This Happy Hiatus | My Big Three Ohhh!!

The silence around here is deafening isn’t it? Blame it on Europe. I’ll promise you loads of yummy posts in the next few days (not to mention truckloads of pictures) but right now I’m in the UK somewhere in Wales with the Valencianos, my cousins, and it’s my birthday I am now thirty, people here could hardly believe it, and our Swiss host in Zurich said it was impossible…but here I am.

I get quite shy when people pull for me or go out of their way to make things happen for me. It’s always so much easier to say “I’m okay, you don’t have to…” but I’m realizing now that it’s sometimes even better to just say “Thank you…I’m so glad you did…” from the bottom of my heart. I feel very spoiled for my age in fact and I think I have God to “blame” for all this.

My lovely beauty inspired Marks & Spencer birthday card given by the Vees…

There are many things I can’t explain, like why I look so young, or know too little, why too many wonderful people love me or why I haven’t reached certain places…but then I hear a still small voice begin to say “You are here and you are Mine because I love you.” and all doubt walks out the back door. My life is awesome thanks to Him and I only hope I can find lots of ways to spread the love. Thank you all for being there for me…what a truly remarkable life this has been so far. We head out to London tomorrow and I can’t wait to be up and about.

Beauty and the Best | Plus a Birthday

Once upon a time, ages ago…I set foot in a jungle called U.P. Diliman as a Fine Arts freshman, naturally, I was somewhat clueless on the first day of school.   One of the first friends I made on that day in 1999 in search of blockmates was Mark Nicdao.  We trekked on foot to find and join up with blockmates (and find food lol).  It felt like the WWII D-day drop in Diliman after the welcome blast, “paratroopers” aka students were broken up from different blocks trying to find each other.  I also happened to have a cousin named KC who was being labeled the industry’s freshest IT girl a year or so into my college stay. 

Mark decided to leave college after 2nd year and found himself apprenticing for photography then discovering that this was his true calling making him the best and most in-demand portrait and commercial style photographer in the country today. He mentioned here and there to me that he sooo wanted to meet KC. Although their encounter did not singlehandedly happen ‘coz of me the rest is art history. It’s KC’s birthday today so Mark and I last night already wished her all the best. He had come over to bring her a birthday gift.

At a lovely and delicious impromptu dinner at Chef Jessie’s in Rockwell Club (I recommend the Duck L’Orange), KC blew her birthday candles among family. I said it in Instagram and I’ll say it again. I thank God for my gift of a cousin who has the best years of her life right before her. ” I Love You, KC! Happy Birthday and Carpe Diem.

Shiseido Makeup Session by Bless My Bag! | Be 1 of 10 Readers There!

Hey, Ladies I want to meet YOU!  Although I can’t meet ALL of you just yet here’s an opportunity for 10 of my blessed blog readers!  I’ve only ever dreamed of having a meetup with you and I even prayed that it might be something exactly like this and it is kindly made possible by Shiseido.  I almost called this a workshop but more truthfully this Saturday, March 23, 2012 from 3pm-5pm I’ll be demonstrating looks to 10 selected readers using “fantabulous” Shiseido products and will also be raffling off a Shiseido prize to 1 attendee!  This photo isn’t from where exactly we’re going to have the session but you get the idea, it’s still Shiseido so you get the vibe.   The workshop will be held at Shiseido in Alabang Town Center.

To be one of the 10 readers to attend exclusively please read the mechanics below and join.

To get a chance to WIN 1 of 10 “Shiseido passes” to my makeup session:

1.  Simply Like the blog’s Facebook page,  and Shiseido PH’s Facebook Page

2.  Follow me and Shiseido PH on Twitter @blessmybag and @ShiseidoPH

3.  Answer this question in 10 sentences or less in the comments below.  Pls. comply with the 10 sentence max rule because I will be narrowing down for best selection.  Feel free to answer in Tagalog if you express yourself better.  The 10 most inspiring, clear answers (to me) will be selected.  Here is the question to answer in less than 10 sentences in the comments below.

“What is your most favorite DIY (do it yourself) beauty routine and why?” (Example answer: getting my nails done with nail art because I enjoy getting creative)

DEADLINE for submission of entries before selection is this Friday, March 22 at 10:00 AM, winners will be announced that afternoon.  Metro Manila Venue for the Shiseido Makeup Session by Blessmybag will be disclosed privately to the 10 selected winners.  Schedule for the session is this Saturday, March 23, 2012 from 3pm-5pm

Speechless Sunday…sort of | MUJI Cat Paperclips

You know how cats love to mark…whatever…whoever?  It’s high time they marked something sacred. I got these in January. I love that they’re not as thick as regular paper clips so they won’t damage delicate pages and they’re tightly shaped.

MUJI Cat Paperclips about Php250++?? Sorry, give or take…approximately, could be less. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and the “rest” of your Sunday, hehe.

Love Today ♥ Love Everyday

This is not going to be a WHAT IS LOVE nosebleeder and neither is it going to be a snarky, bitter “date-shmate” sort of post.  Let’s get you SAD (single awareness day) people off that chair.  If you didn’t have a date yesterday why should it be more depressing that you don’t have a date today?  Hahaha, hope that helped.  I want my thoughts on the matter to be warm (I’ll try), genuine, and what I really think about humans and love should sweetly smack you in the face.  Yes, these are my hands.

The funny thing about us human beings is we actually KNOW what love is, we’re programmed to know.  None of this “I wanna know what love is…” ignoramus baloney, WE KNOW, or at least we recognize it.  Deep inside, nearly every sane person more or less knows how other people should be treated or cherished and even if you didn’t grow up in 7th Heaven the only problem might be the absence of loving habits and the problem of pain or disappointment, but we all know how we or other people want to be loved, how we need to be loved is a whole different story.  Now, I think what a lot of us need to get is God’s way of expanding our ability to love and reinforcing consistency.  A lot of us suck at consistency. Who knows what a Mech Warrior is? (crickets) Geez, wrong audience, well if you watched Matrix Revolutions, or Avatar even, the mech suits were like enlarged robotic extensions of every soldier, enabling them to do what they do best on a bigger scale.  I think God tenderly and genuinely wants us all to be able to love wholeheartedly BIG.  In order to do that though, we need to choose Him and put His garment on.  What’s achingly beautiful about the whole thing is He doesn’t just enable us to love better, He loves us first before we extend His lovingkindness, that way, bringing the love forward doesn’t become a “chore”, it becomes real, you do it and really want to.  In my life God has been overwhelmingly present and close to me in spite of my failures.  I’ve not been daughter of the year for 2012 I think, but He still looks for me when I’m not looking for Him.  That just really gets me emotional sometimes when I catch myself, knowing that He keeps the candle burning and doesn’t lock the front door ’til I’m home.  He always reminds me that I am His and no one can change that and He wants me to be loved as best as I possibly can be so I can love other people the same way.  For those who have dates, check your teeth and smile, and for those who don’t or who have love problems, ANU BEH, watch this video here keep on smiling and smile some more, you ARE LOVED.

^“37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”