~* MY FIRST ONLINE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE *~

I have never bought anything online until I discovered various Multiply sites offering a plethora of unique pretty accessories. More often than not, the online stores are run by young entrepreneurial Pinays. I have started exploring the possibility of buying stuff online especially when my friend Abbie has successfully bought several shoes from Schu via Multiply. I am still too iffy about buying stuff that one has to actually fit, feel and see on oneself like clothes and shoes. However, accessories are easier to judge and deem as purchase-worthy. All you need is to ask the seller more questions regarding the material used, exact length/size of the piece, etc. and you can already decide whether to buy the accessory or not.

I have included the better ones in my Multiply friends list as business contact. My qualifications were as follows:

• based in the Philippines
• has unique accessories (meaning stuff that you don't usually see on tiangges & stores in the mall)
• with price and product description indicated in the photo (I am annoyed with those sites who don't indicate their prices. Price is the first thing a consumer considers so that should be readily available.)
• affordable, reasonable prices
• can be paid via bank deposit (eg. BPI)
• answers questions promptly
• can deliver products via courier
  

I am currently asking one of them to customize a charm necklace for me. We've been exchanging messages and now I just have to wait for her costing & mock-up. In the meantime, my very first online purchase was from Sepa. It is owned by a gal named Josefa Dianne Espera who is based in Cebu. She has a well-presented catalog of products in her Photos section. Her accessories are so chic and in fact, she has been featured in Us Girls and various magazines already (though I didn't hear about Sepa via the TV show nor magazines). I actually just stumbled upon her site while I was searching for charm and locket necklaces. The name rang a bell coz I saw her stuff previously featured in Schu's online store. I totally adore her accessories and if I had more money at my disposal, I would have bought more, hehe!

It was a fairly easy purchase. At first, I sent her a message asking more info about the products I liked. After narrowing my choices to a pair of earrings and two vintage necklaces -- same design but one in vintage gold and the other in vintage silver -- I read her terms and conditions and then filled out her order form. About two days after, I received a text message from her confirming the availability of the items and the total amount of my purchase including Air21 shipping fee. The next day, I went to the bank to deposit my payment in her account. I informed her of my bank deposit and after she checked her account, she shipped out the items. Air21 delivered my order the next day and viola! I have new accessories from Sepa :)

It was wonderful transacting with Dianne of Sepa. She promptly responded to my PMs and SMS and kept me well-informed regarding the shipment details of my order. I was so excited to go home when my mom confirmed that she has received my Air21 package from Cebu. Was quite baffled by the packaging as I tried to remove the blue plastic lock. I was beginning to think how stupid I must be not to figure out how to open it... But then, I just realized it was meant to be tamper-proof! *toink* Yeah, you really have to tear the clear plastic in order to get the parcel inside. Basically, the parcel was double-sealed (the outer clear plastic with the blue tamper-proof lock and then the usual opaque sealed plastic pouch) so that comforted the worrywart in me :) And then, everything was inside a box sealed with scotch tape which was signed over so you'll detect whether it was tampered with or not. I think I squealed with delight when I finally opened the box and saw the beautiful accessories in their pretty packaging. I was impressed with the effort spent in packaging the items with care and kikay presentation :) I definitely recommend Sepa to those who are looking for well-crafted, stylish and reasonably-priced accesories :)

the mystifying Air21 tamper-proof seal
the box of accessories
the pretty packaging
look dianne, i thought of a fourth way* to wear the necklace ;-)

* The vintage necklaces I bought had an adjustable chain which offers versatility. It can be worn three ways as shown in Sepa's photos but I managed to also wear it as a choker :-)

~* BOURNE HOTNESS *~

I have a confession. I haven't watched ANY of the Bourne series until last Monday. I'm not the kind who'd go out of her way to watch guy flicks so I never really had the burning desire to catch Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum when it was released in the theaters. It's just as much as saying that I have never seen any of the Ocean series (Ocean's 11 to 13) coz guy flicks don't really interest me. Having a national holiday to enjoy last Monday, I decided to spend it doing a Bourne DVDthon. With all the raves over Bourne Ultimatum, I got really curious and decided to see what the hype was all about. I hate to watch sequels without watching the first one so I viewed all three movies in order. The moment I was finished with Bourne Identity, I was hooked. And really, playing the Jason Bourne character has made Matt Damon officially hot in my book! I never really categorized him as "hot" previous to watching Bourne mainly because I still get the gay vibe with him and his best friend Ben Affleck :p

I loved the testosteroney awesome car chase and fight scenes! And that fast-paced suspense scene in Ultimatum when he was dishing out quick instructions via celfone to the newspaper writer at the Waterloo Station! Jason Bourne as a character is such a turn on coz he's actually a number-memorizing geek/highly-adept map reader/amazing crazy driver/kick-ass fighter. Verrrry manly!

Actually, I've never been a big fan of Matt Damon. The last time Matt Damon's acting amazed me was waaaay back in The Talented Mr. Ripley. I haven't seen Good Will Hunting though. But, really, watching the Bourne series changed my opinion of him as an actor. So okay, I like Matt Damon now. And I'll be sure to watch out for the next Bourne movie...

~* OH WHEN LIFE GETS TOUGH *~

I was saddened when I heard about Owen Wilson's alleged suicide attempt :-( I'm not a super huge fan of his but I always loved his comedic acting alongside Ben Stiller (think: adorable little cowboy in "Night at the Museum") and enjoyed watching him in Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch and Wedding Crashers. I prefer watching his movies over his brother's (Luke Wilson) ;-)

His smiling eyes, distinctly crooked nose and winning smile... that unmistakable boyish voice of his... his comedic timing are everything that makes him every bit of the extremely likeable romantic-comedy genre actor.

Everything is basically just wild gossip as of now but I wonder how someone who seems to have such a happy disposition in life turned out to be someone desperate enough to (attempt to) kill himself. Was it a cry for help? Sigh. 'Just goes to show that even celebrities who seem to be on top of their game lose their way and stumble into the darkness... With such Hollywood star status, we just forget that they're human human after all. They have pains, troubles and heartaches like the rest of us ordinary people.

I just hope Owen bounces back from this. I would really love to see him get his groove back soon. It would be such a sorry loss to Hollywood if he crumbles and breaks altogether.

Get well soon Owen! (Riiight. As if he'd read this. Hah!)

~* NOW PLAYING: SWANS by UNKLE BOB *~

I discovered this poignant song while downloading Grey's Anatomy soundtrack from Season 3 episodes. It was used in the ep "Some Kind of Miracle". This is the one where dead Denny re-appears in the show...

Unkle Bob is a band from UK and judging from their Myspace comments, they've become pretty famous when GA fans heard their song used in one of the episodes.

Swans

Unkle Bob

By my side,
you'll never be.
By my side,
you'll never be.

Cos I'm fake at the seams,
I'm lost in my dreams.
I want you to know,
that I can't let you go.

And you're never coming home again,
And you're never coming home again.

By my side,
you'll never be.
By my side,
you'll never be.

I wanted to tell you I'd changed.
I wanted to tell you that things would be different this time.

But I see you, you see me,
Differently.
I see you, you see me,
Differently.

You tell me that you love me but you never want to see me again.

~* POST SECRET *~

I looooove PostSecret. I always make it a point to visit this blog once a week. Sometimes it comforts me that I am not alone in this battle called Life. I love this AVP that Frank did and Sia's Breathe Me just gives me goosebumps as I watch the postcards featured here...

~* MEETING JOE BLACK *~

In the movie "Meet Joe Black", the characters say that death and taxes are the only things certain in this life. Death cannot be anymore real for me than last Saturday when my grandmother passed away. She was 86 years old.

As I met much "senior" relatives during the burial, it occured to me that I was not sure if I wanted to grow THAT old. I tried to envision myself 55 years from now. Granting that I'm still alive by then and not yet choked by the horrible air pollution of the 21st century, I would probably be a skinny shrivelled old lady in a purple dress. Do eyelashes fall off as you grow old? If not, I would probably still be curling my eyelashes. I hope my precious Shu Uemura eyelash curler is still surviving with me by then. Can I still walk when I'm super old? Or will I be maneuvering a wheel chair? Would I be wearing super thick eyeglasses? Would my hearing be impaired? Will my grandchildren talk super loudly at me so I can hear what they're saying to me? Would I have grandchildren? Would I have children of my own? Would I have a husband? Will he live as long as I do or would I be a widow? Would I be married? Will I have a great pension plan all paid up? Will I have a good insurance coverage?

Now the thing about a gathering of relatives you only see once or twice a year is that it would always raise the million dollar question. Remind me to make a shirt that says "No, I don't have a boyfriend." And since my lola was a DECS supervisor, I've met Mrs. Barroso, my English teacher back in high school, during the wake. And imagine how I got thrown off-guard when she asks me: "So who's the girlfriend of K_ now?" Uhh. Okaaay. Must I know the answer to that question? I managed to blurt out an "I don't know" and reasoned that we umm, haven't been in touch these past months. I just updated her about stuff I knew about my batchmates and highschool friends... where they are now, whether married or not, boyfriend of whom, working where, has a kid... stuff like that. I tried to spew out as much update as I can so as to elude prying questions about MY current sorry state. Hah!

Now thinking about my wake and death, I should make sure that a trusty kikay friend of mine would ensure that I won't look like roadkill inside my coffin. When she was alive, my lola had already made some sort of sister-pact with her friend -- whoever "went" first shall be responsible for the other's "coffin look". Hence, her friend even rearranged my lola's hair and ensured her eyebrows were drawn right. That kind of kikay stuff. So whoever will be my designated kikay friend, listen up: Curl my lashes, shape my brows (or draw natural-looking brows if I don't have any eyebrows by then), don't use super red lipstick coz it makes my lips look bigger... use a nude or pinkish brown shade, use lavender/purple eyeshadow, don't forget the cheek blush. And make sure my hair still looks fab.

I'm okay with cremation if it comes out less expensive than being buried. Either way, I'd want a lavender-tinged white coffin. And if I'm cremated, I'd be happy with a pink marble or pewter urn. During the wake, assuming every place is Wi-Fi'd by then, I would like a laptop set-up in one corner of the mortuary where the visitors would be able to read my blog posts and view my online photo galleries. That's gonna be one cool memoir :-)

And during my eulogy and/or burial, for goodness' sake, please don't sing a sappy Hindi Kita Malilimutan kind of song. How about Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" or Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony"?

~* WHEN AND WHY? *~

from:http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Did you ever have one of those days when you ask yourself if this is as good as it gets? Will the heartbreak ever heal? Will I be able to move on someday soon? Will I have my happily ever after anytime soon? Why do people leave? Why do people do what they do? Is there really hope for the flowers? Will it forever be a pursuit of happiness? Will I ever BE happy or just die trying?