I have been up to here with work everyday. My two elementary school-aged kids have exams this week. I’ve been helping them study.

One night while slaving away making worksheets for Lily, I realized that searching for clip art and formatting charts were not that easy to do. It was almost midnight and I had just done one subject. Then I remembered that Patrick used to love to doodle. So I packed up and went to bed.

The next morning, I talked to Patrick and said, “It’s not really efficient for me to be creating reviewers by computer. It is stressful. Can you just sketch some drawings so Lily can fill in the blanks?” I added more to that actually, “Can you please be like Robredo and do homework? Wish you’d take care of Filipino and Math too.” But that was pushing it. Time is an issue.

So over morning coffee, Patrick doodled and came up with these. The artwork is all original, but the concepts were lifted from old worksheets and tests.

The kids and their real tutors were thrilled! Hand-drawn worksheets!

This morning, both Lily and Sophia asked their dad to make more drawings for them. Soph asked if she could show the drawings to all her classmates. His 10-minute sketches trumped my 2-hour labour of detailed worksheets.

It doesn’t really take much for dads to be awesome to daughters. I guess I’m okay with that. Even if my efforts seem under appreciated at the moment. I know that having an amazing dad makes daughters become amazing people.

Hair is my biggest beauty concern. If left alone, I could go through life without ever having to brush my hair. But thankfully, I get a lot of help. Alex Carbonell gives me the easiest haircuts. I get occasional salon treatments. And for my TV life, I get professionals to style my hair.

I was going through my photo files and realized that nowadays, I can categorize my hair into two looks — either “bounce” or “sway”. Just like in the new Pantene Nature Care campaign.

Here are some photos from past Cocktales episodes:

That’s a lot of photos! Whew! I hope you’re not sick of me yet. Haha.

The reason I dug up those photos is because I recently signed on as Procter and Gamble’s Beauty Brand Ambassador (Digital). Yay! Big moment for me! So proud to represent the brands. Plus I get to work directly with P&G on a creative level. The rest was easy because I had been using Pantene for a while now.

A bit about Pantene Nature Care Collection… “It brings a fusion of natural ingredients and Pantene science to provide the right level of conditioning for hair that is full of life. Trusted Pantene Pro-V technology is combined with nature’s own cassia flower resulting in the Cassia Complex.  To harness the power of cassia, Pantene scientists applied advanced scientific techniques to heighten the protective and strengthening powers of cassia. At the rinsing stage, it provides an invisible layer of natural protection on hair, helping to prevent daily damage. Pantene Nature Care enhances hair’s fullness and effectively delivers the right level of conditioning ingredient deep into the hair.”

Pantene Nature Care Fullness and Life is what I use when I want volume and bounce. With this my hair is still manageable with no “buhaghag”.

“Pantene Nature Care Fullness and Life Shampoo gently cleanses hair while delivering conditioning benefits to each strand. In addition to the Cassia Complex, it contains avocado oil, grapeseed extract and bamboo help moisturize and revitalize hair. The shampoo works in harmony with the Pantene Nature Care Conditioner which helps to keep hair manageable, prevent frizz and maintain hair fullness. The Nature Care Conditioner comes with a new dual-surfactant technology, which creates a unique ‘airfilm’ that separates the hair strands for effective and even deposition of conditioning ingredients.”

The Pantene Nature Care Smoothness and Life variant is for when I want my hair smooth and straight but never limp.

“Pantene Nature Care Smoothness and Life collection restores hair’s natural health, smoothness and life form through a combination of the brand’s signature Pro-V technology fused with a nourishing mix of nature’s wonders including Cassia Complex, aloe vera, calendula and ginger. This innovative formula penetrates into the hair’s cortex and fortifies the hair shaft from root to tip maintaining optimal moisture balance in hair while reducing friction between every hair strand therefore achieving smooth, shiny hair that is still full of life and movement.”

Its shampoo contains Cassia Complex for a higher deposition of conditioning ingredients that facilitates the delivery to very single hair strand to provide further protection to strengthen hair against damage and boost its luster. Combined with the Pantene Nature Care Smoothness and Life Conditioner, get smoothness with volume for the perfect sway.

And the Intense Hair Mask is for my once a week home treatment.

How about you? Do you like to bounce? Or sway? Tweet me at @DaphneOP with hashtag #PanteneBounce or #PanteneSway

I woke today and got a DM from Twitter. They invited me to be verified.

Wow. Thank you Twitter!

For more info on Twitter verification, click here.

EDIT:

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how I got verified and what it actually means. To answer your question, I didn’t apply for it. No one can apply for it. Twitter just invites those whose accounts fit their criteria. If you click on the link I posted above, it’ll answer all your questions.

To give you some idea, here’s what they’re looking for… (Source).

This is the email I received this morning….

So there you go. Verification in a nutshell. I am so thrilled. Basically it’s just a badge. Nothing changes, really. But I like counting milestones. This goes up there with the Vogue Italia feature, my registered trademarks (DAPHNE® and others) and the day Perez Hilton tweeted me twice (kidding). But he did.

I went to St. Scholastica’s College Manila for elementary. Early this year, my would-have-been batch celebrated its 25th anniversary. I enjoyed reconnecting with childhood friends. I didn’t, however, get involved in the many activities they had while preparing for homecoming. I got to join the dance last minute though (yes! the dance performance). And it was so much fun! The next batch, Class of ’88, is celebrating their homecoming by raising funds with this Scholastican Bracelet.

The Scholastican Bracelet X1545 is made of an expandable steel bracelet with charms. Proceeds will go to the SSC Manila Batch 88 Scholarship Fund. You can see Mother Lily Monteverde and Mitch Valdes wearing theirs. (Photo from www.celebr88.org)

Celebrating Scholastican sisterhood. For more info, visit www.celebr88.org where this photo is from.

Size: Bracelet diameter (not stretched) is 6.5″ inches. Price: PhP 1,500.00 (USD 34.87). Yes, it is very much like the Links of London Sweetie Bracelet bracelet but different in material and construction.

Jenny Lao-Pastor of Batch 88 collaborated with Silverworks and came up with these charms — a little Scholastican fondly named Cecilia Hall (after SSC’s famed auditorium St. Cecilia’s Hall) and a ring engraved with the word Scholastican.

You can also order online at the Silverworks website.

This is exciting. Our kitchen cabinets from Kitchen Studio got delivered today. The contractor is starting to piece things together. I’m dying to share the step-by-step process. But I don’t have enough photos yet. And currently our Matwood wooden floors were mistakenly made too shiny – something to do with the sealant applied by the contractor. So I will wait til the right surface and texture is achieved. I’m also in a panic because I put off ordering my windows. I haven’t even found a supplier yet. Gosh. Who has the time? Haha.

Meanwhile let’s have a look back at some of the most memorable kitchens I featured in Urban Zone. This one is at Mitch and Shelley Shivers’ home. I love the stainless steel everything.

This house was small. They really used the space efficiently. The kitchen was visible from the entire house, so they kept everything in its place. In order to save on energy costs, they placed a generous skylight window over the back counter to provide natural light during the day.

This house in San Juan had a big square kitchen with a huge island counter in the middle. I’m a fan of natural light. And their clerestory windows provided lots of it.

The pantry was back lit and visible from the kitchen through the sliding glass doors.

The space was even lovelier because of the Vigan bricks that lined the outside walls. This walkout lanai was the perfect spot for a breakfast table.

The owners of this kitchen are in the baking business so they knew exactly how they wanted their home kitchen to function. They raised all the drawers on legs for hygienic reasons so that they could have every corner of the floor cleaned every night.

You can see the kitchen legs better here. I also liked that one of the sections of the stainless steel counter top opened to reveal a dish dryer beneath.

This is the kitchen of Mike Pena (architect). The kitchen island doubles up as their daily dining table.

Beautiful carpentry in this kitchen designed by Dominic Galicia (architect).

Charisse Tinio’s brand new kitchen.

A modern modular kitchen in an Alex Co home.

A small kitchen in a bungalow designed by Dan Lichauco (architect). Curious about your thoughts on induction cookers. Please share.

Here’s what it looks like from another view. I love that it’s not just for show!

Interesting wood-effect tiles in this kitchen designed by Tania Lichauco. I considered wood-looking tiles on my kitchen but I had concerns about weight because my kitchen is technically on stilts in the second floor.

A little bit country. Designed by Frenjick Quesada (interior designer).

This was at my cousin Joan’s condo. Space was an issue. So the designer, Tito Villanueva used tricks like transparent furniture to reduce the bulk. One side of the wall also converts into a folding bed for the helper.

Sorry for the blur. This was the perfect kitchen at that stunning house by Luigi Bernaro. It was the awesome because it was a real working kitchen. The appliances and fixtures were of industrial quality. (In case anyone wonders why I mention “working” kitchens, that’s because in the Philippines a lot of homes have a secondary kitchen called “dirty kitchen”.)

The Benitez house was patterned after a Spanish colonial home in Vigan. The kitchen reflects the same old world feel.

I have a gazillion more kitchen and rooms previously featured in Urban Zone. I shall try to group them in to a story. Meanwhile we are about six weeks into renovations. I still need to source some suppliers to complete this enormous task. The house continues to look like backstage..