best gift ever

love.

10 fun things to do with a lenovo laptop

10 do "fun work" (ie, facebook and blog-hopping)

9 update my blog (which you've been "forced" to visit because of this contest, thanks!)

8 store and photo-edit the vanity shots i take using my bf's phone camera (he doesn't get FOTDs and i bet neither do you)

7 play PVZ (still addicted, even after the platinum trophy, cos the Endless levels are awesome)

6 keep in touch with long-distance friendships via email and YM

5 organize all my media (even though they may never quite make it to my Zune)

4 find new recipes on the internet then file them in OneNote

3 do "real work" (the earning part is fun, at least)

2 look "sosyal" while sipping coffee at starbucks

1 read the YugaTech blog for the hottest gadgets i want/need/hope to afford

this is, of course, assuming i win the Lenovo-YugaTech Laptop Giveaway. :)

disclaimer: all photos sourced from the internet using Google Images.

misconceptions

umm, that's not me.

when asked about my height, i prefer to dodge specifics and simply reply that i'm "cute-sized". even now, i'm often mistaken for a high school kid and i expect to look in my 20s by the time i hit 40 (but that's mostly due to good genes, my aversion to sun exposure, and a ton of moisturizer). i don't mind; it's actually kind of flattering sometimes, particularly when my much younger sister was asked where she was working and what course she'd taken in college while she was in high school.

what DOES bother me (and makes my blood boil) is when people almost literally size me up and decide that i'm too young or inexperienced or incapable of doing something just because i'm tiny. unless i'm trying to become a circus giant, size shouldn't and doesn't matter. besides, i'm like a multi-tool: multifunctional AND portable!

i guess this is why i'm immediately drawn to the Lenovo IdeaPad U160. it's unimposing with an 11.6" display, barely there 2.75 lbs and playfully designed exterior. you can almost mistake it for a slim purse, until its specs blow you away: Intel Core i5-470UM processor, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HM55 HD and 500GB hard drive for the 08945KU model, which i'm eyeing. in red, of course!

the tag says: beneath that thin, sleek exterior awaits a speedy, powerful mini-entertainment machine. i really love the "speedy" part; god knows i have the patience of a three-year old, and it sucks when you want to work faster than your laptop can keep up with. and a "powerful" system is necessary for a multitasker like me.

looks can be deceiving, and it seems that this baby delivers beyond expectations. after all, good great things come in small packages. ahem! this is my official entry to Pinoy Tech Blog's Great Laptop Giveaway, the details of which you can find here.

contest alert: makeup talk's guerlain giveaway

~pretty!~

Makeup Talk is giving away this gorgeous Guerlain Beauty Coffret palette which includes: a Fard A Joues Blush, four Fard A Paupieres Eyeshadowz, a Lengthening and Curving Mascara, Poudre Pour Le Visage Face Powder, and two Rouge A Levres Lipstick. the contest runs until 27 December 2010. click here for details!

contest alert: goodies from all made up & emerald sparkled

the goodness never ends. :)

do you know what these are?

until recently, my concept of nail art only involved drops of polish swirled with a toothpick to create flowers. when i rediscovered the blogging world, i found more than a couple of blogs written by nail polish addicts. :) one of them, Deniz of Emerald Sparkled, has been sharing many fabulously designed nail art creations on her blog and now she's offering her readers the chance to try them out themselves. online nail art supply store Born Pretty is sponsoring her christmas giveaway: five $20 coupon codes that'll let you enjoy these goodies for cheap! see the details here.

do we even have these here?

the cold weather has made my lips into a dry, chafed mess. as much as i love the human nature lip balm i got from lizz, it doesn't seem to moisturize my lips enough (and my boyfriend is wary about borrowing tinted lip balm). hopefully, these sticks from All Made Up's giveaway will do the trick. :)

i ate at: cafe juanita and dome cafe

my friend has been scarce in manila for the past few months (or year) so when she asked to have dinner with us, the boy and i quickly said yes. i had a major-major (hehe) craving for Cafe Juanita's corned beef so we ended up at its new, swankier digs in pasig. we were too hungry to take pictures of the well-lit, rather eccentrically decorated interiors but at least C remembered to shoot the food before we gobbled them down. :)

Tom Yum soup

contest alert: christmas goodies from skysenshi and click & make up!

i find it so difficult to believe that christmas (and the new year!) is just around the corner. tempus fugit, time flies. 2010 has definitely been an exciting year for me: moving out, living on my own, exploring the metropolis with my bf, rediscovering the blog world, and being the lucky recipient of some pretty cool giveaways, including this little beauty here:

Missha BB cream and the lip palette i was lusting for!

i'm looking forward to continuously improving myself, physically and career-wise, come 2011 so i'm hoping that this treat of a planner will help keep me in track and on the move. :)

the BDJ 2011: the cover sure looks familiar...

like so?

Bea, the Skysenshi, is giving away a Belle de Jour planner and a Navi planner to two fortunate souls who will then have to waive all rights to making excuses for forgotten birthdays and running late to appointments. seems like a good deal to me (i'm a sucker for the coupons alone), so if you feel like joining, head over to this link for details.

meanwhile, Kat of Click and Make Up is having another giveaway: the Urban Decay Book of Shadows, Vol. III! that was cool enough by itself but look, the palette lights up!

i love NYC!

as ever, the palette has a whimsical design involving skyscraper pop-ups and lights from the city that never sleeps. i visited New York when i was 11 and even after i did the whole themepark thing in Orlando, NY is still my most favorite. back to the palette, i really like the bright blue eyeshadow (Radium) at the bottom left. glad it comes with a primer; i'm not confident about foiling and i'd love to try the much-raved about UD Primer Potion. hop over to her site for details.

wear do you work?

i was traipsing around makati this morning, where i had an interview with some nice ladies at the lepanto building. because the traffic has swelled horrendously since december arrived, i slept over at my folks' and took a short jeepney ride to paseo de roxas. no biggie, except i was wearing something that hugged all my curves, even in the wrong places. :p

no, i refuse to post a full body photo. this alone is incriminating enough.

disclaimers: i have never used a butcher's knife in my life. not because i'm scared to but because i have my bf do the dirty work for me (ie, chopping up crispy pata into dainty, bite-sized bits). also, the belt was pilfered from my sister's closet.

this piggy went to market

i forced myself to wake up early yesterday. a friend we hadn't seen for a while asked to meet up with me and the boyfriend for a long overdue food trip at the Salcedo Weekend Market in makati. the things i do for a good meal! <grumblegrumble>

wouldn't you believe it? traffic was heavy on EDSA despite it being an early saturday morning, stalling us for almost an hour. we were starving by the time we reached the market--and our friend had already left to take her mom home. :( fortunately we were able to find parking almost immediately, and i made a beeline for this:

Wagyu beef shawarma

healthy sunning

remember that Baz Luhrmann song "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)"? we've all quite taken it to heart, with the growing number of sunscreen variants and makeup with SPF. but did you know that you need some exposure to get a healthy dose of vitamin D? here are some interesting and informative diagrams i found in my Lifehacker feed today.

review: human nature love minerals

Love Minerals collection: foundation, two blushes and sheer lip balm

i've been trying out some of the goodies i received from lizz's contest, but i gave most of them to my mom. the foundation cake shattered in two though, so i tried to "fix" it with some alcohol, as suggested by some bloggers.

contest alert: giveaways from aurora's nails and marie a la mode!

last christmas, i made quirky gift tags with a rather cheeky message:

it's true, ain't it?

future furniture planning

long weekend, yay! i finally got to visit my dentist (and have my brackets replaced) this morning. i'm sporting silver-colored bands which are less obvious and won't turn noticeably yellow, if at all. i really should go more regularly but her home clinic in pateros is not easy to get to.

just relaxing at home now, surfing the net and watching the PCCL games on tv (i'm rooting for those falcons!). i somehow ended up at the smart parenting website and my home-decorating itch started up all over again. how could i not with these beautiful, multi-functional pieces?

photo from the SP website

christmas is trickling in!

while we don't celebrate thanksgiving, i've had more than a few reasons to be extra thankful. with all the blog giveaways, i've been extremely lucky to be the recipient of two prizes. last week, an eyeshadow palette from khymm made its way to my tiny collection. with the arrival of today's package from lizz, it's my turn to spread the spirit of giving.

the Pose, Preen and Pamper prize!

do we have this here?

i haven't visited any of the korean cosmetic shops that have been slowly mushrooming around the city. heck, i have a skinfood product without having even seen any of its stores here. but i'm curious about Missha in particular because of what i saw here:

photo from Musings of A Muse

so, people who've made the pilgrimage to the Missha store in SM North Edsa, do we have this here? i'm smitten by its crayon-like type because it doesn't look as intimidating as Revlon's Just Bitten lip stain. :)

contest alert: emerald sparkled's eyeko polish giveaway!

oh, this cool! i didn't know Eyeko makes polish, too. i've only heard about this brand from some beauty bloggers who swear by their graffiti eyeliner pen (which i should look into because this dip-and-line thing is not working for a newbie like me).

deniz of emerald sparkled just finished with her 1000+ giveaway but eyeko offered to sponsor another one: 6 lovely polishes of your choice of shades! awesome!

see contest details here. eyeko has a limited number of choices but the colors are all quite pretty. :)

i recently asked deniz if she had any tutorials on how to apply polish neatly (i make such a mess!) and she referred me to a video made by another blogger, asami of nails by asami. i was browsing through her blog and she's done some really amazing nail art including this one of totoro, which is my favorite so far.

okie, i'm gonna go try my hand at painting my nails all proper-like now. :)

the i-need-sleep look

i've been pretty short on sleep these past two days. my insomnia doesn't usually bother me too much but i had to wake up (earlier than usual). made me think to use the time i spent in front of the mirror this morning should have gone to a few extra minutes of snooze but, it can be faked, right?

actually, i ended up sleeping through lunch and had just woken up here. eep, oilslick!

you've got mail

all the way from cebu

when i was a little girl, i made my papa play The Sound of Music on our Betamax player EVERY NIGHT. i would only agree to go to bed after the "So Long, Farewell" song had been played. the song about snowflakes, woolen mittens, copper kettles and crispy streudels didn't relate too well with my own list of favorite things (tropical country, hello!), except for one thing. (oops, two, counting the kittens.)

contest alert: emerald sparkled's giveaway

gorgeous! i particularly love the gold ones.

it's only recently that i realized how blogging connects people from all over the world. i've followed blogs by folks from other countries before, but like most readers, i didn't really get to interact with the writers. i'm not really the type to go about commenting on every post but i haven't missed reading any since i started using google reader.

anyhoo, some blog-hopping led me to Deniz's Emerald Sparkled blog. i wonder if my name is like the french version of hers? she's the first person i (sorta) know from Turkey, which i think is pretty awesome. i'd always liked the idea of having friends from other cultures, only to realize we aren't that much different after all. :) <let's all join hands and sing "it's a small world after all", lol>

are you in the pink of health?

this is an article i wrote for The Medical City' patient magazine. click on the photos to enlarge. :)

cleaning up

finally, a blog theme that works perfectly!

i had to change the design because the typefaces kept getting mixed up and i really don't feel like going through xml with a fine-toothed comb (i'm not THAT web savvy). pity though, i liked the retro feel of the previous design. at least the new one relates better to my blog name.

now, to figure out web font embedding.

here's my current LSS to keep you amused:

put some vodka on it!

disclaimer: this post is NOT dedicated to a certain vodka-tonic-loving friend of mine who blogs for this website. though it may prove beneficial to her just the same.

contest alert: all made up's christmas giveaway

here's another generous giveaway from Joy of All Made Up (Belfast, UK): Too Faced Pixie Pin-ups eye collection, TF Shadow Insurance, Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara, Urban Decay loose pigment in Graffiti, MUA eyeshadow in shade 4, Urban Decay matte eyeshadow in Electric, MUA eyeshadow in shade 11, Too Faced Diamond lip gloss in Lilac, Urban Decay lip stick in Indecent, Urban Decay Ultraglide lip gloss in O, Collection 2000 Hot Lights lip gloss in Star, and Collection 2000 blush in Bashful. <phew! that's a lot!>

it's so girly and pretty! there should be a fairy flitting about here.

contest alert: click and makeup's giveaway!

i discovered this blog earlier while clicking around from another blog. owner Kat O (from London) wanted to celebrate her 150 followers count with some gorgeous giveaways, and by the time i checked, the number had already spiked to 322! well, i couldn't resist these myself.

EXTREMELY generous, don't you think?

no, really?

i enjoy reading online: it's click after click of all the information you want (but not ever actually need). i'm just a wannabe techie-geek but i recently taught a friend a few tricks for using the google chrome browser. among all the cool extensions to make web surfing easier, i'm particularly fond of the ones i use to manage the many blogs i follow. considering how sporadic blogging can be (particularly my own), here's a better way to checking blogs for updates:

contest alert: phoebe's sweet november giveaways

wow, it's been one contest after the other in the beauty blog world! i'm not complaining, of course; i still have my fingers crossed in the hopes of winning something. :)

the latest fairy godmother of prettifying goodies is phoebe, the blogger who actually convinced me to try skinfood's salmon corrector because of this post. she also provided links to other reviews so i felt i was making a very informed purchasing decision! as it turns out, i can no longer leave my apartment without dabbing a bit on.

goodie bag #5: shampoo & conditioner set for oily hair from The Body Shop + hand cream from Mineral Flowers + Charm kabuki brush + apple Lip Ice

the art of being thankful

today is the 27th wedding anniversary of my parents. there are no celebrations, though, the way we haven't celebrated in the past 13 years. it feels odd, given that one half of the couple has not been with us for a long time. i don't mean to post a sob-story so early in this blog's lifetime but it only seems fitting to pay tribute.

while surfing the net a few weeks back, i came upon liz b's contest for human nature giveaways. to join, one had to write a post on what they were most thankful for. while i knew right off the bat what (who) i wanted to write about, it took me awhile to put my thoughts together and when i greeted my mom this morning, i finally understood what it was that i was really thankful for. so, this post (also) serves as my entry to i draw for a living's october giveaway.

contest alert: shopcoholic's birthday giveaway

wow, so many october celebrants! and here i am, still working on my entry for another contest. :(

88 metallic eyeshadows palette!

i'm giddy! reminds me of the thrill from a new set of paints or box of colors that i used to get as a child. now, we have grown up toys to play with! i've been intending on adding to my e/s collection (i have less than 10 and they're all neutral, haha) and this would make such a lovely addition. it's only recently that i understood why my mom had such a collection of eyeshadows, lol.

addicted to sushi cat!

it's so cute and fat and squishy!!! you can not resist!!! <squish here>

eat all the sushi!

bounce, bounce, bounce

must.become.fat!!!

how to: make the perfect potato chips

from fugly to yummy

there are two secrets to creating the perfect potato chip. first, the oil should be scalding hot. as in, third-degree-burns hot.


second, you'll need one of these:

kyocera mandolin with adjustable ceramic blade

contest alert: skysenshi's missha giveaways (part 2)

perfect cover bb cream and six-color lip palette from missha

rae's cousin skysenshi has one more set of these babies to give away! the next draw is on the 30th so better get on the bandwagon soon! joining is easy. she says:

Become a member of Skysenshi's Hermitage by liking the Facebook page so that you can...

Like this photo of Missha Mini 6 Colors Lip Palette & Perfect Cover BB Cream. This way, I can easily collect your names and run them through the randomizer, which will cough up the winner.

FYI, missha isn't available locally. it would be *sweet* to win these babies!

review: skinfood salmon dark circle concealer cream

meet cousin fuzzy

since childhood, i've had the very bad habit of rubbing my eyes when they feel itchy or irritated. i don't do it as much anymore because i wear contacts but when i take them off at night, i launch into an eye-rubbing frenzy. i read somewhere that this nasty little habit of mine can lead to broken capillaries (tiny blood vessels surrounding your eyes) and causes the area to look bruised.


my under-eye circles have become even more pronounced lately because of my allergies. it's just my luck that my apartment is also home to all sorts of dust-bunnies (despite frequent cleaning! sob) and mold (it gets very damp and sunlight never gets in). after being kept up at night by coughing fits, i wake up to blue half-moons that make me look like a raccoon's cousin.

contest alert: skysenshi's missha giveaways

rae's cousin skysenshi is giving away a six-color lip palette and bb cream from missha! i'm totally into trying this brand as many beauty bloggers have been raving about it. i'd particularly love to have that lip palette, my pale face needing a pop of color. joining is easy, too! she says:

Become a member of Skysenshi's Hermitage by liking the Facebook page so that you can...

Like this photo of Missha Mini 6 Colors Lip Palette & Perfect Cover BB Cream. This way, I can easily collect your names and run them through the randomizer, which will cough up the winner.

yay yay yay!

i ate at: yutaka izakaya

"are you hungry?" he asked after greeting me with a kiss.


"did you bring me breakfast?"


"sorry, no."


we drove to the uerm hospital in sta. mesa to deliver the final art and collect payment for the project we'd just finished.


"where do i wait for you?"


"look for that hole-in-the-wall japanese place i was telling you about. it's on the other side so make a U-turn somewhere after CCP."


"CCP? isn't that far---"


"central colleges of the philippines."


"ah. see you later."

the eternal beginner

i first saw this symbol as a tattoo on agent scully's back during my x-files craze days in high school. the Ouroboros symbolizes the continuous re-creation of the self. it seems apt to start here, two blogs, one livejournal, and a wordpress later.


hello again, blogosphere!