Manila

Howdy, folks! I am now in Hong Kong and am enjoying a day off. I've been up since 3:30am (hello, jet lag!) and was out and about fairly early. It's around noon now and I just had to come back to the hotel to cool off. It is sweltering outside. It's not the heat really, but the humidity is sooooooo thick. It started making me sleepy so I cut my shopping excursion short.

Besides, I wanted to get in some groovy updates! It was my first time in Manila and I have to say, the trip went well. I hung out with my agents Clark and his wife Carol when we weren't working. They had me over for dinner one night and I got to meet their new yellow Lab puppy Chuckles and the infamous Shakespeare the Parrot who speaks both English and Tagalog. Impressive. They have "staff" at their house and Margie immediately brought me a glass of wine, plopped me in a recliner and proceeded to give me the most amazing foot massage for the next hour. I asked how often Clark and Carol partook of the ritual and they simultaneously announced, "Six days a week!" Apparently Margie gets Sundays off!

On my second day in Manila, we finished with work fairly early (meaning, on time) and they offered to take me shopping at Green Hills (you local Nashville folks might get a kick out of that!). Green Hills is a local shopping mall that has an area of stalls dedicated to selling pearls. It's basically where pearl dealers set up shop to sell direct to the public. You can get lost in all the little hallways as every stall looks sort of the same.

I was hoping to find something great for my wedding dress, but I was really overwhelmed by all the choices. I stopped at so many places and saw really gorgeous things. Clark and Carol were so patient, wandering around with me. I knew that they were probably bored to tears, so I was about to give up when I happened across this particular booth.

So funny! The Filipinos have the strangest names. There's some politician named Boy Blue. Girls go by Precious, Princess, Darling and Tinkerbell. Boys get named DingDong, BingBong and BongBo. I'm not kidding. But I am digressing....

I found a gorgeous fresh water seed pearl necklace at BabyRuth and haggled with them from 1200 pesos to 900 pesos. I asked if they had a matching bracelet and they did not. However, Miss BabyRuth salesgirl offered to make me one on the spot for 400 more pesos! Check her out!



So, for the huge grand sum of 1300 pesos ($27.65), I got a beautiful pearl necklace and matching bracelet that just might work with my wedding gown! If not, I can still wear it with a ton of other stuff! The necklace has the same matching clasp as the bracelet.

The only bummer is that I couldn't find matching seed pearl earrings at the same shop. I could have taken a few more minutes to look around at other booths, but I didn't want to torture my accommodating hosts! I'm sure I can try to find something in Hong Kong, or even at home. We shall see!

What do you guys think?

I also want to thank everyone for all the awesome comment love. I've got some responding to do! Please be patient, I promise I'll get to it all. Now, it's either time for an afternoon cocktail or a nap. Or both. I've got a ton of Hong Kong wedding stuff to share with you! Stay tuned!