Please mark your calendars, dear people! My Arn‘s new novel is coming out in April 2006. We sent out about 15 teaser ads, each one sporting a different character/design, to different sets of email addies and thanks to Technorati‘s watchlist feature, so far I’ve seen 7 of them pop up in friends’ blogs (thank you, thank you!): ONE / TWO / THREE (A) (B) / FOUR / FIVE / SIX / SEVEN

Special thanks to Shei and Neva for helping us with the Tagalog translations (:

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And since I mentioned it above, don’t you just love Technorati? It’s sure a big leap from the vanity search phase we all went through when Google was new (admit it, I know you do it too) because, for one, it can list mentions of any topic, an assigned URL, or yes, your name in any blog according to “freshness”. We always use it to research on how our mag is doing in the blogosphere (and thru it we even learned that Arn and I figured in the #9 spot of Adam David’s list of top moments in comics, naks naman!) Go and sign up.

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Oh boy this is turning out to be a really busy 1st quarter… but definitely not too busy to meet up with dear friends, especially ones I haven’t seen in ages (months=ages).



One of my bestest pals Sheila was in town (to attend a creative guru’s Bora wedding) last week so we moved hell and high water to meet up for a long lunch at the Fort. Shei is based in Singapore and both she and Tippi had just returned from a month-long US trip (with their respective hubbies) so there was a lot of catching up to do! I missed you girls, let’s do it again soon ok?

Captions: 1. Sherbet Sundae: strawberry, lemon and pistachio hehe. 2. Shei and Tippi- both sought after in their respective fields! 3. Tips and I showing our identical ponytail clips (given by our friend Pia last Christmas).

Still on proud-wifey mode: my Arn designed and illustrated these Harajuku-style cartoon characters for a McDonald’s Singapore ad campaign promoting seaweed shaker fries and teppanyaki burgers* conceptualized by our good friends Mike and Sheila dela Cuesta of LB Sing late last year. Since it’s been 5 months already, I guess it’s safe to share the tv commercials with you — go click! one and two. Enjoy 😀

*Soundz good! Dear Ronald, won’t you please bring them to Manila too?

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Do you sometimes wonder if your physical neighbors are bloggers too? Now that almost everyone in the Philippines has access to the web, it certainly is possible that the person across from you at Sunday mass has a blog you’ve stumbled upon once or twice and you just didn’t know it. Well if everyone signs up at GeoURL, maybe we can find out. Try it, who knows we could be neighbors after all.

By the way, these are the people blogging less than 1 to up to 10km from where I am. Holler if you’re one of them!

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On the drawing board: two websites — one for an innovative picture studio run by dear friends, and the other for a talented wedding cake designer; some stuff for MB and of course the next issue of WE.

This is a week late but if you haven’t seen it yet, please click here to read the Sunday Inquirer Magazine’s feature on my Arn. (:
And wouldn’t you know it, today’s issue of SIM has an article on my cousin’s husband, director Lauren Dyogi. What a coinkydink!

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As recently announced, the third issue of our magazine Wedding Essentials is now on newstands, yay!


And because WE loves you, there are two covers to choose from. Yes, again. (:

What’s inside:



* Dream Themes – specially-styled themed receptions to take inspiration from whether your wedding is on the beach, a garden, a hotel, restaurant, or in your own backyard.
* In the Name of the Rose – the rose bouquet as interpreted by Manila’s top florists.
* Elements of Style – cake, invitation, shoe, and ring styles to suit your motif.
* Special section on Boracay weddings, receptions, and honeymoon hotspots.
* Beautiful weddings as shared by seven real brides.

Marbee, Charlene, the team, and I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears love into making this issue our best yet so we hope you’ll like it. And as always, I couldn’t have prettified all 240+ pages without the illustration help of my lovely hubby. (:

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And finally, this is to help my friend Mia: Where will you be on Valentine’s Day? Hopefully at Raymond Lauchengco: Classic Romance, 7-8:30 at the Rockwell Tent! It’s Raymond’s first comeback concert and is (his loving wife) Mia’s first time to produce. Guests are Menchu Lauchengco and Ayen Laurel. Tickets are P1500 for the show and P2000 with cocktails.