My Camera-less Sunday (OOTD and other photos)

Sundays are the only days when I can wear nice clothes because after all, why would I wear nice clothes at home? I'm working from home, remember? And as I mentioned last week, we sort of started an informal tradition of taking OOTD shots before leaving for church.

Imagine my frustration when it turns out I forgot to charge my camera. And we were already running late when I discovered it! So if you happen to stumble upon this post, please be kind enough and forgive the grainy photos that are taken hastily. :D

Dress: Forever 21
Cover-up: Gaisano Mall Department Store
Leggings: Mom's

I know the one above is not a decent OOTD photo (not that I'm obliged to take one - teehee), but I wanted to take a photo that is nice enough. After all, minsan lang talaga ako makalabas ng bahay. Hahaha! So after mass, we went behind the chapel and took some photos.

Bag: Parisian
Shoes: Parisian
I know what you're thinking... :D

On Y:
Shirt: Crib Couture
Shorts: Kids Style
Shoes: Luvable Friends

At first, it was fine. But soon after, people also began pouring out from the church. Aaaah, time to start acting "natural!" Apparently, I look funny looking natural. Hahaha!

Awkward pose that makes me look pregnant!
I know I'll never pose this way again!  ♪ ♫ ♪

Anyway, as we do every Sunday of my current life, we went to SM Lanang Premier after. As I always do, too, I went to the breastfeeding room to help Y sleep. But when we got there, I saw it was closed! And it was almost 11am already. Where is the nurse? Hmm.

So I went where my family were sitting in the atrium (they were waiting for me) and plopped down between my parents. I got my nursing cover and breastfed discreetly... until Y pulled the covers down. It's okay, there's no shame in breastfeeding! :D

Me and the nursing cover my cousin gave me. I have another one in blue!

Because there were a lot of distractions, Y wasn't able to sleep. So an hour later, after we all had lunch, we went to the breastfeeding room again for Y's afternoon nap. 

The following photos will show how bored I was in the BF room.

Blurred photo of the little boy. I love his monster shirt!

My Parisian shoes. They're my mom's actually, but she doesn't like wearing them.

This is my third front-zip dress: very useful and convenient for nursing moms! :D

I took photos and even edited them on the Pixlr app on my phone. Not bored, eh? Haha!

After Y fell asleep, I went outside because I really needed to pee. Soon after going outside the breastfeeding room, Y woke up. Oh well. So I met with my parents and sister who were in SM Cyberzone (my father needed a basic phone) and told them that I needed to go to the CR. Well, they had fun without me! Apparently, there was still a Valentine's backdrop in the atrium and they took some photos:

My mom with the peace-sign and Y
On mama:
Blouse: ForMe
Jeans: Boyet Fajardo
Shoes: Outland

I love the slit-sleeves of my mom's blouse!

My sister's staple outfit: a Forever21 dress and Solemates flats with a cute headpiece

This used to be a bigger picture, but I zoomed it in because I saw Y was smiling at something. I wonder what it is? :-)

They weren't able to take a photo of the entire backdrop, but everything looked cute! I wanted to be in the photo, too. No fair! :D

How was your weekend, loves?

New Look for Davao Mommy!

I don't know why, but I suddenly got the urge yesterday to do a site overhaul. I wasn't really getting tired of my old blog design and layout, but I knew I was ready for something new - something simpler. Right, as if my old design was not simple. But that's beside the point. :D

Anyway, to refresh your memory (and mine), here's what my blog looked like yesterday:

I always liked basic and minimalist designs, but I wanted to make my blog more feminine - a little bit more me. Chos! But seriously, I guess I wanted to provide a more girly side to my blog because after all, I'm a girl! Another chos! 

I've retained the color scheme of my blog - white and shades of pink! These are my favorite colors after all. But it's got more femininity now because of the cursive fonts that I used. By the way, for my header and post titles, I used the Windsong font type. Since it's not available on Google fonts, I had to do a lot of CSS thingamajigs just to get it work. But it's worth it. Isn't it purdy?

Nothing much changed in the actual layout and the elements because, well, I don't have time for that yet. :-)

What do you think?

Shopper's Remorse = Finance Tips

I know there's such a thing as a dumper's remorse, but I guess there's also a thing called shopper's remorse. In my case, I have an online shopping remorse!  Case in point: the four deliveries to our house the other week. Yes, four! In one week!

The part of my brain that is responsible for my capricho has reared its ugly head. The smaller part of my brain that is telling me to save, invest, and live a simpler life is looking at me with pity. But you can't blame me. All of my recent purchases were on sale and my brain tricked me into thinking I couldn't let those "great deals" pass. In the end, I spent more than I saved.

Okay, so you can blame me. Here are the packages that are laughing in my face:

To my credit, one of them is a prize that I won. But it could have easily been another purchase.

I wasn't kidding when I told you the men from LBC already know our house.

Sometimes, I speak without thinking and tell J that I'm out of cash. And this kind of response would leave me feeling guiltier than ever:

Translation: Kung may kailangan ka, kung kulang budget mo, magsabi  ka ha. Para matulungan kita. Tulog na talaga si bossing (Y). Hehe.

And yes, he sometimes calls Y "bossing" for the kicks. Wala lang. Anyway, I digress. I seriously need to act on this problem ASAP. I want to be financially responsible, so I created some self-imposed rules:

1. No impulse buys: When I want to buy something, I should sleep on it first.

2. Limit buying for Y: This is my biggest problem, actually. I'm addicted to baby stuff! From now on, I will only buy what he needs and save the "wants" for occasions.

3. Withdraw entire salary: Alright, this is for all of you who receive salaries via ATM. When you leave some money in the ATM, it makes it really easy for you to spend on something on impulse. Why? If you're in the mall, you can just visit any ATM booth. If you're at home (like me!), there are a lot of options you can use to pay electronically. So I decided to withdraw all my money and divide them into envelopes (the old-fashioned way). This prevents me from online shopping because, after all, going to the bank to deposit is a lot of hassle! Also, I don't like bringing cash with me when I go out because I commute. So far, it works!

4. Don't buy something secretly: I used to keep my spending habit a secret from other people. Because of this, nobody warns me not to buy something useless. From now on, I will tell either my mom or J before I buy something. They are the most practical people I know so chances are, they'll talk me out of it. :D

5. Stop spending on liabilities: I have been reading a lot of Bo Sanchez's finance books lately, and it occurred to me that I can simply decipher whether something I'd like to buy is an asset or a liability. For example, my laptop is an asset because it allows me to earn money. On the other hand, my phone is a liability because I only bought it to jump on the Instagram bandwagon. Also, it depreciates! Tsk2!

Just to be clear, I have no trouble paying for bills, yaya's salary, etc. I don't have debts, either - other than mortgage. The thing is, I don't have problems budgeting my money. In fact, I enjoy budgeting. But when it comes to personal ka-ekekan, I just can't resist! The result is zero savings and investments. Boo!

But it's not too late to change, right?

My Sample Room Experience

I've been wanting to try out Sample Room ever since I heard about it from a fellow blogger. Free samples of beauty and health products? Why not? So upon reading about it, I immediately signed up and browsed the products. Surprise, surprise. Everything was "sold out!"

I keep visiting the website everyday, but I guess luck was not on my side then. It's because whenever I'm about to purchase a sample, they suddenly become out of stock! Gah! Fortunately, I chanced upon the website when they just refreshed their supplies. Yes! 

Also fortunately, those supplies were from local (methinks) companies with products I don't see in supermarkets. So it's a real chance for me to actually review something new. *rubs hands in anticipation*

Because of a minor glitch with Paypal, my order was delayed. But I was patient. And last week, another LBC package arrived.

Yes, a grainy photo of another LBC parcel

Cute paperbag and eco-friendly, too! (Wish I can say the same for the multiple LBC and Xend packaging!)

Finally! Someone got the spelling of my name right!

Closeup of the Sample Room sticker. Girly!

What did I get? Since they only allow three products, I prioritized getting products from labels I'm not yet familiar with:  Leyende, Moringa, and Mir &Ryvi. This should be worth it, because I had to let a V&M lip balm sample go! Hehehe.

Here they are, plus short reviews:

Leyende Clean Slate Cleanser

Here's my review:

This product does very well on cleansing the skin. After applying it on my face, I immediately felt my skin become smoother. When I wiped the product off, I can see the dirt on the tissue, which proves its cleansing power. However, I simply can't stand its smell. I can't tell the exact smell, but it smells something like food. I don't want my skin products to smell like food. I need them to smell clean, or at least, odorless.

Mir & Ryvi Papaya Soap

Here's my review:

I expected it to be orange, just like other papaya soaps. But when I opened the sample, I saw that it was translucent white in color, which means it won't leave an orange residue on my skin. Also, when I tried it, it rinsed well and did not stay on my skin. I did not necessarily feel super smooth after, but I also did not feel dry. But what I loved the best is its smell. It's not overpowering but relaxing! I have just been using this for a couple of days, so I have yet to see its whitening effect. I will wait and see. :-)

Moringa-O Malunggay Lotion

Malunggay lotion - sounds weird, right? But it has so many positive reviews in the website, so I have raised hopes for this. I have no review of it as of now because I haven't used it yet.

More photos:

The papaya soap

Organic ingredients

Sorry, blurred talaga yung text sa bottle! Not my camera's fault! #defensive

Ooh, I didn't know it's from Gluta-C!

Oh, and the best part about these samples? Save for the papaya soap, all of them are not really samplers but full-sized! So it's really sulit. 

"What's sulit, Mommy?" - Bimby

Haha. I'm looking forward to getting more samples from Sample Room!

My Honest Review of "The Fault in Our Stars"

First warning: This contains spoilers.

Second warning: If you're a die-hard fan of the book, stop reading right now - or you'll hate me.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is all the hype lately. Any bibliophile would surely hear about it because of all the rave reviews given by people - from ordinary bookworms to celebrities. It's the classic bestseller. However, I fail to see what makes this book "phenomenal."

At the risk of going against popular opinion and sounding mayabang, I will say that I honestly was not moved by the book. :-(

You see, when the book started to become popular, I was greatly intrigued by it. However, I did not have enough money to buy the book. When I found out my former officemate, Camille, had a copy, I jumped at the chance of reading it for free.

I had no idea what the book was about, so I absolutely had no biases against it. When I began reading it, everything sounded so promising. The protagonist, Hazel, is (frankly) hard to love but is intelligent and witty, so her company is enjoyable. And she has cancer. A lot of works (books, films) have been created with cancer as the main theme, so I was looking forward to seeing a different angle here.

However, I did not. These are my reasons:

Predictable Story

I found it predictable. Hazel, the beautiful cancer-stricken teenager who does not think she is beautiful, gets to know Augustus, the perfect 18-year old who could have any girl he likes but still chooses Hazel. And they fall in love. It's the premise of a thousand romance books that didn't get as much limelight as The Fault in Our Stars. Even Augustus' name is romance novel-y!

And while the novel began with Hazel as the sick one, I actually anticipated that she's not the one who's going to die. I had the feeling that Augustus' cancer will come back and take him. And it did happen in the middle of the book. I didn't have the heavy heart; I was just disappointed that I was able to predict it correctly.

Unrealistic

First, I find a lot of things in the story hard to believe. It was almost unreal. For example, I would've appreciated if Augustus is just an ordinary-looking boy with cancer. But no, he is perfect: not only is he extraordinarily handsome, but he is also super-smart and kind-hearted, too. It would have given him more character if he had a flaw. And I mean an intrinsic flaw, not the missing leg. I would love to see someone like Isaac - their blind friend - be the star of the story, not because he's blind but because he showed actual human characteristics.

Also, I was frustrated with the fact that both set of parents are kept in the background. They didn't seem to have a lot of say in the story, which I find unbelievable because both of them are still teenagers. I don't understand why they are being so lax when their kids have cancer, for crying out loud. Would someone whose child has cancer allow that child to be driving in the night? I don't think so.

Next, I noticed that when Augustus' cancer came back, Hazel's own cancer seemed to have dulled - when earlier in the story, she went into a coma. She is really, really sick - until Augustus became sick. Then, she suddenly seemed healthy, and she was able to visit Augustus everyday and take care of him. Green seemed to have forgotten that Hazel was very sick, too.

In other words, it seemed as if all the realistic elements of a story were compromised just to give the readers an amazing love story.

Too Much Fluff

Lastly, I love my books simple and practical. But Green gave me a lot of quotes. It gave me the impression that nothing is really happening and that the author only made up for flowery words. I can deal with "quotable quotes," but please don't fill your book with those. In my opinion, these are mere literary fluff. Because of this, The Fault in Our Stars just seems like a longer version of a Thought Catalog article.

But...

I understand why a lot of people (girls, especially) have taken a liking to the book. It's not a bad book and it fares better than a lot of other books. It is really an emotional story that won't stop picking at you until you cry. And I even got teary-eyed one time - during Hazel and her parents' confrontation.

Please see where I am coming from. As a mom, though young, I read the novel wishing that Green would, at least, highlight the parents' feelings. But they were all kept in the background, as the writer wanted to focus on the love story between the teenagers. It gives the young readers false hope that their parents would not interfere with their own love stories. But I guess that's why it's popular. Unfortunately, I am not its target audience.

Rating:

It's not a bad book, but it's not that great. I give it three stars.

PS: Camille and Kristine, if you're reading this, I appreciate the recommendation and the free e-book. Please don't think I'm being a stuck-up "reviewer," trying to force her "high-standards" on anyone. :-)