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.

Bencab Swatch Watches

Kim's Christmas gifts to me this year were the 2014 and 2015 Bencab collaboration Swatch watches.

The Sabel Swatch was released in 2014, and was also packaged with a Bencab sculpture and a numbered watch. The watch that Kim purchased was in the regular Sabel Swatch packaging:

The Bencab+Swatch collaboration for 2015 is the Ode to the Flag. It is reminiscent of the Philippine Centennial Swatch released to commemorate the 100th Independence of the Philippines, but that one was a Zobel+Swatch collaboration.

I don't intend on wearing the Swatches, I just took them out of their packaging to inspect them further.

Under the specially designed packaging, the watches came in the standard plastic cases of Swatch. The 2015 Swatch's inner packet however had Swatch Club stamped all over it.

Here are pictures of the Swatches out in the wild for a photoshoot:

I really don't mind the size of the Swatch. I would guess without confirming that it is about 39mm. I'm used to wearing watches sized at 44mm upwards. However, the design is really intricately done on the straps and the watch face. The hour and minute hands are also quite distinct - it is noticeable even if the watch face of the Sabel Swatch, for example, is pretty busy with details. 

It was a good thing that Kim was still able to chance upon a Sabel Swatch - it was released 2014, and I suppose they have very limited stocks now. I had made inquiries on the Chinese New Year Swatch designs from the previous years at a Swatch booth, because Bencab also designed a Year of the Horse commemorative Swatch, and unfortunately, the previous years designs are no longer available. 

This further my resolve to purchase the Chinese New Year Swatch come next year - will not let the moment of getting another special Swatch pass me by again (here's to hoping that Bencab will also design it). 

The Bencab Swatches combines two of my passions right now, watches and art. I know I may not be able to afford a Bencab as of yet, but owning a piece, nay, two pieces designed by him at such an affordable cost of PhP 3,500.00 each, is not bad at all! 

Swatch can boast that they single-handedly revived the Swiss watch industry, so the designer-collaborations aside, owning a Swatch is an affordable investment to own a part of Swiss horological history. 

I hope some readers become convinced and go out to buy these beautiful pieces while they're still available!