Tag: New Year

Reflecting on the Adventures: My 2023 Holiday Recap

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As I sit down to recount the adventures of my 2023 holiday season, I must admit that this recap may come a bit late. It’s already March, and I actually created the vlog last month at a time when I was feeling a bit down. However, if you’re in need of some travel inspiration or just want to relive the magic, this is the video for you! It’s never too late to catch up on the fun! So, grab some popcorn and watch it here or down below:

The holiday season of 2023 was a whirlwind of adventure, relaxation, and memorable moments. As I sit down to reflect on the experiences of those days, I’m filled with a sense of gratitude for the opportunities I had to explore new places and create lasting memories. In this blog post, I’ll take you through my holiday recap, sharing highlights from my travels and the lessons I learned along the way.

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Unwrapping 2023 Halloween Magic: A Spooky Saga and a Dash of OCness!

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Hey, fellow festive souls! I know, I know—it’s December, and the twinkling lights of Christmas are already stealing the show. But hold on to your elf hats because I couldn’t just let the Halloween magic fade away without sharing the spine-chilling details of our most epic celebration yet!

You see, life threw a curveball my way in the form of family travels right after Halloween. The excitement of exploring foreign lands with my loved ones consumed me, leaving the tales of our bewitching Halloween hanging in the balance. Blame it on my OCness, but I couldn’t dive into our travel chronicles without first immortalizing the ghosts and goblins of October on my blog.

So, here’s the deal—I’m about to spill the cauldron of Halloween goodness, and once that’s done, I’ll be your guide through our international adventures. I promise, Christmas and New Year‘s tales will have their moment in the spotlight come 2024. But for now, let’s relive the most fun-filled Halloween that swept me off my feet!

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HELLO 2023! Our New Year Goals

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A week has passed since our planet finished another revolution around the sun… HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!!! Hello 2023! 

Our celebration last New Year’s Eve was a quieter and more peaceful one. I guess we’ve been so tired from all the holiday preparations, from all the parties that started way back Halloween season, to Tuz’s 7th birthday, our secret Civil Wedding, then the Christmas festivities that followed and the overflowing food we needed to consume the rest of the week going ino New Year’s that come Dec. 31, it was just me, Mahal, and Tuz who were left awake to welcome 2023. Here’s a vlog I made about it. Check it out! 

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Welcoming New Year

Welcoming 2021 – A Look Back

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Time flies so fast when you’re having fun! Can’t believe it’s Feb already — my birthday month!!! I was supposed to start a vlog about our new beach life right now but there were still a lot of videos I filmed last New Year’s. And because I’m OC (obsessive-compulsive), I can’t seem to make the new ones without putting a closure first to 2020. So here’s a little look back at how we celebrated the end of 2020  — the last celebration we did at Cagayan de Oro — before finally, FINALLY, settling down in Oslob, Cebu — the land of the whale sharks… one of my few favorite places in the Philippines (Boracay and Siargao are the other two) 😉 

It’s just a quick vlog full of laughter and cheer which made me realize that those good vibes we exuded as we bid our goodbyes to 2020 and welcomed 2021 with renewed spirit and vigor really helped us bring about the same kind of energy to this new year. As the life gurus keep saying — WHAT YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS. And every single day since we got here in Cebu last Jan. 7, I’ve been feeling so festive, as if it’s Christmas and New Year all over again every single day, and for that, I am truly thankful. Even on those days when I’m hormonal and I feel like crap, I just focus on our good life and things start looking brighter once again. What you really focus on expands! Try it!

For now, here’s a little look back last Dec. 29, 30, 31, Jan. 1. After this, I’ll be sharing with you my life stories about the brand new life we’re now living. 🙂

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New Year Charcuterie Boards

New Year’s DIY Charcuterie Table Design

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As I’ve mentioned on my Christmas blog post, we’ve always celebrated the holiday season at a nice hotel resort in the city. That’s where I would usually see wonderful buffet table settings including charcuterie board offerings. So I said to myself, why don’t I try to recreate that here at home and have that nice hotel resort buffet feel? Perhaps, I can already use some materials we already have here inside the house, and the rest, I can buy at the store? So that’s what I did! 

I just want to document here the layouts I’ve made. The idea came to me right after Christmas. I didn’t want to order any more food from Food Panda. We also didn’t want to cook. But I love to decorate and arrange things so having charcuterie boards on the table sounds perfect for what I didn’t want! Lol! So if you’ll check my Christmas blog post, there really is a huge difference in terms of the look of our buffet table. The two table settings we had last Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were nothing compared to how pretty our New Year’s Eve and New Year’s table settings were. I didn’t know I could do such an instagrammable and Pinterest-worthy charcuterie table decor. What do you think? Is it just me? Or aren’t these charcuterie table settings so pretty? 

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New Year's eve

My Little New Year’s Eve Diary

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When I think about what 2020 has been for us, I have nothing but prayer of thanks. 

Though this pandemic did affect some aspects of our business, we were able to pivot, adjust, and not only survive but thrive. Truth is, in the 3 years that we’ve lived in Cagayan de Oro, 2020 has been our most successful year. And for that, THANK YOU, GOD! 

A huge part is because living and working from home is not new to us. We’ve always been the introverted type and my work has always been online, so it didn’t really change our routine much. And because most of the world turned online, business has never been better.  It also helped that we got out of our tiny pad. Since travel was restricted, our original plan of living somewhere half the time and living in the tiny pad the other half of the time was no longer possible. I needed space to breathe and just be and I’m so happy we got to experience living in a cozy house here in Cagayan de Oro City. Before the year approached its end, we even got to host online and overnight parties. 

But don’t get me wrong… There were dark days, yes. Days when I felt like the world was going to end as if we’re entering the era of zombie apocalypse…

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Seda Centrio Hotel

Seda Centrio Hotel in Cagayan de Oro – Everything You Need to Know (VLOG)

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As promised, I made a vlog about my visits at Seda Hotel Centrio here in Cagayan de Oro City. The first time I experienced Seda was last Dec. 31, 2018, to Jan. 1, 2019 when Mahal, Tuz and I availed of their New Year’s Check-in Package. We had so much fun that I promised to come back here as soon as possible. So when the CDO Bloggers Group held their GTKY meeting here last April 30, 2019, I, of course, confirmed my attendance. It was also the day I became an official member of this awesome group of bloggers, truly, CDO’s friendliest!

Here’s my vlog. You can watch it here or head to my Youtube Channel (please subscribe!)

It’s as complete as it can be. All the details you will need if you want to know what Seda has to offer is in this vlog. I labored it with love, just like all my other written and video recorded works so I hope you’ll like what you see.

Remember the Seda Hotel when you visit Cagayan de Oro next!

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Seda Centrio

Seda Centrio Hotel in Cagayan de Oro – Misto Restaurant Food Offerings, Hotel Rooms, Promos, and More!

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It wasn’t a long time ago when I brought my family to Seda Centrio Hotel here in Cagayan de Oro City for an overnight stay and to celebrate the New Year. Has it been 4 months already since then? It felt like it was only yesterday. Where did the time go?  Time does quickly pass by when you are oh so busy and having fun!!!

And have I told you that the first few months of this year has been like a roller coaster of a ride for me which was why we jet-setted to Boracay for more than 2 weeks?!

Thank God, April has been a blessing and May looks very promising.

So this blog post will be all about Seda Centrio Hotel, my recent visit there for the CDO Blogger’s GTKY Event (which was sponsored by Seda Centrio), and my family’s overnight stay there last New Year’s (which was not sponsored by Seda Centrio).

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Placeholder Recap 2018

How to Travel with a 3-Year-Old Kid (A 2018 Travel Recap)

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It’s March 1 already? How time really flies when you’re oh so busy and enjoying life’s ups and downs! I can’t believe that summer is here (despite the cool weather we’ve been having, which I’m grateful for, less use of air conditioning at home, lol) and it’s again time to head to the beach and travel some more! Actually,  we’ve been heading to the beach since the start of the year (you can read a bit of background here): but of course, it’s a lot more fun when done during summer. Weather’s about to get hot (hopefully!) and perfect for the beach;  Vacation from school is coming up for many students; and the Holy Week (April 14-21) seems to be just around the corner which means more holiday break for Filipino working parents. Whether you spend it at home, or visit churches, or explore places you’ve always dreamed of, summer is really the peak of travel activities in the Philippines and for some, it starts today. As I look back at the places we’ve traveled to in 2018, you might also get some ideas on where to go next.

Writing about how to travel with a baby / how to travel with a toddler has now become my tradition since I started this Momtraneur blog. It makes me look back with fondness at the previous year’s travel adventures we’ve had as a family and it makes me all the more excited to explore some more places we’ve never been to before or go back to our favorite destinations because they’ve simply become our second and third homes. It’s also a reminder for me to blog about those places we visited so expect more travel posts from me soon. I’m serious this time. This is also the 3rd gratitude post I was talking about in my Jan. 6 blog post – A LOOK BACK AT 2018… GRATEFUL FOR THE YEAR THAT WAS.

Moreover, it’s been different every year since our son, Tuz, was born. Traveling with a 0-1-year-old baby has been a little different from traveling with a 1-2-year-old baby, more so now that he’s three years old! Tuz has always been a hyperactive child and he just gets more and more hyperactive every single year! God help us! (Lol)

So without further ado, here’s how you can travel peacefully and happily with a three year-old-kid in tow: Continue reading →

Look Back

A Look Back at 2018… Grateful for the Year that Was

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I am just full of gratitude these days. Aren’t you? And why shouldn’t we? Being able to wake up every day, be with our family and do meaningful work are actually more than enough to thank God for this wonderful gift of life He has given us. This is why my previous post was all about gratitude, for allowing me to have a career in the online world and live a dream lifestyle that I have chosen since retiring from government service in December 2007.  This post will also be about gratitude as I look back to all the previous year’s blessings. And I believe, I have one more gratitude post to write after this. My heart is just brimming with joy that I need to express all of them before I burst out of utter bliss. ❤

Before I look back at 2018 though, I want to look back at the last 3 years since we’ve had Tuz.

In a  nutshell… Continue reading →