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.

Swatch's Lucky Monkey

I'm focusing my watch collecting on Swatch commemorative watches for the time being - while I'm still young and its still excusable. Like my mom always tells my sister, don't be afraid to wear color while you're still young.

I also made a Facebook page on Swatch collecting in the Philippines, hoping to touch base with local collectors if there are any. But, as I said prior, for now, I am limiting my Swatch collecting to commemorative watches. Items on my bucket list, to name a few, are the Ateneo Swatch, the Philippine Centennial Swatch designed by Jaime Zobel, the Year of the Horse Swatch (SUOZ169), The Legend of White Snake (SUOZ158), and the Goat's Keeper Watch (SUOZ189).

For Valentine's Day this year, Kim gifted me with Swatch's Lucky Monkey (SUOZ203), their watch commemorating 2016. the year of the Lucky Monkey.

The box is designed with ornamental mandalas made to resemble intricate paper cuttings, which is also continued and incorporated into the design of the watch.

The watch is a New Gent, so expect it to be a bit small for people with somewhat thick wrists like me, then again, its not as if I'll be wearing them - they're kept safely in storage. That doesn't mean, though that it's a ladies' watch. The design is quite unisex, and I've seen pictures in Instagram of men wearing this size also. And if it weren't a collectible as far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't mind wearing it on rotation with my other watches.

As early as the first weekend of January I had the opportunity of buying it already from Swatch in Glorietta, had I not been with my sister. She exclaimed that I was too old to be buying funky watches, so I refrained from purchasing it, and said to myself I'd buy it when I wasn't with her.

On subsequent mall trips, however, whenever I'd visit a Swatch store, they'd always tell me that they were sold out already. Glorietta, Greenbelt, Trinoma, Sta. Lucia, wherever I asked this watch wasn't available. I asked to be put on the waitlist in case more stocks were to be delivered, and I was getting desperate as the Chinese New Year was drawing nearer.

One afternoon, while I was longingly reading up on reviews about the watch, I received a call from the Swatch Trinoma informing me that one Lucky Monkey had arrived, and it had my name on it. I bravely drove with Kim through hellish rush hour traffic that Thursday evening, from Makati to Trinoma! The waiting and drive was well worth it, because, Kim bought it for me as a Valentine's Day gift!

Having purchased it in Trinoma, we also entered a raffle contest. One of the reasons why stocks of the watch easily ran out was because Trinoma purchased 20 watches to raffle off. We didn't win.

Going through my list of online selling sites to check on Swatches for sale, I already saw listings for the Great White Snake, the Goat's Keeper, and the Philippine Centennial Swatch. Refraining from making any purchases now because I just finished some car repairs and am looking into buying a 2nd car. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sellers won't be able to find people purchasing these models any time soon. With the statistics on my Facebook page, though, I'm quite confident because there does not seem to be much Swatch collectors locally.

Happy Chinese New Year, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Noritake Salt and Pepper Shaker from Gourdo's

After purchasing the Essence wax warmer, I discovered an As Is Where Is store by Gourdo's. It sells damaged items, and some product overruns of the stores. And lo and behold, I was able to spot some quality products that were obviously unappreciated, but worth so much.

I saw a salt and pepper shaker set from Noritake's Opulence collection:

Now my mother raised me to have a keen eye for the finer things in life, and she practically brainwashed me that the china of choice for the dining table is Noritake. 

Noritake used to have a factory here in Manila, hence purchasing fine china back then was quite easy. Ever since they pulled out, however, the Noritake fix had to come with the expensive price tag that it is well-known for. 

We used to have Noritake dinner service from its Valhalla collection. But then, that was years ago, and the gold edges have already faded. There are some pieces that are still usable though. 

If you were to look underneath the china, you would see which country it was manufactured in. Most of the Noritake plates sold locally are now manufactured in Sri Lanka, however the more expensive ones are those made in Japan. 

This salt and pepper shaker set that Gourdo's put on sale at such an affordable price of PhP 300.00 was made in Japan, so I had to snatch up a set before anybody else discovers it. Definitely a treasure trove of Noritake pieces in that store! There's actually another Noritake salt and pepper shaker set from the Gourmet Harvest Royal Orchard Collection, which I definitely plan on buying. Maybe, I should start a salt and pepper shaker collection?

Mason Jars as Christmas Gifts

This idea actually came from my mother. In one of our Dapitan trips a few weekends ago, she purchased several Mason jars from a stall we frequent for gifts for her secretaries and assistants.

When I had started bringing Christmas gifts to the office this week for my co-managers, I noticed my assistants waiting eagerly for presents. Realising that I forgot to buy something for them, I intended to drag Kim to Dapitan to purchase Mason jars and, basically, steal my mother's concept.

A Mason jar is a molded glass jar used for storing preserves for storage or selling. You normally see these used for home-made jams and jellies that are being sold. They were invented and patented by John Landis Mason, a tinsmith from Philadelphia, back in 1858.

The ones being sold in Dapitan come with the tin lid. They, however, lack the rubber seals, which are needed if you intend to use these for sealing preserves. These would suffice, however, if you're to use them for storage. Mason jars are also used, now, in lieu of mugs. Some hip coffee shops use Mason jars, those designed with handles, for their drinks. Some Mason jar lids already come with holes punched in the centre for straws to go through - these types were actually available for sale in Dapitan.

The ones I purchased had handles and an embossed design on the side. A quick search online, and I saw the exact same Mason jar I had.

borrowed from homewetbar.com

Was able to purchase this at a price lower than Landmark's retail price, which is sweet, especially if you're buying 20 pieces,

My source had an option for gold tin lids, though.

Borrowing from my mom's concept, I filled the Mason jars to the brim with candy from the grocery.

I'll be tying gold and silver ribbons, and these are all ready to be given to the assistants, Finance staff, and Housekeeping supervisors of One Serendra.

I really hope that they start using it in lieu of the mugs that they have in the office.

Mason jars are so the rage right now. And several people will be giving these as gifts this holiday season, which would be a fresh alternative to the usual gift staples given as gifts.

Hope my mom and I gave you a cute Christmas gift idea. Try placing something else instead of candy. Toys, shells, pebbles, jawbreakers, loom bands, scented beads - play around with the things you'll put inside, and the receiver will be in for a surprise. There's really no need to wrap it up, because the vintage look of the Mason jar will jazz up the bottom of the tree perfectly.

A lot of people also collect vintage Mason jars, so visiting Dapitan might be a good idea, since they have so many options there.