TOPAZ HORIZON

Now, to be honest with y'all, I may love blogging but nothing beats the smell and feel of paper and ink. And the best kind of paper to write down all your precious thoughts on are the Moleskine notebooks, legendary for being the notebooks that artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso and writers like Ernest Hemingway used. You can't beat history like that!

Vince and I are Moleskine addicts. Some of our friends know this and have given us Moleskine journals over the years. Thanks, my loves--these are truly the best gifts! Especially since Moleskines are so expensive! So now, I'm going to let my readers have a chance to own a Moleskine notebook!

Avalon.ph--that wonderful online shop for Moleskine notebooks, rare books and other collectible literature--is the generous sponsor of my contest. Actually, it's their contest and they invited me to partner with them. The annual contest is called the Avalon.ph Bloghopping Moleskine Giveaways 2009. This year, my blog has been picked to be one of the participants. Thanks, Avalon.ph ! For this week, Avalon.ph and I will give a Topaz Horizon reader a Moleskine Large Cahier Ruled Black Set of 3.Avalon.ph makes the contest extra special by throwing in a PHP 500.00 online Gift Certificate! You can use this GC for the many rare or signed books on the site. I've found a lot of books I like--they're quite pricey and so I envy the reader who gets this GC!

Here's what you have to do:

1. Answer this question in my comments box: "What is your favorite book and why?"
2. You may join as many times as you wish (only 1 book per comment!). One comment/book means one raffle entry.
3. Want even more chances of winning? Blog about this giveaway with a link to Topaz Horizon and Avalon.ph. Yes, you may grab the photos here. And yes, it can be just a P.S. or a little line. No need to be fancy! A blog post with links entitles you to a whopping 10 entries!

UPDATE! Please leave your full name with your entry. I can't announce "The winner is Anonymous," for Pete's sake! I can't also say "Anna won it!" If you don't want to leave your full name, then make sure you have a link to your blog or email address. I've deleted the entries with unidentifiable authors--and there were a lot of them.

Unlike my other blog giveaways, this particular contest is open only to Philippine residents, per Avalon.ph's request. On a side note, I'm so giddy I've been getting offers to sponsor my blog prizes. One day I hope to give away more expensive stuff, like iPods, mobile phones or even laptops (calling Apple and Sony--the brands I've given so much mileage in this blog!)!

Anyway, contest closes on July 29, 2009, 11:59 PM. I will then pick a winner randomly. The lucky winner of a spankin' brand new Moleskine notebook and a PHP 500 gift certificate will be announced as soon as I had my breakfast on July 30. So good luck everybody!

P.S. Don't trust your chances and you'd rather buy your own Moleskine notebook? Go to Avalon.ph and enter this coupon code upon checkout: topazhorizon. You'll get a 5% discount on any purchase of the Moleskine Large Cahier Ruled Black Set of 3! Yep, your being a Topaz Horizon reader has its privileges!

Vince and I sleep late—around 2 or 3 a.m. is the usual time we turn the lights out. After we get home from work, we play with the rabbits, we have dinner late, and have a long drawn out affair of talking about the day, the next day, and stuff we read about in the news or in the books on our bedside table. Then it's TV marathon time or a movie even, then feed the wabbits time, then sometimes dessert time. Then Vince cleans the kitchen (I cooked, you see) and it's his habit to put on our little blue kettle and brew some iced tea for breakfast.

Yep, we like making our own iced tea instead of relying on the convenient powdered ones. We have many kinds of tea at home.




And that's your peek into our bedtime ritual. Now I'm off to read Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Good night!

UPDATE: The wonderful Bucca just told me that the Japanese tea Vince and I enjoy so is called Genmaicha. Thanks, Bucca! You're a sweetheart!

Pink Notes Diary is so sweet. She gave me this Perky Blogger Award. I guess she thinks I'm perky. Gee, Pink Notes, you should meet me--I'm perkier in person, so much so people always ask me if I'm drunk or high. Anyway, Pink Notes Diary gave me yet another award--the I Love This Blog Award. Thanks!
I'm sending this award to my friend Mariel Chua, who just recently completed her 30-Day Blog Challenge. She was bent on blogging every single day for 30 days. Even I can't do that! She did it so well, too. Each post was well written. There's really no point in blogging every day if all one writes is crap and, believe me, there are so many blogs out there that are a pain to the eyes and the mind. So I am in awe at wonderful and prolific bloggers like NY Minute Now.

Another blog I enjoy now is Marie Calica's The Beauty Coach Is In. It's funny, witty and full of beauty tips and tricks. A joy to read. Marie, you are now the recipient of the I Love This Blog Award!

I have another blog I like--Fifi Lapin. Or Fifi the Rabbit. I love it because it's fashionable, clever, funny and its star is a rabbit! Unlike other rabbits--like my own two cuddly wuddly wabbits--Fifi is very slim. I guess that's how she can fit into those covetable sample sizes of the desgner dresses she's always wearing. Perhaps I should ask her advice for diet pills, er diet pellets, since my Galadriel and Matilda are super duper chubby!

I'm really enjoying these awards I've been getting. Thank you so much for appreciating this silly blog! Do tell me what blogs you enjoy reading. I'm always on the lookout for fab reads!

This is a post script of sorts to my Sony Vaio story. Vince and I were invited to the Sony Vaio launch last Tuesday and I was excited to go since Vince very rarely attends events. I was pretty keyed up to dress pretty for him and go on a "date." (I know I'm silly!)

Anyway, as party invitations are wont to do these days, Sony's invite said to come in elegant black. Everyone complied with the black part. As for the elegant bit? That's another story. I was a bit disconcerted--it looked like a funeral. Having just watched Michael Jackson's memorial the week before, it gave me the chills.I do want to say that my husband--in a crisp black long-sleeved Zara button-down shirt, slim black Levi's and sleek leather boots--looked quite yummy (sorry for the terrible photo!). Lesson here then is if you must wear a dour hue, make sure it's perfectly tailored and made of quality cloth.

The general opinion is black is a safe color (or non-color) and fashion magazines always tell you to have a little black dress in your closet. While this is true, black can also make its wearer look miserable and common so the lesson here is to choose a style that brings out your best qualities--the shape of your body, for example. One of my favorite LBDs is this H&M number, which I debuted on the colorful set of Juicy. It hugs me in all the right places so even though I'm stick thin, the dress makes me look like I have boobies and an ass!Black can also enhance the color of your skin. Yes, a deep rich black looks marvelous on most skin types--depending on the cloth, my skin looks very white or creamy with a deep black. Some blacks are grayish (makes me look sallow), bluish (makes me look deathly pale) or brownish (makes my skin look dirty). Put the cloth against your face to find out which black suits you. Also, since black is very somber, embellishments like beads, sequins, embroidery or prints can cheer it up.

Oh, and as you can see from above and below pics, another way to make black less serious is to expose skin. Lots of it! The seriousness of the color balances whatever you'd want to show off--be it cleavage, arms, back or legs.
At the Sony event, I wore my Jill Stuart dress with a full skirt and a delicate print of pale pink flowers. Here's a better photo (taken when Nikki and I were guests at Lucy Torres's show The Sweet Life):
It does not look funereal at all. Nikki also makes black festive with a spangly collar and a short hem. Wilma meanwhile chose a dress in silk chiffon making her look soft and feminine.

Wearing black isn't as basic as the fashion mags would have you believe. But there's no need to despair. Just keep in mind the following: cut and tailoring, cloth quality, style. And if this just frustrates you, well, I always believe a bright smile makes black less grave.

Want to learn more about wearing black? Look to Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. Both women have elevated wearing black to an art. Now if only their taste in men could improve...

Ladies, do you recall my poll on shoes some days ago? Well, my first shipment of shoes arrived last Wednesday! I'm super excited! I've gotten them all ready for my eBay store. Yep, my regular readers know I have an online business of sorts. It's just a fun hobby until Vince and I realized the hobby has bought us furniture and books and toys. Now it's a serious money-making venture (well, still a hobby since we do have full-time jobs).

So part of the reason I've not been blogging is I've actually spent the last two weeks clearing my cabinets of surplus inventory because I needed to make space for my new products--SHOES!

Here are four of the six styles I ordered:















Pretty! Sexy! I'm very excited! I really do hope the shoes sell. One of my Things To Do is to open a shoe shop. Vince thinks this is silly of me since he likens that to an alcoholic opening a bar. Haha! He has a point, though. I'm already thinking of keeping a few in my size!

P.S. I sell only through eBay.ph!