TOPAZ HORIZON

I was squinting at the mirror today, realizing my eyes need to be checked because my glasses are more than a year old and need changing. At the same time, I also know that pregnancy changes the shape of the eyeball so my increasingly blurry vision may just be temporary. I did think of getting cheap prescription glasses to tide me over till when I give birth in August, then I figured, what the heck, with all the changes in my body, I might as well wait out these last three months.

Three more months and then I'll be confronted with the real damage to my body. People have been warning me about stretchmarks, varicose veins, darkened skin, saggy breasts, swollen abdomen, stubborn fat... Well, I don't really mind. Really! Stretchmarks and dark skin can be bleached away, veins can be lasered off, fat can be exercised away, etc. What really has me sad is my belly button.

I'm only vain about two things--my nose and my belly button. I think that those are the only two perfect things in my entire body. Everything else (sparse lashes, myopic eyes, huge ears, big teeth, long face, thin flat hair, flat chest, bony fingers, stubby toes, flabby everywhere) is just okay. Despite enumerating all that, don't worry--I have pretty good self-esteem because I have friends and family who love me absolutely!

So anyway, everyone warned that pregnancy will wreak havoc on the body. So far, so good. I do feel insecure sometimes when I look in the mirror and see a different body. I check for changes--and there are many already--but the ones I'm most concerned about are the enlarged nose and the protruding navel. My nose is still the same, thank the heavens, but my belly button? Well, today, it is officially the same level as my tummy. Yes, it is no longer in its perfect deeply sunken, perfectly round state. And that means in a few weeks, I'll have a nipple in the middle of my belly.

I know it's so shallow but I feel a little grief over the belly button. Mommies tell me that the belly button will recede into the tummy again when the baby's out but that it will look stretched and tired. One said, "You'll just have to work extra hard to have a flat belly so that your navel may look ugly but because your tummy's perfect, it won't look so bad." Great, that's a big comfort to me! 


My husband already misses my belly button and it's upsetting me. In many ways, my belly button is a metaphor of my body-before-baby and I worry not really about what I'll look like after the baby but how my husband will react to the after-baby body. I know he'll still love me and want me but he misses the belly button already and I worry that he'll miss the pre-pregnant body, too.

I recently won my first contest while pregnant! That deserves to be mentioned because there's this belief that pregnant women are lucky, so since getting preggers I've been joining contests and raffles left and right, whether for an Xperia X10 phone (a Sony Ericsson raffle), a Tamaraw FX (a Mercury Drug raffle) and, yes, almost all the blog giveaways I can find and... I haven't won anything! Till now!

Here's my loot...

This is the Kezia band (P585) and it's in pink! Love it! It's very comfy. I'm a migraine sufferer so headbands aren't a favorite but I've heard that Evita Peroni headbands are painless and the rumor is correct!

Discovered a new cooking show today. Well, it's been airing for a while now actually but I usually spend Saturday afternoons asleep so I never catch this show. But today I woke up just before the day turned into evening and caught it. It's called Everyday Exotic and it's hosted by chef/musician Roger Mooking.

Today, his special ingredient was lychee. He made grilled pork chops with potato pancakes and lychee salad served with a refreshing lychee cocktail.

The potato pancakes were interesting--he basically made a pancake batter, mixed in garlic powder, mashed potatoes and scallions, browned both sides on a buttered pan, then slid the pancakes into a hot oven for about 10 minutes.

Pork chops are always a very simple thing to do. I just season it with salt and pepper then fry them on a skillet. Perfect and simple all the time. Roger, meanwhile, marinated the meat in hoisin sauce for 30 minutes then put them on a grill and, I swear, my mouth just watered. I've never grilled anything in my life before and I love grilled food. Vince loves it even more than I do! Which makes me wonder why on earth don't we have a grill!

Well, I do know why we haven't gotten one--we live in a high-rise and we've always just thought that charcoal and smoke with a small enclosed space is a very bad combination. But when I saw Roger's tabletop grill, well, now I want one, too! Yep, an outdoor electric grill will be on my to-buy list now--just look at that photo above. Yes, that's my future. With that, I'll be able to grill pork chops, barbecue, steak, kebabs, fish, prawns, burgers and even fruit slices! OMG, now I'm really really hungry!

Hi, allow me to just promote my beauty blog, Beauty For A Living.

Since I've been attending a lot of fabulous events lately, I have a lot of new stories. I've only written about a few (soap, designer wedding rings), but I'll be adding more over the weekend.

I also have been getting a number of beauty products which I'm very excited about (like this amazing new cream that promises to banish dark circles around eyes!) so I want to tell you guys about that.

Lastly, I'll be holding a beauty giveaway soon. Yes, and y'all know I can be very generous with my prizes! I'll announce it when I'm ready but I'll already give you a hint on what you'll need to do to win such a fabulous contest: First, you have to be a nerd. If you're not, then let's hope your friend/boyfriend/husband/brother/sister is! Because while the contest will be held in my beauty blog, it's really to celebrate my husband's new blog, Third World Nerd! Second, the prize is very Japanese. Curious yet? Exciting times!!!

Meanwhile, check out Beauty For A Living! Thanks and enjoy your weekend!

Lookit my new favorite thing!

It's an Infiniti bib necklace I got at Glorietta 5. Ain't it purty?

I just love the big semi-precious stones and the crystal beads. Depending on the light, the stones look either pink, purple or magenta. So they feel alive.

I've always loved bib necklaces but found them terribly expensive. So I've lusted after them for quite a while now. So when I found this beautiful piece for a mere P3,600, I just had to have it!

Here's how I wore it:

Wore the necklace with my favorite Gingersnaps t-shirt dress and Kenneth Cole purple peep-toes. To see more cute preggy photos and understand a big reason why I love this necklace, go to my Pregnant Pics at 6 Months post at my mommy blog.