i am woman, hear me rawr!

I know I shouldn’t but…

WHY DID I BOTHER TO LOOK?!? Sighness.

photo as seen on sonyinsider.com

sigh sigh siiiiigh.

I have always liked Sony cameras for some reason, even if all the fora say otherwise. Even the low end ones, I loved. However, it was always a little more expensive than the counterpart from Canon or Olympus or what not so I never owned one. Not that I don’t like Sammy and Nikki…but the Sony cameras have always been so super drool worthy.This one is said to be shock proof, water proof, sand proof,dust proof, and even freeze proof (errr…not that I’ll really need that here in the Philippines, unless of course I decide to go into a long term food storage facility for some crazy, insane reason, right? haha).

Another drool worthy camera, in my opinion, is the Canon G12. I sooooo love it. My cousin has one and it’s just soooo fabulous. I love the the flexibility the LCD has and how it is still light and compact (compared to Nikki) despite the powerful features.

Sigh. And so tonight I will drool and dream of all these nice new gadgets. Oh…and let’s not forget that rumored iPad coming out on March 2. Egaaaad.

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Oh dear Lord what have I done….

After saying I WILL NOT GIVE IN and buy yet another expensive gadget to play with, yesterday I found myself in the mall and it wasn’t long before my every trusty handy dandy credit card popped out of my wallet and found it’s way to the card swiper. Before I knew it, I had just toinked myself with another impulsive purchase.

Meet my iPad, Piper (errrr…corny much but yes, Piper…pronounced as pee-per…kasi isa siyang bonggang bonggang soshaling pad piper ba. teeeheeeheee. yes, rationalizing works ).

Okay, the cognitive part of my brain is screaming “Why oh why, Ria” but…sometimes, we just do things that don’t make sense, right? Haha. Before I left the mall, I also made sure that I had a few basic essentials to keep Piper brand-spankin’ new and beautiful. First off I got a screen protector, which I realize is very important especially now that I have long nails. Errr…and let’s not forget how Bubba once accidentally scratched my camera’s LCD, right? I also went to get a one of those cases for it.

I really wanted a sleeve like one of these padded colorful bags/sleeves to match Apple’s case.

However,  I couldn’t find one that I liked and I was too tired to go to Rustan’s or Bratpack to check so I ended up with a lovely red faux leather case from the tiangge area of ATC. What I like about Apple’s sleeve is that it is not only so super cute, but it also has that extra padding that would protect my laptop. The one I got is kinda hard and padded, too, so I went with it.  Plus I love the color haha. But the one’s I really want are the neoprene kind. I actually wanted this whole set from Hellolulu because it has a thicker and more protective material, but like I said, I was too tired to go far and to look around to get one like this one:

They also have other products such as camera bags and travel accessories that will surely protect gadgets and luggage when in transit. I like that they’re lightweight,  compact and quite stylish I must say! Add to that, it sure is a more environmentally friendly alternative to my typical collection of ziplock bags for traveling hehe. Lookit!

cute black and pink DSLR bag for Nikki

mutli pouches for chargers, plugs and all other "abubot"

gotta love the two in one shopping/tote bags

Besides Rustan’s and Bratpack, Hellolulu bags and accessories can be purchased at The Travel Club, Crossings / The Ramp, Duty Free – Fiesta Mall, Fashion Rack – Naia 3, Islands & More, Fullybooked and Le Grand Boutique – Naia 3. Do feel free to post comments or questions about Hellolulu here and I’ll try to help you out with the answers

I’m sooo happy with my new toy even if my credit card hates me right about now teeeheeeeheeee

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Pardon the random post….

Not too long ago a blog reader asked me if I was happy with my Samsung PL151 digital camera. I’ve posted several reviews already in the past and now that I’ve had Sammy for about eight months now, I can safely say it is a pretty good point and shoot. Sure, nothing compared to the more beefed up models available now, but for basic purposes, it’s good.

The things I don’t like about Sammy are as follows:

• sometimes it’s soooo slow….thus, I miss shots
• it does very little with low light, but the beauty shot compensates well for low lighting. It’s just hard to stay still for long haha
• I don’t know if it’s just because of my settings, but I don’t like the dimensions of the photos. Haha. Random I tell ya. I’m too lazy to figure it out though.

What I like about it are:

• Look how clear and smooth your skin can look when you use the beauty shot! (Yes…in reality, my skin isn’t that fabulous. This makes me look like I don’t even need moisturizer but…um…lately because I have been trying out new facial cleansing products and having problems with my period, I kinda have been breaking out much…um….lemme go check out those therapores reviews and cleansing creams whatever…haha
• How can you go wrong with the dual LCD I tell ya?!?
• it also takes great HD videos.
• It doesn’t cost very much
• and best of all…Sammy makes me pretty.

Ktnxbai

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Dear Bazaars,

There are so sooo soooo many of you nowadays but I’ve been so sooo sooooo super busy I haven’t seen any of you. Well, one…and it wasn’t to shop, but just to pick up my cousin who had a booth there. With less than a dozen days before Christmas, it’s hard to believe I have not entered any of you…that’s a lot to be said for a shopaholic like me!

Yes….this was me going crazy at the World Trade Bazaar a few years back with my then favorite shopping partner. Errr….I dunno though if she would say the same thing about shopping with me though. Lookie….

It was a blast shopping then, and we went crazy in the dog store haha….

We also had a loooong laugh after some crazy girl decided to swipe the shirt I was trying to buy. As in she intercepted it just as the saleslady was handing it to me. Grrr. Booo boooo booooo! (Remember that shirt Janine??? mwahahaha…..I mean of all the cartoon character shirts among the piles of character and sports shirts, including the wrestling ones, the candy ones and even the nba shirts the crazy lady had to steal mine!

What a fun, fun day I swear. So, dear bazaars, I’ve been meaning to drop by and see you, whether in World Trade or in Cuenca, but it looks like I won’t be seeing you this year anymore. Sigh.

Till next time,

Ria

PS. It just must be said, however: I think I miss you more. Ktnxbai

Janine!!! we have nicer pics in your Flickr but…I have no right click in my mac so I can’t get the location mwahahaha. And you disabled the download feature. Boo. Yes, I’m ranting because of I miss you a wee bit more today!!!

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Since I turned 18, there was always one thing I wanted but never had the courage to do: get a tattoo. Well, more like never had the money to do haha. However, now that I am older and in a better position to randomly splurge on little things like these, I decided to go do it. Lucky for me I posted a status message on my Facebook profile not too long ago about wanting to get it done and my cousin, Tanya, said for me to wait because she and her team at Beeconomic (which is actually like a local version of Groupon) were cooking up a deal with P&P Tattoo.

A few weeks ago, I saw the link that changed my life Nuks…drama! haha.

thank you Beeconomic oh...that's the Beekeper, my cousin Anna making faces at the back teeeheeeheee

Seriously though, since I took this as a sign, I immediately signed up for Beeconomic and purchased the P&P coupon and set my appointment.

The end result: I got my first tattoo at 50% off and discovered a whole new addiction. Online shopping, that is hahaha.

So how does the whole Beeconomic work and what is it all about? Well, like I said, it’s like Groupon (which, coincidentally, has just acquired Beeconomic Philippines, woot!), where merchants offer services, products and the like at a discount. The catch: a certain number of coupons have to be sold for the deal to be “tipped” or to “be on”. In short, the merchants will be willing to offer the price if they meet the quota. For my tattoo thing, the deal required 10 coupons to be sold. Each coupon was sold at Php 1000 and it’s face value is actually Php 2000. Also, there’s a whole “delay of gratification” thingy involved because you purchase your coupon during an allotted deal time (usually 2-3 days, sometimes just 1 I think), and wait for the deal to be on.

Payments can be made through a wide array of options, including Paypal and GCash. If in case the deal isn’t tipped, meaning not enough coupons are sold, the deal is off, thus you don’t have to pay for your “purchase”.  The coupon is valid for three months from date of purchase and basically, it works much like a gift certificate or any other coupon you use for purchasing things. In my case, my coupon was worth Php 2000 (which is actually the basic minimum fee charged by P&P for tattoos) and since the tattoo design I had chosen was in that range, I only paid Php 1000 for my ink.

So, in my case, I purchased the coupon on the first day of the promo, had to wait about 67 hours to claim my coupon, and viola…I have my tattoo Fun, fun, fun Current deals in Beeconomic Philippines include a sign in bonus and a coupon for Sly Boutique.

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Dear Mystery Shampoo (aka Pantene),

A few months ago you came out on TV and I kinda got annoyed at your whole “mystery” concept. Boo, I thought to myself, mainly because I never really liked you because I don’t like changing what I’m used to, and obviously, I was used to some other shampoo already teeeheeeheee.

But then I decided to give you a shot, especially since my hair has gotten exceptionally long in the past year or so. Plus after the whole mystery shampoo event that many bloggers went to (that I didn’t go to, boo! haha. kidding!!!), I thought it interesting to try. And so I did. Lo and behold, while it wasn’t very suitable for some, for me, it did pretty good. One thing, however, I don’t agree in is that it takes away or lessens hair fall in just 14 days coz errr….I still a whole lot of them falling off. However, I must say that possible reasons for hair loss in my case include the fact that my hair is too long, as well as because of the fact that I have lost a lot of weight these past few months.

What I like about the shampoo, however, is that honestly, people note that my hair looks much nicer nowadays Lookie….

pwede na pang commercial, right?!?

Oh…fyi…this ain’t no commissioned article for Pantene, the mystery shampoo

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Note to self: bring out the shackles and make sure to lock up my inner shopaholic. Harhar. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not in the States right about now because I may just go crazy the day after Thanksgiving, which we all know is Black Friday. Um….my shopping is bad enough when I see that big red sign with the magical word SALE on it, what more on such a mega, mega superdidooper sale day, right???  But but but….I have an excuse to go crazy shopping these days. Two in fact:

1. It’s almost Christmas.
2. My clothes don’t fit anymore since I have to replace all my fat girl clothes.

See…I sooo need Black Friday. Ktnxbai!!!

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The other day, I sent my family and MMS of a recent photo of me which really emphasized the amount of weight I’ve lost in the past few months. One of my aunts immediately messaged me back and said I should stop dieting already because I was looking good already. I told her that I wasn’t really as consciously dieting anymore, but I am still trying to find my way to a good kind of healthy. I think that is the most essential part of this whole journey. I did notice, however, that since I’ve lost weight, I started being more susceptible to colds and headaches. I don’t know if it’s the weather or my body coping with the sudden weight loss, or a combination of both. Plus of course I can’t deny that I’ve been under an incredible amount of stress lately. So, I think what I need to do would be the following:

• Increase my water intake
• Lessen my exposure to smoke, dust, pollution and the like
• Try to sleep adequately (errr….this is a weee bit hard!)
• Eat more (haha!) consistently. I tend to skip meals, but not necessarily for the diet but because of work
• Up my vitamins and supplement intake to build up my immune system (I have to research on this first though…I tend to just rely on the basic, generic supplements if ever I take any. But as to what the best vitamins for women would be, I have no idea! Um…is there really a difference between men’s and women’s supplements???)
• Avoid things I should avoid Errr….like too much meat, fatty food, caffeine….and other stuff haha.

Hopefully these steps not only help me keep up the diet, but to also become a more healthy me

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