Matthew Williamson

I first saw this on Patty Laurel’s blog when I was blog hopping. I fell in love. Watch it and let me know what you think! 

Boost Up With Boostcase!

Remember my blog post about Boostcase – the iPhone case that boosts your phone’s battery life while on the go?

Now’s the time to get it for yourself or for your loved ones if you want to do some early Christmas shopping! Go visit Digital Walker! Customers can now enjoy an automatic 50% OFF from every additional purchase of a Snap-On Case and Wallet Case when they get a Boostcase Hybrid Battery Case. Perfect!

Here are the prices for your reference:
Boostcase Hybrid = P3,550
Snap-On Case = P950
Leather Wallet Case = P1,350

Superb Bazaar

ARE YOU READY FOR THE MOST TALKED ABOUT BAZAAR OF THE YEAR? 

Better get your purses and heels on ladies because it's the biggest bazaar of the year!! 

It's the Superb Bazaar held at the World Trade Center from October 19-21!

 Read more!

There will be A LOT of fashion finds and statement pieces so better clear your calendars, girls!! ;)

And guess what? Some of my sponsors will be there, too!

Blessed Online Shop (BOOTH B17)

Gelibean Couture (BOOTH A18)

This bazaar will be for the benefit of World Vision. Shop for a cause! :)

There will be raffles and prizes, too! 

See you there!!

Christian

                                                 Christian: ka-cute na bata, bibo na, smart pa!

Meet Christian. An 11-year old 6th grader from Taguig. He and his whole family was displaced by the floods, living in an evacuation center for around a week now. He remains cheerful and energetic despite the dreary conditions he has to deal with. Supporting the project of ate Pia Cayetano to set up mother and child friendly areas in evacuation centers (also to keep the kids entertained imbis na mag-swimming sila sa baha!), I went along to a series of storytelling sessions to show the children their new play area.

An idea you can do in a center near you: Mother-and-child friendly play areas
where kids can read and play and moms can breastfeed their babies.

Christian was like an eager beaver who kept on volunteering and knew many of the answers to our questions. 

ME:

Christian, top one ka ba sa klase mo?

CHRISTIAN: 

(scratches his head) Opo.

ME:

Wow, good job!

(insert high five here)

ME:

Ano gusto mo maging paglaki mo?

CHRISTIAN: 

Chef po.

ME:

Chef? 

CHRISTIAN: 

(with a big smile) Opo.

ME:

(thinking this in my head) This is the first time I've heard a boy say he wants to be a chef. If not the usual doctor or lawyer, its engineer or artista (seriously), or even pulis at bumbero. But chef? Kakaibang aspiration, kakaibang point of view. May future tong batang to.

ME:

Gusto ko paglaki mo may restaurant kang sarili mo ah!

CHRISTIAN:

Oo ba!

Christian is just one kid in a center with hundreds of kids. One center in a barangay with over 50 centers. One barangay in a city with over a hundred barangays. One city out of so many cities affected by the floods.

Do you want Christian to have a better future? Are you rooting for him to reach his dreams of becoming a chef?

Kayang kaya mong tumulong sa pangarap ni Christian, o sa pangarap ng napakarami pang batang Pinoy. Not just now that we're hit by this tragic flood, but beyond that. Whether it be to aid them in this time of emergency, or beyond, whether it be in terms of education, health, sanitation, the fight against violence.

So remember Christian, and the hundreds of thousands like him. These are the faces we see in calamities, and they're faces of HOPE.

ASTRA

October 20,2012 ASTRA

6:30PM-9:30PM

For Ticket Reservation Click Here:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDFTZ1kxcXJtUjRGVThUZDRlaVAycFE6MQ#gid=0

 Ticket Price

Php 250 -Orchestra

Php 200 -Balcony

Gate Opens at : 6PM

Nail Art: Clouds on a Pink Sky

I found this online and really wanted to do it because clouds are high among my favorite things

2 layers should be enough. Wait for it to dry completely. I used MAC’s Vestral White for the clouds. I don’t have any special nail art tools so I had to make do with the brush. Just try to make semi-circles.

Make sure there’s space in between each semi-circle so the shapes are more defined. Hello hello naman sa eye brows ko na kailangan nang i-thread.

It kinda looks like a pink elephant’s feet, huh?

credits:http://www.spellsaab.com/page/2/

FRIDAY

test ppsts

ATENEO

Congrats!!

Book Review: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

If you enjoyed The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides and Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, you should get this book. The two books I just mentioned are often compared to Megan Abbott’s The End of Everything (2011) and are coincidentally 2 of my favorite books back in high school.

Thirteen-year-old Lizzie Hood and her next-door neighbor Evie Verver are inseparable. And to Lizzie, the Verver household, including Evie’s glamorous older sister and her bighearted father, is the world’s most perfect place.

Then one afternoon, Evie disappears. The only clue: a maroon sedan Lizzie spotted driving past the two girls earlier in the day. As a rabid, giddy panic spreads through the midwestern suburban community, everyone looks to Lizzie for answers.

Lizzie takes up her own furtive pursuit of the truth, pushing herself to the dark center of Evie’s world. Haunted by dreams of her lost friend and titillated by her new power at the center of the disappearance, Lizzie uncovers secrets and lies that make her wonder, ultimately, whether she knew her best friend at all.

I generally enjoy books that have girl protagonists because, well, maybe because I’m a girl. The three books are brutally honest and quietly disturbing. I read TVS and LB back when I was a goth (haha) but I still enjoyed reading The End of Everything as a 23-year old because I enjoy reading beautifully written prose. It’s an easy read (meaning you won’t need your thesaurus/dictionary) with inserts of beautiful descriptions of things only a 13-year old girl can feel.

If you’ve read it maybe we can discuss it on the comments section below! That means if you haven’t read it, don’t read the comments!

Get it here: http://www.fullybookedonline.com/the-end-of-everything-a-novel

credits: Saab Magalona

Visit:http://www.spellsaab.com/

Ang Ikaklit sa Aming Hardin

The reason why I love the TV show Modern Family so much is because it wasn’t afraid to tackle real life family issues.

The first family (left) is about a super hot Colombian mother who falls in love with a guy who is way older than her. The second family (middle) is the “normal-from-the-outside-chaotic-from-the-inside” family, which reminds me a lot of my own. The third family (right) is about a gay couple who adopts their first child.

Of course some of the themes and humor are not for younger audiences so lucky for them young ones, there’s now a local children’s storybook that discusses unconventional set ups.

I’m proud to present to you the 2006 First Prize awardee in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Ang Ikaklit sa Aming Hardin written by Bernadette Villanueva Neri and illustrated by my friend CJ de Silva.

Maraming anyo ang pamilya. Tulad ng mga bulaklak sa isang halamanan, mayroon itong iba’t ibang itsura, kulay, bango, at laki. Sapagkat ang anumang uri ng pagsasamang nakasandig sa pag-ibig ay dapat kilalanin bilang pamilya. Isa rito ang kuwento ni Ikaklit. Bagaman iba sa trasdisyunal, maituturing na pamilya ang samahang bumibigkis sa kaniya at sa dalawa niyang ina.

CJ first encountered this short story as an assigned reading in her Panitikang Pilipino 19 (Sexuality in Philippine Literature) class in UP Diliman last 2007. Her professor mentioned that the story got rejected by mainstream publications for its homosexual theme. CJ looked for the writer and presented to illustrate for free, as long as they could publish and share it to the world. They worked on it for a year and they just launched it last September 13th.

I asked where the book was available and I was told that most bookstores and publishers have rejected the book because of its homosexual theme. How heartbreaking is that?

I think it’s important for children to be aware of people who are not exactly like them so they can grow up to be open-minded and respectful of others’ beliefs. It’s a good gift idea especially for those who are just starting a family!

For now, Ang Ikaklit sa Aming Hardin is available at the UP Faculty Center or you may send an e-mail to publikasyong.twamkittens@gmail.com or contact@cjdesilva.com and they’ll ship it to you.

Horror Movie Hallway

I had the creepiest horror movie sequence in real life yesterday. Jim and I were about to head to the mall to watch a movie and while waiting for the elevator, a little girl about 3 years old was standing by her family’s doorway.

Please picture my warmly lit condo hallway and this Asian baby just staring at me and my boyfriend. Thoughts of this is how I die were not far off but I kept my cool. I just whispered to Jim, “that little girl is creeping me out” and like it was all planned out, the elevators were taking forever. The little girl suddenly ran up to us and said, “Mag-isa lang ako kasi iniwan ako ni mama pero okay lang hindi ako takot kasi kasama ko naman si Jesus.”

What. The. Stuff.

Her voice was horror movie worthy. So many things ran through my mind. This girl is trying to lure me into her den and her kuya/stepdad/demon will kill me. Creepiness aside, I was alarmed at the fact that her mother had left her all alone in their condo. The little girl said her mom went out to get pizza and I had to talk her into going back in the room and I made her promise me not to go out again and to keep the door closed while I look for her mom.

Jim says while I was talking to the girl by her doorway, the elevator opened and a big “wolf dog” and its owner were occupying half of it. It was probably the Siberian Husky I’ve encountered but he swears it was monstrously big. But that’s Jim and he’s a great storyteller a.k.a. he tends to exaggerate heehee.

So we had to wait for another elevator and I kept coaxing the little girl to stay in her room. Damn it, it was all too Twilight Zone for me. When I got downstairs I talked to the receptionist and told her to send a guard to look for the girl’s mother in 711. I am totally judging her. Don’t leave your kids alone. Jeez, if you want pizza that bad just order in or bring your kid with you to get pizza.

Anyway, I have no visuals for this story but I just thought it was one for the books. Or one for the blog. Hindi pa Halloween ano baaa.

Credis: Saab Magalona