what a show!

Eric's show last night was a huge success. His 40-piece collection was fabulous, fabulous, fabulous! Of course I had a sneak peek days before the show but it's different when the clothes are on stage donned by models, they look absolutely beautiful. F&C's jewelry collection also added that extra oomph to the whole get-up and I must say that with this show, Eric has definitely outdone himself.

I'll be posting more photos when the official pictures from that night will come out. In the meantime, here are a few snapshots taken after the show for the curious...

with friends Dr. Kristine Treñas, moi in Eric de los Santos couture,
designer Jasmine Castelo in her androgynous outfit,
and Luziel O. in vintage Eric de los Santos.

Picture perfect. Jasmine, Eric's sister and my
HS classmate, Julie Ann de los Santos Miñoso
Brends, me, Dr. Kristine, and Luziel.

Hubby Brends, beautiful me (this is my blog, I can say what I want), and
my best friend forever, the show's director/choreographer Aldrich Aparicio.

sleepless in the city

I'm an 8-hour sleeper. Anything less than 8 hours transforms me from a relatively sane person to a complete lunatic. Yesterday I only had 4 hours of sleep and so I felt like yesterday's trash that have been recycled twice. I was basically half-human yesterday, so those who know me had the smarts to stay away from me. Let's just say that aside from going a little bit cuckoo, I also get extremely violent when I lack the requisite 8 hrs. (Which was why I had the strongest compulsion to pummel some extremely shallow, trivial, crass, and vulgar people yesterday.)

Anyway, in spite of my state (my friend Christy kept telling me I had raccoon eyes, thank you very much), I managed to drop by a Christmas party of sorts at Freddy's along with 3 of my good friends Christine (a.k.a Cho Chang) Jonathan (a.ka. Cedric D.) and Christy (the vamp). It's so nice to be with real people for a change, not the irritating wannabes that I have to deal with (in the still not to be revealed part of my life). We had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun last night -- for once I was stress free!

The Ho's: Christine Lao-Ho and Jonathan Ho


Reunited in Freddy's! Christy Love and moi.
The vamps who didn't get any sleep last night.

We're not yet drunk! Christmas party with B2 peeps
and Bob Ponje masquerading as one of us

As for today, I managed to get a good night's sleep and I woke up at 10 am. I'm going to attend Eric de los Santos's fabulous by-invitation show tonight so I needed to catch up on my sleep to be able to function like a normal human being tonight. I'm wearing one of Eric's creations so I don't want to look like what the cat dragged in. Meow!

I love you JH!

Few men can make me go limp and speechless but the dude up there can. Swoon! Swoon! Anybody expecting an unbiased, intelligent, coherent review of 30 Days of Night can just forget it. I LOVE JOSH HARTNETT! Those eyes can melt steel and my heart (did I say that? Give me a slap for being cheesy! -- oh, but I love him, I love him, I do!!).

I know I'm going to have a lousy day today because I'm about to do something really stressful (and never mind what that is), so I'm posting Josh's photo here to counteract the bad vibe of this day. I watched the movie, which was based on the three-issue mini-series of horror comics written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, with my husband the other day (of course, he wanted to give me more than just a slap on the face for going gaga over Josh). 30 Days of Night is a treat for vampire lovers as it depicts the scarier, faster, more violent Nosferatu type vampires (as opposed to the romanticized, velvet-wearing lotharios). What made them creepier was that they spoke in their own demonic, ancient vampire lingo. Eeww. The humans (except for JH, of course) were kinda boring compared to the relentlessly hungry bloodsuckers.

Watch this film and enjoy the gore (and of course JH). The only irritating part is that this film is set in Barrow, Alaska, a cold (obviously), isolated town where the sun goes on hibernation for 30 days each year (meaning the town is virtually in darkness for a month making it a perfect gorging venue for the vamps) -- and so, there is absolutely NO NUDITY in this movie. Josh was wearing this thick jacket the whole time that revealed no interesting body part whatsoever (except for his beautiful face -- sigh!). I was still expecting him to give me a short preview of half, okay, a fourth of his tush as the movie was about to end, but nothing, he gave me nothing! Oh well, I guess I'll have to watch reruns of Pearl Harbor for that (damn you Kate Beckinsale!).

this vampire desperately needs a good dentist

a decade of fashion

Eric de los Santos celebrates 10 fabulous years in the fashion industry. I'm speechless. I've been doing this guy's press releases, bios, profiles, interviews, etc. for years now and I can't think of a thing to say except -- Congratulations my dear fab friend. You deserve all the blessings and success and I know you'll make it to another 10 - 20, hell 50 years!

On Dec. 9, Eric's going to celebrate in a big (and very exclusive) way with a by-invitation only fashion show at Hotel del Rio. Below are 2 samples of his invites and we were torn because we couldn't choose between the two -- they both looked so good. I haven't seen what Eric finally decided on but I think he went with #2. I would go with #1 for its elegant simplicity but the Andy Warholish effect is kinda cute, too.

For more about Eric, visit him at his website at www.ericdelossantos.com (by the way, Brendan, my hubby made the site).

Congratulations again Eric! Good luck on your show and see you on Sunday! Now I have to find something to wear. (Hint, hint!)

Vignettes

the one with the whirlwind romance

I knew that some good would come out of my being such a shameless KSP (Kulang Sa Pansin, what else?). After advertising my blog yesterday to unsuspecting family and friends, I was surprised to receive emails from my old college sorority sisters, obscure relatives, friends I haven't seen for ages, and clients from way back (when I was still a corporate bad-ass wearing 4-inch stilettos). They told me that they viewed this blog (although I think they just said that as not to hurt my feelings because last time I checked, my profile views remained a sorry number of 67! I know because the 67 views were all mine -- liars!), and congratulated me on how domesticated I've become what with 2 beautiful kids and an adoring husband, etc., etc.

But more than their requisite hellos, I was glad to hear a lot of great news yesterday. And one that really made me all happy and excited was an invitation from Joanna, my sorority sis and ka-batch, to her wedding this December. She told me that it was a whirlwind romance, which made it all the more romantic. Although knowing her, she must have hit him with a big club, and dragged him to her cave -- oops, I think that was a scene from a National Geographic documentary I watched last night -- must have confused the two (grin, grin).

To my friend, hope you make not just your wedding fun but your married life as well. You deserve it my dear, wedding bells and all. Congratulations and all my good intentions and wishes go to you and your future husband.

the case of the missing photos
After months of looking for my old photos, which I knew were just lurking somewhere in the dark abyss of my husband's files, patiently waiting for their master to reclaim them to their former glory, I finally found them. The whole lost and found scenario reminded me of Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past".

"I feel that there is much to be said for the Celtic belief that the souls of those whom we have lost are held captive in some inferior being, in an animal, in a plant, in some inanimate object, and so effectively lost to us until the day [which to many never comes] when we happen to pass by the tree or to obtain possession of the object which forms their prison. Then they start and tremble, they call us by our name, and as soon as we have recognised their voice the spell is broken. We have delivered them: they have overcome death and return to share our life."

That's not me talking, that's my old (and dead) friend, French writer Marcel Proust. Absolutely dramatic. For some old photos, I break into poetry. Give me a million bucks, I'll probably do something really extraordinary like contort or recite all of Shakespeare's sonnets backwards. Toss a few hundred thousand bucks more and I'll do both at the same time.

Those photos won't see the cover of Vogue, Cosmo and definitely not O (even if I don a wig, gain 70 lbs. more and go to the tanning salon -- simply because I'm not Oprah, dummy). But they give me this blast from the past (when I was a few pounds thinner/heavier and younger with less wrinkles) that always makes me SMILE.

Here are some of the pictures for your viewing:

our family photo, watch out for the angry baby! (because you're holding me too tight, mother!)

Striking a pose at the Sanson y Montinolla Antillan house
(one of Iloilo's heritage treasures, the house, not me).
Photo by James Chua, styling by Jasmine Castelo, make up by Dyutay,

La dolce vita!
I bamboozled a complete stranger to loan us this beautiful yacht for a pictorial.
Photo by Leo Solinap

the cast of characters of the shoot for a magazine I'm no longer connected with (thank God! the biatch who claims to own the magazine needs a lobotomy and some tips on corporate manners, not to mention a crash course in magazine editing and writing -- this is a story that I would gladly tell you on another day perhaps..). Anyway, the foreigner dude beside me is Marcel who owns the yacht, the rest are our models and staff, oh, there's Pepoy on the far right who did the hair and make up.

oh, ain't she the cutest? Me not Ripley. Ha-hah!
That's me with all of my post maternity fat (can someone photoshop those damn arms?),
my devoted husband (who's one of the few guys
I know who can get away with a pink shirt),
and of course, my little angel Ripley at 6 mos.
This was taken on her baptism at Messe Ristorante.

have column, will write

I would have wanted to name this blog entry "the resurrection and the life". Today, my column "Serendipity" in the local daily newspaper, The News Today, was resurrected from the dead. After months and months of not being able to write anything for the paper, I had a lucid interval last week (brought about by Trillanes's failed coup attempt -- again!) and decided to submit an article.

Erly, the editor, welcomed me like a father would his prodigal daughter and scheduled my column on Mondays. According to him, Monday is a good day since it's the start of the week, readers are always eager to read the paper on this day after a long peaceful weekend. Tsk...tsk, these poor unsuspecting readers, they're in for a lot of angst, cynicism, negativity and pain on the first day of their relatively great weekday. See, I have this innate gift of ruining people's appetites (and on a larger scale, people's lives) when I write. Someone once said that I don't use words, I use venom. I guess my acerbic tongue could use a little bit of sugar sometimes.

For my first 'outing', I did the '2 birds with one stone' bit and used the blog entry I made last Thursday. I was so into the coup thing and wanted to share my disgust with the rest of the Ilonggo population. Rest assured, the next articles in my column would be originals or offshoots from this blog. (Hey, gimme a break, I'm a multi-tasker mom who only has one Alzheimer-prone brain.)

Anyway, you can check out my column (take a look at the archives too for oldies) at The News Today. It's available in news stands, bookstores, dentists' offices when you're waiting for that dreaded root canal, public toilets (they come in handy), and coffee shops when you want to look as if you're doing something intellectual (as opposed to looking like a lecher checking out girls). If you're an Ilonggo abroad or just plain curious, just visit our 24/7 online version at www.thenewstoday.info. Happy reading.

confessions of an amateur blogger

I must admit, I'm a late bloomer -- in blogging that is. Although, you could also say I'm a late bloomer in the body development department. My high school Lit. teacher once said, "you have the substance jong, just work on the form." I was a 75 lb. anorexic-looking 15 year old who could give the Olsen twins a run for their money, so her matter-of-fact statement about my weight was taken with a grain of salt (and a lot of tears, sleepless nights, and life-long therapy). It worked out in the end for me though. When you're thin in high school, chances are when you give birth, you'll develop curves in all the right places (I think I heard someone say this exact line before...gah! you actually believe this crap?). Of course, genetics play a huge part, that's why I always tell my male friends to check out the moms of their girlfriends first before blurting out that ubiquitous proposal. Boys, those wide hips of mom will soon be your future wives' extra baggage. (Don't worry girls, if your men truly love you, they'll look beyond such trivial details as wide hips and er, huge thighs.)

But I digress (like I always do). Let's go back to blogging. I think I'm years and years behind this blogging thing. I started a blog in 2005, but because of my impatience and my past tech-phobia (I used to get intimidated by anything more sophisticated than my trusty old Underwood), I junked that blog before I could even put a decent photo in my profile (that was actually why I quit in the first place, I hated the mumbo jumbo that went with the posting of my minuscule unphotoshopped photo). A few months back, I gave it a try again, but there was a glitch with blogger.com at that time and I got cold feet. Finally, around two weeks ago, I decided to do it one last time, and voila! Here it is. I'm still trying to grope my way around, but I think I'm doing pretty well. What do you think?

I haven't mastered the buttons and gizmos and widgets and whatever you call 'em, but I'm operating on trial mode here, so give me a break. The thing about blogging though is that it takes so much of my time (a luxury multi-taskers like me do not have). Added to this is my internet service provider's propensity to bog down at the most inopportune time. I'm also sharing a pc with my husband because my laptop broke down (thanks to my daughter who decided to give it a coffee bath), so you can just imagine the things that I have to do in order to hog the pc (pole and lap dancing, kinky sex, and maybe a Brazilian wax soon -- ouch!).

I'm enjoying this. I just wish I'm more enterprising (google ads, anyone?), or more OC (as in obsessive-compulsive). I was thinking of sticking to one topic, like fashion or parenting, but hey, life's too short and colorful to put limitations on one's self. There's so much that I want to talk about and putting all of my creativity, angst, thoughts, rantings, ramblings, comments, ideas in one basket would be quite tragic and very, very sad.

And so, tadaa!! I officially welcome myself to the blogging world. Fasten your seatbelts fellow bloggers and readers, this is gonna be one hell of a blog. (Er, I can still resurrect my old Underwood if things don't work out, right?)