Week before the Wedding

Its just a week before my wedding and I just want to put up an update here on my blog. The preparations are almost done and the closer that it gets to the date the more nervous I get. I'm excited and scared at the same time. I'm hoping everything goes smoothly. Wish us luck!

Save the date =)

Had a lovely day with Sting. The wedding preparation is hectic but its kinda fun sometimes especially when your goofing off with your partner in crime.

Here's  our digital Save the date =) It was a bit awkward at first but we had fun in the end. Sting was a natural though! 

Life Update: Wedding Stress...

A lot of things has happened over the last couple of months. Sting, my boyfriend for 8 years, proposed to me in August.  He and his parents then formally asked for my hand in marriage from my parents in early September and since then we have been scrambling all month to book our wedding needs. It has been so hectic, hence the apparent lack of blog post. So I decided to do a little update of whats been going on with my life.

Both of our families have decided to hold the wedding ceremony this coming December 21, 2013 and that about gave us roughly 3 to 4 months to prepare.  This is by no means a shotgun wedding if your thinking why all the rush. It is simply because here in the Philippines we have this tradition or belief that siblings can't get married on the same year or else bad things or circumstances will befall upon the family. Sting's brother is scheduled to be married next year January 2014 and for some reason they could not reschedule it. Sting wanted to get married really badly and felt that 2015 is to long so we opted for December 2013.

Three to Four months of wedding preparation is certainly not impossible but it is sure a lot work. The first thing we did was picked a date and booked our Church and Venue. Wedding at December is a nightmare at finding venues. Most of the big hotels are booked as early as June for the Christmas parties for big companies. It was a daunting task but after spending a whole day going around all the hotels and party venue we managed to book a 180 to 200 capacity venue at Pearlmont Inn. Pearlmont is a quaint but luxurious Inn, with intricately designed interior and it serves good food for a fairly reasonable price. It was really lucky that they still had the schedule open.

With so many things to get done, the wedding invitations, guest list, gowns, the entourage, the cake and food, and OMG the prenuptial pictures and videos, I guess I'll have my hands full until the end of November. But there is light in my horizon becuase I'm going to South Korea this coming October for 5 days with my friends for a mini vacation. I'll get to relax and recharge before tackling the mountain of tasks ahead. It surely is stressful but I'm happy. Its quite weird its a complete mixture of emotions but all of it mostly positive and I need all the positive reinforcement I can get. 

I understand that this had become quite a long ramble so I'll cut it here, wish me luck! 

August 2013 Highlights! Birthday's and Wedding Bells!!

A lot of things happend this last month and here are the highlights.

Weekend Getaway

 Had a blast with my friends wake boarding at Davao City.

Triple Birthday Celebration with friends at Marco Hotel on the 24th of August!

 (Dixon-Aug 27, CJ-Aug 29 and JM-Aug 24) 

 By midnight on the 25th of August Sting, my boyfriend asked me for a walk outside our rented cabin at Marco and secretly asked my hand in marriage. It was a sweet and very sincere proposal. 

 Picture with friends after they found out that Sting and I got engaged. Lets just say that the neighbors did not get enough sleep because we were partying really hard that night.

To all who greeted me on my Birthday, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Forest Park Dahilayan July 13-14, 2013

 Can you see me? 

 Catching some rain drops

 View from my room

 Always wondered what's inside a wigwam

 What you looking over there?

 Can't believe I fit inside this monster tire

 Symmetry

 Yup its Forest Park alright

 Meet my friend Mr Fox

 Who said gators are scary... they're pretty cute!

Grab a giraffe

Opposite directions

 >_<

It was the Northern Mindanao Team Building of our company and I made some new friends. We did some major cam-whoring and this was the result. Overall Forest Park was a welcome break to the humid and busy city life. It was nice to breath some fresh air again definitely a must visit place at Dahilayan Bukidnon.  

June 2013 Beauty Favorites

Here are the stand out products for the month of June 2013.

Etude House Drawing Show Creamy Liner 

The perfect liner for those cat eyes look. This liner is so creamy and it lasts all day. This is the best liner I've tried so far. (Click here for my review)

Mane 'n Tail Shampoo and Conditioner

 This product ready did help my hair grow out faster than it used to and it made my hair strong. I found that the product is quite stripping of moisture when I use it even with the conditioner so, I use this only once a week. I've noticed that my hair is at its best condition now and I'm loving it. I will continue to use and repuchase this shampoo and conditioner and have my very own weekend hair treatment session.

Pinkies Collection Lip Glosses

 Vibrant Lips for those dull and gloomy days!

Bifesta Water Cleansing Lotion (Bright up)

This is the perfect makeup remover for the whole face. It effectively removes water proof eye makeup without stinging the eyes. It is very gentle cleansing water and it helps clear my skin, so far I've had no acne breakout since I have added this product to my nightly skincare routine. 

Sweetheart by Anne Curtis/Bench

My go to perfume scent for the summer and even work. It is light and fresh and it will perk up any stressful day. (See fragrance collection)

Fashion Finds for the Month (June 2013)

I never planned to go clothes shopping this month but I was waiting for Sting to get off from work and as you may know he works as an Engineer in one of the big malls in our city so whilst waiting for him I  decided to look around and I came out with these items.

Blanc Noir Dress from SM 

 Body hugging printed dress that fits like a glove. I like it because it has sleeves and the length of the dress is not so short that you can see my bum when I bend over.he he I saw this on a mannequin and I just said to my self I need that dress of that mannequin right now.haha Don't mind my legs since the bruises from my allergy has not yet fully disappeared. I'll have to wait until my bruises are gone to wear this dress or any dress for that matter.

Eye Channel Sunnies

 Finally found an aviator type sunnies that fits my face.

 Sting trying out sunnies for fun.he he 

Black Jacket from Folded and Hung 

Petplum top from Folded and Hung

Folded and Hung at SM were having a massive clearance sale because they are closing down so everything was 50%. Most of the items were selling like pancakes but I managed to get one reversible jacket for my brother, blue shorts for Sting, and these two items for myself. 

My June 2013 in Pictures

Most part of my month was spent at home resting due to some allergic reaction that we have yet determined. So besides from doctors appointment, check-ups and laboratory test here are the things that I had done over the past month.

LG-05 Lip gloss from Pinkies Collection

 Mid-day selfie

 Checking emails over a glass of "halo-halo"

 Decided to get physical and enrolled myself in a gym. 

 Favorite White hat order, frozen yogurt with bananas and brownies

 Forced to follow this diet for a while because I had some rashes and bruises on my legs that were diagnosed to be an allergic reaction to something. So stayed on this diet until the doctor could determine what food and meds I am allergic to.

 Get to play dress-up in our national costume for our Independence day celebration. Can you guess what country? I don't even know.haha

 Just kidding the hat wasn't mine. This is what I wore, its a modern take on our national clothes and this type of barong are usually worn by men. But hey, what works for the men surely can work for us women.

Passion Red from Maybelline Color sensational

Play after work? Just let me remove my barong and I'm ready!

Sting and I were Baby sitters for a day and we let Reren run wild in David's Playhouse. 

 Reren was so hungry after that Sting had no trouble feeding him. Look at my boys bonding over a Jollibee meal.

 Sting  got the eyes down.he he So cute!

 Typical weekday work desktop

 Where's the sun? It was super sunny in morning then pouring rain in the afternoon. 

 Road trip to our very own LAX. Don't really know why its called that but it stand for Laguindingan Airport. It is about 30 mins to an hour drive away from the city depending on the traffic.

At least the new airport is bigger than the old one. 

 Singing our hearts out with my girls

Ending the day with a scrumptious eat-all-you-can Korean meal. Using chopsticks is a challenge that I can't surpass so I'll stick to using my fork, thank you very much!he he 

So what have you been up to the past month?

Skincare: My Day and Night Moisturizers

Here are the face moisturizers that I currently love. 

Oil of Olay have been around for ages and ages and I know that everybody and their mum uses and trust this product . I've seen my mum use this before so I decided to give it a try and I love it. I have allergy prone, oily, and problematic skin so finding products that will work on me is difficult. I love the Olay line especially for sensitive skin because it does not break me out, it does not give me bumps under the eye, because I also use Olay eye cream, and best of all it doesn't have a scent. The Olay normal range have a slight scent but it does not also irritate my skin.

I use the Olay complete all day moisture cream (normal) and Olay complete all day UV moisturizer (sensitive) in the morning right after cleansing and toning my skin. I apply the cream all over my face and the UV moisturizer all over my neck and decolletage area. I usually let the moisturizers soak in for about 3 to 5 mins before I apply my makeup on. I find that my makeup applies more smoothly on my skin and it last a long time too. The moisturizers keep my skin hydrated so my face does not need to produce oil thus preventing my face to look shiny or greasy.

For my night moisturizer, I use the Clinique dramatically different moisturizing lotion. I was suppose to get the moisturizing gel since that was for oily skin but I bought lotion by mistake. I still use it and the lotion works fine for me so all is good. This product really feels good on skin when you apply it. It goes on kinda wet and watery but the skin slowly absorbs it and the skin feels soft and plump afterwards. I don't know how to explain it but I love this product and I use it religiously at night. This has a unique scent to it but it goes away really fast and this does not also irritate my skin. I have been using my moisturizer for about 7 to 8 months now and I still haven't finish the bottle, this product could well probably last a year so it is a good value for money.

I've noticed that since I was using moisturizers my skin texture have greatly improved. If there is only one thing that I could do everyday to my skin besides cleansing , it would definitely be to moisturize because I've seen the results, it improved my skin texture, it helps control my oil, it keeps my face soft and it keeps the wrinkles at bay. So don't miss out on moisturizing everyday because the result is definitely worth it.