Truly Rich and Blessed

Truly Rich Recommendations {Events}: Babypalooza Bazaar 2012 + A Giveaway by Mommy & Baby Essentials! :)

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Shopping for mommy, baby and kids items nowadays has become significantly “easier,” especially if you live in urban areas like Manila. Actually, with the Internet, you don’t even have to leave your home to buy this or that item — I’m sure you’ve bought something online at least ONCE in your life, right? 🙂 (One of my FAVE online stores is , but then, I’m a certified hoarder of children’s books book-lover and hope to raise my kids to be the same!)

Still, going to bazaars and events specifically geared towards moms and their families is a whole lot of fun, and I try to make sure we attend at least one or two such events every year — even more, if our schedule permits! 🙂

One such event coming up is the Babypalooza Bazaar on Friday, November 30, 2012, at the Walter Hogan Conference Center in Ateneo de Manila University.

From the press kit (with a few side comments from moi, teehee!):

The Babypalooza bazaar focuses on items and services for babies, toddlers and expectant moms. It features bothpreloved and brand new premium itemsfrom widely trusted local and imported brands. Items from Phillips Avent, Vulli (Sophie the Giraffe), Carter’s, Dr. Brown, Calvin Klein, Tiny Buds, Red Tag, Gap, Human Heart Nature (one of my favorite brands of all time!), Osh Kosh and tons of other stuff produced by Manila-based mompreneurs and from well-known brands will be sold on-site at negotiable, parent-friendly prices. A lactation consultant will also be on-site to offer FREE breastfeeding tips and counseling. (I love that they’re breastfeeding-friendly! 🙂
A special feature of this bazaar is its Vendor Protection Program (VPP). The VPP ensures that items that will be sold by one Babypalooza vendor will not be sold by another. This will ensure that buyers will not see the same stuff from several vendors over and over again, making their visit and shopping experience much more fun and worthwhile J (Isn’t this a great feature? It will help you narrow down your shopping choices and save time too!)
Items that will be sold are baby clothing, shoes and accessories, gear, strollers/baby furniture, feeding bottles, nursing wear, breast pumps, skin care and cleaning products. Services such as umbilical cord banking, bronze casting and pregnancy/breastfeeding massage (I could use a good pregnancy massage right about now, LOL!) will also be featured. Edible products such as organic baby food, pastries, pasta and other food items will be sold on-site. 
The venue is fully air-conditioned. Free parking and entrance.

For more information, please visit www.babypalooza.com.ph
You can also get in touch with Cel Goco, Mariz Ong and/or Kat dela Torre.

Contact details: 
Email: 

Facebook event page .

A list of brands, items and more bazaar information can be found on www.babypalooza.com.ph. 
I just took a peek at the list of vendors, and am glad to see that my friends from and will be there! 🙂 Fellow mom bloggers Cai and Fleur will also have booths at the bazaar. Cool, huh? 🙂
Now, for the EXCITING part! 🙂 Mommy Theresa of Mommy & Baby Essentials is generously sponsoring a GIVEAWAY in anticipation of the Babypalooza Bazaar! 🙂 Here is what’s up for grabs:

1 piece Skiphop Lunchies

2 pieces Fashionable Bibs 
(More choices — depends on availability though)
3 pairs Non-Skid Socks
(More choices  — depends on availability though)
2 pieces Bag Organizer 
(Sorry, no pic of these 🙂

To join, please make sure you follow EACH step in the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post.  There will be eight winners in all — prizes shall be chosen at random, once Rafflecopter “selects” the eight winners. The winners shall be notified by email and announced on . 

VERY IMPORTANT: Please take note that you can only claim your prize at the Mommy & Baby Essentials booth at the Babypalooza Bazaar on November 30. The prize will NOT be shipped to you. Good luck, God bless and have fun, folks! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Truly Rich Recommendations {Events}: "Batang Pera-Henyo" Conference 2012 + A GIveaway! :D

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My friends over at School Talk are holding another inspirational and practical learning event this weekend, entitled “Batang Pera-Henyo Conference 2012.”

BATANG PERA-henyo 2012 CONFERENCE

November 17, 2012
9:00AM – 5:00PM

VISTA CENTER
Upper G/F Worldwide Corporate Center Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

  • Youth between 13 to 20 years old.
  • Parents
  • Teachers and Home Educators
  • Home Schoolers
  • Youth Organizations
  • And anyone interested to achieve financial peace!
For more details about the conference and how to register, please click here. 🙂 
For a chance to win FREE tickets to this great learning event, you can join the giveaway below. 🙂 There will be THREE winners, selection of which will be this Friday. 🙂 Winners will be notified via email. 🙂

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Armi of Mayumi & Me — SAHM Turned Mompreneur + An Amazing Grace Giveaway

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I’ve mentioned before that I’ve realized that I’m not cut out to be the retail/selling merchandise type of mompreneur. I’d rather be writing than selling products. 🙂 So I took it upon myself to do whatever I could to support mompreneurs instead — usually by featuring them on this blog or on Smart Parenting’s website, where I regularly contribute articles (on a freelance basis).

Anyway, one time, I was browsing through one such mompreneur’s site, Mayumi & Me, and saw these .

I immediately left a comment on Armi’s page and she responded by sending me a message. I was delighted to know that we had encountered each other previously online, during the August 2011 Milk Mama Diaries Carnival. (She wrote a good entry for it, which you can read .) Later on, I was TOTALLY psyched when Armi sent me a Tiny Tots breastfeeding cover for when I give birth next year! 🙂 (Thanks so much, Armi!)

As with many other mompreneurs, Armi has turned her passion for finding the best products for moms and their little ones into a business. Here are a few screenshots to describe Mayumi & Me, and Armi and her family as well (all were taken with permission from the Mayumi & Me website):

Through our email and text exchanges, I’ve come to know Armi as very warm, friendly and accommodating. 🙂 She and I were able to meet in person at Dainty Mom’s WAHMderful Life Workshop last weekend and I must say I was pretty inspired by how she took care of Mayumi, who was at the workshop with her, along with her husband. I love that she is into breastfeeding and babywearing and attachment parenting too! 🙂

To inspire and encourage other people out there to be more intentional when choosing products for themselves and their families, especially their kids, Armi is sponsoring an Amazing Grace giveaway for the next two weeks! 🙂 ONE winner will receive an awesome Human Nature  3-Step Baby Care set from Mayumi & Me! 

Photo from the Human Nature website

Joining is simple! 🙂 Just use the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post! 🙂 Please make sure you “Like”  (and add them to your News Feed while you’re at it!), follow and post and tweet about the giveaway (you can do the latter more than once)! 🙂 (Note: All participants must have Philippine shipping addresses. 🙂 The winner will be notified via email and announced on my Facebook page. 🙂

Have an awesome All Hallows Eve (Halloween), All Saints Day and All Souls celebration ahead, folks! 🙂 Remember, it’s not about ghouls, ghosts, goblins and all that is scary and gory, but about having hope and faith, striving to be like our saints and praying for our deceased loved ones! 🙂

JOIN MAYUMI AND ME’S AMAZING GRACE GIVEAWAY HERE:
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Baby Chic Boutique: Proudly Mompreneur-owned! (Plus an Amazing Grace giveaway!)

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One of the things I love about blogging is being able to “connect” somehow with other people, especially with other moms. I am especially thrilled when mompreneurs contact me and tell me about how and why they started their businesses — mostly because they want to spend more time with their kids. 🙂 (Don’t we all wish we could do that — after all, childhood is fleeting!)
One such mom is Helene Sonza, of  (on Multiply and on ), which is dedicated to selling “chic and adorable baby products.” 


Helene wrote to me a while back through my Contact Me page, and it’s letters like hers that really warm my heart (and humble me and inspire me to keep blogging!):


Helene shares a little bit more about her store with us, and her newest “baby”:

I actually started out selling flower clips and headbands, branched out into cute, reusable and eco-friendly cloth diapers, and then added more items such as babylegs/leg warmers, busha pants, diaper accessories, and more.

We chose to come up with our own brand of cloth diapers because we wanted to offer consumers something different. 🙂 Right now, most of the cloth diapers available in the market are pocket diapers, where you put an absorbent insert into the pocket opening of the diaper. This means that when the diaper is wet already, it can’t be used again until it’s washed. Whereas with our Baby Chic Covers, you can just wipe and reuse the shell… simply replace the insert, and you’re good to go again. It’s actually a lot less expensive this way, since you can invest in  inserts and just a few covers, and you can already cloth diaper full time. For example, if you wash every other day, you can invest in just 5 covers and 20 inserts.  


From Baby Chic Boutique’s Facebook page

Our covers are unique since they have stay put flaps both front and back, so you’re assured that your insert won’t move from it’s place. Of course, it’s best to use our trifold insert with it since you can snap the insert into the cover so there’s really no chance for it to budge.Our trifold inserts are also different from your typical insert. These are a lot more absorbent since they compose of 9 layers when folded. You can even use them overnight. Typical inserts are only composed of 3-4 layers of fabric.  

Baby Chic Boutique’s Trifold Insert is made up of two layers of bamboo and one layer of microsuede.
When folded, the insert is nine layers thick but still not very bulky.
(From )

I personally think that moms who “invent” their own products, like Helene, deserve a huge pat on the back! 🙂 I have been blessed to meet so many mompreneurs out there who have come up with innovative products — all because they can relate to the needs of their fellow moms and their kids! 🙂 (I admittedly am not blessed in this department, but I really love promoting those who are! 🙂

Anyway, like it says above, to celebrate the launch of her new product, Helene is sponsoring another Amazing Grace giveaway! 🙂

ONE blessed reader will win ONE Baby Chic cover plus TWO trifold inserts! 🙂 The winner will get to choose the color of the cover from the choices shown in the photo above. 🙂

  • The contest is open to everyone with a Philippine shipping address. 🙂 If you’re not based in the Philippines but have relatives here, you can still join! 🙂
  • The contest will run for two weeks. The winner will be notified via email and will also be announced on . Pls. bear with me if I don’t post the announcement right away. 🙂 You know how being pregnant can be! 🙂
  • All participants are required to “Like” and post about the giveaway on their Facebook walls. (You need to follow me on Facebook and Twitter, too! 😛 And leave a comment, please! 🙂 For easier entry, please follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and God bless, everyone! 🙂

Have You "Met" the Yummymummies behind Indigo Baby? + Another Amazing Grace Giveaway :)

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I first came across the “yummymummies” of Indigo Baby when we were still based in Timor Leste. At that time, I was looking for mommy and baby friendly products we could invest in when we returned to Manila for good. I instantly fell in love with their products, especially the boncho (breastfeeding poncho)! (I’m so happy I have an “excuse” to get one now that I’m preggy again — I didn’t get one before as both of our older kids were already a bit big and didn’t like to be covered when breastfeeding!)

When I started thinking about becoming a mompreneur (you know, of the retail, bazaar-joining type), Indigo Baby was one of the brands I considered reselling/distributing. I had even gone so far as to email Denise, one of the mompreneurs behind Indigo Baby, about my intentions.

It’s because of Indigo Baby that I also “discovered” other mompreneur brands, like Next9 and Mommy Matters. Denise and Monica truly inspired me (well, they still inspire me!) through their being hands-on mums to their tots AND being able to manage a successful business, too! 🙂

Well, you all probably know that I realized I’m not the “selling” mompreneur type. (I’m more of a writing/virtual mompreneur, teehee!) BUT that doesn’t mean that I don’t support my fellow moms who DO venture into the mompreneur market! 🙂 In fact, I totally applaud them! 🙂

So that’s why I’m so psyched to feature Monica and Denise here. 🙂 Here’s a bit of info about how they came up with Indigo Baby, taken (via screen capture, haha!) from the Indigo Baby website:

Since starting Indigo Baby just a few years ago, Monica and Denise and their fab products have already been featured in various print and online publications, and even on several TV shows! Inspiring, right?! 🙂

And now, in their desire to share their blessings, they’re generously giving away a totally “yummy” Indigo Baby goodies set to  one of my lucky readers! 🙂 (Confession: This is actually another belated birthday giveaway post, but the pregnancy and all has kept me from doing it for the longest time! Teehee!)

Here’s what’s up for grabs:

Man, I wish that I could join my own giveaways! Ha, ha!

Here are the giveaway guidelines (please do read through everything carefully):

  • The giveaway is open to everyone based in the Philippines. If you’re based abroad, you can still join, but you need to have someone in the Philippines get the prize for you.
  • All participants must take note that the prize WILL NOT be shipped to you, but can be picked up at the Indigo Baby showroom in Makati. If this is not possible, the winner shall shoulder the shipping fee. (Sorry guys, that’s the only catch for this giveaway! But I hope it doesn’t stop you from joining!)
  • The giveaway will run for two weeks. The winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter and shall be emailed upon being chosen. I will also announce the winner on .
  • Joining is easy. Please just follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. Make sure you “Like” , follow and post (on FB) and tweet about the giveaway, among other things! 🙂

That’s it, folks! 🙂 Have fun and God bless! 🙂 Feel free to share the love, OK?! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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