The Accidental Haul

It started as a normal weekend -- I decided to go to a dermatologist for a check-up to prepare myself for the big day. I knew there would be recommendations for Sun protection, probably facials and moisturizers. Well, let's just say it became more of a sales talk for 'stem cell' treatment, rather than a consultation. At the end of the discussion, with 8k worth of skin care and body products on the table, I told her I would come back. 

LJ was supportive and gave me permission to spend for the 'stuff,' but I wasnt sure if I needed all of those. I mean, 9 products to be used religiously?? Whoa! Now that's a commitment! I decided I wouldn't purchase the loot anymore. Knowing how my skin reacts to such things, I'm almost positive that there wouldn't be much of a difference. I might even end up with a breakout!! 

The doc, however, did point out my skin's weakness (I'm not getting any younger yah know!) so for the whole evening and morning after that, I was just researching about moisturizers, sunblocks and any other anti-aging potion in the universe. We had time in the evening so we dropped by Megamall and well, they had a sale. No, this is not the usual SM sale na walang kwenta, I do mean they have a SALE! eeeeek! 

I was just supposed to get a good moisturizer and an eye cream, BUT, I ended up with this... hala! anyare?! hehe!

CieLJ Cravings: Kusina ng Gerrys

Wedding preparation also means paperwork, lots of it! For us, that meant a lot of trips back to Olongapo, LJ's hometown. To make the trip a bit worth it, we dropped by the Harbor Point mall to try something new. I was attracted to Kusina ni Gerry's because of the combo meals. So, instead of ordering my fave viands separately, I can just order them as part of the combo, yey!

Wedding Duties: Engagement Shoot Location

Can you just imagine where we would be in this stage of the wedding planning without the internet??! All of us have to agree that this is such a great tool! For this particular assignment, I don't think I would have the strength to go through every nook and cranny of Manila just to check out locations that would be suitable for our photo shoot. 

While I was ready to pull out my hair trying to figure out a location for our engagement shoot when LJ found this article in Spot.ph. If you are also searching, we highly recommend that you browse through the different locations that they've suggested. 

SPOT.ph

Let's Go Snoe!

A couple of months ago I blogged about the new toner that I've been using - Etude Wonder Pore Freshner. During that time it was part of my skin routine, and helped removed the traces of make-up. It worked so well, I even let LJ use it.

Unfortunately, as the big day is getting near, stress is just inevitable, and zits followed suit. I had to change to something that is a notch higher and decided to try Snoe's Star Night, Star Bright Night Perfecting Toner. I got mine by chance, and packaging is not as cute as Etude's, so it's a bit intimidating. It reminds me of spell potions, well, if it's a beauty potion, then why not give it a try. LOL!

Wedding Duties: Happy Tummies!

They said that for the wedding, you should invest on two things -- great photos and amazing food. We do like to eat, but we don't have gifted palettes that enjoy complex recipes. We eat what we like, we eat what we crave. So for our wedding, we used that as our guide. When we were picking our caterer, we based our decision solely on the food. So far, we are happy about our pick and hopefully, our guests will be too.

We've attended food tastings with Center Table in the past. In fact, for this week, we had two. Takaw?! 

Wedding Duties: Bargain Hunt

My lovely Maid of Honor went with me to Divisoria to scout for good deals. The plan is to find items at wholesale prices so that it will be cheaper compared to the mall. LJ wasn't going with us so we had no plans to buy anything. I can tell you right now that this plan failed! hehe! 

Wedding Duties: Pre Cana Seminar

We were lucky that Mary the Queen offers a pre-cana seminar. We didn't have to book at another church or pay an additional fee. 

Prepare to give up a weekend and be stuck in a room to complete this activity! But seriously, it isn't so bad. It's just two 8am-5pm days and both of them could end up interesting. We know ours did! haha!

They have a room, specifically arranged for the pre-cana seminar, the seats are comfortable enough, and the space was well air-conditioned. 

Wedding Duties: CieLJ SaveTheDate Magnets

We've talked about how much we love the comic cover that Andrew Villar created for us here. It's been two weeks since we received it in our email and we are still raving about it. Best decision so far! ",) 

We never intended to have the image printed out, we just wanted to use it for our on-line invite, an event image in FB, and probably use it here in the blog. When we received it though, it was just too cool to keep in the internet and we decided to move a bit of money to have some photo magnets made.

Since this wasn't part of the budget we had to look for a supplier with the best rates. I stumbled upon Lil Whiskers by browsing through Sulit.com.ph. I'm not sure what to use as keyword so I just entered photo magnets. The list came back with photo 'booths.' nye!