TOPAZ HORIZON

Right now, the OK! International Conference is taking place at OK! magazine's headquarters at Northern & Shell in London. Northern & Shell owns OK! plus other magazines and newspapers. That huge blue building along the River Thames houses the entire publishing empire. It's impressive to me especially because Summit Media, where I work, has about 20 titles and the entire company occupies just two floors. 

Okay, so now that I'm back to my pre-preggy body (except for my jiggly belly and skin discolorations, yuck), I now have the online shopping itch... and I seriously need to scratch the credit card it. Regular readers know I love online shopping, the anticipation and--finally!--the delivery. I love ripping apart the plastic or stabbing at packages with a box cutter and then finally loving my new shoes/dresses/books/gadgets! It's much better than hours walking in the mall really. For lazy me, at least.

Now, thanks to an ad on Perez Hilton, I discovered ModCloth. The dresses there are to die for! Very Mad Men (anyone watching the current season? This show just gets better and better!). And since I know my readers are super stylish women, please help me choose from the following adorable dresses:

Soda Fountain (Ginger)

Soda Fountain (Grape)

Deuce Coupe Darling

Hepcat (Lemon Cream)

Hepcat (Black Licorice)

Well Red

Temporary Secretary (Summer)

Avocado Orchard

Periwinkle Prance

Red-y or Not

Black by Popular Demand

I only have budget for 4 dresses. Well, for maybe 2 or 3 really since I also still want a bag and a ring as a breezing-through-labor reward. So help me choose my new dresses please!

3 days old. Vito is still looking bashed up from the birth--cone head, puffy eyes--but he's still so adorable!

2 weeks and 3 days old. Vince and Vito getting some sun.

3 weeks old. Vito is attacked by infant acne. You know what cured it? Breast milk applied 3x a day. Doctor said so!

3 weeks and 3 days old. See? Infant acne reduced dramatically just 3 days after the breast milk application. Vito always sleeps with the iPad playing his sleepy music.  The iPad also saves me from boredom while I breastfeed him!

3 weeks and 3 days old. My little bobblehead's awake! Vito wears Tushy Wushy cloth diapers. Fantastic invention! Sometimes it lasts longer on him than disposables!

1 month and 1 day old. When Vito wakes from his afternoon nap, he's all happy, then fussy, then hungry, then sleepy. This is obviously the happy part!

1 month and 4 days old. Love that smile! Many thanks to Auntie Anj and Cousin Zo for all the nice clothes little Vito has!

Seriously, I grew up a sickly girl but these past 10 months, I've seen too many doctors and too much hospital (and handed over too much money!) for my taste. So we've finally given birth but that only means even more face time with another kind of doctor: the pediatrician. This is my family at the pediatrician two weeks ago:

Vito is one month old here! I'm still trying to lose the preggy belly!

Well, time to shop for a good health plan. I actually have health insurance courtesy of my employ but it's not the same as the one I grew up with. It's a huge shock to me since I had amazing health care growing up as the beneficiary of my Mama (she used to work in Meralco)--All medical conditions covered. All dental work covered. If the procedure is cosmetic, 25% covered. I used to go in and out of hospitals with not a peso on me and the insurance paid for absolutely everything. So when Mama died and I had to avail of the health plan at work... well, let's just say it's not the same.

So now that we have this fascinating young man in our lives, Vince and I need to get a good, solid, reliable Medicare plan. Soon. Do you have a health plan? What is it? Are you happy with it? Help!

Last week, I mentioned in my Facebook status that I believe I deserve a reward for breezing through labor and surviving the first month of motherhood. I asked my friends, "Bag? Shoes? Jewelry?" The resounding answer was jewelry! And you all know I've been lusting after a certain topaz ring!

But this week, PR company Visions & Expressions sent me the photos of the Fall 2010 collection of Marc Jacobs handbags and now I'm having second thoughts. Just look at these beauties!






I like these bags because they're classic. I'm really not a trendy girl. I tend to wear a lot of black and gray these days and my bags kinda are the same. Even my shoes have become more sedate! I just pile on the accessories like bangles and necklaces to make my look more interesting.

Anyway, Marc Jacobs really did want his latest collection to be very classic. I was told that "instead of trying to outshine his past distinguished extravaganzas, [Marc] came up with a rhapsodic, toned-down collection, a sound choice for today’s economic situation. Gone are the tassels and funky embellishments of last season’s bag collection. The only embellishments we’ll be seeing this fall are in the form of classic push-lock closures and attached padlocks... The simple, minimalistic shapes of the many purses highlight the luxurious materials with which these carry-alls were made."

Love them! There are many more styles--in quilted leather, metallic tones, and in vivid aqua. But no space, no space. So just check them out at the Marc Jacobs store at Greenbelt 4.

Oh, but there's this one bag that wasn't all about toned-down style:
Wabbits! Wacky! Whimsy! So... I love it, too!