I Blog, Therefore I Am.

I went to four different Metro Manila malls last Tuesday for a special project that I am doing for work. I started at Robinson's Place Manila and ended the day at SM Megamall. I was obviously dead tired from all the walking and working so I immediately scouted for some post-work relaxation and pampering to beat the day's stress away.




I was initially planning on getting a full body massage but was instead drawn to the Body Scrub treatment of Flawless Face and Body Clinic. I've been trying their various services in the past few months and I've always been curious about their scrub treatments.

I like the Flawless clinic at SM Megamall because it was really huge and fancy compared to the other branches I've been. It also has an elegantly designed lobby (in pink of course) with an impressive showcase and line-up of their popular in-house products.

The boyfriend and I went to SM Mall of Asia for some errand and shopping last Saturday. It was truly a tiring week for me so I asked him if we can have some foot pampering at Beauty & Butter. I was just at Beauty & Butter the Saturday before but I would like to be spoiled and experience again their good service.




It was packed with customers when we got there so we were asked to wait for a couple of minutes. Joy, the Butterfly (Receptionist), graciously offered us to play and tinker with their new iPad while we wait. The boyfriend gladly stayed after learning that he can play with the iPad and even told me that he will also get some foot spa for himself. Beauty & Butter's free iPad use is really handy when you need it! *wink*

Here's another one of my "beautification" project posts. Read on. :)

I went to Flawless Face and Body Clinic at their SM Mall of Asia branch last Monday to avail of their Flawless Laser Hair Removal procedure for my underarms. I've always wanted to try laser hair removal after seeing a friend's smooth, "chicken skin" free, and hair-less underarms which she availed from Flawless. I also want to achieve something like that. Being "hairy" is one of my personal pet peeves and I hate the constant shaving each day.



Flawless Face and Body Clinic SM Mall of Asia

I was actually a bit hesitant about the procedure. I heard horror stories and reviews before of botched jobs, burned skin, and the like. None of them were from Flawless, of course, but I still did my research and asked for specific pre-care instructions and details about it. Better be safe than sorry, right?

There was a lot of buzz surrounding the opening of the first Forever 21 store in the Philippines at SM Megamall weeks ago. I was really curious if the hype is true so I decided to check out the store today.

The store is huge, well-stocked, and I must say that I like it! There are so many clothes and accessories to choose from. Whether you're looking for retro wear or wedding guest get-up, they all have it  in their inventory. There are several theme and sub-sections inside the store and I particularly like the Vixens section. It has an abundance of geometric prints and abstract stripes, and my favorite asymmetrical designs. Prices are also friendly. The most affordable tops I saw was priced at Php 600.00 ($ 13.00), and you can score dresses and pants as low as Php 1,100 ($ 24.00).

I am not on shopping mode  earlier but I wasn't able to resist getting a black cardigan with front layers. I've been looking for a good cover-up since last month and I saw that it was reasonably priced so I instantly grabbed it. :)




There are lots of cute and beautiful dresses that I want to buy at the store. I really have to schedule another shopping trip soon at Forever 21 (and also at Dimensione for home design ideas for my bedroom, heh!). Over and out!

Forever 21
2nd Level Building A
SM Megmall
EDSA cor. Julia Vargas Ave.
Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong

Blog or website link exchanges is probably one of the most clever ways to amplify and 'up' your blog. But it's a very tedious process to individually convince people to exchange links and all that stuff, thus I'm joining the BC Bloggers 4.

What is exactly BC Bloggers 4?

Are you new to blogging and is finding it hard to gain links to your blog?
Are you tired of exchanging links one blog at a time?
Are you looking for friends in the blogosphere?

If you said yes to all of the above then you have come to the right post. BC Bloggers will help your blog gain those precious inbound links in an easy and systematic way. It is also a cool way to meet friends in the blogosphere.

So what do you need to do? Just follow these simple steps and you’re in.

1. The success of BC Bloggers depend on the number of people joining. So please spread the word about BC Bloggers 4 and invite other bloggers to join.

2. Put the BC Bloggers badge shown below in your sidebar. You can find the code at Paula's site.






3. Make a page dedicated to BC Bloggers where you intend to post the links. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the navigation bar or at the sidebar as long as it is linked in the homepage.

4. Once you have done steps 1, 2, and 3 fill out the Application Form. One blog for each form. Deadline of application is on August 12.

That’s it. Spread the word everyone and let’s cross our fingers for the success of BC Bloggers 4!

Let's get all those links together, join the BC Bloggers 4 now! Joining is easier than learning those weird tongue twisters. Get more information and the application form through Paula's blog. See yah!

My parents and I went to SMX Convention Center last Saturday for an expo. We were so tired from all the walking so we decided to treat and relax ourselves at Beauty & Butter, a new pampering destination for nails, face and body, at nearby SM Mall of Asia.

It's a good thing that we tried Beauty & Butter. I honestly fell instantly in love with the place. I've been to a lot of pampering spa and salon shops and there's nothing quite like it. I had Foot Spa with Pedicure and my parents had Anti-Aging Facials which is creatively called  "Those Were The Days". It was supposed to be just my mom and I but my dad also went along with us.

To make it easy for you,  dear blog readers, I listed down the top reasons why I love Beauty & Butter and why you should also check it out for yourselves.

1. Funky, retro and all that stuff.
I like the store concept behind Beauty & Butter. It's a very young, vibrant and retro place without being tacky. The marketing geniuses behind the store splendidly developed a fun place where one is easily relieved and relaxed just by entering it. It's a very well-thought of creative salon down to the naming convention of the services offered (eg. "Striptease" for wax services and "Baby Calm Down" for facial for sensitive skin).



Beauty & Butter at SM Mall of Asia

I was labeling and fixing some old blog entries when I saw this 2004 post. I decided to copy it and do another round of describing my day through one-liners - version 2010.

Got my first sweet call of the day.
Thankful that it was Tom who drove this morning.
SLEX will always be irritatingly SLEX.
Discovered that the presentation I did last night has some holes.
Called Joy and Chat for a short pow-wow on the missing revenue.
Skipped lunch (again) to finish the revisions.
Jane of CDO was God-sent. She came bearing with yummy Pastel Breads for me. 
Boss arrived to check my presentation. He quickly ate his lunch on my desk.
Presentation time. There were so many people. I was surprised.
Learned about a new and important project. Glad I was picked again.
E-mail, Calendar Invites, Tweet, Facebook, Adgitize.
Called Witt. Not picking up. Probably on a meeting.
Went to the last meeting of the day. Productive. Seeing the direction now.
Should I go to Baguio next week? That's the question.
Realized that I only had two Pastels and a fruit platter the whole day. Hungry.
Finally got hold of Witt. He's on his way home.
Welcome Home dinner for my bestfriend, Kat.
Happy for her new job and new life here in Manila. It's not goodbye, it's see you later.
Niece was already sleeping but opened the door for me. It's one of her nice days. Heh.
Opened my Macbook and decided to post this.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I posted on Twitter the other day that I earned $32.00 on-line, I received a lot of direct messages and replies asking me how I did it. It's fairly simple actually; I used my blogs for paid reviews, link building and other related on-line jobs. This blog is already six years old and it's very rich with contents so it's a shame not to utilize it to earn some bucks from time to time.

One of the sites I joined is SocialSpark, a Social Networking and on-line market place for bloggers and advertisers. SocialSpark is a portal that provide bloggers with opportunities and jobs from advertisers and affiliates who need product reviews, ad displays or exposure in the Internet. What differs SocialSpark from other similar services is the dynamic social media solutions it created where bloggers can interact and help each other with the opportunities presented by the advertisers. I also love its clean and very interactive user interface which is definitely way better than other websites with similar offers.





Signing up in SocialSpark is easy.  It doesn't require a lot of information and they approve and qualify blogs quickly. I've been browsing its categories and products for review and I find it nice that they have a lot of advertisers which I can feature since their products and services doesn't differ from the topics I usually talk about. This is very important to me since I don't want to lose the identity of my blogs even if I'm posting sponsored entries.

I'll do a review soon on this service after a few weeks. I've been reading their Code of Ethics to learn more how they do things and it seems fair. It really looks promising and there's a lot of Filipino blogger members who are already earning greatly from it. You might also want to join us and sign up for SocialSpark. Let's discover SocialSpark opportunities together!

Look what I found in the mail today!

It's the yearly sale of Powerbooks from July 15 to August 15, 2010. This is Powerbooks' big annual July-August sale which they patterned after their mother company's National Bookstore Price Cut sales. I'll surely be dropping by one of these days to get some titles. I always score a bunch of books on these sales, even if some of them are just chick-lits and trashy novels. Heh!




What's on your current to-buy-book list? Mine includes The Lost Symbol (yeah, haven't read it yet), Books 2-4 of Nora Roberts' The Bride Quartet and Frommer's Hongkong Day By Day for my travel blog and trip in September.

Happy Shopping!

Typhoon Basyang (International Name: Conson) is wreaking havoc outside my bedroom window and I'm too scared to sleep. Heartbreaking memories and loss of Typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Milenyo are still too fresh on most Filipinos' minds as evident on the number of Twitter friends on my feed who are still wide awake and scared like me. :(

It's already blackout here in Laguna and in most  part of Metro Manila. Toppled billboards and flying GI sheets are already being reported. I'm currently using my SMART Bro Prepaid Plug-it so I can get news and advisories on the typhoon while I finish some work for tomorrow. I hope that Philippines will wake up to a better, nicer and sunshine-y weather in the morning. Let's all wish and pray.

On a personal note (and as a diversion to all these Basyang shenanigans), here's a mirror project that I did last week when I was in Cebu for a business trip. The picture was taken at Waterfront Hotel in Lahug. This is also my entry for my 52 Weeks Photo Project for Week 27. I've been neglecting the project in the last few weeks so its about time that I catch up.




I hardly post photos of myself lately but I love the all natural vibe that the above picture brings. Be safe, everyone!

I've been blogging for more than six years now. My love for blogging and writing started with my fascination with Friendster and its testimonials. Then it evolved to something more concrete and 'formal' through a blogsite called Xanga, which I abandoned 3 weeks after I saw the user-friendly and good platform of Blogger.

I started blogging not because of a love problem or a sad break-up story (unlike a friend of mine, hehe!). What prompted me to start a blog was my frustration and indecision to resign at my first job at Honda. I never had one of those "it's my first job so live and let live" moments. I was really happy that I landed in a very good company for my first work post-college. It was such a bittersweet moment when I finally decided to leave and this blog truly helped in unleashing those angst and feelings.




Honda World Event at Glorietta, 2003



Honda's ASIMO Event in Manila, 2003

I spent five long beautiful years at Honda and I truly learned a lot from it; from identifying car mechanical stuff like head gasket to appreciating the feel, beauty and grace of a newly-launched Honda Civic. Aside from the actual resignation and the pain that goes with it, the hardest part was leaving the great pals I made who are now my lifelong friends. We are a tightly-knit family in Honda and I admit that I still miss at times those crazy-fun times and adventures that we had.

Despite everything, I owe and acknowledge that part of my success today is attributed to  Honda for giving me the ultimate bootcamp and the first taste of career achievement. The other part of course was due to the Tire Company, my third job, which made me realize that the automotive industry is not cut-out for girls like me. I learned this after spending so much time at the company's Servitek Shops, which is just similar to those Los Angeles auto repair shops, sans the prestige and the efficiency.  But that story and all the gory details about it is reserved for another exciting blog post. Stay tuned.

A lot of people ask what is the camera I use for this blog. Its actually just a simple DSLR entry-level Canon EOS 1000D (or otherwise known as Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS in the United States). I bought it in December 2008 as a well-deserved Christmas gift to myself.





I'm not really into the whole photography thing as others perceived. Not all DSLR owners are, actually. I bought a nice camera because I just want to have more-than-average-looking photos on my blogs,  Social Networking Sites and scrapbooks. Photography is just one of my many interests, but not one  of my hobbies. :) A cousin even told me that I use my DSLR like I use a regular point and shoot digicam; since I don't maximize the full potential of the manual settings.

When I was about to buy my Canon camera in 2008, a lot of my friends and colleagues are convincing me to get a Nikon instead. They said that it would be easier for me to borrow lenses and other camera accessories since most of them are Nikon owners.  I still chose Canon over Nikon primarily because of the picture and color resolution it gives. I find Nikon shots too bright and overly saturated compared to the more subdued Canon photos. Some may argue that this can be adjusted through the settings or even Photoshop, but I still find the photos too striking for my taste. Plus, I've always been loyal to Canon cameras so it was really a no-brainer and a non-choice. My first digital camera was a Canon Digital IXUS 60 (Canon Powershot SD600) and I loved it so much until it expired after years of everyday use. It indeed served me well.

Here are some of my favorite Boracay photos using a Canon EOS 1000D with 18-55mm lens:




Boracay Lantern Along Station 2



Boracay Boats On Break



Aria's Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino from Aria Boracay


Next on the agenda is to save for a new Canon macro lens.  I'm really fascinated with food styling & photography and it's something I want to learn more about. I've been practicing, eating out a lot lately  (yikes!), and even started a new blog so I can document all the food photo adventures. Let's see how it will go.