Liebster Award: Spreading some Blogger Love!

I recently received an award, a Liebster Blog Award from one of the beauty bloggers I'm following, Shayne of Queen of All You See. This blog award aims to promote great bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Here are the rules:

You give a Liebster Award to bloggers whom you think deserves to have more readers because you appreciate their blog. You must link back to the person who nominated you. You must answer the 10 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee before you. You must pick 10 bloggers to be nominated for the award with under 200 followers (in GFC) . You must come up with 10 questions for your nominees to answer. You must go to their blogs and notify your nominees.

Here are the bloggers I'm nominating for the award (notice there are only 8 nominees):

1. Noelfy of Noelimits - Travel blogger
2. Mustachio of Mustachioventures - Another travel blogger
3. Allen Zan of The Allen Zan - Food blogger
4. Fred Aries of The Exaggerated Zeal - Food blogger
5. Gene-use of REAlity Bites - Personal blogger
6. Justinne of Babe for Food - Food blogger
7. Jo-ann of Food Wanderings in Asia - Food and Travel blogger
8. Cheryl Love of Whatever + Wherever - Food and Travel blogger


Here are my answers to Shayne's questions:

1. Describe your blog in one word:
Honest

2. When and why did you first decide to start your blog?
I started my blog back in 2009 to keep an online account of things that I'm interested in, places I've been to, restaurants I've visited, and food I've tasted. Unfortunately due to my uber busy schedule, I could not post regularly. This is the only year that I've posted consistently for about 5 months now. I hope I can keep this up, because I'm seeing an unusually busy life in the next few weeks ahead.

3. Who are your favorite bloggers/vloggers and why do you love them?
My favorite blogger is hands down Rose of The Londoner. She is living the best kind of life and she's not haughty about it. She's very down to earth, happy, grateful, very grounded and fiercely loyal to her friends. She is also unapologetically enjoying a carefree life while working hard as a freelance social media consultant.



Rose of The Londoner

 4. Do you like Thor aka Chris Helmsworth?
Ehh. He's ok.

5. What is your favorite high-end and low-end makeup brand?
I don't own any high-end makeup products, but if I could afford it, I'd love to have YSL's Touche Eclat.
My favorite low-end makeup brand is L'oreal and my favorite product is their Lucent Magique highlighting pen.

6. What boosts your self-confidence?
Being prepared all the time - I need to know what I'm talking about all the time (this is related to my job)

7. What's in your makeup bag right now?
Human Nature Perfect Coverage Mineral Foundation
Human Nature Body Butter Cream in Mango Passion
Human Nature Tinted Lip Balm in Flame Tree and Island Kiss
Maybelline Colorsensational in Summer Sunset
Avon ExtraLasting Lipstick in Always Rose
Stabilo Highlighter
Light pink untangler comb
Couple of pens
Taxi receipts
Rosary
Mother Teresa's image
Couple of hair pins
Colorful post-it notes

It's quite obvious I don't clean out my makeup kit, non?

8. What is your beauty philosophy?
Take care of your skin first, and eat the right kinds of food that will make your skin thank you

9. If someone gave you a million dollars, what is the first thing you will buy?
House and lot - for sure!

10. Suddenly there's a zombie invading your room, the first object you see on your right is a weapon. What is it?
Harry Potter's wand

Questions for my Nominees:
1. What is your three most favorite things to do?
2. Which actor/actress plays in the lifetime movie about your life?
3. It's your birthday. What's for dessert?
4. What are three blogs you read everyday?
5. What was your holiday wish list as a kid?
6. Do you have a former favorite outfit that you're now embarrassed of?
7. Who is the most interesting person you've ever met?
8. What is at the top of your bucket list?
9. What is the best and worst about blogging?
10. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Why?

I had a great time answering the questions from Shayne, and I hope YOU will find the time to answer MY questions. Looking forward to your response! Lots of love! xx

A Mediterranean Affair at Gusto Urban Cafe + Wine Bar

One of the things I love about blogging is creating and meeting new friends from different walks of life. Last Friday night, we had a blogger meet-up at Gusto Urban Cafe + Wine Bar. I was with a couple of blogger friends and we met Joann, one of my favorite bloggers in Cebu.

It was a fun night full of fun, laughter, food, conversation, and yes you guessed it, pictures!

Here's a groupie:

Cebu Bloggers (Allen Zan, Fred Aries, Joann and Shee)

Having declared myself a food and "lifestyle" blogger sometime ago, I decided to post outfit shots and not talk about the food. If you want to know what we think about the food and everything we ordered, head on over to Fred Aries' blog by clicking HERE.

Now, for the outfits. Girls' pictures were taken in the restaurant, while boys' pictures were taken somewhere else.

First off, Joann of Food Wanderings in Asia:

 striped peplum top, straight cut denim, turquoise flats

Next, Allen of The Allen Zan:

Blazer, graphic tee, skinnies, quirky shoes

 Fred Aries of The Exaggerated Zeal was also there:

Striped Bossini top, Orange jeans, loafers

 And then there's me:

LBD with cherries, gold and brown flats

Obviously my dress was a little too big for me, but I don't mind. I bought my dress online and I can't find it anywhere now. I bought my pair of shoes from a thrift mall in downtown Cebu.

See you soon and God bless! xx

Skydreamer Eats: A Healthier Lifestyle with Salads

Just recently, I've had several health issues like minor back pains and occasional headaches. I've also been diagnosed as pre-hypertensive because of my sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits. I'm really scared about being sick and unhealthy so I took it upon myself to be more active and eat healthier.

The first thing I did was walk more often. Currently, I make it a point to walk at least 20 minutes total in a day. If I need to go up/down a floor in a building, I use the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Instead of riding a cab from the front of our apartment's gate, I walk to the corner of the block where I live (and it's a fairly big block) and wait for a cab there. I try to stretch every now and then, and I also make it a point to play outdoors on weekends with my son and husband.

Aside from being more active, I've also started to incorporate eating more healthy food in my diet. That means less white rice (which is full of carbohydrates with little to no amount of nutrients) and more fruits and vegetables (and desserts too, I admit - lots of sweets!). I always try to do the 80/20 rule which means that I eat healthy food 80% of the time, and all the naughty food 20% of the time. To know more about it, check Rose's blog (click HERE) for inspiration and ideas.She calls it the Anti-Diet, and I usually follow her tips about maintaining an 80/20 balance on food and activities to be healthy. I don't actually follow everything to a T, but I do my best in keeping up.

With that said, I'm going to share a couple of salads that I have created over the weekend (again, this is to make sure I'm eating more greens and less grains).

First:
Mediterranean Salad
I call my first one, the Mediterranean salad mainly because a lot of European Instagrammers inspired me to come up with the mix.
For my greens, I used kale, baby arugula, lettuce and alugbati (a type of vine spinach).
I added a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper.
I tossed it with homegrown tomatoes.
I added a few slices of prosciutto di parma and gruyere.



Skydreamer's Mediterranean Salad


Greens - Pre-packed, purchased from Rustan's Fresh, Ayala Center Cebu
Prosciutto Di Parma (Parma Ham) - Purchased from the Deli Section of Rustan's Fresh (I only bought 100g and this is just 1/3 of the ham I purchased)
Gruyere - Purchased from Rustan's Fresh, 100g for about P100 - I only used 1/6 of the cheese I purchased


What I Think: I loved this salad! It's savory, and the parma ham complemented the earthy taste of the greens and the nutty taste of the cheese. This one's a keeper, and I'll probably make more in the coming weeks.



Second:
Tropical Salad
This second salad's dressing was inspired by Patty Laurel's Instagram picture. I can't link it here, but you can look for her in IG @pattylaurel.
For my greens, I used the remaining ones from the pack I bought in Rustan's.
I topped it with homegrown tomatoes and seedless grapes.
For my dressing, I used a teaspoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, half a teaspoon of brown sugar, and a drizzle of honey (Patty used balsamic vinegar and I substituted mine with apple cider and brown sugar as it was readily available from our pantry).



Skydreamer's Tropical Salad


What I Think: I didn't really like the sour/vinegary flavor. I mean, what did I expect, right? I added vinegar after all. It's ok, I guess. I was fine with the honey, but not so much on the vinegar.

I think I'll stick with the Mediterranean salad.
But you take your pick.
Try both of my creations or create your own salad with your preferred toppings/meat/fruits and your favorite dressing! Either way, let me know how it goes! xx