Author: Noelle De Guzman

Kikay Monday

Noelle De Guzman

I got some wonderful stuff over the weekend, and my policy has always been to use new things at the first opportunity. First things first: the Ellana Minerals samples!

Ellana Minerals free samples
Hazelnut Latte and Caramel Latte foundation, Espresso con Panna finishing powder

After moisturizing my face with Olay Total Effects cream, I brushed on a teensy amount of Caramel Latte foundation all over my face — it really does go a long way! I dabbed on some Elianto concealer under my eyes, then matte-fied my entire face with the Espresso con Panna finishing powder. Just to add some color back, I used some beige eyeshadow (two tones) from Clinique, then dusted Nichido Cool Rum and Passionate Red blushes onto my cheekbones. Strawberry lip balm from Nivea finished this barely-there look.

Ellana mineral foundation w/ Clinique eyeshadow

What do you think?

Jellybean green sundress with Clinique loot bag
The makeup had to be light because I was stepping out in a sundress I’d bought on sale at Jellybean the previous day. (From 799 pesos, the dress price had been slashed down to 400 pesos Ü) I wore a bandeau bra to conceal some assets, then used the Clinique loot bag I’d picked up from the makeup event two months ago as a handbag. My trusty gold Havaianas completed the laid-back look.

It may have been raining on Monday, but I felt like summer. Ü

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“Weekend Warriors: Surfing” on Flippish.com!

Noelle De Guzman

Remember that surf trip to Club Manila East I went on last month? It was a shoot for “Weekend Warriors”, one of the many web-only shows featured on Flippish.com, the first online Pinoy video channel. My surfing episode is the second one, and now it’s up online! Check it out below, or head on over to Weekend Warriors: Surfing on Flippish.com.

 

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Funny, I could swear I had better footage than that. LOL! 😀

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Philippine Blog Awards 2009

Noelle De Guzman

As you might recall, last year this blog was a finalist at the Philippine Blog Awards under the Travel category. This year I’ve had a chance to evaluate what this blog is about, and it’s not about the nitty-gritty details of traveling to destinations (which is the description of the travel category). It’s about my fascination with travel and the things to do when you get to the destination. It’s a small difference, but enough to make me re-categorize this blog under Hobby & Recreation.

Hopefully I make the finals again this year. 🙂

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Not-So Extreme Makeover

Noelle De Guzman

While my efforts aren’t of Extreme Makeover magnitude, I’ve steadily been fixing up my room. Last month I tossed out a mountain of old clothes I haven’t worn in years and reorganized my closets in an effort that would have made Martha Stewart proud.

Yesterday I gave my room a thorough cleaning and organizing that yielded dust bunnies galore and a stack of empty shoeboxes. After dusting off the tabletops, putting a fresh sheet on the bed, and de-cluttering my dresser, I once again have a tranquil space of my own. The last time I did something of this magnitude was back in 2006! (And what do you know? It was in July as well.)

Voila! I present to you, my sparkling clean room!

dresser area
bed and study
my bookshelf
No “Before” pics. Those are the stuff of nightmares.

Since I use my room as an office when I write, it’s as though de-cluttering it also de-cluttered my mind. I feel so efficient and creative now!

And speaking of makeovers, look what arrived in the mail:

Ellana Minerals free sample kit
free samples and catalogue from Ellana Minerals

I ordered some samples from Ellana Minerals on Liz‘s recommendation. It’s just 50 pesos for the shipping and you get two packets of foundation (different shades) and one packet of finishing powder. I can’t wait to try them tomorrow!

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Celebrating in Style

Noelle De Guzman

My birthday was on the 4th of July, but I practically started celebrating it the moment July began, with some shopping. I was looking for a birthday dress and something to wear to the Flippish.com launch at Fiamma on the 2nd. Landmark Department Store at Trinoma always has a wide range of great dresses that don’t tear holes in my wallet. And guess what? My dress made it into Stylebible.ph’s coverage of the party.

Flippish.com Launch

I am a very stylish girl. Also this cost less than 500 pesos.

What a nice early birthday gift. But what I didn’t know was that my friends had gotten together and organized a surprise birthday party for me on the 3rd. To distract me, my sister took me shopping and bought me a straw fedora from Mint in Robinsons Galleria.

Birthday Surprise!

My birthday cupcakes! Please don’t count them.

Then the next morning my mom took me shopping for the family’s present. We got these lovely funky hi-cut skate shoes from DC Shoes at Res|Toe|Run.

Shoe Love: DC Shoes

I could walk all day in these.

In all, it was a retail therapy-filled birthday week. I’m happy to be starting another year (yes, I count in birthdays, not in New Year celebrations) with the people I love.

My Birthday - 4th of July

Happy Birthday to me!

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(Mis)Print

Noelle De Guzman

Did I tell you about the time a friend put my thoughts and picture into her article in Inquirer? It was about high school valedictorians and where they are now. No, I don’t think I ever mentioned it because when that article was published back in 2007, they printed the wrong photo under my name! (It was the author’s photo instead.) And even when the author told them of their mistake, they never rectified the error. Bah.

I bring this up now because I have an article in the Inquirer today (June 27) on pages C1 and C4. It irks me every time I read it, instead of giving me a sense of pride that I’ve finally been published in a mainstream broadsheet.

Okay, I know we’re all supposed to edit before we send copy to our editor, but they’re supposed to catch the small errors and fix them so that the newspaper maintains its grammar and spelling standards, right? They’re supposed to catch the missing article in this sentence: Add the mix local cosplay communities organizing their own conventions and contests, and you have a cosplay boom in the Philippines. It’s two letters. Sigh.

My biggest disappointment in this article is that I was asked to write a sidebar about places to acquire costumes and other accessories. I did my research and sent a beautifully-formatted document to them that clearly defined section headings and the entries under each section. When the article came out, my two costume-makers had been compacted into one entry and my wig suppliers had been placed under Weapons/Armor! That is just plain wrong, not to mention silly.

When I first was given this assignment, it was because I had knowledge about cosplay and the community and would write about the topic with the respect and intelligence it deserved, instead of a “parachute journalist” coming in from outside. Somewhere along the line towards publication, there was a disconnect between that objective and just getting it all into print.

Oh, Inquirer. I expected more from you. But maybe based on my first experience, I shouldn’t have?

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EEEk!

Noelle De Guzman

(Warning: GEEK SPEAK ALERT)

I’ve had Lady Emma (my ASUS eeePC) for a year and three months. I remember being so happy because I’d bought this 701 8G beauty in Macau when all the eeePCs in the Philippines were simple 4Gs.

Macau Day Three: Laptop Shopping

Since then the times have changed. ASUS has been rolling out higher-capacity eeePCs (like the eeePC 1000 my mom bought) with Windows XP pre-installed on them. I stuck with my eeePC’s out-of-the-box Xandros install though, because all I needed from a notebook was just surfing, chatting, email, and word processing.

And then, it started — the not-so-slow march to obsolescence. Firefox 3.0 came out, and my eeePC didn’t support it. My supposedly virus-proof computer suddenly started sending out spam IMs, forcing me to upgrade Pidgin. This upgrade uninstalled the Sudoku game that came with my eeePC and hit my GIMP installation as well.

This week I tried to view some videos on Facebook. I kept getting prompted to install Flash Player 10 but even if I did, my browser failed to recognize the plugin. This is an unresolvable problem on my stock eeePC Xandros OS, and no hack or workaround I tried would get it to work. That was the last straw.

Wish me luck; I’m junking the stock OS and trying to install CrunchEEE. I hope I don’t brick Lady Emma. Ü

UPDATE: It’s a success! I’m using my new OS now. I just need to reinstall OpenOffice and maybe GIMP, and then I’ll be back to business. *Mandark laugh*

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R.O.X.star

Noelle De Guzman

Even though I’m a certifiable (yes, certifiable) beach bunny, I know there’s so much more to do and discover. There are mountains to be climbed, trails to be biked, waves to be surfed and oceans to swim… I just haven’t been able to get off my butt and do these things. But a girl can always dream, right?

(Photo from R.O.X. website)

I found myself at R.O.X. (Recreational Outdoor eXchange) at Bonifacio High Street three times this week. First it was under the pretense of looking at bikinis; I had the mistaken notion I should rock a Roxy or a Billabong next time I went surfing. (I ended up buying a hot pink bikini at Pink Belter.) While I was there, I got sucked into the bike section where I drooled over a Giant mountain bicycle designed for women that was small enough for me and had sexy paint details. This, despite the fact I do not bike up mountains and don’t even know how to shift smoothly between bike gears.

 I liked the bike so much I took photos.

The second time, I was looking at rash guards and found a nice local brand, Fluidsurf, selling both rash guards and board shorts. But while I was browsing the aisles I found myself getting excited over fanny packs and wash bags, of all things.

(Photo from R.O.X. website)

I found myself lost in a daydream about hiking and needing a fanny pack at my hip so I could have freedom of movement, and using a wash bag to contain all my toiletries as I roughed it in the wild. Then I realized the wash bag couldn’t hold my makeup kit.

Well, today I gave in to one of my R.O.X. fantasies and got myself a Fluidsurf rash guard. Before I hied off to the checkout counter, I caught myself casting a longing gaze at the DC skate gear in the corner.

I’m in retail therapy trouble, aren’t I?

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