The Year In Review

*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.

Personally, 2019 was over in just a blink, do you feel the same way? This year was pretty chill as far as my personal life goes but professionally, good lawrd. There were so many ups and downs. I’m lucky because most of these events were ups and I was able to survive really shitty situations! Let’s begin:

We started the year with a newborn and no yaya. Did I mention that I don’t have a fucking clue how to take care of a baby? I haven’t even held a newborn in my life before having Damien so you can imagine the kind of adjustment that we made throughout this journey.

It was sorta fun too because I got to know Damien more and more. And it’s quite liberating, caring for a newborn with no yaya, it made me appreciate mothers even more. My husband, was, of course, the real MVP. 

This year, I’ve grown a lot as a person and I’m gradually getting used to this parenting thang. Damien is such an active baby and good lord, he’s almost a toddler now!

Fam Reunion

There was discord in the family while I was pregnant and the only time I saw my family was after I gave birth when I let them see Damy. So them visiting the baby was like a mini family reunion of sorts. It was nice, seeing everyone and marveling at my son. He’s beautiful, after all.

I thank God that I had a healthy pregnancy because the people around me stressed me out. But you know, whatever, all’s well that ends well.

Losing the Baby Weight

There was also the matter of losing the baby weight. I gained 45 pounds while pregnant with Damien. A few weeks after giving birth, I lost 25 pounds. I had to wait for 6 months before I could work out because I was healing from the C-section. The first picture was taken in March 2019, three months after giving birth. I had no business visiting the gym at that time but I wanted to test the waters, so to speak.

The second picture was taken in September 2019. It’s funny because I didn’t really lose a pound in between these pictures. My flab turned to muscles, guys, I’m not lying. I was not dieting because I sort of like my new lifestyle now. 

Work became topsy turvy around Feb and March, I lost two long-time clients. Still grieving about it but I guess that’s how it is when you’re working from home, nothing really is forever. I was unable to replace these clients from March to September, can you believe it? To make matters worse, my then 4-year-old phone died on my birthday!

All these situations would’ve put me in a dour mood I didn’t really want to waste time feeling sad and moping around, we’ve got a mouth to feed. Around March, I decided to launch a couple of businesses, one of which is an online store. It was a really scary time because I wanted to save money but at the same time, I know I simply cannot depend on my other clients at that point. I just was not earning enough.

Granted, I was planning on launching the business in 2019 but my plan was to do it in July so I have enough time to save up. But you know, with the other clients letting me go, I had to act quickly. It was really a gamble, honestly. Though my businesses aren’t really earning enough for me to quit my day job, they gave me a bit of financial freedom.

The online store is at the point where it could sustain itself. I only need to market my stuff twice daily and I make enough for the month. The other business isn’t doing well, it’s just breaking even but that’s better than not earning anything at all. 

Now that I’m getting supplemental earnings, I’m not as worried about another client letting me go. I can maintain my lifestyle and keep the business going. In fact, two of the designer bags that I bought this year were from my business earnings, how cool is that? 

One thing that I realized after setting up my online shop, I no longer feel the need to buy more bags. It’s as if my focus is no longer to acquire these gorgeous bags but to earn more and save more money. That’s a true Christmas miracle.

Around May, I started getting it together looks-wise. I had a lot of time to do it but I was too distracted with my work issues that I didn’t do it until I have to. I had the ugleh pregnancy skin tags removed and then got a fresh cut + hair treatment. I felt like my old self again, guys.

Around June, we were preparing for Damien’s christening. I don’t like putting together an event, much more host the said event but I’m a mom now and I gotta do it. It was nice seeing some of the hubs’ friends because I know how much he misses them.

Here’s us together with the priest. And below is Damien with his perper before the ceremony began. 

I don’t have any pictures of the reception, which was set up in my parent’s home. I was so busy entertaining the guests, guys. But we’ve got pictures from the hub’s photographer cousin so there you go.

The succeeding months were a flurry of activities as I juggle work, an online store, and a baby. Also, my sister came home several times this month so we were always in the mall during these times. Here’s a random picture of the Lee siblings:

In November, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary in Clark Marriot and to put it mildly, the entire experience was not only a waste of our time, it was also a waste of money. Customer service sucks, read my bizarre experience here. 

Initially, we wanted to celebrate at Raffles since we had such an amazing time during our babymoon. But after spending hours stuck in traffic several drives back to the city, we thought it’s not worth going to the city at all. Bad move. Anyway, you live, you learn.

Before Damien, our December wasn’t as colorful. We don’t really bother with the decors. But this year’s different! We’ve got a tree and we hung Christmas stockings, the whole nine yards.

December is also my son’s birth month so we decided to book a stay at Marco Polo Ortigas for a mini celebration with his city-bound kin. We celebrated his birthday by booking rooms for his cousins and aunts. 

Marco Polo has two Christmas trees! We missed Santa by a few minutes. Not sayang because I can tell that Damien would cry at the sight of Santa, hahaha! 

We also hit the buffet, lol. Below is a pretty random picture of Damien after getting his first cut. I will upload the video on YT and then update this post with that video. My boy suddenly looked so big na!

On Christmas eve, we took pictures of Damien in his Christmas PJs. We decided to make his Christmas PJs a yearly tradition although this one’s totally unplanned. The PJs were given by his aunts! 

Here he was just a year ago!

And there’s our Christmas tree. This tree was decorated by my sister, my brother, and myself!

Instead of slaving away in the kitchen for our Noche Buena, we decided to order food from a caterer friend. We had roast beef, lasagna, rolled lechon belly, and baked salmon in garlic butter sauce. Too bad we didn’t take any pictures because the yaya is away and we had to eat inside the bedroom with our sleeping munchkin.

Yeah, I seem to forget about the pictures more and more. New Year will be spent here at home this year. We are planning on a NYE staycation next year and we will make this our little family tradition. We figured that we’ve spent Christmas with our relatives every time, why not spend NYE in the city and see the fireworks!

The clincher is that we are having another baby! That’s pretty much the reason why I forgot to publish my year-end review, it’s the pregnancy brain again.

Needless to say our hands will be full this year. I am already having a fabulous year and I know that it will keep getting better and better. Happy New Year to all of you! May we all achieve our goals this 2020, cheers!

 

 

* 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.

It’s been a really crazy couple of weeks since Damien came so this will be a short and sweet year-end review! I’ve been harping on and on about it but our little family has grown recently and our world was never the same again!

This year was all about the hubs and I transitioning to a new life as a father and mother to Damien, respectively, and we spent most of our year preparing for the baby.

Some of these changes were a bit hard to swallow (I gained 40 pounds, guys) and my fluctuating hormones didn’t help matters post-partum. But! What truly matters is that Damien is not only healthy and normal, he is also perfect (at least in our eyes because we’re biased like that!) in every way.

2018 was a mixed bag but it’s definitely a life-changing year for us! Our holiday celebration was much, much simpler this year because we have much to learn when it comes to caring for a newborn.

I was unable to create more beauty related reviews but I’m really excited to get into the groove of things real soon. Having my body back, I am so happy that I can finally go back to doing things that I love like gardening, malling, and shopping, without worrying about my entire lower body giving up on me!

I have three goals for this year: to shed the baby weight, focus on my husband and baby as well as to make better investments for our family. They say I put too much pressure on myself because I kept going on and on about how excited I am about working out again but guys, I had to stop going to the gym for 2 years to have a baby, I will take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest.

As for the investments, we’re not getting any younger and methinks it’s time that we start thinking about securing our future for Damien, you know?

The past few years were about me trying to please certain people in my life at the expense of my own happiness. That’s why I resolve to be more selfish this year and to re-focus on what truly matters: my family.

I cannot wait what 2019 has in store for us! I’m looking forward to achieving more milestones with my little family and perhaps, enjoying more beach vacations real soon because this mama is exhausted! I hope you had a wonderful holiday celebration, dear readers and that 2019 will be an amazing year for us all! Cheers to the new year!

* 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.

DON’T LEAVE 2017, I LOFF U! This pretty much sums up my feelings about this year. 2017 has been such a #blessed year for me and I’m pretty bummed to see it go! This year’s run cemented my belief that starting the year right is key to having an awesome year!

I did lots of traveling this year, which was awesome! My 2017 started with a road trip to the north to attend my best friends’ beach wedding. Carlo and Krisna are my best guy friend and my best girlfriend. I actually played matchmaker and it was so amazing serving as the matron of honor to the wedding. The 2-day prep was a flurry of activities. Apart from hand-crafting the boutonnières, flower display, and other stuff, I also did the bride’s make up!

After the wedding, it was off to Batangas for another road trip. This time to bond with Carlo’s relatives. I was with the hubs and one of my high school best friend, Danilo. Both road trips have their respective challenges but getting there was so much fun. These activities pretty much set the tone for the rest of my year.

In Feb-March, the husband and I celebrated our birthdays. It was a simple celebration at home because we were saving up for Hong Kong. I also gifted myself a new bag for my birthday. This time, I got the Givenchy Nightingale, a gorgeous all-leather purse in midnight blue. This bag was sourced from a Europe-based personal shopper named Madel and if you’d like to know how the deal went down, check out my review here.

Last April, the hubs and I jetted to Hong Kong for a mini-moon! Oh, it was such a joy traveling with the hubs! He’s my favorite travel companion now. We ate all the things and discovered the local sights! I even got to ride a double-decker bus for the first time!

In June I celebrated two things, Dimitri’s 8th birthday and the launching of my website! As you know, I dress up my cat once a year and in 2017, he was an Angry Bird pig, hahaha! As for my new website, it was hard letting go of Tina Bytes because I was basically starting from scratch. But after letting go of a client, I realized that having a .com website is a great investment. My friends at GoSMRK hooked me up with a new site and the rest is history!

It was during this month that I dropped by Batangas for the second time that year to celebrate the 60th birthday of Carlo’s mother. July to October was relatively quiet months but looking back (literally checking the vault), I did quite a bit of shopping, didn’t I?

In November, the hubs and I celebrate our FIRST wedding anniversary. Of course, we had to celebrate in style because this is an important milestone! We traveled to Davao and enjoyed much-needed r n’ r at Pearl Farm resort in Samal Island. Without exaggeration, this is the best resort I’ve been in. We were there for less than a week and it was pure bliss.

We also spent the rest of our vacation in mainland Davao to check out the local sights. We love the food culture and the wealth of souvenirs! I cannot wait to go back to Davao (Pearl Farm, watch out!)

My December was pretty hectic. Our annual Christmas shopping started late so we had to brave the Christmas rush. I loved shopping though! We also celebrated my dad’s birthday at Vikings, which was their first time. I thought the oldies had an awesome time and they’re literally planning another sojourn in Manille sometime in March. I was just happy to complete our Christmas shopping, to be honest. I hated the crowds, grabe!

We had to return to Manila on the 22nd of December, my first time to travel so close to the holidays. I usually avoid traveling anywhere five days before Christmas but we had to. Our seafood Noche Buena depended on it! It was quite an adventure, of course!

For our Noche Buena feast, the hubs grilled tuna jaw, salmon, and squid while I cooked the scallops, tiger prawns, crab, and the dirty rice. We finished off by browning our Christmas ham and setting the dips, bread, and drinks. Not pictured is the Christmas nilaga, which my family serves every year, as well as the chocolate pannacotta for dessert.

This year was also the year when we moved to our “new” house. Sorta because our new home is still part of our old home (both properties are in one compound). I abhor houses made from wood but this space feels like our own, you know? I don’t get that feeling with the other house so I had to go.

This is an old property that’s been left unoccupied for at least 5 years, however, so extensive renovations were done. Renovations took a while to complete and we’re still in the process of adding more furnishings but overall, this simple house is now our home.

The house’s age is showing but it is still in great shape. We spent the first half of the year just adding furniture and appliances so our funds were drained, dudes. Fun times. The kitchen is spacious though! It’s my husband’s favorite room. I love the bedroom, it’s where I chill out most of the time.

We went for a minimalist aesthetic with a hint of beach-y vibe.  I chose a white, light blue, and cobalt color palette so the space looks easy on the eyes. Hate the red flooring though, I think it ruins the look of the space. We didn’t focus on the frills at all. I did, however, indulged in artworks, photos, and quirky little decors, dressing the corners so our interiors aren’t too plain. A home without art is so very cold. Also,  all my books were on display because that’s what I’m all about!

We’re still not done with the decorations. We are still planning on adding key pieces, especially in the kitchen and receiving area. 2018 will definitely be a big year for us, as far as improving our home goes!

As for the professional side of things, having my own website was a great decision because it helped me land a couple of gigs. I’ve worked really hard this year and I believe, I’m reaping all the rewards. My goal for next year is to maintain this direction and I should have an even better 2018. Also, 2018 might be the year we’d try *really hard* to expand our family. Still not ready for spawning but who knows what the future holds.

2017 was a wonderful year and I’m so sad to see it go! I hope 2017 has been kind to you too! Happy new year, dear readers! Here’s to an even better 2018!

PS: This is my 10th year writing Year in Review posts! It means I’ve been counting my blessings for a decade, which kinda makes me feel old, hahaha!

* 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.

I can’t believe 2016 came in and went so fast!

The first couple of months has been quiet for me and I basically recouped from the holiday debauchery (I seriously need to stop using that word). By the time March rolled by, the hubs and I were back at Marco Polo to celebrate our birthday (our birthdays are only a week apart)!

The hotel gifted us with twin cakes which were so awesome 😀

At this point, I gifted myself a Louis Vuitton Kensington, cuz no excuses, girlfriend can’t get enough of that monogram flashiness!

I’d like to reiterate that it took me months of saving up to get this bag so… 😉

In April, the hubs and I joined his former employees for a soiree in Cebu. The rumors are true, Cebu does have the best lechon in the Philippines.

We went to Carcar market where these famed lechons are sold by the kilo and boy, the experience was amazing. Imagine juicy lechon bits flying directly on your face while you wait for the seller to hack your order! Yummers 😀

In June, the then-boyfriend and I decided to plan our wedding and I wrote a lengthy blog about it.

Around the same time, we celebrated Dimitri’s birthday. As you know, I dress my cat up every bithdays and on his 7th, he was a giant bee with a belly fulla gravy heeee!

From getting engaged, searching for the perfect wedding bands, looking for souvenirs, to finally getting my hands on our customized wedding rings, we were hella busy!

But despite my busy schedule, I managed to change my blog site’s layout and I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Sometime in July, I adopted yet another cat, a Siamese kitten that I named Jelly Bean. The kitty was given to me by our neighbor and she was literally handed to me so I pretty much had no choice but to adopt her. Here she is at four months:

She’s such a babe, no? By September, we bought our first car, a Montero Sport (or Pajero Sport overseas) and I named him Porkchop because… I’m a carnivore obvs.

From October and beyond, there were flurries of activities related to the wedding including our pre-wedding photoshoot:

November was pretty much a waiting game and then finally, I got married to my best friend and it was awesome! It’s definitely the highlight of my year 😀

For our honeymoon, we went to Zambales and Bicol to get our dose of vitamin sea:

In December, the hubs and I did our first Christmas shopping together and my little bro tagged along. It was fun, of course 🙂 We ate a lot and burned cash like there’s no tomorrow (lol jk).

Fast forward to Christmas time, the hubs and I made our first Noche Buena feast as a married couple. Cooking is hard work y’all! The holidays are always hard on my waistline and I kid you not, I totally gained 10 pounds because I’ve been eating nonstop during the honeymoon until the holidays. Ugh.

We made western style beef stew, three-cheese lasagna, baked salmon, and peach cream pie.

As for gifts, I gave the hubs an early Christmas gift a PS4 Slim NBA 2K set thing because I know he’s been pining for that shit since it came out last September and he got me a cute Instax Mini 8 camera. Ugh, look at it, it’s so cute:

It’s pink, it’s tiny, and it comes with a matching pink case how cute is this?!

Left: first instax pic and right: first Christmas together as married couple

Of course I wasted most of the film on our cats, Jelly Bean, Dimitri, and Kaiju:

 Excuse the ugleh nails, I was too cheap to get the gel polish professionally removed lol

Career-wise, I made the decision to let go of all old clients during the first month of 2016, a decision that was liberating, bold, and challenging. It was a strategic career move, one that’s been a long time coming but it was still hard for me because I’ve been working for these folks for so long. But at some point, you gotta move on.

Over the course of several months, I jumped from one freelancing job to another and I did come across not-so-great clients. One of them even swindled me into writing a month’s worth of work and not only did he disappear, he also stole my work and published unpaid articles under a different author. It was such a traumatic experience that I decided not to accept projects from LinkedIn ever again.

I know I’ve been harping on and on about this issue, it’s just that at this point in my career, I couldn’t believe I fell for this trick again. There were several bumps along the way and if I’m being totally honest, the last month of 2016 was the worst I’ve experienced ever. And I noticed that most peeps are having a bad year too it’s weird! I suppose 2016 was hard on most of us eh.

2016 was a full year! It came and went swiftly but I’m not sorry to see it go. This year, there were unexpected twists and turns, it took me to places I’ve never been, and it had an awesome ending and that’s what matters, really.

Which reminds me… my Year in Review has been an annual tradition and I’ve been doing this close to 10 years, can you believe it? (Yes, the 2010 YiR is missing but I know I wrote it and it’s probably rotting away somewhere in the deep recesses of the internet). I quite enjoy making these posts, especially after a rough year. It always reminds me that each year has been a full one, no matter how tough it’s been.

I hope you guys enjoyed the holidays as much as I did 😀 I’m wishing you, my dear readers, an excellent 2017 full of love, monies, and raket! Cheers!

 

 

* 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.

If I am to sum up my 2015, I would say it has a lot of highs and little to zero lows. As with every new year, I started out with a few resolutions, one of which is to go out more. You see, I am a workaholic and I always spend my day in front of the computer, writing or watching funny cat videos. I thought I made good of that promise because I got to travel locally and overseas more than a couple of times this year 🙂

I started 2015 by visiting Tagaytay with my SO to be with his family. We are in the middle of El Nino right now so I truly miss the chilly weather! My boyfriend’s aunt and cousins from Jordan visited PH and we were there to show them around Tagaytay.

That was a lotta fun! Of course, we ate a ton of food. Moving on, my boyfriend and I celebrated our birthdays (our birthdays are less than a week apart) in beautiful Bohol!

Being a beach baby, I love spending every waking hour near the beach just swimming, getting a little tan, eating and trading jokes (along with hopes and dreams!) with the boyf.

I also adopted a new cat, a puspin I named Kaiju. True to form, Kaiju is quite the little monster. We actually had him neutered on December 31 because I wanted him to start living healthily as the new year approaches.

And speaking of little monsters, my year won’t be complete without celebrating my Dimitri’s 6th birthday. I can’t believe my cat has aged so much, it makes me sad sometimes! As per tradition, I dressed him up on his special day and threw a feast. He loved the ice cream and his fave Fancy Feast.

2015 was also a great year for touching base with friends. I met up with several friends, parted with others, and ate a ton of stuff.

I was also busy prettifying my little house! I added bits of furniture and played with colors more.

I’m not satisfied with the results yet because redecorating a house will take more than a few months. And when you’re writing for a living, you’re not being paid enough to get nice things, hahaha!

I hope that this year, I will continue with the renovations and create a really beautiful living space for my cats and I, hahaha!

For our 4th year anniversary, my boyfriend and I had a week-long celebration that started with romantic dinner dates and then a staycation at the new Marco Polo Ortigas.

The hotel is really great and I love how attentive and lovely the staff members are. My boyfriend and I enjoyed our stay so much that we plan to return for our birthday this year. I’m actually hoping that we get to visit another beach spot but we’ll see!

I also took my little brother to the city for his annual visit. We went to museums, malls, and did bits of shopping too.

My boyfriend was also kind enough to take my brother to his first court-side basketball game!

The final quarter of 2015 has been hella busy for me. For one thing, my sister came home from Kuwait and we planned a trip together. Here she is meeting my little bro and my boyfriend in the airport for the first time.

I literally spent the last months of the year either shopping or eating.

One of the highlights of my year is securing my Japanese visa. I heard that getting a Japanese visa is notoriously hard especially for freelancers. Good thing the Japanese government started easing their measures to attract more tourists.

Getting the visa was quite stressful mainly because of the paperwork involved. Getting all the documents is hard because our local government processes are bloated, stressful, and lengthy.

Another highlight of my 2015 is, of course, my trip to Tokyo with my sister. The trip was a Christmas gift from my sister, can you believe it?

What an experience it was. The highlights of our Tokyo trip are eating authentic sushis, making our way to our second Disneyland trip and revisiting those damn spinning teacups and of course, getting my first LV in Shinjuku:

After our trip, the boyf and I started planning for our first Christmas celebration together. That’s also a milestone in our relationship. We managed to throw a little feast:

The lengua, pasta, and the roasted chicken were prepared a little later so they did not make it to the food collage, pity. The boyf also stuck around until New Year, which is so awesome because I ended the year on a high note.

As far as my professional life goes, 2015 was solid as a rock. But during the latter part of the year, I decided to rock the boat a little and leave a longtime project. A new year, after all, means a fresh start and career-wise, I am ready for a change. I know my 2016 will pave the way for loads of changes, personal or otherwise and I’m going there full steam ahead!

So what a year it has been! I hope everyone had an amazing celebration, especially those who spent NYE alone or far away from home. I’m hoping for even more adventures, lots of good food, and laughter, as well as reconnection with friends. Have an awesome 2016, everyone, cheers!

 

* 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.

What a year it’s been! 2014 has been very good to me despite life’s many ups and downs. I started the year on a good note and I feel that I will end it with a bang too!

2014 was the year of many firsts for me and I went through transition period in my personal life, which I think is indicative that I am in a good place.

After celebrating Christmas and New Year here in the little town of Paniqui, I went to the city to take part in my boyfriend’s surprise birthday celebration in the heart of Ortigas. It was memorable because I took part in something where I literally don’t know anyone involved.

Seriously, I just got a random text from one of his co-workers and explained everything in a huff. It was a touch and go thing but it was incredibly unforgettable experience. I’m happy the boyf is surrounded by these amazing, thoughtful people!

We celebrated Valentines with a pre-Valentine steak dinner at House of Minis. He surprised me with a bouquet of roses when I got back to Paniqui. Our saleslady and househelp went all “aww” over the flowers, hahaha! The following days later, the boyf and I travelled to beautiful Zambales to check out our friend’s vacation home cum eco-farm. One word: amazing place!

I couldn’t remember how I celebrated by 31st birthday but I do remember going all out for my baby booboo, Dimitri. He turned five last June and he squeeze his sexy self into this super chic tux before partaking in the festivities. He wiped out all the Fancy Feast in the pantry and demanded more Cheese ice cream. Whoa.

During the mid-year, I did a lot of cleaning and updating the current home I live in. I live alone and to be honest, the furnishing isn’t doing it for me anymore. So I had most of the stuff done. Now the rest of the house is waiting for a makeover. I’ll get into that this year!

In October, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary at Sofitel. We gorged ourselves at the buffet and though I can’t tell you the whole details, I suffered a severe allergic reaction to the lobsters. Almost ruined the entire thing but I recovered the next day just in time for the breakfast buffet, hahahahaha!

In November, me and the boyf got back to Zambales and though my friend’s vacation home was lovely, it will be the last time we go there. For many reasons, but mainly because the house is definitely haunted and they sorta made us feel unwelcome there. Brr… hely no.

In 2014, I also decided to move back indefinitely to my hometown. It was hard maintaining a relationship when you’re apart but we somehow made it work. Still thinking if I should move back to the city sometime soon but we’ll see!

Overall, it has been a great year for me. And there’s a lot of stuff to look forward to next year, including our upcoming trip to Bohol and my beau and I’s respective birthday!

Have an amazing holidays and New Years celebration my dears! May you drink so much booze and eat so much food!