To tell you the truth, I have not heard of Worldfocus until last night.
A backlink on my blog alerted me that people were visiting my blog from that site. And the reason for the backlinks on my blog? Well, I was delighted to find out that my two (2) posts — the first covering the technological aspects of this inauguration and the second covering my initial impressions of Pres. Obama’s inaugural speech — made it to their list of ten (10) global blogs on the Obama inauguration!
Hooray for including the Philippines in your list, Worldfocus!
Worldfocus’ anchorman is Martin Savidge who I used to watch on CNN as one of the embedded journalists covering the Iraq War. It is NOT unlike CNN in that it seeks to report on international news. However, it attempts to differentiate itself from CNN and the other mainstream news networks by its ability to use the reach of social networking sites and blogs to bring the news from abroad closer to American homes. Below is a screenshot of their page that shows how their news can be accessed.
Their section called Blogwatch also “summarizes what bloggers and news sources are saying about the international news of the day. We’ll link to informative and bold voices that place the headlines in the context of the global conversation.” TheirIn the Newsroomblog gives you behind-the-scenes look at Worldfocus as seen from Martin Savidge’s eyes as well as news coming from on-the-ground global reporters. A network of global contributors’ blog posts form part of their Perspectives section. Interesting!!!
For a simple blogger like me, breaking into Worldfocus was a pleasant surprise. It just proves that no blogger can be too obscure nor too small to be able to contribute to a global outfit.
Last year, in order to get my 2 girls the planners they wanted, I was at this coffee shop almost daily ordering a cup of coffee. This year, though, I told myself I would not do that. After computing the cost of daily coffee at that shop, I figured it was an expensive way to buy a planner.
But I have changed my mind after attending the blogger event hosted by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) at Boni High Street.
I confess I had no idea what the event was all about except that I was drawn to the word “Giving” in the text I got from Geiser Maclang.
C1 came along with me. As we entered CBTL, we were surprised to see bloggers huddled around tables talking with people who had brochures laid out. That was how I found out that CBTL was launching its Christmas program, 12 Cups with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: Give in to Giving. At each table were representatives of each of the 12 organizations being supported by CBTL this Christmas.
Here’s how it works. Every cup of coffee or tea you buy, which is covered by the program, gets you a stamp on a card. Once you complete the 12 stamps on the card, you get to choose your favorite cause/advocacy from the 12 supported organizations and CBTL will make a donation in your name. Not only that! For having completed the card, you also get one of the 3 CBTL limited edition commemorative journals specially designed by 12 of the most important Filipino artists in the country today — FREE! And if you get to donate to all 12 organizations (that means 12 cards x 12 cups = 144 cups), CBTL will give one year’s supply of coffee!
Notebook 1 Notebook 2Notebook 3
Whatever your advocacy is, there is sure to be one organization from this lot that you can help. Here are the 12 organizations you can help support via CBTL as well as the kind of support CBTL will donate in your nameafter you complete your 12th cup of giving:
1. Kababaihan Gabay sa Bayan (KAGABAY) – poverty reduction through social, political and economic empowerment of women. CBTL will donate P600/child for their education needs.
2. The Restorative Justice Program of Caritas Manila – service to prisoners and their families through formation, paralegal assistance and outreach. CBTL will donate P1,000 under your name for values formation class materials per school year for inmates.
3. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) – animal protection and care. CBTL will provide medicine for animals under PAWS’ care.
4. Bahay Tuluyan – serves streetchildren. CBTL will give a birthday present for a child worth P250 under your name.
5. Haribon Foundation – conservation of Philippine biodiversity. CBTL will adopt a seedling under your name.
6. Cartwheel Foundation – education for the country’s indigenous people. CBTL will donate P8,000 for educational materials, curriculum development, tuition, teacher training & seminars, and school supplies for each student per school year.
7. Kythe Foundation – supports children with cancer; its Child Life Program seeks to alleviate the anxieties of a child during hospitalization. CBTL will sponsor an unforgettable kids’ outing for the kids and the volunteers.
8. Autism Society Philippines (ASP) – committed to the wellbeing of persons with autism spectrum disorder. CBTL will donate P2,000 for books needed for autism disorder awareness.
9. Philippine Cerebral Palsy, Inc. – aids cerebral palsy victims. CBTL will give a patient P1,800 per month to help in their medicine and rehabilitation.
10. Philippine Band of Mercy (PBM) – attends to indigent Filipinos suffering from cleft lip & palate, congenital cataract & glaucoma, hydrocephalus & meninggoceale. CBTL will give P8,000 for the operation of each child & become the leading provider of comprehensive craniofacial health services for the less privileged.
11. Resources for the Blind – seeks to ensure that blind students have access to the same information that sighted students have. CBTL donate P1,000 for the production of Braille textbooks.
12. Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) – seeks to improve the quality of life for Filipinos through corporate citizenship. CBTL will sponsor a child’s medical consultation worth P200.
Representatives of the 12 NGOs with Paolo del Rosario of CBTL
I had the chance to speak with Coffee Bean’s Marketing Director, Paolo Del Rosario, who enthused about the program. I told him that I was very touched by their gesture to support not one but TWELVE NGOs. And Paolo assured me that this is going to be a yearly thing with CBTL and not just a one-shot deal. Much later, I also had the chance to meet CBTL’s Managing Director, Walden Chu, who was likewise very enthusiastic about their program.
If I had to spend my money on coffee, this is were I would plunk it down. Not only do I actually enjoy CBTL’s coffee and tea (Chai Latte and African Sunrise are my all-time favorites) but their food fare, for a yogini, is very healthy and tasty. There is a CBTL on the ground floor of my yoga center and we would often hang out here before or after classes over cups of coffee or tea. With The 12 Cups of Giving program, CBTL has earned my respect and admiration — not just for their good food but more so, for their generous hearts for the marginalized among our citizens.
A big THANK YOU to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for giving us good coffee, tea and food while giving us this rare opportunity to give back a little of ourselves to society as well.
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is located at TriNoMa, SM The Block, Gateway, Ortigas Park, Paseo Center, Bonifacio High Street, Mall of Asia, convergys Ayala Avenue, Salcedo Village, Alabang Town Center, Rockwell, Robinson’s Ermita, Greenhills Promenade, Robinson’s Galleria, Eastwood, Tomas Morato and 2 more branches in Cebu.
The flagship store of the trendy and sporty bag people, Bratpack, opened recently at Greenbelt 5.
Bratpack Greenbelt 5
I was there at GB5 for a lunch date with friends at Cibo and saw the Bratpack people setting up in the lobby area right outside Cibo. Seeing all the bags hanging on display made me recall my school days when I almost always went around school with a backpack. Truly, the contents and the type of bag one carries says a lot about the personality of its owner!
When my daughter C1 bought a backpack, we went for JanSport after seeing the other varieties around. JanSport was the one that met our standards not just aesthetically but functionally, with its wide, foam-padded shoulder straps which I found very good since the books she used to bring home felt more like boulders and I was really concerned about possible injuries to her shoulders and back.
To this day, this backpack is still here with narry a tear or damage. It has weathered all the use (and abuse) it has taken after being lagged all around C1’s school daily.
When I got to the Bratpack launch, people were milling around and getting some food to eat. I immediately spotted Noemi and Bong and joined their table. Much later, more blogger friends arrived and so I went table hopping to get some of them in photo ops.
I also got a good look at the latest styles in bags that Bratpack was offering and noted that not only did they retain the functional look but they had evolved from plain colors to bright, spunky prints as well! And some of the bags were fashionable enough for the office (something I noted since I now work).
They had a contest going on to color some fashion templates as you wish so Noemi and I got right down to being as artsy as we could be (which was quite an effort for me as I had not doodled and colored in such a long time!). But it was fun and I must say, the outcome of what I did was not too bad. Even C1 liked it!
My attempt at fashion designing
Another riddle contest had us guessing what the items were as well as in which Bratpack bags they were located. 10 bags were given away to 10 lucky bloggers who were able to guess correctly 3 times. I was lucky to be the 2nd winner and my bag was the pink & black backpack!!!! Of course, when I got home, who else would beg to have it but C1, the JanSport lover.
I won the cute pink & black Jansport backpack! Here I am getting it from Brian Kong, Bratpack Marketing Officer
And here are the 10 lucky blogger winners!
Whatever one’s lifestyle or personality, Bratpack seems to have just the right bag for you, as can be seen from the different types of bags, colors, sizes I saw. And yes, their Greenbelt 5 store is HUGE (designed by renowned graphic design house Team Manila)! Wide open space to move around and ogle the bags for whatever your sport or fashion sense dictates.
Their 3 major lines are JanSport, Timbuk2 and Hedgren. But at Greenbelt 5, they carry new brands that cater to more lifestyles: skate brand DC and Sector9, Sanuk the surfers and beachbums, Skull Candy for music lovers, as well as Eastpak and Life is Good.
I will be going back soon as it’s just along the pedestrian walkway from my office in Makati. Their laptop bags are worth checking out!
Bratpack has branches at Greenbelt 5, Robinsons Place Manila, Robinsons Galleria, SM Cagayan de Oro, SM Davao, SM The Block, SM Pampanga, SM Southmall and Ayala Cebu.
Yes, so now you’ve met my new love. But I never did get to tell you his name, right?
Well, his name is MAX. I have my own private pet name for him but for the world, this shiny, new hunk of metal is MAX – short for My Apple Xtreme! 🙂
I guess having the power of the earlier Macbook Pros makes my baby qualify to be called Xtreme (at least till the next more powerful model comes along!).
It was also as close to a man’s name as I could think of and quite close to “Mac”, which he is. And it also reminds me of Max Alvarado whom you would either love or hate for his contrabida roles in Pinoy movies till his death in 1997. I used to be amused when he did comedic roles as a bad guy and the name Max does conjure images of a bouncer.
Do you give names to your laptops? Do share them with me so I know Max is not alone…
See what the Halloween Party, put together by Unilever and its Clear Shampoo, did to this mommy blogger and her 2 blogger daughters (AND their young friend). IT MADE US DARE TO WEAR BLACK!!!
The girls were excited when they received their invites about a week or two before the event.
Invite to the Clear Black Night Party
It was right smack during their sem break so it was easy to get them to come. Excitement was in the air as they planned what to wear on this blackest of black nights. They passed for me at my office and chatted away as we sped off to Taste Asia at Mall of Asia for the event.
It was also a big change for me. Several years back, the girls were excited about what costume to wear as they went trick or treating. Now here they were, on Halloween Night, all looking glam and grown-up in black!
Lady Predator with my girls and a friend of theirsMy girls & their friend obviously enjoying the Clear party
The crowd at Taste Asia ranged from the young to the yuppies. I ended up making my rounds of the bloggers who were outside while the girls, attracted by the lights and sounds, spent some time dancing the night away inside.
DJ Herbie WaltonBeauties & bloggers alike filled the dance floorDancing the night awayBatang Yagit and Jezhlau in the foregroundJane the foodista + Jane the yogini + ChrisKring and Alan in the foreground; Fritz with a cam"Bachelor Girl", "Jester" & Mike AbundoMoi with Jay, Aileen, Fritz and the girlsMy girls with their blogger friends
The highlight of the night as far as my 3 young girls went was suddenly seeing Ms. Earth candidates coming in to join the bloggers and party the night away. My girls were so taken by Ms. Tanzania who, in their words, had “the most beautiful dark skin” they had ever seen!
Ms. TanzaniaMiss Earth contestants
And Ms. Canada was most charming and accommodating enough for us to get this shot of her and the girls:
A "kilig" moment posing with Ms. Canada
Many thanks, Unilever people, for this awesome party!
You bet, this mother and her girls had a great time. Generation gap no more!!!! This was one night when mother and her daughters did the same thing TOGETHER! That, for me, was a CLEAR MOMENT…
The great thing about having 2 grown-up daughters is that I can do grown-up stuff with them. It has been a while since we did things together as they have just been through hell month finishing up school requirements and studying for their Finals. Now that they’re on sem break, we have that chance once again. And last night was one of them.
We went to the blogger launch of The Manila Outdoor Gallery Art Route, held at the Top Shelf of Fully Booked Boni High Street.
This event caught my interest because 1) the theme was environmental awareness (something that I as a yogini have become more sensitive to; 2) it had to do with art (I wanted to get back into the art scene and that, combined with bloggers coming together, was a magnet); and 3) it was time together with my girls.
Beginning today, as you travel through major thoroughfares throughout Manila (EDSA, NLEX and other major roads), try to see if you can spot huge billboards that do OTHER THAN advertise products & services. Frankly, I was never a fan of billboards. In my own opinion, highways need to be free of distractions to allow motorists to drive safely.
The plans were originally to feature 10 works of art but the interest grew so much that there are now 29 works of art throughout Metro Manila that are featured in this billboard art gallery! Some of the Filipino artists are, to name a few, Popo San Pascual, Riel Hilario, Eddie Boy Escudero, Jose Terence Ruiz, Mario V. Fernandez, Gari Buenavista, MM Yu, Christina Q. Ramilo, Lotsu Manes, and Tina Fernandez (who also curated the exhibit).
Here are some of those billboard art you can see. Try to spot some more as you travel!
The girls with their Kuya AzWith MM Yu, one of the artistsSome of the artists with smaller versions of billboard art
After the event, the girls asked to go down to Fully Booked. Bookstores are always a favorite hangout spot for our family so I obliged. Actually, I also wanted to look around myself! When they got tired, they went to Starbucks (C2 had coffee). Then on our way home, we all felt hungry again so we dropped by McDo in the Fort for some late-night burgers and fries. All this time we covered topics ranging from the event, to school, to friends, to their inner thoughts & other not-to-be-named topics. Haha!
All in all, it was an artsy and environmentally conscious evening combined with mother-daughter bonding. What a great start to their sem break! Wonder when our next bonding will be…
