The Other Twin

-- drape dress: BCBG -- layering top: Forever 21 --- necklace: Banana Republic --
--sunnies: Fendi -- pumps: Jimmy Choo --

We had the honor to be godparents of our good friend's baby boy last Sunday. The baby baptism was held in St. Paul, the twin sister city of Minneapolis!

While I'll be forever fiercely loyal to Minneapolis (for obvious reasons as it bears the name of this blog!), St. Paul had the honor to be the state's capital. The pics here are taken in front of the State Capitol and at the Basilica of St. Paul.

My weeklong absence here (and from visiting your blogs) is because I was feeling so uninspired the past week. I felt so down hearing about the devastating typhoon that hit Manila, and reading about the heart-breaking accounts of some of the victims. Style, fashion & shopping were shoved at the very back of my head.

I'm so thankful to God for keeping my family safe. Apart from one of my sisters who had a minor property damage, everyone's all safe and ok. However, thousands of families had a completely different fate. Their lives completely changed in a day.

I am so thankful to all my friends here who responded to the call for help by praying and donating. All it took was a simple Facebook shoutout and a few friends immediately responded to giving away a lot of stuff. Every little thing is going to count in this time of need.

I am so thankful to the Filipino community here in the Twin Cities who inspired a lot of of us to help in whatever little way we can! Within a 20-mile radius, there's at least four families who opened their homes as drop-off points for donations. Our local freight forwarder to the Philippines even pledged to ship any typhoon relief for free. Everybody was doing something and I had no excuse for inaction.

UPDATE: For those who are considering to donate, an anonymous UNICEF donor is matching donations (a dollar donated will be matched with another dollar) between now until Oct 6!
May this person be immensely blessed for having such a giving heart!!

My thoughts and prayer go as well to those who suffered from the flash flood in Samoa and earthquake in Indonesia...

happy birthday CHOO me...

-- halter vest: YaYa Aflalo --- jeans: Lucky Brand -- belt: Michael Kors --
-- chain bracelet: Banana Republic (necklace twisted around) --necklace: F21 --shoes: Jimmy Choo --

Weeks before my birthday, on AIM:

* * *

Me: Hon, can I have a Jimmy Choo for my bday, please...?

Hubz: Up to you hon.

Me: They're on sale and I really like them.
I promise I will sell those Coach bags that still have tags on them so I could make up for the cost.
Is it OK then?

Hubz: That's fine hon. It's your birthday, get whatever you want.
I'll just close my eyes...

* * *

happy birthday CHOO me... happy birthday CHOO me!

* * *


On a more serious note, my birthday is that one day in the year when I really try to reflect on a lot of things.
I'm so thankful to God for so many things in my life: I'm blessed to have a hubby who's always the first one to greet me at the stroke of midnight; I'm happy to have lot of friends who remembered and flooded my Facebook, mailbox and AIM with birthday greetings; I'm grateful to meet new friends in this new blog -- I seriously thought I would be toiling for at least a year before I get one fabulous fashionista to comment here!!

Thank you God!
Thank you dearest hubz!
Thank you dear friends!