Unpaid Reviews

Today, I’ll forego the chance to tweet about rv breakdown to give way of this announcement as to how we can donate cash for the Typhoon Ondoy victims. From various media, we all know the extent of damage Typhoon Ondoy has brought to the FIlipino people, especially those living in Manila. So if you have a little to spare, please do. 

If you are a Smart subscriber, here a couple of easy ways to donate cash:

1) Via SMARTMONEY:

Text ONDOY<amount> to 270. Transaction would only cost you Php1.

Alternatively, you may also go to your Smart Money menu > purchase > mpay > store code (ONDOY) > pay from > choose card > amount > confirmation (OK) > enter W-Pin

2) SMS to the Philippine Nationa Red Cross:

Text RED <amount> to 4483. This transaction will cost you nothing (yup, it’s free!)

Only the donated amount will be deducted from the airtime load. Donations in Php10, PhP25, Php50 and Php100 denominations are accomodated via this SMS service.

 Every peso you give will surely go a long way. Thank you so much!

After a century, I am finally able to sort through my Davao pics! *chuckle* Anyway, here’s a shot of the facade of Marco Polo Davao.

I was in the mall yesterday to buy some supplies, yeah dog supplies included, and out of habit, I dropped by the bookstore. As expected, I came out not empty-handed. I went home with a copy of a Kumon workbook series entitle My First Book of Mazes.

When my son saw the plastic I had with me, he instantly begged that I open the bag. To make the long story short, I had a fun time doing the mazes with my son. He did 6 mazes yesterday. Actually, he did the 5 mazes twice (using a colored pen the send time)! I couldn’t be more happier since I specifically bought the mazes in the hope of developing his pencil-control skill. My son doesn’t like to trace letters or pictures and I’ve been finding ways to let him write. So when I saw the workbook, I thought okay, mazes are always fun especially to the kids so maybe, just maybe they might do the trick. And my hunch is right.

First, Book of Mazes is truly a treasure. Apart from helping the kids develop fine motor skills, solving mazes will also help their reasoning abiliites. So I highly recommend this workbook for toddlers.

Happy birthday to me. Heheh. Wonderful day! I actually wanted to do a review post of the 3 Kumon workbook I recently bought for my son but  I wanted to have some time off writing and posting - okay   after I view these cardboard displays online.  *smiles* Just enjoy my day for now and I promise to my reviews in the next few days.

But can I just say in advance that the Kumon starter workbooks are so much fun.  So much so that my son has almost finished the first workbook that I bought for him.  Yipee! The other two books are recent acquisition and I know he like the exercises there too although not as much as the first one, but since we’re regularly doing the suggested exercises, I’m seeing that he’s making so much progress.

Will fill in some details next time.

I was in Davao City last week for an official business, so I’m going to do a little tweet about the hotel I stayed while in the city.

Before that, if you happen to be in New Orleans area and would wish to check the New Orleans hotel reservations, just click the preceding highlighted words.

Now going back to my business trip. I was billeted in one of the posh hotels there - the Marco Polo Hotel, which is located in the downtown area. And just to emphasize, I’m not going to do a review of the hotel because I feel that my 3-day stay didn’t give me enough experience for a comprehensive review of the hotel, its services and amenities. So this is just a tweet and what I’d really like to say is I so like it there. I like the pool area of the hotel. And I also like the Lazuli Spa -although I wasn’t able to get a booking because they are only open up til 10PM. But the services they offer are so enticing -again it’s just sad that I wasn’t able to experience the spa (I was able to avail to a room service though).

I also like that the room I had was furnished with iPod dock, LAN for internet connection and flat TV (wall-mounted). Actually, the room I had catered all my needs -from hairdryer to slippers. So truly, I was more than comfortable in my stay.

I’m so humbled for this chance to review a product brand that is already famous since I was a kid. The product that I’m going to review though is new -at least at this side of the globe.

So what is it? First let’s do a guessing game. What do you remember when you hear about oatmeal? Is it the man with white locks and a hat? Remember Mr Quaker? Right.

Indeed, Quaker Oats name is a household name worldwide- maybe long before I was born. When I was a kid, oatmeals were already a source of  happiness. Just put a little chocolate and viola, it’s already happy meal for everyone!

Over the course of time, I have discovered the many things we can do with oatmeal. There’s the facial mask, scrub, soap. For the tummy, there’s the oatmeal bars and then I will not forget to mention the yummy cookies. All of these can be made easily at home. But do you know that  the trusted Quaker Oats has made our lives easier by offering us our favorite oatmeal cookies  in packets? Yes, yes, yo!

I had so much joy in me when, during one of my grocery expeditions, I discovered that Quaker Oats Cookies are already available in the market. They come in  3 variants (so far these were all I have seen and tried): Raisin, Honey Nuts & Apple and Cinnamon. And for every packet, which sells about Php10, comes 3 cookies of the same variant.  And lemme just say this: It’s really affordable and so yummy.

For those who are on a diet, don’t worry that you’ll have to spend extra minutes on the treadmill after eating the cookies because Quaker Oats Oatmeal cookies contain 0% Trans Fat and has no artificial flavor. SO what more can you ask for?

Now you can tell what my favorite snack is these days.

I owe my review of the Last Straw Strategies series a shot of one of the most treasured book I have at the moment. So here goes:

I have recently added a great lens to my limited camera accessories. I would have loved to review this lens but I feel I’m not an expert (yet! hehe) in the topic of photography so I’ll reserve the technical review to the experts but in my succeeding posts, I’ll just have to incorporate few shots (taken with it) with my reviews.

During the first few days of using it, I will not lie that I had doubted my sanity in purchasing it despite the great results I have achieved in my photos. I even considered seIling it. First, because it’s so heavy. For a petite woman like me, you have to understand that my arms can only bear so much weight. Second, I have paid a handsome price for this lens. I mean, I could have bought 2 lenses with the same amount.  Still have no idea with the price? Maybe it would equate to almost the cost of hiring one of those cross country moving companies. See? Expensive. *sigh* But now, I have come to terms with the decision. I feel that I did right. And I’m really happy with my photos using this lens.

Now if you’re wondering what it is, it’s a Canon 24-70mm 2.8L lens and yes, I am loving it now. I’m still trying to get used to its weight but I’m slowly seeing it as more than just a lens. It’s going to be my buddy

I always consider the smell of a baby a mystery. We cannot really say all babies smell alike but maybe we can agree that all babies naturally smell good. I don’t know why, maybe because of the milk or being just a baby. But babies always smell heavenly, don’t they?

I can still remember how sweet my son smelled when he was still a baby -and that was not too long ago. Okay, he still smells good now (what can a mother say?lol) but the baby smell is just different. And you know what brings all the memory back, it’s because of this baby cologne that I love with all my heart. It’s Denenes.

It’s so hard to find one these days but I remember it from my highschool years when Angel’s Breath and Nenuco and yes, Denenes were a hit in my class.  I have been looking for it for so loooong and finally I was able to find and buy one.

It’s very gentle and mild and refreshing and smells soooo heavenly - yeah very much like a baby.  And what do you say, it’s got a neutral ph so it’s skin-friendly.  I use it on my son a lot and then I use it too.

Ingredients: Alcohol Denatured, Water, Frangrance, Limonene, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Citral, Hydroxycitronellal, Geraniol, Eugenol

Up until now, I have yet to find out the best weight loss supplement. So anyone who has the first-hand experience or anything to say about the topic, pretty please leave me a word.

As with first-hand experience stories, here’s mine - although of another topic.

The first time I heard about OraCare mouthrinse, I had trouble believing that it’s possible to have a no-sting mouthwash. Yup, I was skeptical. You see, there have been lots of mouthwash brand readily available for consumers but most that I had tried then all gave me the stinging sensation. So I thought to myself, how can it be any different?

So just for the sake of finding out and having a first hand experience with the product, I bought and sampled a 50ml Oracare Mouthrinse bottle (Maximum Protection). And boy oh boy, I had the surprise of my life. Indeed, Oracare, which is manufactured by Pascual Laboratories Phils, did not cause any stinging or burning sensation like other brands do. Not one bit, I promise.

And so since then, I have always patronized the alcohol-free and sugar-free OraCare Mouthrinse to help keep bad breath away.

Ingredient: Purified Water, Stabilized Chlorine Dioxide, Peppermint Flavor