Lavender & Coffee Stains

Dear Me,

I have been meaning to post this entry even before December began. Unfortunately, I have been tied up with a lot of things and just a few days ago, I caught the flu bug. I felt a little better yesterday and although still sneezing from time to time, I regained my strength; the heavy head, throbbing headache, aching muscles all over and the dry cough - all gone. Today, I'm up on my feet and doing what I do best, multi-tasking.

Anyway, I'm having a giveaway here on my blog. I started blogging back in 2003 with the sole purpose of just blabbing what I had in mind. I never intended to share it with anyone but of course, you're writing online and published in the world wide web. Things changed and chapters in life unfolded and sharing meant information and friendship (if you get my drift).

And then things came to a lull, life gets busier and I sort of went to a blogging hiatus. Then last August 2010, I decided to transfer the contents of my blog to http://labellavita25.blogspot.com/ from the old one. I even had a book blog and events blog set up but managing too much of them became so tedious. I decided to put them all up in one place.

Thus, La Bella Vita was born.

Life has been busier than ever. Hubby flew abroad earlier this year and I'm a mom to an active toddler with no house help to do chores for me nor a nanny to watch out for my kid while I run important errands. A few months back, I was hired to do a freelance job (could do it from home and which I accepted). As it was not chaotic enough, the job complicated my already burdensome daily schedule. But I learned how to deal with it and I was satisfied how I handled it.

Though at times I feel alone, I still feel blessed. With 2011 just lurking around, I'm looking forward to a better year. I'm still working on my plans for year 2011.

As I was saying, I'm hosting this giveaway. I have not informed some friends where I moved my blog so I'm thinking of sharing the information through this. Also, it will be fun to meet more bloggers online, especially other mommy bloggers. I'm also thinking of this as a thank you for the old ones who stood by (although I'm sure that some of you have been wondering why I haven't been blogging in the old site). LOL. Besides, I have quite a stash of goodies here at home. *winks*

What I am giving away:


Victoria's Secret Love Spell Silkening Body Splash

Win This!

I have a bottle of this Victoria's Secret scent for one lucky winner! To join:

• Just mention in comments before midnight of January 10, 2011 your plans for the new year. Please leave a valid email address for notification purposes.
  
  
• Winner's name will be picked from a fishbowl by my toddler and notified via email afterwards.
  
  
• The winner will be given 3 days to acknowledge receipt of the email notification with their mailing information.
  
  
• Prize will be shipped via courier.

For extra points:

• Subscribe to La Bella Vita's feed via email (let me know what email address you used for subscribing) +2
  
  
• Leave relevant comments on blog entries dating back August 2010 [the month I migrated the contents of the old blog to here] (one comment per blog entry and please post the link/s of such entry or entries here) +2
  
  
• Follow La Bella Vita publicly via Google Friend Connect +1
  
  
• LIKE La Bella Vita on Facebook (leave user/account name) +1
  
  
• Share this giveaway on Facebook and make sure to tag the La Bella Vita fan page (post the FB link here) +1
  
  
• Follow La Bella Vita on Twitter (post your Twitter id for verification) +1
  
  
• Tweet this giveaway ONCE daily (post your tweet here) +1
  
  
• Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here +1

This giveaway is open to Philippine residents only.

If you will be doing any of the options (pertaining to earning extra points) above, please make sure you leave individual comments for each option you choose to do. Kindly follow the rules for each entry. It will be a lot easier to tally them up.

Instead of using random.org to pick the winner, I prefer doing this the fun way with my little boy. This time, I'll be using a fishbowl where each folded paper corresponds to one entry. After mixing them all up, I'll have Miguel pick the winner.

Dear Me,

With all the flurry of activities brought about by lots of things in-between -- being a mom, being your own nanny and househelp, running errands, doing a little part-time job and with the upcoming holidays, I declare that I have been so laxed in reading my books.

But I just picked a book days ago. And I'm currently loving it.



Here's my chosen teasers:

Gotta love these chain cafe bookstores that let you read the books in the store, right? They're like public libraries minus the homeless people. They are great!

~ page 152, The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke by Angela Nissel



I chose these teasers because the reference made reminded me of the same bookstore here in the Philippines. In fact, I love it because when I happen to come across a book I like, I can flip all the pages, check it out and later on, buy it. But some friends I know can even get away reading the whole book just by staying there for hours. LOL.



Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


* Grab your current read.

* Open to a random page.

* Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)

* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


I'm almost done with this book. I'm hoping to make a review of this one soon. Meantime, I have to do some errands at the bank. A happy Tuesday to everyone! :)

Dear Me,

I signed up in a couple of publishing sites and there were two particular books that I would love to grace my bookshelves.



On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

Well, it just seem perfect that I highlight them all here.



This is one of the books I would to read in leisure. My interest in ancient Egypt stretches throughout - from its mythology to its earliest civilization and powerful rulers.

The Scroll of Anubis

authored by T. Patrick Rooney

published on November 29, 2010 by CreateSpace

paperback, 300 pages

ancient Egypt (?)

Book Synopsis:

Ages. Centuries. Millennia. Human essence trapped withing dead flesh. These are the things that rest within our tombs, that have waited for the day to come when they could finally rise from the depths of the underworld. These are the creatures that man always intended to rise. Their time has come! Featuring 29 terrifying tales of the undead, The Scroll of Anubis takes you to places you could never imagine. From the depths of Egypt to the streets of the suburbs, enter a world where the dead have risen, where terror walks the Earth.

Like any other Egyptian being who held Egypt in their hands, Cleopatra never failed to enthrall and intrigue me at the same time.

Cleopatra: A Life

authored by Stacy Schiff

published on November 1, 2010 by Little, Brown and Company

hardcover, 384 pages

biography and memoir

Book Synopsis:

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

If there are other books about ancient Egypt, please kindly let me know in the comments. I ought to start my newest collection. :)