Hello there! Happy Valentines Day and welcome to my very first entry of the year. Before I go through what’s been happening, I’d like to do another set of Year In Review entries again, like what I did last year (here). I remember having a really good introspective moment while doing that entry and while I feel like so much happened last year, I can’t believe it’s been more than one whole year since I did that. Ah, time.
1. What one event, big or small, are you going to tell your grandchildren about?
If you feel like the decision is right for yourself no matter how scary, make it.
2. If you had to describe your 2015 in 3 words, what would they be?
Full. Of. Surprises.
3. What new things did you discover about yourself?
I can actually fall in love.
4. What single achievement are you most proud of?
Making decisions for myself despite what people around me think.
5. What was the best news you received?
Oh, I had my fair share of good news (and bad) last year. I guess one that would have to take the cake is getting to travel to New York.
WARNING: This is going to be a long one because OVERCOMPENSATING! Heee.
I know I haven’t been writing much in this little blog of mine. Even my blog challenge for this year is going down the drain, siiiiigh. It’s something I was trying really hard to complete and not cheat (e.g. scheduling posts) but I realized it could have been more helpful if I did. Anyway.. to start off this life lately entry:
Hello from New York! I’m here for the holidays and all throughout the first half of January so that’s about a month. Still beating jetlag after 5 days and I hope this normalizes soon. It’s funny coz I’m not usually a fan of cold weather and winter in general, but I got used to it way sooner than the whole sleep/jetlag thing. Granted, I was still working during the first Monday after I got here and that helped with actually making me do something as opposed to just sitting waiting for the right time to sleep. Jetlag is a tricky thing, and it is one big mindfuck. The whole falling asleep anywhere I sit during the day is also annoying, but really funny, in hindsight.
I’m not really sure what the significance is to use the ellipsis in a photo but I’m guessing it’s to create awareness because this is a blog challenge that I took off the internet.
I took this photo from my friend’s Sunrise Party last week and instead of focusing of the developed part of Cebu, I went and took a photo of the vast green land and nature. I’m pretty fortunate to come from a city that’s not too crazy, and views like this are just 30 minutes away.
In other news, I’ve been doing so bad with this blog challenge! Such a contrast to last year where I completed it in less than 2 months! My goal is to definitely get this done BEFORE the end of the year. Can you believe the year is almost ending? Graaaah. I feel like the year just started yesterday. Nuts, I tell you.
Happy 10th to this blog series! I’ve really gone to love this blog series as it allows me to look back on positive stuff that has happened during my week. It’s therapeutic in a sense!
Bumping into the Pastillas boys. Last Saturday night, we (my mom & sister) had dinner at Mizu, the Japanese restaurant over at Waterfront Hotel. We didn’t really want to head home after dinner so we decided to just chill at the lobby cafe; get dessert, have tea and just lounge. This is something we’ve always loved to do as a family even when we were back in Jakarta, so it was a nice night. There was an event in one of the ballrooms and apparently the boys who joined that Pastillas segment in Showtime were a few of the guests. If something is to be known about me, it’s that I followed that twitterserye and ate it up like a true Filipino fangirl. My mom took photos of me together with the chosen one, Richard, and the Australian guy, Michael. I told them to act like we were close and be all sweet with me, and this was the finished product. Thanks, mom!
#Matts24thSunriseParty. One of my best friends decided to celebrate his birthday differently by having a party at dawn and towards sunrise. I hardly slept the night before but it was a good kind of change to have a party start at 5am and end before 10am. Definitely one of a kind and all worth it because we really did see the sunrise (photo above)!
https://www.instagram.com/p/-FouMBv20W/
APEC Week. This affected me in quite the most positive way. Cebu has had its share of APEC a month or two ago but since our Manila office is located in BGC, our HQ decided that everyone should work from home or remote for the whole week so as to not deal with traffic and road closure madness in Manila. Being the only remote employee in the company, this was a great change to see everyone in their own homes or in other locations aside from the office, just like me.
Work projects. Work was pretty inspiring this week. In between handing new clients, dealing with crazy ones, and having loads of work to do, it really makes a difference when you love what you do and see the fruits of your labor. There may be some bumps along the way, but it’s a good learning curve and with the kind of job that I’m in.. it’s pretty rewarding.
Justin Bieber. Ahh, the gift that keeps on giving. His promos for Purpose have been giving me the greatest dose of fangirl that I needed this whole month. Guestings in talk shows, Bieber Week on Ellen, live performances, JB Carpool Karaoke part 2 with James Corden.. and the list goes on!
Mockingjay pt. 2 promos. I’m kind of over the whole Hunger Games phase and don’t even really have the desire to watch the movie in the cinema. I’ll probably just watch it in the plane next month or something. I will, however, NEVER tire of watching the interviews, TV guestings, and crazy antics that Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson go through for the movie promotions. Whether individual or together, I love watching these three. I think it was on Monday that I woke up earlier than usual so I decided to go through a buttload of promo videos and interviews of the trio. Made my day!
Slumber Party! I had a great full day with two girls I adore—Ham & Riz—and we spent it with our usual cafe chill, then had super yummy dinner, and then a long-ass karaoke session (4 hours is no joke!) that didn’t have a single dull moment, empty spot or rest. We just kept singing like no tomorrow. They spent the night at my house and it was just a great time altogether.
Sunday night massage. I always treasure these bi-monthly massages because my back always kills me by the end of the week. I realize I don’t really mention this in my happy things but it keeps me going. I love massages.
Glossier’s Boy Brow. I am a fan of Benefit’s Gimme Brow and planned to repurchase it because mine ran out, but when ITG / Glossier came out with Boy Brow last month, I decided I wanted to try it instead. Watched one of the reviews and with a certain promo code you get a free Balm Dot Com, so I took that opportunity and ordered one for myself! I won’t be getting it until I arrive New York next month because I had it shipped there but the promo ends on November 30 so I made sure to order it before then. So excited!
A quick week, overall. I don’t know what happened, maybe I was just enjoying this week too much that just like that, the clock struck 12 to Saturday now. I’m always thankful for a good week. Next up, Hong Kong!
Can you believe it’s already almost halfway through November? Time sure is running on the fast lane.
FEELING
Sleepy! I stayed up last night catching up on Jimmy Fallon interviews then watched Trainwreck after. I didn’t know the movie was 2 hours long (I loved it!) and when I was done it was almost 5am this morning. Eeeeek. Had to wake up pretty early for church and brunch so now I’m trying not to fall asleep so I don’t end up missing the whole of Sunday night.
WATCHING
Justin Timberlake’s performance of Drink You Away during last week’s CMAs with Chris Stapleton. This song is from JT’s 20/20 album and also one of my buried favorites. I’m not familiar with Chris Stapleton because of my lack of country music knowledge but I am love-love-loving this performance. It must have been so great to be a part of the audience that watched this live. I love the whole soul x country marriage of talent!
Here’s another performance of Stapleton’s song this time, Tennessee Whiskey, which is equally great.
THINKING
Mostly about my upcoming trip to Hong Kong at the end of this month! How to budget, what to shop for, places to see, things to eat. HK isn’t really my comfort zone unlike SG so there’s a bit of a nervouscited-ness (ya, I made that up) feeling coming over me. The last time I was in Hong Kong was I think the year 2006, save for airport transits after that. Disneyland had just opened then and this month is now its 10 year anniversary! I’m super excited for all the Disney festivities I’ll be encountering.
WISHING
I had more money for everything! I thought I was going to be able to buy an iPhone this HK trip but I have 2 more International trips before the year ends so I had to re-allocate my money for other priorities. “Adulting” is so challenging sometimes, especially when it comes to financial discipline.
SMELLING
Roasted chicken. Gotta love Sunday dinners at home.
NEEDING
To make sure I have enough energy, vitamins, money, strength, and stamina to get through the rest of the year.
WEARING
Gym shorts and an old Nudie Jeans white tee that has a huge stain the middle even after countless washes.
LOVING
These 2 playlists from Buzzfeed’s 2 articles last week:
I just want to say: ALL these songs were my life growing up that I could have written the whole article myself and curated the playlists. The happiness of finding playlists like these two totally made my week that it caused me stop listening to Justin Bieber’s Sorry for a while.
