A Thousand Splendid Suns

“One could not count the moons

that shimmer on her roofs,

or the thousand splendid suns

that hide behind her walls.”

There is no better way to jump start a year for a book lover like me, than to spend it with a good book. So on the third day of January, I went to our company’s mini library to search for the first novel to welcome another year of good read. So there I found Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. And after just three days of reading it, I said to myself… “how about that for a good start!”

A Thousand Splendid Suns is about Afghanistan as told through the story of two different women and how their fate intertwine in the middle of love and war. It’s about their dreams, their realities, their struggles and their own share of happy endings.

While I’m reading it, I realized how thankful I am to be born in my country, and in my time, where women is treated with utmost equality and respect. It gives me this realization, though, that it’s not always the same with other countries, specially on the other side of the globe.

But in the middle of those pages I celebrated with them the struggle and the pain of being a woman. I rejoiced with them the gift of wisdom and strength that only women possess.

Khaled Hosseini did a great job after his bestselling novel Kite Runner. Wonderfully written, vivid and nostalgic.

Hair free for the holidays!

No pain, no gain!

That's exactly what I was thinking when I was there, lying on one of the beds in Lay Bare Salon, trying their service for the first time. Oh, yeah.. that was eerr... painful, considering my low pain tolerance, but it was worth it, specially that it gave me the extra right to wear my legs during the holiday company parties. Fair enough, fair enough!

I was one of those unfortunate women endowed with curly, man-like hair down to their legs. Blame it on my dad and his genes, plus having to wear skinny pants all day back in college and now, in the office. I even joke myself about being all sexy and girly, but being mistaken as a gay when they look at my lower leg. hoho. how awful! So when I was getting ready for the party, with my dress, accessories, shoes and nails all done, I thought a waxing service will complete all the details.. Why not?!

Was it really painful? No, not really. Just some funny itchy, tingling sensation on my skin specially after that wax, made of Honey, Sugar, and Kalamansi, pulled off those hair. I was actually half laughing, and wincing with every strip. Good thing the attendant was more than emphatic when she noticed that that was my first time in their salon. Whhhoooo! Ouch!

After just like, 10 minutes, it was done!

My half leg smooth and hairless. Yes! The attendant said I can enjoy being hair free for at least 3 to four weeks before I have to go back again to another round of hair removing because a regular waxing service further smoothen skin and makes the hair re-growth sparser. Talk about maintenance.

So if you're going to party the next time, or going to a beach holiday this summer, why not try some hair waxing, that will surely add up to your right to show some skin baby! :)

*check out their salon in MOA, Alabang or Las Pinas, or just go to their site, lay-bare.com, for more details. :)

What's for your exchange gift? :P

In our wishlist, I asked for a stuffed toy, specifically "yung malambot at masarap yakapin", but I got more than I've wished for. :)

I got this as an exchange gift from Sir Borge, these three sweet little bears. I'm still deciding on what name I should call each of them, but I want to call one of them Borge, in honor of their giver. :P

So, how about you.. what did you get for your exchange gift? :)

What is lost and what is gained with a camera..

I went out with my officemates to watch the latest installment of Harry Potter on IMAX at the SM Mall of Asia last night, and although none of us is a fanatic of the Boy who lived, that experience was really something worth every penny. I was even excited to try watching inside imax theater, so I made sure to bring our digital camera with me, you know, so I can have a memory of the first time I watched on that BIG screen. But I guess I was just too busy laughing so hard with my friends, and enjoying the moment that I actually forgot about my camera altogether.

Somehow, it's sad that I can't post a photo of that experience on my facebook, or I can't even put a picture here in my blog. Surely, it will be a lot of fun if I only took sometime to point and shoot with my camera, then there will be more thread in my comment box. But somehow, I felt like that day was meant to be felt and enjoyed rather than to be shared or preserved. Somehow it felt like a precious second will pass me by if I've let myself pose still in front of a camera, or maybe our smiles won't be that genuine compared to how I saw it with my bare eyes.

With the presence of digital cameras and DSLR made more affordable, I guess people is beginning to have this clamor for framing every possible moment with their favorite gadget. A camera is viewed most essential in an outing, family affairs, group dates, and get together. And although something is gained with a digital camera, I guess some people is starting to be unaware of what is lost within a lens and a shutter.

Hmmm.. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with taking photos, of course we all want a remembrance of that once in a lifetime moment, right? Especially for those functions that happens once a year, or some that won't even happen again, I guess having a camera is a must. It preserves memories, it gives us a proof of something that happened, "hindi lang puro kwento..". But after all the "say cheese!", is it not nice to keep your gadget and just talk and mingle with everyone else?

I guess our mind is blessed with its own way of recording things although some people may have shorter term memory than the most. Our heart has its way of recalling how happy we were at a certain moment. We can even be our own story tellers, we can tell a story that is more vivid than a photograph.

If you'll only consider it, there are things that are better caught with your own memory rather than with a piece of memory stick. There are things that is more beautiful when you see it with your eyes, rather than through a lens. There are sounds, like that of your friend's laughter, that you can't hear from a printed photograph. There are moments that is more meaningful to relive over a simple chitchat that can't be replaced by your comment box. I guess, no matter how handy a digital camera is, your heart is still be best place to keep those memories, those laughters, or that awkward moment.

So flash your sweetest smile not just for the camera, but because someone might be trying to keep a memory of it in his mind. Who knows, he might even keep it in his heart forever.