in 2013 ....

1. I will join the 50 Book Project and accomplish it. 
2. I will participate in the 365 Photo Project. 
3. I will finish 2 cross stitches and have the rest framed. 
4. I will finish all my scrapbooks and sort my photos. What I cannot scrapbook, I will put in an album. 
5. I will launch my arts and crafts line with a kooky name. 
6. I will blog more about plays, arts and crafts, and Mommy pointers. 
7. I will lose at least 20lbs and become healthier. 
8. I will fix myself up and take care of me. 
9. I will put aside at least 5% of my income weekly. 
10. I will travel. 
11. I will be a BETTER me ... which means better daughter, mother, sister, friend, coworker, and partner. 
12. I will help my Mom, Uncle, and brother expand their food business by marketing it more aggressively. 
13. I will write more, sharpen my photography skills, and hone my creativity. 
14. I will make all these happen. 

Onward and upwards 2013! Bring it on! Happy New Year everyone!

the year that was 2012 ...

2012 has been overall a great year to me. When I initially met 2012, I said to myself, I was ready to fall in love again. I was ready to be with someone but I also told myself that this someone had to be ready to be with me. 12 months later, I have the funny man in my life and everything has been going very well between us.

2012 also showed the growth and blossoming of my blog. From being obscure, I now have over 700+ likes on my page, 200+ followers on twitter, and over 200+ people constantly visit my blog everyday. For me, this is quite an achievement because I do not really target a specific market. My blog is just about myself, my family, my love life, and my son. Yet, I have people who want to read it and even recommend it to others.

I am humbled.

2012 also saw a lot of first with my family. B is now in first grade and he's been doing consistently well. He's become more sociable and confident about himself. He's also learning to explore and discover new things. As for my family, we went through some trials but emerged from it still standing strong and together. We also celebrated our first Christmas together.

2012 also gave me the chance to work at a regular day job. I was able to see how life was like for someone who had an 8-5 job and I liked it. I didn't like the traffic so much but the fact that I could tutor my son when I got home was a pretty big deal for me.

In 2012, I received good health for my family, education for my son, opportunities via blogging, and true love. I can definitely say 2012 rocked.

Thank you 2012 for being so nice to me. There were definitely a LOT MORE happiness than sadness so for that, I am grateful.

2013, I welcome you with open arms coz I know that with my family, friend, and the funny man .... everything will be alright.

B learning to give gifts

This year, during B's Christmas party in school, I had him give his gifts to his classmates. Being only 7 years of age, it is obviously I who bought and wrapped it. Still, I think that he learned something from doing this and that I was able to instill in him the value of giving and not only receiving gifts.

B had a lot of fun that day and for me, it was all that mattered. Seeing my son happy and showing the values that he has learned makes this Momma proud.

Mom and the Ayala Triangle Light and Sound Show

FM made a promise to me that he will take my Mom to see the Light and Sound Show at Ayala Triangle. You see, my Mom wasn't able to see it last year and so this year, I really wanted to have her see it. I knew that she would appreciate it and I knew that it was something she would love. I'm so lucky that FM delivered.

Last night, we went to Ayala Triangle to watch the Light and Sound Show. My Mom loved it. Seriously. She was like a kid who was let loose in a theme park. I loved the expressions on her face.

After watching the light and sound show, we trooped to Momo Cafe and feasted. I didn't take photos of the food anymore because I just wanted to focus on being with my family and the funny man.

It was a great dinner and for the first time in a long time, I was just in the moment with them. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thank you FM for this great moment you gave our family.

paper roses ...

FM gave me a paper rose for Christmas. It was blue and I honestly liked it. Now, being with him for almost 10 months has taught me that he's not really the type to surprise so I didn't expect anything more from the paper rose. As they say, what you see is what you get.

Apparently, FM has a few surprise up his sleeve. After hours of just being in the corkboard, FM asked me to show the paper rose to my family and then my little brother asked me to open the paper rose. Apparently, it had a print inside and it certified that FM actually bought me this!

Yes, he bought me an accessories cabinet holder and my initial thought when I first saw how big it was is that I could not possibly fill it. Guess what?

I was wrong! It seems I have accumulated quite a number of accessories over the years and it has filled up the cabinet quite nicely. Thank you FM for this wonderful surprise. I really, really love it!

Decluttering Magazines

I must admit I am one of those women who just loves to buy magazines. I buy at least 5 a month and multiply that by 12 you have at least 60 magazines in a year. It may not sound a lot but you add the years and suddenly, you realize that there's just not enough space in the house for all those magazines collecting dust.

Sure, visitors love to browse and your kids could possibly use it for a project but seriously, it collects dust and what have you the rest of the year. So, what's a girl got to do?

What I did was to buy cheap sketch books and I tore off the pages I wanted to keep or could use and pasted it on the sketch books. I instantly cut down my clutter from 100% to 20%. My Mom was so happy because she hates clutter.

I also divided it into categories. One sketch book has been tagged Recipes or Food Places, the other is Arts and Crafts, while the other is tagged Vacation Staycation. When I want to try a new food place or recipe, I just pull out the sketchbook and I have a cheaper but equally nice version of a cookbook.

What's your de-cluttering style?

Mommy's 49th Birthday

We celebrated my Mom's birthday at Yabu in Mall of Asia. My brother was able to book a corner table for us and by some miracle, even my Dad was able to make it.

We started with drinks because FM and my Dad and brother wasn't able to make it by 7pm. We had to delay dinner so we only ordered a meal for B and drinks for us.

I loved the watermelon shake and B almost finished the Chicken Katsu meal for kids. He even asked for 1 piece of Jumbo Tiger Prawn and also finished it. It seems B was famished from all the walking around we did because my brother wanted to buy me his Christmas gift and I couldn't make myself say yes coz I keep seeing the crazy expensive tag price.

When FM and my family who were stuck in traffic finally arrived, we ordered food. Before they came though, we had a minor incident where one of the servers spilled ice tea on Arnie. To make up for it, the restaurant manager served us their 2 new dishes which was the soft shelled crab and cheese katsu. I'll talk more about the food on a separate post.

My family all had fun crushing the seeds and pouring the sauce. I had fun taking photos of them doing it. 

When the food finally came, everyone stuffed themselves silly and ate and ate and ate.

My Mom also loved our gifts to her. The twins bought her shoes and a dress. FM and I got her perfume, body wash, and lotion.

We had a great time celebrating my Mom's birthday and I know that though there was no cake, she was very happy.