TOPAZ HORIZON

It was the deadline week of OK!. The last week is always deadly for me and my staff but I made it more stressful by penciling in my OBG and facial appointments, too.

The pregnancy is going very well and my OBG prescribed these new vitamins that are so frakkin' expensive but are supposed to have all the vitamins and fatty acids and minerals my baby and I need. Then I also have to do birthing classes, a 4D ultrasound and the usual lab tests. Drain my blood away now, why don't you? It's a good thing the hubby and I have jobs!

So even though I'm already spending a lot on this pregnancy, I went shopping! Bought three dresses from Tango, a dress from Warehouse, sandals from Celine, new eyeglass frames (they're red!) and yet another dress from Kamiseta. It's so adorable! But I have to bring it to the seamstress because the shoulder straps are too long. Will have a decent photo taken as soon as that dress is ready.

Oh, and I bought a new cellphone, too, from the Big Sony Sale. It really is a big sale! I love my new phone. Had to buy a new one because my old Sony Ericsson is more than 5 years old and it's dying on me. Will write about the phone soon.

Oh, and I finally put the Facebook Like button in my blog! It's soooo cool! If you wanna know how, let the Third World Nerd teach ya...

And you can also join my Facebook fan page. I'm meeting a few "likers" tomorrow--they won my FB Fan Page raffle. So fun!

Last night, OK! managing editor Lana Chan and I attended the Sex and The City 2 premiere at Power Plant Mall. It was thrown by Solar Entertainment and I had a lovely time seeing old friends.

You see, unless my job requires me to go out (for example, to an advertiser's event), I haven't really been socializing since I got pregnant. Three reasons: I'm terribly sleepy, I had really bad acne in the first trimester, and I'm more susceptible to infections and diseases. When I got pneumonia, for example, that happened a week after I attended an advertiser's event. So I'm pretty much cloistered lately.

So last night was fun. There was a plethora of style--I had fun checking out dresses, bags, jewelry, heels, boots, hairstyles. Really, I think I've been cooped up too long! Thank goodness for Facebook (and this blog!), people I haven't seen in months (some, years) were not shocked to see me pregnant. We were all pretty much up to date with each other's lives!

I didn't go in the theater to watch the movie, however. I always seem to get sick when I'm in a crowded enclosed space! So I bid my friends buh-bye and went off to Sango to buy my yummy husband his dinner. 
Vince and I have always loved Sango's burgers, but after two pregnancy-induced nausea fits, we haven't had any. Thankfully, last night, my nose was cooperative! When I got home, Vince just also arrived from work (and he was soooo happy to see me! So cute!) and we had a grand time munching away happily.

So that was my night! How was yours?

Last week, Mariel made me the most delicious carrot cake in the world (read why in my Topaz Mommy post). Just look at it!

Yummy yummy yummy! Even Vince said it was amazing and Vince does not eat vegetable confections!

Then a few days ago, Nicole sent me red velvet cupcakes that she also baked for me! Wow! These were such a lovely and tasty gift.

Truth to tell, my OBG will send me off to get a colon cleanse if she ever finds out I've been stuffing myself with sweet stuff. Because, contrary to what people say, pregnancy is not the time you can eat anything and everything you want. This is the time to eat healthy and in small portions throughout the day. Which is driving me totally crazy because I want to eat, eat, eat all the sweet, fat and salty food in the world and I can't! That is why I am not a fat pregnant woman, by the way, because I am really trying to follow my doctor's strict diet regimen of vegetables, fruits and other yucky healthy stuff.

But how can anyone resist the goodies above? And the love of friends? I mean, they didn't buy those cakes--they baked them for me! Thank you, Mariel and Nicole. You are the bestest friends a girl can ever have!

*Mariel posted her carrot cake recipe! 

I don't believe it! I wasn't part of the hordes of women who watched HBO's Sex and The City but it was such a huge pop culture hit that I knew Sarah Jessica Parker, or rather, Carrie Bradshaw may have worn a different fabulous brand every week on the show but she used just one and only one computer on every episode: a Mac!


But for the upcoming movie sequel, Carrie will be typing out her thoughts on a--gasp!--HP Notebook.


Well, I'll be honest with ya--it's pretty much discombobulating. It's like watching Transformers and seeing Bumblebee is now a GM, not a VW! Weird. Hewlett-Packard's marketing department did its darndest to partner with the franchise (and successfully so) but I dunno. It's just not right!

The Mac is the computer designed for creative people--that's why we all have Macs at the editorial department (mine is a mighty impressive iMac). Macs are used by musicians, photographers, copywriters, art directors, fashion designers, writers. I really can't explain why (I'll let the Third World Nerd do that) but Macs just seem to be designed in such a way that creative people intuitively know what to do with it. I knew from the moment I switched one on that a Mac and I had something beautiful going on. It's like love!  

So writer and design-crazy Carrie Bradshaw and the Mac were just the perfect partnership. They made sense. But Carrie and HP? Hmmm. This I gotta see.

Of course, I'm not putting PCs down at all. I am, after all, typing this blog post on an HP Mini. I got a Mini because it was cheap. And I wanted to keep my computer-related stuff at home simple--surfing, blogging, photo storage, emailing, eBaying. I didn't want to take work home--which is what the Third World Nerd does, hence his MacBook Pro, iPad, iPhone. He has nothing against PCs, too, since he also used one for gaming and downloading. I chose a PC for home because I wanted my online doings at home to be simple, no fancy stuff. After all, that's the HP promise: The computer is personal again! But when it comes to doing creative things (from simple to heavy duty!), there's only one baby for that job: a Mac.

Read more about this shocking new partnership from Popeater and The Guardian UK.

UPDATE: It's not what we think! Spot.ph has the story here.

If you've visited my husband's blog lately, you'll know that we have an exciting new gadget in the house, which is driving the Third World Nerd crazy happy. He's so cute really.

This, of course, means we should slow down on the purchases with the impending arrival of Mr. Jelly Bean. Actually, that would be "purchases unrelated to babies" since I just got a list of stuff we supposedly need for a kid and that list is mighty long. I've already looked at how much things cost and am seriously upset.

For example, an Avent electronic breast pump is about P13,000 here, but if I buy from the US, it'll just cost me $140, or P6,200. Same goes for a lot of baby stuff--they're cheaper from online shops so I guess this means we'll use Johnny Air again.

We really really love Johnny Air! I think from now on, we'll buy our things from the US because Johnny Air ships absolutely anything and everything for an inexpensive shipping fee! We've already bought books and toys and gadgets and we really love the service. Although, we bought small and light stuff so maybe for big stuff, like a Sony or Samsung HDTV, we'll have to get from here!     

So there. Must save money now. And yet, I still want to buy this yellow topaz ring I saw in a jewelry shop last week. It's been haunting me every day! And we also saw these cute puppies for sale from Project Lightning!
Awwwww! Cute little critters! I can totally see my son with a beagle! Vince wants Jelly Bean to own a dog. Research has shown that children who had pets were more responsible, healthier, more compassionate and--this is the interesting part--were less likely to get pregnant/get someone pregnant out of wedlock. Well! That's a good enough reason for me! Thing is, we live in an apartment. With a rabbit. So maybe we'll get a beagle in 5 to 7 years' time, when we'll maybe live in a house with a big garden!


*breast pump photo from Philips online shop. Puppies photos from Project Lightning's Facebook page. Don't forget to "like" Topaz Horizon's FB page!