Friday, November 18, 2005

Objects of Desire

I have been putting in 18 - 20 hour work days lately, since I need to close my magazine before The Hubby and I go off cavorting on the shores of Boracay next week. As anyone can tell, such work hours can take a toll on you. So I am sneaking in some bobo time for myself now. Pardon me if this post is a little brainless.

One of the nice things about this job is that I get first eye dibs on the latest high-end watches. If I had money to spare, I wouldn't mind getting myself a few of these babies. You don't have to be a watch person to admire the skill and genius that goes into these watches--and I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill Swatches here. These are works of art.

Among the 50 or so watches that I had to look at, these two caught me:

The Audemars Piguet Edward Piguet Moss Agate Tourbillon and the Ulysse Nardin Royal Blue Tourbillon. Each time I look at them, my breath catches in my throat and I marvel at the brilliance of their creators. The tourbillon feature is quite an accomplishment in itself--it's one of the most complicated things you can add to a watch--but the way they executed their design. It leaves me speechless.






The Moss Agate Tourbillon, for example, is assembled on a base made from moss agate rock--and before they even start cutting the rock (takes them a week to cut for a single watch!), they look for the part with the best design (I guess they look for the prettiest moss things embedded in the rock). And this means that each watch will never look like anyone else's. Wow.





As for the Royal Blue, most of the watch parts are made out of sapphire, so you can see right through the watch. Then instead of numbers to mark the time, it uses diamonds and sapphires--a sapphire for each spot a number would be, with the space between the numbers filled in with diamonds. Totally decadent.

After I buy myself an island (Stef's idea), I will get myself an Edward Piguet Moss Agate Tourbillon and a Ulysse Nardin Royal Blue Tourbillon.

I must really lack sleep.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Soap

This is for Ruby--and anyone else interested.

Yes, this Christmas, we will be making soaps and stuff. Terracotta Dreams will be in operation for a limited period only. We are also limiting our products to the popular ones: Honey Oatmeal, Rix Trix and Peppermint Jean soaps. As with last year, we can package them beautifully--perfect gifts for everyone.

I love making these soaps; I love coming up with the recipes and experimenting with ingredients. I don't scrimp on the ingredients. I wholeheartedly use everything I make (as I said before, we haven't bought soap for the past two years!). When we make soap, you can smell the wonderful fragrances from the street.

I love the way you start with oil and lye, and then mixing them together, you get something so totally different. It's like making magic.

Anyone want some magic?

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Plump...Like a Chicken

The Hubby and I have this thing we like to do. We like to lie in bed. Really. We loll around our bed and tell each other things like, "We aren't really fat" and "We still look OK" and "Hmm...my thighs seem to have lost cellulite". Talk about honesty in marriage!

But seriously. I have come to the painful realization that I am no longer fit. I am plump. Like a chicken. I am round in the wrong places (the belly area is always the wrong place to be round, unless you're pregnant, which I am not).

Yesterday, The Hubby's family had a swimming thing in Makiling, and preparing to go there, I couldn't find a single thing to wear. I looked fat in everything. Then it dawned on me that there was nothing wrong with the mirror, or the way the light hit it. And that my denim shorts weren't just newly-washed-tight. They were just plain tight. And I really look dumpy. Woe is me.

I have to face it. I NEED to exercise. The thing is, I'd rather sleep and eat and read and work and wash the dishes and do a million other things before I exercise. Bad.

I should get back into kickboxing and swimming. It's a decision that I have to stick to. Especially since The Hubby and I are finally going on our long-overdue honeymoon in Boracay at the end of this month. Which means that I have 16 days to get myself into bikini shape.

Argh.