A Joyful Mess

Hi everyone!

If you're wondering where I am - I'm still alive and kicking by the way! - I just want you to know that I've officially moved and started blogging over at JoyfulMess.com. Actually, I've started blogging in my new home since the first day of July!

I truly appreciate you accompanying me in my blogging journey, and I hope you'll still give me the honour of your company in my new home. Please head over to the URL above and share stories with me!

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Look Chic And Classy With This Black Long Sleeves Dress!

I have personally been looking for the perfect dress that is body hugging but at the same time formal and can be worn casually. I have seen a lot of styles with the two piece look and have been eyeing this kind for months now. A two piece set can be tricky to wear and find especially if you want something that's formal enough to put on during date nights and drinks with friends.

Finally, I stumbled upon this DRESS online that fits just right with the style and look that I was looking for.

This dress is not a two piece set but it gives the illusion that it is. It is actually a dress with a mesh cut-out detail on the waist which also gives the body more figure and shape. It is made of cotton, perfect for casual evenings because it's so comfortable and easy to wear. I love that it is also very versatile since it comes in the colors Black and Grey which are very basic and neutral colors that can be paired with any item that's already available in your closet. It is currently available in the sizes S M L.

Not only is this dress very useful because of its versatility, it's also very very affordable priced at PHP513 (86% Off) which originally was PHP3703. You get to save as much as PHP3190! That's a really awesome deal considering that you get to own something that you can wear a couple dozen times.

Shipment and payment are also made easy! Pay through a 100% guaranteed safe method which is PayPal. Delivery is done by Express Shipping that assures the arrival of the item within just a matter of 3-5 days! To even get bigger discounts, just subscribe to the website and enjoy your free coupon codes.

If you want to browse through different selections and wardrobe options with the hottest trends, click on this LINK.

SHOP NOW!

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Wear This Black Lace Halter Dress For That Vintage Sultry Vibe!

A very flattering DRESS for you beautiful plus size women! This dress is perfect to wear on special occasions like a cocktail party or even a vintage themed event. I consider it very versatile because, when paired with the right accessories, it can go from formal and sophisticated to retro and chic. A pair of glam high heels would go a long way with this number especially when matched with a pair of gloves and a beautiful clutch. All set for that themed party!

The neckline is in that halter style which makes this dress even more flattering because it gently accentuates those lovely shoulders plus the lace panelling on top. The flow of the bottom half of the dress is also a sight to look at with the layering going on. The little dainty fabric rose with the tie in the middle also adds a very subtle touch of sweetness to this sophisticated dress. It is a Black dress that is also currently available in the colors Red and Blue with sizes ranging from L XL 2XL 3XL.

It’s a worthy wear and also a very worthy purchase because it is currently on sale at PHP1017 (79% Off) which originally was PHP4800! You actually get to save PHP3784. I consider this a very good deal because it can be worn on different many occasions to come!

Light on the pocket and beautiful on the wear, it should also be easy on the shipping and payment. Transactions are done through PayPal which is 100% guaranteed safe. The item can be received in just a matter of 3-5 days through Express Shipping. Discounts are offered to those who are subscribed to the website and get free discount coupon codes!

To choose from a variety of dress options and styles, just simply click on this LINK.


SHOP AND GET YOUR DISCOUNT NOW!

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May Powers Ka to be #SuperEpic!

Have you ever thought you were ordinary?

"Imagine if we can be partners with the Lord Jesus in transforming lives and communities? Astig di ba? Still think you're ordinary? Think again."

This is the premise of Mighty Rasing's book, May Powers ka to be #SUPEREPIC. Based on the book, Mighty is part of the Philippine stay of Young People's Ministries, the goal youth ministry affect of the United Methodist Church.

Youth.

The youth, energetic young people that they are, have the potential to change the world for the better. They have the skills, the grit, and the time and energy. However, it is not uncommon to see potentials untapped because of many reasons: lack of support, lack of ambition and determination, or the lack of awareness of this potential.

Mighty's book aims to change this and empower today's youth to follow Christ and become superheroes who can save the day - because they can! We can!

#SUPEREPIC talks about:

- Taking initiative and responsibility
- The importance of training
- Understanding limits
- Planning
- Teamwork
- The proper way to resolve conflicts
- And avoiding getting tempted by power, sex, and money

What makes #SUPEREPIC different?

- Using a comfortable mix of English and Filipino, the book is easy to digest.

- The book is within most young people's comfort zones because of its pop culture references. From superheroes like Superman and Batman to musicians like Ely Buendia. The words, super epic, themselves are from pop culture.

- Mighty wisely occasionally injects humour every now and then. For example, referring to Superman, he writes, "Kaya nyang bumuhat ng isang isla, lumipad papunta sa space, magsurvive sa isang nuclear blast, at syempre magpa-cute sa officemates nyang si Lois Lane pag may time." His words tickle the funny bone and, at the same time, the grey matter and the soul.

- Knowing today's youth's attention span, the writer wisely uses interesting anecdotes to keep young readers interested. An example is the interesting story of Jay Jaboneta, founder of Yellow Boats of Hope Foundation.

- I did not find any piece of advice that contradicts the Bible or attempts to present an inaccurate interpretation of it. On the contrary, from time to time, Bible verses are there to support the writer's words.

- Finally, reminiscent of Ed Lapiz's (author of Siksik, Liglig, Umaapaw) writing style, Mighty does not mince words when it comes to opening the youth's eyes to their (our) common flaws including impulsiveness, laziness, and the lack of self-control.

All in all, I truly liked reading the book. I didn't find a single flaw or, like what I have said, Biblical contradiction. Instead, the book is both light and fun to read and enlightening and inspiring. I am actually planning to keep this book and encourage my son to read it when he becomes a youth himself.

I don't doubt he would enjoy reading it and learn a lot from it. I did.

May Powers Ka to be #SuperEpic is published by OMFLit and is available in all leading bookstores nationwide.

Know more about the book here. You can also read a sample chapter or register for freebies!


Disclosure: Mighty Rasing sent me this book for free in exchange for a review. However, it did not, in any way, influence my opinion. All of the thoughts and points expressed here are my own.

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What a Busy Week!

I can't believe it's already Friday.

On one hand, I am relieved that it's already Friday. On the other hand, I realise that I still have a lot to do over the weekend. For starters, I need to report to work tomorrow to cover up for my absence last Wednesday. Thank goodness I work from home and don't have to go out!

This week has been very busy for me. It was a mix of good busy and bad busy. Let me tell you about it.

Busy for Work

I have been given new responsibilities at work, which is a really great thing because it shows they trust me enough. I've also been made in charge of the Filipino content team. In fact, another Filipino has been added to the team this week. I interviewed her on Monday and she got hired immediately!

Busy for License Registration

But as busy as I am for work, I had to work the afternoon shift on Tuesday and be absent on Wednesday because I was taking care of my license registration. The hurdles - not to mention the steep fees! - really don't end with the board exam. But it's alright. We have no choice because we have to get our license!

What made the process fun and bearable was the fact that I came with a friend, Ate Elaine, who was also my classmate, and I also met my old friend, Sonny, who is also my brod from the counterpart fraternity. We're all brokers now, yay! I told them we should form a corporation or something. It's really all for my benefit because Ate Elaine is a CPA while Sonny will take the bar exams this November. Bwahahaha!

By the way, I'm finally a licensed real estate broker. I don't have the physical license yet, but I have a license number!

Busy because Yuri was sick

I've also been busy because of "bad" reasons. For one, Yuri came down with a fever last Wednesday, which did not subside until this morning. He's barely sick, but when he's sick, he's really weak and doesn't move much. He needed some rest and nourishment.

Today, Friday, he's feeling much better, although we keep going to the bathroom because he's having a mild diarrhoea. He says his tummy doesn't hurt though. I think it's because his food intake for the past days is mostly liquid. I won't worry until he says his stomach hurts.

And busy because my laptop is sick

And my trusty laptop is not doing well this week, too. Talk about bad timing! I don't know what happened to it. It was doing well on Tuesday night, but when I came home Wednesday evening, it was suddenly not turning on. It functions but veeeery slowly. In fact, yesterday morning, it took an hour and a half for it to start!

So I PC-refreshed it. The computer promised that the process won't harm the files, but after around an hour of refreshing, when it came back on, all of my blog photos were gone. I wasn't worried much because I could download them from the blog, but I hope it fixes the problem. It's still going a little slow now, but I'll monitor it.

EDIT: The photos are gone from my drive, but when I re-installed Picasa, all my photos are there!!! Every single one. Good guy Picasa is good!

How was your week?

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I Passed The Board Exam (!) and Other Stories

I'm back! I'm finally back!

I don't know if you missed me, but I surely missed my little community and, of course, blogging.

I know I said in my last post that I'm starting a new blog. It's true. In fact, I'm going to tell you more about it later. I have soooo many stories to tell you! But first, let me tell you that....

1. I PASSED THE BOARD EXAM 

Yes I did! They said that this year's board exam is that toughest so far - I'm not sure but perhaps it really is - and even the seasoned attorneys and experienced real estate practitioners had trouble answering it.

It was hard but I thought it was manageable. Yeah you can call me mayabang now, but that's not what I mean. The truth is I think I only "lucked out" when I chose which topics to focus on. I put "luck" in quotation marks because what I mean is that God gave me the right discernment.

Finding time to study was hard - I mean, I'm a mum, I have a full-time job, and I have a part-time job - so I could not even open all the resources I have had despite not sleeping during some nights. But I felt God telling me to do away with the reviewers (I think I had 3) and to focus on the actual laws and computations instead.

So to maximise my time, I practiced computations and painstakingly read the Republic Acts, Execution Orders, Presidential Decrees, and the rest.

Guess what came out in the exams?

Mostly laws and computations.

When the day finally came that the PRC announced the passers, I already received messages from people telling me that I passed, and I knew I should give credit to God alone. Yes it was me who studied and memorised and stayed awake until dawn, but it was God who gave me the prompting and right discernment on what to study and, more importantly, the sheer strength, good health, and clear state of mind.

Thank you to everyone who helped me (my mum most especially!!!), those who congratulated me, and thank you Lord!

Funny anecdote:

(The morning when I found out I passed, I told only my Papa because Mama was not yet home from a 2-day conference)

Me: Pa pasado ako!!!
Papa (without missing a beat): Anong place?
Me: Err... 

*insert Asian over-achieving dad meme here*

2. I TURNED 25 

A few days after becoming a true broker (can't say "licensed" because I don't have my license yet!) was my birthday. I turned 25!

And I have so many things to thank for: a loving partner who remains faithful to God and to me despite our situation, a smart and bibo 3-year old who gets more unpredictable each day, a supportive family, a new job where I don't feel like I'm actually working, new friends, old friends, and, of course, passing what could possibly be the most important exam of my life.

But I really need to lose weight. So help me God.

3. NEW AND OLD RESPONSIBILITIES 

However, it's not just fun and surprises. This month's one of my busiest months this year so far because, aside from having new responsibilities as a consequence of passing the exam, my old commitments are also catching up.

For instance, I have a book here sent to me by the author last April, and I need to review it. And I will. I commit to doing it this week.

4. A NEW BLOG 

Yeah, I have a new blog. It's on WordPress.org, hosted by CoffeeMags.com (thank you Pam for the recommendation, and one of the owners turns out to be my schoolmate from UP!).

So why am I still blogging here?

I have 2 reasons.

First, after several frustrating days of migrating my blog, I gave up the other night. I was able to migrate everything except my comments. After everything I did failed, I finally gave up and decided that instead of migrating, I'll take the road less traveled and begin a new blog from the ground up.

Piece of advice: Don't use Disqus or InteseDebate or any third-party commenting system for that matter and save yourself from a massive headache if ever you're considering migrating.

Anyway, it wouldn't seem like so much of a fresh start if I have a new blog but have almost 700 old blog posts. Also, I don't want to totally obliterate DavaoMommy.com from blogosphere. It was my home for more than 2 years after all. Google search will take care of it haha.

Second, I almost forgot I still have an obligation for Nuffnang. It would be complicated if I write the sponsored post in a different blog. I know I shouldn't post my new future home yet for the surprise factor, but I couldn't help it as my launching count down page is quite pretty. (And I'm hoping you sign up for updates - shh.) Here's where I'll be moving to in the near future.

5. A DREAM COME TRUE: A HOME OFFICE 

I think every remote or home-based worker will agree with me if I say having a real home office is a dream come true. I just had my own last Wednesday.

Technically, it is my mum's home office. She is not only a real estate practitioner but also the village secretary and the Purok leader. So people come to our house day in and day out. Finally fed up with all the papers and files and people filling our house, my parents decided to have an office built.

The great thing is that I have my own space there so it's almost like having my own office. (And mama's not home most of the time anyway!)

______ 

If you're still reading at this point, thank you! Sorry for the long post, I just have so many stories to tell after more than a month of not blogging. In fact, I have more stories, which I'll save for another post. Also, I know all of the stories I chose are good ones, but I also have problems and struggles. I just choose to share the positive ones (most of the time anyway).

Enough about me. How about you? What's up? :)

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A Temporary Goodbye

Happy Monday, everyone!

How are you coping after yesterday's fight? Job got over it more quickly than I did when he was the sports fan while I'm just the occasional viewer. I didn't even watch Pacman's old fights. Oh well, you know that I'm never the kind of woman who gets over stuff quickly haha.

I learned a lot about it though. Sometimes, God's victory is different from what most people perceive as victory. The latter might bring worldly honor to us, but God's victory glorifies Him over everything. I believe Manny is victorious because even though he didn't win the title, he got what is more important: respect and love. And this will forever be a greater testimony than a shiny belt.

I believe this is the victory that God promised to Manny.

But how are you really? I would like to know because it would be a while since I will be able to talk to you again.

I already hinted at a hiatus last week, which began last Friday, May 1. Technically, I shouldn't be writing now since I'm on hiatus, but I realized I never said my appropriate albeit temporary goodbyes.

By now, you might have known that I'm also a girl who loves drama. Hahaha.

So yeah, since I really really need to focus on studying, I decided to give up blogging in the meanwhile. I shall be back before the end of the month, and hopefully, by then, I will have passed the board exam. Woot!

Pray for me! I need all the prayers. I haven't even touched some topics, and there's just so much coverage - from laws to mathematics to ecology and geography and sociology and current events. I'm acknowledging that I could never in a million years do this by myself and I only have a chance at acing the exam with God's guidance.

Oh, and about blogging, expect changes. Major changes. Changes as in I finally took the big leap and bought a new domain name yesterday. So if you're still around when I come back (hopefully you are!), let's meet at a spanking brand new blog. :)

I hope you'll miss me half as much as I would miss you and blogging. I mean, I would surely feel different over the next several weeks because I've been blogging for years, but we all know that this is for the best. And it's not forever! #walangforever haha

So for now, I'm saying goodbye. I'll see you before June begins, hopefully with a lot of good news and colorful new stories!

Until then, may God always bless you all. :)

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Pacific Heights Private Resort - Samal

Last Monday, I told you about our R&R slash supposed team-building with other village officers and youth. Which was promptly ruined when a group of gatecrashers, well, crashed the event. It was a good thing, though, that the resort we went to is a lovely one so our day wasn't completely ruined. (It was also a good thing that they arrived at lunch and we were still able to have fun in the morning.)

Pacific Heights Private Resort

I've actually never heard of this resort before, which is understandable as it is quite new. As the name also implies, it is a village and the resort is supposed to be exclusive for them, However, for some reason, they recently decided to open the beach resort to the public. Yay!

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because, for the first time ever, we went to the beach yaya-less, So I was constantly running after a little 3-year old whom we shall not name, and I was also constantly wet with seawater. But here are some photos that we managed to take:

Click here to read my review of Pacific Heights Private Resort.

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 6): Tagaytay and Aguinaldo Shrine

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

Hi, everyone! We must all be aware of the bad events in Nepal, Baltimore, and about our very own, Mary Jane. The best news of the morning is that Mary Jane's execution has been postponed. Praise God! I believe in the Prince of Peace and the God of Justice, and because the world is an imperfect one, justice may possibly not be served here. But I know that justice reigns in Heaven.

As much as I would like to keep talking about current events, I need to finish some blog posts before I finally take my hiatus this week. So today, I will be sharing with you some photos from the last day of our Ultimate Summer Trip when we went to Tagaytay and Kawit, Cavite.

Tagaytay

Our driver took us to People's Park to view Mt. Taal. We didn't know that it would be very far away from the volcano and we didn't anymore have the time to look for another venue as we needed to be in the airport at 3 pm. While the weather was quite hot during that day, unfortunately, when we got to the viewing area, there were clouds covering Mt. Taal. 

So the only thing I have is this super zoomed in photo:

 Can you see it?

The road of Tagaytay

No, that's not a "kamot-ulo" pose! It was just really really windy! 

Annoying Gatecrashers and Other Stories

Every muscle in my body is aching! It's 6:20 am here, I only have 40 minutes until work starts (my work starts at 7am and ends at 3pm), and I'm still here in bed with Yuri. At least I can still work with me in bed. #perksofaWAHM

The reason why I'm so tired (as well as everybody in the household - actually, almost everybody active in this village) is that we came from the beach yesterday. We had fun, yes, but sadly, because of some reason, our day also quickly turned sour. Let me rant a little and share with you what happened.

Annoying Gatecrashers

The activity at the beach yesterday was planned as an R&R slash team building activity for everyone who worked hard to make last week's fiesta (our village's first fiesta slash foundation day ever). It was planned among the village officers as a treat to themselves and the youth who laboured really hard for days and even went home at dawn just to finish everything that needed to be finished. 

Obviously, the event should be just for the officers and the youth who call themselves "Cecilia Boys." We cooked our own food and paid for our own entrance fees etcetera. The boys used their prize money from the basketball game they played in during the fiesta. And we had fun.

Including this kiddo

Until the gatecrashers came in.

Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 5): Highway Robbery in Vigan

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

Nothing much happened during Day 5. We checked out of our hotel in Vigan early in the morning, at around 4:30 am, and we found ourselves traveling back to Manila.

But here are the more interesting stories of how we got ripped off in Vigan.

VIa entertainment.desktopnexus.com/

Carinderia Scuffle

I believe I already told you about the first time we got ripped off  (yes, there's a second time!) - in less than an hour after arriving in Vigan. Because our rooms in the hotel were still being fixed and we wanted to try "authentic" Ilocano dishes, we decided to give the nearby carinderia a try. The place was really sparse - there were only monobloc chairs and even these were lacking - but I guess the adventuring spirit really kicked up in us because we eagerly took our seats and ordered the Ilocano fare we were hoping for.

Lo and behold, we were given below average-tasting dishes with a few pieces of meat tossed in. When I worked in the office 4 years ago, we sometimes ate from a very little carinderia where the taxi drivers eat, and the food we bought there was delicious. What I mean is that eating in a carinderia doesn't mean eating a poor excuse for a dish. Even their pinakbet has cabbage - who puts cabbage in their pinakbet?

Worse, the servings were very little. And worst? The owner of the carinderia increased the prices of the dishes and drinks every time. For example, when we first asked one of the "servers" the price of family-sized soft drinks, she said P25. Then the owner would insist that it is 35 or 40. Everything kept getting more expensive!

We paid more than P500 for 5 cups of rice and 4 measly platitos of ulam.

(Actually, the worst thing about that carinderia is how their food sent me to the emergency room! That was one of the few times I thank God Yuri is picky!)

Tricycle Kafuffle

Speaking of the emergency room, before we were actually able to check out, my mom had to take me to the hospital because my stomach pains (and nausea and diarrhea again) came back and were even more terrible than the first time. We asked the front desk for the nearest hospital, and the ladies pointed us to "Lahoz Clinic and Hospital."

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Mar 25, 2015 at 2:16am PDT

Yes, it was very near (just 5 minutes away from Green R). Yes, we immediately discovered that it was also a rundown hospital. The funniest thing about that hospital is that everyone is asleep - even the guard. If I didn't have a bowling ball for a stomach then, I would've laughed loudly. But it's fine; I was given acceptable service. And it was not in the hospital where we got ripped off.

No, it was the tricycle driver who did the honours. When we came out of the hotel, he and his tricycle were just by the front door so naturally, we approached him. We requested to go to Lahoz Hospital. It was already 2am, so we asked him if he could wait so that we wouldn't have any problem going back to the hotel.

When we emerged from the hospital, instead of going back to the hotel, we asked to be taken first to another hospital nearby, which is Metro Vigan Hospital (which is the better hospital) since the medicines we needed to buy were not available in Lahoz. Off we went.

Finally, after buying the medicines, we asked to drop by a 7-11 on the way back to the hotel to buy Gatorade and some food. Then we finally went back to the hotel.

On the way, my mom and I decided to give the driver P200 since they charge P15/person - we had a total of 4 stops (including the hotel) but thought to pay the driver extra for his time. When we handed him the payment, he looked at us incredulously and said, no, he's charging us P330.

P330 for a tricycle ride. In a small town. At 2-3 am when there weren't even any other passengers who could have ridden his tricycle.

I mean, he even knew I was very sick, but he still demanded his fee. We didn't want to start a fight with this potentially dangerous stranger in the middle of a strange town so, while mumbling to ourselves, I handed my precious P300 to him. Huhu.

Then I thought of the tricycle driver who kindly gave me a tour of Vigan museums, did not charge an exorbitant fee, and even volunteered to take our orders for longanisa (which he promptly delivered to our hotel while we were still in the hospital - I hadn't even given him payment yet!). What a difference! I just feel like I need to say this to clarify that I am not generalizing Ilocanos from Vigan.

Please tell me honestly as we are not from Luzon (in Davao City, tricycle fares start from as low as P5 and rude drivers - jeepney, tricycle, taxi - are actually a rarity): did the second tricycle driver charge us fairly?

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (What I Missed from Day 4): Ilocos Norte

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

I know most of you have already read my sob story of coming up with a mysterious stomach flu right in the middle of our summer trip, so I won't burden you anymore with the details. The gist is that following our itinerary, we are supposed to head to Ilocos Norte on the fourth day. But I guess God had another plan for me when I found myself alone in Vigan (here's my post describing my solo museum-hopping trip in Vigan).

They proceeded to Ilocos Norte without me, but at least they brought with them photos. Yes, only photos, no food. The worst thing to bring a girl with stomach flu is probably food anyway!

Of course, since I was not there, I could not describe the photos, but let's look at some of them and let them tell the story that is Ilocos Norte:

(I was told that the camera died shortly after they arrived in Ilocos Norte, which explains why most of the shots are not high-res.)

Paoay Church

Laoag

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse

An Eyebrow Epiphany

Let me talk about "vanity" and physical appearances a bit.

I have always been a low-maintenance kind of girl. I used to go out the house wearing nothing but loose powder on the face and maybe a touch of lip gloss. As in loose powder pa talaga, not even pressed powder. I did not notice anything bad during that time, but recently, just months ago, I realized I needed to "update" my look because I meet new people all the time. After all, first impressions matter!

The very thing that I changed was my eyebrows. I did not get them professionally done, though. My eyebrows are just DIY haha. But yes, I did realize that the face of a person dramatically changes when her brows are well-groomed and well filled-in. Before the realization, I used to look like this:

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Oct 6, 2014 at 7:44pm PDT

And this:

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Apr 19, 2014 at 7:28pm PDT

Don't ask me what those wriggly bushes are; those are actually my brows. And while I do not think I looked absolutely hideous, I knew they did nothing for my face and they actually look unruly, as if I don't know how to groom them. The first photo above is the last day my brows ever looked like that because on that day, I finally bought my now-favorite beauty tool: Etude House Draw my Brows.

I've only changed colors but have been loyal to that eyebrow pencil ever since. I really love how my eyebrows are done in 2 minutes tops. I've been wearing it every single day including short trips to the playground. I feel naked without it!

Of course, my eyebrows "grew" with me. First, I only plucked/shaved the "excess" hairs, then I gradually learned how to trim then, then I learned how to shape them so that they frame my face nicely. I'm still learning; I'm open to advice guys hihi.

And last Sunday, my epiphany happened. Yuri and I were in Etude House to buy another eyebrow pencil when the two ladies in front of us in the line were looking at my eyebrows. One of them is just beginning her "eyebrow journey" and the other lady actually pointed at me to show her my eyebrows. What. I was so embarrassed because I didn't even take time filling my brows that day (I was still tired from the village fiesta the previous day). They asked me what I do with it and what product I use.

Wala lang, I just realized that people do really look at eyebrows, whether consciously or unconsciously. I realized how truly important they are (am I sounding like a shallow, vain girl right now?), and how a single change in grooming or fixing them dramatically alters the entire face. I mean, I read about that all the time, but it was only last Sunday when it happened to me in real life.

What about you? What do you do with your brows?

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 4): Vigan Museums

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

During our fourth day of vacation, I was left in Vigan while all of the others (including Yuri) traveled upward to Ilocos Norte. At first, I moped around in the room because I was still in pain. Because I was not familiar with the place at all, I decided to just stay in and do some self-treatment inside of go to a hospital. (It's difficult to go to the emergency room alone in my experience.)

I think I slept until 10am, and I felt my stomach getting a little better. When I felt good enough to walk around, I went out of the hotel and bought food AKA energy drink and a bunch of bananas. This was my lunch (or brunch actually) for that day:

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Mar 23, 2015 at 9:34pm PDT

It was really fortunate that our hotel was located just in front of a grocery. It's not your usual city grocery, but it's good. There was actually a Puregold supermarket across, too, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to buy just one drink there. There were also several 7-11s, but I think they don't have bananas.

After eating my food, I just lounged around some more and watched Shake, Rattle, and Roll on TV (the one with the Ondoy feature). At 3pm, I decided to not waste my day in Vigan. Since we were not able to visit museums before - they close early - I decided to go museum-hopping. After all, I'm in one of the most historical places in the world!

So I took a bath, changed my clothes, went out of the hotel, and asked the first tricycle driver I saw to take me on a tour. That's the thing with Vigan: everyone can be a tour guide at the drop of a hat. I was blessed that I found a kind driver who took me to places safely and didn't ask for an exorbitant fee (I have a story about being charged exorbitantly in Vigan - I will tell you about it next time). He even took me to a place that makes fresh longanisa everyday, and the driver himself dropped off our orders of longanisa at our hotel later at 4 am. How kind!

Anyway, these are the places that I saw. Forgive me for the low-resolution photos; my camera was in Ilocos Norte. And keep in mind that I was still recovering from a sickness haha #excuses

Crisologo Museum

Floro S. Crisologo was the patriarch of the clan and a congressman known for being responsible for landmark legislations that not only benefited his constituents but the whole country as well. He authored the laws behind the creation of the North’s first state university, the University of Northern Philippines, and the establishment of the Social Security System, which serves the whole working populace to this day.

On a Sunday in October 1970, while he was inside the St. Paul’s Cathedral, Congressman Crisologo was shot in the head by a still unidentified gunman.

The mansion of the Crisologos is open for public viewing throughout the week. Visitors may find it in Vigan’s Liberation Boulevard. One may enter for free the museum and view the antiques, memorabilia and other prized possessions of the Crisologos steeped with history. (Vigan.ph)