TOPAZ HORIZON

I know I've been gone for a while, folks. Last week was incredibly unutterably amazing. I'll tell you more soon enough but for now, here's one of the reasons I was so very pleased with my past week: wooden hangers!


Unlike a lot of women, I don't have a lot of clothes. I know women who keep everything from their very first pair of jeans and bridesmaid gown to the sexy cheerleader outfit that no longer fits! About once or twice a year, I weed out my closet and give the stuff away to charity or sell on eBay. I don't keep clothes at all. That's because I live in a small apartment, I have a small closet and I became a mother and nothing now fits.

Another reason is I like to keep my clothes hangers an inch apart. This allows the clothes to breathe. When air circulates, mildew doesn't form on your clothes. Also, when your clothes aren't squished together, they don't get rumpled in storage. So if I kept everything I ever bought, there is no way I can keep my hangers an inch apart!

If you follow me on Twitter, you'd know I've been agonizing for weeks about finding wooden hangers. My hangers looked like this:

Blech. Dikit-dikit!

I bought 4 boxes. Yep, that's 80 hangers!

At only P600 for a box of 20, it's sooo cheap!

Mmm, you can smell the wood!

Soooo very happy! Now my closet (oh, and Vince's too) look like this:

So much better, right? One inch apart! Consistent look. Clean. Organized. I am so happy!

Meet the new favorite bag of Leah of Bright Spot:

Leah calls the satchel the F&V bag. If I take away the ampersand, it'll be FV, like LV! But unlike the LV, I won't get overenthusiastic with branding. Actually, I haven't even gotten to the brand itself. Right now, to the press people, I call the bag the Frances Satchel from Frannie & Vinnie. But I don't know. Lacks oomph.

So anyway back to Leah and her new bag! This is what she thinks of it:
1. Impeccable craftsmanship.
Yes! That's why it takes soooo long to make one. Handmade takes time!
2. Even tanning.
Your batch was a quirk, though. Other batches are dark and uneven. Uncle Buck says the weather has something to do with it. If it's rainy season or very humid, the leather doesn't absorb the tanning liquid evenly.
3. Looks classy.
That surprised me, too! The satchel is, at first glance, very cowgirl. But I was surprised that a lot of girls can use it even with their most formal attire!

Thanks, Leah, for loving our unnamed satchel! Maybe I should do a contest--Name our satchel and win your very own bag!

Halloo, halloo! Just got home and, seeing that I've been terribly negligent of this blog, let me dash off a few things I learned today!

1. Hair extensions make me look so much thinner!
2. The Maldives is just 8 feet above sea level so that when the 2004 mega tsunami hit it, well, it didn't just hit the country, it drowned it. Yes. The entire country! (Thanks, Dylan, for this tidbit!)
3. Some people look cool and sophisticated in a blazer, other people look boring. I, sadly, belong to the boring group. I am going back to leather jackets. It may look ridiculous in this country but I'd rather look ridiculous than boring!
4. Some bloggers are required by PR groups to write about their events. Required! Guys, if you aren't paid to write about it, you don't have to!
5. To send one of my handmade leather satchels to Singapore costs P639.
6. In a group of 100 25-year-old people, statistics show that by the time they reach retirement age, only 1% will be wealthy, 4% will be financially independent, 5% will still be slaving away. The rest? They'll either be broke or dead. And, at 60 years old, I don't know which is worse!
7. SM Makati has wooden hangers!!! P600 for a box of 20! I bought 4 boxes!
8. Wearing a blazer while you're in a super packed MRT coach is insanity.
9. Wearing long hair extensions in a super packed MRT coach is not a good idea. Not at all. My head kept getting jerked back!
10. (SPOILER ALERT! GAME OF THRONES SPOILER ALERT!) The Lannisters aren't all evil. Well, most of them are, but Jaime just redeemed himself in my eyes.

And that is what I learned today! How about you?

How did we ever get so lucky? Thank You, God!

Look who's really happy with her satchel: It's Trixie of Wild About Retail!

I'm amazed at how Trixie can come up with so many outfits to match her tan bag. Well, not so amazed--the tan really does go with everything! Thanks, Trixie! You're inspiring me to do outfit posts, too. I'm just sooo lazy! Anyway, I'll visit the Nuffnang office super soon. See you!

P.S. Just remembered that Trixie brought her satchel to Bangkok and that it rained there but she happily reported that the bag survived the rain. Whew! If you wanna know how I protect my leather satchels from this rainy weather, click here!