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Advocacy

Salesforce Joins Forces with Ayala Foundation to Train Filipino Women in Digital and CRM Skills

Posted on by Press Release

Salesforce, the AI customer relationship management (CRM) platform and global technology company, today announced a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ayala Foundation, the social development arm of the Ayala Group of Companies, to equip more women in the Philippines with digital and CRM skills.

Under the partnership, Salesforce will facilitate online workshops and digital skills learning for 185 Filipino women between the ages of 18 to 24. These women are recipients of the U-Go Scholar Grant, a joint initiative by the Ayala Foundation and education start-up U-Go to help Filipino women from disadvantaged backgrounds pursue higher education in order to increase female representation in the workforce. 

Fashion, Lifestyle

Taking Time and Beating the Holiday Rush with G-SHOCK

Posted on by Patty

Once again, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve been back in this space.

I tried to resist the urge to say that, considering that’s exactly how I opened my last post, but I figured it was actually quite fitting given what we’re writing about today.

For a few years, I’ve been a smartwatch girlie with my trusty Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 4, but since my Galaxy ZFlip 3… well, flipped out and I’m making the gradual transition to iOS in December, I found myself digging up my traditional watches.

My current collection isn’t much to write home about—a Lacoste Women’s Classic Quartz Watch, a Meister Ambassador MK III, and currently on loan from my aunt an unidentified Timex stainless steel watch—but these three on rotation have served me well these past few weeks.

If I’m being honest though, I was thisclose to buying a Casio.

Home

Styling My New Bedroom

Posted on by Patty

It’s been a hot minute since I wrote on this space. From late January to early June, I was basically bedroom-less while we tore our family home down and rebuilt it from the ground up.

As someone who thrives in privacy, the lack of personal space did a number on my mental health and productivity, as my g.spot team can attest with my entries on our weekly wins+challenges alignments (also, sorry!). For those long months, I sought solace in our dining room, which I barely got to mourn and thank for its comforts before it, too, got demolished just two weeks ago in the second phase of our ongoing renovation

The good news is that, as you can deduce by the current month, I finally have a new bedroom—and I have content to share about it! Having a blank space to start fresh made me more mindful about putting in things that made me happy.

Whether you’re in the same boat as I was, or just want to refresh your bedroom, I’m sharing some items you may want to consider adding to your space, along with the thought processes that went into choosing them. I opted to patronize homegrown businesses as much as I could manage to support them, and a lot of these are easily accessible to everyone!

Collaborations, Lifestyle

Why I Love Shopping at The Metro Stores

Posted on by Patty

My earliest memories of shopping are rooted at The Metro Stores.

As a little girl, I remember going to Metro Colon with my grandfather, always stopping by Ding Qua Qua along the way. I would also accompany my mom when she would do the groceries at Metro Ayala Center, usually on Sundays—her lone day off in a week.

While I was allowed the occasional indulgence, I learned about the value of a great deal early on. I also began to associate The Metro Stores as a place where I can get my money’s worth, and would shop there by myself when I grew up. It’s become a pillar of sorts in my life, a True North for when I need to get something because it almost always has things I need to buy, and I knew exactly where to find them.

So yes, to say I was devastated when Metro Ayala Center was hit by a fire in January 2018 is an understatement.

But that’s all in the past, and now that it’s back and better than ever is worth celebrating—especially as the Metro Stores celebrates its 39th anniversary this weekend!

Beauty

I Incorporated Primo+ Skin Products Into My Skincare Routine

Posted on by Patty

One of the comments I would always get is that I have great skin.

It’s a compliment I take graciously, not because I’m bragging, but because I take my skincare seriously, dammit, and I accept all validation that it actually works.

Also, thank you. 🤗

If you read what I wrote about my favorite facial, you’d know I wasn’t always this dedicated. But here we are, with me fully committed to a full 10-step skincare regimen for the past three years and counting. A consistent routine has done wonders for my skin, not to mention my confidence. It’s certainly more empowering to go some days not hiding behind makeup, though that’s also a creative and emotional outlet.

I started my skincare journey with Korean products with the goal of getting that glass-skin effect. But as I gradually ran out and had trouble replacing them (they don’t come cheap!), I began replacing products with items that were more accessible, some from care packages sent by my mom in the U.S., and some from the malls.

I discovered I need not exclusively stick to K-beauty to achieve great skin. My arsenal of Clinique worked well enough, but more interestingly, skincare products manufactured in Cebu are just as great.

Enter Primo+Skin, the latest addition to my existing routine.

Dining, Lifestyle

Mucho Ado About Life

Posted on by Patty

If there’s anything that perfectly encapsulates life these days, it’s that photo.

The past few months have been a blur of non-stop work, zero weekends whatsoever, and a lot of coffee. I highly doubt it’s the ideal lifestyle for someone who survived COVID just roughly a hundred days ago, but it turns out having a full-time job and running a magazine at the same time means you’re basically signing off your rights to take a break.

(Send help.)

Journal

I Tested Positive for COVID-19. This is How It Was Like.

Posted on by Patty

“Where am I isolating?” I repeated, extremely confused. “Why? I’m just at home. What do you mean?”

It was Friday morning, three days after I got swabbed for COVID-19, and I had just answered a call from an unknown number. On the other end of the line was my contact tracer, Mica, who threw the question at me so nonchalantly, I figured she probably does this on a daily basis. “You can’t stay at home,” she answered, unfazed. “You’re positive for COVID.”

Though it was still a complete shock to hear it laid out like that, it confirmed what I was beginning to suspect at that point. For the past five days, the first thing I would do in the mornings is try to take a sniff out of one of my Anapanasati essential oil bottles and make myself some Berocca in an effort to convince myself I could smell or taste something. But close to a week in, and no amount of Berocca or Vitamin C seemed to work somehow. If I hadn’t gotten swabbed, I would have been extremely worried about it by then.

Journal

COVID Day 13: Homecoming

Posted on by Patty

I’m home!

The past few days were a blur of excitement and exhaustion, but the important thing is I’m finally home after spending a full 11 days in quarantine.

I can’t deny I’ll miss some aspects of it—the all-day air conditioning and having so many options for food deliveries in the city proper, for sure—but it’s nice to enjoy the comforts of my own room, even if I kind of have to tiptoe around the house for now.

Officially, it’s Day 16 after I got swabbed, so my doctor reassures me the worst of it is over. I also got a quantitative COVID-19 antibody test that determined I’m not acutely ill anymore and no longer contagious, although I did “not mount a protective response” a.k.a. I didn’t develop enough antibodies to be immune.

Journal

COVID Day 10: Vacillating

Posted on by Patty

Sometimes, the universe works in strange and mysterious ways.

Following yesterday’s mental and emotional breakdown, I needed nothing more than to retreat even further—perhaps a strange mindset considering at this point I’ve been alone in a room for all of 10 days. I even told my Mom I was thinking of spending a night in a different hotel before going home just to nurse that insatiable need, as well as my mental health.

But apparently, the drawback to telling people you have COVID-19 is that it’s basically public knowledge, and so when I tried to book a hotel room, I was asked for requirements I couldn’t provide. I commend the safety protocols, of course, but this felt like another obstacle I didn’t have to energy to jump over.

I was all set to just give it up when I was informed by the hotel I’m staying in that protocol dictates I needed to stay an extra night.

Journal

COVID Day 9*: Breakdown

Posted on by Patty

Yesterday, I got some news that threw me off: I was already on Day 11 of COVID-19, and I can go home.

The official count, apparently, is the day you got swabbed. That advanced my mental countdown a bit because my initial conversations with the Department of Health considered the day I tested positive as Day 1 and that’s kind of what I’ve been going with all this time. It’s even more confusing when you throw in the count of my days in isolation, which is technically just hours off but crosses into a new day. At this point, it doesn’t really matter; I just wish someone cleared things up with me early on.

Still, in an endeavor to play it safe, I decided to stick it out a couple of days more in my quarantine hotel and complete a full 10 days of isolation. So here we (still) are.