TOPAZ HORIZON

I'm looking forward to two things next weekend: my 34th birthday and our first family photo shoot with the Stork Studio. This means that I have to look extra extra good! On my To Do list:

• Go to Murad at Rustan's Makati for my acne treatments. I love Murad's facials! These were totally able to manage my pregnancy acne. But since giving birth, I haven't been back so my skin is all splotchy and pimply again. If you go there, ask for James to do your facial. 
• Go to Bench Fix in Robinsons Galleria and have my eyebrows shaped. I keep forgetting the name of the woman who does the threading but she is absolutely the best eyebrow shaper ever! I've been to Browhaus in Greenbelt 5 and to Lay Bare and my brows end up either too thin or the skin around my eye area get peeled/threaded off. Very painful. That woman in Bench Fix in Galleria is the best! Must get her name...
• Go to iLash at SM Hypermart to have lash extensions applied. I love long lashes but I have very sparse ones sadly. The faux lashes at iLash are fabulous and inexpensive!
• Get a mani and pedi so that my digits won't look like chewed up claws. I usually go to Let's Face It at Robinsons Pioneer. My girl there is Maricel. She never remembers me so when she does my feet and hands, she makes kwento the exact same things! Strange that I should remember her name whereas I always forget the Bench Fix girl's one... and she always remembers me!

That's it! Darn. Just looking at that short list tires me out! So this looong weekend, I'm going to just relax and enjoy my lovely family. That's the best beauty secret actually!

I used to be very efficient. These days, just thinking about the word "multi-tasking" already exhausts me. The other day, someone from HR called to remind me of some documents I need to submit so that my maternity leave will be officially ended. If I don't submit, no salary. In my former life, I won't even need to be reminded.

In my former life, I also spoke English very well. The HR guy said, "Will you be able to submit your requirements by tomorrow?" And I mumbled, "Uh, yes ma'am sir, I submit very soon tomorrow promise the clearance yes." I haven't submitted it yet. So I have no salary this 30th again!

There are errands to do, bills to pay, stuff to follow up... On top of all the important things are the beautifying ones (I need to have a foot spa and a manicure, a lash extension for prettier eyes and a facial to have blackheads extracted for a photo shoot with my hubby and baby!). I know this part's shallow but my husband likes it that I try to look good. He always says, "Fight it!" It being fat, flab, dumpiness and frumpiness.

What I do prioritize is the baby and the magazine. The house can fall into disarray and my hair can go uncombed but Vito and OK! have my full attention. Which then brings me to the wife role, which I have woefully neglected. Darling Vince has been very understanding. But I really have to snap back into shape! And I don't just mean my body...

How do you juggle?

Last week, OK! magazine had our staff shoot for the December issue. Here are a few outtakes:

I just won an Urban Originals' Facebook contest! All I had to do was post two links on their wall--one an Urbanog shoe and the other the designer shoe it copied. Easy! This was what I posted:

Valentino Couture Bow d'Orsay peep-toe pump $695

Miss Me Jocelyn Bow Tie pep-toe pump $23.90

And today I got this message:

And maybe next week or so, I'll use my prize! That gift card can buy two pairs of shoes if I'm lucky. And despite certain events recently that made me wanna scream my head off (and I did actually, last Wednesday. Sigh.), I do still believe I'm a very lucky girl.

Saw this on our office library shelf yesterday and I know I shouldn't read that cover story but I just couldn't resist. Now, after reading the article, I am freaked out!

Everyone says that what you eat and do while pregnant affects the baby, but this new science of fetal origins has discovered that everything, absolutely everything--from the air we breathe (most likely polluted) and the food we eat (which can harbor psychoactive drugs like L Dopa) to the stress we feel--truly can determine whether our child will be fat, have heart problems or be schizo.

Why am I freaked out??? Well, when I was preggers, I wasn't exactly religiously taking my prenatal vitamins and I ate a lot of fast food. I live right along the busiest highway in the city and pass a group of smokers every day when I walk to work. I watched World War II documentaries and crime stories on TV. I was juggling work, marriage, impending motherhood. In short, I basically lived!

Then I read things like that Time story. That motherhood guilt everyone warned me about just went into overdrive. Vito, forgive mama for living her life!