Valentine Love

Before going home from a press conference at Greenbelt 1 tonight, I noticed the flower shop at the ground floor busy preparing for Valentine's Day. All the bouquets are lined up on the floor while the florists are arranging more bouquets. Just by watching all the flowers and bouquets, I'm already feeling the Valentine love season. I can't help but take a photo of the scene to capture the moment!

Bouquets and flowers ready to give some Valentine love!

In a few minutes, it's going to be Valentine's day and I believe a lot of flower shops are ready with their bouquets for pick up. It's surely going to be lots of Valentine love giving tomorrow. I think Valentine's Day was made for couples to at least give each other the time to celebrate their love. Cherish the lovely moment with a yummy dinner and sinfully tempting dessert!

Meat Skewers of Trattoria Italia, G/F Eastwood Mall, Libis.

Brownies on Fire of The Works Bistro, 2/F Il Terrazo Mall, T. Morato, Q.C.

Romance in the air, go love and enjoy! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Classic Valentines

Thinking of ways to impress your lady or man?

Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation is having two weekend concerts this weekend in celebration of the month of hearts.

Soprano Camille Lopez-Molina and Pianist Najib Ismail will be at the Filipinas Heritage Library on February 10, 2012 (tomorrow), 6:30pm for "Songs of Love (from a woman's perspective)." Repertoire includes Robert Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und Leben,” Giacomo Puccini’s “Si, Mi chiama no Mimi” ( From La Boheme), Richard Strauss’ “Ruhe  meine seele,” “Morgen,” “Heiliche aufforderrung,” Peter Illych Tchaikovsky’s “None but the Lonely heart, Why?,” “Weather by Day” and Anton Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon” (From Rusalka).

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, Vocalist Oggie Benipayo, Soprano Thea Perez and Pianist Jed Balsamo will be seranading at the 2/F Luna-Amorsolo Room of the Ayala Museum at 6:30pm. They will be singing famous songs from some movies namely, High Society, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Thomas Crown Affair, Modern Times, Yentl, An Affair to Remember, Love Affair, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Evita, Ikaw Lamang, Bituin Walang Ningning, Dayo, An American Tail and  Beauty and the Beast. This concert has been bought also by the Recovery Circle Foundation, which bought most of the concert tickets so there is only a few tickets left.

 

All tickets are at P500 with special discounts offered to senior citizens, students and faculty.

For ticket inquiries, please contact MCO Foundation at 750-0768.

Skin Reborned

It's been years since I have last visited a dermatologist or have a facial. My last visit to a dermatologist was back in college. My dermatologist moved somewhere so I have no choice but to take good care of my skin and always clean it well.

Nowadays, there's so many clinics and celebrity dermatologists that makes one really confusing. To be safe than sorry, I do not go to any dermatologists. Whenever I have pimple breakouts, I just self medicate with the available medications in the market. However, deep inside me, I've always wished I can find another dermatologist as good as my last one.

When I learned about The Skin Sanctuary, the one who recommended it has a clear white face. It's been so long since I had a facial and judging by this person's face, I'm quite convinced that I should go give it a try.

Stepping into the place, there's a feeling of freshness because of the white and green colors. The place has a relaxing feel that really makes it a sanctuary.

The reception table (The receptionist was quite shy for a picture)

The very inviting couch which I think is a good angle for a photo shoot after a nice facial.

Unlike other facial clinics, The Skin Sanctuary requires everyone who goes in to be checked by their resident dermatologist Dr. Leslie Colleen Tiongson first to make sure that one gets the proper and right treatment. Sometimes, there are people who get treatments that they don't really need. Dr. Tiongson is the one and only resident dermatologist for now. Also, she's a shareholder so rest assured that she will take care of her patients well.

While waiting for my turn, I looked around to check the place's cleanliness which is very important for a facial clinic.

The Skin Sanctuary has four stations. The three stations are for regular facials while the fourth station is a closed room station for back cleaning. Even though there were no patients inside the facial stations, the place smells good which shows that they clean the place well and it's well maintained. Since there's only one resident dermatologist as of the moment, I feel comfortable that they don't have too much stations because the dermatologist can check each station with watchful eyes.

The three facial stations

This is how each station looks like. The sheets are white and very clean.

This is the fourth station which is a separate room with a door that closes. This room is used for back cleaning.

Despite being a small place, it is quite organized. The shower area is separate from the sink and bowl so that two people can use the washroom at the same time. Also, it can avoid long waiting time and cleaning time.

Shine like the sun after your shower in the shower room.

Ring this bell if you feel like you can't hold number 1 or 2.

It's a very thoughtful touch to have the amenities beside the sink. I love how it makes one feel at home.

Just by looking around, I already like the place because of its color combination, size, cleanliness and thoughtfulness. When my turn to meet the resident dermatologist Dr. Leslie Colleen Tiongson came, she was smiling at me and asked me nicely if I have any questions or problems about my skin. She's quite different from my past dermatologist who scares me about how bad my skin is. Anyway, Dr. Tiongson listened to my complains about my skin as she writes down my skin problems and history of my skin problems one by one.

Dr. Leslie Colleen Tiongson at work.

This is the smile I got from her when I first went in. I asked her to smile again for this picture.

I have a zit on my chin that day and instead of scaring me on how bad it is, she gave me three options on what we can do about it. I felt like I was in charge and responsible for my skin and not the scared type who have no choice but to say yes to the doctor. I went for the slow medication option since I've been always afraid of the needle. She prescribed me a soap and toner which she made then told me to go to one of the stations to have my face cleaned up and have a diamond peel. It's my first time to get a diamond peel so I quickly asked if it will hurt and she said no. I trusted her so I just went into the station with the therapist.

The therapist brought me to one of the stations. The first thing she did was cleaned my face with warm water using a towel. She then put a cream on my face. I think the cream is the cleanser. Since my eyes are closed, I wasn't able to see what the cream looks like. After wiping out the cream, she said that she will be applying toner on my face while cooling it with a fan. The toner stings a little so after she has applied it, she continued to cool my face with the fan.

My face being cooled by a mini fan after toner was applied to my face.

The fan actually gave a big help to lessen and gradually take away the stinging sensation which the toner gave. When it was dried and over, moisturizer was applied to my skin. When I thought cleaning was over, there's actually more and I was so surprised that it's going to take long. This is probably the reason why one must go to facial clinics such as The Skin Sanctuary so that the skin is thoroughly cleansed.

Cotton patches were put on top of my eyes after the moisturizer was applied and for a second, I felt a warm steamy air was hitting my face. I asked the therapist what she was doing. She said that she is steaming my face to open up my pores to let the dirt come out.

There's steam coming out of the tube at the right side but it's not obvious in this picture.

The steam is not very hot but it's enough to make my face sweat. I wanted to wipe my face because it's quite itching but the therapist asked me to hold it. The itching is caused by the dirt coming out of the pores which opened. After the steaming, the therapist wiped my face with a damp towel which feels very satisfying. Next to steaming, the therapist told me that she will start extracting the remaining dirt in some of my pores which might hurt. Yikes!

While she was extracting, it actually was not so bad. Her hands were light and a lot of times I did not feel anything which is amazing! Dr. Tiongson went in that time to check on my face and how the therapist was doing. She stayed for a bit to see everything then went back to her office. The therapist extracted the dirt on my nose last because it has the most sensitive part of the skin. I think it's true because it's the part where it really hurts when she extracted the dirt inside the pores of my nose's corners. To give me some time to recover, she stops a bit after extracting each corner.

During extraction

After the extraction, the therapist brought out a vacuum for the face. The vacuum sucks the remaining dirt on the skin. With all these cleaning, I think my skin is all cleared up! When the vacuum was over, there was a roller-like-equipment that was rolled on my face to close the pores. Then a gauze was placed on my face for the high frequency treatment. According to the therapist, the high frequency further closes the pores.

High frequency treatment

During the high frequency treatment, there was a funny smell that smells like artichoke. According to the therapist that this smell is emitted during treatment. For those who love artichoke, you might get hungry.

When the high frequency treatment was done, I had the diamond peel treatment. I was so surprised that the diamond peel treatment is not a facial mask to be peeled off! It actually looks like the vacuum tube except the ends of the rubber has tiny diamond bits to scrap off the dead skin and revitalize one's skin. Dr. Tiongson was right that it doesn't hurt. In fact, it feels like my face was vacuumed again.

After the diamond peel, a moisturizer was again applied to my face then I'm good to go. However, Dr. Tiongson suggests not to wash the face for 6 hours since the pores are not quite closed yet and the moisturizer is being absorbed by the skin.

The Skin Sanctuary is located at 1047 Metropolitan Ave. San Antonio, Makati with contact numbers (0949)4345239 and (02)9030368. It is open from Mondays to Saturdays from 12nn to 9pm. Its services and prices are:

Basic Facial P299
Hypoallergenic Facial P299
Anti-aging Facial P499
Quick Fix Facial P499
Gentlemen's Facial P499
Diamond Peel P799
Intense Diamond Peel P1,199
Chemical Peel P599
Back Cleaning P999
Wart Cautery starting at P999 to P1,999 per area

Other procedures include:

Skin Punch Biopsy
Excision Biopsy
Intralesional Steroid Injections
TCA Cross/Needling
Mesotherapy
Sclerotherapy
Botolinium Toxin Injections
Fillers

What is more amazing is that the doctor's consultation is free! So if you just want to have a skin check up for a piece of mind, just go there. For more information about The Skin Sanctuary, visit them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theskinsanctuary.

Let HerWord.com Treat You Ladies Right

HerWord.com is celebrating its 10th year entitled, “A Day of Treats: HerWord.com's 10th Anniversary” to be held on November 30, 2011 (Wed) at the Eastwood Central Plaza from 11am – 12mn.

It is BusinessWorld's premier site for women which started on 2001 aiming to be the site for the Filipina professional, with everything she could possibly need and want, and more. Celebrity profiles, features on shopping, beauty, fashion, home and gardens, fitness and health, business, law, personal finance, entertainment, family, parenting, child-rearing and relationships - everything can be found here!

 

 

Even men, who want to get to know the country's female movers and shakers, subscribe to HerWord.com to get informed.

See all the different sections of HerWord.com come alive! The booths will be sub-divided into Pantry, Her-o-scope, Tester, Gallery, Healthdesk, Her Rights, Her Money and Unwind. The sections you see on their site is what you'll get and more.

“A Day of Treats: HerWord.com's 10th Anniversary” will create a venue for HerWord.com subscribers to meet-up, network and enjoy all the fun of being a woman. HerWord.com will be treating everyone not just for food and goodies but also a chance to meet and greet your favorite columnists personally as they discuss their favorite topics that they write about. 

Workshops, seminars, entertainment by various artists and other activities will be held at the stage area from 11am to 9pm.

November 30 is Bonifacio Day which is a holiday, it is a payday and a day before Christmas! It is a very good excuse for you ladies to swing by and shop for good deals! Let HerWord.com treat you ladies right! So go out to join the fun and celebrate being a her with your family and friends! Sorry guys, all you have to do is give your ladies some cash and carry all her shopping bags!

Companies and bazaaristas are also invited to be a sponsor, an exhibitor or a partner. For interested parties, please call 5359923 or 5359901 locals 706-710.  To get more information about this event, email marcom@bworld.com.ph.

“A Day of Treats: HerWord.com's 10th Anniversary” is co-presented by the Eastwood Mall with media partners BusinessWorld and Mellow 94.7.

For Herword Fair updates, keep posted to HerWord.com by registering online and subscribing for free at http://www.herword.com/site/main.php?id=Join. You can also like HerWord.com on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Herword or follow them on Twitter @wwwherwordcom.

Cabaret for a Cause

MMQ on its fifth year presents Le Cabaret 5 on September 17, 2011, 7pm in the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. It's one of those dinner shows that won't make you feel guilty for eating good food and having fun because everything goes to charity!

The beneficiaries of this year's Le Cabaret goes to the Chosen Children's Village, the EVA Charity Foundation and Hospicio de San Jose.

MMQ, which means "Making Miracles Quickly," is a multicultural non-profit arts for charity foundation with the goal to help uplift the lives of unfortunate Filipinas and children formed by Michelle Washington and Sandra Tockes. Michelle is the president of MMQ who works as a professor of theater arts in UP Diliman while Sandra is the vice president of MMQ who works as a business development consultant of Somerville-Manila. Both Michelle and Sandra are American expats who have been staying here in the Philippines.

MMQ President Michelle Washington, me, MMQ Vice President Sandra Tockes

and MMQ Board Member for Events and Development Mari Moya

Enjoy a four-course French dinner, a beautiful show, free flowing wines from Le Cellier and get a chance to win a fabulous prize like spa treatments, restaurants gc, jewelry, resort packages and a business class ticket to anywhere in Europe from Etihad for only P4,500 a ticket!

Special rates awaits in Sofitel or Philippe's Salon if you mention "MMQ" or "Le Cabaret!"

It's going to be my third year now to go to Le Cabaret and my favorite group of performers there are The Drag Ons. I can't wait to see them in action this year! I can't forget their reproduction of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" music video! How I wish I can see them do that again.

The beautiful and sexy The Drag Ons

The other performers this year includes the Philippine's own E-Force, Fil-Am saxophonist Michael Young, Scottish singer Diane Ross, Anarina Amistoso, British singer Jacqueline Silver, Czech Cabaret Artist Marnie Hurst, along with the MMQ Band.

For tickets call 0927.3839517, 0917.7906488 or email to mmqtheatre@gmail.com. For more information about MMQ, add them on Facebook “MMQ Thtr” and check out www.mmqtheatre.com.

Many thanks to the sponsors below who make all these possible for MMQ! Cheers to charity and a better Philippines!

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival 2011

Every year, whenever the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival comes, it marks the middle of the autumn and starts the countdown for winter. It's not a big holiday here in the Philippines because there's no winter here but I think it's one of those festival that must be celebrated as a holiday.

What's so good about the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival? It's actually when the biggest full moon of the year appears because it's nearest to the earth. In China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and in other countries whose majority are made up of Chinese nationalities observe this festival. It is the time of the year besides Chinese New Year when the family gets together to catch up. And there's another agenda which is to appreciate nature. It's also when lanterns are made for children and children at heart to go out of their houses to look at the big bright moon.

Lanterns in Hong Kong (Image from discoverhongkong.com)

Tonight, I tried capturing the big bright moon. It's quite hard to do with my point and shoot camera but the moon was quite big and bright today.

First attempt

Second attempt (Look at the brightness of the full moon)

Last attempt (My hands were already quite shaking and I was trying to stop it.)

I remember when I was still little and my grandma still lives in Hong Kong, my family usually goes visit her at this time since there's no classes in school (I studied at a Chinese school). We will go to Victoria Park to look at the moon (since the skyscrapers covers the sky) and also there's a lantern exhibit for everyone to enjoy.

Lantern at Victoria Park (Image from discoverhongkong.com)

Somehow I hope I'm in Hong Kong on this day to look at the fabulous lantern exhibits. I'm sure there are lots of people in Victoria Park right now. Also, it's a non-working holiday tomorrow there so everyone's surely enjoying the scenery with their family.

For so many years since my grandma moved here, my family have been spending the Mid-Autumn Festival here in the Philippines. We still get together at this time to eat a simple dinner and talk about anything under the moon. We go out of the house and literally look at the moon then thank God for blessing our family and letting us be all together on this day.

Aside from the simple dinner, of course the mooncake must not be missed! This year, we have a box of mooncake from Hong Kong! I actually find the box's design very beautiful and meaningful. I also love the smoothness of its "lin yong" (Lotus Seed Paste in Cantonese) which melts inside the mouth and tastes a lot better than what is being sold here.

Maxim's Mooncake from Hong Kong

"Yuet" (Moon in Cantonese) hence the drawing

"Peng" (Cake or cookies in Cantonese) Since it's year of the rabbit, the rabbits are exchanging mooncakes. So cute!

"Mei" (Beauty in Cantonese) represented by an illustration of the Moon Lady

"Sum" (Heart in Cantonese) represented by an illustration of Hong Kong where the mooncake was made from

Another reason for me wanting to be in Hong Kong at this moment aside from the lantern and holiday is the variations of flavors of mooncake they have available that can't be found here. Just by looking at some pictures online, I'm already drooling and want to try them out! They're also made and sold for a limited time only so when I go to Hong Kong next time, I won't be able to buy them. Too bad icy mooncake melts so I also can't ask someone to send one for me. :'(

Icy Mooncake by Wing Wah (Image from wingwah.com)

(Very yummy looking) Mango flavored wrapped in mung bean paste icy mooncake (Image from wingwah.com)

Why eat mooncake on this day? The mooncake's sweetness is a reminder of the family's togetherness and happiness for being together. The salted egg in the middle of the mooncake reminds us of a war which the Chinese won centuries ago for the freedom which we are now enjoying. Oh yeah...there's also that legend of the moon lady who took the fountain of youth and flew to the moon!

Happy mooncake day, everyone! For those people in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Korea, enjoy the Mid-Autumn holiday! Lucky you! As for me, I'm back to work tomorrow and will just wait until the Halloween-All Saints Day Holiday which I wish will be longer.

Battling Hunger in Africa

Whenever I hear the word Africa, I always think about the images of children suffering and dying from famine which I see on the news or on Discovery Channel. It's really sad why it is happening to them. That is why I make sure I get enough food I can eat to prevent left overs since not all people can eat three times a day.

There are 13 million people in the Horn of Africa facing a hunger crisis. The World Food Programme can provide life-saving nutrition to one person for just 50¢ per day (in US Dollars). Donations made here can save lives!

Below is a map that features operational data collected from organizations responding to the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa. The featured data was provided by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit-Somalia (FSNAU).

Population affected numbers are calculated by the FSNAU according to the urban and rural population estimates and the food security status of that region. Food Security Conditions layer data was provided by FEWS NET. Food security is classified in five IPC phases, with famine being the most severe.

Give your support to feed these people. They need you!
For more details and information, visit http://horn.wfp.org/main.html.