Sick

There's nothing worse than waking up in the morning and feeling a lump in your throat. To me, this always signals the start of a sore throat and then a bad cold. It's always been like this for me, especially during the BER months. But this year it came a bit early, probably because Sabine was sick with a bad cough for about 2 weeks. It was only a matter of time before I caught it. As usual, I'm the last to get it (Neal and Anissa had short bouts, thankfully). But what's even worse is waking up in the morning and knowing you have no choice but to go to work despite feeling under the weather.

I coughed and sniffed no end during the Excomm meeting this morning. I couldn't even go through my TWO slides without letting out a cough. And the fact that the airconditioning in the office makes one feel like an eskimo did not help at all! I've learned to keep a pashmina shawl handy, in one of my office drawers. But today, even with my shawl I was insufficient. My colleague, Colin offered to make me some Pei Pa Koa hot tea after the meeting, but I got immersed in a lunch discussion with my boss that I totally forgot to go back to Colin with my coffee mug.

I don't know how I survived the rest of the day. I'm just so glad to be home and waiting for the masahista to arrive any minute now. I'm hoping tomorrow won't be so bad because yes, I still have to go to work.

Virus go away!!!

How do you cap a stressful week?

In my case, I had first planned on going to the URBAN BAZAAR at the Rockwell Tent on Saturday afternoon, before heading home from work. But in the car, after only less than 15 minutes of travel, I began to feel so sleepy and tired from working til midnight the night before. I decided to forego my original plan and instead called up NAILS AT HOME (with fingers crossed), hoping I could still get an appointment for the same day. MIRACLES DO HAPPEN hahaha!!! I was able to get one at 5:30 and told them to please note that aside from my usual mani-pedi, I badly needed a 30-minute Tension Release massage on my legs and feet, which had been complaining from the previous day.

Yesterday though, I thought of dropping by the bazaar anyway since Sabine was to take her afternoon nap and I had nothing else to do. So while she slept, I "escaped" and drove off to Rockwell (wow, it's been a while since I was last behind the wheel...it felt so good especially on a Sunday when there's zero traffic). The bazaar was packed so I only made one round and promised myself I'd get the first thing I liked. So...I ended up with these!

From a stall called SUMMERSAULT. The shoes are supposedly Korea-made and they were dirt cheap at P900! I scrutinized the leather, stitching and espadrille detailing and almost immediately after they found my size, I shouted SOLD! I left right after and proceeded to Rustan's Supermarket (where I ended up with more bags).
It felt really, really good to have gone around by myself. No pressure whatsoever. I plopped in bed as soon as I got home, woke up at 8pm just in time for dinner and slept again at 11pm hehehe!

Today's even better because I didn't have to wake up at 5:30am! Hope you're all enjoying the long weekend!!!

I hate being flat footed!

I don't normally dwell on this...except when I'm reminded of it. Throughout my 40 years, I've had some accidents that can be blamed on this inborn "defect", if I can call it that. I won't go into detail because while it may sound funny to a lot of people (how I've fallen in the most public of places), I hate to sometimes recall how these things happened because of the embarassment these past experiences have caused (more painful on the pride than on the body, is what I mean). To put it bluntly, I am probably the most LAMPA person on the planet!

My latest "escapade" involving my flat feet happened last Friday at work. I had never been to the property site, the one which my office is developing right across our corporate building. It was a Friday and I was dressed casually (note : flat thong sandals) so I figured it was the best time to go and check things out. The place is still dusty, with lots of things scattered on the floor and construction materials just about everywhere. I managed to grab a face mask, couldn't find a hard hat (apparently, the law is not very strict about that here unlike in the States) but proceeded anyway. I hadn't been there for 10 minutes when it all happened. It was so quick! Before I knew it, I was sprawled on the floor with a bloody left arm. Apparently, I tripped over a steel bar. My right foot got caught while walking so I literally flew a few inches above floor-level and landed on uneven cement. In fact, the floor was still very rough, which is why my arm took quite a beating. It felt more like sliding into homebase. Everyone moved quickly, helped me up and took me to the nurses on the ground floor. I had to sit there for about 10 minutes because there was ringing in my ears and my vision became blurry --- surely I knew I was going to faint. Fortunately, because I chose to stay still, it didn't happen.

Back in my office, the nurse accompanied me so she could clean up my wound and that's where I realized how bad it was. Near my left elbow was a gigantic scrape. I surveyed it to see the real extent of the wound and I almost fainted again when I did. The nurse proceeded to clean it and I sat there, quietly wincing in pain. She refused to dress it at first, saying it would heal much faster uncovered. But I insisted because it looked too gross to expose. My knee was also badly hurt. Good thing I was wearing jeans (which were not damaged at all === hurrah for F21!!!), which prevented abrasions BUT my right knee took quite a beating as well. It's swollen as I type and I can't put too much pressure on it when walking up and down the stairs.

I'm really worried that the wound might leave a nasty scar. But I guess I'll worry about that later. Meantime, it's been such hard work just to shower and I really hate it everytime I need to clean and re-dress it. This will be part of my daily get up from now on, until I can manage to be without it...

Bummer, right?

9 years!!!

We originally planned on celebrating in Cafe Juanita, one of our favorite "date" places. We would always have lunch at this cozy, quaint place in Bo. Kapitolyo Pasig when we were just starting out But Sabine had other plans! She was totally insistent and wanted to buy a dollhouse. She simply didn't stop until she got what she wanted. We ended up in Shang Mall so we could get her toy from Rustan's and had to deal with the payday weekend crowd. Settled for another favorite, C2 on the 6th level.

There you go, Sabine! NOW can we have dinner???

My default PINOY drink

Seared Tilapia with Coconut Emulsion

Lumpiang Lucena

My favorite at C2 : Crispy Kare Kare!

9 years and counting!!!
(crappy photos courtesy of my Nokia E71 because I forgot to bring the camera)

How was your week?

Been a while since I blogged about something other than a product or restaurant so here I am beginning what's left of my weekend with this long overdue entry. Yes, I only have a little over 1.5 days left before the work week begins again. I went back to fulltime corporate work just last week, after an almost 2-year stint as a consultant. I miss my 3-day work week, my flexible schedule and the work-from-home scenario.

I miss Plurking and Facebook-ing during the day and being able to run personal errands whenever I want. I miss being at home with Sabine the whole day and being home when Anissa gets off the bus from school. I miss having to stay up late, especially waking up lazily on a Saturday morning because I have half-day work on Saturdays. Now it's back to those all too familiar bouts with evening rush hour traffic (mornings aren't bad at all for me). Thank God for the family driver because I can take cat naps in the car and not be mainit ang ulo when I get home. Now it's back to making endless phonecalls to the house just to check on what's going on and finding it hard to put the phone down all the time because Sabine wants to talk and talk. Now it's back to coffee breaks and praying for 6pm to come so I can leave work and be with my loved ones. Now it's back to having mini fashion shows in the bathroom at night, picking out what to wear to work the next day. I can look at this as a huge setback and say, "Bummer!!!". Yeah I can. But I won't because that's just not how I see it. Sure I miss a lot about my old life, I really do. But I don't dwell on that because I feel extremely blessed to be in the situation I'm in right now. At the ripe age of 40, how many of us can brag about a career opportunity such as the one that came to me, without my even looking? I feel like I'm at the final stretch of my life as a careerwoman. In a few years, the opportunities will just stop coming and I don't want to live out the rest of my years thinking about the ones that I allowed to get away simply because I ignored them. A friend told me, it was a really brave move on my part to go fulltime again. Corporate life can be very draining and she's right. I guess it was really so brave of me to have gone back, after living such a simple and quiet life for the past how many years.

But like i said, I would rather have no regrets later on. If (knock on wood!) this doesn't work out, then I can atleast say that I gave it a try. At the moment, I feel like I'm at the top of my game. This past week, my first back at work, was a truly exciting one. I'm being trusted with this huge responsibility! I have a total of 49 people in my team, with a few more scheduled to be hired. I'm part of the company's Executive Committee, which means that once a week I'd find myself inside the board room sitting at a long table with about a dozen other people, some my Dad's age! I can look at this with much intimidation, after all, they're obviously a lot older than me and so much more experienced at what they do. Instead, I consider it an honor that I was handpicked for this position and am now in the company of seasoned executives. How many of us can say that? I go around the building and everyone calls me "Ma'am"...something I need to get used to because I prefer being called by my first name, even by rank and file employees. But the hotel/travel industry is different this way. The courtesy that hotel guests receive from frontliners is something that even top management and people in the back office are trained to give. We are all one another's customers. But I'm getting derailed here...

Saturday's almost over and I didn't even feel it. I fell asleep soon after I got home from work at 2pm and woke up just before I wrote this. Tomorrow will go by just as quickly I'm sure. Then it will be Monday again, but that's okay. I'm in my best element and I'm happy to be feeling this way despite the challenges that loom in the distance. I know there will be lots of stressful days ahead...I can already feel it. But again, that's okay. This blessing just totally outweighs all the odds.

Oh and before I forget...I'd like you to meet my temporary office. They said I should have a bigger one. I'm hoping they give me a couch so I can take catnaps at lunchtime hahaha!

Notice that my in-tray is half full and it was only Wednesday when I took this photo!

My constant companions...Malaysian coffee and cookies to munch on when I'm deep in thought or simply needing a short breather.

On my very first day last Monday
Have a very happy weekend everyone! Hope you're all counting your blessings too!

Save or Splurge? Both!

Yes, I did both today. I splurged on one thing and saved on another.

This is today's "save". ELF Cosmetics' Contour Blush and Bronzer. This is from ELF's Studio Line. Their regular products sell for $1 each. Those in their studio line cost $3 each, this blush/bronzer set included. If you look closely at the blush, you'll see gold flecks, which remind me of NARS' Orgasm blush. This one's just a tiny bit lighter in the pan. The bronzer looks too dark though, so I'm thinking of using it on my eyes instead. I love the packaging because it makes the product look more expensive. See the big mirror? That's a big plus for me as well. For approximately PHP 150, how can anyone complain?

Up next...my splurge!

I've been debating with myself on what NARS blush shade to get because there are so many interesting shades to choose from! I'm tired of the famous Orgasm (but I do like it, don't get me wrong) and wanted to try others. I placed an online order for Deep Throat and that's coming next month. Today though, I couldn't resist dropping by the NARS counter inside Essenses in Glorietta and after trying 3 or 4 different shades, I ended up with this

NARS blush in Madly. It looks mighty scary in the pan but on my medium warm skin with yellow undertones (I use MAC Studio Fix Foundation in NC35 or 40, depending on the time of year), it looked surprisingly natural! I forgot to do a roadtest first before purchasing this out of too much excitement. I'm acidic so I need to spend an hour, sometimes 2, going around with makeup on to see if I still like the way it looks on me once it sets.

Makeup junkies everywhere know that in terms of staying power, NARS has the best blushes in the market. NARS blushes now cost PHP 1,350, just a bit more expensive than MAC's which cost PHP 1,200 each.

Photos of me wearing these to come soon!

Classic!!!

OMG I love this video! Ladies in my generation, didn't you just LOVE the Tigers when they were still a popular group during the Penthouse Days? I have to admit, they really were so good. Here they are practicing with Michael V. and the late Francis M. for a spot number on EB. Come to think of it ... MJ and FM up there dancing a storm? Must be one hell of a party!