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Remember that day in January when I tweeted about my having been gifted with the PLDT Telpad? Well, guess what! Even better.

I found out that from Feb 1 to 8, 2012 you could actually WIN one, just by tweeting your answer to the question: 

“Why do you want to change your landline to a PLDT Telpad?” Tweet your answer together with the hashtag #tomorrowslandline

Here's an example: “I want to own a landline that will let me play with android apps too! #tomorrowslandline” 

There will be a total of 9 winners chosen to get a 3 months plan P1849 with up to 1mbps PLDT myDSL internet speed! 

The Telpad unit to be given away is  the Wave 2.3 (PHOTO BELOW)

REMEMBER: NO HASHTAG, NO ENTRY. ONLY ENTRIES WITH THE HASHTAG #tomorrowslandline ARE VALID OR ACCEPTED.

Now, of course, every contest has rules, so here are some you may want to check out, just to be clear:

If you're NOT presently a PLDT DSL and landline subscriber, you'll have to pay for the installation fee;

If you continue the subscription and stay for 24 months, the Php5,500 unit cost will be waived altogether; and

If you decide to discontinue, then you just have to return the Wave 2.3 unit :)

I've been getting a lotta tweets about people having FMCC™ on their Christmas wish lists! Here now are NEW COLORS of our pique polo shirts now available! Hurry! It's so FUN to collect! Comes in SIX colors in both His and Hers styles.

Here, Elmo wears the pique polo in royal blue. But he LOVES all the colors, which is why he actually art-directed that shot above, himself, which you can find on his Instagram page. 

(Yes, I am using it with his permission, thanks, Moe!)

We've also got the button-down plaid shirts, in both long and short sleeves, in different color combinations. The patterns and most especially the fabric of our shirts are carefully and personally chosen by yours truly, always! BOW! 

We also have the NEW FMCC™ Insignia Jean (not in photo) which has a twist to the placement of the logo and has Spandex™ added to the denim. It's an upgrade of our now-famous Fits All Original Jean. Available at all 15 branches of 3 Stars & A Sun and also online at www.francismclothing.com wherein we SHIP WORLDWIDE*.

Happy Christmas and Happy Shopping!

To celebrate how AMAZING 2011 has been so far, Multiply will be throwing a party the best way it knows how: a first-of-its-kind shopping party that will bring to life the unique online shopping experience that only Multiply can offer! 

This by-invitation-only event will bring to life some of Multiply’s top online shops. Guests will be treated to a fashion show to showcase pieces from Multiply shops. 

Live performances will also amp the festivities with music from Pinoy rock band Techy Romantics and a performance by DJ Mars Miranda! 

Well, I have been invited to attend this special shopping event and I am actually giving away TWENTY INVITES to my Twitter followers! Whee! 

All you have to do is tweet me @piamagalona a link to your favorite Multiply Marketplace store and WHY you LOVE that store so much! There are 15 categories to choose from:

Fashion and Accessories

Shoes

Beauty and Health

Jewelry and Watches

Fragrances and Perfume

Kids

Baby and Toddler

Electronics and Cell Phones

Computers and Accessories

Movies, Music, Games and Books

Home and Garden

Collectibles and Art

Sports and Outdoors

Professional Services

Car Parts and Accessories

Here now is another treat: the reed diffuser by Amber Lights Laguna. 

This scenting uses the principle of being real as it is made of essential oils. My mom LOVES these. Yes, mom has even higher standards than I and is so much harder to please! But Amber Lights Laguna has been given the "thumbs up." Best of all, it's Philippine-made!

Great to know that Updated Trends, who carries Amber Lights Laguna is now a Trusted Seller in the Multiply Marketplace! Place your orders here and Like their facebook for updates on the latest bazaars they are joining! Now that Christmas is just around the corner, this would be a most welcome gift to your dear ones. 

As my friends would say: "Clazz!"

Available in 5 scents, tastefully labeled and at only Php425 each:

White Tea - very light and lingering, great for dining room

Day at the Spa - good for powder rooms and baths

Citronella - a mainstay, to deflect mosquitoes n other bugs

Scotch Pine - Happy Holidaze in gathering areas such as the den and living room

Green Tea & Lemongrass - great for the kitchen

Believe me, I've tried them all and found these specific areas to put them in! 

BE THE NEXT TATTOO BILLBOARD CELEBRITY AND WIN CASH PRIZES 

Flaunt your originality and get creative as you deviate from the norm with a distinct flair of radical and inspired imagination. Globe-powered Tattoo gives everyone the chance to manifest their individuality and wear their choice proud. As the #1 most preferred broadband in the country, Tattoo lets you express yourself as you show off your unique personality to get the chance to be literally seen on a LED billboard along EDSA Paragon, Lawton, and Katipunan. 

Clicking has never been so rewarding—in order to join, simply “Like” the Tattoo Facebook page to access the “I Choose Tattoo” Facebook App where you can upload your picture. Photos to be submitted must highlight the phrase “I CHOOSE TATTOO” on a body part and can be written, tattooed, painted or done in any manner as long as it’s visible. 

Participants who wish to join should also keep in mind that photos with profanity, foul language, and nudity will automatically be disqualified. 

The image should include the user’s face and must specifically be 300dpi and at least 5” x 7” in size. Tattoo will be the sole judge for each submitted picture based on the following criteria:  

Edgy and Fierce look - 40%; 

Originality and creativity of the I CHOOSE TATTOO design - 40% and 

Over-all impact of the photo - 20% 

Each valid photo entry gets the chance to win awesome prizes from Globe. Eight (8) winners will be chosen from a Weekly Raffle Draw and will each get P20,000 in cash. On the 25th of November, a Grand Raffle Draw will be held to determine the two lucky winners who will each receive P35,000 cash, a Samsung Galaxy Tab and a Tattoo MyFi Stick for easy access to the net—anytime, anywhere. 

The promo is open to all interested Facebook users in the Philippines. Deadline of submission of entries is on November 17, 2011. 

To know more about the complete mechanics and rules, log on to www.facebook.com/globetattoo and click on the I Choose Tattoo Facebook App. Globe/Tattoo reserves the right to conduct further validation of entries before acceptance and awarding of prize. 

So it's the  FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER! Yehey!!! For the true-blue Filipino who loves to have any reason to celebrate, this is such a big deal because it only means CHRISTMAS is coming very soon. This early, the very first Christmas song will be playing on your radios!

Well, after being so excited about the onset of Christmas, the next thing we feel is PANIC! Yes, because each year we try to outdo our gift-giving from the previous year, not just to try and impress others, but more so because we want to be UNIQUE in what those dearest to us will be receiving. 

Well, I'm so happy because I feel I'm a step ahead because I think I'm onto something big: I recently received notice that the Multiply Marketplace has recently evolved into an E-COMMERCE site, making it even more convenient for those of us who love shopping online!

Isn't that just great! PLUS, there are THOUSANDS of online shops to choose from! Whee!

Look for shops on Multiply that have the Trusted Seller badge, which just means that every item you purchase from these sellers is covered with the Buyer Protection Plan. There are also several SAFE options to pay, such as G-cash, PayPal, BPI and BDO.

When you see an item that you'd like to purchase, just select your options and quantity, then click on the Buy Now button. The item will be added to your shopping cart. Click on Continue Shopping to return to the shop and find more items, or click on Proceed to Checkout to complete your purchase. You can add many items to your cart, from a single shop or from multiple shops, and then complete your purchase with a single payment.

Coolness! My eldest daughter, Unna, just tweeted: "can we make a wishlist for Christmas?" Well, I'm going to ask them all to use their Multiply accounts and check out the Marketplace where they can just keep adding items to their cart, making it easier for them to complete that wishlist! 

So, if you still aren't on Multiply, create your account now and check out the Marketplace! I'll be posting my finds in the days to come and you're all welcome to share yours with me too! 

So Elmo and I attended TWO premieres of GMA Films' latest outing, of which he is one of the lead stars. This photo is from the one at Podium, held at 4PM, Saturday.

The movie was so well-made by director Mark Reyes, from a script by Kit Villanueva-Langit. It's no mean feat for someone to have to put together into less than 2hours, a story that featured all of TWELVE artists, and still come out of it with logic:

Joshua Dionisio

Barbie Forteza

Bea Binene

Jake Vargas

Alden Richards

Louise delos Reyes

Kristofer Martin

Joyce Ching

Lexi Fernandez

Derick Monasterio

Yassi Pressman and

Elmo Magalona

plus several supporting cast members: Sam Pinto, Nadia Montenegro, Bobby Andrews, Angelu de Leon, Pinky Amador and Yayo Aguila. 

With cameos by Chuckie Dreyfus, Tim Yap, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, Kuya Germs, Alodia Gosiengfiao, and even Mark Herras, Ynna Asistio, Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera! 

Then there's the highly anticipated appearance of the lovely Julie Anne San Jose, who brings the house down and the movie to a close, with her beautiful voice and effortless singing!

In all, it was such a fun movie! Very entertaining and polished, especially the mix of animated effects used in the story of the characters of Barbie and Joshua. I also LOVED the character of Bea Binene, as she portrayed a headstrong teenager who also just wanted her best pal, Jake's character, to treat her like a young lady.

Of course, Elmo's character's story was centered on his relationships with both his Mother (well played by Ms Nadia Montenegro) and his female teacher (Sam Pinto), women who had the most influence on his transition years, as the other two female mainstays in his life--characters played by Barbie and Bea--we only consider as his peers. As such, all three of them are passing thru the same life stage with difficulty.

Other issues presented here in the stories of their characters are: fear of rejection (Alden and Louise), the origins of bullying (Derick), the pressure of being the most popular in school (Lexi and Yassi), AND the torture of keeping your relationship secret from your unreasonably strict parents (Kristofer and Joyce). 

See how their stories all come together in Tween Academy: Class of 2012. It's for both parents and children, also for barkadas, to see together. 

You may say it's the same old adolescent coming-of-age story, but it's a mighty good rendition of that old standard, I have to say! Congratulations to everyone who worked on this production... a job well done! 

So, yesterday I was at a meeting at our www.theonecore.com offices (yes, we have TWO rooms yey!) with Koi, Ria and Banjo Albano who's new on board as our Marketing person. We started talking about choices of schools for his daughter who's moving up to the "big school." We all agreed that the non-traditional--or progressive--type of school would still be the best decision. We recently launched Born To Be a Hero at Fully Booked in Boni High Street and, though sales have been decent, we want to be true to ourselves about getting our message across: that only when you do find your true core can you begin to lead a successful life. Success in the TRUE sense, mind you. (Just you wait, because Banjo is to come up with the RIGHT definition of success haha.) At this point, you must remember that there are hearings going on regarding all sorts of corruption cases in the military and the government. These anomalies in the way people in authority routinely operate always inspires me to push OneCORE even more. I just really want more of the next generation, or even those who are still open enough to adapt, to think of the country first before themselves. To not be greedy at all and to be more gracious, generous and content. So we threw ideas around and somehow the idea of going to Cebu kept cropping up:

Koi said that we could hold the same book launch at Fully Booked's Cebu branch because they are more than eager to have us.

Ria kept trying to enter CebuPac's Piso Fare Promo website.

Banjo said he would be going to Cebu quite often on different business.

I'd recently been to Cebu with the Family for Sinulog and then I saw an ad online announcing Bruno Mars LIVE in Cebu! (Yup, that too was a sign!)

I've always liked framed works of art, such as sketches, paintings and photographs. Even those dried leaves--as long as they're framed nicely--catch my eye. At the same time, I love children's artwork. I've saved my children's kindergaten projects and their random drawings with the plan to eventually put them in frames and decorate the house with them. Then again, y'all know I'm a procrastinator of the first order so that's that. Anyway, so I came across this exhibit at the Shang Mall right after Franz died. I was so enthralled by the talent of the artist that right there and then, I purchased three of her works. Her name is Clarissa and she is the daughter of Malu Tiongson-Ortiz, whom I dealt with in purchasing the artworks. Although I had already paid for the paintings, I was told that I could not bring them home with me as the exhibit was still ongoing. I didn't mind, and made arrangements to pick them up at a later date. Well, that turned out to be MUCH later... maybe more than a year later, would you believe! I am actually posting this in celebration of my finally being able to hang the beautiful works of Clarissa in one of my condos, and I proudly share them with you.

I had never heard of Clarissa before that exhibit at Shang Mall and I'm so glad I did! I was pleasantly surprised to also find out that a few articles have been written about here, as she is--literally--a very gifted child. 

In fact, here are two articles I would like to also share with you. The first one is titled The Special Child as a Special Blessing and the other is from the Manila Bulletin, called There Is a Reason for Special Children.

From the time I purchased these three works to when I finally had them collected, just before the year ended, Clarissa has made several more paintings and Malu has sent me photos of these via email. I am excited to find out if my choice is still available. Can't wait! This time, I will have it picked up straightaway! 

So, I have this hashtag called #ChangePilipinas on Twitter and I use it to track the "observations" I make about what is keeping our country from progress, besides the obvious graft and corruption problem that has plagued us since time immemorial. One of my peeves is that the cashiers in stores in the Philippines--whether it be in a convenience store OR in specialty stores--never have enough CHANGE.

So you see, when Obama first started out campaigning in 2008 with his slogan, "Change We Can Believe In," and he had this stylized and very catchy poster with the word CHANGE on it, what automatically would enter my mind was that he was campaigning for change, or sukli.

I am NOT exaggerating when I say this, because I've been to a few other places in this world and giving back your change has never been an issue. This phenomenon seems to be exclusive to the Philippines.

So, what's wrong with this, you may naively ask. Let me give you a couple of examples: First, I was at Haagen Dasz (Shangrila) where we made a stopover right after mass. Clara ordered just a scoop in a cup. I handed the cashier a 500-peso bill and she automatically asks me, "do you have smaller bills?" I say, "y'now, if I had smaller bills, I would've used them." So she goes on about not having any change.

I start to lecture them on how they ill-represent the brand, plus the never-been-solved "no change" problem of this country. As expected, they give me this look wherein it seems I'm the one who is weird just because I have standards. The usual, plus the "pasensya na kayo" spiel. 

I explain to them that it is not their apology I am after, but an improvement in service. I tell them that not having any change in the cash drawer may be something they have been used to all this time, but that they should realize how much business they are losing by being lackadaisical.

A few days after, I went on a field trip with Clara and Arkin to Avilon Zoo and as I was walking in line with the other parents, I heard this conversation:

Parent1: I wanted to get some lunch at the commissary--I actually NEED to, because my son is already so hungry--but they said they couldn't give me any change.

Parent2: Oh my, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm also sorry to say I can't help you out because I don't have any change on me, either.

Parent1: I know right, so they just won't make a sale? They couldn't care less?

My sentiments exactly! I cannot believe my ears whenever I come across this situation wherein the sale is sacrificed because there is "no change." Now, don't start on why don't we, as consumers, have any loose change on hand. That is not the point here. The matter of having change is the responsibility of the seller. Period.

C'mon people, I would bet my left arm that most--if not ALL--of you have experienced this, and may take it as a matter of fact of life in this country. Well, I am telling you now that this you should not just accept it and "live

with it." At the least, it is another representation of how our rights, both as consumers and as citizens of this country, are infringed upon by store operators. 

On the one hand, I even tell the cashier, "I pity the owner of this store, because you just lost a sale." But on the other hand, isn't this also the store owner's fault, by being passive in the way he runs his business? Well, in any case, this isn't helping our economy any. 

If you're reading this and thinking, why am I making such a big deal about the topic? Well, because it IS a big deal. Multiply this situation many times over, by just as many days and how many establishments we have in this country--from the smallest sari-sari store, to the most high-end chains and franchises around--and it is really a big problem for any progress to happen.