Sorry for the lack of updates, too many things IRL ((in real life, lest you’ve forgotten)) were keeping my hands full.

Most notably, our bi-annual labor of love:
The new Wedding Essentials (July-December 2007) issue is out, and has actually been out for a while now. In case you haven’t seen it yet, be on the lookout for one of these four covers.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Cover photos by Pat Dy

It’s also our thickest issue to date, this one clocks in at over 300 pages!
Here’s a taste of what’s inside:

Highlights:
– Four new dream themes that represent wedding traditions. Be amazed at what our local event stylists can do to make the wedding of your dreams come true.
– Check out our WE Discoveries section and know new talents WE found and are proud to share with you.
– Don’t know where to hold your wedding yet? “5 Star Receptions” is a wonderful article by Zoe Gabe on why a hotel might still be the IT place for you.
– WE’s little beauty wonder Tatin Yang helps solve your beauty dilemmas- fast and quick. It’s so good even WE’re hooked!
– Introducing a hip new celebration concept: Creative Cocktails.
– Delectable Menagerie. Sweet additions to your wedding feast by Candice Lopez Quimpo

PLUS:
Fabulous fashion editorials: Love in Lomo (colorful dreamy lomographs by Jake Verzosa and At Maculangan for Lomo Manila), A Day at the Carnival (shot on location at EK by Keith Dador), and The Vibrant Colors of the Sinulog Festival (a fashion spread shot on location at the Sinulog Fiesta by Wesley Villarica enhanced graphics-wise by Nico & Katwo Puertollano) ((Many thanks to our pals Rex + Jois for hooking us up with them!)).

And to our dear friends and readers: watch out for this year’s WE Beautiful Weddings, it’s due out in October. 🙂

***

Pretty please join me in congratulating one of my bestest friends Sheila for winning her first Palanca! She’s actually won a load of international advertising awards already so this is simpy icing on the cake but still, awards are always nice to have — right, Shei? 🙂 You can read her winning entry here ((It’s such a feel-good, heartwarming story! You’ll see why it won.)). Check her blog from time to time too to see what goes on in a multi-award-winning brain. 😉

***

There’s good news for all of us QC-dwellers: we don’t have to make the trek to Ortigas or Paranaque just to get our hands on pretty party dresses anymore! My dear friend Tippi‘s Pret-a-Party line is now available at The Ramp in Crossings at Trinoma. Now isn’t that sweet? Tips is definitely one of the most creative designers out there so please go and check out her stuff. 🙂

***
Arn & I managed to sneak in a bit of R&R when we hied off to Dumaguete ((My dad is an Outstanding Alumnus of Silliman University so we got to tour the campus too.)) and Siquijor with my family to attend a cousin’s wedding.

They’re such beautiful, peaceful little towns. Do yourselves a favor and plan to visit them at least once in your lifetime. 🙂

I have a confession to make: ever since Twitter invaded my life, I’ve been too lazy to update the normal way. But rather than let this webspace go to waste ((And yes, it’s been paid for til the end of the year.)), here’s one big fat update coming up.

So since my last entry,

1. we’ve come out with a special issue of WE called Wedding Essentials Destinations.

It’s still the same, good ol’ WE but it’s a stand-alone issue that features dream wedding and honeymoon destinations in the Philippines: Baguio, Boracay, Batangas, Palawan, Tagaytay, Cebu, Tarlac, Quezon, Davao, and Cavite plus real destination weddings, fashion spreads and articles on planning out-of-town weddings. The magazine is available at all leading bookstores and mag stands for P200. Click here for a larger image of the cover.

***
2. I opened my new shop, The Paper Basket ((using some of the earnings from Poptastic. Cafepress is so very worth it, the shops actually pay for themselves)). Paper Basket sells pretty patterned notecards & journals, funky wall clocks and other cool gifts that are unique to the store.

–
Be sure to check back every once in a while because new items and designs are being added all the time! 🙂

***
3. Arn and I went to Singapore with his family and stayed there for a week.

More photos here.

***

My dear friend Neva is behind skin care line Leyende and she makes the decadent skin care products herself from organic and all-natural ingredients from all over the world. Isn’t that amazing? She’s a writer too so expect nothing but the most creative product names: No Rumple Silk Skin Butter, Smoothie Operator bath & shower creams, Kiss, Kiss, Balm, Balm Lip Balm, and many more. I personally use Smoothie Operator in “Norte” and Clean Slate Multitasker ((Thank you dear Nev!)) everyday and I’m addicted to them! They smell heavenly and they leave my skin soft and clean without the greasy feeling. I actually can’t wait to use them up so I can try the other scents and products. 😉 For details on how to order, please visit the site.

***
I’ve also been staying up late the past months watching all the seasons of Felicity ((I’ve missed this show!)), episodes of Veronica Mars ((officially on it’s last season *sob*)), and Heroes <-- OMG did you watch the finale? Wasn't it awesome? "Call me Noah", woot! Leave a message to discuss if you like. 🙂

Halloo, Arn and I are back from a brief vacation in Japan ((Obviously we love the place, that’s why we keep going back. Add to that the fact that my Papa always invites us over and generously sponsors our trip. 🙂)) with my family. This time we took a Shinkansen ((aka Bullet Train. On a regular train, the ride from Tokyo to Kyoto will take 8 hours. Via shinkansen, it only took us 2 hours, tops!)) to the Kansai area so we were able to cover more ground compared to past visits. ((Kyoto is actually special to me because we stayed for a month in Kyoto when I was 7 (photo here). ))
Spring had just sprung when we arrived over a week ago and we were lucky to have witnessed the once-a-year blooming of the beautiful Sakura during our stay. You can view some photos at the following albums: Kyoto / Kobe / Ueno Park / Ohanami in Ibaraki / Tokyo

***
Please pardon the sporadic blog updates, but remember you can always IM me on Twitter and iLike. 🙂