PRIVE featuring Trousseau by Reshma (with Madhuri-Rania Mohnani for the dresses)

Been organizing MEMBERS ONLY PRIVE events since 2009, and from these little fashion events of mine, I've met so many people from the fashion industry, some of them being my closest friends today.

However, it is still different when the PRIVE I am organizing is for friends... It becomes more personal.

I met Reshma Chulani, designer of Trousseau bags, from.. where else... Embassy! HAHA! All those Friday nights in the VIP room dancing and having A LOT OF FUN! i don't even remember anymore who introduced us, but as time passed by, I started to get to know her.

Designer of Trousseau Bags
Reshma Chulani

Around January of this year, Reshma started talking to me about her bags. I see the passion of this pretty lady whenever she talks about what she plans to do.  And I see her work hard to make sure that she gets this done while being driven by passion.

If I were to choose one reason why I enjoy organizing my PRIVE events it is that I get to see how various people execute their creativity, while being extremely passionate about it. A very passionate person myself, I am drawn to that.

Madhuri, on the other hand, I met during dance practice..... YES you read that right - DANCE PRACTICE! We were preparing for Nanik's and Roshni's Sangeet, practicing two or three times a week at Cristalle's house, and just spending a lot of time together. I didn't really get to talk to her much back then but I noticed how good she was with learning the steps (AND I SUCKED BIG TIME HAHAHAHAHA!).

Designer Madhuri-Rania Mohnani with Reshma

Before the event, I met with Reshma at the Fort and she told me Madhuri would be the one dressing up her muses. Of course, hearing that made me even more excited!

I got to the event a bit late, was running around for work and still had to rush and get ready in time for the show. There were ten beautiful muses, all in their Madhuri dresses and holding their Trousseau bags!

The designers with their muses

Pretty Priti!

SUPERMODEL Mia Ayesa

Gorgeous Stalley!

Blooming Bride-to-Be Nisha Hemlani

Until the next one.... PARTY LIKE A SUPAHSTAH!

Traces of Eyeliner

I woke up today from a huge night out (okay.. semi-huge) only to find traces of eyeliner leftover from the night before!

At times, the eyeliner really won't come off... I remember this one time in May after an engagement party, had a semi-early meeting with my partner Celine Gabriel-Lim and I really did not have all day to take it off (i tried though, used make-up remover and soap to no avail... i even showered!!!). When I took off my shades, she went "Wow looking good with the eyeliner!" (I guess it did look perfect still... haha!)

A realization struck me this morning when I saw the eyeliner still on and how this was like a life metaphor. We put on eyeliner to look good,  and for me, the act in itself makes me feel good. I only wear eyeliner at night when I know I'll be having a good time. And the next day, when the party is over, i see traces of this make-up and remember traces of what happened the night before.

More often than not we try to hold on to each happy moment knowing that this too will pass. And we are left with memories... Happy ones. But in life, we cannot simply hold on to these memories, we have to keep creating new ones, just like how we need to reapply our eyeliner.

Happy Sunday everyone! :) Many blessings! X

Past Couple Months...

Work got in the way... again!

Last time a blogged was last January... that was four months ago! I miss it, so I am starting to do it again.

Past couple months have been CRAZY workwise... That only means one thing: I am blessed. A year ago I barely knew where I wanted to go then all of a sudden, things just fell into place.

Not to say that there is no more point in working hard... Of course, we must always stay focused, and we must always keep our feet planted on the ground. We never know what will happen next.

But life is not just about working. Quality of life is what's really more important. And quality is in all aspects - work, family, love, spirituality.

So here I am, trying my hand again at this. Not for anyone, but myself. A way to express myself better, in turn understand myself better. That way, I understand others better.

I pray for inspiration to come my way... I write better when inspired!

ZAPPED

I went to Belo Medical Clinic yesterday to have my face zapped.

When I was younger, I never really cared much about my skin. But now that I am in my late twenties, I see so many then beautiful women in their late 20s who now have really bad skin in their mid-thirties.

Prevention starts NOW... Actually, I should have started in my (late) teen years. But no use crying over spilt milk.

Recently, I also discovered the best skin care product line from Watsons. Try CLINELLE! I personally love the facial wash and sunblock. Many of my friends have already commented that my skin looks radiant (glowing??! haha!)(That was BEFORE I had my face zapped... I look like a monster now!).

Back to Running

Today, I did something great - I ran.

Running has always been something I loved doing. Running was almost always a part of my life - literally and figuratively. Even back in high school when I used to play football, we had to run whenever we trained. I even remember a time when our PE teacher in senior year asked us to run for 15 minutes straight... with no breaks. I was one of the few who made it, and a smoker at that. Hence, the nickname Jogging Jenny was formed. (Thanks to Crissa Honey Small Foot!)

But the only time I really got into it was when I reached the age of 21 when I decided to quit smoking. I needed to have an activity to help my mind focus on anything but the craving. That was the point when my on-again-off-again relationship with running started.

In the beginning, I just trained on the treadmill, thrilled whenever I could increase the time and speed on the machine. But later on, as I progressed, I started to focus more on the distances. Then, I started pushing myself a notch or two higher by training for marathons... the first marathon being a 10KM race with my then running buddy, Franco (5KM would have been too easy, I said... So we pushed for 10KM and made it). That was back in maybe 2006 or 2007...

Running really suits my personality because I've always been the type of person who believed in hard work and perseverance. There is no way anyone can ever finish a long race without training hard first (except if they have alien genes!!). Running also keeps my mind focused and my soul at ease. So many times I've had EUREKA moments from my reflections while running. When I run, I get to know a little bit more about myself and how much I could take, or how far I would go, how committed I could be. Because running is a commitment... To oneself mainly. Then when you start forming your own little running groups, it becomes a commitment to others.

Running is a metaphor to life.

I started slow today. Did an easy 100M interval training of run-walk. I ran with pro-tri-athlete Tricia C who has recently started training again after a 2 year hiatus. She asked if I would want to train with the polo tri team (I would LOVE to!). The goal is to run a full marathon before I hit 30. I have a year and nine months to go, that is more than enough time.

Blogger's Block

I can't seem to find inspiration... I have to be inspired to write. I work better when I'm inspired. My relationships with people are better when they inspire me to be the best that I can be... I like to inspire others...

I call this lack of inspiration in writing 'blogger's block'! And the feeling that comes to me when I lack inspiration is the feeling of being stuck.

Frustration also helps me with the flow of my writing, and ironically, the topic on 'Blogger's Block' is helping me find ways to express myself...

The past couple days, I've been feeling quite stuck. I feel this once a year when I am uncertain about where I want to go. It sucks, no doubt, but feeling this way helps me find time to internalize and think about my life and to try to analyze why I feel this way. The happy me - almost never sad except when huge problems arise (sometimes, not huge, but petty problems I make huge!) - can never really spot when anything is wrong. So I guess feeling stuck and uninspired is a good thing, especially for someone who loves being inspired. Life and living are all about inspiration. Purpose driven life.


Note to self - seek inspiration. Time to make changes. Time to shift mindsets. Quit settling.

I plan to use the days ahead to just sit back and reflect and focus on myself... Hopefully I find what I need to. Or hopefully it finds me. So I know where to go.

Changing habits with regards to my 'Crackberry'

In 2009, I discovered the Blackberry...

Before that, I would hear my friends with Blackberries referring to this device as the 'Crackberry...' I didn't get why... Not until I finally bought my own.

The Blackberry is addicting! (Hence, CRACKberry) It is the best device for:

1. Workaholics

2. Perpetual flirts (don't we love the ;) and :* and ;;) smiley icons?) (wink, kiss, eyelashes)

3. Bored people

Sure... it makes us more productive... We get our emails 24/7... We are connected 24/7... We can tweet, facebook, chat 24/7... We are reachable 24/7... But -- do we want all of that really?

We've become so dependent on our phones, iPods, iPads, social networking sites that we sometimes forget the importance of connecting with people who are with us at the moment. I am guilty of that. In 2010, a lot of my friends would complain that even when I was physically there, my mind would be somewhere else. (Although on some occasions, I would really be on my phone for work reasons, but still... ) 

After awhile, it dawned upon me that it wasn't cool to be half-there. (or to be half-anything... make a stand!) And - as habits die hard, if they die at all - I knew this one was going to be hard to break. 

I started by taking out Twitter on my phone.... No more impulsive tweets (hehe). I just have to accept that - no matter how brilliant I must think something is at that moment when I am out with friends, chances are, the day after, it really ain't that brilliant. I try not to take social networking comments seriously, and because I think that way, I assume that people will also not take my comments seriously... Or not look too much into it. But what may seem like a joke to me may not be to someone else. And by lessening my 'impulsive tweets,' I lessen the chances of offending others. And not miss the fun that is happening where I am at.

Then, I've decided to put my phone on silent... That way, no BBM messages or phone calls can ever interrupt meetings and great conversations.

True enough, when I became more conscious with how much time I spend on my Crackberry, and when I started to lessen my Crackberry activities, I've noticed how other people addicted to it have made me annoyed.... Sadly, I was (and can still sometimes be) that annoying person... :s

I mentioned five resolutions in my previous post... This is my sixth. 

Tisha's Bachelorette's Video - A Closer Look

I feel so blessed to have THE BEST GIRLFRIENDS in the world!

This video was produced by my very talented and artistic friend, Noelle Hilario. This was our boating trip in the Visayas where we visited Malapascua, Kota and other islands for Tisha's bachelorette (onboard the MONICA).

Our Boating Trip


Three nights on the boat with seven other girls, playing games, pigging out, and DRINKING!

Cute Havaianas floaters, leis, disco ball, Havainas sets of playing cards
and our giveaways 

Of course we had to throw in the minis

Fireworks greeted us at the Shang

Happy 2011... PART 2: New Year's Resolutions

Let's create new and better habits in 2011...

More adventures! More love! More positivity!

For my New Year's Resolutions:

1. Pick my party battles

I cannot... cannot... cannot... CANNOT keep on partying like a superstar! I keep saying this EVERY NEW YEAR's. A pat on the back for myself though for not partying as hard as how I used to back when I had close to zero responsibilities (aside from bringing home good grades). It is the year where I will start picking my battles wisely. 

I already know that I love Patron and Grey Goose and that chances are, I will not totally quit drinking. But I can live with the occasional partying vs. the thrice-a-week partying (and daily partying when Decem-Blur hits). Time to put my foot down!

Partying at OPUS with Dina, Jen K and Nicole Whisenhunt
A glass of Grey Goose Sprite Zero in hand

Partying in Macau for Tisha's + Miguel's wedding
(after multiple shots of tequila)

2. Train more religiously

I used to train harder, but with all the work that came in 2010 when the -Ber months hit, I just had to stop. I continued my Pilates sessions but did ZERO cardio. My fitness goals for the year include finishing a 21KM (at least 2 times) in preparation for my FULL MARATHON in 2012.

Aside from running, I also plan to train for other sports such as badminton and swimming. Pilates will remain a constant, and maybe - if I have the time - yoga once a week!


3. Be (more) focused

I was pretty much experimenting with work in 2009 and 2010 and by the second half of 2010 I've finally discovered what I want to focus on. I was also blest in 2010 when at the second half, I was able to form good working relationships with different people. For 2011, I want to just focus on these alliances I've formed and put all my efforts in just those... No more forming new working relationships.

I want ARC, iHobby and Scarlet Begonia to grow... Focus on clients and their growth as well. I can't really go into detail on how I plan to do it, but I am working on it.

Note: check out www.ihobbycorp.com to see our products!

Wedding Arrangement by Scarlet Begonia Flowers

I love Scarlet Begonia Flowers!

4. Travel

I love seeing the world. Meeting new people and learning about their food and culture. Traveling around Asia in 2010 was AWESOME! I got to see new places (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Macau) and revisit HK in Asia and Davao and Cebu in the Philippines!

WOOHOO!

With Mons and Tisha, some of my traveling buds on 

Posing where Angelina Jolie shot "Tomb Raider" in Cambodia with T, Mons and Tish!
This was our trip celebrating T's birthday!

Beautiful Angkor Wat

This year, aside from traveling around the Philippines, I want to try to travel to a different continent. Let's see...

Already booked for Boracay in February! Planning another Asian trip around my birthday... I want to visit Singapore, HK and Bangkok again in 2011... and HOPEFULLY, the U.S. or Europe.

Time to fix the visa!



5. Become more spiritual



XXXXXXXXX

Happy 2011... PART 1: 2010 Learnings

New Year's Eve is a BIG EVENT for me... The New Year for me  means having a clean slate... Leave the past behind, learn from it, and move on to better things.

Looking back, 2010 was a good year for me. A few minor emotional episodes, but overall, it was a good year.

2010 was when I started getting smarter when it came to work. I realized the importance of working efficiently and effectively. More importantly, I slowly realized how important it is to delegate because if I want to grow, I will need to rely on a team. 2010 was when I started building that team.

2010 was when I also started thinking about my game plan in life. I never had a game plan, I always just went with the flow. Now, I actually have an idea on where I want to be in the next 2... 3... 5... 10 years. I have yet to write my battle plan and vision board, but I'm slowly getting there. Learning to read my life compass instead of going unprepared in this journey.

2010 was when I travelled to (mostly) new places, in the Philippines and in Asia. Tisha's bachelorette in the Visayas where we visited Cebu, Kota, Malapascua and other islands made me remember how much I love the ocean. Made me remember how much I used to visit the beach to do sports. Gosh, I really miss wakeboarding... I know I am too old to start wakeboarding again, but there are other water-sports I can start getting into in 2011 so that I can be closer to the ocean.

In Asia, I visited Cambodia (Angkor Wat), Vietnam (Ho chi minh and Hanoi), Thailand (Bangkok), Hong Kong and Macau (Twice!). I wonder where 2011 will take me...

Every new year, I look back and reflect. Then, I start writing resolutions.

Up next: PART 2: New Year's Resolutions...

LOVE and LUCK in 2011!

HAPPY 2011!!!
with my Spanish friend, Alex Entrena!
More posts on DECEMBLUR fun later!