TOPAZ HORIZON

The plate is full, that's for sure. I am happily busy. It's my magazine's deadline week. There's a lot more happening at work but I won't discuss anymore. I'm just glad I'm really enjoying work!

Lovely lunch with Kat of Kat Dy Finds

I've also been seeing friends almost every day. It's been lovely, having mini dates with women I admire and miss. I've been feeling out of sorts this past month, and being with friends and feeling their encouragement... Well, I feel much, much better now!

On the blog front, well, obviously I haven't been blogging here. Well, I had a contest to run over at Topaz Mommy and that kept me occupied. I've been getting a lot of requests to sponsor a giveaway of their products on my mommy blog and I usually say yes (I have to like, love, believe in the product! And I have to be convinced that the promo will help my blog) but it really isn't easy to do a giveaway. For example, checking the entries alone takes time. Plus, the raffle, then the coordinating with the winners, then the sending of the prizes. It's not a joke. I don't have an assistant.

I do have a maid/yaya. I pay her more than the usual rate because I like to keep my help happy. Well, I wish the help felt the same way about me. Last night, after I sent Vito off to sleep, I got up very carefully from the bed so as to not disturb my slumbering toddler and then have dinner. No dinner. Maid was already locked in her room. So I set the table, fix dinner, and she comes out of her room sleepily, annoyed at the (very minimal) noise. She asked if Vito was finally asleep. I said yes as I set out plates and utensils. She said, "Okay. Good night!" Then tonight, as I was telling her to prepare dinner, she tells me that she has to go out and meet someone and that she'll be back by 10. Then she left, without even saying good-bye. She just got back now, at 11. And don't get me started on the daily annoyances. I pay this woman to do what again?

Oh well. No rest for the weary. But I can't complain. I'm very grateful. I have a little boy asleep in this same room and a wonderful man writing in the other room, rooms in a house filled with lovely things and love. I'm a very lucky girl!

Halloo, halloo! Been incredibly busy this week! Magazine deadlines, meeting old friends, restarting an online sideline biz, enjoying the entries to my Topaz Mommy book giveaway (join now!), and all that on top of being wife and mommy!

I also updated my dormant beauty blog with an event I attended recently, the double launch of Pond's Age Miracle Cell ReGEN and Flawless White with GenActiv. Here's what I wore:

Tint dress, shu uemura makeup bag used as evening bag, tiangge and Vita Fede bangles, suede peeptoes from eBay

And this is what happened. See you again here soon!

Elaine, Kabbie and Paola have been raving about the Goody Spin Pins for weeks now but I couldn't bring myself to get a pair because I have the thinnest, finest hair in the world and one regular-sized pin sticks out of the bun. So no point, right? The three girls gave one solution: the Goody Spin Pin Mini!

The coin is just so you know how small the pins are.

I hardly ever put my hair up in a bun, though. So I found another use for the minis--make my hair all soft and wavy!

A kit comes with 3 pins but since my hair's so thin, I usually just need to part my hair into two ponies, twirl into buns and secure. One pin each!
I wait for about 15-30 minutes for the curls to set (this is when I usually apply makeup and dress up) then I unspool the pins and voila! Casual curls that float around my face. Happiness! Perfect for relaxed weekends like today.

Outfit details: Gingersnaps T-shirt maternity dress, my favorite plastic earrings from the tiangge and Get Happy charm bracelet

I usually spray on Kiehl's Stylist Series Super Thick Volumizer first then end with Matrix hairspray after. If I want body, I use thermal curlers from Watsons. If I really want sexy waves, I bring out the curling iron!
This hair tutorial (naks!) was shot at Midas Hotel last week, by the way. I was there as a guest of Pond's. More about that event in the next post!

The first ever photo of Vince and me! We didn't know each other yet when this was shot. Yes, it's destiny!

I surprised my Valentine this morning. Left little gifts on his desk and waited for him to wake up. When he did, I hid in our bedroom as he ambled sleepily to his study. Then--aha!--he made a (very satisfactory to me) delighted, surprised sound and then we kissed and hugged and the world is a place filled with love and happiness!

How was your Valentine's Day?

If you're expecting a baby or a new mommy, I have a Valentine's Day surprise for you, too! Head on over to Topaz Mommy for the details!

Happy Monday, everyone! Here's a pregnant fashion post to start the week.

On Friday, I'll be on the 27th week of my pregnancy with wee Wiggle. That means I'll be 7 months along, which means in a few weeks, I'll be cradling a little baby again! Vince and I are so impatient and excited. Vito, not so much.

The pregnancy is going along extremely well, which is a relief and a joy considering how awful and tenuous it had seemed for the first 4 months. That's why I wasn't as open about this pregnancy as I had been when I was pregnant with Vito. But now we're entering the third trimester and it's all excitement and anticipation from hereon.

And fashion! I've posted a few photos recently of my pregnant self. Here's more of my preggy body in the glorious 6th month!

SM Dept Store dress, Kenneth Cole suede and satin heels

Gingersnaps dress, Anthology tweed flats, Kate Spade tote

Gingersnaps dress, Longchamp clutch, handmade multimedia necklace, Anthology tweed flats

This belly bump is waaaaay bigger than my Vito bump. I was this big at 8 months' preggo back then! Now, at only 6 months, I'm huge. I can't imagine my 9th month. Scary!

I'll post more pregnant fashion photos soon! Meanwhile, have a lovely and stylish week, my dearest readers!

In my Letter from the Editor, I dared my readers to do something new this year:

Open in a new tab to enlarge.

To be very honest, I wrote that letter as a dare to myself, too. And now that it's out there, I'm feeling very fragile and scared and stressed out!

I feel a change coming. I've been feeling it since 2009 actually, and it was perhaps brought about by my pregnancy. You can read all about it here, but I'll post an excerpt anyway:

There's still that ambitious part of me that's screaming in my head in absolute fury. I know opportunities like this don't come traipsing along every day, and I'll just have to live with this decision for the rest of my life. But now that it's done, my agony is over, my insomnia is cured, my world is again at peace.

Whatever the future holds, I only know that what I choose will always be the one that, in the words of that timeless song, will need all the love I can give, every day of my life for as long as I live.

Well, just reading the comments section of that two-year-old post made me realize that my pregnancy had nothing to do with it after all!

Anyway, I do know that I am still enjoying my magazine gig. I have so many plans this year and if you've been following the magazine, you'd see its transformation. It really is getting better and better with each new issue and I am very excited about the stuff my team and I have planned this year for our loyal readers.

You all also know I dipped my toes in entrepreneurship last year. The bag business is closed now but I took away some pretty good realizations there and I will do it again! It was very hard work, made me cry and freak out and stress many times, but I am convinced I can and will do better next time!

I also have big plans for my blogs. It's no secret that I earn from my blogs and 2011 was very good to me. My readership has gone up. Brands and PR companies have been wooing me. So many opportunities have come up! But I have had to turn down a lot of those opportunities because it will present a conflict with my job or because it will take me away from my family.

Yes, my lovely, wonderful, amazing family. I never would have thought this but I am really such a mother. I am also a committed wife. There's absolutely nothing I enjoy more than basking in the devotion of my husband and son. But because of the many many many things on my plate, I haven't really been fully immersed in my roles as mother and wife. And I feel like I'm giving so much to the things that make my life fun and not to the ones who make it worthwhile. I talk about my sadness about that over at Topaz Mommy.

So a change is coming. I can feel it thrumming in my veins. Right now, I still don't know if the change means my life will get crazier or maybe it will become quieter. My life will either get bigger or smaller. Both options are so very real, I can taste them. I'm very scared. But I'm also very excited!

I live in a condo and my bedroom wall is right against the bedroom wall of the neighboring unit. We used to have a very passionate couple as our neighbors and, boy, they made love really noisily. I didn't have to press my ear on the wall behind my bedroom door. We can hear them from our bed from across the room! I used to tell Vince, "Dammit, let's do it and drown them out!"

Well, they moved out some time ago and so, last week, I found a new thing to do with that blank wall: It will be where I keep my necklaces!

Vince doesn't like hammering nails (that's why he bought power tools) so...

... this was a true labor of love.

Tada! So neat and pretty!

I have a lot of necklaces but I never get to use them much because they're all bunched up in a messy bowl. Really terrible. So I edited my collection and decided that I will only keep a dozen. Yes, just 12 pieces! If I want a new necklace, I'll have to get rid of an old one. The simple solution above really helps!

Thank you so much, Vince! I super love you for organizing my life!

P.S. Ok, I found other necklaces buried in my closet this weekend and I couldn't part with them so now I have 2 necklaces per hook! So... just 24 pieces! No more than 24! (Wish me luck!)

You've all seen my lovely escritoire from Prizmic & Brill:

This photo is from the Real Living magazine feature a few years back. Many things have changed in our home--lots of new stuff!--but this writing desk will be mine till I'm old and gray. It's such a lovely piece. And it was Vince's Christmas gift to me in 2008. One of the best gifts he's ever given me!

Here is my now super messy desk with another (even more) amazing gift from Vince:

That little boy is always grabbing stuff from my desk! So my desk is messier than ever since I have to keep piling papers and things higher and farther from his reach. Which then makes it harder to work since my laptop is buried under so much stuff that I get lazy to do anything!

But you'll only see a teeny bit of it since I'm using TwitPic (follow me for instant outfit updates!).

In the previous post, I used another TwitPic of a Tango dress I wore last week. Followers asked where I got the sexy dress. From Tango! There's a branch in Glorietta, beside VNC (that's the only branch I know) and another one in Megamall Bldg B (but I dunno where it is exactly). Go shop na there!

Now, the Tango dress I'm wearing here is an electric pleated coral caftan with a deep plunging V-neckline. Whenever I wear this, everyone loves me! Like, they want to touch me. It's so... weird! My husband is especially enamored. I have to fight him off! Haha!

When I Tweeted this photo, they didn't notice the dress so much. Everybody asked about the necklace. It's turquoise. It's gorgeous. And it's fabulously cheap! Just P900 from Kultura at Megamall. You guys really ought to check out that place. It's full of really great accessories, bags, home stuff, delicacies--ya know, local stuff! Super fabulous items. I can never leave that huge store without a big bag of new things.

So there. Now you know where I go buy my things. The best thing about Tango and Kultura? They're Proudly Pinoy! Actually, almost all my stuff is local. Gingersnaps, Karimadon, Anthology, Janilyn, Fino, K&Company... I do shop at Zara and Mango sometimes but I mostly patronize Pinoy brands. Really amazing products we Filipinos have!

Okay, okay, past few posts have been too heavy. Didn't I promise I ain't ever gonna do that?!

(Actually, I might still have a few serious posts coming. I'm kinda feeling serious lately!)

So anyway, let's get shallow again. And what could be more shallow than an outfit post? Here's what I wore recently:

That is one huge baby bump. And I'm only 6 months pregnant! I don't want to imagine what I'd look like 3 months from now.

Oh, that's a Tango dress. Tango is my best-kept shopping secret! That little shop is filled with racks upon racks of dresses that are so nice, comfy and inexpensive. I think this dress is only P1,200. I always buy 2 or 3 dresses when I'm there. And now you know my secret and now I'm going to regret this!

Anyway, sorry if I haven't been blogging. Been a bit sad so I've taken refuge over at Twitter where 140 characters forces me to focus my thoughts on more cheerful things. So I've been Tweeting outfit pics and happy stuff lately. Follow me!