TOPAZ HORIZON

I promised I'd blog about it so before 2008 is done and I forget entirely... here it is!


The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is marvelous. Absolutely the best hotel I've stayed in in my entire life (see my TripAdvisor review). My darling husband and his sister, Lizelle, were bemused. Liz said, "Vince, you have to take her to Vegas!" And Vince teased me: "You're so easily impressed." Grrr.


I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and as I washed my hands, I can't help but feel a shiver at the mirror-mirror-on-the-wall and its eight faces. I'm not posting all their carved faces here but can you name all Seven Dwarfs?
This will sound silly but when I saw Cinderella (my favorite Disney character when I was a kid), I kinda melted. Vince told me to get a picture but I got shy. Argh.
We totally enjoyed the trip because we were all complete. Actually, we were all kinda dreading the trip. Imagine 6 young and very excited kids, a huge park... But we all had an amazing time! I loved how the kids loved it. Their excitement really rubbed off on me.
There were more than these three, I assure you. I took a lot of photos, squealing each time I found a Hidden Mickey. Finally Vince said, "You have more photos of those than of us!"
A lot of people complain that HK Disneyland, being on Lantau Island, is in the middle of nowhere. While it is indeed in the middle of nowhere, it's very easy to get there. A special MTR will get you from the city to la-la land in no time at all.

Ooops! Funnily enough, I don't have enough pictures of the park itself! I was wondering about that until I remembered I didn't like lugging about a big camera while on the rides so we left it in our room. The ones here are on the last day of our trip.

Oh, I had so much fun, I still can't believe it. Vince says HK Disneyland is nothing compared to the one in California, for example. I don't care! I'm planning to go back in the summer!

There you have it! Whew, this post tired me out, and I didn't even put up all the pictures! Anyway, this should be enough for you, dear readers, till after the New Year's celebrations! From our home to yours, we wish you a 2009 filled with joy, peace, love, friendship, wisdom, adventure... and magic!

My magazine's associate features editor Joanna Tuazon recently wed T3's deputy managing editor Elijah Mendoza. Since Vince and I are the editors of these wonderful magazines, of course we both had to go! It was a lovely day--the afternoon was cool and crisp, the beautiful bride was stunning, the groom looked like he can't believe his luck (click on the photo to see what I mean).

To Joanna and Elijah (or, in the tradition of Brangelina, the newly dubbed Elijo), congratulations and best wishes!

This Christmas was fantabulous. For a while, we worried we wouldn't be giving away gifts because of the terrible credit card theft last month. But God is good! Not only did we receive a ton of gifts, but we were also able to give a whole lotta material love!

Exhibit A: This push cart filled with 7 huge bags of gifts. I spent an entire two days wrapping gifts but gave up and just piled everything into paper bags.

Exhibit B: We took this photo at the parking garage and as we piled the bags into the truck, we said, "Eat your heart out, Santa!"

Our families were so happy. Truly, while Vince and I enjoyed all our gifts, we delighted more in giving. Really! I'm not trying to be cute here. A thief almost ruined our Christmas--we almost didn't want to give any gift at all since all we thought of was the expense. Then we kinda overcompensated in our attempt to fight that fear. And, to our surprise, we really enjoyed seeing everyone's face light up.

Here we are at the Sales family dinner at White Plains. Since Vince and I don't have kids yet, the niece and nephews were an adorable substitute.

Here we are at the Amper Noche Buena at Antipolo. We almost didn't celebrate Christmas, too, because this is our first Christmas without Mama. But we actually had a wonderful time just being together. We miss Mama of course, but her absence made us cherish each other more so that really made Christmas more meaningful.

I got a ton of gifts! And I always love the cards that go with them. I read the cards before I rip off the wrappers, chortle or squeal over the gift, fold away the wrappers, pile up the gifts, then I pad off to bed with my Christmas cards and read them all again before I sleep. Happiness.

Then the Internet happened and I got eCards! I love these:


Oh, and I even got my very first blog award! And I am thrilled to bits! I've always wanted one, actually wanted to campaign, even beg for one (or two or three), but always stopped myself from total embarrassment. But I won't shy away now! I love my Lemonade Award from the dearest darling utterly creative blog Lovely Purses! Thanks, Duni. I appreciate the award.


Thank you all so much! Merry Christmas and God bless you!