After going to Shoe Salon, Jovan and I bought a gift for Mika from Toy Town. While waiting for the gift to be wrapped, I went to Beauty Bar. I used to visit Beauty Bar a lot, but after realizing tat I’ve wasted so much beauty stuff, I made a conscious decision to stop going to the store. I have so many half-full bottles of body wash and 3/4 full bottles of lotion! I am forcing myself to finish everything before buying more products. And since there’s progress, I thought that it would be okay to check out Beauty Bar again.

I ended up buying 3 products, one of which is Burt’s Bees Green Tea and Lemongrass Hand Soap. I LOVE liquid hand soaps! I haven’t been using regular soaps for washing hands for 2 years I think. My favorites are Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon and Sun-Ripened Raspberry Anti-Bacterial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap. I am now adding Burt’s Bees Green Tea and Lemongrass Hand Soap to the list. It’s creamy, it deep-cleanses my hands, and it smells so good!!! Good thing about it also is that the smell stays on the hands, unlike other hand soaps. I will definitely buy this regularly.

I think I have an addiction to flip-flops. I don’t think it’s full-blown, but it’s an addiction nontheless. I’ve heard of people owning more than 20 pairs of Havaianas - I haven’t reached that point but I’m well on my way. Well, I’m not really fond of Havaianas. I only have 2 pairs, because I didn’t find them comfortable. But I love the other brands. After buying my first Reef pair, there was no going back. They are so comfy! Right now I have 5 pairs of Reefs, and if there are more designs that I will like, I will not hesitate to buy. I have 2 pairs of Ipanemas, and these are also super comfortable.

I kind of regret buying Crocs. No, I didn’t buy the Beach nor Cayman! I got the Cleo! It looked cute at first, but now I realize they’re not comfortable at all. But I must say that the Sassari is really nice, it’s actually fashionable.

I usually buy my flipflops from Shoe Salon. This afternoon, Jovan and I dropped by the Eastwood branch as we always do. And I came across a new brand (well, at least to me). It’s Betula, which is a Birkenstock brand. The design is simple, and it’s amazingly light! It felt so good on my feet, I just had to get a black pair.

Here’ the Betula:

(Image from http://www.betula.com.au)

(With spoilers…)I haven’t watched a movie in months so I went to ClicktheCity to check out the current movies. I chose Enchanted because of the very interesting premise of a straight-out-of-a-fairytale-book story that ends up in modern New York.

The beginning brings back childhood memories, as the story combines elements of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Giselle, the story’s lead character, has many animal friends, who sing and dance with her as she dreams of her prince. As she sings, Prince Edward hears her voice, looks for her, and ends up saving her from the troll. They fall in love, and plan to be married the next day. But the prince has an evil stepmother who doesn’t want him to fall for any girl so she can remain queen. The day of the wedding, she turns herself into an old woman, who tells Giselle to make a wish in front of the wishing well. She pushes her into the well, and Giselle ends up in New York City. The evil queen chose New York City because “happily ever after” does not exist there. Or so she thinks.

The fairytale is exaggerated to show how perfect it is in fairytale land. The characters sing lovely songs, the animals can talk, and the couple lives happily ever after. Giselle actually brings this to New York – when she sings, the animals go to her and help her out with the chores, and the people in the park all join in the song and dance number.

Giselle learns about the “real world” through Robert and his daughter, Morgan. She learns about dating, and ends up falling in love with Robert. However, Prince Edward follows her to New York, together with Pip and Nathaniel. The queen got alarmed when Prince Edward found Giselle so she followed as well. All hell breaks loose, the queen is defeated, Robert’s girlfriend Nancy ends up with Prince Edward, and Giselle ends up with Robert. And they all lived happily ever after. Of course! This is a fairytale!

Though predictable, the movie is very entertaining, especially if you take it as it is. It pokes fun at fairytales, and it’s amusing to see Patrick Dempsey goofing around. Don’t expect too much so that you’ll enjoy it.

Here’s the trailer:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dII79IIEXMA&rel=1]

Vigan Heritage Mansion

During our last roadtrip with Vigan as our destination, I wanted to be sure that our chosen hotel wasn’t “spooky”. You see, I’m a scaredy cat. And most of Vigan’s hotels are actually preserved old houses. I researched online, and came across several hotels. We ended up choosing Vigan Heritage Mansion because of 2 reasons – its location, and its supposedly “modern” feel even if it’s a restored, antique mansion.

…Click here to read the rest of the entry…

The first time I heard about the Asus Eee PC, I thought that it was an amazing idea, and I couldn’t wait for it to come out. Imagine, a basic laptop for P10,000! What an awesome idea! Well, the Asus Eee PC is now out, and even if it ended up being P18,000, it’s still an awesome little thing! I know I don’t need it, but I just had to have one. And lucky me, hubby gave it to me as a Christmas gift. A little early yes, but he was worried that I was going to go buy myself one so he made sure he gave it to me right away.

This device is so amazing, you won’t know what to focus on the first time you hold one. It’s so small! Oh and how light! And it’s cute! It’s just 7 inches in length. You read that right. 7 inches. And it’s only 2 pounds. You read that right again. 2 pounds! You don’t need a laptop bag for it – you can just place it in your handbag! Plus, the Asus Eee PC uses Linux, and therefore, it is FAST! You hardly wait while booting up. There’s Wifi, a built-in webcam, microphone and speakers, so you can communicate with your friends as long as there’s Wifi connection in the area.

Don’t expect this to replace your PC or your laptop. I think it’s intended to be a second laptop/PC which you can bring around anywhere you go. It’s the perfect travel companion!

I am absolutely loving this gadget.

For more info on the Asus Eee PC, you can check out the official site.

Well, I’m choosing from among my photos, so these may not necessarily be the best of the best out there. But they’re pretty good photos of the Philippines. I’ve been posting them to different Flickr groups so other people may see how beautiful our country is.

1) Bohol – This photo was taken during our island hopping tour after snorkeling near the Balicasag island. This is a photo of a small, uninhabited island which was somewhere in between Panglao and the snorkeling site. Bohol is a beautiful, beautiful place – if I were rich enough I would buy property there so I can just go back anytime. It’s relatively quiet, the beaches are not yet commercialized, there were so many dolphins to watch it was amazing, and the people were genuinely nice. Bohol is one place I always recommend to business associates and other acquaintances when they ask about interesting destinations in the Philippines.

2) Kadayawan – Experiencing the different fiestas or festivals in the Philippines is awesome. Kadayawan, which is celebrated during the third week of August by Davaoenos, is one of the more popular fiestas in the country. Participants go all out with their costumes, props, and presentations – which end up being truly awesome!

Click here to read the rest of the entry.

(As posted by Nikki)

I’ve been lucky enough to have worked for a multinational company which has allowed me to experience the joys of traveling. Over the past years I’ve encountered problems and emergencies during different trips, though most of these are out of our control we can prepare ourselves so that when they do happen we are ready for the consequences, minimize the impact and more importantly remain a Happy Tripper. Click here to read the rest of the entry.

At the start of the year I decided to get a travel journal. Fully Booked offered several notebooks and I ended up choosing the Lonely Planet Travel Journal. I liked the color of the sheets, and the bonus sections such as the time conversion, world maps, and trivia on popular destinations. Click here to read the rest of the entry…

There were so many hostels to choose from in Barcelona, so we looked for one with good reviews on the net. Our choices were narrowed down to 2 – Hostal Benidorm and Hostal Opera. Good thing my friend’s cousin-in-law was based there. Click here to read the rest of the entry…

Last friday I attended a dinner hosted jointly by Globe and the Ateneo Alumni Association. It was part of a roadshow for Ateneo’s sesquicentennial (150 years) anniversary. It was so cool to be with my fellow Ateneans in Globe. Before the program started, they showed a video of Ateneans reminiscing about the past – about their favorite food in Ateneo, tambayan, what they did in the lib, and even about the championships during their time (not a lot, hehe). The program itself included a short talk from Globe’s CIO, a very enlightening and inspiring talk from Father Nebres, and a video presentation about the Ateneo. Father Nebres talked about Ateneo’s activities to help the nation – it was a very important talk because it gave me hope. I have lost all hope in our government, and I’ve seen many friends in the same boat. More and more Filipinos are migrating, and I really cannot blame them and wonder why they can’t just help the Philippines get back on track.

Father Nebres mentioned that we have a weak national government, to which everyone reacted to with a smirk. That was something everyone knew already. But what he said next surprised everyone. He said that the local government units have been very effective. Ateneo has been working with the local governments on many health and education projects. And there has been a lot of progress! To me, that’s really great news. It gives me even just a glimmer of hope, which I so badly need. I will look for ways to help out with the Ateneo projects, even if it’s just financial in nature. That way, I can help rebuild this nation in my own little way.