TOPAZ HORIZON

I'm neck-deep in work for my job as beauty editor at L'Oréal, mamas! I have so much to blog about, I know, and I will. Lemme just meet my deadlines first!

So anyway, quick post before I run off again to write beauty articles. So when I write late at night,  I need music to help drown out the thick silence, which can get unnerving. I don't know why that happens to me when I work. The quiet never bothers me when I'm reading a book.

But anyway. So I listen to lots of songs but not from iTunes or Spotify. I usually search for a song my Uber driver recommended that day and then I let the auto play take over. This is how even though I am in my 40s, I am not stuck in the songs of my youth (which would be the 80s and 90s—which had the best songs!). That's why I still sing and dance to Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and why I'm so so so in love with Ed Sheeran.

(sigh)

My current favorite song is "Perfect." I didn't really like it when it first came out, especially the video because he was so friend-zoned it was painful. Of course there is a happy ending to the video (watch it below!) and it took me a few views before I decided I slowly fell in love with the song the way the girl in the video slowly fell in love with Ed.



Anyway, as I was watching that dance at the end, it dawned on me how it's the perfect song to dance to at a wedding. Right??? I'm sure I'm not the first one who thought this and true enough, a quick search produced a dozed wedding dances. Okay, don't even bother looking at those because I already did and they are awkward and painful to watch haha

But this one, mamas... This one is beautiful. Of all the videos of wedding dances to "Perfect," this is not the swankiest wedding, nor the most elegant, and I wish the camera was nicer, but this dance... Oh, it's so sweet.



I keep thinking of Vince when I heard the line, "We were just kids when we fell in love, not knowing what it was." That's so us. Well, I dunno about Vince. He always seemed so sure about me, about us. So I just followed his lead and I'm so glad I did. So glad I did.

I cried. It's so good! And I miss #GoT.

Put your volume on full blast and take a listen.



My brother, Theodore, who is the cellist (and big boss) of Manila String Machine (the hottest string quartet in the country!!!), also have #GoT on their repertoire but they should totally do a video like this!

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Last night, I blogged about listening to sleepy, sad music. What I forgot to share (and it's really worth sharing!) is how I listen to my music.

In style!

But of course. Thanks so much to my absolutely luxe Molami Bight earphones.
You might think that an earphone is an earphone is an earphone. Like, it's all the same. Nope. These earphones not only make listening to music look sophisticated, the sound quality that comes out of its tiny, gold-plated earbuds is also actually sophisticated.

Molami is the baby of industrial designer Maria von Euler. While developing Molami, Maria wanted headphones for women—nope, she didn't mean cute and pink. She wanted a marriage of fashion and beauty, a stylish accessory for us women that also flatters our face and neck, and complements our hairstyles. Yes, headphones that complement our fab hairstyles! A big reason why I never used headphones, for example, is because they're ugly. Seriously. They either look juvenile, clunky, plastic, boring, obvious. Ugly. I have never met a headphone that I liked.

Until I met Molami. Just look at their headphones:

The Pleat. Light, sleek and made to flatter our jaw.

Made of napa leather and gold. Covers ears for complete sound isolation.

The Twine. It's designed to mimic a scarf/headband for a sound-surround experience.

Bandeau design is made of silk, satin and chiffon.

The Bight. For discrete style.

The Bight is the one I own. At first glance, it's all black napa leather and cord with gold. The earphones are designed to attach to the ear at two points. All other earphones just plug into the ear canal. After a while, the ear canal tires of the pressure.
The Bight has the EarClick System. The gold lace part goes into your ear canal while the soft nub (removable and washable) goes into the groove above the ear canal. Two support points! This way, my ears never get tired to listen to my music!

My earphones are made of black napa leather and gold. Other versions are white napa and gold, black stingray and silver, and black napa and black hardware.

Woven black cord and gold hardware. So simple, so classic, so luxe!

My earphones pack into a canvas pouch. Can't keep them in plastic because plastic deteriorates leather and I have to also protect the gold parts from getting scratched when I put it in my tote bag.

The Bight is meant for commuters so it doesn't completely block out the environment. In my case, I work from home but I need to keep an ear out for my little kids and the doorbell and all the house stuff that can't be ignored. And yet the sound that comes out of my tiny Bight speakers is strong, clear and whole. Not tinny or scratchy or hollow.

I especially like the Bight because it makes voices sound so distinct—very important to me when I'm transcribing interviews. In fact, when I posted this on Facebook, it's my writer friends (not my music-lover friends) who got really curious!

Thanks to my son, Vito, for taking these photos of me and my Molamis!

Molami headphones are exclusively available at Rustans. For more information, like Digits Trading on Facebook.

Product photos from Molami website's press page.
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I'm 38 weeks pregnant. That means I'm exhausted and excited and sleepy and can't sleep. So I'm listening to Bread to relax me before I go to sleep.


The sadness of the surprise at the end. So heartbreaking!


The longing and wistfulness of his voice and the devoted love when he sings, "If I can't have the one I want, I'd do without the best." That's selflessness. That's real love.


Right after my Mama died, this played in a taxi I was riding and I wept, yes, wept right in that taxi. The driver just looked at me and asked, "Ma'am, boyfriend?" I said, "Hindi po. Namatay nanay ko." And he nodded and said, "Masakit talaga yan."


"And when my love for life is running dry, you come and pour yourself on me." I always think of Vince when I hear this line. Always.

Good night!

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Have you watched Frozen? We watched it last week and now the whole house is reverberating with the soundtrack with everyone singing, "For the first time in forever," "Love is an open door," and of course, "Let it go! Let it go!"

Between Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, I relate to Elsa more. Maybe because I'm the eldest sister, maybe because we also have a family secret, maybe because I ran away from home, too.

Yes, I ran away. But it didn't start with me. The situation at home was so bad that my parents were the first to abandon ship. One day, they just packed up their clothes and our 10-year-old sister and they left. They left me, my younger brother, and my older brother and his wife and three kids. Yes, my parents left first but that's okay since we were all adults. I can't explain how bad things were but if it scared off my parents from their own house, then you must believe me when I say it was bad. I actually wish they had stayed away. Maybe my mother would still be alive today if she hadn't come back.

Anyway, I was left to carry the burden of that household. My sister-in-law helped but she had four other mouths to feed. She left soon after, too, but while I understand why she left, I do not and will never agree with parents abandoning their young children, and that's all I'll say about that.

Vince saw how my soul was slowly being crushed and he told me repeatedly, "You have to leave that place," but I was scared. "What would people say? I have no money. How would I live? Don't bad things happen to girls living on their own? My parents always said good girls only leave home if they have a husband. I don't have a husband. What would people say?" But the situation at home was getting worse and finally, one dark and terrible day, I packed up and left, too.

It was so sudden. There was no plan, no place to move into, no nothing! I had no money when I left and I took just a bag of clothes, shoes and books. Funny how when you need to leave, you suddenly realize you only really need a few things. I had no money at all but I had a job that paid just P8,000 a month (and my rent was 4K!), friends who helped me look for a place to stay (and it was actually a really nice place, too!), and of course my lifesaver Vince.

I lived hand-to-mouth for a while, often the electricity was cut off, sometimes I relied on my friends to feed me, sometimes my roommate and I scraped the sauce from a tin of tuna and laughed at how poor we were, and sometimes (not all the time!) when Vince and I ate out, I stuffed all the tissue paper in my bag because I couldn't afford to buy toilet paper! Haha! But I was finally having the time of my life. There was no money but, wow, I was alive! No fear, no guilt, no shackles, no pretense. I was free, I was happy, I was finally me.

Whew! Funny how a Disney movie brought me back to more than a decade ago! I'd actually forgotten that I ran away from home! But when Queen Elsa unleashed her power finally, I was just transported to that 24-year-old me, afraid at first then getting stronger with each day of freedom!



Not a Demi Lovato fan but I think this song is perfect for her and vice versa. She also broke out of that "perfect girl" image and I think she's much much happier now. Like me! Go watch the movie and tell me who you are: Elsa? Anna? Neither? Both? Have fun at Frozen this weekend!

When newsman Ted Failon was reporting on Saturday on what happened to Leyte when Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda roared through last weekend, he found it hard to define in Tagalog what a storm surge was. Naturally (since I am a lover of words), I just had to find out what it is.

It's daluyong.

source

source

The word brought to mind the old song "Iisang Bangka" by The Dawn, and I thought it was totally appropriate for the times.



And I love the words.

Kay dilim at kay ginaw sa kalawakan ng dagat
Ubod lakas kung humiyaw ang galit na hanging habagat
Ngunit buo ang puso mo'ng ang daluyong ay susugurin
Magkasama tayong katahimika'y hahanapin

Ating liliparin, may harang mang sibat
Ating tatawirin, daluyong ng dagat
Basta't kasama mo ako, iisang bangka tayo
Anuman ang mithiin ay makakamtan natin

Iisang bangka tayo, Pilipinas! Kaya natin ito! Please share this song to everybody!

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That Miley Cyrus really knows what she's doing. Everyone hates her new image but everyone loves her songs! They can't stop and won't stop doing covers of her "We Can't Stop"! These are my favorite covers:

Acoustic


Doo-Wop


And I don't know what genre of music this is but I do love the British accent, the strings and the achy-breaky part!

Back to the 80s. That's my mood last weekend. I actually wanted to do a full post on My Top 10 Favorite 80s Songs (The Search is Over, Right Here Waiting, Bizarre Love Triangle, Always on My Mind, In My Dreams!!!) but I realized I liked waaaay too many songs from that period. It's an impossible task! They don't write songs like those anymore. Lyrics are very important to me. I'm a writer. I really pay attention to the words and the 80s was the best decade for music and lyrics.

REO Speedwagon's Can't Fight This Feeling is the song I sing to my baby Iñigo. It's a funny lullaby, sure, but that was what worked when I was desperately snatching songs from my memory one nap time. It's one of my most favorite songs. It's also the story of my life.

I've always run away from commitment. I never wanted to get married. Never wanted to have kids. Ask all my friends—they always initiated the friendship; I'm never the one to say hi first. I always need to be convinced that I want friends and I want love. I'm so glad and grateful that Vince and my friends and my sons prove to me every day how wrong I am to be so afraid.



Thank you so much for being the candle in the window. I'm finally finally home.

Notes:
Joannie sure can move that luscious body!
Pete and Trudy. Sigh! Stupid Pete. You had the perfect wife!
I've totally forgotten about Pete and Peggy.
They all look so young!
Don Draper. You didn't dance but you were still unforgettable.

I'm sure you've seen this super fun prank but I can't stop watching it so you might as well watch it, too! It just brightens up anyone's day!



Gotta love people who are game for anything, right? With the high price of gas these days, I do believe people would do anything for a free full tank of the stuff. But these two amazing people should get even more just for being so fabulously entertaining!

Vince said as he watched the video, "You know what they say: Behind every successful man is a woman laughing hysterically." I love this couple!


Happy Monday!

P.S. Speaking of free gas, I'd like to thank Pilipinas Shell for sponsoring our gasoline. We really do love the racing fuel!

I was watching Channel V and saw Taylor Swift's video, "Begin Again," and totally fell in love with all her dresses. All of them. I'm in the middle of revamping my wardrobe and I think I've found my style peg.

image from Glamour.com's story on bangs

image from Fanpop.com

Sigh. I had wanted to watch Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block when they were here. But I had just given birth.



Now, I just found out that Sting and Elton John will be here in December. J.Lo's coming, too, but I'm not a fan. Vince is a huge fan of Sting. I'm a huge fan of Elton. But, with the high cost of concert tickets, it's either we watch both concerts OR buy Christmas gifts. It can't be both.

So... dear families and friends, if you find out that Vince and I watched the concerts of Sting and Elton John, that only means one thing: You get Christmas cards and a hug!


*images from Philippine Concerts

I like Taylor Swift's new song, "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together." At my age, of course I can't relate to it haha. But I like Taylor. She spills her guts all over her songs the way I spill mine all over my blogs. Plus, she can write really catchy tunes!

Here are two videos of her song. Here's the one starring her:


And here's the one that's just all words, which makes it really easy to sing along to:


I like the lyrics video better! I love words. Taylor is easy on the eyes but I like the way words look better.

Which one do you like?


UPDATE: This song is about Jake Gyllenhaal, y'all!!!

I am obsessed with Adele's "Someone Like You." You have to watch her as she sings, as she agonizes over each word in this haunting song of loss, regret and longing.


I really cry whenever I listen to this song, even though I have—gladly—no experience of a lost love. I married my great love and I love him deeper with each passing day.

At Nikki's wedding last year

I guess I cry because I am mourning for Adele (she wrote this song for a former lover) and all those who don't have what I am so grateful to have--a love that is true and deep and lasting and strong and a source of comfort and joy. I truly wish that everyone find that one true love and be wise enough to recognize it and choose it above all else. Love isn't easy but it's always worth it.

Have a happy weekend filled with love!

I'm so glad kids today have Lady Gaga's empowering anthem to sing and believe in. We all need to know that we're beautiful just the way we are. Oops, that's a different song!

When God made Kate Torralba and Rajo Laurel, He sprinkled extra talent on these two fashion designers, that's for sure! Not only are they two of the most celebrated designers in the country, they also sing! Check out the music video they made for Paperdolls and Wharton.



It's so cool. Kate and Rajo really hammed it up! The models, who look like they take Lipofuze religiously, definitely have that 60s vibe going. Now I always knew Kate can sing (she always sings at weddings and she has gigs at bars almost every week) but Rajo is a surprise! I was most entertained.

If you want to see the collection Kate designed for Paperdolls, click here and here!

On the eve of our third wedding anniversary, Vince and I drove all the way to old Manila for a symphony concert by the FILharmoniKA orchestra of Gerard Salonga.

My younger brother, Theodore Amper, happens to be part of it! He's a cellist and we're very thrilled that he's with the FILharmoniKA group. Exciting times for everyone!

For the concert, the orchestra played Antonin Dvořák's Cello Concerto with guest cellist Richard Bamping. He was great. The first violinist was amazing. The whole orchestra was fantastic!

Vince and I had such a lovely time, just letting the music sweep over and through us. I literally felt my soul swell with the music. And the little Jelly Bean? Well, he kicked about every time the orchestra builds into a crescendo so I think he got excited when the music got louder and faster and... well, he took after his father then. Vince likes his music loud and strong!

Theodore is also part of the string quartet Manila String Machine, which performs at weddings and other special events. They performed at my wedding three years ago so I highly recommend them. Book them now!

Someone, impressed with my husband's gift-giving skills, asked me why I didn't blog about Vince's Christmas gift to me. Well, because by the time December and January came along, I was in the midst of that first trimester madness and totally forgot that my Christmas--despite all the morning sickness, sleepiness, fatigue, etc--was extremely happy and blessed!

So what did Vince give me for Christmas? Actually, we gave this to each other because we both wanted it and since it was kinda not cheap, we both decided it'll be perfect for us both! We got ourselves this:

Happiness! We totally love Rock Band 2! Super funnest game ever! Ya, I know the girls reading this are disappointed ("A video game? WTF?!") but you have to understand I'm a geek and I'm really good at some video games. That would make me every guy's dream girl, right? But Vince doesn't even want to play with me sometimes because I can get fiercely competitive. It's not about having fun for me, it's about annihilating the enemy (and if you're the other guy, that would mean killing you). Worse, I'm a sore loser. I don't take defeat lightly at all, which makes playing games with me totally not fun. 

But Rock Band is just fun. Fun! Fun! Fun! I've never had so much fun playing with others--we've even done Rock Band parties because it's the kind of game that just makes everyone happy.

I am now in the process of making my wish list for Christmas. A Wii maybe so that I can be encouraged to do some exercises, a Philip Stein Teslar watch so that my headaches and stress will be tick tocked away, a pair of Jewelmer pearl earrings and the pink Sony Cybershot TX1. I know. That's some wish list! Gosh, I need to make more money to buy myself these expensive things!!!

Vince and I love this commercial for the Sony Cybershot TX1:


We love the song--it's called "Firefly" and we really want to know who sang it and if it's a full song.

UPDATE: The wonders of Google led me to Emma Pask, an Australian Jazz singer. She sang at Nicole Kidman's wedding! Anyway, she sang this especially for the Sony TVC. So it's as short as that. What a shame. I love that song! Here are the lyrics:

Wow. That did not make any sense at all. It's like something you'd find on Japanese stationery. I love it! Anyway, the camera will be loved for its ability to capture sharp and clear images at night. They call it "handheld twilight" and this feature allows you to take photos at night without the need for a flash! I need this! My photos with flash are always washed out and ugly.

Sony!!! If you're reading this, please send me a TX1 (pink please)! I live in a Sony world--PSP, PS2, PS3, e-Book Reader, Sony Ericsson phones, voice recorder, camera, Bravia... I really really want the TX1 (and the star pendant in the commercial, too!).

The Manila String Machine.



My brother, a cellist, is part of this quartet, and they were the ones who played at my wedding. They also played at Issa Litton's wedding. And they will perform soon at my friend Mariel's wedding.

I noticed as I was blog-hopping that there are so many bride-to-be's out there, all furiously/dreamily/feverishly planning their wedding. Well, might I make a suggestion? If you're the type of bride and groom who care about the details, then a string quartet definitely makes your wedding more elegant and more beautiful.

My wedding was just lovely--intimate, quiet and glamorous. Well, my parents would have preferred a large and noisy event (I'm from a large and ridiculously noisy family) but for Vince and me, the only sound we wanted to hear that day was that of well wishes and laughter and the music of strings.

My uncle, Papa's brother, did decide to stir things up and campaign for a senator (to my horror, the uncle even showed up in jeans and a campaign shirt)... and that is a story for another day!

Aside from that annoying snafu, my wedding was elegant. And while I have my friends and sisters-in-law to thank for that, I also know that the beautiful music my brother and his friends played was the thread that held it all together. Never underestimate the power of music. In this case, on perhaps the happiest day of your life, the Manila String Machine will be the perfect accompaniment to start your journey to happily ever after!