Roll 'Em Up

New toy.

It's been a while since I talked beauty on this blog…or hair, for that matter. So let me share with you my latest beauty/hair find: the Conair Infiniti Pro Spin Air Brush.

It's fantabulous!

I've expressed over Twitter and Facebook my non-excitement for blow-drying hair. I find it to be a complete waste of time and I would much rather have a professional do it. I actually don't mind wielding a brush and dryer for others. During my makeup artist days, I would actually get jobs that called for both makeup and hairstyling, and sometimes, it would even just be the latter. But when it comes to my own tresses, the primping skill seems to be non-transferable and I simply lack the patience for it.

New hair.

As part of my New Year's resolution though, I told myself I would take better care of my coif, starting with regular trips to the salon to have it professionally blown out. (I figured, the hike in our electric bill by spending an hour drying strands in the bathroom would justify the cost of just having someone else do it).

That plan didn't exactly pan out, as the snooze button prevailed most mornings. So…

I cut my hair. Really short. A.k.a, a traditional "one-length" bob from my tweenage years. And, I'm loving it!

Except of course, it circles back to the dilemma of properly fixing it. Symmetrical bobs, as it turns out—and I may have completely forgotten this as I no longer write about these things for work—need to be shaped and styled so they don't look flat and stringy. Fortunately, short cuts are easy to style and I can muster up the EQ to get it done.

The Conair rotating styler is wonderful because it combines the heat from a regular dryer, the shaping capabilities of a roller brush, and the heat-keeping qualities of a metal barrel in one convenient gadget. 

That it spins in both directions gives an added touch of styling ease. You have the option to turn that feature on or off. (Personally, I toggle between on and off to get the volume I want.) And, it comes with a "cool" setting too!

That it bears Jonathan Antin's name (of Jonathan Product reality show popularity) is just a bit of fun trivia. Check out the how-to videos on Conair's website. I bought mine on Amazon.com at a price lower than what it regularly retails for.

Jason Wu for Target

Target's trademark red swirls. Love their copywriting!

Now, onto lighter and more exciting things! When I got home earlier today, I found a package from Target waiting for me. If it weren't for my internet savvy-er (and more patient!) husband, I wouldn't have been able to score the following items from the recent Jason Wu collection:

Bought online. Poplin Dress in Navy.

Scored in-store. Cat Tote.

The items were practically gone in a flash the minute they went online—around 1 a.m. EST—and hit stores in the morning on Sunday. According to a sales associate, the line was 50-people long at 7:30 in the morning, in time for the 8 a.m. opening.

Now, I don't have the patience for these things. I was super into the Missoni collection a while back, but when I missed out on it (I went to the store a week later), it wasn't such a big deal. My husband, on the other hand—being the internet marketer that he is—can monitor threads and Facebook updates in real time. For the navy dress, I was almost half asleep when he nudged me that it was up online and ready to be purchased. Within five minutes after we checked out, it was sold out.

While I was asleep, he also got me this cardigan, which was really sweet of him:

Jason Wu for Target Long-Sleeve Pointelle Sweater in Belize Blue.

As for the super cute cat tote, Alvs spotted it on the floor under a rack of clothes leftover from early on. It was facing backward and quite inconspicuous, so people must have just ignored it.

To see the rest of the collection, check out the lookbook at NyMag.com. Here's how I look like wearing the navy dress, tada!

Product stills courtesy of Target.com

On Lazy Days

For as long as I can remember, people in my stream of consciousness have held several occupations at once. When my dad was a bookstore owner, he also dabbled in writing and editing for the local paper (eventually becoming a journalist full-time, and now he's back to being an entrepreneur). During my early years working in the magazine business, all the editors I knew had other things going on besides turning over the monthly issue. Whether it was in the form of writing for sister publications, fashion styling, or makeup artistry, it was the side jobs that paid for cars, trips to Europe, and so forth.

I've pretty much kept the same outlook when it comes to my own work and career: have as much on my plate as possible.

So, suffice it to say, whenever I feel lethargic and all I want to do is stay in bed and watch cooking shows—eating and snacking along the way—I tend to feel guilty. Whenever I skip my to-do list for the evening, it becomes some sort of existential inner debate.

Last night was one of those moments: I had a ton of laundry to do, invoices to work on (for my other job), taxes to file, blogs to write…but all I did was remain in bed, watch TV shows on the desktop, and flip through an unfinished magazine. I simply felt tired—I didn't even feel like making dinner (although I did prep the pastry cream that will go into cream puffs that I have yet to make).

This morning, on the train to work, I read the following in this month's O, The Oprah Magazine:

"Georgia was a proto slacker," writes Karbo. "There were days and weeks when she would read, spend hours tramping around outside, write letters, sew, and play dominoes…. But when Georgia worked, she worked her ass off."

[Sidebar on the book, How Georgia Became O'Keeffe where writer Karen Karbo spotlights the life and times of "a Midwester farm girl as she becomes a self-assured art world phenomenon."]

I immediately felt a sense of relief after reading that paragraph. And, as the day went by, I realized that all these years and even leading up to today, I have benefitted from pockets of listless time. Whether it was a 30 minute afternoon milk-tea break, wasting the living daylights out of one weekend, or even a full-year sabbatical (which I did back in 2009 resulting in a page in a cookbook, among other fun stuff!), so-called lazy days have surprisingly yielded productive results.

A couple of months ago, on a bus ride out of town, I sat next to a writer and editor named Sara Marcus, author of the book, Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution. We were talking about writing books and self-imposed deadlines, and I told her about this long overdue novel in the works. She asked, "What's stopping you?" But during the course of our conversation (it was a long bus ride), she turned to me and said—and, I paraphrase—"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. In the last four years, you immigrated to a new country, worked on becoming a citizen, got married…that's a lot."

These days, it's good to be reminded to never underestimate slower-than-usual moments, or even one's self—knowing and having faith that a productivity boost is just right around the corner. In the meantime, enjoy the slabs of dark chocolate.

Long-distance Lovin'

Our feature is out now in the February/March 2012 issue of Maven Magazine!

That's actress Kim Chiu on the cover, oh, and I just noticed, the blurb on the righthand side for the article, "Real Long Distance Relationships That Work," yay!

Grab your copies now! :)

Lead photo: Pat Dy. Dress and suit: Kate Torralba. Makeup: Peddy Acebo. Hair: Bong Vicentico.
For wedding supplier info, read this post.

Cord Control

Cute "donuts" for the home.

If you go to ContainerStore.com, you'll find a section specifically for organizing cords: Homepage > Shop Now > Office > Desk Accessories > Cord Control.

Ever since we moved, I've been fixating on this subject. I'm quite good at keeping things kempt in the cord department—given that between Alvs and myself, we have a fair amount of gadgets around the house. These Cable Turtles though, take organization up a notch and beat my go-to hair elastics for managing dangling wiring. I love them!

I got these punchy-hued "donuts" last weekend. Made in the Netherlands (not surprising!), each one features a soft rubber casing that easily flips out to make winding a breeze, and then flips back in for the full cord-keeping effect.

Just make sure you get the right size for what you need.
I'd recommend buying an assortment!

I'm pretty sure you'll find versions of these in Greenhills or CD-R King in Manila. Or, the exact same ones in Make Room. I remember spotting my cousin with something similar when she visited New York. Having said that, I guess this cord organization fixation runs in the family!

Steve Jobs—who favored an uncluttered aesthetic—would be happy. 
(If you go to the Apple store, you'll find that all cords for five, seven computers neatly meet at the center of the table and run down in the same hole housed in one thick tube. I wish I'd taken a picture!)