Book Review: For the green witch...

Elphaba...

Fabala...

Miss Elphie...

Fae...

Who is she?...well, we've all seen The Wizard of Oz on TV, right? (I don't know if any of you have read the book -- I haven't). So Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch of the West and everyone was happy. Right?...

This book -- this green book about Elphaba, is about the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West (yes hon, she has a name). Here you will understand why she wanted Dorothy's ruby slippers. In this book, you'll know more about the Wicked Witch of the East (the witch who died when Dorothy's house fell on Munchkinland), and Glinda the Good Witch of the North. You'll understand that really, Elphaba is human just like the rest of us.

Again, I don't want to give the story away, but this is a great book. I am in love with Gregory Maguire's books. I'll talk about that later on, but anyway, Wicked was turned into a musical -- I have one of their songs in my phone, Defying Gravity. I haven't seen it though. They don't have a production here (like, duh).

So anyway, Gregory Maguire. I'm totally obsessing over this author now. I love the way he has put life to the antagonists, or villains if that's what you want to call them. It's not that I don't love the princesses -- I do! But I also want to know the other side. I mean, they too have their story to tell.

I have two of his books now -- Wicked and Son of a Witch. I'm currently reading the latter. I'll buy more when I have the moolah. For now, I'm content with the two.

That's it for now.

xoxo

Skydreamer Dines in Dumaguete: It's gotta be Shakey's!

So last Saturday, I had dinner with my family at Shakey's. It's also one of our favorite eat-out places in Dumaguete. We used to go to Pizza Hut more often, but they closed down so we usually eat here now. Anyway, Shakey's Dumaguete is located in Rizal Boulevard. You can opt to walk from Perdices Street (which is like the main city strip), ride a pedicab (they're actually motorcabs, but are called pedicabs in Dumaguete. I don't know why they're called that. I mean, the drivers don't pedal, they just uhm, drive...so anyway...), or take your car.

My mom, Jenn, and Deejay went to church earlier (for the anticipated mass), while hubby and I slept at home. We met up way later at Shakey's for dinner, then we went to Silliman University to do a quick tour on the booths. I miss Silliman. I miss college. I miss Founder's Day, and I miss my curfew! (Haha- NOT!)

So anyhow, back to Shakey's...We ordered spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread, fried chicken and mojos, and manager's pizza. We also ordered a pitcher of iced tea and a couple of chocolate shakes.

Their food was great as usual. I mean, it's not the best, but their food's always decent.

Here are some pictures:

crazy for shakey's

Book Review: On Clare and Henry's histoire d'amour

I bought The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger for my little sister, Deejay. She wanted me to buy her a paperback because she only had the ebook, and she really liked the story. So anyway, I ended up reading it, and it moved me so much, that throughout the weekend, I kept thinking about it -- if time traveling is possible, and I guess anything is possible if you just want to believe.

Anyway, I don't want to spoil the story by spilling it out here, but here's the basic: Henry is a time traveler, and he met Clare, his wife, when she was six and I think he was thirty six at that time? Or something. But he's really just 8 years older than Clare.

Their story is unusual, and while most people call it a love story, I'd rather call it a life story. It transcends above the usual love stories, and it's not at all mushy or anything like that. It felt so real. Their grief and heartache was so real for me because I can relate to some of them, and the book was just so beautiful. I laughed, I cried, I sighed, I waited, and I got impatient along with the characters. It just moved me so much. I really just wanted to hug the book, and kiss it over and over, and I don't know. It's so overwhelming.

I LOVE IT! This one's for keeps. I'm going to buy my own copy.

Why don't you read the book first before watching the movie? (Yeah, in case you haven't heard, it was made into a movie with Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana)

Read and experience its magic yourself. You'll see why then.

Skydreamer Dines in Dumaguete: Mamia

So about a week ago, hubby and I went home to Dumaguete to visit my mom and my little sister, Deejay. Going home for the weekend means this: Family, love, lots of talk and laughter, unlimited internet, new movies downloaded by DJ, and lots of FOOD! If there's one thing I can say -- it's the great, great food that keeps us coming back. The fact that my family is there doesn't hurt either. Haha! I'm not kidding when I tell you that I usually gain around 5 pounds (probably more) in just a couple days of stay there.

One of the restaurants my family loves is Mamia. If I'd compare them to Cebu establishments, I'd say it's a cross between Ila Puti, Kul Kitchen, Mooon Cafe, and Casa Verde. (That's food heaven for my hubby!)

We had dinner there Sunday night the weekend we were there. I was feeling a bit big already from having eaten a lot of food so I got their grilled chicken salad with vinaigrette. Now I'm no vinaigrette person because I don't diet. I love salads because they're healthy, but I love the dressings too. I don't care if they're fattening! So I ended up not sprinkling all of the dressing over my salad. Their salad was ok, but it did not do justice to the price. I could go eat somewhere else at a slightly higher price with a much, much, better salad than what they have!

My little sister loves Italian food, and almost everytime we eat out, she orders pasta. Unless there's pizza. (She thinks she should have been born Italian, but she looks Vietnamese anyway). Anywho, she ordered their version of carbonara, and it was great. It was definitely white pasta with a twist. You'd have to try it to understand what I'm trying to say.

Hubby ordered Southern fried chicken in some kind of flavored rice. I don't know how authentic Southern fried chicken tastes like, but I loved that dish! The chicken was cooked just right, and the gravy wasn't flat.

Mom had halo-halo. It's really mixed fruits in a big dessert bowl, shaved ice, some milk, and ice cream on top. Yum!

Mamia is located in Rizal Boulevard in Dumaguete. The food is great! If you're ever in Dumaguete, be sure to have dinner here. You won't regret it.

Here's a collage of the dishes we ordered:

Skydreamer Dines in Cebu: Dimsum Break

Everyone loves Chinese Food. Or everyone I know does. Or at least, my husband does. Everytime he gets to choose where to eat, he'd always choose Dimsum. It's like something he needs inside him. Like blood for a vampire. Or, something like that... Anyhow, in Cebu, we usually get our Chinese fix in Majestic, Harbour City, Ding Qua Qua, Big Mao, and Dimsum Break. They all serve great Chinese cuisine and dimsum too! I know that Majestic and Ding Qua Qua have lunch and dinner buffet, but I'm not so sure about the others.

So, anyway...this is about Dimsum Break. I totally love the way they reach out to the consumers by having "budget bundles". They have this thing where every 2PM - 5PM, for only P99, you can get soup (I forgot what kind of soup - I think it was bird's nest or something), three kinds of siomai (mushroom, plain, and quail egg), steamed fried rice, buchi (I don't really know what it is - it's kind of a sticky rice thingy with mung bean inside), and softdrinks!

It's really filling, and everytiime I crave for Dimsum, I usually go here. They have locations in Ayala, SM, EMall, and BTC. If they have other locations, I don't know them.

My Beauty Regimen

...This is probably the latest picture that I have of me right now, and this is how/what I look like (don't mind my hubby's pic, lol):

...I've decided to make a post of my beauty regimen (if you can call it that haha). Note that this is coming from somebody who does not have any makeup brushes at all, no eyeshadow or makeup palettes, or blushes, primers, bronzers, whatever. But I do take care of my skin (but not as much as I want to).

So first, let me say I know I'm not the best looking person out there. Someone is always more gorgeous, and in the same sense, someone is also always less beautiful than I am. That said, let me start with my uhm, beauty regimen.

Morning (or in my case, evening) when I wake up:

• I wash my face with Anew Rejuvenate Revitalizing 2-in-1 cleanser. You can find this in avon.com or you can google it. I have used other cleansers before, but this one tops my list. You don't need a lot to wash your face with it. What I do, I put on a pea-sized dollop on my palm, and crush out the small beads and wash it all over my face.
• Next, I put on Garnier Light eye cream. I don't really know why I'm using this. I used to have VMV eye cream, but it got too pricey for me because I'm married now and I constantly have to think of saving, saving and saving. Anyhow, I've been using this for about two weeks now, and I can say it's good. Look at my eyes, I don't have wrinkles. Well, I'm 27. I don't think I'm about to start getting wrinkles until I'm about 40 or something. Anyway...
• Next, I put on Pond's Age Defense multi-benefit Illuminating cream. It has SPF 15 PA++. Then, Pond's White Beauty pinkish white glow lightening cream. Now, first of all, these two products are NOT whitening products. I use them because they're really cheap, and I need a moisturizer in the morning that's not too heavy.
• Next, this is how I prepare myself after the skin care stuff: I put on Maybelline's Clear Smooth Minerals liquid foundation in Natural Buff. I top that with some concealer -- I have e.l.f.'s tone correcting concealer in fair. Again, these are all really cheap stuff, but they're working great for me. I top that with powder foundation -- any will do: Maybelline, Avon's Simply Pretty, and the one I regularly use is Ever Bilena (again, because it's really cheap). On my lips, I use The Body Shop's Born Lippy in Strawberry as base, and top it with either one of the two: e.l.f.'s Hypershine Gloss or Maybelline's fruty jelly in Raspberry Juice.

Evenings (or mornings) before I sleep:

• I wash my face again with Anew Rejuvenate, tap some eye cream from Garnier, use Ziaja multivitamin moisturizing face cream (I'll talk about this later on), and apply some petroleum jelly on my lips.

Again, everything is pretty simple, and I use the most basic and cheap products that work. I don't use makeup a lot. Sometimes I do, and when I do, I just ask some from my little sister JENNY (who's really very pretty).

So anyway, I said earlier that I'll talk about Ziaja. This is my favorite face cream right now. It's really cheap. I forgot how much it cost me, but it really is. You can just go to any Beauty Bar store, and you'll find different types of face creams, eye creams, and other skin care protection stuff from Ziaja. You can also click here for their website.

So that's it for now.

xoxo

Skydreamer Dines in Cebu: Sunburst

...So hubby and I ate in Sunburst SM yesterday for lunch-- and I know a lot of people are gonna think I'm weird after this, but I don't really like their chicken that much. I can cook a meaner fried chicken than what they have, but then that's just me.

I'm gonna post a picture later, but it's not mine...or better yet, I'm just not gonna post a picture so I won't get hate mails or suits or anything for that matter. You can just google sunburst chicken cebu for the pictures. (I don't have a camera right now. The camera I have, the one I share with my sister is in Malaysia -- she's there for 8 days, visiting her boyfriend. Hey sissy and Teddy! *waves*)

First of all, hubbydoo LOVES sunburst. He loves their chicken, their coleslaw and french fries, and chicken skin.He just loves it. We ate there because he wanted to.

Let me explain. He had always wanted to eat in Sunburst with me. He claims he has only eaten there with his family since he was a kid. Now, I'm no Sunburst child. My childhood was really delicious home cooked fare: leche flan, veggies, fish and chicken and pork and meat...spaghetti, macaroni...that kind of stuff. We didn't eat out a lot. We did, but not a lot. My mom was so much into the health food diet, and we looked great when we were kids. (we really did!)

Anyway, so back to Sunburst. I have eaten there in the past like maybe once, and I didn't like it at all. The food is oily (it's okay if it's oily, but I want to have an underlying taste of butter, and their food didn't).

So I ended up giving a chunk of my lunch to my husband who was happily chowing down his food. So for everyone out there who loves Sunburst, hats off to you. A lot of you do, including my husband. Granted, their food is great. But it's just not my cup of tea -- or chicken for the matter.

xoxo

Book Review: Staying Sensational After Saying I Do

Okay, so this is not exactly a book review. I'm writing about this book, because I'm loving it. I had this book since -- I don't know...back in December? April?... Anyway, I have read this book before, but I didn't really appreciate it because I thought it was boring.

But then I stumbled on the book again the other day and started reading it again. I realized this book isn't something you need to read from cover to cover in one seating. This is more of a reference or a self-help book, and you kind of go over it when you need it or something.

Anyway, like I said, I have been reading it, and it's amazing. It answers all tricky questions like, "Do I have to say goodbye to my exes?" and duh-yeah. It's impossible to make two men who have both seen you naked into good friends. -- That was in the book! It was so hilarious, but it also made a lot of sense.

Useful stuff like how to manage your last names, how to decorate your new nest if you have different style views (or if your guy has no style), how to become a domestic goddess (which I am so NOT, but I want to be anyhow), how to handle spats, and how to have a wonderful life together starting NOW.

So you see, it is really a great book. The author says you don't have to be matronly in matrimony, and she's got it! I mean, this is how I look like and I'm married (and I gave birth already!):