#BossaWrites : The Launch

Joey has been egging me on to launch a blog ever since he’s read one of my Tumblr entries. For the most part, I was hesitant because I knew nothing about blogging as the world now seems to qualify it, that is, taking lots of pictures of your outfits or the food in this restaurant or the trip you recently went on. Well, okay, I do love eating out and going on adventures, but it was the #ootd part that I just really don’t see myself doing. Save of course for the photos that my stylist John Lozano has me take for every show I do or event I attend.

Essentially though, when one cuts right to the core of what this blogging thing is, it all boils down to sharing. Sharing what you’ve learned or this good thing that you’ve discovered, and spreading that information with one’s friends or followers so that they can benefit from your experience. 

It also dawned on me one pensive morning, that this blog that would hold all my thoughts and reflections would be my modern-day version of a gospel: bossagurl.com would be my platform for sharing my own good news. In this site I would chronicle all my learnings, all the sad and difficult and happy journeys for my future self to look back on, our future kids to read should they be interested in getting to know my writing self, and again, to empathise with others who go through the same things. 

My blog aims to inform, inspire, and entertain. Having a mission statement and narrowing down my sharing’s purposes certainly helped shape my writings a lot.

Having taken the plunge, Joey and I asked graphic designer extraordinaire Bea Marquez to work on the site. For nearly a year, we went back and forth on templates, photos, fonts, links, etc. I am a huge fan of her work and character and was quite happy with the outcome: the site was clean and simple, just the way I wanted it to be.

By February 2018, I felt that the site was ready. All we needed to do now was to formally launch it. We settled on the third Wednesday of the following month, March 21, and I immediately sought the help of our wedding coordinator, Marge Montemayor of Events by Marge, to help me plan. Having done the blog launches of Patty Laurel, Nikki Gil, and Joaquin Valdez, as well as with her years of events and wedding experience, I knew that once again, I will be in good hands. :)

My husband Joey with our Ninong Anthony Pangilinan and his timelessly beautiful (inside and out!) wife, Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan.

No one else I would trust my flowers with - only with Gary Dacanay of Mindworks. <3

A light and breezy afternoon: this layout by Julienne Styling was just perfect. <3

Here’s the thing when you find your events team for life: you would want to do all future happenings with them. And so I asked for help from the very same people who made our #bikerxbossa wedding an unforgettable success:

Events by Marge for coordination

Julienne Styling and Mindworks for event styling

GDV Sounds and Lights

and Cherryblocks for photography

Events by Marge x Julienne Styling: nothing but love and the deepest appreciation for consistently excellent work.

Singer-songwriter Miss Ramone hosted my short and sweet program.

I was aiming for a relaxed and simple affair, and my love for the outdoors translated yet again to this launch. I was very fortunate that our Ninong Charlie Rufino generously lent the veranda at the 8th floor of Net Lima. I remember immediately falling in love with how Julienne Styling and Mindworks set the place up: it was light and breezy and relaxing. I loved it!

Cocktails by a reflecting pool <3 with my good friend Princess Velasco and her husband, Dr. Bistek Rosario.

Welcoming the beautiful Nikki Gil amidst the backdrop of tall glass buildings. <3

With the Rufinos <3

Since it was a special afternoon, I sought the help of a good friend, my kapatid sa Asian Artists Agency and Food Hero Asia 2016 Champion Chef Anton Amoncio. Through the sponsorship of Cookies Peanut Butter and with the support of Saladmaster, Anton developed a super yummy pica-pica menu for my guests. Everything was just so good!!! I’m so grateful that we were able to treat our friends to such a unique and delectable spread.

Chef Anton’s Special Menu for the #bossawrites launch:

Blue Cheese Burger Crostini (super sarap!!! Nyoy must have had three of these)

Fried Vegetable Spring Roll (so refreshing!)

Peanut Butter Ball with Orange Marmalade (the perfect peanut butter dessert!)

Mango, Arugula, Basil Wraps (so yummy and easy to do)

Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken (I never thought such a combination was possible! This was the second hit of the afternoon!!)

Salted Potato Chips with Greek-Inspired Dip

Passionfruit Guyabano Lime-infused Juice (so good and refreshing as well!!)

Chef Anton with his Salad Master team - I am salivating just looking at that spread again! Yum yum yum!!!

Laughing with Vessel Hostel owners and surfing couple superstars Buji and Nikki Libarnes while enjoying my third spring roll! Hehe!

Ninong ANP mini-mini-mini-moing hihi

I also approached new coffee brand Katha Kape to provide for our caffeine needs. They were the talk of the event! Everyone loved their coffee :)

Try their amazingly good coffee in NAIA Terminal 3 Arrival Bay 8.

It warmed my heart to see all my friends again in one space, so very grateful to each and everyone for making time. I outlined a very short program so that they could just freely go around and catch up with each other, enjoy the food and ambience. 

My sessionista family with honorary members Tom and Ehra Madrigal-Yeung. <3

My brother-in-law's girlfriend Carla with my SMP loves with whom I plan every Sittizen outreach with <3

Team Katha Kape who also happen to be our small group mates. :)

Every single thing and being in this world comes from God and is breathed by Him, even the very words I write right now. I strongly felt that we had to honour God that afternoon by dedicating the blog to Him. We invited Pastor Patrick Mercado of Victory Fort Bonifacio to pray over the site and the whole event. He charged me to fill my blog with the following words/themes:

Honor. Respect. Integrity. Truth. Pure.

Frankly, while he was talking I was mentally sifting through each and every entry that was already up on the site, trying to remember if any of the posts contain any of these five charges. Meron naman ata, hehe! You see, in my writings, my wish is to bring my readers closer to prayer, closer to God. With his words, Pastor Patrick elevated the responsibility of the blog to a higher plane. 

I am not worried for I know that God will provide the words at every appropriate time for His exact purposes.

After Pastor Patrick’s dedication, I shared a bit more about why I was going into blogging, while showing a site reveal video. We raffled off some items, then the program was over and we all went back to eating and chikka chikka. :)

Nyoy and Richard took home Skullcandy headphones.

My good friend Joy Franje took home a Mizu water flask which I wanted for myself, haha! 

My discipler Phoebe Sebastian won a brand new Oppo A83 for her photo entry in our instagram contest. So lucky!!

Much thanks go out to the generous hearts who sponsored raffle prizes and giveaways for my guests:

Cookies Peanut Butter

Asian Artists Agency, Inc

Oppo Philippines

Print Cafe

Ni-qua

H&M Home

The Nifty Decorator

Signetura

Casa Bohemia

BYS Philippines

Onelife Studio

Faces and Curves

Beauty Lab Mnl

Natural Brows by Ken & Roman

On running

Skullcandy

Mizu

Izzo Shop

My husband and I both love Cookies Peanut Butter! Not only for sponsoring my launch but also because they are the best brand we've tried! Seriously!

H&M Home goodies <3

Specially-designed journals from Print Cafe, a cute macrame wall hanging from Casa Bohemia, and unique utensil pockets from The Nifty Decorator.

Beauty goodies from Beauty Lab Mnl, a kabuki brush from BYS Philippines, and a Ni-qua leather pouch.

Would you believe I just messaged most of them on Instagram to ask for their support? I wrote about how my rekindled passion for writing has given birth to the site, and some of them shared their motivations to me as well. It was wonderful, this mutual exchange of backstories, and I count myself lucky to know of the burning hearts behind these popular products. 

Full video of the #bossawrites launch coming soon! For now, which is your favourite of all that I’ve written on the blog? :)

Have a lovely weekend,

Sitti

A grateful heart <3

Also, my favourite earrings from Signetura.