Laughing with Catriona Gray

This new video, “One Minute with Catriona Gray” had us entertained and laughing our stress away. 2018 Ms. Universe Catriona Gray and BDO created the video as part of their “Find Your Way” campaign to inspire Millennials to enjoy life while finding their own paths to their dreams and aspirations.

While watching the video, we see Catriona truly enjoying herself during her Q&A interview. In fact, she laughs practically after every question in the first couple of seconds. She doesn’t only give us delightful snippets, glimpses, and trivia about herself but also shows us the lighter, funnier side of life. Who knew this beauty queen is devoted to adobo and halo-halo? Or that french fries are her cheat day fave?

She calls herself “such a lola” for preferring to stay home on a Saturday night and laughs a bright, hearty laugh with a sparkle in her eyes as she plays with different accents. If a person’s laugh is a window to her soul and personality, then Catriona’s would seem to show that she’s easy-going, confident, and open to life’s possibilities. Her laughter rings with such a free-spirited vibe that is at the same time sincere and authentic.

During the video, she also talks about how important it is for each person, millennials like her in particular, to find their own way in life--whether it be for success and achievement, for relationships, or personal happiness.

She tells us to stop comparing ourselves with others and seek our own path, go through our own journey--that way, what we attain in the end is true to our real selves. And we can do it in as fun and joyful a manner as Catriona does!

We don’t need to be a beauty queen or some other celebrity to savor the joys of life. Genuine, deep-down joy and laughter are for us to experience no matter who we are, and even if we’re facing challenging circumstances. Sometimes, really, it takes a giggle, or an outright laugh, to get us through stressful moments.

So yes, go ahead and look at life’s lighter, brighter, and funny side. You can do it (and perhaps laugh exactly like Catriona, if you want to)! Start by watching this video collaboration of Catriona Gray and BDO: you’ll be smiling and even laughing, and be refreshed and optimistic about life again.


To know more about BDO's Find Your Way campaign, visit https://www.bdo.com.ph/findyourway

How to get Php1000 DoNation from Maine Mendoza thru GCash App

Maine Mendoza announced on her social media Facebook account that she is launching the DoNation Drive to help Filipinos during this difficult times due to Corona Virus-COVID19 that is affecting the whole world that is now in Pandemic state of a global health crisis.

The drive will be providing Php1000 per household for food and other essentials and will be sent out via Gcash application.

All in need of this assistance may send an email to DoNation.drive@yahoo.com with your proof of employment (company ID) that was limited to go to work due to the lockdown. In her additional post, this assistance is not limited to employed workers alone, Public Utility Vehicles of jeepneys, tricycles, buses and the rest can apply also. You must also include the Gcash number where they will be sending the financial assistance.

More information below:

I will personally facilitate all the donations and I will TRY my best to accommodate as many people as I can. 🙂 I will also provide proof of transactions to the donors for transparency purposes if they wish. Again, your share, no matter how big or small, will surely go a long way. Let’s DO this!

The actress also said that she will try to assists as many as possible. This is such a great move from Maine Mendoza, kudos!



***Want to help the DoNation Drive?
SEND cash donations via GCash to 09563890291.

Press Release: BDO operations normal, but on guard vs. COVID-19

BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) wishes to assure the general public that it is Business-as-Usual (BAU) in all of the Bank’s branches and offices even with the “Community Quarantine” imposed in Metro Manila in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Bank will continue to service the requirements of its clients through its more than 1,400 branches nationwide, complemented by over 4,400 ATMs and digital channels via internet and mobile platforms.

To provide uninterrupted service to its customers and at the same time safeguard employee well-being, BDO has activated its Business Continuity Plan (BCP) as well as implemented precautionary workplace measures.

The Bank’s BCP has back-up sites for critical functions such as client servicing, trading and treasury, operations and information technology, while key personnel has also been identified to man both critical and non-critical units to ensure banking operations continue even in the event of a severe business disruption.

Meanwhile, information campaigns on health preparedness and preventive measures are being applied across the whole BDO network to fight the spread of the virus. These measures include travel restrictions, controlled entry through designated points equipped with thermal scanners and personal disinfectants, and protocols on visitors, meetings, and events.

To date, the impact of COVID-19 has been limited with the Bank experiencing normal loan and deposit growth. However, the longer-term impact is uncertain and will depend on the COVID-19’s duration, depth, and scale. With its robust business franchise and solid balance sheet, BDO believes it will remain resilient in the face of this current challenge.

About BDO

BDO is a full-service universal bank that provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services.  These services include traditional loan and deposit products, as well as treasury, trust banking, investment banking, private banking, rural banking, cash management, leasing and finance, remittance, insurance, retail cash cards, and credit card services.  

BDO has the country’s largest distribution network, with over 1,400 consolidated operating branches and more than 4,400 ATMs nationwide.  It also has 22 overseas remittance and representative offices (including full-service branches in Hong Kong and Singapore) in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

BDO ranked as the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management based on published statements of condition as of December 31, 2019. For more information, please visit www.bdo.com.ph.

WHO Declared COVID-19 as GLOBAL PANDEMIC- INFOGRAPHIC

A pandemic is a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide.

"In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic"- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

***Credits to the owners of the photos used. 

Mother's Day Gifting Ideas

***This is a sponsored post, this article is written by me, opinions and views are 100% mine.

From my recent blog post about Mother's Day gift ideas, here is another suggestion that you can rely on to make your life easy in getting a Mother's Day gift for your Mom or your wife. 

A set of personalized necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets which she will love to wear every day and even for special occasions! 

This also speaks for me, I love receiving and giving accessories and pieces of jewelry for occasions like this. I believe that jewelry that one's wear speaks for one's personality. 

Moreover, personalized jewelry can be relatable to one's tradition and believes. It can depict the culture of a location of people, level of trading, and exchange of commodities. Precious metals of gold and silver are considered as one the expensive metals; along with precious rocks like the diamond. 

Customized name necklaces have gone a long way, and in recent times it is becoming a sense of fashion and style. But, no matter how one sees the value of the said jewelry- the manner, time, occasion and the person who gives it makes it more even sentimental in value.  

It was known that necklaces were the earliest type of adornment worn by humans. 

And, because of technology, you can check out pieces of personalized jewelry online. Online stores provide a wide array of styles! I spend hours and hours browsing through pages of Getnamenecklace and I couldn't stop looking at their beautiful pieces of necklaces, you can read more here.

I am eyeing this silver necklace for my Mom and the gold chain necklace as a gift this coming Mother's Day. I know they will love these pieces that they can wear every day. I just have to decide the length I will be getting them. 

As a gift to myself, I am also considering one with my name on a necklace, but for my piece, a combination of silver and gold would be lovely.  

How about you guys? Are you ready for the coming Mother's Day, time to window shop online and check out the perfect gift for her? 

MY CURRENT SKINCARE PRODUCTS, WHAT'S YOURS?

Hi guys, it's almost weekend already! How excited are you for the coming weekend. Any plans of going somewhere, a weekend barbeque with family and friends or just a staycation with the fam?

Whether going away or just staying at home, do not forget to care for your skin.

I enjoy weekends with some unplanned trips along with some weekend house errands and never to forget my routine daytime and nighttime skincare regimen.

Dove Baby wipes (50sheets), I'm using it to remove make-up and it is doing its job quite good. 

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water with Argan Oil- best for removing eye make-up especially the waterproof mascara. 

Olay Active Hydrating Facial Moisturizer, basically my skin moisturizer after shower.

Céleteque DermoScience Brightening Eye Tuck plus Dark Circles Lightener - using a small size amount for under and the sides of the eyes. 

Proactiv 60-Day Kit- starting to use the kit as added cleansing and moisturizing products. It has a complete set from cleansing to moisturizing and toner per tube. 

What are your skincare products currently in use?  

Since I have been applying make-up all week long for work, I tend to have my skin relaxed and free from make-up on weekends.

I just emptied some skincare products that I have been using for months and I am up with some new ones, some of them were brought and some were sent to me as PR tokens.

Crazy Skin Lifting Mask + Eye Cream- Korean Glass Skin? | First Impression

My first impression on this Crazy Skin lifting face mask and eye cream!

I got this Crazy Skin lifting face mask and eye cream at the Sampleroom website a few months back, this is a free product which a member can purchase using accumulated points in exchange with the available products on their site. This came along with the rest of the products that were available at that time. 

At Sampleroom the products are free, I only paid for the shipping cost. Crazy Skin face mask is available at all leading beauty stores and department stores for Php150/ $3 per pack. 

The pack has two steps to follow.

Applying the Crazy Lifting Mask tencel sheet. I am not quite sure if the tencel sheet and the face mask should be applied at the same time. Since there were no instructions for it and I don't want to waste the essence from the tencel I applied it both.

There's a lot left essence in the pack and decided to apply it on the mask.

Leaving the essence for 8 minutes and removed the sheets.

Peeling off the tencel sheet with a semi-dried essence. I rubbed in the remaining essence that was in the top layer mask to dry for another 10-minutes.

After 10 minutes this was my face looks; dry and sticky.

The essence that dried up in my neck looks very weird, as you can see, ugh! 

After rinsing off the dried essence which was very easy to do, my skin feels soft and fresh.

The second step of this Crazy Skin care pack is the eye cream.

Tearing the bottom portion of the mask for the eye cream pack.

This is what the cream consistency looks like.

Applying it first on the sides of my eyes, giving emphasis on the lines and crows feet which was very evident when smiling.

Although it says in the pack that it's an eye cream, it can also be applied on the whole face.

The cream was light but it left a greasy feel. It did not absorb easily.

After applying all the cream on my face I massage by tapping it lightly. 

My overall experience with Crazy Skin Lifting face mask and eye cream:

1. The scent was nice it doesn't have that strong sting smell of the essence.
2. Using the tencel sheet and the face mask can be so intriguing at first.
3. When the essence dried-up the skin feels tight especially around the eyelids, side of the lips, forehead, and neck area.
4. It is quite messy to apply.
5. Easy when rinsing off.
6. The eye cream left a greasy feel, the scent of the cream has a hint of a floral scent.

Overall, claiming to have a Korean glass skin when used, maybe with continuous use of this mask you can achieve that claim, not with one or single-use only.

I would love to continue using this product in the future and add this to my weekly mask beauty regimen. 

Have you tried this before, what was the experience? 

For full video watch here> 

The Concept of Studying Online and Earning at the Same Time

***This is a sponsored post, this article is written by me, opinions and views are 100% mine.

With the unprecedented health issues regarding CoVid-19 that affected a large scope population worldwide, the economic, health, education and financial stability of countries are greatly affected. 

I view this current health situation as a downfall and seize of continuous learning for students around the world and a stoppage of the educational workforce. Classroom set-up cannot push-through with face-to-face learning to prevent and protect student and teacher to be contracted with the said virus. Although we are accustomed to the traditional way of learning by going to school daily, right now we need to consider things by staying at home and missing classroom set-up. The down-side scenario of schools temporarily shutting down coincide with the pause of learning. 

As a parent, we are alarmed with this situation, we cannot take the risk of our kids by exposing them outside whilst the government precautionary measures. 

What we can do so that our kids' learning won't stop? 

Even before this health situation outbreak, online education is being practiced worldwide. This is the key to continuous learning for our kids and also the employment status of online educators won't be disrupted. 

There are tons of learning resources on the web, and sometimes it can take a lot of time in doing so. OneClass.com is a site where you can access study guides for homework materials. Based on what I browsed almost everything you need for learning is there. 

They provide study resources such as; class notes, textbook notes, study guides, exam solution and for the teacher's perspective- an exam preparation can be accessible too. 

Homework solutions for subjects like Accounting, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, History, and more can be found there. 

Not only that learners can benefit from this site, but they also provide earning to qualified applicants as an Official Note Taker and earn $470/course. 

There is so much one can get by going online, but taking the right step towards online learning requires guidance. And, I believe sites like this can provide such guidance.  

Amidst the worldwide health situation, we cannot stop learning, especially the kids. We need to provide education and learning continuously. 

"Learning Never Stops". 

Tagaytay Medical Center's Healthcare Stories during Taal Volcano Eruption

On January 12, 2020, one of the scenic and active volcano in the Philippines the Taal Volcano located in the province of Batangas erupted. 

International and local news along with the widespread information on different social media sites updates the situation of the affected communities and the nearby provinces. 

Taal Volcano was on Alert Level 4 in just hours upon the detection of the volcanic activity, Tagaytay was faced with massive power outages, water shortages, and intermittent cellphone signals. As the situation turned worse, it also affected the health workers’ like the Tagaytay Medical Center (TMC) in terms of their personal and family lives. Nonetheless, they remained unfazed and dedicated to their call of serving patients in need during this emergency. TMC is part of the Mount Grace Hospitals Inc.

As a healthcare worker myself, the call of duty is the standing ground along with the innate response of serving the people in need. 

Tagaytay's population of 71 thousand doubles on weekends and holidays. Taal erupted on a Sunday that is why the surge of patients in the ER of TMC was unimaginable. TMC is located by the Tagaytay Rotonda, the city's most populated area. 

Around 50 patients were brought to TMC-Emergency Room on Jan 12 and 13; with cases related to respiratory and allergic reactions, some have pre-existing illnesses and were triggered by the condition, some cases were vehicular accidents.

Luther Melodias, an ER Nurse at Tagaytay Medical Center expressed his initial thoughts: "Unang unang pumasok sa isip ko is safety naming lahat. Safety ng mga pasyente, mga staff at syempre ng family ko. Iniisip ko din kung paano maililipat ng matiwasay ang mga pasyente."

And, during the height of the situation responding to patient's needs along with the numerous earthquake: "The scenario was very scary, stressful and traumatic. Kasi maya't maya nalindol sa hospital at nawawalan pa ng kuryente." 

How they are coping up with the stress of responding to patients: "I prayed for our safety, and trusted my colleagues during the time of calamity."

Patients' safety was paramount, amidst the chaos, ambulances from TMC and other Mount Grace Hospitals began ferrying-in patients especially ICU-patients from TMC to other MG hospitals and other nearby medical centers.

Ms. Ganate an ICU Head Nurse of TMC on handling and transferring a patient from TMC to Westlake Medical Center: "During evacuation time the patient again experienced difficulty of breathing. The doctor made a thorough assessment and made orders. Nurses carried out orders and closely monitored the patient. When the patient was more stable, the transfer was then facilitated."

Dr. Francis Olaso, an ER Doctor and a Resident on duty: "I was honestly preoccupied with the safety of our patients at that time, especially those admitted in the ICU. I was also thinking of how I would respond to the situation given the unpredictability of the said calamity."

A patient and a resident of Tagaytay who is diagnosed with Acute respiratory failure secondary to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) arrived in TMC-ER on January 14, he was intubated attached to the medical ventilator. The patients' family initially wanted to move to another hospital, eventually settled in because of the quality of care provided by TMC's facilities, doctors and staff. "We are really grateful that we do not need to look for another hospital. The staff is friendly and kind. We were well-received and treated with great attention."

Why is there a need to move patients to other MG hospitals? 

• Because of the surge of Tagaytay's population during the time of the eruption they felt that it is best to join forces with their sister hospitals in providing the best healthcare emergency resources. 
• TMC bayanihan/synergy is the move that allows patients to get the continuity of care from one hospital to another accredited hospital. 

The South Cluster hospitals of Mount Grace Hospitals, Inc. (MGHI), comprising of TMC, Westlake Medical Center (WMC), and HealthServ Los Banos Medical Center (HSLB). Their response to Taal Volcano’s eruption serves as an example of how hospitals should respond to disasters if a natural calamity strikes major urban locations.

After the first week of the Taal eruption, TMC conducted relief operations and medical missions along with the South Cluster group in the affected communities. TMC with the continuous effort to caution residents and Tagaytay tourists to wear a face mask to prevent inhalation of volcanic ash and wear shades for eye protection. 

Awareness within the community not only to the affected locality should be conducted, giving emphasis to the so-called "The Big One". 

TMC's healthcare personnel standing firm and dedicated to serving the community. 

Going Blonde for a Hair Color

I convinced myself to go something bold for hair color and again DIY'ing my hair color is the practical and money-saving move I always go for. 

For today's post, I will be featuring this brand of hair color that I got from Watsons, LifeStrong Hairfix hair coloring shampoo in the shade of Platinum Blond for $1.40/Php69 per pack. It says in the packaging that it is enriched with olive oil extract. LifeStrong Hairfix Platinum Blond Hair Coloring Shampoo claims to give a vibrant color to your hair. 

I was intrigued by the easy 4-steps process. The package includes; hair coloring shampoo and two (2) disposal gloves. 

Direction for use:

1. Unpack and cut the Hair Coloring Shampoo Sachet in the corner. Wear the gloves provided and squeeze contents into palm and mix.
2. Apply the mixture evenly on your slightly wet hair. Then massage the hair from the roots to tip until it lathers. Avoid contact with eyes.
3. Keep it on your hair for 20-25 minutes.
4. Add a small amount of water into hair until it lathers. Rinse it with water.

Check out the video I made using LifeStrong Hairfix hair coloring shampoo below: 

My verdict using the product: 

In the true sense of reality versus expectations, this is a good example of this. I was expecting a bigger and bold change when I applied the hair colorant knowing that my hair with a slightly dark brown color. That is why I believe that the color shade was a fail.  

          

After a week of applying the hair color, it starting to show-off a more vibrant shade and I am beginning to like it.  

                     

About the application of the product, I find it so easy, no-mess and it did not leave any color stains to my scalp and skin which was a plus factor. The scent was not that strong too unlike other hair colorants I've used which have a strong ammonia scent. 

Although it was a fail expected color I am beginning to like it. 

What do you think about my DIY hair color? 

Mother's Day is just Around the Corner

***This is a sponsored post, this article is written by me, opinions and views are 100% mine.

The day is passing by so fast, Valentines Day just went by so quickly and in just a few months, Mother's Day is almost here! 

With all the flowers, chocolates and dinner treat for our family and special someone, we are now again, focused with one of the best people in our lives, our Mother! The word Mother comes in many different words, in many different languages and dialects. 

Mom, Mum, Mommy, Ma, Nanay, Ina, Inay, and a lot more to mention. 

"Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May."

This person also comes in many different personas, a mother does not only apply to that biological person who bears you throughout the pregnancy but also to the psychological aspect of being a mother. A person you can rely on and be your confidant. The mother figures no matter what gender it possesses. 

One way to show our gratitude and love to our dearest Moms is by sending or even personally giving them some gifts. As a Mom myself, simple gestures such as flowers can mean a lot to me, those vibrant and colorful bunch of flowers can make a big difference in this celebration. Because flowers are worldwide available and with the technology nowadays, you can order or even locate the nearest flower delivery service in your locality. There are a lot of mobile applications or you can search the internet where you can key in, eg. "best NYC florist" and everything is there, and also payments can be easily transacted too! 

There is no way or any excuse for you not to remember your Mom this coming Mother's Day, show them how you appreciate and remember them by sending them flowers. 

More Mother's Day tips to come... 

xoxo