CRAZY HAPPY YEAR STARTER

I just got back to real life after two langorous days in Tagaytay.

It wasn't supposed to be langorous because it was work. It was a fashion shoot under the theme, "Lazy Summer Afternoons." But my friends and co-workers H and G spent the night there before the shoot, got ourselves a nice room, the Andalucia, at the Discovery Country Suites, and shot the bull all night, playing "Trivial Pursuit" with a touch of Charades only because most of the questions were just too difficult. I was second best, collecting two cards short of the six cards needed to win the game.

The next day, yesterday, on the day of the shoot, the rest of the team came. I booked this fabulous photographer from the Singapore Straits Times whose "eye" sees beauty in places that I don't even take a second look at. I also booked my favorite makeup team of C and J and Brazillian model Julianna, who was so game and so much fun! We spent most of the morning chatting over cups of coffee and bathing in the morning sunshine on the terrace of the Country Suites overlooking Taal, but that was because shoots always start after one hour of makeup and hairstyling, so the rest of the us were just so relaxed. L, the photographer, just spent three weeks in Laos and boy does she have great stories to tell about this mountainous paradise!

Lunch was a four-course meal specially prepared for us by the chef David Pardo de Ayala from Colombia. It was perfect for my braces because eveything was so tender there was hardly any need for chewing. We started with a salad, which I barely touched because I couldn't chew the greens and then it was followed by a bowl of heavenly asparagus soup and a beef dish with a side dish of mashed potatoes. A trio of panna cottas showered with pepper capped the "lazy summer" late lunch and again cups after cups of coffee.

The rest of the afternoon we spent at Ponderosa Leisure Farm, where the photographer L looked for the most undeveloped areas: tall grasses, open spaces, and old trees. The wind was cool, but the sun was out so it was a perfect combination. We were hopping in and out of two vans and a car, escorted by two security men on motorbikes, so we were making like we were on Amazing Race. It was fun!

After about seven setups that we finished in a breeze, we ended the day at Bags of Beans, where I had a fabulous pasta with cream and a hot chocolate. We were outdoors and it was so cold but we stayed out because we wanted to make the most of cool Tagaytay weather that actually felt like Hong Kong winter. I also bought my favorite, cinammon and raisin bread from Bags of Beans, though I had no doubt I couldn't eat it, unless I dipped it in in coffee til soggy.

Today drifted past in a haze. I was so busy arranging a trip to Hong Kong on Sunday, where my associate H and I are to cover the Hong Kong Fashion Week that runs til Thursday next week. I'm quite excited because this is going to be my first Fashion Week in Hong Kong. We're staying in a hotel called Emipre just three blocks away from the Hong Kong Convention Center, where the Fall-Winter 2007 collections will unfold. Of course, it will also be something of an edge for my magazine Sense&Style, though with all these last-minute preparations, H and I are really frantic about making sure we negotiate our way effectively through this forest of collections.

Today I spent mostly on the phone, also arranging trips to Boracay and El Nido, Palawan. I will fly to Boracay with a crew of 15 on Saturday, one day after I arrive from Hong Kong, whew! I'm very excited because this is really going to be a major production with four big ultra mega supermodels working with us. I realize how blessed I am with so many friends. Just as I was booking transfers from Caticlan to Boracay and from Boracay to Caticlan, a friend called to say a private boat will ferry us all right on the beachfront of our resorts in Station 1. The public ferries now all dock in the back as a new policy bars them from docking on the celebrated beachfront, but not me and my team.

Palawan I decided to ditch. I will send just one of my writers in my place. That is scheduled on the weekend after Boracay and I think I will really run out of breath if I jump on an airplane again after all these travel bonanza. Besides, I cannot be the only lucky one in our team. I need to distribute the blessings. I'd like my staff to see this job the way I see it, full of opportunities and always a door opening to brave new worlds, that is unless you are too lazy, too afraid, too crazy to walk past the doorway. Don't get me wrong. I've never monopolized the opportunities, even for travel, in my career, even as I was just getting started. My staff, in fact, get most of the opportunities now. All my writers are going to be with me in Boracay, too.

What a way, indeed, to get 2007 started! After all this hopping in and out of planes and boats and cars and all, it will soon be the Year of the Fire Pig. I claim it to be a good year, gentle as a pig, fat as a piggy bank, and with an appetite like that of a pig for the good things life has to offer.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!