Back in 2008, I made a huge decision that impacted my life in a huge way: I moved out. I did it mostly for practical reasons, as my work shift then started at 5 AM and I lived far away from the office, but I can honestly say it gave me far more benefits than the shorter commute time.

I learned to take charge of myself, basic and advanced house chores, budgeting and managing my finances wisely, and dealing with the consequences of my decisions. I mean, learning about these things, especially house chores, is not really something one should brag about I imagine I must be more sheltered if I didn't move out at the age of 22. I still don't cook but I know how. I have also started baking and I'm going to share more about that in a future post.

Since the first time I moved out I have already moved in to five different apartments, each more memorable than the last. But I guess nothing really beats the first time. Last Saturday I met up with my friends from my first ever workplace/ my first ever housemates, and it's like no time has passed!

We went to Bulacan to visit Ruther and Robin in their house, and it was so much fun although we had to travel far. Thank god for P2P for making the journey faster and more convenient.

It is amazing to think how far we have come from when we first met as new officemates in HSBC back in 2007!

We woke up early on Sunday morning to have breakfast al fresco at the Bustos Dam Eco Park.

I very rarely do this these days as city life has consumed me, but it's great to be near nature again! I'm glad Asther went home for the holidays so we could get together and that our schedules in the first weekend of 2020 freed up. It pays to plan well in advance. 

It's also great to be back in TriNoma and eat at my favorite Bigoli again (even though quality of the food is no longer the same) after several years! Between moving to Makati to be near the office and my family moving to Valenzuela, I didn't really have reasons to go to this part of Metro Manila.

I am grateful for friends that remain through the years even though locations and circumstances change.

Having said all these, I am moving again to a new apartment! From a condo unit in Poblacion, I will be moving to a new room still within Makati, and hopefully it will be a good change for me.

Looking forward to new memories I will make in my new temporary home. :)

Happy New Year, my friends! I hope you welcomed 2020 with happy hearts and merry bellies. 

I am always excited to welcome a new year because a new year means new planners and journals.

This year I have three: a 2020 Essentials Planner, a TN-sized fauxbonichi from Mommy Lhey Designs that was part of my #EatPlanLove2019 loot bag, and a Belle de Jour 2020 Power Planner (Leather edition).

I customized my 2020 Essentials Planner with travel tickets. :)




I love its minimalist interface that lets me customize every page however which way I want it. Aside from using it to jot down my to do's for the week, I also write here anything I need to note. Everything goes, and there really is no specific category for its contents.

As for my Traveler's Notebook-sized fauxbonichi, I don't have anything written on it yet but I was already able to set it up. I am planning to use it as a diary/ journal where I can record my thoughts and feelings.



Pretty, yes? It's a watercolor painting by my friend Meream, in the cover of a TN-sized insert. Visit her work here and here.

Lastly, I will be using my Belle de Jour 2020 Power Planner for day-to-day planning and work schedule.

There is value in putting pen to paper, and I proved that once again when I was preparing my 2020 Planner's Dream Board. I printed out photos from my El Nido trip to include in my Dream Board, and what do you know, I got amazing news even before I glued the photos!


You can view the rest of its inside pages here.

There is value in writing things down, and every year I list down my goals here on the blog and on my journal. For 2020, I would like for my Word of the Year to be FOCUS. I intend to give undivided attention to whatever I am doing or whoever I am with in the moment, and just be present.

A new decade comes at the stroke of midnight. 

It was a long and tumultuous year, filled with much pain and tears, but happy days always overpower the bad. Still, 2019 left me feeling very tired and I am happy that this year is coming to a close.

My word for this year is being. Among this year's highlights, aside from seeing Carly Rae Jepsen perform live, is learning to not be too concerned about what people may think. It was a process that started since I read Amanda Palmer's The Art of Asking, but I just went full throttle on it. You lose 100% of the shots you didn't take, and it taught me to speak out more, embrace things more completely, and just be.

Here is another one of my favorite memories from this year:

It was a mind-blowing experience and never imagined I would [be brave enough to] experience [seeing as how I drowned initially], and I am looking forward to doing it again.

***

I used to think 30 is so old and I would have my life figured out before I turn 25. Well, I turned 33 this year and some days I still feel lost, like I am on a boat with the shore visible from a distance but without an oar to paddle with, helplessly teetering for balance. 

I acknowledge the gifts the Universe brought my way this decade, and I am grateful.

I am so proud of how far J has come. 2019 was his year and I am excited for what 2020 will bring. 

***

I don't know if feeling a little bit more jaded as each year passes comes with age and is a normal phase one goes through, or it is because of the times we live in now, or a combination of both. All I know is that times are tough, it's a difficult life, and we all have to be kind to one another.

Most importantly, you have to be kind to yourself.

Happy 2020, my friends. 

My annual tradition of posting my Christmas wish list on the first day of December comes a day late because I totally forgot. I didn't want to make one anymore as I don't get every thing on the lists I make anyway but my boyfriend asked me to make one so here it is, I guess. Heh.

I used to make very elaborate wish lists complete with a collage but ever since Polyvore folded I haven't been made aware of any good websites to make them with, so here's a simple accompanying photo.

• Pat McGrath Lipsticks

I was sick last Saturday but I couldn't have missed Eat Plan Love 2019 for the world. It's a planner party organized by The Philippine Planning Society and it was my first time to go. I didn't think I would be able to get a slot but I did! I already have planners for 2020 but it's always fun checking out what else is in the market. I also love attending events like this because I always look forward to meeting people with similar interests and the loot, of course! 

My Eat Plan Love loot!


Look at our planner stack ♥

The event was filled with fun activities raffle draws with awesome prizes, games and contests, delicious food, a talk by Dr. Michele Alignay about planning for well-being and planning well-being, and even a surprise proposal at the end!

The TPPS admins were able to gather a LOT of sponsors who were so generous in making sure our loot bags were filled to the brim with amazing planner stuff and stationery!

I was also one of the grand prize winners of a Heidi Swapp Minc foil applicator!

Let me share with you the contents of my TPPS bag!

I love these personalized magnetic bookmarks, button pin, and sticker labels!

I got these from Danica through our table share

I got these because I was one of the winners of the Instagram contest

Aside from the grand prize that was drawn separately at the end, all attendees were guaranteed to win a prize from the raffle. I got a Webster's Pages ring binder planner complete with inserts that I have also been wanting to have!










It's a gorgeous gold color and I can't wait to use it!

A lot of sellers were also there and I availed inserts, stickers, tapes, and other things I can't use for my craft projects!




My planner girl heart went home very happy!


Huge thanks to the admins for tirelessly working hard to make sure we get a fun event, and to the sponsors for being so generous! I am so happy I have new friends and new planner loot! I already bought more foils for my foiling machine, and I am so excited to customize my Christmas gifts!

If you like planners and planner-related stuff, come join our Facebook group and be surrounded by like-minded people. Enjoy!

I read this post on Facebook and thought it too beautiful not to share. I'm also lifting the post in its entirety and reposting here for posterity so that I can look back at it every time I need to. I hope you get inspired as well.

Art by Pascal Campion

Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing.

It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.

It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don’t want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you’re not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.

A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.

True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.

And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.

It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can’t.

It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.

If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating yourself” and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.

It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to “fix yourself” and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place.

It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn’t something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren’t universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren’t anxious and dependent on other people.

It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it.