I Blog, Therefore I Am.

Been hoping to blog about my latest beauty buys for the longest time. Here's what's keeping my face happy in the last few weeks. I am not really into make-up. I've been fortunately blessed with a proportioned nose, lips and eyes that doesn't need too much cover save for the occassional zits every now and then. But I am becoming a li'l bit girly recently so I decided to to update my stash with these:



I bought the Shimmer Square in Cashmere Pink above from The Body Shop. It has four pallettes of velvety shimmering powder that can be used for eyes, cheeks or face. You can blend colors together with a brush to create highlighted cheeks and face, or use a blusher brush to apply just one color at a time as a blush. For eyes, use an eyeshadow brush to apply individual colors. Since it's shimmery and may be too much for everyday office use, I usually put on powder right after the blush application to lessen the shine.



Make-up brushes are investments. This one from The Body Shop is really good in applying blush, bronzing, shimmering powder products and sculpting cheekbones. This is definitely a must for all blush-on-lovers. It can also be washed after prolong period of use.



I also bought the Mini Brush Kit above to compliment my new Blusher. It's very portable and it has the mini-versions of the other make-up brushes from Body Shop. It has the Blusher Brush, Eye Shadow Brush, Slanted Brush and Lipstick/Concealer Brush.



Here's a product that came all the way from Korea. I am not much of a believer of Korean Beauty products but this one is really really good and refreshing. They are called masksheets and it has several variants depending on your beauty needs. I initially bought Collagen (for hydration) and Pearl (for clearer skin). Each is less than 100 bucks but has to be used 2-3x a week for effective results. Each product contains one sheet that you must put on for 15 to 20 minutes. I already tried Pearl and it was really refreshing. It also gave me glowing skin the morning after I tried it. It's from The Face Shop with branches in Glorietta, SM MOA, etc.

The best beauty find which I can probably share is Girl Talk. Girl Talk is the on-line community of Female Network (online site of Summit Publishing) which provide insights, reviews and suggestions for beauty, fashion and health woes. Been a member for the longest time but I don't have the time before to browse and post at their very good and informative topics. Answers to every girl's problems are all there! :).

One of my cousins, Gen, will be getting married next month and we threw her a very nice and hilarious bridal shower at The Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas last Friday. Since I am one of her Bridesmaids, I helped her Maid of Honor in inviting my other cousins to attend the party. Most of my cousins were busy or out of the country so it was only, me, Ate Ja, Ate Jing and my sister-in-law, Chay, who were able to attend. We were joined by eight other friends of Gen from Church, former officemates from GSIS, and friends from UP. We really had a fun time even if most of us are total strangers from each other.

The night started when I met Gen at the lobby of LKG Tower where she parked her car. She and I were actually just a building apart from each other - she's at the Multinational Bank Building where her Tupperware office is and I am at the Smart Tower - yet we haven't found the time to have lunch or meet-up because of our busy schedule. It was very traffic last Friday so we had a nice time updating each other with stories of our lives. We talked about the wedding, her Fiance Nonie, work stuff, childhood memories and a whole lot more.

We arrived at Richmonde around 8:30 pm and we were greeted by her friends, yummy foodies, the usual phallic bridal shower cake from Kink Cakes, and fantastic decors of her Sun, Sand and Sea shower party theme. We were required to be in beach get-ups but I instead had a "bright and shiny" aquamarine top. I also learned that Gen was supposed to have a beach wedding last summer but she opted to have a garden wedding instead since she changed jobs this year and pulling off a summer beach wedding is near-impossible. The sun, sand and sea theme stuck a little to the final wed plans since we will all be wearing blue and yellow gowns with brown accents.



Here's the BRIDE!


Gen and her friends


We feasted on salad, breads, hams...and the ever present "cake"

My cousins and the rest of Gen's friends arrived around 9:30 pm and we immediately started the games thereafter. Olga, Maid of Honor and organizer/host of the party, asked us to wear sun nametags which we drew pictures on and wrote an adjective that describes us. I drew a laptop and the word "excites". Rule is Gen cannot call us by our names but just the adjective word we wrote in our cards. We also cannot mention her name, the word wedding or her Fiance's name or we will get consequences - ranging from dance numbers, singing, etc.



Long Live The Unicorns!


My Sis-In-Law and I

Since Gen is a Statistics graduate from UP, the rules of the games were also mathematically and mentally challenging. It's not the usual bridal shower games taken from the Internet. Our nametags were numbered and games' groupings were based on it. Some were the usual "all even/odd numbers should be grouped" but it got funny (and harder) when the rules called for "numbers which are factors of 30", "all prime numbers", "square roots of 25" etc. Kindda hard for Math-unfriendly people like me!

The first game is the Bridal Scrap Book Game where we created pages for Gen's wedding scrapbook. Each team were given themes and ours was "Honeymoon". Chay's team won because theirs is the cleanest and the most precise. Boring. Ours was very colorful and crazy. Yeah, I am very competitive even in silly games like this.



Jelyn browsing some magazines


Team Courtship


Team Honeymoon


Team Family

Next was the Haiku Game where we were given sheets of paper to describe Gen by creating Haiku for her. Yeah, Haiku, as in 5,7,5 syllables in 3 stanzas! Whatever happened to "Design a Bridal Gown in Tissue Paper?" This was definitely the most "intelligent shower" I've been. Forget strippers, we aim to learn here! :)

Third game was the Paint Me A Picture Game where I superbly led my team to victory through various actions which Cherrie guessed all correctly.



Paint Me A Picture

We truly had a lot of fun. There were also a lot of singing and dancing coupled with cheers and laughter.


Dancing To "Pamela One"...


...and "Telephone"


Ate Jing singing Christian Bautista's version of Lupang Hinirang

One of the night's last activities was the usual gift-giving, sharing of advices from the married women (uh, you know what I mean) and wishes from all of us. Mine was at its emo best when I told Gen that I am happy that she found THE ONE while most of us is still searching and refusing to settle (yeah, I made it all about me!)The best gift definitely came from Hannah. She got Gen some Edible Underwear! We all took turns reading the "instructions" and taking pictures with it. The night ended with the bride thanking all of us and retelling her wonderful lovestory with Nonie. Awww!



The Blooming Bride


The Edible Underwear - the night's best gift!


Best Wishes, Gen!
See you all at the wedding!

It was really a very very fun night. It's been a while since I got together with my cousins. I cannot wait to spend more time with them in the coming months - with the wedding and Christmas just around the corner. Of course it's evitable for me to realize that Gen's wedding will surely put a great pressure on me since I am the next single remaining girl among us (there are 8 of us and 6 are already married). I actually told them that I will bring a scoreboard to the wedding and will take points on how many relatives will ask about the state of my individuality (read: singleness). Damns. More pictures at my Multiply site.

Barely a week before the much-awaited Season Four premiere of Grey's Anatomy, ABC featured this new music video dedicated for it (just like The Fray's How To Save A Life last year). This time it's Mat Kearney's Breathe In, Breathe Out. It's nice, upbeat and very Grey's Anatomy. It's also featured as one of the tracks at Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack, Volume 3 which was released a few days ago. Mat is no stranger to Grey's since it already featured four of his songs on several past episodes. One of them is my favorite, Where We Gonna Go From Here.

Here's the the MTV with some snippets from last season and next week's premiere. Credits to Grey's Anatomy Insider, as usual.



BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT
Mat Kearney
Grey's Antomy Soundtrack, Volume 3

Breathe in, breathe out
Tell me all of your doubts
Everybody bleeds this way, just the same
Breathe in, breathe out
Move on and break down
If everyone goes away, I will stay
We push and pull
And I fall down sometimes
And I’m not letting go
You hold the other line
Cause there is a light in your eyes, in your eyes

Hold on, hold tight
If I’m out of your sight
And everything keeps moving on, moving on
Hold on, hold tight
Make it through another night
In every day there comes a song with the dawn
We push and pull
And I fall down sometimes
And I’m not letting go
You hold the other line
Cause there is a light in your eyes, in your eyes
There is a light in your eyes, in your eyes

Breathe in and breathe out
Breathe in and breathe out
Breathe in and breathe out
Breathe in and breathe out

Look left, look right
To the moon and the night
Everything under the stars is in your arms

Cause there is a light in your eyes, in your eyes
There is a light in your eyes, in your eyes
There is a light in your eyes, in your eyes

Here's also the primer on Grey's Season Four premiere episode:

A Change is Gonna Come
Thursday, Sep 27 at 9/8c

Having just returned from her honeymoon with Meredith, Cristina searches for Burke, but he's nowhere to be found. Meredith, Cristina, Izzie and Alex spend their first day as residents with their own groups of interns - among the interns are George, repeating his intern year after failing his exams, and Lexie Grey, Meredith's half-sister whom she has never met. Now that Derek's relationship with Meredith has reached an emotional impasse, he looks to his fellow doctors for friendship; Bailey wrestles with her place within the hospital now that her former interns report to new Chief Resident Callie; and Richard resumes his position as Chief of Surgery.

Fall's Premiere Week starts on Monday, September 23. Private Practice, Grey's spin-off with Addison leaving for LA and signing up at her friend's Oceanside Wellness Center, will start on Wednesday but I am already downloading its never-before-aired Pilot episode which I learned from Mindy's site.

Can't wait, can't wait! :)

I am blogging at the salon. Can you believe it? I am the only one I know who actually brought laptop to a place of beauty, relaxation and pampering. I am having my hair rebonded and the whole treatment and procedure is five friggin' long hours. I've always been a multi-tasker and I know that I will be bored out of my wits if I will just read the fashion and beauty magazines that are scattered all around the salon. Since I will finish at 9:00 pm I decided to do my work budget assignment which is due tomorrow. I am actually dreading it but I have no choice since the review is coming soon and I know that I will all be sleepy and tired by the time I get home.

I am so so OC about my hair. I am not really a kikay vain girl but there are two "unforgivable" things for me: unruly wavy hair and unwanted facial hairs. My hair have not always been good and I often have the "windblown" look even without the wind. I had it short for most of my life. It's very wavy and growing it beyond the shoulders will surely bring in fly-aways and semi-curls. Then came the breakthrough of hair relax and hair rebonding. I succumbed to it, of course. I first had it in early 2001 and I had my hair grown since. I usually have my hair straightened, relaxed or rebonded at least once a year. I've been toying the idea of getting a Digiperm (big curls at the ends) for quite some time but chickened out the last minute. Classic LONG straight hair is still the way to go no matter what the beauty magazines, the trend or your man says. I know I am biased but that's just it. Trust me. I have proof and evidences. :)

~ Abbie's Post, September 9, 4:00pm

~*oOo*~

NOW TIME. TWO WEEKS AFTER.

I so so so love my new hair! In my 5 years of hair treatment and pampering, I must admit that there were also a few misses but THIS current one (fortunately) is not one of them. I've tried so many salons and parlors and where I had my last one is truly one of the best. I had my first rebond with them last year and the repeat two weeks ago (see above paragraph). I am truly a very satisfied customer! It's been two weeks since the treatment and it looks so good and so natural now. The first few days are really awkward since it resembled a mop and I had icky feeling all over since I was not allowed to wet it for three days (I was a rebel so I showered after thirty-six hours). I actually don't like the lifeless, super straight hair in the shampoo advertisements. I want it straight and fine but with natural body and bounce - and that's how it looks and feels now! I am so deliriously happy about it. I've also been receiving lots and lots of compliments for it. Yay!

I got the salon package that includes keratin, cellophane treatment and a foot spa which is actually price-friendly. Drop me a line in my comment box to know where is my secret happy place! :) One good tip: pray for gorgeous hair. Sounds weird but I seriously do pray whenever I do something with my hair. Its not called crowning glory for nothing. Try it! Very effective and with guaranteed great results!


P.S.
I have lots to blog about! Please come back in a few days. Been really busy with our budget preparation and review for '08. For the meantime, check out my Multiply for some pictures.

Where are you last January 19 and 20 of year 2001? I definitely know where I was!

I was at the EDSA Shrine with thousands of people who chanted "Erap Resign!" repeatedly with raised fist. I did not join the revolt because of "the party that was EDSA" unlike majority of the yuppies and students who were there for the bragging rights of having participated in the biggest street party of the decade. I went to the rally because I actually care for the well-being of the nation (back then, anyway). Before I became an apathetic-to-the-world workaholic slash frivolous blogger, I was actually someone who enjoyed current events and was involved in national issues. Erap was one topic I was truly passionate about.

Erap is probably the worst thing that happened to the Philippines (well, next to Marcoses, I suppose). He's the epitome of a chauvinistic Filipino male. He's lazy, a hard-drinking womanizer, a "bolero" who applied street-smart in legislations and, of course, an ultimate selfish thief who engaged in corruptions. I was appalled the moment he was elected President (Voters, what the heck are you thinking?!). How can someone like him represent the Philippines?

I was still in Honda during the EDSA Dos days. Our office was located at The Salustiana Towers in Paseo de Roxas which is just a stone throw away from Ayala Ave. Unknown to many; I often spend my lunch breaks in those days at the organized rallies by the Civil Society leaders held every Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Shrine that called on Erap’s Resignation. I even bought several black shirts calling for his dismissal in various designs. I was really into the whole hoopla.

The product and result of those rallies leading to the EDSA Dos ouster of Joseph Estrada will have its dramatic conclusion tomorrow as Sandiganbayan, a special Philippine court that has jurisdiction over cases of graft and corruption of public officials, sets its promulgation on the P4.097 billion ($89.06M) plunder case (gambling payoffs, tobacco tax kickbacks, and falsely declaring his assets) and minor charges of perjury on the former Philippine President. The Ombudsman filed the case to the court three months after Erap was overthrown from the Palace.

It took Sandiganbayan more than six years of very long legal battles before reaching tomorrow's historical verdict. I read a summary of timeline of the trial at today's issue of Philippine Daily Inquirer and I must say that the prosecution really did a good job in presenting their case. The defense, though headed by the great Rene Saguisag, had a very laughable defensive strategy by discrediting the witnesses of the prosecution instead of focusing at the issue on hand. They even had once a demonstration conducted at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas stating that P130 million in cash would not fit inside the four boxes that were described by Chavit Singson that Dante Ang gave Erap as payola. They said that that the boxes can only contain P80 million. Duh? P130 million and P80 million is friggin’ the same when we are talking about corruption! What are they thinking?

The verdict must be and should be guilty! Is there any doubt that he did NOT do it? Yeah, lawyers and judges may argue all day with their motions and pleas, but at the end of the day we all know that he did it! That's the friggin' bottom line. They said that a call for acquittal is getting stronger by the day because of Anti-Gloria factions. BUT we must remember to put issues in separate baskets. Gloria will have her day if she is not careful. But tomorrow is all about Erap and the sins he committed to the Filipino people. Gloria is just a collateral damage/benefit (depends on which side you are) to Erap. A lot of politicians are expecting "grey area" verdicts like non-conviction of plunder but convinction due to corrupt practices (which is a lesser offense) or guilty verdict but lesser jail time. Well, in the please-everyone-and-all-you-want culture of the Philippines, any "grey" is possible.

But, as for me, Erap is GUILTY! Think about it. Think about the rotten years we endured under his leadership. Think about the taxes he robbed from us. Think about the high lifestyle that The Ejercitos are continuously living despite the growing number of the marginalized. Think about all the half-meant Erap jokes you have forwarded all these years. Think about Clarissa Ocampo and her bravery.

Think about yourself and the fight and the principle you stood for at EDSA Dos!

SMART Tip
Know the judgement LIVE! Guilty or not guilty? Text ABSLIVE to 2366 to watch the special live coverage of the Estrada Verdict. P20.00/day and P15.00/30 minutes video streaming fee. Only from SMART, the leader in wireless innovations. :)

I rarely do endorsements on my blog. I usually just mention here or there where I buy stuff and that's it. But this post is an exception. For there's one label that is definitely making me giddy and happy lately – Dorothy Perkins.

Dorothy Perkins has almost all type of clothing needs for the average working woman. It's all there! Whether it's for classic or stiff corporate office wear, Casual Fridays, romantic weekend date attires or hanging out at the mall get-ups, they all have it. It's truly a clothing haven.

I recently bought this fabulous bootcut jeans from them that is very trendy, comfortable and flattering. It was truly one of the best jeans I've ever bought. Its a lightwash blue denim with an extended tab detail on the waist. It looks really good with my Havaianas High or any high-heeled open-toe shoes. Another stuff which I bought from the store is a black straight leg trousers with buttons on the waistband made of polyester. It's very light and gives good silhouette which is just perfect for everyday office wear.




Dorothy Perkins has stores in the Philippines at Glorietta, SM Mall of Asia, Powerplant Mall and Robinson's Galleria (check their site for their global store listing). The stores here are fortunately up-to-date with the latest season's finds since majority of the apparels posted at their website can be found at the local shops. Their price is competitive but is not obscenely expensive despite the high-value of the Pounds. Their prices are a notch lower than Topshop and two notches lower than Mango. And since its UK-made they also have 'good' sizes that fits the more than average Filipina built which is just great!

Carols. As in Christmas Carols.

It's now the ninth month of the year and the advent of the "BER" months. As expected Christmas Carols are already being played on the radio, at the malls, and even the recessional hymn at Church tonight was "O Holy Night". We are now in the midst of ushering the most magical time of the year - Christmas (here in the Philippines, anyway)!

I had a fairly good and less strenuous week compared to last week. I was dead tired the week before since we were on Strategic Planning session for two whole days and I was the one who compiled and made our presentation. It turned out fairly well. I am really proud of what we did.

The highlight of my week was the issuance of two checks that served as my last pay from my previous company. Whew! I was not expecting it so it was truly a welcome surprise. Since there were a lot of pains and hurts associated with them, I decided to invest most of the money rather than spend it. The long nights, the lost friendships and relationships, the chaotic life, my absence in family and friends' get-together, the work stress, and the more than 10 lbs. I gained from the experience can never be returned back to me (well, I can lose the weight!) so I feel that there will be no fulfillment or gratification in spending them. It was a very very hard and challenging two years and I can fully say that I am indeed in a better place now. My deposition, my outlook in life, and the even the relationship I am having with my friends and family now is truly way way better. When I look back at the time spent there I cannot help but ask myself: "what was I thinking?". I am not bitter and I definitely moved on from it already. It was just a very disappointing phase in my life which is hard to forget.

Moving on to lighter topics, my teammates and I celebrated our groupmate's Maffin's birthday last Wednesday. We had lunch at Recipe's in Greenbelt 3 (always a yummy!) and had some cakes in the afternoon. Here are some snaps:

Speaking of desserts, I spent a good quality of my time last Friday at the lounge of the Smart Bro Internet Zone which is at the Ground Floor of our building to wait for the rain to stop. I read some magazines, updated my calendar with meeting schedules next week, and had a taste of Nescafe Point's winning chocolate cake called Chocolate Café Single. It's oh-so rich and sinful! The caramel glazed on top of the cake is the best!

My week ended with a stroll at the nearby mall where I had my nails done at Laxare Nail Spa for two friggin' hours. I almost fell asleep in the comfortable lounge chair with the length of the service (which is actually good). It was truly a money well spent. I would've probably stayed longer if I opted for the Foot Spa. Laxare is really a good place for pampering services. They also offer superb Thai/Swedish Massages which is not as expensive like the ones offered at The Spa or Urban Spa. Laxare Nail Spa is located at the 3rd Level of Festival Mall in Filinvest.

I also went to Powerbooks and contemplated on buying three books. I have this crazy rule that I will not buy any book if I still have unread books at home. I also make it a point to buy just one book at a time. I had this "gluttony book" thing since I can remember so I imposed book rules upon myself to save my bank account. The three books I grabbed were The Apple Way and two chick-lits. I forgot the title of the other chick lit but the other one is The Blonde Theory by Kristin Harmel which I ended buying.

The Apple Way was written by Jeffrey Cruikshank and it discussed the management lessons of the world's most innovative company today. I am interested in reading the book since I know that I would learn a lot from it which I can readily apply to my work – since my company is also at the forefront of innovations. I browsed the first few pages of the book and its an interesting read. I'll probably get a copy next week. Here are some of the wonderful insights which we can get from it: make the customer and the product king, balance manufacturing with delivery logistics, motivate and inspire people outside the company to do your marketing and PR (blog I say more?), invent new distribution channels, decide on your company image and stick to your guns, leapfrog the competition and learn from both success and missteps.

The book which I actually bought, The Blonde Theory, is your usual chick-lit. I finished it in two sittings. It basically told the story of Harper Roberts, a 30-something lawyer who cannot keep a relationship because men are intimidated by her intelligence and success in her career. To prove that it's not really her but her career that drives men out, she went out with different males and pretended that she's a dumb blonde instead of the hotshot attorney that she is. The men all fell for it/her. Duh! It's actually a silly book but it entertained me for some hours so no complaints here.

Have a good week ahead!