Feel at home with Charlene

She used to "keep on dancing" Saturday nights on ABS-CBN until she was (rudely?) interrupted by marriage and forced to hang her dancing shoes – not for long, I’m sure.

Now, she’s asking everybody to "feel at home" Sunday mornings (11 a.m. to 12 noon) still on ABS-CBN and she’s referring not only to home as in house but anywhere she brings us to.

"My show doesn’t confine itself to the four corners of the house," said Charlene Gonzalez. "By ‘feel at home,’ we invite televiewers to feel right at home anywhere we go. You know, just sit back and relax and enjoy the show. It’s Sunday anyway…time to unwind right in your sala."

The timeslot of Feel at Home has been moved from Saturday morning to Sunday morning right smack into the airing of rival channel GMA 7’s new (also) lifestyle show, All About You (11:30 a.m. to 12 noon), hosted by equally glamorous, equally beautiful, equally sexy and equally happily-married Lucy Torres(-Gomez).

"Was my timeslot moved so my show would compete with that of Lucy?" asked Charlene. "I don’t think so. We just felt that the new timeslot is perfect for my kind of show. That’s the time when most everybody is at home, feeling easy and breezy," added Charlene who happily reported that Feel at Home has been enjoying a safe 1.3 percent edge over the competition in Mega-Manila in the past three Sundays.

Oh, yes, Charlene said she does miss dancing but she immensely enjoys doing Feel at Home even if it requires more time to do, more effort and more resourcefulness, not to mention the fact that it takes her away from her and husband Aga Muhlach’s twin children (Atasha Aaron and Antonio Andres, turning two years old in November) longer than she wants to.

"Shooting for Feel at Home is very tiring – physically, mentally and emotionally. Sometimes, we shoot in six different places in one day."

Moving around, though, is good for the Miss U figure of Charlene who has beautifully maintained her 118-pound (to her 5’9") frame by regular workouts (plus badminton) and a diet of brown rice, grilled chicken (minus the skin), egg whites, camote and veggies. "No salt and no sugar for me," smiled Charlene, "but lots of water. Once a week, I do pig out; I eat anything to my heart’s content."

She cooks (a talent she inherited from her mom, Elvie Gonzalez who has temporarily closed her baking business), all right, but Charlene doesn’t eat what she cooks, feeding it instead to her twins and Aga who is a voracious eater.

"I cook so I won’t eat," laughed Charlene who can whip up any kind of cuisine (Filipino, Italian, Chinese – name it, she can do it!). "Kasi, you smell and smell what you’re cooking and by the time it’s cooked, feeling busog ka na."

And what does Aga usually crave for?

"Pasta," said Charlene. "Aga is a pasta person."

It’s not, however, all work and mothering for Charlene who had to quit school after completing Pre-Med at UST and forget her dream of becoming a doctor simply due to time constraints.

Anytime soon, she and Aga are taking a five-day holiday in China, just the two of them (the twins will be taken care of by Lola Elvie and Lola Anita, Aga’s mother), before Aga starts shooting for Star Cinema’s Kung Ako Na Lang Sana, his first team-up with Sharon Cuneta (directed by Joey Javier Reyes).

But before that, Charlene and Aga, plus the twins, enjoy weekend breaks in Charlene’s seven-hectare farm in Mataas na Kahoy, Batangas, which she bought only last January.

"We’re in the process of cleaning the area which is blooming with lanzones trees. We are taking out the weeds. Enjoy kaming dalawa ni Aga."

At this point, I guess you’re convinced that Charlene is living the kind of life she has always dreamed of.

"I’m more settled now," she confirmed. "I’m working and I’m attending to my family. There’s a balance, unlike when I was single when, sometimes, I felt that I was neither here nor there, palaging harassed."

Which means that doing TV is all right but not (yet) movies which can be time-consuming.

"I want to enjoy the company of my kids," said Charlene. "I want to see them grow up."

No, she and Aga are not about to have another baby (twins again?).

"Maybe in seven or eight years pa," said Charlene. "Our plan was to have a boy and a girl. Look, we got both at once. Wholesale!"

Meanwhile, let’s excuse Charlene as she enjoys a "settled life" in her and Aga’s "humble abode" (she doesn’t want to call it a "mansion" even if it is) in Ayala Alabang, the one place on earth where she feels most at home in.

Keep it up, Mother Lily!

Funfare congratulates Regal Matriarch Mother Lily (Monteverde) who will receive an award as Outstanding Woman in Business from the Filipino-Chinese Federation of Women Professionals at ceremonies slated for tonight at the Philamlife Concert Hall (UN Avenue, Manila). The awarding coincides with a grand show called Night of a Hundred Flowers ("A Fusion of Filipino and Chinese Music"), an annual event put up by a civic-business group that gives recognition to exceptional career women from various industries.

President GMA, Year 2000 awardee, is the guest of honor.

As head of Regal Films, Mother Lily is the industry herself, being one of the country’s top three producers (including Viva Films and Star Cinema) which continue to make movies regularly no matter what the economic situation is. Regal has produced many of the country’s finest movies, most of them considered classics, like Sister Stella L., Hinugot sa Langit, City After Dark and many others.

Most of today’s biggest stars and actresses have been discovered and built up by Regal during its 40-plus years of existence.

Besides Regal Films, Mother Lily is also behind several other businesses, such as the N&M Land Development (which constructed the Imperial Palace Suites on Timog-Morato Rotonda, Quezon City) and the Regal Lexber Homes in Baguio City, of which she’s a member of the Board of Directors.

Holder of a Professorial Chair in Film at the UP College of Mass Communications, Mother Lily has also put up the Mother’s School of Child Development (also in Quezon City).

Snow Queen promo winners

Fifteen lucky winners have been chosen from hundreds of entries sent via post and e-mail to the Hallmark Channel’s Snow Queen Watch and Win promo. Each will receive a special Hallmark Channel gift pack. They are: Sandra Tan of Binondo, Manila, Ryan Sherwin Young of Cebu City, Amparo Jimenez of Sta. Cruz, Laguna, Bue Boy Antiporta of Makati, Agnes Manalo of Caloocan, Annabelle Rivas of Makati, Doreen Ang of Zamboanga City, Tess Perez of Mandaluyong City, Frederick Castro of Sucat, Parañaque, Ann Sia of Cagayan de Oro City, Madonna Ruidera of Marikina, Olive dela Victoria of Koronadal City, Mia Herce of San Pedro, Laguna, George Pagulayan of Valenzuela, and Joanne Yu of Quezon City.

The winners will also be notified by snail mail or e-mail. Prizes can be claimed at Buensalido & Associates Public Relations Suite 701 Greenbelt Mansion, 106 Perea St., Makati City. Bring a valid ID and the letter of notification. Provincial winners will receive their prizes via parcel post.

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