TOPAZ HORIZON

I'm a certified Vince's Life fan. I want to say I'm the #1 fan in the entire world (I do have reason to be *wink wink*) but when I Googled Vince's Life, well, there are some pretty devoted fans out there who can quote entire passages from this romantic trilogy!

I betcha my 13th month pay (yes, I'm actually still officially employed) that these fans will freak out once they find out that Summit Books has released the second edition of Vince's Life. Edited by Vince himself and featuring new book covers by Boizei Malicdem, this new edition will thrill once more with the heart-melting story of how Vince found and lost and found love again.

My favorite book is the last one, The Wedding. Everyone likes the first book best because that's when Vince and Andrea fall in love, get together and break up. But for me, it's The Wedding that really made me swoon. It is the most mature, most committed, most romantic story. Plus, it's the best written. Of course, before you can appreciate the last book, you must read the first two first! So grab the entire trilogy!

Each book is just P175 and is available at all bookstores. So the three books is just P525. For such a great story, it's super affordable! Best gift to give to the girls in your life—daughters, cousins, nieces, wives, mommies, girlfriends. So they know how a real man loves and how they should be treated and what true love really means. Grab your copies now! Mwah!

I discovered Craft MNL on my Facebook feed. One of my Facebook friends took a crafts lesson and I clicked on her photo and that's how I decided I wanted to take doll-making lessons!

Now, I had thought that we'd be given blank dolls and then we'd just decorate them. But silly me, it wasn't a doll-decorating workshop—it was a doll-making workshop! We made our dolls from scratch! Here is my photo essay of my very first doll creation:

It all starts with handfuls of this. I forget what it's called. Let's call it stuffing! Wads and wads of this!

I made the head.

Here's the neck.

The yarn marks the eye and temple area.

Pins and needles! Yards of yarn!

That's our teacher, Jac Zapatos, a wife, full-time working mom to a toddler, and a doll-maker! Follow her crafty blog, I am handmade.

This is a really soft cloth. It's my doll's skin.

Stitching away.

Not very neat. Sigh. I haven't stitched in years!

Stuffing the limbs with more stuffing!

Head, arms, body!

Slim legs! The doll looks better chubby actually but since it's MY doll, I made her thin.

Skinny like me!

Closing up seams.

Pins mark the eyes. Then I satin stitched the eyes.

Making the hair with red yarn. Because I'm a redhead!

Super cute! She looks like me!

Tada! Our pretty dolls!

I forgot to tell you about this!

My life is surreal. First, Rissa Mananquil Trillo then Lucy Torres Gomez. Now Cecile Zamora Van Straten. I have only met Cecile thrice in my life and all those times involved food. The first time was the opening of Pepper Lunch at Power Plant and she personally attended to our table, showing us how to cook our food. The second time was at Cibo Greenbelt 5, when she sent over dessert for my friend Kate who was eating dinner with me. The third time was at Via Mare, when we all had merienda with author Samantha Sotto and then Cecile offered to take me and my son Vito home. There's always food with Cecile! That's why when I think of Cecile Van Straten, I think of food.

Yes, I am deriving pleasure from typing their full names. It's my way of convincing myself that important people read my blogs because I still can't believe it!

Thank you so much to everyone who take the time to visit Topaz Horizon and Topaz Mommy. All of you inspire me! God bless you all for the encouragement and support. Mwah!

UPDATE: Four times pala! The last time I met Cecile was at the launch of Magnum ice cream bar and we were surrounded by trays and trays of Belgian ice cream and coolers upon coolers of Magnum. So food pa rin!

The magazine was already about to run in the printers when I saw Kristen Stewart in that lace gown. It was a dress that made everyone either love it or hate it. I, for one, loved it. Absolutely loved it! Loved that it was so polarizing and arresting that it deserved a cover. So I called the printers and was able to make my dream come true for the second time when I trilled, "Stop the presses!!!" and replaced the cover with KStew.

Oh, to be in your 20s, with milky white skin, with long lithe limbs, and an A-list status! You could frakkin' wear the most ridiculous outfits because on anyone else, people would laugh at how stupid you look but when you're young and perfect, you can get away with anything and everything. Yes, from nearly nude gowns to having "momentary indiscretions" with a married man with young kids!!!

So tell me—is Kristen Stewart's gown the best gown you've seen this year or the worst? Personally, I actually liked it. Her sartorial picks this year made the entertainment editor in me giddy with pleasure. She was always wearing buzzed-about outfits. As for her personal picks, and by that I mean her life choices, they ain't so hot. So for me, KStew is this year's best dressed but worst decision-maker. The kinda star an entertainment magazine adores!

The December issue of OK! Philippines is filled with all things terrific and terrible. TV, movies, music, red carpet gowns, trends in fashion and beauty... You name it, it's in the December ish!

Sorry I had to make them smaller! In the previous extra-large format, you can actually read the Best of Beauty list! Oops. Grab a copy na lang haha

We have Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, for our royalty fans. We have our much-anticipated Best of Beauty List, our tried-and-tested and most recommended products for the year. We have the coolest gift-guide fitting for the stars in your life. Very very proud of this issue!

Which also happens to be our last.

Yes, folks. After almost 8 years, OK! Philippines is turning its very last page. We couldn't keep up with the lightning speed of the internet and the celebrity blogs like Perez Hilton and Just Jared. While I love all the instant news, my heart is breaking because I love magazines and I'm sadly a witness to its death.

Last week, Vince and I attended the biggest and most fabulous blogging summit in the country—Blogopolis! Presented by Nuffnang, the conference dealt with topics such as how blogging truly is the new media, how to keep coming up with great content, how to turn your blog into a brand, how to engage your audience, how social media helps market your blog, what advertisers look for in blogs and bloggers, how to turn your blog into a real money-making machine, and the trouble with that troublesome Anti-Cybercrime Law. Then there's a party at the end of it. So comprehensive! And all that packed in one day!


I wanted to be there the whole day but I'm a mommy so I can only be a few hours away from home. I figured that the most applicable to me right now is how to attract advertisers, what kinds of services can I offer clients, and how I can turn my blog into a brand. So I just attended the afternoon session.

This dapper guy is Liam Capati. He's the media director of Starcom. That means he gets to say where the ads go. That means we shoulda gone up to him and said hi! See all those logos behind him? I want all those brands on my blogs and Twitter campaigns. Liam, if you're reading this, please make my wish come true! So far, I've worked with Meralco, Sun Cellular, Coca-Cola and McDonald's. That means I'm on their radar!

Actually, I got a big surprise when Liam mentioned that my parenting blog, Topaz Mommy, is a good example of a well written, well done, well branded blog. I knew Topaz Mommy has great writing (of course!) but I didn't know it's already seen as a brand. I must be more aware of what I'm doing!

That's Carlos Palma, executive director of Havas, with Liam. They're talking about numbers. Basically, what they're saying here is your blog doesn't have to be as huge as Yugatech or Chuvaness. Of course, a large readership is great but it's more important for advertisers to be associated with good blogs. So what matters to advertisers?

• The blogger's personality. Is she engaging? Does she make readers feel like they're her friends? Is her personality strong enough that she stands out in a sea of bloggers? 
• The blogger's influence. When she recommends something, do people try it? Are her blog posts shared, her Tweets reTweeted?
• The blogger's authority within her niche blog market. Does she know what she's talking about? Is she an expert in her field?
• The blog's good reputation. Your blog may be popular but if it's too negative or controversial, brands won't want to work with you. 

Now numbers. When is a blog big enough to make advertisers sit up and notice? Well, here's the thing: Because of the long tail statistical distribution, it doesn't really matter. Let's say Brand X has P10 million to spend on a campaign. Media buyers are in charge of distributing this budget over various media. So TV gets a chunk, so does a few print publications, and some big bloggers. Let's say P6M went to that. The rest of the money, which is still a hefty P4M will now go to a group of smaller bloggers and social media influencers.

That's where we come in. The more, the merrier because Brand X wants to be talked about. Sure, the money isn't as big as the one that goes to traditional media but considering that blogging is just a fun hobby for most of us and not a job, any income that comes in is amazing!

Now the good news is with blogging and Facebook, bloggers are getting a bigger and bigger chunk of that pie while traditional media's slice is getting smaller and smaller. So if you're asking me, "Should I blog?", I only have one answer: "Hell, yeah!"

Now, I did say that blogging is usually just a hobby for most bloggers but when your hobby becomes huge and starts taking up most of your time, Abe Olandres, Nuffnang's Country Manager, says it's time to make it a brand and a business.
Abe says there are many ways to make money from your blog. Display ads, sponsored posts, paid links, affiliate sales, co-branding and partnerships. I've done all of the above, except co-branding and affiliate sales. It's good money, y'all. But not enough. That's why I'm focusing on making the blogs bigger next year. It's top priority! I want to earn as much as some of my blogger friends! They earn much higher than I do as a magazine editor!

Besides, people already think of me first as a blogger. Then they remember my day job. It's an afterthought. So I might as well make blogging the day job, right? We'll see if this plan pans out!

Speaking of people thinking of me as a blogger, here are a couple of readers I met at Blogopolis:

Roxi of Mr. Jacob's Mom. She's so sweet! She's like my top blog commenter. I should give her an award!

Chrissy of Changing Nappies in High Heels. I always run into Chrissy everywhere!

Next year, if Nuffnang holds another Blogopolis, I'll stay the whole day. Why? Because we won the grand prize this year—an iPad Mini!!! But since mommy-to-babies duties and my breastfeeding boobs dictate my schedule, we couldn't stay and so we lost the prize! It's okay, it's okay. What I've gained from Nuffnang and Blogopolis is worth much more than an iPad Mini. Chos!