Goodbye 2009!

I just want to wish everyone a happy new year as we welcome 2010 with open arms.

As for me, I'm off to a place that I miss terribly.

Cheers, everyone! See you all again soon!

A Joyous and Meaningful Christmas to Everyone!

Just random things to share in this post:

We were given this marble cheesecake from The Cake Club by Diamond Hotel and found perched upon the cake as if it were their platform a band of happy bears and a snowman staring up at us with hopeful smiles on their faces.

Happy 91st birthday, my lovely grandma! I wish I can become half as good a cook as you are!

The only ensaymada that I like also by The Cake Club with Sumibi coffee and Grassy, an iced coffee topped with vanilla ice cream

One of my goals in 2010 is to learn how to use and take good pictures with a DSLR.

My rare attempt at comedy:

Merry Christmas to all!

Friday, I Love You!

I love Fridays and I'm certainly not alone on this. I can feel the energy and excitement vibrating through the walls of our office whenever Friday rolls around, as if there is always a cause for celebration.

I especially love this day when I know I've been productive throughout the workweek like I had been this week. Thank you, Lavazza coffee, for making sure that I stayed alert and focused. Tomorrow, I will celebrate my productivity with coffee from Starbucks or CBTL.

We're now into the fourth week of our Kris Kringle, and so far I have received two Starbucks GCs, the November issue of Preview, and a bubbles toy gun which can produce giant bubbles. Today, I got the December issue of Preview! (Great job, colleague, as it's out of stock yet again in Fully Booked the last time I looked.)

Agot looks amazing at 43, but the dress and boots have got to go! And so does the hairstyle! I loved the grunge/rock&roll look, but I'm ready and very, very excited to see what's new for 2010, which is just 20 days away!

One of the perks of being around a group of girls is having a reason to dress up or down. Today's theme is "dress differently." The idea began as "dress weirdly," a post-Halloween plan to dress up in costumes. But because of office policies, the security manning the lobby would never allow us to even set foot in the building when we dress up as say, Helga Pataki [from Hey Arnold!] as one of us originally planned to, so we were forced to alter the theme to just, well, "put on something you don't normally wear" day.

As my office attire is limited to plain shirts and very feminine black skirts, I chose to go androgynous, literally. I dug up a very old and very dear (and very faded) pair of black semi-skinny pants and paired it with one of my dad's shirts with the sleeves rolled up. I also pulled my hair back into a high, tight bun instead of letting it down to cover the sides of my face as I usually do. Finally, I ditched my thick red glasses to avoid looking like a hippie grandma.

My very unsuccessful self-portrait - I have forgotten to take a pic of my outfit again

(and still not driving myself to anywhere)

After working non-stop for the past five days, I can't wait for the lazy and slow weekend ahead, and that's why I love you, Friday!

Loot From The Queen

Thank you, Queen J, for all the wonderful stuff you bought for me. And thanks to my parents for agreeing to bring home 2 shoe boxes and 3 paper bags of cosmetics, magazines and other things. I think my stuff occupied half of their luggage.

By special request, I got 2 Nylon magazines (October 09 and November 09 issues) and the Dec/Jan issue of Teen Vogue with Dakota Fanning on the cover. I love that Nylon is always fresh, young and inspiring. I've always been a fan of Dakota Fanning, and I can't believe she's all grown up now at 15! After seeing her on Teen Vogue's cover, I couldn't resist asking Sis to get me this issue of Teen Vogue even if it's one of their thinnest issues ever! (Teen Vogue is available here in Fully Booked but it's much cheaper in HK.)

This morning I discovered that we now have Nylon here in Fully Booked. Maybe we've always had it here and I just didn't know about it. It's stuck between men's magazines, and I had to avoid including a really nasty Maxim Philippines cover in my pic!

I saw these 9 Wests while shoe shopping last week. I think that pointy pumps will never go out of style, and they always look smart even if they come in a metallic purple shade like this one.

I also like the gold version!

The next item is probably one of the best items I got from Queen J because first, they're from the much-awaited collaboration between Jimmy Choo and H&M and second, Queen J lined up for hours to get these during the worldwide launch on November 14th.

These are definitely not the kind of shoes that I would typically wear, but I'm thrilled to have something different to spice up my very small shoe collection.

I'm excited to wear these and instantly add 4 inches to my height!

And the pièce de résistance:

It's perfect and so easy to use! I used it to take the pics above. This is Queen J's surprise parting gift for me and I've been waiting for it for months. Queen J knew I'm not a phone person and would never get myself an iPhone so she got one for me!

You're the best, Queen J! *XOXO*