nail•a•holics Nail Salon and Spa National Pampering Day

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How did my nails get pampered for free?

I read online yesterday that nail.a.holics Nail Salon and Spa will have it’s National Pampering Day today. This means that they’re giving hand nail polish service for free from 10AM to 12NN in all their branches nationwide! Well at least, that’s what their Facebook Page said. I put it down on my list of things to do for today. I thought I was going to be finished with work at 6am and I can then prepare to head out, do the local market run, head to the post office for a supplement package I ordered from New Zealand (Bergamot to lower cholesterol and COQ10 to counter the effect of statins I took from July to September), and be one of the customers that can come in early for a free hand nail polish at a nail.a.holics branch in Festival Mall. But I finished later than expected, had to drop by the post office just before closing time which got cut short coz our car was parked at a towing zone and our attention got called out by a policeman so we just decided to do the post office run some other time and head straight to Festival Mall instead.

When we got to nail.a.holics, located at the 2nd floor of  Festival Mall beside Mini Trade Hall, it was almost twelve and their free hand nail polish is only up til noon! Continue reading →

Sonya's Garden

Sonya’s Garden Tagaytay Restaurant Review

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Sonya’s Garden’s full name is Sonya Garcia’s Secret Cottage Restaurant Inc. At least that’s what it says on their menu which someone handed out to us as soon as we stepped out of our car after parking. And I’m just so happy that finally, I’d be able to eat here… and during our 2nd Anniversary at that!

Amidst the verdant and flower-laden garden, with nothing but thick hibiscus shrubs and romantic hydrangeas as witnesses, the young man knelt on one knee before the lady and asked her if she would be his sweetheart. She replied with a single-minded “Yes!”

And what better way to celebrate the overflowing of the heart than with the filling of the belly? Dinner had to be served! The table was draped with fine embroidered linen and laden with freshly picked lettuce and arugula, sweet-fleshed mangoes, pineapples, and other fruits in season, and an array of dips and sauces for drizzling over salads and pasta. It was an explosion of flavors and feelings. From this proposal began the public’s love affair with Sonya’s Garden. – SonyasGarden.com

I can’t believe it’s been two years since Mahal asked for my hand from my grandfather, parents and siblings in Cagayan de Oro. Two years? Wow! It seemed like only yesterday! I can still feel my surprise when for the first time my grandfather talked to a suitor of mine. He never did that to any of my exes!

Anyway, it’s actually our 26th monthsary yesterday, October 15, which we almost forgot because we were in Eastern time zone, we had so much going on with baby Tuz’s vaccine, checkup, errands and work around the house (that got a bit flooded recently during a sudden heavy downpour) and we were so busy with so many other things  (like soap making) that we didn’t have anything special planned. The weather is also not very cooperative with typhoon Karen making a landfall this dawn and another one on the way come Monday (stay safe, everyone!).

But last August, on our 2nd anniversary, when the weather was still so nice and cozy, we had a series of anniversary celebrations (in case you haven’t read about some of my posts about that yet) and we headed to Tagaytay once again.  It was just a simple lunch but we super loved it because we had it at Sonya’s Garden! Continue reading →

surfing

Follow Your Fear So You Can Follow Your Heart

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 “The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it… The more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and the growth of our soul. “ – Steven Pressfield of  The War of Art

Marie Forleo is one of those amazing women that I follow and emulate as much as I possibly can (aside from Oprah). And in her Tuesday’s Marie TV episode she talked about following our fears.

By fear, it means the good kind of fear that we know once we overcome, will change our life for the better. It’s the directive kind of fear like an idea of doing something that we’ve always wanted to do. Something that the deeper and wiser part of us wants so damn bad! Not the kind that will have us get run over by a bus, lol!

Come to think of it, when I look back on my life, a lot of the things I did in order to follow my bliss was I followed my fear first. Again, by fear, Marie and I both mean something that can make us doubt ourselves and our capabilities but once we do it, will bring us tremendous joy. Let me give you mine… Continue reading →

Ocean 101

Siargao Cheap Accommodation – Ocean 101 Cloud 9 Beach Resort

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Siargao is one of my most favorite islands in the Philippines! There are so many things to do here, so many places to visit, so many natural wonders to explore and even at night, there are so many parties to go to (yep, I really couldn’t believe that Siargaonons are such party animals). All of these things I will share with you one by one as I blog about all of my visits to the famous surfing capital of the Philippines.

Siargao According to Wikipedia

Siargao is a tear-drop shaped island in the Philippine Sea situated 800 kilometers southeast of Manila in the province of Surigao del Norte. It has a land area of approximately 437 square kilometres (169 sq mi). The east coast is relatively straight with one deep inlet, Port Pilar. The coastline is marked by a succession of reefs, small points and white, sandy beaches. The neighboring islands and islets have similar landforms.

The island is composed of municipalities of Burgos, Dapa, Del Carmen, General Luna, San Benito, Pilar, San Isidro, Santa Monica and Socorro.

And all these municipalities, I’ve already visited! Weeee!

But first things first — where to find cheap accommodation in Siargao?  Continue reading →

jelly soaps

Soap Making Beginner’s Guide

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As I’m still drafting my next travel post (it takes a while to draft everything because of all the photos I have to choose from), I’d like to continue sharing my journey here about soap making.

I did promise myself to update this blog every day (6 days/week), and this is one of the topics I’m really  interested in. I first discussed soap making last week — how I started, my history with it and our plans about it. You can read about it here:

SOAP MAKING HOBBY TURNED BUSINESS

Basically, I just want to make sure that Mahal and I are moving forward with our projects… our passions and hobbies which we’d like to eventually turn into a small home-based business no matter how small a step we’re taking. It’s way better than doing something unproductive like watching the news or watching reruns of our favorite TV series. We only have a small window of extra time every day due to our busy schedule with our baby so whatever extra time we get,  we devote it to pursuing our hobbies and passions like soap making. And of course, I’d like to share our journey with you in case you want to delve into soap making too.

So, moving on… Continue reading →

Badian Beach

Lambug Beach in Badian Cebu Day Trip Guide

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This is the continuation of my previous post, Kawasan Falls Cebu Day Trip Guide.

As mentioned, I was coming from Manila and was heading to Siargao with one day of stopover at Cebu. Since I wanted to explore a place in  its southwestern part that I’ve never been to before,  I did a day trip to Kawasan Falls and Lambug Beach before I headed back to Mactan Airport to catch my flight to Siargao.

So if ever you have a day to spare in Cebu and you’d like to explore it’s southwestern part,  you can also do the same. Check out my Kawasan Falls Day Trip Guide followed by this post on Lambug Beach Day Trip Guide. Continue reading →

Kawasan Falls

Kawasan Falls Cebu Day Trip Guide

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BACKGROUND:

Every year, I always tell myself that I will blog more. But I kept putting it off because of other more seemingly important things (like traveling some more… [I was out of the house every month visiting exotic places in the country!], accepting more online work assignments [so I can support my travels] and watching hours and hours of reruns of my favorite TV series and movies [yep, that’s about the only energy I have left after a long day of traveling and working]) and before I knew it, years have passed, unpublished travel photos and videos got buried in my “baul” (musty old trunk..lol!) and the rest, as they say, is history. Teehee.

Well, on my MOMTRANEUR blog, I will be a better blogger, a better time manager, a better me. I am following the lessons I learned from my previous blog post How to Attain Higher Productivity at Home and Work and I will do more things that make me happier like what I mentioned in Random Thoughts This Rainy Night. So on this post I will start my long overdue travel diaries.

And because Cebu is probably my most visited place in the Philippines aside from Boracay (where I vacayed for long periods of time from 2002 to 2015), I’ll particularly start here my lone trip to the breathtaking Kawasan Falls in Badian. This was 2 weeks before I officially met my now bestest friend, soulmate and love of my life, Mahal. He knew me since high school but I didn’t really know him (well, I was popular, what can I say? Hahaha!)  However, that time I was on the way to Cebu, we were already texting because he invited me before to like his resort’s FB page and I was already hearing good things about Oslob (another place in Southern Cebu) that I wanted to go and visit that place. I ended up staying at his mini resort, Oslob New Village Lodge and swim with their famous whale sharks. This was already after my Kawasan day trip. When we became us years down the line, he admitted that I was his crush since high school. He also knew I’m into travel blogging. He said he will tour me too to the various tourist spots Oslob has to offer ( which he did, countless times, even to this day). Of course another blog post will be allotted for that. In the meantime, you can read about our love story. Hihihi!

Anyway, first things first — my trip to Kawasan Falls…

Continue reading →

Like the Flowing River

Like The Flowing River by Paulo Coelho

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I’m not just a mother, a traveler and an entrepreneur. I am also a bookworm. I have a memory of myself as early as age ten spending hours and hours at the library because I wanted to read books from Astronomy (I decided at that young age that I was going to be an astronaut, hehehe) to cookbooks to architecture and the usual fairy tales. In short, I have already read a ton of books in my lifetime and I’d like to share here those which influenced me whether in a big or small way and has helped me changed my life for the better.

Having said that, Paulo Coelho is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have all of his books and those which I find inspirational and moving, and which I think could help my readers in one way or another better their quality of life, I will blog about here.

This book by Paulo Coelho, Like The Flowing River, is unlike his usual novels. Instead, he compiled his most cherished reflections and short stories written from 1998 to 2005 and came up with Like The Flowing River. “These are powerful tales of living and dying, of destiny and choice, of love lost and found. Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, but always profound…”

Let me show to you some of my favorite snippets from this book: Continue reading →

baby's first month

Our Baby’s First Month in Videos

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One of the reasons why I set up this blog, from the name itself, MOMtraneur, is because I wanted to document everything there is to document about my being a mom, our being parents to our cute little baby. Because without baby Tuz, we won’t have the pleasure of experiencing this wonderful right, privilege, responsibility and obligation of becoming parents.

So on this post, I want to share with you the videos we took of our precious little boy during his first month on Earth. That was November 17 to December 18, 2015, almost a year ago! How time indeed flew so fast! Baby Tuz still looked so very different here. And how happy and thankful we are that he is growing up healthier and a lot cuter every single day that God gives us to live. Continue reading →

soaps

Soap Making Hobby Turned Business

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AN INTRODUCTION

I love doing DIY stuff whenever I have the time. I love to make beaded accessories; I like to sew simple things like bags, skirts and organizers; I like cooking my own dishes and making my own healthy fruit and vegetable concoctions; I like doing my own party decors; I like making my own gift bags and other accessories. And whenever it’s possible and feasible, I turn my DIY projects into a small home-based business. One example is NIBs (Nature in Bottles) Home Spa Products that I turned into a small home-based business in 2003 and got featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lifestyle section that same year. I made organic body scrubs, facial scrubs, massage oils, facial toners,  body powder, lip balms, etc. and overnight, it felt like the whole country was ordering from me.  Continue reading →

skin product review

Jericho, Black Pearl, NWorld, Proactive and Bio Oil Skin Product Review

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Being a first time mom at the age of 38 is very challenging and as much as possible, I still want to be able to take care of myself, not just my physiological health, but my external appearance as well.  So the following blog post is a detailed account of the experiences my facial skin went through this year from February 18, 2016 up to April 26. It was first published on my old blog and I am transferring and updating it here to serve as a reference to future skin product reviews that I’ll be doing from now on here on my Momtraneur blog.

Furthermore, this post is not to generalize the effects of the various skin products I used because there so many factors concerned which is why effects on one’s skin may vary from person to person depending on existing variables like skin type, age, hormonal changes, genes, etc.

Disclaimer

After April 2016, my facial skin has once again undergone a few more problems and changes . And so from May 2016 to present, Mahal and I have been experimenting with our own homemade soap, body and facial scrubs, plus other spa product concoctions which I’ll share  with you once our skin product lineup is complete. For now, here is the long process I went through with skin products from NWorld, Black Pearl, Jericho, Proactive and Bio Oil. It’s a long read which I divided into several sections so better go get some popcorn. Hihihi! Thanks in advance for reading! (^_^) Continue reading →