"Keyfyu"

This happened when I was in high school.

English Teacher: Class, spell "KEYFYU."

Class: (utterly dumbfounded).

In my group of friends, we had specialties. One was really good at Physics. My specialty was English and so when dead silence met my teacher's inquiry, my friends all looked at me as if I were the day's savior.

Friend 1: Lai, what's "keyfyu?"

Friend 2: (acting as a moral booster). Go go go, answer it!

Me: I don't know what the word means. Maybe it's a French word, judging from the way she pronounced it.

Friend 2: Come on, think. You can do it!

Me: Hey, zip it! I haven't taken any French lessons and the only French words I know are mademoiselle, oui, non, moi and merci so don't go offering me to her like a lamb to slaughter as I absolutely have no idea what "keyfyu" means.

Then, as it was blatantly obvious that no one among her "special science curriculum" students knew what keyfyu means, our teacher heaved such a loud sigh of resignation.

Teacher: (writing the word in the blackboard).

CHAUFFEUR

Amidst a collective ahhs and ohhs, the whole class then said in the loudest of voices:

shoh-fur!

And then we had the satisfaction of seeing our teacher's face go beet red.

And thus concludes our "French" lesson for today. He he he!

My Gisele Bundchen-signed Ipanema GB Seeds Flipflops!

This is my cherished pair of Ipanema GB Seeds New Thong Fem in White signed by one of the world's loveliest faces, supermodel Gisele Bundchen. I won this from a raffle in the recently concluded Ipanema's A Blogger's Affair.

Brazilian Miss Gisele is the world's richest model and is the face of more than 20 international brands. Her beautiful face has also graced countless magazine covers all over the globe.

Aside from her beauty, Gisele is also a renowned philanthropist who supports a number of charities and humanitarian causes. Among these are the I Am African Campaign, American Express Red Card and Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. For more information about her, click HERE or log on to her official website http://www.giselebundchen.com.br/gisele_home.asp.

Gisele has been in collaboration with Ipanema since 2002 and this year, her new GB Seeds collection aims to raise funds for the Forests of the Future (Florestas do Futuro) project that reforests the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Below are two pictures of the beautiful Gisele Bundchen signing some GB Seeds flipflops. And boy, do I feel really very lucky to have one rare pair of these!

Many thanks to Mr. J. Elizalde, Chairman of ELRO Commercial and Industrial Corporation, the country's exclusive distributor of Ipanema flipflops for sending me the above photos. Thank you!

Freebies from Ipanema's A Blogger's Night

my name tag!

Upon registration at the lobby during Ipanema's A Blogger's Night, a loot bag containing a complete information kit was given to each blogger. After I have taken my seat, further scrutiny of it revealed some brochures, a CD, as well as a write-up for their upcoming event in March that I will blog about later.

I love their loot bag, with its snaking leaves!

Inside the bag too was a gift certificate (GC) that we can exchange for a pair of the latest Ipanema Gisele Bundchen (GB) Seeds collection. Miss Cecille of M2.0 Communications, the event's organizer and Miss Millet of ELRO Commercial and Industrial Corporation, Ipanema's exclusive distributor in the country, said I could use the GC that night or later claim my pair at The Shoe Salon as this line wouldn't be available in the market until March. I decided on the former.

I chose Ipanema's GB Seeds Plataforma in brown gold as at first glance, I fell in love with its color and the fact that it wasn't unlike my other flipflops that are all simply flat. This one was chunky and would thus benefit those who are petite in stature. My reason for choosing it though was more on aesthetics than its height booster as at 5'5, I am considered tall for a Filipina. I liked its straps too. Given its chunkiness, it was thus a surprise to find out that it felt lightweight. It was no surprise though that like all Ipanema flipflops, this was as heavenly soft.

As mentioned too in my previous blog about the said event, a raffle was also held where lucky bloggers won flipflops from the recently unveiled collection as well as Haribon shirts.

Someone from our table was among the first one to be called. Then another blogger from the same table won a pair of flipflops that we kidded that ours was the "lucky table." The thought was still in my mind when I heard my name called. Whoa!

I got a pair of Ipanema's GB Seeds New Thong Fem in brown bronze. It looked lovely. There's the cute metal spiral button that symbolized the "seed of life" and the double straps that added to its allure.

the "seed of life" up close

I loved its packaging too. Aren't the pockets adorable? It came with some gardening tools too to encourage bloggers to plant for our future. Neat!

At size 7, the New Thong Fem was too small for me so I"m thinking of giving it to a friend. I'm keeping the lovely bag that came with it though. He he he! And the tools of course which I just noticed when I got home were down to only two (there were three). I must have lost them in the cab. ***Sigh***

In our table of eight, six of us won the raffle. Lucky table indeed.

To cap the event, it was announced that a pair of Ipanema GB Seeds flipflops signed by the beautiful Miss Gisele Bundchen herself would be raffled off. Mr. Francisco Elizalde, Chairman of ELRO, decided to include all previously drawn winners. Wasn't that very nice of him?

I waited with bated breath, thinking just how lucky the winner would be when sudenly, I heard Mr. Elizalde say my name. Incredible! I must have looked funny when I claimed my prize as I could feel my face splitting into a very wide grin.

That night was indeed a blogger's night as all of us went home with a pair of the latest in Ipanema's GB Seeds collection. Some were lucky to bring home 2 pairs as they won another pair during the raffle draw.

my three new pairs of Ipanema's GB Seeds collection!

As for myself, I felt luckier, as if the night was especially for me as I have just gotten a pair of Ipanema's GB Seeds flipflops signed by the very supermodel who made this line hers.

Ipanema's A Blogger's Night

To unveil Ipanema's new Gisele Bundchen (GB) Seeds collection, A Blogger's Night event was held on the 19th in Le Souffle at the Fort.

I arrived early, maybe at around 6:20 PM but the event did not start until past 8:00 PM. To kill time, as always, I took some pics.

Isn't the banquet set-up lovely? And the table centerpiece even lovelier?

Dinner was served at around 7:20. It was a buffet dinner and the selection was pretty extensive. The food was scrumptious and great. There are desserts too. I tasted the chocolate mousse and cheesecake and both were heavenly!

The program proper started at past 8:30. Mr. Francisco Elizalde, Chairman of ELRO Commercial and Industrial Corporation, the exclusive distributor of Ipanema in the country, gave the opening remarks where he stated Ipanema's worthwhile project of forest conservation, the very reason why this Gisele Bundchen (GB) Seeds line is being launched.

Ballet Philippines then delivered a captivating performance featuring the latest in Ipanema's GB Seeds line. It was a riveting performance. I loved their costume and the lights were spellbinding. It was a wonder to behold the stage turn into riotous shades of red, yellow, orange, green, blue and purple. My pictures are kind of blurry though as the dancers moved so fast but still with grace. At the start of the show, the emcee also politely asked all guests to refrain from taking photos using flash as it might affect the lighting and this also attributed to some of my hazy shots.

For all my photos for this event, click HERE.

After the show, the graceful dancers had their pictures taken.


And of course, there's a raffle where more than half a dozen pairs of Ipanema's latest GB Seeds collection and Haribon Foundation (ELRO's partner in its campaign for a lush Philippines) shirts were given. A special pair of Ipanema flipflops from the same collection signed by the lovely Miss Gisele was also raffled out but I'll blog about all these in my next posts.


Meanwhile, my sincerest thanks to Miss Cecille of M2.0 Communications, the event's organizer, for the invite as well as to Miss Millet of ELRO Commercial and Industrial Corporation for being accommodating to me. Both chatted me up while waiting for the event to start so I did not feel left out, given that I came alone and knew no one. Kudos too to both of you and your team for coming up with such a fantastic unveiling. We all had a grand time!

And to all my newfound blogger friends, thank you! I really enjoyed your company!