A Jampacked 2010

How do I squeeze into one post what 2010 has brought me so far?  I know visitors to my blog are disappointed that I have not updated but you will know why in the days to come. 

Travels

Five countries, six separate trips.  This coming Friday, 9/17, I will go on my 6th country and 7th trip.  Taipei, Singapore, Hongkong, Mainland China, Japan and Korea.

Purple

I still love the color and in fact has added tons more to the collection as I go on my travels.

Fangirl Pursuits

I still am and will always be a fangirl.  In fact, I have made a career out of it!  Not just as a consultant but as a small business owner.

Day Job

Yes, the bread and butter still exists.  The purple-themed office is still around.  The hours have turned from day to night though which is one of the reasons why my brain is already dead by the time 12 midnight comes around and I attempt to write a post. 

Family

I still have my playmate with me through all of these new things.  He manages to nudge me out of bed everyday, feeds me and occasionally drives me to work while I catch some sleep.  I also found time to have great bonding moments with family which I will post about later too.

Friends

Gained more! But also lost one very good friend who I am missing especially when I think about the stuff we could have done together with the fangirl business.  Rest in peace Fran.

I will find the energy to post all about the above.  I have a new mantra you see ->  I AM SUPERWOMAN!  I AM SUPERWOMAN! I AM SUPERWOMAN! Hahaha!

Marathon Update # 1

It's been sooooo long since I updated my blog.  I missed it but I couldn't find the time to update since there are so many things that happened to your purpleness since early December.  So a mega-marathon of updates is in store for my blog friends.  Are you ready?  Here we go!

First off, the purpleness of my desk has moved to a new home last December 2009.  From my 39F tower of Rapunzel, I am now at an 11F office, though big but it has no windows and sooooo damn cold! :)

That glass door is now covered with a layer of film.

And my purple stuff?  Laid out nicely for everyone to see! :)

When laid out in my new desk, my purple stuff looked really nice and there's more space for new purple stuff! Haha!  That was one of the things that made me excited about the move. :)

I've settled in and aside from the often crossing from one office building to another, I like our street.  It is quiet and laid back.  There's more opportunity to walk to lunch at one of the yummy restaurants nearby.

Let's see how the room looks months/years from now.

Pan de Purple

Many will wonder... a purple bread?

Yours truly was of course ecstatic when I was given this pack by my sister-in-law Pam. In the Philippines, the bakeries of old have a staple bread variety we called "pan de regla" because the middle part of the bread is/was red. There are fewer and fewer of them who make these bread and in recent years, the middle part of the bread has become purple! Why? I have no idea. :)

The taste is not that fantastic. It's not too sweet and it is usually soft. But I love it and has loved this since I was young! And now I've rediscovered where to get my fix.

Oh and I have renamed it pan de purple. I even told the sales girls at Oven Maid (the bakeshop who makes them) that I call the bread pan de purple. And they don't seem to mind.

And the price? Per pack it costs Php 20.00 or roughly 50 US cents! What a steal! I can't wait for my next trip to my hometown in Paranaque for my next pan de purple stockpiling. Anyone care to try it? :)

Back to the birdcage..

Since mid-September, I have been living in my sister's flat while my car is being repaired. For half a month, I was a privileged child living in an upscale place only 10 mins. from my office. I did not even feel the typhoon that flooded and devastated most of Metro Manila!

I do miss my birdcage and the comfort of my own little home. So with much gratitude and thankfulness for the generosity of my sister and brother-in-law, I now get ready to leave my haven and move back to my birdcage.

The purple luggage (of course!) has to be packed until its next trip. The purple Ikea blanket also has to go back home.

Thanks Teng and Ramon for a wonderful time at TRAG! :)

Random Gift

Nope, it's not a chair for moi...but for my BB! A colleague at work one day popped in my office and presented me with that little box. Opening the box and taking out this cute purple phone chair brightened my day. These past couple of months, bright days are far and few so one bright day is hard to forget.

The Blackberry is a bit too big for the chair but I can sit it sideways and doesn't fall so yey! :)

It's not my birthday. And Christmas is not until 3 months away so receiving a random present is probably the next best thing to Christmas....or even better. The level of surprise is so much more. During birthdays and Christmas, you have expectations. Even if one is trying to live under the old adage of "it is better to give than to receive", there is still that small expectation that you will receive something one way or the other.

Thank you so much Ms.O. :)

Staring at My Purple Desk...

Sitting in my office, yearning... yearning for my next plane ride... hahaha!

Since I will be stuck in Manila behind my desk for the next few months, I decided to share what I am staring at.... more purpleness!

Of course the muse of this photo is that yummy cupcake with purple icing from Sonja's cupcake in Serendra (sorry couldn't find an official website). I love this cupcake! But again, I cannot indulge all the time because of 'ye 'ol blood sugar.

Maybe when my sister Teng comes home in September. =)

Purple Hunting!

I was in a management meeting last Monday when my friend Norman texted me and told me about the Purple Hunt promo of Yahoo Philippines (http://ph.yahoo.com). I was booked the whole day and was dying to see what the purple fuzz was all about.

Finally, I managed to register for the promo. Keeping in mind that I need to get to one of the malls soon. The opportunity came the next day. I had to attend a briefing on AH1N1 at the American Chamber of Commerce (http://www.amchamphilippines.com/). On the drive there, I was so happy that their office is right in front of Greenbelt Mall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenbelt_(Ayala_Center). So right after the briefing, I took a quick detour and went to see the booth.

Of course you will not miss the booth as its purpleness was right smack in the lobby of Greenbelt 3. I asked how to join and they said if I had a printout of the registration (which I did..hehe) then I get to have a free purple donut and the rubics cube type key chain. Yes!!!

And then I was asked to play this game using this purple wall. I was supposed to find the drawing that I pick in 30 seconds and I get to win an item. The more I find, the nicer the prize.

My eyes were not as fast as it used to be... so I only won a cute purple post-it pad. The highlight of this promo is a raffle of a car with purple graffiti! I want, I want!!! I wish, I wish...

This little Honda Jazz (http://www.hondaphil.com/) is such a cutie that I had to take front and side shots. Can you imagine me speeding around Manila in this car? LOL! And then if you get assistance on how to use yahoo mobile on your blackberry, you get another giveaway, this time a purple lanyard! Woohoo!

I had so much fun in just a few short minutes. As soon as I got back to the office, I took a pic of my loot and munched my purple Krispy Kreme (http://www.krispykreme.com.ph/) doughnut with a huge grin on my face.

YAHOO!!!

Visit the Purple Hunt booths of Yahoo! Philippines until June 18th. Check out schedules at the website.

The Flip-Flop Update

I lost one of a pair of orchid Havaianas flip-flops a couple of weeks ago when we went to visit my parent's grave. It was one of my fave pair which I bought in Singapore. I already lost another blue pair of Havis a couple of years back when we stayed at 8 Waves Waterpark.

So suddenly I felt I need a new pair. When I got home and was fixing my shoe cabinet, I realized I had more than enough back-up pairs. There was still another pair in my car which I forgot to bring up to the birdcage. All in all 13 pairs!

I could not resist this new pair. Glow in the dark purple!!! Well, I practically live in them so I guess another pair won't hurt. =)

Though I have a mix of brands (Reef, Old Navy, Dupe, Nike, Billabong, etc.), my flip-flop of choice are still Havaianas (http://www.havaianasphilippines.com/main/)!! Oye!

Purple Loot from China

I was sooooo lazy the past couple of weeks! Yup, lazy all around. The only thing I was good for was staring at the computer screen and watch videos.

Until I realized that I have not posted my latest loot and new additions to the purple world. Now, this is not everything but like I said, I was lazy to take pics. I bought a purple leather belt (I'll post my belts next time) and a plum winter jacket too!

I was happy to find a new mobile phone. I saw this back in September last year but did not buy it because I was already broke. Six months later, it was still there! And marked down by 20%. I guess we were meant to be.

And everyone now knows that I am crazy about Uniqlo. Well, the Uniqlo store in Super Brand Malls in Shanghai did not escape my purple-wandering eye. Picked up another pull-over and a pair of socks.

And then while waiting for my brother-in-law Ramon get off work, we discovered Askul ( http://www.askul.co.jp/) which carries anything and everything. There I found my first ever purple paper puncher! I picked up a couple of purple post-its as well. I'm gonna explore this website more and see if I learned from my Nihonggo classes.

And of course, accessories! Those wooden purple earrings sold by folks from Chinese Mongolia are just so unique. For RMB 5.00 (Php 35.00), they are already a steal. The purple crystal jade was unexpected because you don't see them all the time. So when we went back to the jade shops in Yu Yuan Gardens, I just had to grab it.

Sigh...I guess I'm off shopping for a while...until the next cool purple thing comes along! =)

Playmates

It's a staple in many of my past Christmas wishlists.. part of my shopping list wherever I am in the world.. part of my family and friends' shopping list wherever they are in the planet.. unsuccessful..

Until I stumbled upon these playmates at an obsure branch of National Bookstore (http://www.nationalbookstore.com.ph/), I thought no one had the imagination to produce purple bookends.

I loved that the bookends are a pair of boy and girl images. My friend Ochie found me bookends in the past but they are on the lavander/mauve shade. This one is screaming purple and my birdcage need new ones to hold on to the growing collection of dvds and cds that my real life playmate and I have collected.

As one of James Patterson's (http://www.jamespatterson.com/) psychotic book character said .. "happy, happy, joy, joy.."

Cellphone Pouches anyone? :-)

Yesterday, I met up with fellow fangirls and had a belated exchange of Christmas gifts.

When I got home I was putting things away when I realized that I received quite a number of mobile phone pouches last Christmas. They are sooo cutesy I can't bear to use them!

Alright, i have a confession to make..i actually don't use pouches! LOL. I start using them but end up keeping the pouch away after some time.

And the ironic thing is that me, yours truly, who lives in one purple world, DOES NOT OWN A PURPLE MOBILE PHONE!!! I have to correct that soon. But for the meantime, these little cuties will have to stay in my drawers or else Kaliena will inherit them soon.

Addicted...to Coke!

When I was little, my dad used to work for San Miguel Corporation, then the local partner of Coca-Cola in the Philippines. My most favorite of his benefits was our weekly supply of Coke Products.

I remember waiting anxiously every weekend for the Coke truck to roll by. The minute the truck turns the corner to our house, my brothers and sisters would be jumping up and down and waving our arms.

Thank God for Coke Light and now Coke Zero I can still indulge in my Coke addiction even if I am already a diabetic.

I am so much more happier drinking my Coke with my purple glass! I had to have one and to have one you have to drink tons of 1.5 liters. :)


I knew this was a rare time where Coke had a purple promo item so with haste I happily drank 1.5 liter bottles to get the caps that I need to exchange (six 1.5 liter bottles!!!) for one glass.

Mission accomplished!

Mr. Shower Bug

I was taking a shower the other day when suddenly "thunk!", something fell on the floor. It was my shower bug!

I did not realize that the thing has been there since I moved to the birdcage. It was one of the earlier gifts of my boss from the US.

The poor thing's antennae broke and now it is back at work blaring sounds from the radio and telling time with a taped up antennae.

Another realization is that it is probably my most taken for granted, unappreciated purple possession. To think that if the bug could see and talk, it would tell everyone how I look naked! LOL! It would also tell everyone what I sing in the shower..oh well you all probably know I must sing japanese or chinese songs half of the words I don't understand. And of course, he will tell everyone that I sometimes strike up a conversation with the guy on the poster just opposite the shower stall (Kimura Takuya of SMAP!).

So to you my dear shower bug - sorry! gomenasai! dui bu qui! I will strive to keep you in good condition and make sure you have batteries and nicely stuck on the glass wall. Please continue to keep me company in one of the most mundane but necessary task in the world. :)

Welcoming 2009 with more purple!

Hello 2009! Hello new additions to MOPWORLD!

I received so many new purple stuff from family and friends. But these are a few of my favorite things. :)

Hello new beaded hanger, notebook, hi-tech pen and bag fab from Mayo. I absolutely love the hanger. And the ink pen that can be erased. That little notebook is a Print (brand) notebook whose "mommy" version is in my collection too.

Hello jibbets! I bought my purple crocs during my recent Japan trip and it only had one jibbet. But thanks to fellow purple person Ochie, my crocs now has a family.

Hello new tops, new bag and beauty stuff! Oh and I also love my new mobile pouch because it can now carry my two mobile phones. I've been wanting something like this to use for travel. Thanks to Ramon and Teng and Tatsi for the tops, Denver and Pam for the bag and my HR girls for the girly beauty stuff.

Though I would like to continue to put a little color in my life, additions to mopworld are always welcome with wide open arms.

I'm in BAG Trouble!!!

Yes, i am in big bag trouble! I was not into luxury bags before but this year, two bags caught my eye and I just could not say no to their purple beauty..

I saw this bag in the Ferragamo store in Dubai last June just a few days before I was leaving for Manila. I fell in love with the shape and the color (obviously..LOL!) and said to myself that I will save up to get me one of these soon.

A couple of weeks later I received a call from my sister with only just this question "Ferragamo is on sale, am i buying this for you or not?"... never before was I subjected to shopping pressure than this! With a deep breath, a huge swallow of air and 2 seconds of thought, I said, y-y-yess!

I had to wait for my precious for almost 6 months and finally just a few days ago, it is now in my hands! I am loving it. Though it looked small, it is roomy and could fit my humongous wallet and make-up kit.

And when I thought that would be the only expensive handbag that I would buy, never did I expect that one day in September, I would find another precious again.

Kamp HQ (my family in Manila) went to the cemetery to visit my Maming's grave to commemorate her birthday and voted to have dinner afterwards at the Alabang Town Center. After dinner, we all broke into mini groups to do some shopping. I was just tagging along with my sister-in-law Pam when she called me to join her in this store and pointed this Kate Spade beauty.

Once again, I was stunned and awed! I already imagined myself going to work with the beauty in my arm. I sat down and shook my head. I was going to Shanghai in a few days and does not have the budget to spend. But they have a credit card 3 months to pay interest free promo and my sister-in-law Pam is the biggest BI (bad influence for y'all who are wondering..hehe) in the world so a half-hour later I came out of the store with a new bag.

I'm broke but I'm happy... I have been humming this Alanis Morissette song Hand in my Pocket for the last two days. Hahaha! I have accepted my handbag fate. That I will probably add more and will eventually have a tiny collection.

I know my sister Maria/Des will protest and ask why do they have to be purple. I will try NOT to buy all purple bags... I will really try! :-)

The Purple World Has Expanded Again...

Hah! You guys think that because I was busy with my fangirl pursuits, I wouldn't have time to further enlarge my purple world? Wrong! While I was watching, screaming and buying fangirl souvenir items, I also did some purple shopping.



A trip to Japan will not be complete if I don't indulge in a few pens from Muji (http://www.mujionline.co.uk/index.asp?). In fact, it was my first purchase together with SMAP's latest album from Tobu Shopping Mall. I horde up on Muji pens wherever I find myself near one. I found more pens in this nice store along Ginza called Toy Park. I loved their shopping bag so I kept it for obviously purplish reasons.

The purple sweatshirt from Uniqlo (http://www.uniqlo.com/jp/) is just one of the few purple pieces that I got. Thanks to my travel buddy Vic, I was introduced (to the dismay of my debit card..) to this wonderful store called Uniqlo (read Yunikuro) which is everywhere in Tokyo and Yokohama. Their prices are totally reasonable even for Philippine standards. And yey, they have sizes for relatively (hehe..) big girls like me.

Now those nice Tombow pencils were a gift from Vic. I was actually mulling whether to buy them or not when she beat me to the cash register. Thank you and I love you Vic! Hahaha!

The purple Pringles (Tomato Mozarella) is new to our eyes so we were munching on this variation during the trip.



The craziest purchase I made was this gorgeous toy camera I found in Roponggi Hills. The Holga 120N Medium format plastic camera (http://www.freestylephoto.biz/holgawood_camera_formally_known_as_holga.php) is something that I could not resist. It was impulsive and crazy to buy something which will probably just earn a nice place in my shelves. But I absolutely love it and will play with it with my nephews and nieces. Hope I get the film installed right because I can't remember the last time I used one!

The goodies with the camera were not my purchases but wow did it expand the purple world some more! Thanks to my new friend who goes by the online name of Jasmine, I will never know that stuff like Grape Chocolate existed in this world.

And finally I got a Crocs Prima in grape (naturally) because I've always wanted to buy one and surprise of all surprises it was a couple of hundred pesos cheaper in Tokyo than Manila. Did not realize I don't have a pic but here's what it looks like - http://www.shoebuy.com/crocs-prima/190623/473396?cm_mmc=yahoo-feed-_-none-_-none-_-none.

Needless to say, the purple world is once again happy, happy, joy, joy!!

The New Orly Diva

Me! I am the latest Orly diva. Thanks to my sister-in-law Pam who bought me my own bottle after using her bottle several times. Guess she got tired of me borrowing..hahaha!

Seriously, I was balking at the price tag of this bottle. But when 2 weeks, 3 week later my nails are still the same, I was convinced that it is worth every peso.

Of course no purple person will stop at having one color so I went in search of more Orly's. I was so loving Orly's websites. You'll know why when you follow the links *winks*.

Online Store: http://www.orlydiva.com/index.htm

Corporate Website: http://www.orlybeauty.com/

My online shopping will definitely extend to nail products.

And my nails will never be the same .. it will be more gorgeous! Hahahaha!

And I thought I did not buy purple stuff in Dubai...

I did buy a few! From the top..

I bought that Indian flats after my Bur Dubai adventure with our friend Richard. It's a very comfortable pair and I've worn it a couple of Fridays at the office.

I love my bedroom slippers from Ikea. It was actually my arrival gift from Tatsi and wears like a pair of socks.

Now that watch... took me a couple of days to decide to buy. It is actually not very expensive but I saw it when I was just a few days away from going home which means I am running out of cash! Hahaha!! So a couple of days before I left for Manila I bugged my brother Denver to walk with me (and it was a long mall walk..sorry Daddy Dab) to Aldo Accessories to get this piece. My brother was so astounded because he thought I was mulling over something very expensive.

Those decorated jewelry box and pencil case are exquisite finds. I love them because they are unique and has that touch of Arabic design. They were on sale so I did not have any 2nd thoughts of buying. Also on sale were those nice purple jewelry accessories.

And will Gigi travel anywhere without buying notebooks? Never happened yet. That gorgeous bundle of paper was from Borders and now I realized is one of the most expensive thing that I bought during that trip. It's the Thai silk material I guess...

And the last thing I bought was a bunch of souvenirs and that refrigerator magnet was one of them. It was just so cute that I had to buy alternative items because I hogged my own souvenir from someone who was supposed to receive them. =) If that was not a case of purple desperation, I don't know what is it.

Back to Purpleness - Purple Watches!!

I am not a watch person. All my watches are cheap ones that I found during my travels or gifts.

The one on the far left was bought in the Bugis flea market, SGD 5.00 =)

Next to it was bought in the sidewalk of Tsim Tsa Tsui in Hongkong, HKD 10.00 =)

That cute flowery watch was given by my travel buddy and resident brat Ochie in Puerto Galera, Philippines (not Boracay Island as previously written, sorry Och).

The purple Timex (http://www.timex.com/) watch on top is my weekend and beach trip staple. To order an extra strap, I had to wait for 6 months!! It's my most expensive watch, PHP 1,700.00 =).

Cool beans, right?!

A Happy Purple World!!!

A happy purple world to all! I was surprised to see that I already have gone over the 1,000 mark for visitors. Isn't it the coolest?

Keep coming back friends! And wouldn't it be good to comment and chat in here?

Maraming salamat! Thank you! Arigato gozaimashita! Xie xie ni! Terimah Kasih! Kansamhamnida! Shukran!