TOPAZ HORIZON

Five days to go before Christmas! I've already got all that I need so for this year, I just asked people to give me pretty notebooks, pens and picture frames. But if money were no object and excess were something to be fond of, these would be nice:

• The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, illustrated edition
• Nina Garcia's The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own
• Jamie at Home cookbook
• any cookbook by Ina Garten
• an entire two days in the National Gallery in London. The museum is free, but accommodation in this expensive city is not!
• a week touring the Louvre, another week just people watching in Paris, another week in the French countryside, then the last week at Cote d'Azur
• go to all the Disneylands! Yes, it is now a silly life goal.

• good tickets to Lion King in West End. Argh, I've always wanted to see this musical!
• see the Scottish highlands. I'm not a beach person; I like lonely mountains and since I was very little, photos of the mysterious mountains and lochs of Scotland have always called to my soul.
• go to Milan, Florence and Venice--the birthplaces of the Renaissance. I studied Renaissance art in college. When I went to the National Gallery and saw the paintings, I really cried. I was so overwhelmed!

• any of the amazing Bea Valdes bags, especially the very dark Edward bag. These bags are the most incredibly detailed wonders I've ever seen. Small wonder they cost a small fortune each.
• Chloe wide-strap boots. I talked about this this summer. I still want them!
• a Chanel suit. Just because. And I want to be buried in one!

• Alice Blue candles
• a reading chair in soft buttery leather, perhaps in Tiffany blue or baby pink
• personalized stationery in dove gray or pale pink
• leather-bound journals
• fountain pens
• Nars blush in Orgasm
• red velvet cake from Karen's Kitchen
• a lifelong subscription to InStyle and Entertainment Weekly magazines!

Yes, I know some of the stuff listed aren't that expensive. But they're unnecessary. Oh, how I hate that word when it comes to describing things I want. Still, it's good to dream and perhaps some kind soul would send me a lovely thing or two and make my Christmas all the merrier!

A friend of mine in the U.S. is really having a hard time keeping a job and I've been praying really hard for her. It's not her fault really since the economy there is so bad. The economy here isn't so fantastic either but I think we're a bit better off than the U.S. For one thing, Starbucks here is still making a killing, and the city is still alive with everyone out shopping and partying every single night. I hear that in New York, the restaurants are closed. Not good at all.

So speaking of money, I'm paying for the HSBC bill next week. Ya, the bill that has about $2000 charged to it by a fat thief. Ya, it's a very merry Christmas. Actually, Vince and I do feel okay. We've bought everyone their gifts, we even bought each other gifts (I got him a really fly pair of Levi's corduroy pants and a pair of Onitsuka Tiger sneakers! He got me a fantabulous leather and brass-trimmed desk!!!) and we have enough left over to have a happy New Year.

We're even still shopping around for more insurance plans, like I said, just waiting for all the insurance quotes to come in so we can finally decide. Better to be safe than sorry, especially with the world-wide financial crisis. It's such a comfort to know though that God is so faithful and He has really blessed us so much that I didn't feel bad when I set aside the cash for the HSBC bill. Well, I did feel bad but not as bad as I thought I would!

So now I'm done with that credit card fiasco but I'm still hoping that HSBC and SM will agree that--in the face of evidence that I've presented--I really wasn't the one who went on a shopping spree last month and just give me my money back. Please pray for me!

Omigosh, omigosh... I was surfing (as usual) and I found this site that sells pet supplies and it's just the cutest! I abhor those pet supplies stores that only have stuff for dogs and cats and fish. You can't call yourself a pet supplies store if you only cater to three species! So anyway, I found the silliest strangest thing: a heated rabbit water bottle! It's so crazy and cute at the same time since Galady and Matilda hate cold water. But they like Haagen Dazs ice cream. Strange wabbits!

I found this utterly cute astrological chart at JennyGirl that features all the Zodiac signs with the most adorable illustrations--rabbits! Here's mine:


Here's what she wrote about me, er, people under my sign:

"YOU are determined, intuitive, and passionate.

OTHER Scorpios are secretive, resentful, and stubborn. And believe me, they were not happy to hear that you were described so nicely. I'm sure that they're scheming against you. Peek out the window. They're hiding out there somewhere, right now.

LIKES Challenges, meaningful work, and being allowed to exercise their skills. And let's be honest, look at those claws. Scorpios really like pinching people.

DISLIKES Being taken advantage of, insincerity, and getting slapped right after the pinching. C'mon, nobody gets mad when a Libra weighs something. If you don't want to get pinched, don't come around acting all pinchable and everything."

Pretty accurate. I'm a Scorpio, born on the year of the Fire Dragon. My grandmother, also a Scorpio, said that I was born under two very powerful signs and, because of that, "nothing will stand in your way... I am almost afraid for those who will come up against you. They will not stand a chance!"

While I don't believe in horoscopes and fortune-telling, I did believe in my grandmother. Of course, I grew up thinking anything I want, I can get. This has worked supremely well for me. At the same time, I also have a lot of collateral damage scattered along the path of my destructive ways. Now, years later, I am painstakingly trying to repair these damaged relationships, which miraculously enough, are actually being healed because all these people I've hurt are so willing to forgive me.

Anyway, I was reading Vogue UK's January 2009 issue (with the regal and ethereal Cate Blanchett on the cover) and I chanced upon this horoscope for me:

"The best way to understand the changes in the year's first quarter is to consider your initial reaction to the unsettling events that took place late last year, and how well things turned out. This makes it easier to consider seemingly unrealistic ideas. Instead of battling shifts in your work or lifestyle, give them a try. And you're only just beginning. With eclipses in late January and mid-February triggering changes in circumstance, once-unachievable goals could soon be easily attainable."

Well, to break it down--assuming I believe in this stuff!--the first quarter of 2009 will be pretty interesting. And considering how well I did react to the "unsettling events" that happened these past few months (Mama's death, the theft), I should start bracing myself for even more changes ahead and even embrace them. After all, whatever I put my mind to, I will achieve! Wow. I almost can't wait for the New Year!

Meanwhile, there's the Christmas shopping to do, the gifts to wrap, the parties to plan and attend, the people to love, the blessings to be thankful for, and... yes, the Disneyland photos to resize!

It's a lovely Saturday, cloudy and cool... my kind of day. I'm a very sunny person. Well, most of the time, but when I get angry, which is quick and often, I'm a terrible thunderstorm. So I guess that's why I like the days to be mild and mellow and vague since my temperament is always at some form of extreme emotion.

Because of my temperament, I've always felt that I'd burn out pretty soon. So one of the very first things I did as an adult was buy an insurance plan. Ya, how boring can I get. It wasn't really for me; it was for my family. When I bought the plan, I was, at the time, the only one with income in my family. So, since I was convinced I'd die young, I thought that my poor family would be in big trouble if I'd kick the bucket. Well, I'm still alive.

When Mama died, she didn't have any savings, any insurance, any money. Death is expensive. It's vulgar how people in the death business have taken advantage of the grief of families to shock them into paying tons of money just so their loved one can get a decent burial. Mama had a fantastic send off, but it cost a lot of money. I'm glad Vince and I had enough for the deposit, and then we were more glad that people gave Papa enough cash to pay for all the costs, even to cover what Vince and I shelled out. Thank God for all the generous people. I used to get annoyed when envelopes were passed around at work or at school when someone's somebody died. Until Mama died. Now, if anyone has a death in a family, I won't hesitate to give.

I know most of my readers are from countries where the government or their workplace provides generously for their medical and retirement needs. Well, that's not the case in the Philippines. So Vince and I checked for life insurance rates recently. Somehow the plans we both got six years ago don't seem enough anymore. Time to get more life insurance plans and to add memorial plans and pension plans and medical plans, too.

Darn. It's a gray day and I feel really old.

*photo used with permission from Free Foto.