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The Year in Review: 2022

January 31, 2023 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

* It’s that time of the year when I round up all the wonderful, wonderful events of the year past and cram ‘em into a single post.

2022 was definitely one of the worst years of my life, and it’s also the most expensive. I cannot stress how fucked up this year has been. Literally from the start, I knew this year will be quite the experience.

Not that I’m overly superstitious, but I do check my Chinese zodiac at the end of every year just to see if it will be a lucky or unlucky year ahead for little ol’ pigs like moi.

From what I read, I will have a slightly lucky year, but I should watch out for my health, especially somewhere intestinal or digestive. I paid no mind to this because I worked out 4x a week and had no serious medical issues other than chronic asthma.

Y’all.

January started very strangely but let’s recap to December 2021 because they’re all related. We had three of our help ganging up on one of our help during Damy’s birthday celebration (December 16, 2021) at Hilton hotel. It was unpleasant all around and that pretty much set the tone for the coming year.

So January, we all got sick with COVID. We recovered naman but two weeks later, we got COVID again. So two rounds of infection for the entire household in just a month.

February, we kicked the 3 household help out of our house because they were stealing shit – money, things, food, etc. We found ourselves at the local police station with these thieving bitches, filing a report. It was quite a traumatizing experience for the hubs and I. Thankfully, we found out about the truth quickly but not quickly enough, IYKWIM.

In the same month, my youngest got gastroenteritis and was hospitalized for five days. It was such an anxiety-inducing experience because we lost his thieving yaya but one of our longest-serving house angel came back to nurse my baby back to health, along with Damy’s long-time yaya.

March was relatively quiet, I actually released a new jewellery collection, which sold well. But while it’s relatively quiet at home, drama unfolded between myself and some other peeps in my life.
It was at this precise moment that I lost trust in people and decided to focus on what’s in front of me – my family, my business, and my household.

I gave up a lot of things during this time but through sheer rage and spite, I conquered whatever sense of loss and betrayal I felt. At this point, I noticed how bad situations seem to be happening to me every month. I started to mentally prepared myself for what’s to come month after month.

April to July was a blur although I’m sure shitty stuff happened but my brain pretty much blocked those up it was at this time when I started working out more, which was fantastic.

By August, I got over whatever funk I was feeling and we had our first beach trip in four years (!) I didn’t realize how much I missed going to the beach until we had this trip. The hubs and I went to Boracay and had so much fun. Also! Damy’s first day in school was around this time. Our first preschooler – we were excited!

September, we celebrated Rocky’s second birthday at a beachside villa. That’s another great experience and we had fun hanging out with the kids.

Somewhere in late September. I got sick and had two surgeries, about a week apart from each other. It was a strange ordeal because I never get that sick but thankfully, my husband was there for me. By October, I was scheduled for the second surgery and then spent the rest of the month recovering.

Of all things that happened this year, and there were a lot, health issues were the most unexpected because I was living a relatively healthy life. But again, I had the foresight to mentally prepare myself for such shit and together with my husband, we survived the ordeal.

By November, I was back in the gym working out and feeling good.
It was also our 6th wedding anniversary and we opted to celebrate quietly because I am still recovering from surgery. It was a nice month filled with excitement because Christmas is nearing. I’m always in a good mood during the Ber months and this time was no different!

December, writing this, it’s been a good month. Business was good, could be better but no complaints here. Job’s good, the family is relatively healthy and everyone around us are doing great.
I feel like, with all the shit that happened this year, I learned to appreciate things that money cannot buy (more than usual) like trust, familial support, old friends, and most importantly, good health.

I’m glad that the husband and I survived this year as a unit.
2022 was a quite a year and it did felt like it’s never-ending for me, hahaha! But honestly, these experiences made me stronger so almost nothing shocks me anymore now, hahaha!

I hope you’re having a wonderful new year and I wish you great healthy and lotsa money in 2023!

Getting Serious About Staying Fit

October 28, 2021 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

I don’t talk about fitness often but going to the gym is a huge part of my everyday. I go to the gym at least 3 times a week, usually 4 times if my schedule allows. I’ve been going on and off to the gym since I was 16-17 years old, can you believe that? Back then, I did it mostly to socialize with friends and also to lose weight. Now I do it to strengthen the muscles because, with two kids, I need all the physical strength that this aging shell could muster, lol

The only time I stopped going to the gym was after being pregnant with my second son, Rocky. I remember shopping for gym clothes in November of last year, being excited and all because I was so close to losing the baby weight and getting a flatter tummy, only to find out a few weeks later that I was pregnant again, hahaha!

When I had my first baby, I was super batty about getting back to shape. This time, I took my time because it was kinda frustrating to get back to shape after reaching my physical peak and lose it again, ya know? I told myself I’d be in no hurry this time around.

I still haven’t shed all of the baby weight, I still have, like, 15 to 20 pounds to go, I think. And the pandemic pretty much delayed our return to the gym. I started working out in January, about 4 months after giving birth. I wasn’t doing anything extra strenuous, just light exercises to wake dem muscles up. Here’s me fresh out of maternity leave lol:

Shortly after this day (taken February), we stopped going back to the gym because of the delta COVID, hehehe.

Fast-forward to August, we decided to come back. We were still not vaccinated at this point but we still went back because we were getting too lumpy from all that inactivity, lol

I bought a slew of yoga shirts and baggy jogging pants from UNIQLO to refresh my daily workout “uniform” and also to motivate me to go to the gym often. These were all from the Airism line and I love how thin yet durable the material is. The top is designed for yoga workouts and I love it to bits because I can move around without the material hiking up from the back like my old gym top.

The pants are so cool because I love harem-style pants. The ones I got are very comfortable and loose. I hate a snug fit, honestly, and my old joggers are somewhat form-fitting. I keep worrying about ripping a seam while squatting and lunging.

Apart from refreshing my gym uniform, I got a new pair of shoes. Well, actually, my husband got the shoes for me.

Backstory: I saw the nicest pair of gym shoes in rose gold, called the Super Rep 2, at a Nike boutique back in January or February but decided against getting it because of the tight fit. I just gave birth at that time and was kinda alarmed that I needed a size 9.5 or so when my shoe size was supposed to be 7.5 to 8.5 at that time.

The Super Rep 2 is best for people with narrow feet and for those with normal feet, there is quite a bit of snugness in the arches. I thought I might regret if I get the shoes in a big size but eventually, I spent the rest of quarantine part 2 regretting not getting the damn rose gold shoes. It’s freakin rose gold!

So when we got back to the gym with all this new gear, I wanted to change my shoes. My old Zooms have a poor fit from the get-go and I don’t really enjoy working out wearing them. They always come undone or my foot would pop out while working out.

I scoured the physical and online stores for the black and violet version of the Super Rep 2 knowing the rose gold pair will be hard to maintain. Unfortunately, popular sizes are sold out all the time. I asked the husband to ask his sneaker supplier to source the shoes for me and when they found one in my size, my husband decided to give them as a gift.

I’m not one to get all excited for freaking trainers but guys, I was giddy waiting for the shoes to arrive. These were ordered overseas and then shipped to us on a preorder. And when they came, ugh. I was so inspired to stay fit guys.

Anyhoo. That’s not the end of my shopping spree, no sir. I decided to get a Fitbit shortly after the shoes came. I wanted a tracker to check how many calories I lose with every workout. Also, I wanted something to motivate me to move.

I wanted to get the older Fitbit Charge 4 because it has more features but the husband said I’m better off with the Luxe model because it looks nicer and the features aren’t too comprehensive. As much as I want all the nice features, I know I won’t be able to maximize them – I don’t have plans to run a marathon lol. So yes, I got a Fitbit online via their flagship store at Lazada.

And get this, the Fitbit came a day later. I was so surprised! So far, we’ve been going to the gym several times per week. We are always shooting for 4 times a week although I’m totally not guilt-ridden with a 3 times per week schedule too.

So far it’s been great. I feel stronger, I guess and my mushy belly has shrunk considerably. I just wish I’d have more time to continue working out until I’m back to my old weight.

A Look Back: Life can Get Better

October 15, 2021 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

It can get better. This post is simply to remind myself that I have come so far. I’m writing this because I just blogged about launching a new business and one of my old posts showed up below it, I Just Missed the Noise. Curious about what I was missing, I clicked and it took me back, guys.

If I remember it right, this was written during the first week of my work-from-home setup, just as I was having a really bad day.

To give some context: I spent two months “floating” after the US’ economic meltdown in 2009 and was eventually forced to resign because the company couldn’t find a client and is losing customers left and right. I wasn’t getting paid in the two months I spent floating. It was at this point that a friend of mine introduced the work-from-home setup.

Admittedly, I scoffed at the idea of working from home because I love dressing up. But I relented after getting trouble finding work. When I accepted the work from home setup, I went back home to the province. I didn’t give up our apartment, we still kept that place until I left the city for good in 2016. I just came back home to minimize my daily expenses.

This particular post made me remember the hopelessness that came from going back writing smut thangs, getting acquainted from working at home, dealing with my overbearing father on a daily basis, losing a client, and taking care of mounting quotas. I guess this verse just hit me, man:

“Fact of the matter is, I’m fully aware of the consequences. I don’t really want anyone to remind me that this was a very stupid decision because that’s basically what I tell myself every waking hour. That there’s absolutely no chance in hell for me to improve my writing if I keep this up. That I’m back on square one. That I shouldn’t do something I hate it. That I should keep trying. That I shouldn’t settle for anything less. That I can do better.

I know.”

Intense.

If there is one thing that I learned in life so far, it’s that doing what you hate is never worth the time, money, and effort. It’s just not. If you are miserable day in and day out, something has got to change because that’s no way to live life.

Also, a piece of advice: this too shall pass. Sounds cliche but it’s true, guys. At least it is, for me. I survived and though I’m still learning every day, life got better. Everything has a way of sorting itself out, that’s God’s truth. I wish I could travel back in time, give my younger self a pat on the head, and say, durr durr.