Oh, psh.

No, I’m not pregnant, no siree. But I think I’m in dire need of prenatal vitamins right now. I read that prenatal vitamins are really good for the hair, skin, and nails with all that Vitamin D. This is actually one of the secrets of Hollywood stars to look and stay beautiful (mainly to have gorgeous hair), and I want to be in on it.

The reason I want to take prenatal pills right now is because my nails have become weak and dry and brittle. I started growing them long a few months ago, and just when I was beginning to enjoy long, manicured nails, they fail me. I have to keep them super-duper short now because they bend and break easily. I already discussed this with my mom and she’s okay with it.

I’ll take this up with the doctor at our company clinic, and once I get the go-signal, I’ll start taking them. My hair and nails can use all the help. I may have to look into burning belly fat right now to get rid of my paunch. I need prenatal vitamins, but I certainly don’t want to look like someone who does.

One of my personal goddesses, Dita Von Teese, wrote in her Twitter this week:

I admit, I do measure the character & integrity of people/ businesses by whether or not they add water to their liquid hand soap!

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I judge character and integrity based on it, but yeah, diluted hand soap pisses me off (cough*Jollibee*cough). I’m a hand-washer, I wash my hands more often than your average gal, no doubt my best friend Jemima’s influence.  In a perfect world, all restrooms will have (non-diluted) Jergen’s hand soap, plus paper towels for people like me who don’t like to use hand dryers.

…lasted all of twelve days. Pffffft.

That, my dear friends, is the very sinful but oh so tasty Cebu lechon liempo (pork belly) from Chic-Boy in Jupiter, my current favorite food joint. I won’t even tell you how much rice I had. As if the liempo + rice wasn’t bad enough, I also had Coke and leche flan. Oh, and a beer (on a weeknight, I don’t do beer on weeknights) and one two three sticks of cigarettes. And since I got home at an ungodly hour, I didn’t get to exercise and didn’t get enough sleep. So much for healthy, eh?

If there’s one healthy thing I did, though, it was to de-stress. You see, my friends at the office are the best, and those few hours of eating and chatting and laughing with them did wonders for my work-weary soul.

We agreed to do make this a monthly thing — just go out and shake off the bad vibes from the office and just eat and drink and be merry. Maybe next time I’ll just take some of the best appetite suppressant for women beforehand so I won’t eat as much.

I think once a month of this won’t kill me, I’ll just make sure I eat healthy (and stay away from Coke, beer, and cigarettes) the rest of the month.

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I  bought Abet a guitar. I drove along EDSA for the first time ever. Barns & Bunny got married. Abet had a recital. My mother successfully defended her dissertation, Risk Management Model for the Management of Daily Cash Balances in the Branches of a Financial Services Company: A Heuristic Approach with Stochastic Assumptions. Cello came into our lives. I got my own domain, http://deaguwapa.com. Lucky and Adel got married. My mother got her doctorate degree. My sister May got her nursing degree. I voted for the second time in my life. Abet and I spent five days in Bangkok, Thailand. I met up with Dang a.k.a. The NeuroChiq at the Siam Paragon foodcourt. My mom started teaching college. I started making a little bit of money on my blog and finally got an insurance policy. I started my 31 Before 31 Project. I got assigned to handle our Key Account customers at work. I saw my best friend Jemima again after six years. I booked the photographers I dreamed of shooting my wedding even before I had a boyfriend, Mimi + Karl. Uma came into our lives. I survived sixty whole days of being vegetarian. My sister May passed the nursing board exams. My brother Momon got married. I went to Hong Kong and Macau with Abet and May. I took May to Hong Kong Disneyland. I fell in love with Bikram Yoga. I had an epiphany about my future. I spent my birthday with my high school friends from Cagayan de Oro, and had birthday dinner with my family and Abet. Abet and I decided to have the wedding I have always wanted. Abet’s best friends, Vic and Lodz, got married (Abet was best man and I was candle sponsor). I had a good Christmas and New Year spent with my loves.

I’d say 2010 was pretty okay. Of course, I’ve had my fair share of downs, but those don’t have a place in my blog. I’ve always been one to dwell on the positive.

And speaking of positive, I have so much hope for 2011!  This is, after all, the year Abet and I have been waiting for. This is the year beautiful things will happen. There is so much to look forward to. Ther will still be the downs — the disappointments and pain — because that’s how life goes, but I know that this time next year, I’ll be gratefully looking back on a wonderful 2011.

God bless us all in the year ahead, and may all your New Year’s wishes come true and New Year’s resolutions fulfilled!

. . . and you know what’s changed since then? My age! I turned 28 last Saturday, December 4, and man do I feel old! I have this notion of 27 being the last year of one’s mid-twenties, so now consider myself in my late twenties. Awchie.

As much as I would have wanted to write some maudlin birthday post with accounts of the cool things I did to celebrate my last birthday as a bachelorette, I  just didn’t have the time during my birthday weekend. I’ll say this much, though: I may very well be the most grateful girl on the face of the planet — grateful for my parents, my siblings, my Abet, my future in-laws, my pets, my friends, my job, my health. I’m so thankful to have been born at all, to be alive. My life is far from perfect, but it’s beautiful, and my future looks bright. I see good times ahead.

Anyhoo, the reason I haven’t been blogging much lately (apart from work, taking care of Uma, and yoga) is that I don’t have a computer to use. Our desktop is down, and while I usually just tap my mom’s or my brother Mako’s laptop, I can’t seem to get my hands on them lately. I’m dying now to get a computer of my own — a laptop, a netbook, a rackmount computer, one of those internet phones — anything! I think it’s a necessity for me especially now that our wedding planning is in full force.

I haven’t decided on a birthday-slash Christmas present for myself yet, Abet and I will be looking into holiday deals on laptops and netbooks.

I ramble too much, don’t I?

One of the things Abet and I argue about the most (yes, we argue) is my cell phone. It’s so petty, I know, so I don’t know why he just won’t get off my back.

He keeps bugging me to replace this cell phone I’m currently using, one of my brother’s old phones:

I don’t know what that phone is called. Anyway, so what if it’s faded a bit? It still works okay. And I’m one of those old-fashioned people who think that cell phones are purely for calling and texting, and I can still call and text with it just fine.

I just need to make sure that there’s a little piece of paper wedged between the phone and the battery so it will turn on.

Oh, and the battery cover at the back is a bit loose. The cover actually came off right before we left for our trip — and I left it at home. My phone’s battery was exposed, but it worked just fine, honest.

I just had to make sure I kept my phone inside my bag while texting when we were in Hong Kong — where every other person on the MTR has an iPhone4 — lest I embarrass my boyfriend.

I really have zero interest in cellular phones (and gadgets in general). I don’t see why I need to replace my phone when it still works fine, when I can just save my money for travel.

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. . . or whatever language or program is used to make a blog template. I just can’t find a free one that I love. What I want is three columns, a body width of around 420 pixels, white background, Georgia font for the posts, and has a pink, black, and gray color scheme, but that is proving to be elusive. Since everything I know about designing a blog can fit into a thimble, making my own template isn’t really an option right now.

The closest thing I found to what I have in mind is this Neoclassical theme I’m currently using, which I first saw on one of my favorite blogs, Cupcakes and Cashmere. It has everything I want except for the colors. If I can change the colors and some of the typefaces, it would be perfect. I’d need to change the header image above as well.

I’m now tweaking things around on my blog a bit, playing around with the widgets. I removed all the directory submit buttons save for one, and I’ll be adding some more tickers because I’m corny like that.

Once I have extra money, I’ll order a pretty customized template. I want a nice-looking blog, because in case you haven’t noticed, I can’t really write.

I keep torturing myself with online window-shopping! I’m such a masochist!

Right now, I’m going gaga while browsing Pottery Barn‘s website, looking at things I want for our future home. I’m drooling at all their furniture, bed and bath items, and dinnerware- -stuff that I could never order online because shipping costs are a beeyotch. And let’s not forget the taxes that customs will charge. My buddy Jemima once sent me two lsat prep books from the US back when I thought I wanted to go to law school, and I had to pay almost a couple of thousand pesos in tax for those books to be released. I can’t imagine how much I’d get taxed for a sofa.

I can only wish that I’ll be able to find something similar locally when the time to buy home item comes, ordering from the US just isn’t an option.