Klean Kanteen Wide Insulated Bottle

I love my S'well bottles, don't get me wrong. But, one super early morning, while getting coffee at a Salcedo Village coffee shop, I heard one of the baristas wondering out loud how she was going to fit ice into my S'well. She wasn't able to, and my coffee that morning was just shaken in ice before it was transferred into my bottle.

This got me thinking on an alternative bottle for my coffee, and yes, milk tea needs. I may have curbed my consumption of plastic bottles from the beverages I often bought before, but coffee and milk tea come in plastic cups, and putting these in a non-insulated Starbucks tumbler wasn't really going to cut.

This is where I decided to buy a Klean Kanteen Wide Insulated Bottle. I was torn between getting the bottle in either Shale Black or Winter Plum, but since it was my first Klean Kanteen product, I eventually went with a neutral color.

I got the 20 oz. size, as a Venti coffee in Starbucks is roughly 20 oz, 24 oz with ice.

It has earned the investment I put in already, as I drink coffee at least thrice a day. My only issue is I might need a second bottle because I sometimes have a coffee drink, and milk tea simultaneously.

Looks like I will be getting a Winter Plum Klean Kanteen after all.

Liberty London and S'well Collaboration

Ever since I got bit by the S'well bug, one of the bottle designs that I set my eyes on was the collaboration with Liberty London featuring a fabric in blue with paisley prints.

borrowed from Pinterest

They called the bottle Marky, and this particular print on the fabric was released for Autumn/Winter 2001. The print was based on ancient calligraphy, and the released an updated look to the fabric. And here I thought they were paisleys... I actually call them polliwogs.

The newer collaboration bottles are sold online in Liberty London's website, I presume that these are available in the store.

The first batch though, the Marky bottle included, was sold in Starbucks.

The bottle was released in 2017, and was also made available locally. I saw this from an announcement made on Starbucks website, and it was priced at PhP 1,995.00 at the time.

I chanced upon a bottle being sold online, and I ordered it.

It arrived today, and it is just as beautiful as its pictures online. This is my favorite S'well bottle.

My next grail bottle is the Kelsey Montague collaboration bottle. I hope I can score one online, too.

S'well Bottles on Sale in Rustan's

The sale in Rustan's is on its last week, and they've slashed prices further. I wasn't really planning on buying more bottles, because I had already purchased three at the onset of the sale, but my boss saw the bottles in my office and inquired about S'well.

Long story short, I was able to influence her to buy a bottle while it was still on sale. She asked me to be the one to go to Rustan's Makati to buy it for her since she couldn't find time.

There's still a sizable number of bottles on sale, but none were as good a deal as the Gray Malin collaboration bottle that I purchased from a week ago, which was at 65% off the retail price.

They had bottles from the Textile Collection of S'well, and I showed her pictures of the Marrakesh and the Mumbai bottle.

I myself couldn't choose between the two, and both are insanely Instagrammable.

I was hoping to buy a Mumbai bottle for myself, while my boss decided to go for the Marrakesh bottle.

Unfortunately, Mumbai has sold out, so I grabbed two of these instead. Below is the bottle intended for me:

The Mumbai bottle which slipped my claws is below:

borrowed from Nordstrom

Each bottle is unique, that's what I realized in Rustan's today. I asked for several Marrakesh bottles because I wanted to be sure I wasn't getting a damaged bottle, and the patterns we're all differently placed. There are slight variations in shade, in the size of the prints, and even the orientation of the pattern. Reading a note on the cylindrical box, the company indicated that the bottles were hand-painted, and that each one is one of a kind and unique.

All I can say is, captured on camera, these bottles are very photogenic.

The sale is only until the 31st, and stocks are now really limited. There are still 25 oz. bottles priced at PhP 1,137.00, and 17 oz. bottles at PhP 1,125.00. Better grab a S'well bottle at these insanely low prices!

New Year, New Goals - Hydration by S'well

I went through a horrible and messy break up in 2017, and the entire 2018 was filled mostly with moving on. Moving on was such a long and tedious process, and now that I'm back, I have also started focusing more on things that will keep me healthy, and keep my idle mind busy.

I rediscovered Lego during the last few months of 2018, and I have been building playsets that I purchased on... yes, SALE! I'll be posting on that pretty soon.

Recently, I resolved that I should be drinking more water. I don't get to drink the minimum number of liters per day, which, disastrously, has resulted to several ailments that plagued me in 2018, one of which was dehydration.

How do I force myself to drink water? I bought a S'well bottle in Rustan's.

I have actually been meaning to purchase a S'well bottle, but thought that the price was quite steep for a bottle, which a Starbucks tumbler, and Starbucks mugs (You Are Here mugs at that) fulfill rather well. If I had so many of the latter two, why was I still not drinking water?

I realized it was because water kept in a tumbler or a mug for quite a time doesn't keep cold. And when I take a sip, and it isn't cold, I don't bother drinking at all. Add to the fact that I'm tamad to walk all the way to the water dispenser (about 10 meters away), thus spelling disaster in maintaining hydration.

Thank Rustan's further for their end of season sale, I could not resist not buying a S'well bottle. The bottle I purchased was steeply discounted, and I was able to purchase it for PhP 1,170.00. Its original price was PhP 2,850.00. It's a crime not to buy it!

At that price, I also bought a bottle for my mom, and a bottle for my outgoing Finance Manager - a despedida gift.

These are all part of the Love Collection of S'well.

borrowed from shefinds.com

I purchased the 25 oz. bottle size, the largest that they have. The black bottle with  hearts design, I had Rustan's giftwrap for my mother, and the white bottle with stars for my outgoing Finance Manager.

I kept the bottle with Cupid's arrows.

(I will update this blog with a picture of my S'well, when I get enough courage to hold a photoshoot on my office table.) Here's a snapshot of the 25 oz. bottle that I purchased from Rustan's:

And to be honest, since there's limited stock, and the price is really affordable for a S'well bottle, if I keep thinking of the white-starred bottle, I might just go and get a 25 oz. bottle of it for myself!

I got so obsessed with S'well, I started researching on it. Because of the its vacuum seal, and its double insulated wall, it can keep cold drinks cool for up to hours. I've tried this in the office, and my 8-hour workday is just a fraction of the entire day that the water is kept cold inside the bottle. On the 2nd day I was using it, I was easily able to drink about 60 oz. of water in the office.

I also did some online shopping, and discovered a seller who had hoarded S'ip by S'well in the US, probably when it was on clearance in Target, and he is now looking to unload some of his stock. He was selling it for such an affordable price, I also ended up buying a Jelly Bean Green S'ip by S'well bottle - not for me though, but as a gift for someone.

There was a gentleman who messaged me inquiring about my Bencab Swatch watches, and he reminded me of how much fun I had blogging. This is why I started writing again as soon as I got home. Hope you find a pair of the Bencab Swatches!

Update for January 13, 2018

I went to Rustan's Makati today as I had decided to purchase the 25 oz. gold-starred bottle. Guess what surprised me on the S'well table:

They had brought out 17 oz. bottles. My head went into a tizzy. They were only PhP 1,237.50. 

I had no choice to but to pick one out from the three designs. Since I had been viewing videos of S'well online, prominent in the videos was the Ombre Speckle water bottle. I scooped it up, and brought it to my office. 

And here it is, sitting proudly on my desk!

I washed it and am now leaving it uncapped for air-drying, and will fill it up for the drive home. The size is handier for traveling, and I'm sure it'll fit better in the cupholders compared to the 25 oz. bottle.

Retro Chic Gadget - Nokia 3310 (2017)

Ever since the announcement that Nokia was reviving the Nokia 3310, I had been waiting excitedly to be able to get a hold of a unit. I'm a xennial, and my generation was one of the first assimilators of the mobile revolution. My first cellphone was a Nokia 2010, followed by a Nokia 2110. I had a cellphone since 1997, I skipped the pager stage and went straight right into cellular technology - I mean, hey, what's the point of receiving a message if you were going to be unable to call back, right?

Then, text messaging became a thing. In 1998, an additional PhP 150.00 on top of your monthly cellphone bill could already give you unlimited text messaging. There began my love affair with Nokia.

Alright, I admit, I did have a Nokia 3310 back in 2001, but I only had it for a couple of weeks. Back then, everybody had a Nokia 3310, and it was just too pedestrian for my taste. An aunt gifted me with a Nokia 3310, and when I realized that every Tom, Dick and nobody on the street had one, I traded it in for a Nokia 7110. Since then, almost all of my Nokia phones were the high-end ones. I had a Nokia 6510, a Nokia 3650, an 8800 Scirocco, a 9300... Nokia was the cellphone brand of choice, especially since they offered their consumers a wide range of choices. Their product range was from entry-level phones, to high-end corporate gadgets.

I ended up buying a Nokia 3310 just this weekend because I felt nostalgic about the phone, it was because I felt nostalgic about the era. Back then, people could still disconnect from their phone. Social media wasn't some opium that you needed to connect to 24/7, and a phone was just a means of receiving calls and text messages. Cellphones weren't gigantic power-guzzling monsters, but small, sleek, and sexy devices meant to keep you reachable for 3 days per charge.

With that, I drove all the way to SM North, braving horrific Saturday traffic, and bought two Nokia 3310s.

I bought two because my sister wanted one. At the store, they were telling me how it had sold out just the day before, and that they held onto these two units for me, because I was one of the first few who had signified intent on purchasing it. Thank goodness they trusted me that much.

I got two, because Bianca wanted to use this as her primary phone while she's in between cellphones. Her iPhone is having battery issues - surprise, surprise!

I've used it the whole day of Saturday and Sunday, and voice clarity on the device was excellent. Texting on it is easy - you see, I never got the hang of texting on a touchscreen phone, and would still curse my phone every now and then whenever I would mistakenly press a different key. I had to charge it yesterday evening, as the factory charge had already run out, but that was after over 100 text messages, an hour of calls, and several Snake games. 

I'm very much happy with the 3310. It does the job. It makes sending messages easy, receiving calls easy, and seems to promise minimal powerbank plugs. Now, if Nokia could only revive the 8800...

Charriol Sunglasses on Sale

I had discovered in SM's department store a treasure trove of sunnies that were on sale.

For several weeks, I went back and forth in order to choose which one I wanted to take home with me. Eventually, I had narrowed down my choices to either a pair of Calvin Klein Jeans sunglasses, or a pair of Charriol Sunglasses.

The choice, although should have been a no-brainer, was quite difficult to make because I so wanted a pair of aviators, and the Calvin Klein Jeans sunnies had a similar shape to aviators albeit a faddish interpretation of these.

In the end, I ended up getting the Charriol sunnies, because they had a classic shape, that would, of course, prove to be timeless.

This pair of sunnies cost less than PhP 3,000.00 - really quite a steal because of the sale!

If you're in the market for a pair of sunglasses and don't want to break the bank, it might be a good idea to visit the department store of SM Makati, SM Manila, or SM Aura. Happy shopping!

Salvatore Ferragamo Sunglasses and Prescription Eyewear

Kim, being ever supportive, wanted to buy a pair of sunglasses for me so I can enjoy touring Korea even if the sun is out.

Initially, we wanted to purchase a pair of Prada sunglasses for me, but our go-to optical shop didn't carry the brand. We looked at Givenchy, but the offering they had, although was wide enough for me, its temple tip didn't quite anchor well onto my ear. We were resolved to purchase a pair of aviators from Ray-ban, but the model that was large enough to fit my face wasn't available, and my flight to Korea is in a couple of days. 

I had all but given up, when he asked me to look at the section where the optical shop displayed their Salvatore Ferragamo, Chloe, and Ermengildo Zegna eyewear. 

I was apprehensive, because I didn't want him to spend too much for my sunglasses. As I was checking on the Salvatore Ferragamo eyewear, I noticed some sunnies and prescription eyeglasses with red tags. On SALE!

Even better, I found a pair that I absolutely adored! It was love at first sight, when I first tried on this pair of sunglasses:

At less than PhP10,000.00 for Ferragamo eyewear, how could I not look into updating my prescriptions as well?

I just love Ideal Vision. The staff are so friendly, and they offer the best deals. My prescription is not readily available, and it took them 24 hours to prepare my eyeglasses, they went beyond and had the eyeglasses delivered to my office!