Love By Design: A Review

I’m a sucker for romantic movies, especially those made-for-TV films that Hallmark and Lifetime churn out. They usually have these simple storylines that revolve around two people who end up falling in love and have their happily ever after. I love feel-good films like that when I’m trying to relax at home. It’s a guilty pleasure, really. 

One of these movies is the film Love by Design that stars Giulia Nahmany, David Oakes, and Jane Seymour.  It’s about a young woman (Danielle, played by Nahmany) who works for a fashion magazine who, after having a falling out with her boss (Vivien, played by Seymour), ends up losing her job (and her boyfriend, who looks like he’s never up to anything good anyway).

Boyzone's Farewell (?) Asian Tour - Manila

Back when I was in college, boy bands were a big thing. While I did have a love for NSYNC, the group I was a big fan of in those days was the Irish group Boyzone. I remember my planners were filled with photos of the guys and I saved up my allowance so that I could buy their CDs. I used to stay at home if I knew they had a TV appearance whenever they were in the country so I could watch them (this was a time when YouTube was not yet a thing kids). 

I always wanted to watch their shows back then, but I didn’t have any money for it and my parents weren’t willing to pay for it either. Even when they came back during the times when I was already working, I wasn’t earning enough to make it to a show, plus I now lived in the province which was too far away from the concert venues. When I found out that they would be back this year for a farewell tour, I knew that it was now or never.  I decided that I would gladly make do with the long commute (2-3 hours trip) to the venue just to see them! I bought two tickets with a credit card for the VIP seats and decided to watch their concert with my younger sister, who has proclaimed Boyzone as the music of her childhood because it was all I listened to when she was a young girl.

Must Watch: Crazy Rich Asians

After a long wait, I finally got to watch Crazy Rich Asians over the weekend! I’ve been wanting to watch this movie since it was announced and I was actually looking forward to seeing it on the first day that it started showing in local cinemas but unfortunately, I was severely under the weather at the time and had to give it a few days before I was strong enough to get up and out of bed to watch it.

Miss Granny (A Review)

My niece and I were going to watch Crazy Rich Asians in the cinema when we discovered the time we planned to watch was already blocked off for a group of students. If we wanted to watch the movie we had to wait for three hours. We decided to watch another movie in the meantime, the Sarah Geronimo-starrer Miss Granny.

K-Pop Superstars: BTS

Unless you live under a rock or have become a hermit, I don’t think that you wouldn’t know BTS. The Korean boy band has exploded like crazy in the past couple of years and has broken through the US and other international markets. Everyone knows them and practically everyone loves them, my niece included.

This is a group that is not a surprise hit. It’s not a group that just exploded into the scene. To give them credit, before they broke out internationally, they have been a group since 2012 and were launched in 2013. It still took the group a few years before they gained the success that they have today. I think just on that basis alone they are not a group that will just pop out and disappear. This is a group that has paid its dues and is now being rewarded for it.

Honestly, I didn’t know who they were until my niece became obsessed with them last year, which led me to an online search of BTS merchandise that I could give her as a gift over the holidays. That was when I realized how popular they were: there is so much merchandise and most of them are very VERY expensive! It’s crazy! The only items I have been able to get for her so far is the Army Bomb and a Barbie/Mattle-made doll of Jungkook.

My Spotify Dependence

Do you still remember the days when you had tons of cassette tapes/CDs at home?

Do you remember having to sort through the hundreds of CDs, tapes, and vinyl records in music stores to look for your favorite music? 

Do you remember carrying a walkman around? How about a diskman? How about those tiny mini-disk players?

Do you still remember those moments when you had to record music from the radio or bought a mixed CD of songs you liked?

No? I guess I must be older than you then.

If You Could See Me Now

Cecelia Ahern is one of my favorite writers. She has had many books that I have enjoyed reading (some of which have been turned into movies) and this book, If You Could See Me Now, is no exception.

The book takes the idea of (spoiler alert) a child’s imaginary friend and taking it a step further by asking, "What if these friends are real?" In the book, Elizabeth is an adult trying to balance all her responsibilities when she meets Ivan, who helps her navigate and see her life in a new light.

Thinking of Trying Intermittent Fasting?

As I’ve mentioned in previous entries, my doctor has told me that I need to make an effort to be healthier. I needed to lose weight if I want to be healthier. One of the things that I have attempted to do for weight loss is IF, otherwise known as Intermittent Fasting. Some people also call it the Eat Stop Eat diet.

The concept of the diet is that when you fast it helps to jump-start your metabolism and helps you to burn more fat. The fast is also not that complicated: while you are not allowed to eat, you are however allowed to drink as long as it is sugar-free (think tea and water or black coffee without sugar).

My Gray Hair Problem

I have a problem with gray hair. I have a lot of them. A LOT. It’s not even gray, to be honest. It’s white. It’s upsetting because the hairs just stand out from my actual hair color. It doesn’t look good. My friends blame it on coloring my hair too often. They said it wouldn't prematurely gray if I didn't play around with it too much.

I am aware that there are people who have gray hair at a much younger age and do not find it that big of a deal but I do. It makes me look a bit unkempt. It makes me look stressed and yes, it makes me look older. I’ve tried coloring my hair a different shade in an attempt to cover it up but it hasn’t worked. I tried a lighter shade and while it does hide it a bit, the gray/white hairs are still there, sticking out like it wants people to look at it to remind them that I am getting old and am more stressed than usual. I have been tempted to color it all gray/white but I have been told that it is a long and tedious process that could damage my hair and it would eventually fade out to a dirty sort of blonde that I might not even care for.

Show Review: World of Dance

Dance is something that I’ve loved since I was a little girl. I would have taken lessons and taken that interest seriously if my parents didn’t think it would distract me from my studies but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love it any less today. I have so much appreciation for great dancing and amazing dancers, which is why I enjoy watching dance competitions on TV. World of Dance is one of those shows.

Produced by Jennifer Lopez, World of Dance is a competition where dancers audition under their respective categories (Junior, Upper, Team, Junior Team) and are made to battle for spots to get to the finals, where all the categories compete with each other for the top spot in the competition. Each contestant can compete using their respective styles, which means that a ballroom dancer can compete with someone doing contemporary or hip hop. In the finals, age also does not matter because younger dancers will get to compete with older ones. If there is an Olympics of dance, this would have to be it.

Tracing Out Our Family Tree

Have you ever wondered where you came from? What your family was like in the old days? I’ve realized after talking to my mother that apart from knowing who my great grandparents were on her side of the family, I never knew who they were. It surprised me even more than on my father’s side, they couldn’t even tell me the name of my great grandparents. I thought that was interesting so I decided to do a little research.

My Smoothie Phase

A couple of months ago a co-worker offered me some of her breakfast smoothies. It was made of cucumber, lemons, honey, and celery. It wasn’t bad and it was also very filling so I decided to try it myself.

I ended up shopping for enough ingredients to make one glass a day for two weeks. I loved that it helped me to feel fuller faster and the flavor was light and good. I read online that the smoothie was also good for detox so I was also hoping that it would help me to be healthier now that my doctor said I needed to.

Lessons on Debt

Debt. Who doesn’t have it these days? I know I do.

When I was younger and starting out I had responsibilities to take care of that I couldn’t pay off with just my salary alone per month tiding me over. I learned early on how to avail of loans and had started using credit cards to be able to pay off the necessary expenses. Thankfully, however, I also learned the value of being able to responsibly decide when to take on a loan and how to pay it back. Some people, however, are not as lucky.

photo from Rilsonav on Pixabay.com

TV Show Review: The Bold Type

I watch so many TV shows in a year that sometimes it makes even my head spin. I can’t help it, there are just too many good ones out there! It can get confusing sometimes considering that I switch between watching on TV or on streaming sites to catch up on my favorite shows or discover new ones. I’ve had to stop watching some shows just to have enough time to actually have a life apart from these obsessing over these TV shows. A problem of my own making, I know, but a problem nevertheless.

You’d think that I have more than enough of my fair share of TV with cable and streaming services but sometimes I still go to those free streaming sites to find the good ones that do not make it to local TV or the sites that I subscribe to. One of those shows is The Bold Type.

Family Get Togethers

When I was younger, it was a given that weekends were usually spent with my cousins from my mother’s side of the family. Summer vacations too. There were also the holiday get-togethers at our grandmother’s place so we could see each other for Christmas.

Take Two: A Review

I have a confession to make: while I do know who Rachel Bilson is, I do not remember seeing her in anything she has done until I’ve seen her on the TV show Take Two. A friend of mine pointed out a couple of shows I’ve seen that she guest-starred in and a movie she was in that I’ve seen but my mind still draws a blank. I just haven’t seen her in anything memorable until her team-up with Eddie Cibrian on Take Two. I only know her from being married to Hayden Christensen but that’s about it. I never watched the OC either so I had no idea what kind of actress she is.

Eddie Cibrian, on the other hand, I’ve known from his days in the late 90s on Baywatch Nights and Sunset Beach (plus, of course, the controversy when he cheated on his wife with LeAnn Rimes, who he eventually married). He’s been on several other shows since then but I’ve never seen him as a lead until Take Two.

Gadget Buying Tips

I’m not your typical female shopper. I’m not into clothes, shoes, and accessories. As long as I have something to wear, even if it means wearing something over and over until they become worn out, I’m good. It takes convincing from family and friends before I actually go out and buy something to wear for myself.

Gadgets, on the other hand, are a different story. I love my gadgets. I find them very useful and I own my fair share, but I don’t go crazy about it. Here are some tips I’d like to share through the years when it comes to buying gadgets: