TOPAZ HORIZON

End of April. This time last year, the sun was blazing down in unforgiving rays--no surprise since April is always the month we fear our eyeballs would melt from the heat. This year, however, it's raining buckets. Global warming indeed.

This time last year, my husband had just left Playboy Philippines because he realized that if he was going back to the magazine world, he might as well do T3. He had just begun settling back in when we were all told to pack up and move to our new digs.

At last, we were leaving our basement office in Robinsons Galleria! Good-bye to the rats, the cockroaches and the strange dust that coated our desks and computers. And hello to the new home of Summit Media!

For security reasons, I won't post pics of our new office. I will, however, show you my table. It's all cluttered with memos, drafts, press releases, page plans, signature proofs (that's the test magazine pages), invitations and bags upon bags of beauty products. I'm very cluttery. So embarrassing! But I can always find something in that awful mess!

And this is my favorite place: The library. Don't mind the empty-looking shelves--we've got tons of magazines from all over the world!

So a very happy anniversary to Summit Media's lovely new office! I love working here really. Oh, let me rephrase that... I love playing here. Yep, I feel like I'm paid to have fun and that's why this is the best gig in the world!


P.S. Grab the April issue of T3 (it's the bikini issue!) with this remarkable-looking woman on the cover. This is the result of that post I wrote about the yacht and the helicopter. Click here if I don't make sense.

And have you gotten yourself OK!'s April issue? It's our special 4th anniversary issue! It's our best issue yet--anti-aging secrets of Jennifer Aniston and 8 other stars, 69 of the best gowns this year, an exclusive interview with Wolverine star Hugh Jackman and MORE! Be a good Topaz Horizon reader and get a copy now!

Yesterday, the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual was launched at a chi-chi brunch at Mag:Net Cafe at Bonifacio High Street. Bubbly was served, which felt decadent to drink when the sun is so high in the sky. Here are the other things I loved: 1. How cute Sebastien Tardif is! Bobbi Brown's makeup artist is gracious and friendly. He's so passionate about makeup and so eager to share all these tips and tricks. I just love passion and generosity. 2. Girls who look great! I like a woman who takes care of herself because that shows she has self-worth. I like people with big smiles, too! Beauty editors Eunice Lucero of StyleBible.ph, Cindy Go of Preview and Nicole Delos Angeles of Cosmopolitan show us how it's done. 3. Designer bags all in a pile. I appreciate how they're thrown so carelessly on top of each other. People shouldn't treat things too preciously. Precious is how you treat people, not things. 4. Eunice's orange nails. My regular readers will know that I love orange and I love how Eunice can pull them off. This girl is utter perfection. All. The. Time. 5. The color purple. Check out the shoes and Goyard bag of Agoo Bengzon, beauty editor-at-large of Preview, and the dress of Rorie Carlos, fashion and beauty editor of Town & Country. What I didn't love? It was a Fat Day for me. Sigh. So despite the heat, I pulled on my long black cardigan. I think it slims me but Vince says it just makes me look like I'm hiding something unpleasant. My husband is a big believer in flaunting--not hiding--beauty. I can use some of my hubby's gung-ho attitude really but, unlike me, he doesn't have PMS bloat! Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual is available at all Bobbi Brown counters at Rustan's.

Jennie, author of Kikay Corner, is one of those who responded to my call for beauty reviewers. Why did I choose her? First, because she's a beauty blogger so I know she's interested in beauty stuff and, more importantly, she can write. Second, well, because she's my dear friend so I know I'd feel very comfortable with her when we went to The Spa at The Fort to review a treatment for OK! magazine's June issue.
The lobby is filled with the sound of cascading waterfalls. That entire wall is shimmering with falling water, which then gathers around a pool (the black part at the bottom right). Quite lovely actually. The picture doesn't do it any justice. Oh, can you see me?
Up the stairs to the foyer, which has these amazing steel sculptures you can sit on. They're quite comfy, too.

Jennie checks in! The staff of The Spa are quite courteous. And I love how their voices are so melodious that just listening to them is enough to relax you.
This is the lounge. Jen and I part ways at this point. She went off to try the Infrared Sauna and then an hour-long massage. The treatment is supposed to detoxify your system. I hope she took pictures because I hear the private villa she was ushered into is fantastic!

I had a delightful 60-minute foot spa in this super relaxing room. It's actually very dark in this room but I opened the aperture of my Sony Cybershot camera to capture more light or else you won't see anything. Anyway, those chairs are unbelievable. Sooo deep and heavenly. Now, when I do a review, I always have to stay awake so that I can observe every detail of the treatment. But the foot spa was so fantastic, I fell asleep! And when I fall asleep during a treatment, then believe me when I say that that's the best thing I can say about it!

The best thing about my day, however, was spending it with a dear friend... in a world-class spa no less!

The Spa at The Fort
Bldg 8, 908 Bonifacio High Street
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel no. 856-5858 / 6868 / 1818

This weekend, Vince and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary and the 10th anniversary of our first kiss!

We had a very simple day, which started with me cooking a big brunch. Then... I won't go into specifics! Later on, we went to Power Plant for a haircut (yes, a haircut!) because Vince's last haircut was in December and his long hair was really annoying him. Pardon the pics--we took them with the iPhone because I didn't want to lug around my huge camera.

Then we had dinner at Myron's. Oh, but that was a lovely dinner that left us dizzy. I had a crisp salad and a glass of Chardonnay; Vince had a juicy steak and a Shiraz. We also had two orders of these huge baked oysters that were each as big as my hand. I had 7, Vince had 5! We were so full and round, Vince joked that we could just roll ourselves home!
We were supposed to watch Fast & Furious (we are fans of The Fast & The Furious because hot cars and hot stars are a deadly combination) and watch Ferrari parts fly but I think the movie was all Mitsubishi, Nissan and Mazda and no one gave good reviews so we decided to drop by the bookstore instead. I know I never mention books in this blog because I try to keep this blog light and silly but Vince and I adore books and we do believe we've spent a small fortune on Fully Booked.

Then home we went for rich Batangas coffee and Selecta strawberry ice cream. We parked ourselves in front of the TV for a marathon of Pushing Daisies and Chuck and a truly bad movie The Day The Earth Stood Still, which we delighted in demolishing. And that was our anniversary!

Anyway, this whole weekend, I've been singing "A Whole New World" from Disney's Aladdin. It was the song I was singing when Vince and I started going out in 1999, and what I hummed as I prepared for our wedding in 2007. You know, even after 10 years, I still feel like I'm in a whole new world. With the one I love by my side, it is indeed still a thrilling chase, a wondrous place for Vince and me.

Last November 21, this woman stole my wallet and charged more than PHP 80,000 (USD 1,709) worth of gadgets on my gold HSBC card.


For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

This is not the first time she's been featured on the local news. But no one can seem to identify her! The security team of our office building--they had caught her before and released her!--say her name is Noralyn Beltran. Her modus operandi is to go to offices and steal. She does this every end of the week, at around 4 PM, which is about the time people are having their merienda (coffee break) and so are apt to leave their belongings on their desk. This thief must be caught. Please forward this post and video to everyone you know. Thank you.

I love Entrecard because it helped boost my blog's popularity. I got a lot of great visits from bloggers all over the world and I have discovered the most fantastic blogs in the process. Here are just some of the most interesting bloggers who've been dropping by this long holiday:

1. Alterity is busy making hot cross buns for Easter
2. BeadsMe is very creative with her hands
3. Contemporary Concepts can't believe the weather in Florida
4. Really cute Easter eggs at Creative Cafe
5. Join a movie club and save the planet, encourages The GREEN Power Mall
6. Jean sQuared is listening to healing songs
7. I don't quite understand this site but KipTip's advice can be fascinating
8. Wow! More Than Sew So blogs on a gift from Russia to the US to remember 9/11 victims that is beyond beautiful
9. Ooh, love the new turquoise bracelet in Sand & Sea Designs!
10. Find the most exquisite photo of an iris in SUMMER Headquarters
11. Shop for the most fantastic Steampunk Jewelry
12. Transformations posts on a mind-numbingly stupid note in a newspaper
13. Lovely haikus on spring in Washwords

These bloggers have also placed ads in my Entrecard box (the yellow box to the right). Thanks, guys! I wish I could give away prizes (like a fabulous stay at a Riviera hotel in Las Vegas) for being so helpful to me! But until blogging earns me a ton of money, I'll just have to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Okay, I don't want to whine but I just want to express shock over the fact that I am now 111 lbs. Don't roll your eyes just yet. When you're 5 feet 3 inches with small bones, that's 11 lbs too many. When you're in the magazine business, that's 20 lbs too many. I kid!

Anyway, I was reading Glamour and they have this story on women who did something different for one month and afterwards, there was a big difference. Someone wore red lipstick and everyone paid more attention to her, someone ate more veggies and her skin became better, while someone exercised for just one minute every day and she became thinner and lost a few pounds. One minute. Every day.

So I've been doing 3 sets of 10 reps of push ups, sit ups, tricep curls, hip raises, leg raises and squats while I watch The Insider or any show with gossip really (except Gossip Girl. I can not stand that silly show). I find watching entertainment news helps--especially when I watched the coverage of that infuriating Chris Brown pleading "not guilty" of assaulting and making grave threats on Rihanna. Seriously, this guy needs a dictionary. Be a man, Chris, and own up. Geez, he's not only an abusive mess, he's also delusional, a liar, and a coward. The frightening thing is polls done on US high schools say that girls think getting beat up is okay! Girls, abuse is never okay! No one has the right to hit you and abuse you. Damn, this issue gets me so angry that when I'm doing my push ups, I find myself doing them more fiercely!

Anyway, I started my gossip-show regimen last week. I tell you that first time was bad, the second time--with my aching muscles--was worse. But now, well, I still look flabby but I'm stronger. I'll do this for a month and we'll see where this goes!

Dear heaven, I've forgotten about these pics! Was going through my Facebook yesterday and found some photos of myself--some unflattering (which I will not post here!). Oh well, that's what happens when you're not ready for the camera... or even if you are and you just happen to be having a fat day!

Let's do this chronologically, shall we...

Additional pic from the Kerastase event a couple of weeks ago. My pose is rather awkward, isn't it? Must be the camera and the shopping bag I was carrying--they were kinda heavy.

Wine Night! Every month, Kat Dy, Red de Leon, Nicole Delos Angeles and Nichole Reyes and I unwind and catch up over bottles of wine. I can only handle white wine actually as I'm allergic to red. I'm the one with eyeglasses. With each Wine Night, more and more people are added! I've met fascinating and weird people, true, but Wine Night is never boring as a result!

Christmas with my Sales family. Vince and I are on the top row, center. We're a happy lot! Lots of kids! Super noisy, super chaotic, super lots of gifts!

This was taken last September. That's me in the short brown dress. My staff and I went to the province of Quezon and we ate and ate ate. Crabs the size of dinner plates, prawns as big as your hand, fresh fish each more than a foot long. And that's just one meal. That was a food trip that went beyond what we can handle.

Oh boy, I look so Chinese here. This was taken summer of last year. Nichole and some other media friends and I just attended the Marc Jacobs store opening and since there was no food (why do the organizers of fashion and beauty events always think we women don't eat? Or that we're all vegetarians?), we converged at Cibo and ate and ate and ate. Anyway, I love my bangs and my turquoise ring!

This was March 2008, I think. My friend Kate is about to open her store in Greenbelt 5 and this was her party. I'm wearing a Kate Torralba tube dress with the loveliest cherry blossoms embroidered all over the front.

I have no idea when this was taken but based on my hair and the fact I no longer have braces, I'd say late 2007. I had just learned how to mix drinks in a crash course by L'Oreal Paris.

A paparazzi photo of me at my wedding in April 2007. This was just before I stepped out of the Jaguar (loaned so generously by my sister-in-law's mother-in-law) and all my friends and bridesmaids were telling me to relax. Do I look nervous? No, baby. I was in the zone at this point!

Ooh la la. Me and my friends Mariel Chua and Jigs Mayuga at the Preview Ball 2006. My skin was soooo bad but Jigs--L'Oreal Paris Chief Makeup Artist!--fixed me up good. Gosh, I miss those legs!

Oh my, this is Preview Ball 2005! I am wearing a Kate Torralba sheer shirt with colored beading plus matching tube top and super short shorts. In 2005, I had no cellulite and I still had a waist so thank the heavens for this photo! I can show it to my kids one day and say, "See? Mommy used to be hot!"