Life, Take 2

March 30, 2009

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”

March 28, 2009

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

March 26, 2009

Jesuit Online Retreat 2009

You can be online, at work, at home, abroad and still be able to do a personal Lenten retreat at any time, at your convenience.

the-silences-of-lent-online-poster-09

Fr. Johnny Go, SJ, in his spiritual blog, Pins of Light, has given a heads-up on another online Jesuit retreat (The Silences of Lent) that anyone can do for Holy Week. The first online retreat launched by the Jesuits in 2008 was a resounding success as it allowed many people who had little time to spare or who were far from a Holy Week Retreat venue to set aside as little as 30-45 minutes on each day of the Holy Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) and be with the Lord.

Fr. Johnny writes about this retreat:

Ours is a God of Silence, but He keeps different kinds of silences. And during Lent, more than ever, He is silent, for His deepest silences are experienced in the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus.

Lent is a season full of silences: The Silence of Gethsemane, the Silence of Calvary, and the Silence of the Empty Tomb–each one is different from the other. Maybe if we understand God’s silences in Lent, we will better understand His silences–and language–in our own lives.

(UPDATE: Here’s an invite to the online Lenten Recollection)

March 25, 2009

iBlog5 Coming Up in May

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!

March 25, 2009

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.

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….

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.

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.

March 21, 2009

Playboy Philippines Hosts Bloggers’ Night Out

So what is Playboy doing in my wholesome blog? Good question…

When I first read the invite of Azrael to a bloggers’ night out hosted by Playboy Philippines, I thought several times before signing up. My blog is for people of all ages and I wanted to keep to things I would not hesitate to show my family. But when Az assured me that this was simply a party for bloggers and that it would be wholesome enough for me to bring my 2 girls, I figured WHY NOT? It was another chance to bond with bloggers as well as to check out the new image of the Playboy magazine which attempts to move away from the usual men’s magazine into a classier, more sophisticated lifestyle magazine for men.

The place was Source Bar in Ortigas Home Depot last March 20, 2009. When I got there, the place was already teeming with bloggers. There was a table with familiar bloggers — Manuel, Jonel and Dante. Others sighted that evening: Jay, Jane, Carl, Arvin, Kel, Mica, and Mike Abundo. I got to meet new online friends who I communicated with online but was meeting for the first time in person – Jennie & Jeff, Nicely, Sarah, digiscrapmom, Ryan and Edelweiza.

Playboy Philippines provided free drinks and finger food for everyone while a DJ provided the music ambience for the evening. I got to meet the Playboy Philippines team as well as some of the bunnies around. The April 2009 anniversary issue was shown to the bloggers during the party (too bad I was no longer around then). I still have to see how the magazine evolves into its new desired image. From the back issues I saw being handed out, the content was tamer than the US versions but still — definitely for mature male audiences.

I didn’t stay long. Hubby is still abroad and the two girls who were supposed to be with me that evening could not make it for different reasons. So being the single parent that I was that night, I had to head home and be an early Cinderella. Still, it was fun hanging out with the young blogger set again. Thanks, Az and Playboy Philippines!

Here are some shots of the evening: