Spoke lengthily on the phone yesterday with Jude and just now with Kathy, talking about stuff I want to change about myself.
Of course New Year's resolutions don't really work out, just the same I want to try and improve myself each year.

I want to pray more, go to Mass again. I have been seriously delinquent on those areas. Will explain more on the Mass part in a later post.
I want to read books again. My bookshelf has remained untouched for the longest time.
I want to transfer all my CDs to iTunes.
I want to watch "Boys Over Flowers" because Keri keeps raving about it. Is it really better than "Meteor Garden"?
I want to clean my house, lessen the junk. I bought this book by Lillian Too about decluttering the home. Got this at the feng shui store at Podium. This is something that really needs to be done.



I need to have another garage sale.
I want to shop less, honestly.
I want to give up Coke and all sweet drinks, chocolate, ice cream and rice.
I want to sleep at normal hours and wake up at normal hours.
I want to spend less time online.
I want to have more dinner and movie dates with Jeroen.
I want to do better work for the newspaper.
I want to fix parts of our house that really need fixing.
I want to have a cook that can cook.
I want to eat normal stuff and less junk.
I want to eat more fruits.
I want to exercise and lose 5-9 lbs, so help me God.
I want to successfully switch from Destiny to Sky Cable because I miss out when there's something on ANC.
I want to stop buying junk.
I want to find better shoes.

That said, I will sign off now and start my prayers.
I do hope Globe fixes our phone line tomorrow. They usually get things done within 24 hours.
Globe Tattoo and Smart Bro are hopeless until everyone's asleep, cause now it's working.

I want to be a better person, so help me God.

I'm updating on Globe Tattoo. I've called Globe already for repair, so until then I'll be updating on Twitter only.
FYI!
xoxo

sings together.
Happy holidays to the Magalonas from the van Stratens.
Too cute you are!

I'm not planning to watch any film fest movie, but if you are, you might see this sequel to the trailer with that strange voice over.

Part I


Part II - Comment ko lang ha, kadiri ang wedding invitation for a couple that doesn't look so bad(uy).

Poll #1503975 Blackberry poll - for users only
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37

What kind of Blackberry do you own?

How would you describe your relationship?

What's your carrier?

How much is your average bill?

Do you use a silicone case?

It's Lola! — anak ng Lola mo!
It's an old photo (taken earlier this year as she was leaving the Kabbalah Center) but clearly she's got her mom's unique sense of style—beyond all norms of normy fashion.



Via: @divasoria

—except for shoes

Via: @carlosceldran

Cranium Balloon Lagoon was one of the things Ben asked for Christmas.


Got it on Amazon, shipped it through Johnny Air. Opened on Christmas eve.
Problem is, one of the parts was broken.



I wrote Amazon a short email saying we're in the Philippines and can't send the item back for refund or exchange.
(I actually paid a lot to have it Johnny Aired over here.)
I sent them the photo.
Less than one hour later I receive this reply:

Hello,
I'm sorry to hear about the condition in which your Cranium Balloon Lagoon arrived.
We make every attempt to package items securely to protect them during shipping, but sometimes damage does occur.
We always appreciate customer input on how we can improve our store, and I've forwarded your message to our shipping department.
I've checked your order and see it was placed with Wonder Toys, a third-party seller on our website. Because Wonder Toys's inventory is constantly changing, we can't replace items sold by them that are Fulfilled by Amazon.
It would be expensive to return the item in this case, so there's no need to return the item.
I've requested a refund for $44.59, the cost of the item and shipping costs. This refund will go through within the next 2-3 days and will appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement. etc.

I responded by saying thank you for the refund, and got an email just now that the refund is already being processed. Now that's customer service.

"The rule of the regift goes something like this: If you think you won't use it, but you know someone who absolutely will, then it's OK to regift. If you thought the present was a lame gift and questioned the sanity of the person who gave it to you, why pass that on to some one else who will, in turn, question your sanity?"

Source

Remember mine and Jeroen's matching Puma Pop-Arts from Harajuku?


Jeroen has a new version called 917 Lo Africa.


Only Php 2870, you can find them in Puma stores at Glorietta 4 and Bonifacio High Street.


Jeroen loves them.
Pumas are my favorite sneakers. I prefer them now to Louis Vuitton sneakers—so five years ago.
Got these in Harajuku



And these in Hong Kong


The good news is, Puma styles are getting hipper in Manila. Look what I spotted...
Slip ons are great for days you really don't want to deal with shoestrings.



Love this cartoony style


Gave this to my sister


Nice colors!


Look for them in Puma stores at Bonifacio High Street • Festival Supermall Alabang • Glorietta 4 • Greenbelt 5• Trinoma • Ayala Center Cebu • Gaisano Mall of Davao • Limketkai Mall Cagayan de Oro • Robinsons Place Bacolod

.









Sorry for the late greetings and cards. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Have we all recovered from the late nights? Why does Noche Buena have to be at midnight anyway? Or is it like that just with our family? How did you celebrate Christmas?

Today we "toured" Manila - lunch at Aristocrat (nothing can be yummier than Aristocrat chicken), walked around Fort Santiago, rode a calesa and watched the sunset at Manila Bay. We brought all the house staff with us. I miss my family, the one I was born in to. I really do miss them a lot. But having my own family with me and doing a big hug with all five of us in Patrick arms during sunset was fun. Sorry for the cheesiness. We are like that. We like mush. And we love sunsets. I'm just glad none of the kids fell off the ledge into Manila Bay. We were all thrilled and excited.

Thank you for sticking around and reading my blog. It's been a special kind of fun for me -- writing this blog and hearing from you guys.

Here's a little something from our family to yours... good wishes!










.

Yay! I finally got my first payment from Google Adsense, which I set up sometime in November.
It's so easy! I just printed out the payment form from my account



took it to Western Union outside Shangri-La Plaza with my work ID, and got this!
I have to say the transaction at Western Union at Shang was painless. I'm impressed.
(Aircon needs work though, hehe.)



It was $126++ total. So I opted to take $100 and the rest in pesos.
Yay to my dollar fund!!

But not my wallet.
All photos: http://tokyofashion.com

It ain't over yet but I need this T-shirt

.




I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas. We did.

I'm exhausted. Noche buena with the Osena relatives lasted til past 3am at our house. I hosted. Then I had to wrap Santa's presents and put them where he usually leaves them (at the top of the stairs). Then we had Christmas lunch at our house with my husband's family. I hosted again.

I'm going to bed early.

More stories tomorrow.

Hope you all got your Christmas wishes granted.






.

Last wish for 2009: Longchamp suit pliage.
Please let me know if you spot it!
xoxo

Merry Christmas, Jude!

On Tuesday, the boys' basketball coach decided to throw a swimming party at the village park.
It was cold and drizzling, I was against it. But the boys were already wearing swimwear under their clothes. I told yaya not to let them swim if it was cold. But they did.
The following day Ben complained of a headache and 'phantom' pains. I did not believe him until that night when Yaya called my Duo and said Ben had a 39 fever.
On the way home I made a quick stop at Watson's to buy Dolan, the miracle worker, and the latest Yes! magazine with Team Jinkee on the cover.



The next few hours Jeroen and I spent cleaning up vomit, changing sheets, sponge bathing Ben, trying to give him medicine, etc. I did not sleep until 7 AM.
Ben was OK at that time reading downstairs. At 10:30 AM Jeroen carried him upstairs. He was chilled to the bone. Fever was back.
Back to spongebath, vomiting, the works, and praying to God.
Fever went down again. We decided to take a nap in case we could make it to my dad's for Christmas eve.
When I woke up, Ben's fever was burning at 40.2.



Jeroen and I carried him to the bathroom and undressed him. Spongebath, meds, the works.
It is now 11:36 PM. The boys are all sleeping. I'm always the last to sleep at home.
We've opened most of our presents, now I still have the task of wrapping 'Santa's presents' and putting them under the tree.

P.S. So happy I was able to have lechon tonight. Didn't know I would be home for Christmas.
I didn't eat the whole day, so this was such a blessing.
Thank you Genevieve for accommodating.



Even the chef approved. Jeroen detected garlic. His main focus of lechon is the flavor of the meat, mine's the skin. And both were perfected.



Hope you're having a great noche buena.
Me, I love the crackling parts.



Thank you everyone for all the presents you sent, including my iTunes!
Thank you Lord for our blessings.

Special thanks to the Gap for sponsoring our 6 millionth promo.
Stuck at home, I unearthed these footages from my October trip to Japan, to cover Gap's SS10 collection.
It was held at Omotesando Hills, one of the few malls in that area.
The mall was designed by Tadao Ando—not too excited about the commercialization of Omotesando but at least they got a good great designer.
The Gap event was staged in the white space of one of the lower basements in the mall.


Inside, Patrick Robinson's designs for Spring/Summer 2010 featuring his version of the 'hip gardener.'
Watch the stylists putting finishing touches on the models. Don't you wish our models looked like that?
The stylists are awesome. Who knew Gap could look like this. And who knew Japanese press dress down for events?
My kind of town.


All footage were shot on a Flip video.
Mickey, I owe you one!



More here.
Gap stores are at SM Mall of Asia, Shangri-La Plaza mall, TriNoMa, Robinsons Place Midtown, Glorietta 4, Bonifacio High Street, Alabang Town Center, and SM Megamall.