Krispy Kreme brings on a Chocolate Karnival

When I brought 3 of my blogger kids to Bonifacio High Street’s Krispy Kreme (KK) to attend the launch of their chocolate doughnut line, I thought we would just go there, listen to an introductory speech, be treated to samples of the doughnut and that’s it!

What greeted our eyes when we came down from the car was this — a full carnival at KK complete with clowns on stilts and bikes, carnival music playing, lots of games for the kids inside, and free-flowing doughnuts and beverages. They even had a Leaning Tower of Pisa Chocolate made of KK boxes!

Krispy Kreme in carnival mode

Brewed coffee served at your table on demand (woot!)
Brewed coffee served at your table on demand (woot!)

My kids had fun playing the games like Doughnut Ring Toss, Stack It, Speed Stacker and Pachinko. M2 met this 11-year old speed stacker who truly amazed us with his stacking abilities. Mind you, he stacks cups 3 levels high in seconds!

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Pachinko

View of the Doughnut Ring Toss and Stack It games

The Leaning Tower of Chocolate

Another view of the Leaning Tower of Chocolate

My mommy blogger friends came with their young kids. It was my first time to see most of the kids whose names I was already familiar with via our online communications so it was a thrill to meet them. My own kids seemed so grown-up beside all these young ones!

with Julie, Chats, Noemi, Cookie & kids
with Julie, Chats, Noemi, Cookie & kids
With Lynn, Feng, Chats, Julie & kids
With Lynn, Feng, Chats, Julie & kids

 Lunch was served to us all – pasta, sandwiches, chips & dip. Afterwards, there was a magic show inside (but there were so many people already that I dared not try to squeeze my way in.

The assembly line of Krispy Kreme was covered with a brown curtain. Wow, that made the unveiling of their new chocolate line even more exciting. I got a good view of it as I was standing right at the entrance to the production area. When Az was allowed into the area, I instinctively followed him, as did Noemi. Only the 3 of us bloggers got INSIDE! But…we were required to wear the KK hats for good measure.

From our vantage point, we were able to see the glazed doughnuts roll down the conveyor belt. The chocolate syrup was flowing and everyone hooted and clapped as the first line of doughnuts went through the chocolate “waterfall”, coming out on the other side with dripping chocolate syrup. Yummmmmy!

This picture, courtesy of Noemi, shows me eating the chocolate glazed doughnut fresh from the production line.

Taken by my friend, Noemi

Here is a short video of that moment. I got to interview Az as he took his first bite of the chocolate delight.

My kids and I had a blast that afternoon. Never mind the summer heat. The fun, carnival mood made us forget the humidity. And the company was just purrrrfect…

On your next visit to Krispy Kreme, do try all their chocolate varieties. 

KK Poster Choco Karnival

KK Chocolate Products

Glaze your friends too! Visit www.chocolatekarnival.com.

Urban Time’s Brand Ambassadors

Urban Time, the country’s upcoming and hippest watch boutique, introduced its 5 brand ambassadors to the bloggers last March 25.

Urban Time SM North EDSA Mall

The search for 5 young girls to become the icons of Urban Time were launched on the web. Part of the scoring came from online votes while another part came from 3 judges, one of whom was my good blogger friend, AJ Matela.

In the end, 5 young and vibrant girls from 5 different schools made it:

 

(L-R) Miki Hahn from La Salle International, Portia Silva from Ateneo, Anna Monica Villaverde from Trinity University of Asia, Stephanie Sol and Rachel Rustia from UA&P
(L-R) Miki Hahn from La Salle International, Portia Silva from Ateneo, Anna Monica Villaverde from Trinity University of Asia, Stephanie Sol and Rachel Rustia from UA&P

Continue reading “Urban Time’s Brand Ambassadors”

Beauty Time with Clinique’s 3-Step Skin Care

Clinique's 3-step Solution

My history with Clinique goes waaaayyy back to the years when I was in the States taking my masters degree. Being one with sensitive skin, I always relied on Clinique products which are all allergy-tested and 100% fragrance free. Clinique is not known for being cheap; I had to scrimp and save in order to buy the products I wanted to use. So whenever my late sister-in-law, who lived in Canada then the US,  visited us she regularly gifted me with Clinique products.

Out of the blue, my friend Noemi invites me to a Clinique skin-typing. YEY! We went to Rustan’s Makati and had ourselves “typed” by Clinique. With us also were Noemi’s daughter Lauren and her friend Nikki.

Clinique’s 3-Step Skin Care System is Cleanse-Exfoliate-Moisturize. Cleansing removes dirt and oil (if you use makeup/foundation, you need a facial cleanser prior to the 3-Step Care. Exfoliating removes dead skin from the surface that make our skin look rough, dull, and flaky and helps skin renew faster. Moisturizing brings back the moisture into the already clean skin to keep it soft and hydrated.

My beauty consultant for the day was Malou Gagarin.

The first step was to analyze my skin type. Clinique categorizes skin types into 4:

The 4 skin types

Continue reading “Beauty Time with Clinique’s 3-Step Skin Care”

Earth Hour 2009 at Home

They said it was lights out only for Earth Hour. But here at home, we shut off major appliances as well, including our computers/modem. For an hour, the house was pitch dark save for lights around the house perimeter for safety. Only candles served as our source of light while having dinner.

Yes, we had a candlelit dinner for once. And the kids had a chance to chat and tell stories without the distractions of TV, the internet or their gaming devices.

A candlelight dinner during Earth Hour

Tomorrow we will see what level of participation the Philippines had in this one hour. From social networking sites, it appears that many participated but still there is room for a lot of improvement in coming years. What is important is that we take the first step individually, as a community, and as a nation to take care of the one home we have — Earth.

Where were you during Earth Hour? And what did you do? Do share…

Below I will post links to blogs of friends who participated in Earth Hour:

Noemi: Earth Hour 2009 at Adarna Food & Culture, Authentic Filipino Cuisine

Faith: Earth Hour Philippines 2009: Photo Set at Cubao X

Rachel: Fun Earth Hour 2009

Julie: Earth Hour in our Home

Mauie: We Voted for Earth

Azrael: Earth Hour Philippines (some coverage)

Salen: WS: Earth Hour Candle

iBlog5 Coming Up in May

IBLOG5

Just a quick heads-up for bloggers in the Philippines.

The 5th blogging summit will be on May 9, 2009 (9AM-5PM) at Malcolm Theater, UP College of Law, UP Diliman campus.

If you still have not joined any of the past 4 blogging summits, this is your chance. This will be my 3rd summit and I have to say that my experience has been totally positive. Not only did I learn a lot about blogging from the topics but this is THE chance to meet up with veteran as well as newbie bloggers and exchange business cards and knowledge.

Registration is FREE but will be limited. As of this posting, there are already over 170 registrants so hurry and sign up.

Here are a few links:

iBlog5 Homepage

iBlog5 Registration Form

Hope to see you there!

Ipanema Walks a Green Mile for Haribon

Last March 21, the boys and I headed out to the Fort Strip to join hundreds of people, young and old, to support Ipanema’s Walk a Green Mile for the benefit of Haribon Foundation.

Walk a Green Mile banner Haribon Foundation tent

Ever since the Ipanema launch of its GB Seeds Collection, I had made up my mind to join the walkathon. The cause was impetus enough. The exercise I would get out of it as well as the bonding with bloggers were the icing on the cake.

The boys at registration table
The boys at registration table
M1 & I with Patxi Elizalde of ELRO Corp. (Ipanema distributor)
M1 & I with Patxi Elizalde of ELRO Corp. (Ipanema distributor)

The walk started at a little past 5PM. The Uganda Band began playing Brazilian and African beats. At the starting line, confetti rained upon the participants and we all started the 1-mile hike around the Fort, basically walking to Boni High Street, going all around it, and making our way back to the starting point.

That entire walk took about 40 minutes and everyone made it back happy to have contributed to a worthy cause.

Several blogger friends were spotted and of course, we had the usual blogger photo ops. Click, click, click….

with Melyn & Jon Limjap
with Melyn & Jon Limjap
Met up with Liezl (right) & her friends
Met up with Liezl (right) & her friends
The camwhoring bloggers
The camwhoring bloggers
Karla & Sha
Karla & Sha

A pair of GB sandals personally signed by Gisele Bundchen was raffled off and no other than Melyn Limjap, a blogger, came away with the prize.

The lucky blogger!
The lucky blogger!

Celebrities were around too to grace the occasion. Here are some snaps of them:

All in all, it was an event we enjoyed a lot because I had time to bond with my boys who were attending a semi-blogger event for the first time. The instant dinner we had after the walkathon allowed them to meet some of my blogger friends.