ANNA: 10 Things that I am excited about at the moment

1) Wolfie starting on solid food. After weeks of desperately trying to grab food from my hand or my plate, Wolfie was finally allowed to have a little taste of something else apart from breast milk. Nine days shy of being 6 months old, Wolfie had a few nibbles of mashed sqash mixed with milk and water. Not too long now before he starts chomping on yummier fare.

2) I was never a regular feminine wash user until I got married and started having children. One to be wary of coming into contact with anything harsh, especially down there, I was always quite happy with cleansing with just gentle soap and water. Until I tried out the Human Nature All Natural Feminine Wash. Wow, what a revelation. I love its very subtle smell and the very gentle cleansing action that leaves me feeling fresh all day. I'm so proud of this product because we only used the most natural and most premium ingredients in it. Hurry and grab a bottle now because this product is flying off the shelves!

Some of our ingredients are certified by the NPA and Eco-cert!

3) I'm sorry peppermint, but you've just been replaced by my new favorite lip balm! I can't get enough of the new all natural Human Nature Choco Vanilla Lip Balm (pause to grab the tube from my bag and to apply some more). I'm afraid I'm now addicted. My kids keep sneaking into my bag as well to get a swipe of this delicious lip balm. I don't mind because I know that there are no nasty chemicals in there that can harm them.

Choco vanilla lip balm edges out Peppermint

as my number 1 pick. Our chocolate flavor is Eco-certified!

4) Visiting England to see my mother-in-law. My husband hasn't been home in four years. I really feel for him and how homesick he is for the English countryside, English food, friends, home and especially his mom. This will be the first time for my 2 youngest children to see their father's home country as well. Dylan loves the Philippines as much as any patriotic Filipino but of course, his heart still yearns to be back to his roots.

5) Fifteen months after I was born, Wowie came out to disturb my peaceful me-centered existence. Wowie is my fashion model/sports show host/event planner extraordinaire/theatre actress/stir-crazy mom (aren't we all at some point?!) sister who is coming home from the US this August to take charge of the Human Nature Summit later this year. I miss her like I miss seeing my toes whenever I'm on my third trimester and we are all counting down the days till she gets here together with my brother-in-law and adorable nephew, Mikel. Team Meloto is once again complete!

 Wowie with my nephew Mikel in California.

6) Getting my hands on the Human Nature All Natural Deodorant. After countless hurdles of testing and fine-tuning, it will finally be available on shelves in the next couple of days! :) No parabens, no phthalates, no aluminum salts, no PEGs, it doesn't get any better than this!

You asked for it and we listened! Coming very, very soon!

7) Bright young graduates who are hard at work with coming up with the next best social enterprise model. Today's idealistic youth are no longer content with just having an impressive sounding job title and making truckloads of money. They are looking for something bigger, something more --- the opportunity to use their business education and skills to help make changes in society. I've seen a lot of exciting proposals for innovative new products and services. I hope to see the fruits of their labor very soon!

8) Getting a salad spinner. Drying lettuce leaves in paper towels will soon be a thing of the past -- as soon as I find an efficient but affordable salad spinner. I was just kind of taken a back when I discovered how expensive a plastic bowl with a recoil spring spinner could be when I checked out a popular department store for my much needed salad spinner. But then again, it's still cheaper than a some shoes that I've bought in the past (shame, shame. head hung low). My, how priorities change once you have to keep house and tend to a herd of hyperactive kids!

9) Camille's mineral blush. Fresh from our applications lab, my sister Camille sent me a sample of the new mineral blush that she had been working on for several weeks. It has a very flattering matte rose shade -- very similar to the MAC limited edition Hello Kitty beauty powder that I've tried to steal from her vanity table several times. But this is 10x better because it has no parabens, no cheap fillers or silicones that gives you the illusion of soft skin without really providing any real nourishment. Only pure minerals and pigments that have so far withstood a frenetic morning of getting the girls ready for school. Watch out for this in the coming months!

With Camille. We're wearing 2 different shades: I'm wearing rose
and she's wearing a peachy shade.

 Best shade that I've found so far. Just a natural flush.
Don't mind the packaging, it's not final.

10) Friday, July 23rd 2010. Has it been that long Dylan?! Marrying you was the most impulsive, God-led miracle of my life (orchestrated accident?). I look forward to waking up to a bed full of beautiful kids tomorrow on our sixth year anniversary. I hope you find more reasons to smile and laugh out loud in the coming year.

Camille: Bayani Challenge - adventure of lifetime...

We have just gotten back from the Bayani Challenge in Palawan yesterday. And boy, what an experience! 

 We were riding a bus that would normally take 5 hours but took us a total of 9 hours to reach our destination.  It was a non-air conditioned bus, with little to no leg room and limited supply of drinking water.  We were  sharing a bus with Team Ateneo and La Salle and not once will you hear a person complain about the long uncomfortable ride. 

Team Human Nature consisted of sales, warehouse, dealers and friends.

I'd say we were all crazy for even agreeing to go because of several reasons: 

1. Malaria is rampant in the area where we went to and we were all warned about it and we all had to take antibiotics, bring mosquito nets and of course tons of Citronella Bug Spray
2. During our 9 hour long bus ride, what we didn't know is that there was already threat on us by one of the most prominent militant groups here in the Philippines 
3. We were going to a place in the middle of nowhere, we all didn't know exactly where it was to spend 3 whole days building homes for people we don't even know under the hot scorching sun when we could be spending it lounging in a beach somewhere with 5-star accommodations in the comfortable company of our families

   Why? Why did we even bother?   Well... if not us, who will? 

This was during our first day building and that truck was our ride.  It was a 20-30 minute ride in a dump truck from the place we stay at to the build site which is Bohoy in Rio Tuba.  

Edralin and Lyn Lyn carrying a sack of sifted sand to mix with the cement...

Moise, Edralin and me.. As we were mixing the cement for plastering  the walls... 

The children from Bohoy... With Martin..

It was really an amazing experience... One thing I realized during the Bayani Challenge was how comfortable and privileged I was.  I thought I was already living simply, but once I've uprooted myself from my desk, my comfortable bed, and went all the way to the farthest point of Palawan to sleep in a sleeping bag for 7 nights under the mosquito net I had to share with my team mates, having to wash my clothes myself just to be able to have clothes to wear.. Reality hit me.  I wasn't living simply at all.  I was already experiencing all the luxuries in life.  

Going there, people would think that "hey.. I'm doing something good for the country and I'm helping our brothers and sisters who don't have much..", but once I got there... I realized that I wasn't necessarily the one providing help.  

We got to talk to the tribe chief and his family and they were just full of gratitude by our mere presence that it was really overwhelming and humbling at the same time.  No matter how much we sucked at plastering the walls of the house and all we could do well at was digging their septic and sewage system... They didn't complain.  They were just so happy that we went all the way from wherever we came from to go to where they are... To build their home... Build their community... Improve their way of life.  

We are not God's gift to them. We should never think about it like that. They are God's gift to us. 

And if you think the adventure stops there, you're wrong! 

On our way back to Puerto Princesa, instead of the 9 hour bus ride, we rode a marine ship.  Take note that this marine ship was the same navy ship that was used during World War II.  

We had 2 options for sleeping through the night. 

Option 1 was the bunks...

Option 2 was this... 

The Philippine Marine and Navy were kind enough to sacrifice a night's sleep just to give us their space.  I really felt the Bayanihan spirit the whole time.  It was amazing. It was a feeling as if everyone's in it together.  Everyone was your ally, your comrade..

Once we got out of the airport... we went straight to work... No complaints.  We all have fully grasped the nature as to why we sit in on our desks, taking orders, processing web orders, dealing with complaints, answering phone inquiries, packing deliveries, selling personal care products,  reconcile financial statements... it's all because there's a bigger world out there. People we have an opportunity to help just because we chose to be a social enterprise instead of being a traditional company.  

With every frustration, every complaint, every headache.. There's a far greater purpose for all the hardships that we go through. And that's what makes us a bayani in our own right...

Despite all the discomforts... would we do it again next year in Bantayan Islands, Cebu? 

DEFINITELY!!!! 

Bring it on! Let's aim for 2 or more teams next year... :)

Hoping to see more of you guys... as part of Team Human Nature next year! 

Wowie: Lily Full of Grace

 It’s interesting that it seems lola’s always has a solution and explanation to everything.  I remember that when ate just gave birth our lola Amalia would always say not to let Ariel wear onesies because it will cause her to have back pain.  She should not wear a bonnet because it will make her bald.  My mother in law said my son should wear a grain of rice in his shirt so he would stop crying because someone greeted him and this is causing him to be antsy and fussy.  Another lola said to put a thread with saliva on my baby’s forehead to stop his hiccups.  There are a lot of beliefs that are passed on to us and our children by our lola’s.  But one solution that I will always remember is my lola Lily’s.

My ate Anna has always had very thin hair.  Out of the 5 sibling she was the one who got my mother’s hair.  As a solution I remember my lola Lily would cut an aloe vera leaf from our garden and rub it in my ate’s scalp every week when we were little kids. .. and whalah!  Ate had thicker hair.

I truly believe she is the inspiration for our work in Human Nature.  Because of her belief in the power of natural ingredients like aloe vera and gugo bark Human Nature came to life.

But this is not just the only inspiring thing about her.

My lola was an English teacher… a very good English teacher.  No wonder my dad became an editor in chief when he was in high school.  He had my lola teaching him everything he needs to know about language, spelling and grammar.  Her memory at 97 is still as sharp as a knife.  She remembers all of her children  and apo’s birthday and would never fail to call and greet us.

My lola is the sweetest woman you will ever meet.  When we were little kids I can still remember and up to know I can still hear her voice singing us Ili Ili (an Ilonggo lullaby) to put us to sleep.  The song that has been passed on to her grandchildren to put our own babies to sleep.

My lola is a strong woman.  She loved and took care of my bedridden lolo till his last breath.  She was able to raise 6 children 3 of whom she outlived.  She is the oldest member of her Couples for Christ household but would never miss a prayer meeting.

My lola is the one responsible for raising the 4th trusted man in the Philippines.  She taught papa to have integrity in whatever he does and he applied this in his work in Gawad Kalinga.

I am just so proud to be her apo.  She is our lola who is full of grace.  Someday I wish to grow old just like her.  Despite all the hardships she went through in life she still finds joy in the simplest thing.

Last month I was so happy to get a chance to see her again when we went back to the Philippines.  She finally met my husband and my son.

I don’t know how many more years my lola has left but the 97 years that she lived, she was able to touch and continue to inspire a whole nation.

To continue her legacy I want to name my future daughter after her… Lily Amelie.

I love you lola… get well soon.

Wowie: Human Nature USA... Full Speed Ahead

Wowie: This is my blog contribution from US since Dylan wrote everything already… hahaha… next time I won’t be as lazy to write… promise.

Hello everyone!

We just concluded our first round of dealership launches in the USA! In the past few days we've had very successful launches in San Jose, LA and today Miami. The response has been quite overwhelming - more than 50% of all attendees signed up as dealers in every event! Including several non-Filipinos :)

Louie Reyes, a famous singer (more well-known among older Filipinos?), attended our launch in LA and agreed to sing the Lupang Hinirang at 1 minute's notice, then signed up as a dealer! We've also been getting lots of testimonies from users of the products here, including one from Rachel Grant, the Filipina-British Bond girl star of Die Another Day.

 Rachel Grant

She says "I recently came back from the Philippines where I purchased MANY Human Nature products. I am completely addicted to them - my skin is the best it has been in ages! I have completely taken myself off all other chemical products. I would love to help out and distribute in the USA... Let me know if I can help in any way!"

We've also got a LOT of enquiries for Area distributorships in other areas of the USA. Most likely, we'll launch in San Diego, Seattle, New Jersey and Minnesota at the end of April. We'll just limit it to 3-4 launches per quarter to ensure that we can cope with all the extra demand :)

So I just wanted to share the good news with you - Human Nature is truly WORLD CLASS! Look out for launches in another 15-20 US states by the end of this year, plus possibly Canada, Australia, Singapore, Japan and more which have all expressed interest already. Our dream of a Filipino global brand to rival San Miguel is on its way to becoming a reality :) and many, many communities in the Philippines stand to benefit!

God bless us all in our respective parts of this beautiful work!
Dylan :)

Anna: Welcome to the World Wolfie!

This post is long delayed but I know most people will forgive me for staying quiet for 2 weeks since the birth of my son, Wolfgang Anthony Meloto Wilk. Yes, he finally arrived on January 30, 2010, 5:39pm just as the biggest moon of the year was rising. Coincidentally that moon has traditionally been called the Wolf's Moon because of its unusual size thought to evoke howling from wolves. After so many false alarms and having waited for almost a month since I started dilating and having contractions, it was Wolfie, after all, who was going to determine the exact date and time of his birth.

I have great expectations for this kid after being amazed by the circumstances of his birth. Not to put any undue pressure on him but I'm just genuinely excited to see how he turns out -- what he will look like, what kind of personality he will have, what his interests and abililities might be seeing how his 2 older sisters turned out to be such interesting and individual characters. Ariel is the girly-girl, bossy princess type who is impatient to be a teenager (she's only 4) while 2 and a half year old Chloe is the acrobatic tyrant with a type A personality. Wolfie has to grow some serious spine to stand up to his sisters...

These days he just mostly sleeps, feeds and poohs with a hours of quiet alertness in which he tries to explore within the 8 inches of his field of vision. I suppose we shall never know what goes on in an infants head (unless some time in the near future, technology will have advanced to allow us to view the photographic imprints of the human brain) but I hope his first 2 weeks haven't been traumatic and that he feels secure and right with the world.

We're still getting to know each other and yet I think we're off to a good start. I'm so happy and grateful to have brought him into the world. And as I have always hoped and prayed with the birth of my 2 daughters, I just hope I can be the mom that he deserves.

Welcome to the world, son! We'll have fun times ahead. :)

Wowie: And that’s the GamePlan!

 I used to host a sports and adventure show back in the Philippines entitled GamePlan.  We would travel all over the Philippines just to look for different adventures we can showcase the world.  From, river kayaking, adventure races, going up and down Banawe Rice Terraces, surfing, and much more.  Through this show I was able to appreciate our country more because of the natural beauty it offers and the innate hospitality of the Filipinos. 

Me and Pao for our regatta episode

 

Bamboo Rafting in Pandan Antique

 

Enjoying company on top of Mt. Makulot

 

Kayaking in El Nido, Palawan

Literally rock climbing

And that’s the GamePlan

Last Friday I got the chance to meet my “GamePlan” friends once again.  We had the best time just catching up on how our lives have been after the show.  After 2 years, I already have a baby, 2 producers are pregnant, 2 are engaged and my partner is still very much in love with his surf board.  Things have definitely changed… but one change that I like is when my producer’s husband told me “Wow, ang ganda ng skin mo ngayon” (Wow, your skin is beautiful).  Going around the Philippines and being constantly exposed to the elements took its toll on my skin and extreme changes in weather from the US and the Philippines also did the same.  Since I got back I have been using the tomato and lemongrass facial wash complemented by the moringa toner then sunflower beauty oil.  Usually I notice my skin would be extra oily but thanks to this combination, I didn’t break out despite the extreme change in temperature.  I am so happy and proud of these products.  They are not just saving the earth, but they are also saving my skin.

I am Wowie, and continuing to love and appreciate my country and the environment is my GamePlan!

Camille: Cute things come in small packages...

Here are my reasons for loving the all new 50ml Citronella Bug Spray:

1. It's effective
2. It's cute 
3. It's cute 
4. It's cute
5. IT'S CUTE!!!!!
   

 

It's just a little taller than my mug...

It's so puny beside the 500ml Moisturizing Shampoo and Body Wash...

It's shorter than my shoe!

It's just 1/4 of my face... >,<

I've never really felt the urge to use bug spray before because I'm Filipina, born here, and apparently... mosquitos don't quite like the taste of my salty blood.

But, I'm going to get one.

Why?

Well... I can make a million and one reasons...

1.  The cooperatives in Bicol would really need the demand for us to buy their citronella oil!
   
2. I have one million nieces and nephews that need my protection! (the bug spray's protection I mean)
3. My friends seem to have sweet blood... mosquitoes love biting them
4. I may go on an impromptu hike somewhere (who knows, right?)
5. There's always that occasional fly or bug that gets into my room... 
6. It's so cute...
7. It's so cute.. 
8. It's so cute.. 
9. It's so cute..
10. It's so cute..
    

Enough said.... Hehe.