I knew when I’ve decided to migrate in the U.S., that I’d be away from my family in the Philippines. It’s quite tough but our ever-evolving technology has helped me in some ways to bridge the gap and somehow still keep in touch with them as often as possible. Skype, MSN and Yahoo Messenger have been proven to be effective in making audio conference calls online. Now, with friend’s chat gaining in popularity on Facebook, I was not surprised when they too had launched their own video calling thing. I have yet to try it but I’m pretty sure in time, it will be a hit to Facebook addicts out there, lol!

I am not ashamed to admit that I don’t keep up with the latest gadgets and technology out there. I do own an Ipod Touch (16gb), HP laptop (4gb) and a Nintendo DS Lite, all were birthday gifts from my dearest hubby. But that’s about it! My cell phone is not a Smart phone, it’s actually just a prepaid Nokia C3 that I bought at Walmart, lol! But I don’t care, because it still serves the purpose. Which in my case, for travel purposes only. It will be my birthday next month and Jeff was already asking what would I want to get for my birthday. I would have said a Galaxy Tablet PC would be nice, but the truth is I’m not really sure what to do with it, lol! I know it fits somewhere in between the realm of smartphones and PCs, both I don’t really need. But I love to read though so I was thinking a good E-book reader would be great. Kindle readers with 3G and Wi-Fi are now actually available at reasonable prices so I know that’s something to consider. Although I still prefer to read real books for I think they are more eye-friendly but we’ll see.

I wish I had taken better care of my eyes when I was younger. I’ve always loved to read ever since I was young. I didn’t realize that I was actually doing damage with my eyes by not taking proper measures while reading. I used to read in a very dim light. I just didn’t know any better. Then I guess I have waited too long before I started wearing correctional glasses. I just suffered my way through school until I was already working. By then, I think it was already too late. I am near-sighted and I wear prescription glasses right now but at least I still don’t need to use reading glasses whenever I read. Both Jeff and I have bad eyes so I worry for our baby. I hope this isn't genetic, otherwise the risk for him to have bad eyes is high.

I have always been plain and simple. I only wear make-up on special occasions. I don't do extra work with my hair on a regular basis. I like it that way. Low maintenance so to speak, lol!

However, a week before my baby's church baptism, I thought of getting a hair cut and having my hair colored. I always go to this no-frills hair salon in town because the hairdresser is good. Most salons that I've gone to were not really used to handling Asian thick, black hair so I always end up spending more but feeling unhappy and dissatisfied after every haircut session. So I just keep on coming back to this hairdresser in town and always walk out of the place feeling like it's a different me each time, lol! If you know what I mean, hehe!

But anyway, so after this latest haircut (which I really love) I thought of indulging myself into a few vanity items that would somehow maintain the "fresh out of the salon" look!

Before, I usually just let my hair air-dry. I think it's simpler that way. I was also dead-set against using hair straighteners for I have heard too much heat can damage hair. But then, I have naturally wavy hair so it can be challenging at times to style it. So I thought I must give hair styling tools a try. I researched on what great products to use to help minimize hair damage despite using these tools. I hate to admit it but it sure does make a lot of difference.

I put 2-3 pumps of Redken Smooth Down Heat Glide on my towel-dried hair before I blow dry it. This helps protect the hair from the blow dryer heat. Once completely dry, I section my hair into 3 parts. I find it easier to iron that way if I do small portions of hair at a time. Then I spray a little bit of Nexxus Pro-mend Heat Protexx on every section. It's just basically another heat protector before ironing. As for my iron, I use Remington Wet2Straight. This thing emits a vapor mist that would dry the hair at the same time ironing it straight, that way there's really no need for me to blow dry it completely before straightening it. But I have not used that feature yet. I prefer to have it completely blow dried before ironing. It's less damaging that way, I guess, lol! Then once I achieve that perfect straight hair look, I then finish it up with Chi Silk Infusion. It tends to get greasy so I just normally put a little bit on the ends to get rid of the little frizz. It does give the hair a shiny, healthier look so I love this product as well. I have not used the Straight Sexy Hair product yet. It seems to have the same purpose as the other ones. I don't know why I bought it, probably I was too obsessed with getting my hair straight, lol! But anyway, yep, that's how I style my hair these days. I'd like to point it out that I don't do this as my daily routine though. I don't have that much time to play with my hair, lol! It's just too time-consuming. Just occasionally when I wanted to look a little bit presentable, I go through an extra mile in styling my hair.