A blog reader corrected a couple of posts I wrote. Upon review, yep, I did make some grammatical mistakes. Tee hee. Thanks, Darce, for spotting the errors!
Remember when I said that I'm so grateful I hired staff who are better than me? Well, that's why OK! magazine is fabulous. My features editor Joanna Mendoza is such a grammarian! She's taught me and the rest of the staff a lot! Yesterday, over merienda, she whipped out a style guide for all of us to refer to (yes, while we were eating and gossiping!). For example, did you know that it's always an 's when you refer to a singular possessive even if the noun ends in s? So in my last post, when I said, "photo from Chuvaness' blog," that is incorrect! It should be "Chuvaness's blog."
There's a host of other rules that I won't bore you with. I will confess that I did get bored at yesterday's grammar session and just flippantly told Joanna, "Well, my rule is if I like how it sounds, then that's what's correct!" Oh, such a beeyatch I can be! It's a good thing Joanna and my staff have taken to treating me like a spoiled brat (meaning they ignore me when I throw tantrums like that)!
To be fair to me, I'm quite a fabulous editor. I'm a better editor than writer actually. That means when I look over other people's work, I can spot very quickly what's wrong and what's right. But when it comes to my own work... well, let's just say I don't like looking at it too much! That's why I love having Joanna, Elaine and Lana on the OK! team.
So, to my dear readers, if you spot an error--spelling, grammar, fact, usage--do alert me. Truth is, this is my blog and I usually just type away without thinking, unlike when it's for work where I really focus. Why? Well, aside from the fact that it's work, our editorial director Jo-Ann Maglipon once barked at us, "If you have more than three mistakes in your magazine, just go kill yourself!" Since I don't plan to take my life anytime soon or ever, I do take extra care with my work!
My husband edits me sometimes when he deigns to drop by this blog of shallowness. He's also forever correcting my pronunciation. I'm Bisaya so my spoken English and Tagalog can be, uh, weird. For the longest time, for example, I thought it was blah-tant (blatant), jew-dorant (deodorant) and picha (pizza). Oh, the humiliation! I'm so glad Vince is so patient with me. I'm much better now!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 09, 2010
Wow.
Chuvaness is holding a contest over at her blog and the prizes for this particular one are outright spectacular!
She's giving away these Kamiseta suitcases packed full with the most amazing goodies: from beauty products and fashion finds to computers! There's bags and jewelry, too. And thousands of pesos worth of gift certificates and discounts to restaurants. And if that makes you fat, you also win weight loss supplements and a gym membership. How crazy is that???
Man, I wish I could give away prizes as insane as those in this blog. I will be giving away some beauty products over at my beauty blog and I've been giving away stuff at my Facebook page but nothing approaching the prizes of Chuvaness! Sigh. I wish I can make my readers just as excited. I'll have to make this blog bigger and more popular then so I can attract contest sponsors! Wish me luck!
*photo from Chuvaness' blog.
Man, I wish I could give away prizes as insane as those in this blog. I will be giving away some beauty products over at my beauty blog and I've been giving away stuff at my Facebook page but nothing approaching the prizes of Chuvaness! Sigh. I wish I can make my readers just as excited. I'll have to make this blog bigger and more popular then so I can attract contest sponsors! Wish me luck!
*photo from Chuvaness' blog.
Pretty ladies all in a row
Last week, I went to the 75th anniversary party of Lancome. It was a very chi-chi affair, lots of French people, French wine, French food, French music... Too bad I'd forgotten my French! All I know now is "Bonjour!" and "Bonsoir!"
I'll talk more about the event in my beauty blog--that's where I usually put my beauty news and reviews on everything from lip balms and face creams to fashion events. But I just wanted to show you all the lovely Hollywood celebs that Lancome has signed up to endorse their luxe products:
What I love about Lancome's image models is they're not conventionally pretty--Julia's mouth is too wide and her nose is too narrow or Anne's eyes and mouth are huge--but they are still astonishingly beautiful because they believe they're beautiful. That's a great truth we women must all embrace!
I also wanted to show off my gorgeous friends, Nicole Delos Angeles and Nikki Mercado.
These two girls are always dolled up. Always so fab! Me, I try harder now (I explain here why!) and it's really much harder now--what with all the swelling going on, the heat my pregnant body generates, and just how exhausted I feel all the time. But let me tell ya, when you really put an effort into your looks, you really do feel better! So be pretty!
I'll talk more about the event in my beauty blog--that's where I usually put my beauty news and reviews on everything from lip balms and face creams to fashion events. But I just wanted to show you all the lovely Hollywood celebs that Lancome has signed up to endorse their luxe products:
Isabella Rossellini
Kate Winslet
Anne Hathaway
Julia Roberts
What I love about Lancome's image models is they're not conventionally pretty--Julia's mouth is too wide and her nose is too narrow or Anne's eyes and mouth are huge--but they are still astonishingly beautiful because they believe they're beautiful. That's a great truth we women must all embrace!
I also wanted to show off my gorgeous friends, Nicole Delos Angeles and Nikki Mercado.
These two girls are always dolled up. Always so fab! Me, I try harder now (I explain here why!) and it's really much harder now--what with all the swelling going on, the heat my pregnant body generates, and just how exhausted I feel all the time. But let me tell ya, when you really put an effort into your looks, you really do feel better! So be pretty!
Thursday, July 08, 2010
How I make my garlic bread (it's easy!)
Vince cooked his super special spaghetti with tomato meat sauce last weekend. Yes, if you've been following this blog, you know my husband can cook! Anyway, whenever he prepares that, he asks only that I make garlic bread, and I'm going to share with you my super duper easy way of doing it!
Third, rub the garlic on the entire surface of the toasted bread. The now-rough surface acts like a grater and the raw garlic gets into each tiny crevice. This smells wonderful.
YUM! Now this is such an easy way to make garlic bread! This recipe sure beats my Papa's way of making garlic bread. When I was a kid, he'd make me chop up tons of garlic and then mix the smelly mess into a tub of margarine, which I'd have to spread very quickly on hot bread. The garlic almost always falls off and then I'd get scolded for not chopping the garlic finely enough!
Enjoy making and eating this!
First, toast some slices of bread in the oven.
Second, slice a garlic clove in half.
Third, rub the garlic on the entire surface of the toasted bread. The now-rough surface acts like a grater and the raw garlic gets into each tiny crevice. This smells wonderful.
Fourth, spread creamy golden butter on the bread slices
to seal in the garlic.
to seal in the garlic.
Fifth, slice bread in half and serve immediately.
Enjoy making and eating this!
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
I used to have more time
Last weekend, Vince and I turned the house upside down, cleaning, fixing, weeding out junk and basically making space for our baby boy, who's due next month. While cleaning, I found these in my cluttery mess:
Yep, these are thank you cards I made myself. In another lifetime, I used to start Christmas shopping by July (I took advantage of the mid-year sales), wrap all the gifts with carefully picked out wrappers by October, and send them out by November to early December.
December is when I start creating the thank you cards. I'd spend a week just designing the card, choosing the right heavy paper, finding new craft materials, slicing up the paper with a sharp cutter, then putting everything together. The glue takes a day to dry (which means we'll have to eat meals in the living room as the dining table is temporarily the drying table) and then I'd spend a a couple of days before New Year's Eve writing personalized thank you's and addressing each card. I'd usually make about 50 cards this way.
Looking at the cards I unearthed, I marveled at all the effort I put into them and remarked to Vince, "My goodness, look at these cards!" And Vince said, "Yes, you used to make them. I loved that about you." And I said, "I used to have more time..."
No, I don't make cards anymore. In fact, I don't even write thank you cards anymore. I just send a text message now, or leave my appreciation on Facebook walls. I just don't have the time anymore! I'm just too busy. But that's how I like it.
When I was 13 years old, I picked up my very first copy of Cosmopolitan US edition. I had read magazines before--Time, National Geographic, Reader's Digest were piled up abundantly in our home--but Cosmo was the title that made me go, "I want to be an editor-in-chief of a magazine one day!"
I became just that 16 years later. By then I had outgrown Cosmo and had developed a fascination with all things Hollywood so OK! magazine was just a dream come true. What I didn't realize was dreams can eat up so much of your life, whether you're making them come true or they already are true. It's actually better now--in the early days of OK!, there were times we didn't go home, we didn't eat, we didn't sleep. Putting together a magazine is a lot of hard work. People just see the glamour; they don't see the stress.
The great thing about dreams that have come true is you love and enjoy them anyway. The work is worth it. I know that Vince prefers those days when I had more time for him--I'd cook dinner every night, we'd go out often alone or with friends. But because he knows I've had this dream since I was a kid, he respects what I do and even encourages and pushes me to do better. He understands me.
But now a baby's coming, and a baby won't understand why his mommy isn't there 24/7. While a lot of women will easily give up their careers for their family, that thought just gives me a drowning feeling. I can't imagine not working. Of course, no one said I have to give up my job, but I'm scared that if I'm successful at my work, I won't be a great mom. And vice versa. Well, it's been said, "You can have everything, just not all at the same time." I want to be good at everything I do! And I want to do a lot! Good luck to me then because the next 20 years will definitely be a challenge!
Yep, these are thank you cards I made myself. In another lifetime, I used to start Christmas shopping by July (I took advantage of the mid-year sales), wrap all the gifts with carefully picked out wrappers by October, and send them out by November to early December.
December is when I start creating the thank you cards. I'd spend a week just designing the card, choosing the right heavy paper, finding new craft materials, slicing up the paper with a sharp cutter, then putting everything together. The glue takes a day to dry (which means we'll have to eat meals in the living room as the dining table is temporarily the drying table) and then I'd spend a a couple of days before New Year's Eve writing personalized thank you's and addressing each card. I'd usually make about 50 cards this way.
Looking at the cards I unearthed, I marveled at all the effort I put into them and remarked to Vince, "My goodness, look at these cards!" And Vince said, "Yes, you used to make them. I loved that about you." And I said, "I used to have more time..."
No, I don't make cards anymore. In fact, I don't even write thank you cards anymore. I just send a text message now, or leave my appreciation on Facebook walls. I just don't have the time anymore! I'm just too busy. But that's how I like it.
When I was 13 years old, I picked up my very first copy of Cosmopolitan US edition. I had read magazines before--Time, National Geographic, Reader's Digest were piled up abundantly in our home--but Cosmo was the title that made me go, "I want to be an editor-in-chief of a magazine one day!"
I became just that 16 years later. By then I had outgrown Cosmo and had developed a fascination with all things Hollywood so OK! magazine was just a dream come true. What I didn't realize was dreams can eat up so much of your life, whether you're making them come true or they already are true. It's actually better now--in the early days of OK!, there were times we didn't go home, we didn't eat, we didn't sleep. Putting together a magazine is a lot of hard work. People just see the glamour; they don't see the stress.
The great thing about dreams that have come true is you love and enjoy them anyway. The work is worth it. I know that Vince prefers those days when I had more time for him--I'd cook dinner every night, we'd go out often alone or with friends. But because he knows I've had this dream since I was a kid, he respects what I do and even encourages and pushes me to do better. He understands me.
But now a baby's coming, and a baby won't understand why his mommy isn't there 24/7. While a lot of women will easily give up their careers for their family, that thought just gives me a drowning feeling. I can't imagine not working. Of course, no one said I have to give up my job, but I'm scared that if I'm successful at my work, I won't be a great mom. And vice versa. Well, it's been said, "You can have everything, just not all at the same time." I want to be good at everything I do! And I want to do a lot! Good luck to me then because the next 20 years will definitely be a challenge!
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