TOPAZ HORIZON

This has got to be the hottest Christmas season in living memory.

Whenever I hear that traditional song, "Malamig ang simoy ng hangin," I feel...

Oops. Totally forgot to do Topaz Fashion! Too many things happening on my side of the world. I had planned to be completely work-free from my last day of employment till my baby Iñigo turns a year old in May. Had promised myself, "You've been working too hard for the last 14 years. Take some months off. Hell, take a year off!" But I find myself working still on many new projects!

My father-in-law calls it inertia. I've been working non-stop so I will find it almost impossible to completely stop. So since the last day of my employment (Nov 15) to exactly one month later, I'm still as busy as ever.

Well, to be completely technical, I'm still officially employed. My last day as editor-in-chief of OK! magazine is end of working day today. So today is the last day I will promote the December issue!
Please grab a copy! It's the very last issue! It's a collector's item!

Today is also my very first day as a newspaper columnist!

My columnist's photo shot by Sara Black.

An entire spread! My first column is about Sara Black and her new book, We, Love.

It's a childhood dream, folks. When I was around 12, I listed down what I wanted in life: to be an editor-in-chief of an international title and to be a columnist in a national daily. That's it. That's all I wanted in life! And now I can add columnist to my resumé! So thrilled!

I also managed to take photos of outfits I wore when I remembered that I have Topaz Fashion on this blog. Here they are:

Plains & Prints denim zip-up dress, Charles & Keith sandals, Cuzo nylon tote

Shoot and interview outfit. This is also my default breastfeeding outfit. Actually, whenever I bring that Cuzo bag, that automatically means I have Iñigo with me. I had an interview and photo shoot to go to for Circuit magazine. I wrote the cover story on Iza Calzado. I wanted Iza to meet her nephew so I brought the baby. Oh, and also I know from experience that shoots can drag on forever so breastfeeding mommy me needed the baby along!

Missoni sweater dress, orange VNC sandals, Gucci shoppers tote

Photo shoot and girlfriends' day out. This was when we shot Sara Black for my column. When you do a photo shoot, you have to be as comfortable as possible. But I got stuck in traffic and the shoot ended while I was in the cab so I detoured to my friends' party in Red Box Greenbelt.

This dress is actually nice on me when I was chubby. It's a knit dress that's supposed to ride on my hips and butt with the hem ending mid-thigh. But I bought this when I just gave birth to Iñigo so I was fatter then. Now that I've lost all the weight, no more hips and thighs to hold on to so the dress drops straight down and looks baggy on me. Maybe I'll sell it on eBay because it's really too big for me now.

K & Company dress, Kenneth Cole peep-toes, Longchamp clutch

Nuffnang Country Manager's dinner for talents. This was on Wednesday, 12/12/12, the day Congress voted on the RH Bill. I wore purple to signify my support for the bill that finally finally finally passed! Like the previous dress, this one is also loose on my body. So sad because I really like this! I'm losing too much weight, I think.

Anyway, Nuffnang is planning big things for 2013, hence the dinner. It was nice to meet the Nuffies and the other bloggers. I'm really excited to do more work for Nuffnang's many clients!

K & Company dress, Zara ballet flats, Longchamp clutch, Charles & Keith sunnies

Visit to Acqua Iguazu site for a sponsored blog post. I love love love this dress! Perfect red dress. Anyway, I was supposed to use my Kate Spade black leather tote but all my essentials were already in my clutch so I just grabbed it. I'll try to be more coordinated but I tend to let convenience trump coordination!

Whew. And that's the life of a freelance writer for you—busy but still stylish (or at least attempting it)! Hope you enjoy the weekend, dear readers! Don't forget to grab OK!'s December issue and today's Manila Bulletin!

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!