I woke up yesterday determined to shake myself away from lethargy. Organizing my room never fails to clear my head and thus give way to new ideas, but it had to be postponed as our house started undergoing through repairs.

On the bright side, I created art!


I tried to distract myself from the constant noise of hammers and construction by imagining I was floating away... preferably in a hot air balloon made out of fragrant flowers. Anyway, here is this Monday's Currently!


READING
Amanda Palmer's The Art of Asking, Amy Poehler's Yes Please, and Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before. I have been trying to finish the first two for about a month now but I can't seem to do it fast enough. Not because I didn't like them - I don't know, I have found that I don't go through non-fiction as quickly as I do fiction. The third one is a recommended reading for Buqo YA class I have decided to take part in. I found the first couple of chapters okay but I'm finding myself getting irritated by the main character Lara Jean, who tells the story in first person point of view. Maybe I'm okay with some YA (I LOVE Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan), and others, eh, not so much.

WRITING
An introduction for myself to send to my classmates for the Buqo YA class but as you know, I am terrible at describing myself. Do I even use a pseudonym (I haven't even decided what I will use, if any) or do I just stick with my real name?

LISTENING TO
Pre-American Idol Jennifer Lopez. I was on my way home last Thursday when Hold You Down played on the radio, and I remembered how much I liked most of her songs from way back.

SMELLING
The Kiele Anti-Mosquito Green Tea Room Spray. It just smells so good!

WEARING
Less jeans, more skirts and dresses.



THINKING
Of the billion things I need to do before our trip to Balesin. I am going there for work at the end of the month and I am so excited! I need new swimsuits, hopefully a new pair of contact lens, and a bikini wax!

FEELING
Thrilled that my dear friend Dianne is back in Manila for a short vacation! Niel and I will meet her later and I can't wait!

I'm also excited for the coming extra-long weekend! January 15, 16,  and 19 were declared Special Non-working Holidays in observance of the Papal visit!

LOVING
My new blog banner and color scheme! Do you?


WANTING
To get the answer I am referring to here:


NEEDING
To get sorted out so I can finally put my biggest goal for this year in motion. This is a huge deal so please cross your fingers for me!

WISHING
That the process for my passport renewal this Wednesday will be quick and hassle-free. Crossing my fingers that it will be as easy as other people have told me it'll be!

Have a great week ahead, you! ♥ 

It's the first weekend since the work-year commenced, and I spent it doing nothing. I made progress with my 2015 reading challenge, took a nap, changed my blog's color scheme (did you like it?), watched a few episodes of Modern Family, and did nothing. I wanted to paint but my right hand has been aching since last week; I hope it's not the early stages of carpal tunnel syndrome. I shouldn't feel like this because (at the risk of sounding a pompous self-entitled beesh) I deserved rest, but I couldn't help but think I wasted a day being idle.

In the meantime, here is a watercolor painting I made a couple of months ago that seems to encapsulate my current state.

They say creativity is a well that never runs out. I believe that. I also believe that you get more creative as long as you practice more. But right now, I am completely devoid of inspiration.

I hope it's just PMS talking and I'll be perfectly okay again tomorrow. It's a Sunday but I need to be more productive, so maybe I'll organize my closet and do a bit of spring cleaning? Out with the old and in with the new, I guess.

Wishing you're having a better weekend than I am.

I don't have a best girl friend. There, I said it. I don't have that one specific person whose ears I can talk off just talking about the most mundane things in the world, nor hold regular sleepovers with, nor someone expected to automatically accompany me anywhere (like to go shopping, watch movies with, or have spa dates with, maybe). If someone asks me to get married today, I wouldn't know who to choose as my maid of honor. That said, I have the best sets of friends that I am forever grateful I have. They're from different parts of my life and it is so great talking to them about our various shared interests.

I met up with three sets of friends, and our catch-up dates are some of the most fun I've had since the new year started! I've always maintained that you can meet friends anywhere, and the peeps below are further proof.

The Saturday Club at Ric's house last Saturday Third, Niel, Aiza, me, and Ric

The Saturday Club earned its moniker by the fact that our hang-out dates regularly fall on a Saturday, it being our common rest day from work. We've been friends since high school - some even earlier than that - and even though we don't see the others anymore, this core group has remained.

Lipstick game on point

Meanwhile, Niel is my oldest friend. We've known each other since we were four! We weren't classmates all the time but we attended the same school all our lives, and I know I can depend on her for whatever.

From Jenny Han's book To All the Boys I've Loved Before, lead character Lara Jean said, "It's funny how much of childhood is about proximity. Like who your best friend is is directly correlated to how close your houses are; who you sit next to in music is all about how close your names are in the alphabet. Such a game of chance." So far, I like the choices I've been given, and I'm sticking with them.

Dinner at Mad Mark's in Greenbelt with Anne, Alex, and Kira the other night

At the beginning of 2014, Anne, Alex, and I had a wager on who could watch the most number of movies. The loser pays for a steak dinner and movie. I lost track of my movie stats, but I'm sure it was nowhere near Anne's nor Alex's, who got to see more than 100 movies each! I have watching all seasons of FRIENDS and Modern Family, rewatching all seasons of How I Met Your Mother,  reading 27 books, and taking on lots of other hobbies to blame, but no, not really. I regret nothing.

Smiling despite my wallet's pain LOL

Except for the mashed potato that tasted like it was fresh from the ref (frozen mashed potato is not appetizing at all), I enjoyed the food at Mad Mark's. The service? Eh, not so much. I am 94 lbs of hair and fear of confrontation, but eating there proved to be a practice of assertiveness because they won't give you what you need unless you ask for it. Repeatedly. I was able to cajole my friends into asking the waiter to follow up, or to give us water, or to give us our correct orders, but after a while they stopped and made me ask for what I needed myself, so I did. -_-

Last night, I went for doughnuts with my friends Kym and Jessica.

The last time I saw them was during Kym's last visit to Manila almost four years ago!

They are just two of the best people I met through blogging, back when I was just starting out and my site is filled with personal anecdotes. It's amazing how quickly and how well we connected with one another, and even though most of the people in this little blogging group we created are no longer active, we still catch up through social media and manage to get together in the event one of us visits another's country/ "territory" - like when Kym went here, or when she met up with Nikolett, or when I went to Singapore and met up with Nashe.

Doughnuts are always a good idea

You wouldn't believe it was only the third time I was seeing them both in person at the rate we were gabbing last night. I guess there's really something to be said about connections and friendship's strong foundations. There was never an awkward silence! They're so awesome and I'd like to continue being friends with them until we're old and gray.

Time is always too short when I'm with these two!

Kym flies out with her family to Hong Kong today to stay there for a week before they go back to Canada. I know her time here was filled with lots of reunions and meeting up with relatives and friends, so I'm so glad she was able to squeeze us in!

So you see, even though I don't have someone I can technically call my best friend, I don't feel like I'm missing out. I have LOTS of friends, and they're the BEST. ♥

I have decided to write more this year, and that includes giving more attention to this blog without necessarily taking time away from the things I enjoy doing offline like reading and painting. I need to be more conscious of the time I waste idly lurking on social media and be more productive instead.

This was inspired by Bea's The Sunday Currently blog series. Writing more + documenting my life + going back to the roots of what blogging was about for me personally? Sign me up! Instead of Sundays though, I chose to write mine every Monday just so I have something to look forward to writing at the beginning of the week. And seriously, on Sundays I prefer relaxing and logging off from my online life. The goal is to write every week. However, I don't always have a positive response to routine so let's see how long I can keep this up.

READING
Still Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Effect as I can only manage a couple of chapters each night before going to bed, but I'm expecting to finish it within the week. Though it seemed not to have captured my heart like the first one did (I find myself getting irked over Rosie in this sequel), it's still a funny and charming book. Don Tillman is so endearing.

WRITING
My plans for the immediate future on my bright orange notebook and the things that made me smile on my Daykeeper.

LISTENING TO
The sound in the house when everyone else in the family's already sleeping.

SMELLING
Fijian Water Lotus from The Body Shop. I always layer the body lotion and eau de toilette; it makes the scent last for hours!

WEARING
My comfy pajamas. Sleeping shortly after publishing this!

THINKING
Of all the things (work tasks, personal chores, dream essentials, et cetera) I have to accomplish this week. Worrying is futile though, so I am compartmentalizing and organizing my to do's mentally instead.

FEELING
Sleepy. It has been a long day and my bed is waiting.

LOVING
The fact that I found a yellow umbrella after months of searching! It doesn't look exactly like the one Ted Mosby and The Mother share, but it's close!

WANTING
To easily acquire knowledge on how something works after observing it for quite a while. It will definitely save a lot of time and effort!

NEEDING
To understand entrepreneurship.

WISHING
I was back to being 18 and wishing I was older.

So there's my first Currently. I really hope I can sustain this until the end of the year just because it would be nice to see documented memories. ♥

Hello, I am Krissy, and I enjoyed the long holiday break immensely.

I have prepared a lot of movies to watch and books to read, but aside from managing to read only a couple of chapters from The Rosie Effect every night before bedtime I didn't really get to notice them. Neither did I face my laptop except for when I published blog entries.

All I did were eat, sleep, paint, and spend time with my family. It was awesome and this is the most rested I feel.

Work begins again tomorrow, though. 

We are preparing for two major events this month so I am somehow dreading the state of my work inbox, but I thrive on stress so we'll see how it plays out. I'm also excited because one of our clients is bringing us to Balesin towards the end of  January! I've started looking for cute swimsuits, hee.

Hopefully I can also blog more regularly. I only got to publish 174 entries in 2014 as opposed to 2013's 237, although I've always maintained that it's better I don't post than to come up with half-assed entries.

I'm excited to get to my cubicle again but I'm not looking forward to the traffic jam, fastfood for lunch, and waking up at 5 AM tomorrow. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Have a fun first work-week for 2015, you!

There's something about the changing of calendars that reminds us of new beginnings. Call it what you will but I love that we are given metaphorical blank slates to fill with more stories and memories. Happy new year, folks! I hope you had a great time welcoming the new year with the people you love. ❤


This year, by God's grace, I will:

actively pursue happiness • discover more • explore more • create more • make better and wiser decisions • say what I mean and mean what I say • cherish true friendships • go on more adventures • show the same, if not more, amount of love and support as others have shown me • be kind than be right • read good books • watch good movies • waste no time on bad books and movies • display more gratitude • create better stories • fall in love


And because a new year isn't a new year without a wish from Neil himself:

Be kind to yourself in the year ahead.
Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand. Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin. Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them.
Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love. 

- Neil Gaiman

One of my favorite books I read last year, Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. has a line that goes, "We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works." May we be bestsellers.

2015 will be AMAZING.