TOPAZ HORIZON

Post-partum update: It's been three months since I gave birth. The skin discolorations have nearly all faded away. The tummy is still a bowl of Jell-O but smaller and firmer now. The stretch marks are there (forever) but I find that I can live with them after all. What's freaking me out is the dozens of hair strands on my pillow, in the shower drain, on my brush, at the back of my shirt, and once on poor breastfeeding Vito's face! I hate post-partum hair fall!

Then again, even before I got pregnant, I've always had a problem with my flat, thin, prone-to-falling hair. Stress! As Claudine Barretto complains, "Hate na hate ko talaga yung nakikita ko ang buhok ko kung saan-saan nakakalat!" Claudine, I feel ya.

Now because of my job, I get to bring home dozens of haircare products. I've tried a lot of shampoos targeted towards hair fall but so far none has helped. Well, L'Oreal's kiddie shampoo Tendresse did but it's such an expensive shampoo that I don't think I can use that again. Inquirer's beauty director Ria Francisco Prieto says someone sent her this icky black herbal soap that helped with her hair fall but since it didn't have a name, she doesn't know where I can buy it.

Vince and I have our haircuts done at home. Call Shuji Kida-trained Michael at 0939-888.7860.

Sigh! My fellow women, especially mommies, how did you deal with your post-partum hair fall? Did you cut your hair really short, take supplements, eat something different, get scalp treatments, use a fabulous shampoo, or did you just cry it out???

I know that hair fall is a common problem with us women because I came across this website, BlindTest.com.ph, that reports a survey on women's hair problems. Nearly half of the women said that it's hair fall that troubles them most. The site also says (teasingly and maddeningly!) that there's a shampoo that can prevent hair fall (yep, 91% of the women surveyed said so!) but that the big reveal will be on Nov. 28 and that we'll have to wait to find out what this mystery shampoo is. Meanwhile our hair will keep falling!

Hmmm... I think I already have an idea what the shampoo is, and I'm just basing it on the blindfolded woman's nose and half-smile, but I won't put my guess here because I may be mistaken (although I'm pretty sure I'm not!) and then I'd get embarrassed. My fellow blogger friends have the same bet. How about you? What do you think this amazing hair-fall solution is?

I'm losing my hair. Just look at the top of my head!

I hope it's a real solution. The amount of hair I find everywhere is alarming. Even my yaya says to my son, "Hay naku, si mama mo nakakalbo na!" Cry cry cry!

Well, will commence as soon as we pick up our Rock Band 3 cymbals and keyboard this weekend! Oh yeah. The Third World Nerd and I have been haunting all the gaming shops for weeks now and they all have no Rock Band 3 instruments! Major fail! So we bought ours online.

Soon after that purchase, I got tons of Black Friday sale emails. Argh! Black Friday sale is a huge electronics sale in the US of A right after Thanksgiving. What's Thanksgiving? It's an American holiday that involves turkey, pumpkins, pecan pie, cranberries and, oh, thanksgiving! So anyway. The huge sale. Maybe we should've waited? A little itsy bitsy part of me wished we had waited until I realized that Rock Band 3 is super new and no way would it ever be on sale. So I'm happy!

I may be gone from the blogging world for a while, okay? It's time to rock!

And this year, it looks like it's going to be so much funner!

Looking like they swallowed some very effective diet pills, the Victoria's Secret Angels are back (minus Heidi Klum)! And I think I spied the newly married but always naughty Katy Perry in the vid. She must be this year's music artist! Will she be in lingerie, too? Ooh!

I'm sooo glad we have HD TV! But I think we should go for the 3D TV next year!

Since I was a wee little lass, I have always been moved by movies that showed the drama and urgency and excitement of a publisher screaming, "Stop the presses!" I always thought, "One day, I'm going to do just that." I have always always always dreamed of doing that.

Last week, as I watched the news channels trumpet the happy news of Prince William and Kate Middleton's engagement, I felt my blood quicken as I realized that the December issue was at that moment queued at the printers, ready to be printed in thousands upon thousands of copies with the wrong cover. "This engagement," I thought frantically, "This engagement is THE cover! I have to stop the presses!!!"

So I did.

Thank you, royal lovebirds.

Friends, go grab a copy now!

Since giving birth to Vito Gwapito, I really don't go anywhere far from my house. Sleepless nights have made me look and act like a zombie so I don't look very presentable most days. My goodness, when will I ever have a good night's rest again--maybe when Vito's 18? Argh, that's a whole set of worries by then and I guess I'll have to resort to some potent sleep aids to get any rest at all. Readers who want to have babies, be warned!

Anyway, the real reason I don't venture far from the house anymore is because I breastfeed Vito. I express milk but there's not much milk that gets expressed (only about 3 oz a session) so even if I have a few bottles stored, I still get paranoid that Vito will drink all the milk while I'm away and then he'll starve. Ya, I'm crazy stupid like that.

But last Friday night, I was able to steal away for four hours to go shopping with my girlfriends Nicole and Nikki at the newly opened Kiehl's boutique at Mall of Asia (more on that soon at Beauty For A Living). Let me tell ya, it was soooo nice to just chat away with the girls. From silly things like Topshop finds and yummy things like traditional Thanksgiving dishes to really serious and sad stuff that I won't talk about here.

Instead I'll talk about the light and fluffy! Like my outfit! Woot! Outfit post! Now when was the last time I did that?! Anyway, I am wearing my Gap shirt, my Guess skinny jeans, my black suede peep-toes I bought from eBay and my Fino bag.


If you're wondering why Nicole has her hand in that begging pose, it's because of this:

Freaky! Nic just came from an acupuncture session, a regular treatment she does that really helped her health. I've only done acupuncture once, as a last resort to a terrible cough that lasted for weeks and wouldn't go away whatever I did and no matter how many doctors I saw. So off I went to a Chinese clinic, had a detox, an acupressure massage, an acupuncture session and a total physical diagnosis using magnets. I was half laughing and half coughing the entire time. "This is crazy shit," I said to myself. But that night, my phlegm loosened and by morning, my cough was gone. Gone!

So I've digressed from my story! Anyway, I'm just glad I was able to go out. Being a mom is all about giving, giving, giving. It saps the life out of me sometimes. So it's good to be able to steal away now and then and just recharge. I should do it more often actually. Vince has been complaining about my temper recently. Sigh.