet we're about to board.

It's Vito's first plane ticket!

Vito's first plane ride was a smooth flight.

The baby was absolutely delighted with the huge bed! He kept exploring it. Vince, I guess we need a bigger bed!

See how excited he is?!

The little guy inspects the big garden. "Green, Mama! What is all that green?!"

Vito's first beach encounter!

He hated the sand. He's like me!

Poor darling was so upset whenever his feet touched the sand! Mama had to comfort him.

Good thing the pool was a success!

Where did you go this summer?

This is not a sponsored post but maybe Bench will read this and then they'll start sponsoring me! Hehe. So anyway, I'm writing this because Bench sent me a photo that they asked me to post on my blog. Because I live a Bench lifestyle, I agreed. But first, let me tell you about my love affair with Bench.

From Mothercare, I have...

Vito's crib

his rocker onesies and bibs (see next pic)

our red egg chair

my white chandelier

our love seat

my pink tree

From Bench, we have underwear and...

my tank tops!

From Charles & Keith, I have shoes and...

all my sunglasses!

From Aldo, I have shoes and leather cleaners and...

my sun hat!

From Bench Fix, we get Vince's haircuts and my eyebrows threaded. I use all the points from my Bench Lifestyle card on haircuts and eyebrow threading! Ate Carmen from the Galleria branch is the best eyebrow threader ever! Even better than the expensive ones in Brow Haus who thread off the skin, too! Ate Carmen is so gentle and your brows look so perfect after. Sigh. Must go back this week.

Anyway, so when Bench asked me to post a photo on my blog of an upcoming exciting project, of course I agreed! Here it is:

The photo is such a mystery! What do you think? Is Bench really going to open a shop on Mars or do those floating objects give a clue? A piano, a fedora and shades. Mars. Hmmm!

Was looking through my computer's folders and found a lot of forgotten pics or some I put on my mommy blog instead but you didn't get to see. Here are 10 pics (in chronological order):

Oct 28, 2009. Jane Kingsu-Cheng of My Style Kit and Forever 21. This was at an Estee Lauder event at Chef Laudico's Bistro. I've seen Jane before when she was still a magazine editor but I've never actually met her. Then we "met" through our blogs so when we actually physically saw each other again, we just had to say hi! And that was the start of a beautiful friendship. Jane was one of my "mommies" when I was pregnant and afraid. Thanks, Jane!

Dec 30, 2009. Our Rock Band was spankin' brand new and Vince's brother and his kids came over to check it out. Since the boys would rather play the instruments, I was the designated singer. I miss my red hair!

May 15, 2010. The day the iPad arrived. Lookit how happy the Third World Nerd is! His expression reminds me of the first time he held Vito in his arms! If you want to know the fantastic story of how we got our iPad, click here and here. It is quite a tale!

June 30, 2010. Kat's birthday party! Kat left for New York City early last year to study fashion merchandising. But in June, she flew back to Manila for a rendezvous with her boyfriend, who threw her a surprise birthday party. So here we are, Nikki, Leslie, Nic and Kat. That was a fun night. I was 7 months pregnant. I can't believe my arms were thinner back then! I'm so fat now!


Nov 29, 2010. My pink Christmas tree. Ain't it a beaut?

Jan 26, 2011. Vito at 5 months old, wearing a Cheshire Cat shirt with a glow-in-the-dark grin. Yes, we like cool and funny t-shirts! This was taken at dawn. Yes, even now at 9 months old, he still wakes up at 5am! When will I ever sleep for 10 hours again? Even 8 hours? Never? Thought so.

April 14, 2011. With fellow mommies Paola Loot (with her sweetie pie Sjofn) and Martine De Luna, who has a son named Vito too and is the author of Dainty Mom. We tried Plana Forma. The super fit woman at the right was our instructor. I gave up after just one session. It is hard! Martine continued the torture.

April 24, 2011. At Bonifacio High Street. Vito played with a puppy right after this shot. Vito loves dogs and rabbits. Loves them. Totally shrieks with delight when he sees anything furry. I know I haven't updated about my rabbit Matilda forever but yes, she's still alive and fatter and cuter. Which drives Vito insane--he's always so excited when he sees Matilda, grabs at her and shrieks. Matilda does not like this one bit. She doesn't like Vito at all. Sigh. I wonder if this is what will happen if we have another kid...

May 7, 2011. At Rustan's Makati, where I always shop for Vito's stuff. Vince shops at Mothercare. Yes, we have different baby stuff haunts! We bought him three pairs of shoes this day. Porma shoes only since I prefer he learn to walk barefoot. He's standing on his own now, by the way! My goodness, where did the time go?

Looking at these photos, they only feel like yesterday and yet also a lifetime ago. Sigh.

I am so sorry for the absolutely-no-update week! I have been beyond deluged with inquiries about the leather bag Vince gave me. I am truly now in the bag business, folks! And if you're interested, go to this post to see the bag.

I'm so happy because our bag is proudly Pinoy made. I feel very good about giving business to a small group of Batangas leather artisans, headed by Uncle Buck, who had lamented to us that their craft is dying and that all their young people are moving to the city to become call center agents. They're happy that their kids are becoming office workers but they're sad that no one is taking up the craft. Soon, no one will know how to work with leather. And if you see my bag, it's really done well, lovingly made, perfectly stitched. If no one wants to be Uncle Buck's apprentice because there's no business, that craft will be lost.

Look at that craftsmanship!

I'm actually thinking of taking lessons from Uncle Buck. I don't know if I'll find the time but I have been looking for a craft ever since Angelina Jolie said she learned how to fly a plane because if world war happened again or some global crisis, who has use for actresses? Same with me. Who has use for entertainment magazine editors?

I was thinking carpentry actually because when I was in college, I installed my own book shelves. Bought plywood and nails, did some measurements, sawed away and put up the whole thing in my bedroom. They're still there today, 15 years later.

But now that I'm in the bag business, learning how to work with leather seems like a better option. How about you? What skill do you know that, in case of a massive global crisis, will be useful? Or if you're like me and don't know anything, what skill do you want to learn?

I fell in love with the Cambridge Satchel a few months ago and was over the moon when I finally received it. But I had a few issues with it: the leather is too stiff, the hardware is made of nickel, and the buckles, the buckles! They are a terrible inconvenience when you're accosted by mall entrance guards asking to inspect your bag.

A lot of people who bought the bag also had the same comments. So I told Vince I wanted to improve the satchel's design. That was a couple of weeks ago. Now you know that the Cambridge Satchel was Vince's Valentine's gift to me so he didn't like it that I was not completely happy with his gift. So Vince (the best husband ever!) found a leather craftsman, told him what I wanted, and had a bag made to my specifications.

On Monday, I shrieked and shrieked when Vince handed me this:

After a beautiful day today, I had a really bad evening. And it's all because of Google and its decision to consolidate all its products under one account. Google has several products--Gmail, Google Apps, Blogger, Picasa, Reader... a lot. Anyway, they decided that all these products should be accessed by a user under one account.

That's a really good idea (no sarcasm here whatsoever) so I did what they told me to do and consolidated my accounts. Here then was the unexpected problem, and I'll let Google explain it:


For at least 30 minutes, I lost access to my Blogger account because I used frances@topazhorizon.com to sign in to Blogger. My Blogger and Google Apps were in conflict. I was surprised at how I reacted when I logged in to Blogger and these words appeared: "The account does not exist." I gasped then panicked then, trembling, tried to recover my account then when those terrible words kept popping up, I wept. Wept!

I lost Topaz Horizon! I lost Topaz Mommy! I was literally shaking for 30 minutes. I felt nauseated and dizzy. I was so upset! Then I signed in again and this time I got through and a temporary email address was set up for me. You cannot imagine the relief that washed over me. I thought I was going to faint from it. I think the last time I felt this bad was when my mother died.

Fuck, it's so melodramatic. But it's true. All of the above hysteria did happen. If you follow me on Twitter, you'd have witnessed my meltdown. This just brought home the fact that I really truly do care about my blogs. I mean, I really do, but it's always just been a happy thing to do. Faced with their loss, I realized that they are far more important than I thought. Like I said, the last time I felt that bad was when my mother died.

Anyway, now I must move data. Or move email addresses. Still plodding through the whole thing. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think my blogs will be fine. Me? I don't know. I kinda feel strange that the supposed death of my blogs affected me like a real death.

I think I need to get a life.

I've been Tweeting about this with utmost excitement yesterday so to all who got infected by my online shrieks of glee, here's a peek at my new bespoke handmade leather satchel!

Tough and sturdy hardware

Tanned and tooled leather--by hand!

Magnetic snaps for easy access

Flexible leather and extra zipped inside pocket

Extra secret pocket at the back

Perfectly hand-sewn

Isn't it so exciting?! It's absolutely gorgeous! I'll talk more about my bespoke leather satchel soon. Must plan an outfit first to go with the bag so you can appreciate it better!

Thanks, Vince! You always make me happy.