AFTER being through hell and back in the name of love, Rachel Alejandro is finally settling down with her fiancé, Carlos Santamaria. He is a journalist with the EFE Spanish newswire service in Bangkok.

The bride-to-be is busy getting inspired for her play, ?Xanadu,? to be held on December 3 to 5 at 8 p.m. at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza Makati.

I cornered Rachel about her wedding plans. Miss Sexy Chef will soon turn into Mrs. Hot Española.

So how did Carlos propose? She said they mutually decided to get married over a couple of bottles of wine in Vietnam.

It will be a beach wedding on April 9, but they?re still looking for a venue. Honeymoon will be in the Maldives.

I asked her what?s the best thing she has learned from Carlos so far. ?He has shown me that I can love someone so much that I would want to have a family,? said Rachel. ?I never wanted that, till now.?

?Cure? to Maui?s heart

Maui Taylor is exclusively dating a gorgeous doctor who is her childhood friend.

?Ang sarap at gaan ng feeling,? she gushes, ?because we know each other so well. Graduate na ako sa tumultuous relationships.?

Hopefully Doc will find the permanent cure for old wounds in Maui?s overworked heart.

Shameless plug

I?m no stage mother, but I?m one proud Mama. So please allow me to plug my son IC Mendoza?s movie, ?H.I.V. (Heidi, Ivy at si V),? top-billed by Jake Cuenca.

It?s a digital masterpiece (opening December 1) directed by Neal Tan, with story and screenplay by Wanggo Gallaga.

The film?s lead character, Gil Bustamante (played by Cuenca), is a filmmaker hired by the Department of Health to do a documentary for their HIV/AIDS awareness program.

His docu focuses on Heidi (Ma. Isabel Lopez), a plain housewife who contracted the virus from her philandering husband, an overseas Filipino worker; Ivy (Iza Calzado), a young call-center agent who discovers she is HIV-positive when she tries to apply for work abroad; and Vanessa (Mendoza), a young, cheerful gay and a stand-up comedian who engages in different sexual pleasures.

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