Thank you, 2011!

I'm sitting outside the house, just before 12am, and already, my car alarm is going off because of the firecrackers. The neighbor is blasting "Sweet Child of Mine" (Bon Jovi version, of course) in an attempt to make noise in our otherwise boring street. I'm not a New Year person because I always get emo, but surprise, surprise, I'm wearing a dotted top just for the occasion. And hey, I cooked for the family!

I've been very nostalgic these past few days because 2011 is coming to an end. 2011 for me was a milestone year. Definitely one for the books, one that I can tell all my grandkids about. It was MY year, and I am confidently owning it as one of the best years of my 25 year existence.

In 2011, I traveled, I lost a job, bummed around, became a reality show contestant, met my ultimate super idol Sharon Cuneta, met a group of people I will never forget ever, lived away from home and basically grew up. In that order.

Bacolod, January 2011

TELUS TA Despedida, March 2011

The Goodbye Leigh Wall


The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition, May - October 2011

Ate Sharon! :)

Cebu, August - September 2011

Singapore, October 2011

There you go, 2011 in photos. Despite all this, I'm forever indebted to my family and friends for sticking by my throughout this year. It was a rollercoaster ride, admittedly. And never did I feel alone or lonely going through my journey. Thank you for understanding, and thank you for being there. :) I'm truly blessed already having wonderful people in my life, and having met more of them in 2011.

So there you go, 45 minutes to go until the world (at least Manila) becomes officially noisy. I think I'll have to go inside now to heat up the food.

Cheers to 2011, a wonderful year that was! (And crossing my fingers that 2012 will just be as awesome!)

Merry Christmas, Darlings.

Christmas has always been a bittersweet occasion in our household. Three adults with no mother.. well, you get the picture. People have said that Christmas is for children, and for a household with no children, obviously Christmas is just another day that we get to eat a real meal for midnight snack. :)

Now more than ever, because I am technically unemployed, the Christmas spirit was hard to come by. I couldn't buy gifts, I couldn't really shop, I couldn't celebrate the way I wanted to -- you get the picture. Last year's Christmas was full of parties and celebrations. This year's was like.. really not like last year. (duh)

Long story short, I ended up just giving gifts to my family, gifts that I really made an effort to do. Since I'm the resident photographer and photo archive person of the family, I took it upon myself to give them something of that nature.

So I made photo panels of each of us. Papa's was s lot special because it had old photos of him which he's always wanted to preserve. He's had a very unique and colorful career in the Air Force, and it deserved and still deserves to be chronicled. It was a challenge fixing the photos, but it was all worth it. :) I wish I had the patience to fix all of his photos one buy one though. Other photos can be found here.

Anyway, these will be displayed somewhere in our house. Will post photos when I finally find a spot for them. :)

I guess one of the great things 2011 has taught me is appreciation for family. I'm no longer afraid of treating them special, of really caring for the things they care about, even if it takes so much effort. Most of all, I'm no longer afraid of giving them hugs and telling them I love them. For me, that's what Christmas is about -- making other people feel that they are loved.

On that note, Merry Christmas everybody! :) May you and your family be blessed with more of everything happy! xoxo

Nourishing the Soul :)

So, its been a while since I last posted. Sorry. :( The last few weeks have been very chaotic and I feel like I've gone everywhere. Just today for example - I started the day off in Cubao, then went to Divisoria for 2 hours, Makati for something, then I went to Pasig to visit my sister in the hospital. Recently my days have been that hectic, that the thing that I want most now is just a day in bed.

Truth be told, happy thoughts are hard to come by when you're just so damn tired. And stressed. And confused. Its not just the tiredness that's getting to me, but the chaos of it all too. Seems like nothing is going according to plan, and nothing is going smoothly. The easiest thing for me to do now is to be catty, harsh and sarcastic, even when I don't want to. I'm so caught up in the thought of earning more and more money for the things that I need to spend for, that I actually forgot that its December, and that Christmas is just 16 days away.

Yes, and see, I haven't even thought of what presents I'm going to give away this year. That's how stressed I've been. But then a couple days ago I got a reminder to not be selfish, especially this season.

Derek Ramsay's birthday build with Habitat for Humanity
6 December 2011, Navotas

National Bookstore's Project Aklat

First, Derek invited us BL contestants to his Habitat for Humanity birthday build in Navotas. The next day, I went into National Bookstore and got offered the opportunity of donating books to less fortunate children, which of course, I did. I donated the book entitled "Imbisibol Man ang Tatay," which was the story of a little kid whose dad was an OFW. How sad and touching, right? This cause was particularly special to me because as a kid, reading gave me so much entertainment and has taught me so much -- from conversational English to life lessons. I'd like other children to have the same opportunity too.

I miss being this kind of person -- someone who is a person for others. This is a very Atenean trait, I'd like to believe. No matter how much time you spend feeding your physical self with money and other things, your soul will still need some nourishment.

For more info about these two causes, check out these links:
Habitat for Humanity Philippines
National Bookstore's Project Aklat