October 19th was the BDJ Fair with the theme Live It Up! Yeah, I know it's been two weeks and I know this post is quite late. Sorry guys, you know how much I struggle with time. Hehehe... Well, I saw to it that I would never miss this event. Belle de Jour Power Planner means a lot to me and it has helped me get out of my shell to be the best that I can be. It's all thanks to the BDJ Team and their amazing concepts! Despite the fact that my registered talk was at 3:00 PM, I went to SM Mall of Asia Music Hall early! I was just that excited! (^_^)
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| The 2014 BDJ Fair at SM MoA Music Hall |
I signed up for two talks: one presented by Tricia Gosingtian and another done by Edric Mendoza. But before that, I just had to try and visit the various gorgeous booths first! I love this fabulous photo wall for Bellas! BDJ Fair 2013 was about frames. This year, it was about hula hoops...
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| Me at the photo wall |
Hula hoops because the theme of the 2015 Belle de Jour Power Planner is about dancing! Every year, the planner just gets better. Four years ago, I once remember telling myself that the 2011 BDJ planner was the best! Then come 2012, I changed my mind... then 2013... then I thought 2014 beat them all... But ah forget it... the 2015 BDJ Planner clearly stands out among the rest! Hehehe~
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| The 2015 BDJ Planners in leather and matte cover |
The BDJ Fair is where the launching of Viviamo! planners take place! Their lineup of planners for 2015 include Belle de Jour Power Planners, Navi, Everything is Possible, BDJ Sticky notes, and Forget-Me-Not notepads. Check out their website at http://belledejourpowerplanner.com/ if you want to order online. The planners are available at leading bookstores nationwide, too!
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| The Viviamo! 2015 planners. From left: BDJ, Navi (brown cover), Everything is Possible (green cover) , and more BDJ planners |
If you ask me, the other planners look great too! The Navi planner is for the travel junkie. It is filled with photos and statistical figures of popular places all over the world. It would surely urge you to visit them. The Everything is Possible planner, on the other hand, is for everyone who likes to achieve. The pages are full of inspiring quotes that would encourage you everyday. Plus, its beauty lies in the simplicity of the pages. Here are page shots of the pages that I found striking.
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| From the 2015 Everything is Possible planner! (^_^) |
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| A page of the Navi 2015 planner |
It's just that, I need to choose only one and that would still be... the Belle de Jour Power Planner! I love the theme for 2015: dancing! The BDJ girl on the cover is beautiful to look at! I wish I can be like her.... Hehehe~ I will write a separate feature on this wonderful planner some other time. It clearly deserves a page here in my blog! (^_^)
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| I bought the matte cover of the BDJ 2015 planner (the one at the left) |
After buying my planner, I continued checking out the other booths. I got my hair done at the Davines booth. The hairstylist Myra did a good job of doing my curls. And it's not ordinary curls, it's big curls! I love it! She dabbed Davines oil on it to make it stay in place. It smelled great too! It wasn't the usual chemical smell of hair sprays.
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| The Davines booth |
Oh yeah! The Benefit Cosmetics booth had this adorable doll that they were giving away. The booth was so cute and I just had to take a pic at the wacky photo wall! They were promoting the Porefessional balm and the freebie purse. Sadly, I wasn't able to win in the booth's lemon toss game... so no samples for me. (T_T)
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| The Porefessional balm |
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| Cute Benefit Porefessional doll |
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| A close up of the doll |
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| Oops! Sorry I'm not a doll! Me at the photo wall. Hehehe~ |
So here are the other booths that I visited...
I won a mug at the Ace Water Spa pachinko game! Alright!
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| The Ace Water Spa pachinko board |
I tried my luck at the Parisian Shoes and Bags booth. I really hoped to win a bag! But unfortunately, I didn't get lucky... I just got a notepad. Oh well... better luck next time I guess...
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| The Parisian booth |
Well... one booth that I love is the TGI Friday's! They served non-alcoholic drinks that were quite refreshing. Oh... It was such a sight to behold, as well! Hehehe~
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| The handsome barista and his drinks |
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| This drink is minty |
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| This red drink is sweet |
The cutest for me is the Pet Express booth. They displayed Maneki Neko cats that were all hand painted by well known personalities. Lucky Bellas got a slot for the painting workshop earlier on. I wanted to buy one and paint my own too, but it wasn't available anymore. (T_T)
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| Hand-painted Maneki Neko cats on display. I like that TMNT one (^_^) |
I did all these while listening to the first talk. Take note: I only listened though I didn't register for it. And it was a good and inspirational talk from The Apprentice Asia's first winner Jonathan Yabut. He talked about his journey From Grit to Great. His book was available for purchase at the fair... and it's all autographed by him!
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| A signed copy of From Grit to Great by Jonathan Yabut |
After his talk, he dropped by at the kiosk and me.. of course, took the chance for selfie! Yay!
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| A selfie with Jonathan Yabut |
In every BDJ Fair, there is a Freedom Wall. Bellas can choose to write anything. You can either fill up the starter sentence or just write whatever your heart desires.
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| The BDJ Fair 2014 freedom wall |
Here's the surprise: one of the things I wrote in the Wall last year came true! I really thought hard on what to write this time. So I will #LiveItUp this 2015 by ____
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| Being my best self and an angel to others! |
And then... time moved so fast... it was 3:00 PM before I knew it. While waiting on queue, I saw a spectacular flash mob by the dance group Move Manila. Some danced on stage, the others were scattered all over the venue. They were very energetic and vibrant!
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| Move Manila on stage |
Alright... so when I finally got in the talk area, I chose to sit in the front row. I saw the speaker, influential blogger Tricia Gosingtian, posing for a pic. So I took a photo of her as well. I was too shy to ask her to pose for my camera...
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| Tricia Gosingtian was dazzling in white! |
...but I wasn't shy enough to ask for a selfie! Ahehehe...
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| My selfie with Tricia Gosingtian |
Tricia's talk was themed as: Create Your Own #BeautifulStory. She shared how she started out as a photographer, then later on as a blogger. Honestly, being an avid anime and cosplay fan myself, I knew who Tricia was before she went to the lime light. I knew her as the photographer Slumber Doll on deviantart.com where she posted photos of Alodia Gosiengfiao in cosplay.
And now, I am very impressed with her achievements and she has gained my admiration, too.
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| Tricia Gosingtian on stage |
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| Tricia sharing to us about her life as a photographer |
I learned from Tricia's talk that you should grab every opportunity that comes your way, even if you feel like you are not ready, as it does not matter whether the results will be good or bad. She gave us three advice on how to start our #BeautifulStory:
1. Traveling -it opens your mind;
2. Giving back -to charities or volunteer for a cause; it's good to share our blessings, too;
3. Being Yourself -you don't need to be 'someone' to make a difference to the world;
All in all, your #BeautifulStory is created by you; It is not given, you create it. It was a very inspiring talk, simple but left a mark in my heart. (^_^)
I didn't fall in line right away for the next talk. Why? I saw Tricia at the Pond's booth. And this time, I grabbed the opportunity to ask her to pose for my camera...
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| Beautiful! Tricia at the Pond's booth photo wall |
By the way, the Pond's booth was one of my favorites, I got a lot of samples of their newest product: the Pond's Flawless White Dewy Rose Gel.
Up next was about my second registered talk: From Zero to Financial Hero by Edric Mendoza, the host of On The Money. One of my goals in my life is to learn how to handle and make money grow. Edric taught me a lot. Actually, he showed his expertise on this topic. He owned the stage with confidence and talked with mastery. He had no slides, just pure interaction with the audience. Amazing!
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| Edric Mendoza teaching us principles on money |
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| His son Elijah shared his experience about handling money, too. |
Edric taught us five concepts on how to be a financial hero. Ugh.. sorry guys.. no matter what I do, I can only remember four out of five principles taught. (T_T) So here it is:
1. Set a goal
2. Make a budget and follow it
3 or 4. It is not how much you earn but how much you set aside to save and invest
5. Stewardship / giving back
It was a very informative and educational talk. It left me much more determined to start reading and educating myself about finances. (^_^)
After Edric's talk, I decided to go home. It was a good day! I had fun at the booths, learned from the talks, and got a loot bag to take home! Sweet! Belle de Jour always reminds me of how beautiful life is! So I leave you, dear readers, with a question Tricia Gosingtian left us before ending her talk:
What will your #BeautifulStory be this 2015?
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