Perfect Puerto Princessa, Palawan

Last month, I receieved a super birthday gift! A trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan to accompany my sisters "work". It's so easy to edit something when you have good music, a great location, and of course, good looking people! This is a short clip of the Behind The Scenes of Smile Magazine's April 2010 Cover.



We stayed at the Dos Palmas Resort. It's so complete, you never even have to leave the island :) This is a late thank you to my sisters who have gifted me with this wonderful break. Thanks, sisters!

Dream Come True Part Deux

How lucky can I get- watching my favorite UK artists for the 2nd time? I love The Heavies!

The last time was September 2008, when I just found out about their performance an hour before in Singapore Clark Quay. And then just a day before  their performance in Manila, I get news that they're performing at the Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival in Sofitel. Yay! I was willing to pay for tickets, but no! Sister Maya passes me a pair! Since again this year, my hubby couldn't make it (this time he was back in Singapore covering the HSBC Women's Champions LPGA), I grab my younget sis, Marie to groove with me. Yay!

This time around, I get a better photo op with lead guitarist Simon Bartholomew.

Definitely better than the last time!

I think i'm getting better at this! The next gig of theirs I'll catch will be in London!

Freediving Dream

While I am enroute to fulfilling a dream project that is nowhere geographically near Hawaii, here I am blogging about the island once again. It was once, and well, it is still a dream of mine to learn to freedive in the Hawaiian waters. Yes, free dive and not scuba dive. I'm too insecure to work on any knobs and tanks underwater! In freediving, all I will depend on would be me and my lungs. At laest I'd have control of that :) Anyway... before my husband and I got married, he used to freedive and spearfish in his special pockets of ocean in Oahu. Although I've visited Hawaii a few times, I've never ever joined him in his spearfishing missions. I regret not doing so! I just saw a few Spearfishing videos care of Bluewater Hunter Videos on youtube, and it makes me pick up that dream again (more of the dream of freediving and not spearfishing ok?)

Here are two breathtaking videos by Rob White of Bluewater Hunter Video.



Don't the Pilot Whales look interesting? Have I been in the city too long but I don't really recall seeing any whale that looked like that!



Check out the rest of the awesome videos right at his channel right here.

Aaah, I miss the islands. I miss the water.

Kiehl's Amino Acid with Pure Coconut Oil.

Whoohoow! Slackerville in blogging! I am currently in Manila pursuing an incredible exciting project with the rest of the gang. I didn't expect to stay on so long, so I didn't bring enough clothes and toiletries with me. Good thing my sister and beauty coach Marie came to the rescue. I needed new shampoo! And I need a shampoo that would revive scalp health, at the same time I WANTED a shampoo that had the healing properties of Coconut oil. Then TADAH! She gave me this. Kiehl's Amino Acid Shampoo with Pure Coconut Oil.

What a treat to the scalp! The smell of the coconut oil was heaven, and the feeling after washing away the lather in the shower made me feel like I had washed away an extra layer of shampoo residue :) I love it! Even my 9 year old nephew told me that I smelt like the beach!

Hula Girls

How do you give gifts on Christmas? I know of people who spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on the latest "it" bag or wallet. Or how they give the latest techy gadget to their loved one. I am definitely not one of those people.

This year, I gifted my better half with a movie that somehow had a touch of Hawaii in it since he hasn't been home in a while. It's a film called "Hula Girls"- directed by Korean Japanese filmmaker, Sang Il Lee.

Based on a true story, this movie takes place in 1965. The coal mining industry is slowing down, so in order to keep the local economy of Iwaki afloat, the coal mining company decided to turn their property into a leisure resort called the Joban Hawaiian Center. They needed dancers for their hula troupe, so they hired washed up Tokyo dancer Madoka Hirayama to train the local girls, all coal miners daughters, to do the hula.




This lovely film, even if I found it a tad dramatic, was beautifully scored by Hawaii's ukulele virtuoso himself, Jake Shimabukuro. I highly suggest any Japanophile or lover of anything Hawaii to buy this DVD and enjoy the film. The pleasant Yu Aoi plays the lead dancer, Kimiko. I know she's also in Honokaa Boy, another Japanese film shot in Hawaii.

Check out the official website!