January 19, 2025

2024 Recap | My year in a nutshell

Happy New Year. As I welcome this new year, I would like to reflect what was last year was like. Still, I have a job, a great partner, more bonding with siblings and most of all prioritized my peace.

Things have also felt heavier this year

Also, this year we have dealt with unimaginable pain and loss. I couldn’t imagine how are we even go through such things, but thankfully, still here and thriving.

I started a small business and it did not go well and eventually I gave it up.

I would like to think that I am creative but this year was the worst creative rut that I have experienced. I tried to write, create something but it doesn’t come up naturally and the more I push myself the more burnout I feel. Towards the end of the year, I got inspired to create more there is an attempt but not consistent.

I had a lot of purchase, travel and bad financial decisions.

So much happened that I hadn’t expected, bringing a lot of stress and anxiety that affects my work and well being that I had a session with a therapist for the first time. It seems like a lot of weight was lifted from my shoulders as someone is there to listen to you without any judgment.

I am planning to just put the highlight this year, but I decided to put some downers to give a more realistic glimpse of what 2024 looks like to me.

Going back, when I think what happened this 2024, I realized that I experienced a lot of things for the first time.

Here are the highlights of 2024:

1. Chelsea’s 2^nd Barkday

We celebrated Chelsea’s birthday and she was able to try dog cake

2. First Camping Experience

We went to Morong Bataan and did camping, not only once but twice. It is a great way to escape, and to be far from distraction of the city

3 Conquered Mt Pulag

My mother mountain. I am so blessed that I was able to conquer the highest peak in Luzon. Proves that nothing is impossible and I can conquer great things

4. Celebrated my Grandfather’s 80^th birthday

It was a blessing if someone was able to reach this age and I am happy that my lolo was able to celebrate with friends and family and to be able to witness what good things life has to offer

5. Conquered Mt. Ulap

My second peak this year. This is my birthday hike and if Mt Pulag is the one that opened my eyes to hiking, Mt Ulap made me fall in love to hiking. I look forward to conquer more mountains.

Went to Music Fest after couple of years

Circus Music Fest 5 is the latest music fest that I went to with my work friends. It was tiring and happy experience. To be able to sing with artists that we usually only hear on headphones.

7. Healing our inner child at Enchanted Kingdom

We went to EK together with my college friends. We eat out and were able to experience all the attractions that it has to offer. We had Ekspress pass to skip the lines though

Went to a solo museum date

I went to National museum This is my first time to explore a museum by myself and I was able to explore, history and our culture.

8. Solo Travel in Baguio

I hit rock bottom last November and I really need to be away by myself and realized that Baguio is my healing place.

9. Solo Hiking at Yellow Trail in Camp John Hay

Exploring nature in an unfamiliar place by myself was a healing experience to me. I felt refreshed, inspired and motivated after the hike and really felt excited what has to come.

10 Island hopping in Nasugbu Batangas

We had a reunion in Nasugbu with my siblings and we were able to go to an island hopping not only that, Chelsea was able to experience it as well.

Aqua Planet Experience

We went to Aqua Planet to celebrate Christmas with my partner and his siblings.

As I write this I realized that, one of the greatest lessons 2024 has taught me is that there is better in this world than bad. Though at times I hit rock bottom, I was able to learn from my mistake and bounce back. I am inspired to write blog entries for those highlights so expect more entries this year as this will be my consistent year. I am claiming it.

I am going into 2025 fighting my own self-limiting beliefs, still a work in progress, but stronger, more determined, and at peace.

How are you, how was your 2024?

January 01, 2025

Aqua Planet Experience and Christmas 2025 Celebration

The most awaited time of the year.

Christmas is undeniably one of the holidays that we are looking forward especially for us Filipinos. Once the “Ber” months starts to kick in Christmas decorations are now starting to show up on malls and other infrastructure. There are several ways on how we celebrate this holiday; reunion and parties are almost every week to some, most of those who work on the cities are travelling back to province to celebrate with their families, some are travelling out of town or even out of the country.

We chose to celebrate Christmas by staycation and went to Aqua Planet for a little adventure.

We decided to stay at one of the hotel/condominium situated at Clark Pampanga which looks like one of cities in Korea to me as I saw a lot of Koreans, infrastructure and posters have Korean signages, security guard greeted us in Korean and there’s even Korean Church. It was a studio apartment that has 2 beds and enough kitchen tools and equipment [though we decided not to cook at all and I realized that don’t have a lot of photos of the room.

We arrived around past 5:00PM of December 24, 2024 and rest of a little bit and went to Koreatown in Angeles. We walked until we found out samgyupsal place that offers unlimited meat. Most of the restaurants there only serve meat in ala carte and very few serves unlimited which is 15 minute walk from where we parked.

We drank wine after by midnight also watched movie and played UNO.

We woke up early to get ready to go to Aqua Planet. We booked our tickets online for Php 1250 per head since it was a holiday. Aqua Planet is one of the modern water theme park not only on Philippines but in Asia. It is situated inside Clark Freeport Zone which is just less than 10 minutes from our accommodation.

There are several attractions which majority of those can be done in pairs and groups of four and below are I truly enjoyed:

Spiral Slide – the first one we tried by pairs, quite a chill one

Tornado – the most intense that I tried so far. I really hold my life to the floatie and I screamed through the twist and sudden drop then we were swayed like a tornado

Superbowl – a milder version of tornado, since we went to tornado ahead than this one it is easier for me go through the next attraction.

Octopus Racer – this one I had to do it myself I was lying my face down and slide through the rainbow

Hurricane – there were 4 types of slide that we need to go through and this an extreme version of spiral slide

Boogie Bay and Wave River were the chill ones and we went there on our downtime.

Unfortunately, outside food and drinks are not allowed so we just grabbed few snacks. It was on a pricey side and we chose few things that will keep us full until we left on Aqua Planet.

Around 3:00PM we decided to left because we need to be able to pick up Chelsea before 6:00PM at the pet hotel and luckily we were on time.

We ate at Manam to end a peaceful and happy Christmas.

June 08, 2024

The One who Conquered Mt Pulag

My mother mountain. I was able to conquer the highest peak in Luzon.

I am beyond grateful to climb the famed Mt. Pulag. This is undoubtedly most of the bucketlist of hikers; beginner or not. One of my dream hikes and I am glad that I made it.

Mt Pulag towers 2,926 m above sea level and also known as “Playground of the Gods”. It has the most breathtaking scenic view of grassland, mossy forest and sea of clouds. It is the 3^rd highest mountain in the Philippines next to Mt. Apo and Mt Dulang – dulang. There are 4 major trails to the summit, namely for Benguet: the Ambangeg (for beginners), Akiki (the killer trail), Tawangan and if from Nueva Vizcaya, the Ambaguio trail.

Since that this is my first hike, I went for the Ambangeg Trail.

The Preparation:

When 2024 came in, I promised myself that I will prioritize my physical health. Due to unforeseen circumstances I was not able to do that on the first month of the year. Came February, I purchased smart watch with the purpose of tracking my daily as my goal is to reach 10,000 steps everyday if possible.

I am so committed on my daily walk and as one of the “doom scroller” on TikTok, my for you page was filled with hiking stuff and I became interested on climbing Mt. Pulag. This might be ambitious considering that there are a lot of mountains nearby but I made up my mind that Mt. Pulag will be my “mother mountain”.

I walked/ran and consistently achieving 10,000 steps or more every single day for 3 weeks as the preparation for my first climb. On top of that, I bought hiking gears [which is very expensive by the way] because I am committed that I will conquer more mountains after this first climb, I invested on hiking shoes and outfits.

The Hike:

I hike with my officemates/friends last March 16-17 and we book for a Travel and Tours company. For Php 4,500 that already includes: back and forth transportation, 3 hosted meals, tour guide, registration/certificates. I must say that it is worth it because the food was delicious and the coordinator was so accommodating.

Day 0: March 15, 2024 11:00AM : We met up at Greenfield and we started to travel to Benguet.

Day 1 | March 16, 2024: We had our first coffee somewhere in Pangasinan as we continue our ride to Benguet. When we arrived there we had our breakfast to the infamous buffet near DENR office. Afterwards we continue the trip until we arrived to the Baba lak Ranger Station where our homestay.

It was freaking cold, thankfully we had unlimited Barako coffee and the homestay is a little warm. They also provided thick blankets which definitely helped to minimize the cold.

After the delicious lunch, there was a free time to get to know the other joiners. We had a drink [I drank 2 cups of coffee by the way] and they had alcohol. We had a great time and we were to know them, mainly what is the reason of them climbing up Mt. Pulag, and there I found out new friends.

Since that everyone had alcohol, after dinner everyone already fell asleep as early as 8:00PM so that it was an ample time for us to rest.

Day 2 | March 17, 2024: The hike proper.

We left at the homestay around 2:30 AM which is kind of late since that there were hikers who started 1:00AM. We had our breakfast and got ready. I had 4 layers of clothing which includes: sports bra, Uniqlo shirt [not heattech though], yoga jacket and parka. I had leggings and waterproof pants also 2 layers of thick socks and my hiking shoes. I also have gloves and bonnet.

I also brought my backpack with small Pocarri Sweat, 1 liter of water, trail foods and other essentials.

I underestimated the cold, I couldn’t feel my fingers when I tried to remove the gloves. Thankfully I was prepared enough and my layers of clothes kept me warm. I am also thankful to my hiking shoes, it really protected me, it was comfortable, waterproof and I didn’t feel any coldness on my feet during the whole hike.

It was all walk at first then came the first assault before we reach the Camp 1. I almost passed out. I thought I would not be able to continue. But thankfully my co-hikers assisted me and I managed to go to Camp 1. We took a rest for couple of minutes and started to hike again.

There were minimal assaults going to Camp 2 but it was more manageable than the first 1 and we reached the second camp smoothly and we had another rest for about 20 minutes.

By that time, the sun was almost rising and we need to be on the “Tower” or Grassland for us to see the anticipated sunrise and sea of clouds. It was challenging to reach the tower, multiple and more difficult assaults, nevertheless we made it on time and I witnessed one of the most breath taking view that I had seen on my existence. Unfortunately there is no sea of clouds [I promised to have a revenge hike to see it soon] but the whole view was so beautiful and my camera did not give it justice.

I told earlier that it was cold when we left, but it is even colder on the grassland, most of the hikers where shivering but it was worth it because of the view.

After 1 hour on the grassland, some of the joiners on our batch did not push through on going to the peak. I am very determined to reach the summit so I continue. It was 2 hours hike. I was barely hanging there, I took my time to walk and I let other hikers to pass me I hiked by my own phase.

After the never-ending walk, we reached the summit. It was so fulfilling and I felt that I am on top of the world. We had a long rest because there is a long queue of hikers that wants to take a picture on the summit. I take my time to rest, and eat trail foods while we wait for our turn.

After the photo op on the summit, we started to descend, it was challenging considering that I am walking for about 5 hours and thankfully I have my trusted pole and still took my time to descend.

I couldn’t remember how I managed to survive, when we were out of the trail, there were stores selling ice candy and refreshments, some offered motor ride [habal-habal] but we decided to walk until we were back to the ranger station.

I had a sigh of relief when we were done. I was absolutely tired and we ate lunch, take a quick rest and showered and we prepared on going home.

This is one of the books experience and I am sure that I will share this adventure to most of my friends and even to my child in the future.

I am looking forward for more mountains to conquer.

May 11, 2024

Review: Luxe Organix 6 In 1 MAXShield Active Ultra Sheer Face and Body Cooling Sunscreen

Summer is here and we are experiencing scorching heat from the sun applying sunscreen will always be part of my daily routine. Wearing sunscreen every day is a crucial part of your skincare routine, and without it, you are exposing the sensitive skin on your face to unnecessary damage from sun exposure. Gladly I’ve found this new sunscreen from Luxe Organix which is now a staple not only on beach bag but for daily skin protection.

Description

Luxe Organix 6 In 1 MAXShield Active Ultra Sheer Face and Body Cooling Sunscreen is your ultimate sun protection solution at SPF 150. Enriched with Green Tea Extract, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Hyaluron Complex, and Vitamin E for added hydration and anti-aging effects. Specifically formulated to withstand sweat and water for up to 80 minutes, providing long-lasting protection that blocks up to 99% of UV rays. This formulation is free from Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, PABA, Phthalates and dyes, offering a gentle and eco-friendly sunscreen choice for your skin. 6 in 1 Multi-Function Sunscreen Skin Soothing Anti-Aging Hydrating Cooling Antioxidant Very Water Resistant

Place Of Origin

THAILAND

Product Usage

Apply a generous amount to the skin 20 minutes before sun exposure. Apply evenly to all exposed areas of the body and blend until fully absorbed. Reapply at least every 2 hours, immediately after towel drying.

Ingredients

Aqua, Dibutyl Adipate, Alcohol Denat., Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Propylene Glycol, Silica, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetearyl Alcohol, Poly C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxypheryl Triazine, Polyester-7, Methylene Bis-Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphe-nol (nano), Xylitol, Acrylotes/C12-22 Alkyl Methacrylate Copolymer, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoote, Phenoxyethanol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, VP/Elcosene Copolymer, Sodium Polyacrylate, Chlorphenesin, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Triethanolamine, Decyl Glucoside, Ceteareth-20, Xanthan Gum, Pentylene Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Tocopheryl Acetate, Glycerin, Tocopherol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Julce, Butylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Caprylyl Glycol, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate Glucose, Sodium Hiyaluronate, Chongrus Crispus Extract, Hydraxyprapyl-trimonium Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, Hyaluronic Acid, Hydrelyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Socium Hivaluronate Crosspolymer, Potostlum Hyaluronate

Source: https://www.watsons.com.ph/luxe-organix-6-in-1-maxshield-active-ultra-sheer-face-and-body-sunscreen-100ml/p/BP_50046355

Overall Thoughts:

I brought this sunscreen during our camping in Bataan and trip to Laiya Batangas and I must say that this product never failed me in sun protection. I am so impressed with the SPF and the other added active ingredients which make this product as sun protection and skincare in one. After applying before swimming if dries up easily and it feels light and minimal to non sticky feel. Not only that my skin feels protected its affordability is a huge plus. I bought this for Php 449.00 online and this will be always part of my routine. Overall I highly recommended this sunscreen.

Where to find:

Lazada: https://www.lazada.com.ph/tag/luxe-organix-store/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luxeorganixph?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxeorganixph/?hl=en

Have you tried this product? Let me know your thoughts on the comments below.

April 27, 2024

Celebration of Life: Chelsea’s 2nd Barkday

Time flies really fast when you are happy.

And yes, my life filled with so much love and joy because of my baby girl – Chelsea. She turned 2 years old [human age] last March 11, 2024. I’ve been meaning to celebrate her birthday, let her experience the best life that it could be, but since that last 2023 was hectic, we are doing our best to make life more enjoyable and wonderful this year. There were a lot of activities lined up and I am making sure that she would be able to experience beautiful things that life has to offer.

The Preparation:

I just thought that I want her birthday celebration would be a yearly tradition wherein I will dedicate a day to celebrate her life. On her 2^nd barkday I decided to have a yellow and flower theme, which is cute and whimsy, very fitting to Chelsea.

I ordered simple balloons and decoration at Shopee at a very low price [there were still balloons left] as an OA mom I tend to order or get more than usual when it comes to her.

For furmom and furdad and other visitors, I just cooked a carbonara dish which is our favorite and bought a cake from Goldilocks. I discovered a new flavor that has perfect level of sweetness we enjoyed it a lot and we will lean to Luscious Caramel flavor now.

I ordered cake for Chelsea from a small business here in Bulacan. The price is reasonable and she loved the cake so much that she ate it in one go.

The Celebration:

Chelsea’s favorite persons were present on the simple celebration. She enjoyed her time with the family and received a lot of hugs and cuddles. W

Not only that, Chelsea received a lot of gift from my teammates and she is the happiest.

Being with Chelsea is one of the happiest and fulfilling I’ve done so far. I’ve learned to be more patient, and to have something to nurture. She makes the pain less bearable and definitely my stress reliever during those trying times.

Two years is such a short time and yet time spent with her is so precious and we would like to take care of her so that we would spend many years with her.

January 19, 2025