Wedding Hairstyles 101
This was the very first hairstyle that I seriously considered until somebody pointed out that because of the dishevelled-looking bun, this won't work at all for me unless I looked exactly like the model (magmumukha kang labandera!). 
And then I found this. Simple and very elegant. But! My forehead (in its all-encompassing glory with the trademark pockmark) is not exactly Audrey Hepburn. And neither are my eyebrows, eyes, and my whole face, for that matter. I'd bring a new level to the words Funny Face if I attempted this hairstyle.
And then I came across this. The tiara and the curls might be able to do the trick and draw the eyes from my wide gangplank. And I've always wanted to wear a tiara. But the problem with this hairstyle is that my hair is too stubborn to curl and so we might end up all afternoon just doing my hair and then it wouldn't even stay that way for the whole night.Conclusion: If the combination of the first and last (hairstyle#1 minus the dishevelled bit plus the tiara of #3) still won't work, I'd be sticking to my original plan: two simple braids (think Tiger Lily's hair minus the feathers or Pocahontas' hair before Disney re-invented her) interwoven with red-gold thread - simple, unique, and worry-free.
Today's Low: Uncle Caloy won't be able to make it for the wedding (but he said he'll still try).
Today's High: Papa Pito agreed wholeheartedly to be his proxy.
The Hollywood 24-Hour Miracle Diet
47 (coincidentally my target weight in kg) days into the countdown, desperate times call for desperate measures.I pigged out the whole weekend (and have been doing so for my whole life, for that matter) and so I decided to try the Hollywood 24-hour Miracle Diet today. I weighed myself this morning and found out that after months of watching what I eat (well, I watch it but I still eat it), rebounding for at least 30 minutes a day (ok, 5), playing badminton on weekends (this is true until we got really busy with the DIY stuff), jogging occasionally (ok, brisk walking), and borrowing all those yoga DVDs from the library (ok, some were designed for expectant moms so they weren't really strenuous), all I accomplished was that I maintained my weight (no, I am not publishing it here). Ok, so what did I expect?
0930 hours: Mixed 4oz of it (a quarter of the whole content) with 4oz of water. Taste not bad, no hungry pangs yet (not that I feel hungry at this time of day)
1030 hours: Having taken a few sips of the purportedly miracle juice and 2 glasses of water, I felt my stomach growling not because of hunger, but because I needed to go to the washroom (and not just to tinkle!)
1100 hours: Bathroom beckoned once again.
1130 hours: My concoction - which I was supposed to sip slowly over 4 hours - finished orredy! This means that I have 2 hours to kill before I get to sip my next ration. Beginning to feel my stomach growling again but this time because of hunger.
1200 hours: Looking at my gown design gave me the fuel for the last 30 minutes. Not sure if it will be enough motivation for an hour and a half more.
[What was I thinking choosing a design like this for my gown?! I must be out of my mind! Heaven help me! Good thing the veil will be big enough to cover all of me, especially the fatty parts of my scoliotic back. But at any rate, I don't think 10 lbs would be enough, especially now that the last person who could help me in achieving the illusion of a waist is not replying to my emails (paging Mabelle of Betty's Bodyform corsets). Mental note to buy half dozen more bottles of this miracle juice.]
1330 hours: Mixed another 4 oz. with water (more water this time to make it last a little longer.
1400 hours: Lunch hour came and went and surprisingly, I feel OK. I had a bit of a headache though but nothing a quick splash of cold water didn't fix. Didn't want to risk taking Mefenamic acid in fear of it messing up my detoxification process.
1530 hours: Lethargy and sleepiness set in (could be psychological).
1730 hours: Outta here in 15 minutes. I doubt if I could keep this up until tonight; the Baldoza family is coming over to help with the invitations which means I have to cook dinner.
0035 hours: Just as I predicted, $12.50 - not 5 lbs - down the drain. Oh well. I'll try it again next week.
Today's Low: My brother was not exactly the world's most loving brother today. Normally I would not have minded but try waiting for almost an hour with an empty stomach, you'd be pissed too.
Today's High: 70% finished with the invitations - special thanks to the Baldoza family, to Ate Dimps and friend Anele, and to my apologetic brother. 
Tinapa't Talong
I slept at 4:30 in the morning and was already up by 9:30 thanks to my dear brother. In fairness, he was not informed of the single house rule that I tell everyone who comes for a visit: Under no circumstances am I to be woken up on non-working days, except only for dire emergencies as I find it hard to go back to sleep once I'm up and I could be really cranky when I lack sleep. But after learning the reason why he woke me up, I forgave him instantly. He cooked tinapa at talong with kamatis at patis -- my favorite breakfast that I haven't had for more than a year now! It was a dire emergency after all. :o) And to think that he went to sleep the same time we did because he was helping us finish the invitations. I have the most loving brother in the whole world!
the countdown begins
Today marks the 50 day countdown to our altar date and so I decided to create this blog for the sole purpose of recording my musings as the big day approaches. Share in the joy of my anticipation because after all, getting there is half the fun!Today's Low: My dear brother arrived the other day to bring us the envelopes, stickers, and what-nots that I asked Mama to buy, and to join me in my undertaking to lose 10 lbs., details of which will also be written here should there be any progress - which I highly expect as we bought this Hollywood diet juice which claims to make you lose 5 lbs in 24 hours (we bought 4 because of the buy one-take one promo at Watson's and so if it works like it says it will, then bye bye to the 10 lbs that I've been trying to lose (and needless to say, to no avail) since Andrei proposed. But I digress. Today's low is not my brother's being here (certainly not!), it's the news that he brought with him that my parents are not in speaking terms (my mother's own words!) again because of some misunderstanding which I personally think is very childish. But I digress again. The blogworthy (i.e. wedding-related) news is that my Papa was apparently hurt because I didn't give him any slots on our guest list for his friends. But I know I did! I distinctly remember sending them a copy of the tentative list for them to modify as they please. Is it my fault that I sent it around the same time that he and Mama were again in one of those not-in-speaking-term crusades? But being the good daughter that I am, I emailed Mama today to ask her the names that they want included and I specifically told her to ask Papa as well. I just got her reply and now my problem is how to make sure that only 230 guests will attend out of the 300 that will be invited because we only paid for 230 heads. :o)
Today's high: Today is Friday and no amount of parent-rearing problems can ruin the start of my weekend. I can't wait to go home and continue working on the invitations! Earlier this year Andrei and my best friend and maid of honor Eunice managed to convince me that we could pull off a DIY invitation. Much to our delight and to our detractors' dismay, it looks like they're turning out to be quite nice. In fact, we've done a bang-up job so far if I do say so myself. And it's such a joy doing the invites with my future husband as he always willingly accedes to doing the tricky parts like the pinking of the cardboards with a rotary cutter, which literally requires muscle power and
a certain degree of OC-ness -- both of which, fortunately, he has a lot of. I, on the other hand, get to do the fun parts that only require an effortless artistic talent like the gluing of the cutout leaves on the main invite page in such a way that they look like they're falling. I say marriage is all about that - complementing each other's differences toward a common goal while hip-gyrating to Shakira's Hips Don't Lie (thanks to Yahoo! Launchcast) and munching on Boy Bawang.
This was the very first hairstyle that I seriously considered until somebody pointed out that because of the dishevelled-looking bun, this won't work at all for me unless I looked exactly like the model (magmumukha kang labandera!). 
And then I came across this. The tiara and the curls might be able to do the trick and draw the eyes from my wide gangplank. And I've always wanted to wear a tiara. But the problem with this hairstyle is that my hair is too stubborn to curl and so we might end up all afternoon just doing my hair and then it wouldn't even stay that way for the whole night.
