TOPAZ HORIZON

My first cover story of the year is on Circuit magazine. It's a stunning cover of Iza Calzado. My story on her was pretty easy to do—I just asked what she's planning this year (amass a fortune!) and what she's always wanted to do but haven't (tons, one of which is to be a journalist like me!).

Anyway, here are a few behind-the-scenes shots from the shoot and interview last December:
That's Iza in beauty-prep mode. Beside her is my baby's yaya. We're at Raymund Isaac's photo studio near Kamagong, Makati.

Sooo many shoes and clothes! Of course, the finished product, you only see one outfit (the other photo inside is just her face) and no shoes at all. So to those of you who think stars and stylists have so much fun at shoots, think again. Stylist scours malls and designers to borrow stuff. Star tries on many outfits and poses in them so editors have a lot of options and then editors choose two or three looks only!

Also having a photo shoot was Giselle Toengi. She is tiny! I'm only 5'3" and I'm in flats here. I think Giselle was wearing heels here, but not very high heels. She's like this doll! She loved Iñigo bear!

So did her daughter! That's Sakura. She and Iñigo adored each other!

I talk a bit about this article on my professional website. Grabe your copy of Circuit! Mwah!

Crazy busy January. This was not how I imagined my January. I thought I'd be a housewife—cooking, fixing up the house, organizing, going to the playground with the kids, going on romantic dates with the husband.

I did do all the above plus met unbelievable weekly (sometimes daily!) deadlines for magazines, the newspaper column, websites, blogs. Plus meetings with clients. Plus events. Plus prayer meetings. Plus dates with friends. Plus being with family.

I am no longer sleeping. I am busier now than when I was employed!

I should be happy. And I am! It feels so good to be writing again! And it feels so good to the ego to be so wanted, you know?

But this was not how I imagined my January. I didn't imagine (or want) to be busy. I thought I'd be a housewife! I planned on being a donya! Pa-parlor-parlor lang, ladies' lunch with my friends that I never see, do crafting, finally read the many books I've been buying over the years, finally read the magazines I subscribe to, bake desserts, take classes in this and that, do a Kapitolyo eating tour with Vince, visit museums with the kids, travel with my boys, mani-pedi, massage, yoga... Leisurely life lang naman ang plan ko for 2013! Been busy since 1999 dammit. I've earned my rest!


Must reassess things.

I have a ton of sponsored posts to do but this isn't one of them. Yep, instead of working, I am online shopping. Uh oh.

I just bought 2 pairs of flats from The Ramp Crossings. I liked my online shopping experience with them! Easy navigation, many payment options, really fast delivery. I think I will buy more flats from them. Yes, flats. I gave away some of my heels recently and am in the process of giving away more. I decided that my life now is to be lived in flats so I'm freeing up space in the shoe closet so I can buy more flats.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

My next online shopping destination is Zalora. I mean, really, who can ignore Zalora when they are on this huge advertising blitz?! They're everywhere: blog ads, YouTube ads, Facebook ads. Crazy. So here's what I want: a phone case for my Blackberry. Haha! I knooooow. I'm soooo boring! I'm in the process of simplifying my life, remember? So no mega-shopping for stuff. But I do need a phone case. And I found Paperthinks. I love it!

So what color should I get?



Yummy!

I'm also eyeing their iPad case. I need one for my iPad3. That's what Vince got me for my birthday but I haven't been able to use it because Vito's addicted to the iPad. If I use it, he grabs it and then he won't stop and then I'll take it away from him and then he'll cry and then... So I just never use it! But with my new status as freelance writer, I'll have to. I'd rather bring the iPad to meetings rather than the heavy MacBook! So I think I'll get me this:

What do you think??? Has anyone here tried Zalora? How's the shopping experience?


*all photos from Zalora

New bride Anne Hathaway in white Chanel. So sleek! Love the hair, love the texture of the dress. Love how long and tall she is. Kinda safe, sure, since Anne is known to love being adventurous on the red carpet but I like it. I do!

I love this, too! Michelle Dockery in Alexandre Vauthhier. To be honest, I do think the big shoulders trend is already out but the British actress can really pull off the gold armor and white drapery. Not a lot of women can do that!

Nicole Richie in Naeem Khan. What a surprising color! She used it on her lids, too. I think I want this gown for myself!

Kate Hudson in Alexander McQueen. Perfection! Kate always looks like a movie star. Always!

Who're your top picks?

UPDATE! Funny ladies Tina Fey and Amy Poehler!




Plus Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig!


Crazy people! Love them!

*photos from InStyle and E! Online

A huge box of feminine prettifiers. I don't even know if prettifier is a word but anyway! Thanks, Unilab, for the loads of Myra, Body Cravings, Celeteque, Asian Secrets and Swish stuff! I'm especially liking the Asian Secrets Lulur Whitening Body Scrub. Thanks!

Three boxes of yummy mamon from Monde! This was our breakfast for almost all of December! Thanks so much for feeding us, Monde!

I love home fragrances. I have a shelf full of oils, candles and sprays. So this was a welcome gift. Three fragrances for a different part of your home—from kitchen to linen closet. Thanks, Zen Zest!

Okay, this gift made even the yayas happy. Vito gets to try out a lot of bath products but Iñigo is an exclusive Mustela user. Unlike Vito, Iñigo never had that newborn smell. You know that wonderful heavenly smell? Iñigo always smelled like a sweaty little boy. His pedia says it's because he's fat. It's the grease we smell. We tried all the baby bath products out there and it was this—Mustela!—that cleansed his skin so well and so gently that he smelled like a real baby. So for Iñigo, it's Mustela forevah! Thanks, Mustela, for the gift!

A surprise from Forme. Isn't Forme a fashion brand? I guess they're going into the lucrative beauty business, too! Thanks, Forme, for the hand and body lotion!

This made me squeal in delight! A set of luxury bedsheets and duvet cover from Butterfly Dreams. This is pricey because it's like the softest cloth ever with super high thread count! They were looking through my blog and said that my new Ethan Allen headboard needed fancier sheets (Vince says that's what we get for posting photos of our nice headboard and our ratty sheets!). Woah, diba?! Thanks, Butterfly Dreams, for being my fairy godmother!

Oh oh! I super love this gift from Sun Life! As you all know by now, Sun Life is our insurance and investments agency. So we love Sun Life. But now we love them more because of this Sun Jar! Vince used to have one. He loved it. And I broke it. It was a silly accident (stupid me put it on a narrow ledge) and I always said I'd replace it but this Sun Jar is just so expensive so I haven't. I think Vince has always been a little heartbroken because of that. So thank you, Sun Life, for saving my marriage!!!

Books for a book lover! Thanks, Fully Booked! What I love most about this gift is all the books here are published by Fully Booked. It inspired me to write a book and maybe let Fully Booked publish it!

All of the above beauty goodies are from L'Oreal! My dear L'Oreal family. I'm especially loving the Kiehl's, Pureology and Lancome stuff because I really use their products. I also use shu uemura's famous eyelash curler so I was freaking out in delight when they sent me a gold-plated one!!! The rest of the loot, I am so giddy to try out. Thanks, L'Oreal!

Okay, there's a lot more photos in my Blackberry (ya, sorry for the grainy shots!). I'll upload them in another post. Meanwhile, for this instalment, I just really want to say thank you to the people and brands who remembered me on Christmas. You are all so appreciated! Let's work together this 2013!

And work this week was an interview and a meeting. The other times I spent working was either writing at my desk or typing away on the bed and so let's not look at what I wore those times!

Interview outfit. I am wearing a PD & Co. dress with Charles & Keith sandals with a snakeskin heel. My clutch is a supple leather Massimo Dutti that Vince gave me for Christmas (thanks, Vince! I love it!). I wore this to interview dermatologist to the stars Dr. Aivee Aguilar-Teo. Read about my chat with her over at Topaz Mommy!

Meeting outfit. I am wearing a Uniqlo Breton shirt, Levi's Lady's Style metallic jeans, Nine West gladiator wedges and ELLE shades. My bag is Kate Spade. I wore this to a long meeting to discuss costs for a proposed project. It's a good thing I was comfortable. Money is never an easy topic so best be ready for a loooong talk! Anyway, when this photo was taken, I was already done with my meeting and, feeling hungry, I grabbed some cakes and pastries from a bakeshop.

So there, two outfits only! Next week is pretty hectic so I should have more outfits to report for the next Topaz Fashion. Enjoy the rainy weekend!

Part of my quest to simplify is to get rid of all the clothes and shoes and bags that have piled up on me through the years. The plan was to sell them on eBay (I kept mentioning it on the blogs) but I decided on New Year's Day, as I emptied out my closets, I decided that selling means more complications. Measuring, describing, posting, accounting, sending... The process just didn't jive with my simplification!

So I invited my sister and my eldest niece to come over and take all they wanted!

It was so much fun! I had dresses that still had tags on them, clothes I wore only once, tops that were gifted to me but weren't me so I never wore them, shoes I bought for my enlarged post-partum feet that had since shrunk back to normal. The girls brought home bags upon bags of lovely clothes!

Now my closet has maybe 30 dresses in it. I feel lighter, like I can breathe again. The clothes they didn't like—which were nice but they deemed "for oldies" haha—I donated to charity. The house is suddenly bigger, more spacious. The new roominess doesn't even tempt me to shop! In fact, I told my sister and niece to come back again since I unearthed even more stuff for them. I'm happy, they're happy!

P.S. You know what this means, right? No more Topaz Fashion!

Halloo there! I hope you all had a great holiday. Vince, Vito and I went on a little field trip just before Christmas and visited Acqua Private Residences. If you regularly drive on J.P. Rizal St. by the Pasig River, you'd have seen Acqua rising. It's opposite Rockwell Center, across the river, by the Estrella Bridge.

Well, right about now, the site looks like the photo above, but pretty soon there will be six towers, the most luxurious being Acqua Iguazu yoo inspired by Starck. Quite a mouthful! Famed designer Philippe Starck said blithely, "Ah-mezing name, eesn't eet?" Amazing name indeed!

Amazing looking, too. By the time the P1.3 billion development is done, it will be a landmark along Pasig—the buildings designed to look like mountains rising out of a thick rainforest, with waterfalls seemingly running down the facade, and a sun shining down on the complex at day and the moon glowing on it at night.

Iguazu is the tallest building, the rightmost, the one with the glowing orb. The interiors are designed by Starck and John Hitchcox to have three themes: Minimal, Nature and Culture. Since we observed that our toddler has a love for beautifully designed spaces, we brought him along to check out what he thinks of Acqua Iguazu.

I love how the Minimal is so clean and bright. An entire wall is made out of glass and leads out to the balcony, hence the flooding of light. Even if the space is small (about 36-39 sqm), the design makes it look roomy and cozy at the same time.
Vito's Verdict: He loved it! He loved the bed most of all.

If I were the glass-half-empty kinda person (and to be very honest, I actually am), I'd look back at 2012 and think, "What a bad year." I had a delicate pregnancy, I had hired a bad woman to take care of Vito, I had a hard time juggling work and motherhood, and OK! magazine got killed off.

But 2012 was actually pretty fantastic. Incredible! My pregnancy got better, I dismissed the bad maid and learned such good lessons from that experience that the yayas I have now are beyond great, God sent ladies of faith to me who are now my prayer partners and friends, my second life dream—to be a newspaper columnist—came true, Vito continued to grow more amazing, and sweet darling cutie pie Iñigo was born.

My life is full. Too full, in fact. So for 2013, I'm decluttering, discarding, simplifying. And that will apply to all—stuff, processes, relationships.


Simplifying doesn't mean living on one pair of shoes. But it certainly means 30 pairs is a lot, especially if I use just 3 pairs! Same applies to my bags and clothes. I've started unloading stuff actually. Gave away around 50 dresses and a few shoes to my sister and niece. They looked great in my clothes! The rest I donated to charity. Already I feel lighter and better!

Simplifying doesn't mean it's the easier way, though. For example, I order a lot of fast food because for a busy mom like me, it's the easier option to actually cooking food. But homecooked food is healthier and cheaper and better for me and my family. So that's what I aim to do!

Simplifying means giving more time to the people and things that matter most. Something I should remember this year since job offers are coming at me left and right. I'm grateful, of course, but I wanted to spend more time with my kids! So I should carefully choose what I'll work on and to keep in mind that I wanted a life devoted to my young sons. It's really helped me make good decisions, by the way!

Simplifying also means cutting off complicated and negative people from my life. That includes Facebook. I won't say anymore but if you're on Facebook, I'm sure you understand the stress! I'm just going to quietly block, unfriend and hide.

So that's my goal this year! I feel better about 2013 already! What is it about this year that makes me so happy? Oh, I know—my husband, my kids, my friends, our good health! They're all I really need. Simple!


*image from MelindaBunyard.com

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art—write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.

For the house, not me!

I'm getting tired of our blue walls. I love them, make no mistake, but after 5 years of living with them, I am ready for a new color. Or a non-color like gray or white.

I was browsing through fab online magazine Lonny.com and instantly fell in love with these stark yet cozy, elegant rooms:


All that light! So amazing. It's like a photo box!

I do admit that I do love color a wee bit too much to just go black/white/gray. I have a pink Christmas tree, for heaven's sake! So I'm pretty sure I'm going to add pops of color here and there. But I do want white walls now. Or gray. Hmm. Still can't decide.

The truth is I want a non color because I take most of my photos inside the house. Me, my kids, my products. And I always have to color correct everything because everything takes on a bluish tinge: our skin, our clothes, our hair, the products! I want to look like a human being, not a Smurf haha.

What's your home makeover plan this 2013?


*photos from Lonny.com

Dearest darling readers,

Thank you for being a blessing to me and my family this year. Thank you for the good will, the love and encouragement, the prayers, and the gifts. You have truly blessed us. I send you God's blessings of love, peace, and abundance, too! Merry Christmas!

Frances and Vince and our kiddos Vito and Iñigo


*photo by Blow-Up Babies but arte-fied by me that's why it looks weird, I guess!