Pictures From A Summer Weekend

When Alex’s class decided to take a weekend trip to Tagaytay on the last day of classes, A and I decided to follow, with Alphonse in tow. That way, while Alex would be with his classmates, Alphonse can also enjoy a weekend out of town.

We knew we wouldn’t be doing much sightseeing since Alphonse hates being dragged about various places. We visited Alex as soon as we arrived, just to check if they were already settled in (they were staying in a classmate’s house, all 39 of them, supervised by our hardworking parent volunteers and the parent officers of the class). Then we drove to our destination for a weekend of lazing about in the quiet comforts of Discovery Country Suites.

Here are pictures from that summer weekend:

Alex with his classmates

This has got to be one of the best hotel rooms we’ve ever stayed in- it’s very child-friendly! Alphonse simply loved it!

The extra bed on the right was a queen-sized bed Alphonse eyed as soon as we arrived. We thought he would sleep in it but he crawled into bed with us in the middle of the night. Oh, well…

He moved to the other bed only around six in the morning. He also skipped breakfast (he kept shaking his head to offers of food) to sleep in. He didn’t really want to leave.

Views from the balcony- Alphonse enjoyed the cooler air

MAC and Me

I could be talking about MAC, the Mysterious Alien Creature from the 1988 cult movie “Mac and Me,” but I’m not. (Well, aren’t you glad?)

What I am talking about is MAC or Make-up Art Cosmetics, a Canadian cosmetics company founded by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo in 1984 and which was later acquired by Estée Lauder.

I was thinking of all these when I dropped by my favorite MAC store at Rustan’s Shangri-La yesterday evening. This Saturday, March 21, 2009, is the brand’s official launch of its Hello Kitty cosmetics in all MAC branches in the city, and Kitty lovers like me are eagerly awaiting its debut on Philippine soil. Next to its socially relevant programs (my favorite being the Back to MAC Recycling program), I happen to think that its color collaboration with Hello Kitty is one of its best ideas yet. Although not entirely novel as MAC also brought in Mattel in 2007’s Barbie Loves MAC, the idea was greeted with enthusiasm by many who grew up with the mouthless feline creature of cuteness.

Of course, I had called the store earlier in the day to ask about the launch.  I was informed that the event was a whole day affair, but unlike launches in cities abroad, no specific program had yet been laid out. I was also told that I could reserve items in person even before the launch as the products had already reached the counters the night before. I had planned to take a leisurely day yesterday and spend hours playing with Mario Kart Wii but the call changed my day’s plans. Knowing that I would have mere hours to get ready, I cancelled my afternoon Wii game play and set about making myself decent and ready for the store trip early evening.

There were already a few others checking out samples arranged on the make-up counter when I arrived. I looked at product lines, sampled some of the colors, and chose the items I wanted. I was a little ambivalent, though, about the eye palette since I hardly use any eye color except on special occasions. I’m actually more of a lip and cheek girl, the no-fuss type when it comes to everyday make-up.

I took doubles of the items I wanted, one to use and one to save, but A prevailed over me on this one. He said that if I intended to buy extras, then I should use them as well and just keep the containers as souvenirs.  A’s no-nonsense approach set me right again and shook some sense in this Kittyholic. So while I did take doubles, they’re doubles of the colors I want and will use in the future.

I absolutely love the colors I chose; they suited my coloring very well. Unlike my previous foray into HK cosmetics (mostly made by some unknown Japanese cosmetics company), I love that I can trust my skin and face to a reliable brand. (I tend to to drift more to Estée Lauder, Clinique and Shu Uemura for make-up, and Clinique or Shiseido for skincare.) I am absolutely bowled over by the Hello Kitty packaging. Too bad, though, that the MAC Hello Kitty accessories (doll, bracelet, cosmetic bags, brushes) weren’t made available in the country. That would have made the whole experience more complete. Still, I chose to buy my MAC HK items here in the country, if only to prove that our local market is reliable, alive, and booming, even in these uncertain times. Who knows? Maybe if they do see that, they’ll think twice about the accessories and fly them over as well. I’m crossing my fingers. 🙂

 I love my MAC!

Five Riddles

Between the last week of classes (for Alex, which coincidentally was also the week of final exams) and an impromptu weekend trip planned just days before the actual date, last week I was neck deep (and sinking fast) in unfinished chores.

Add to that nanny transitions (’tis the time of the year, it seems), an on-again-off-again problem with our home Internet connection, and an irresistable urge to play Superpoke Pets and Farm Town on Facebook (whenever I got connected), and blogging took an unexpected back seat to my other life.  Alex teases me by calling  it “A Facebook Life.”

See my two new addictions? 🙂

Before I fill you in on the things I’ve been up to, here are the answers to my last post. Manggy got a lot of them right (I’ll concede his answer to number three though match heads do come in quite an assortment of colors, not just black); then again, Manggy’s one brainy dude. 🙂 

1: The third room. Lions that haven’t eaten in three years are dead.

2: The woman took a photo, developed it, and hung it up to dry.

3: Charcoal (but black-headed matchsticks do burn the same way)

4: Yesterday, today and tomorrow!

5: No e’s

Will be back in a little while, dearest friends, to share some photos of our spur-of-the-moment trip. Let’s hope my Internet connection is more stable then.

Have a great weekend!

Midweek Fun

It’s Wednesday, the middle of the work week, and I am sooo looking forward to the weekend.  🙂

I’ve found out, however, that on a completely overwhelming day such as this, it helps to break the stress and tedium of the day with some quiet time. Sit down, put your feet up, breathe, close your eyes, and meditate. (And if you’re anything like me, the bathroom has got to be the best place for some quiet time!)

For some with a little more energy to spare, perhaps you can spend a few minutes to have some fun with these questions a friend sent me. These are simple, no need to get your underwear (or mine) in a knot over them. And I’m sure everyone will get the answers right. 🙂

I’ll post the answers tomorrow.

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose among three
rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of
assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven’t
eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over
five minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But five minutes later they both go out
and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

3. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when
you throw it away ?

4. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words
Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

5. This is an unusual paragraph.  I’m curious as to just how quickly
you can find out what is so unusual about it.  It looks so ordinary and
plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it.  In fact, nothing
is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though.  Study it and think
about it, but you still may not find anything odd.  But if you work at
it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

Happy Thinking!

Sewing Frenzy

I like to describe myself as a nerd who discovered her arts and crafts bone a little late in life. I didn’t even realize I had it until I had my first child. My very first project was a series of small hand painted oven-baked ceramic pots to hold small baby things. My husband loved them and he loved the idea of personalizing our son’s nursery with handcrafted objects. Emboldened by the success of my first project, I soon discovered a passion for things my hand (and my heart) could create. I learned how to crochet properly, to knit, to do cross-stitch and embroidery. I dabbled in cardboard 3D puzzles, in paper tole and decoupage; why, I even learned to paint with watercolor! Add to this my experiments in the kitchen as I grew and learned as wife and mother, and I could say with all honesty that for a nerd, I wasn’t such a bad student of the arts.

Despite my successes, however, I could not sew, except by hand.

Machine sewing, for me, was the final frontier and the most frustrating part of my arts and crafts journey.  Blame the phobia I developed in grade school, when as a sixth grader, I accidentally pushed my  hand a little past the machine’s presser foot and I sewed a golden yellow thread across the breadth of my poor thumb. The needle went through my nail, through the nailbed, and through the bone of the distal phalanx. Ouch! Little Miss Firefly, I am most definitely not! (Check out her blog for all her cool, creative projects!)

This week, however, was the impetus I needed to overcome this phobia. My beautiful Singer sewing machine (model number 1116, see picture above) has waited for me since Christmas, another thoughtful and generous gift from A, but I was too scared to do anything with it. When my latest Hello Kitty Dress- Me Doll arrived, I knew I had to get moving. After all, she was clad in such an immodest fashion that I simply could not leave her lying around the house in a state of undress! What would my sons think?  🙂

I remembered I had a pair of pajamas I bought at a thrift shop a few months ago that was in need of hemming. Cutting it short gave me enough fabric for two doll blouses, one for Fudge Brownie (the new suntanned Dress-Me Kitty) and Bee (my tropical HK Build-A-Bear). Moreover, unearthing a couple of pairs of torn jeans,  I decided to make my first pair of doll skinny jeans too. I made some mistakes in the process, but for a first time sewer, my projects didn’t turn out too bad.

Bee and Brownie (or Fudge, which sounds yummier) in identical clothing

I like that I can make my dolls’ clothes and not spend a lot on ready-made clothing for them. And who knows? Once I get the knack of the machine (right now, I am very, very good with very, very straight stitches), maybe I can learn to make my own clothes too. In this time of want and need, that certainly can be a money-saving, even moneymaking, skill.

And with this, I realized once again that happiness is… realizing that the only limits are the ones you set for yourself, and nothing, not even five left thumbs in one hand, can stop you from making a dream come true.

This very late post is dedicated to Little Miss Firefly in faraway Ireland, she who constantly brings a dose of happiness to everyone she meets. Thank you for the friendship, dear Odette. You constantly inspire me to better myself.