TOPAZ HORIZON

This is the new handmade leather bag of Fleur of Mommy Fleur.

I love how the photo shows her life: organized chaos and style! Yep, organizer to the left, toys to the right, and in the middle of it all--my bag! Fleur is my mommy blogger friend. She's one of the funniest, most real people ever. We finally met a few weeks ago at Philippine Fashion Week. Read the fun story here! You have to read it so that if you ever meet me, you'd know it's safe to approach hahaha.

Anyway, her review summary:
1. The smell of genuine leather is love!
I love that smell myself. Kinda overwhelming, though, when all the bags are delivered and my entire living room smells like a pet shop haha.
2. The strap is long enough so that she can carry it across her body, freeing her hands.
And when you're a busy lady--mommy or not--that's very important!
3. The neutral tan color is perfect.
Matches absolutely everything in your closet!
4. The magnetic snaps makes life easier!
And don't we all need things like that?
5. She loves the many pockets.
I love that, too!
6. Considering it's made entirely of leather, it's affordable.
Yes, it's absolutely affordable!

Thanks, Fleur! May utang pa ako sa iyo!

Aileen of Travel.Food.Finds. totally loves her new satchel!

Her review summary:
1. Ordering was simple and easy.
That's because I like things to be simple and easy. I'm nice, too!
2. Real leather!
Yep, the entire bag is made of real Pinoy cow hide.
3. Impeccable workmanship.
Thanks to the expert hands of Uncle Buck of Batangas!
4. She loves the many pockets!
Because I love pockets, too!

Thanks, Aileen, for liking the bag and saying I'm "super nice." And may I say again: Such gorgeous photos of the bag! Even I wanted to buy it, totally forgetting I sell it!

Meet the uber cool Trixie of Wild About Retail.

She got her satchel the night before she left for a Bangkok trip and she is totally in love with the bag!

Her review summary:
1. The satchel may be 11" long but it can fit a lot of things.
(that's because the leather is supple so it's flexible enough to expand for your stuff!)
2. The leather survived being drenched in rainwater.
(that's because it's real cowhide!)  

Thanks, Trixie!

There was another royal wedding this year, by the way--that of Prince Albert to Charlene Wittstock. I wasn't able to catch it on TV last July 1 so thank goodness for YouTube!


My ten notes:
1. She looked really scared!
2. She kinda looks like Grace Kelly and Kristen Stewart.
3. My gosh, her collarbones are amazing!
4. The light in that place is a photographer's dream.
5. Her ring was a tight fit, too! Did they have the same jeweler as the Windsors?
6. I love that the royal family wore pink.
7. The kiss was super quick (like mine haha) but she did look at Albert most lovingly. He did not. Hmp!
8. Where was Carla Bruni? I wanted to see a pregnant Carla Bruni. She'd have been the Victoria Beckham of the Monegasque royal nuptials!
9. Sorree but their Lexus looked like a pick-up.
10. Why was there another ceremony at a smaller chapel? And why did Charlene cry so much? And why did Albert look at her with annoyance?

Another note: I wish I knew French. I really should've paid more attention to my French classes in college and I really should've continued with my French classes at Alliance Francaise!

Anyway, I also noted that the royal couple used a lovely pen to sign away their lives (hahaha). I was told that it was a specially crafted pen from Maison Montblanc.

Here are the very special details about the very special pen:
The unique fountain pen is made of solid white gold. The cap and barrel of this masterpiece is engraved with a rhomb-shaped pattern and is set with 161 rubies and 128 diamonds, reflecting this royal occasion and the colors of the Monegasque State.
The 18K gold nib is engraved with a dove, rings and crown – all meaningful symbols of this state union.
The design was inspired by the architectural elements of the Palais Princier and the Principality Flag, embellished with precious stones and the monogram of the Princely Couple.

The largest stone to adorn the writing instrument is a ruby in rhomb cut set on the clip.

As a writer, I am absolutely in lust for this beautiful pen! I have lots of pens actually, lots of Parkers and Crosses, but I have no Montblancs yet. Since I can't hope for Maison Montblanc to create a pen just for me, I'd be happy with one or both of these:

Meisterstück Tribute to the Mont Blanc in Platinum

Meisterstück Tribute to the Mont Blanc in Red-Gold

Sigh! Yet another luxury item to put on the dream list!

P.S. Royal weddings aren't over yet! Zara Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne and cousin of William and Harry, is marrying her rugby player love Mike Tindall on July 30. She reportedly did not invite Harry's on-off girlfriend Chelsy Davy. Oooh! What's up with that?

Montblanc is exclusively available at Rustan's Makati, Shangri-la Plaza and at Newport Mall, Resorts World.

This is my friend Nikki.

We met in 2007, when I hired her to be the Fashion & Beauty Editor of the magazine I edit.

This is the staff on a team building trip to Zambales.

Nikki, Lana and Joanna get silly in Zoobic. This is the only photo of Nikki "wearing" something not chica!

Nikki with Lana and me at the Cosmo Bachelor Bash in 2008.

We did the rounds of TV shows taking about celebrity style.

Here she is at the staff shoot in 2009.

She worked as a stylist (in heels no less!) for our staff shoot.

She's also a beauty columnist.

Nikki with Nicole and me at The Spa to do reviews.

Here we are again at a Lancome event. (I was pregnant!)

Or we do dinners and lunches at each other's homes.

Uber chic couple Nikki and Bern

Nikki's cloud gown.

Her entourage photo looks like a fashion editorial!

As you may have guessed from all the photos above, Nikki's a woman of many talents. One of those talents is her unerring knack to put together a completely stylish look. Everywhere Nikki goes--whether it's to a gala, a TV show, a lunch meeting or a dinner at home, she looks absolutely amazing. Not a hair out of place and always flawless. And she makes it look so effortless, too!

So we've been entreating, begging, nagging and pushing her to put up her own style blog. She's been giving us shopping, style and beauty advice for years and her tips are always unbelievably easy! I think my outfits drastically improved when we became friends to be honest. So wouldn't it be nice if she did the same for you?

Well, she finally agreed. Meet The Picky Dresser. In her words, she's "living life one outfit at a time!"
Do give Nikki a warm welcome to the blogging world!

Update, Sept 12, 2012: Nikki shut down her blog =(

Been gone a while, I know. Ever since we started on our little sideline, I've hardly had time to breathe! But today I was able to sneak in some eBay window shopping and oooh I fell in love with this clever bag:



It's the Kate Spade All Typed Up Clyde carry all. I love the bold red, the whimsical design. It's so retro-pop cool! I love it! So perfect for a writer. So perfect for me!

The price, however, is not so perfect. It's $695 or P29,850. Its retail price was $495 so I don't understand why the eBay seller jacked up the price. It's also in the US of A which means I'll have to pay extra for shipping. And someone already made an offer (I didn't know you can do that on eBay!) so by the time I save enough to buy it, it'd be long gone.

Sadness! Won't anyone out there buy it for me??? Here's the eBay listing. I really really really want it!!!

Or I can just go to a thrift shop, buy an old typewriter, take out the keys and glue it to my satchel! I think that, on the handmade leather satchel, it will look completely steam punk, though. What you think?

I love this!

Took me back to 2001. I was 24 years old, living in a one-bedroom unit along Shaw Blvd. Vince and I watched Moulin Rouge! at Megamall, the last full show. We walked out of the mall at half past midnight, the streets were deserted and a big bright full moon was high up in the sky, making the streets and buildings glow. We walked hand-in-hand down ADB Ave, then Vince twirled me about on San Miguel Ave, while we sang, "How wonderful life is now you're in the world!"

Life is wonderful indeed.

I'm a Harry Potter fan. Been reading those books for as long as I've been loving Vince. I read the first Harry Potter book the year I met Vince, in 1999.

I lined up early to get the next books first. I always read the books straight (six to eight hours each upon release) in one sitting, resulting to massive migraines. I dragged Vince all over London, chasing night buses and figuring out British coins and looking for Platform 9 3/4. I cried for two days when Dumbledore died. I watched all the movies. While waiting for the next book or the next movie, I read magazines and websites and enjoyed behind-the-scenes photos. I felt like an era ended when I finished the last book. And now, again, it's time to say good-bye.



For the magic, thanks, Harry Potter. Good-bye!

Good morning, folks! I know Mondays usually don't make anyone smile but I'm just happy to be well again. I've been sick the entire week last week and it was an especially bad time to be sick because the bags finally arrived from Batangas and I had to collect payment, then package the bags and send them out, and it was the deadest deadline week of the magazine I edit.

I was able to drag myself to the office on Thursday in a jacket and a scarf wrapped around my head and neck and make sure the August issue was put to bed on time, but as for confirming payments and sending out the bags? No such luck.

Thank goodness my customers have a sense of humor!

I was so stressed out because in the world of online business, once the customer pays, the item must be on her doorstep in 3 days max. Unless it's overseas, of course. Since all the bags were fully paid and I wasn't shipping them out at all, I was plagued by thoughts of my first customers thinking I ran off with their money!

I was able to send out a few bags, though. Here are the first reviews:

Thanks, Trixie, for the Transformers 3 tickets!

I'm sure Joy meant "bag". Damn auto-correct!

Hooray! And today I am finally feeling better! Vince and I packed 10 bags last night (we slept at 2am!) and will finish the rest this week. We're also starting on the prototype of the 14" and the second batch of orders. You haven't ordered yet??? Why, click here to do so now!

I am soooo excited! This is going to be a very good week. I feel so happy about life! May you have the same excitement and joy, dear reader!

Off to Philippine Fashion Week in May! Wearing Bench tank, Zara skirt, Sapato Manila heels, Liz Claiborne necklace and Kate Spade bag

At Enterprise, on my way to Sunlife to file a claim, I met these yummy colorful creatures. They were promoting a raffle--vote for the M&M color you want and you get a chance to win $1,000 shopping money!

I voted for Green because she's described as "smart, strong and sexy." Hey, sounds like me! Teehee. If you want to join, click here. I hope I win, though! Good luck to us all!

Here I am at Sunlife again, this time to claim tickets to Varekai! I joined their contest on the last day and won! Am I lucky or what? Thing is I'd already bought tickets. So I gave my prize to my in-laws and watched Varekai on the second night. You all know what happened to us that Thursday night!

And this was Vito the morning after the Varekai show. We bought that hat, so enamored were we with the show. We're enamored with our baby boy, too!

I haven't gone out all week this week (except to watch Transformers 3 at Shang) so I haven't seen the Bench billboards that have been causing so much traffic talk lately. So I told Bench about it and they obliged by sending massive files of near naked men to my inbox.


Of course I opened the zip file just when my boss passed by. If there had been an ECG attached to my chest right at that moment, we'd have seen some spectacular activity. Behold our rugby team: the Philippine Volcanoes in all their glory!

Arnold Aninion Filipino/New Zealander Entrepreneur

Terrence Javier Carroll Filipino/Australian Laborer

Jake Robrigado Letts Filipino/Australian Post-graduate student

Ned Stephenson Filipino/Australian Student

Patrice Ortiz Olivier Filipino/French Rugby player

Kenneth Capinpin Stern (left) Filipino/American In finance Chris Everingham (right) Filipino/Australian Personal trainer

I can see the shape of their dicks, I swear. Now I'm imagining them magnified. I have to see these billboards!!!

I'm sooo happy Bench got athletes to model their underwear! No offense to our actors and actresses but a body honed and toned by sport and dance is much better than a body shaped by diets and the gym. See photos above? I rest my case.

Rugby is a sport, btw. It's a type of football. I've never watched a game so I really don't know how it works but after seeing those guys clad in just Bench underwear, I think I have a new sport to watch! If you actually want to play, you can go to the PhilSports Complex along Meralco Ave in Pasig for free Rugby 101 sessions (Mon and Wed, 6pm)

Anyway, I didn't know we had a rugby team. Bench sent me info that said we don't have just a team, we have a union! Read more about the Philippine Rugby Football Union on their website or like their Facebook page.

*all images courtesy of Bench Body