I saw this image quote on my social media feeds and it struck a chord in me. It says:
“This January, start the year with an empty jar. Each week, add a note with a good thing that happened.
On New Year’s Eve, empty the jar and read about the amazing year you had.”
Continue reading
Hello Summer! It’s been a busy 2.5 months as we started our new beach life here in Oslob, Cebu and I promise, I will be catching up on my blog posts and vlogs until I get more current with what’s happening with us. I may still insert some throwback travel posts from the past since I’ve collected a ton all these years. But for now, here is a vlog on how our transfer from Cagayan de Oro (where we lived, half the time, the other half was in Claveria) from Sept. 1, 2017 to Jan. 7, 2021) to Oslob, Cebu happened, how we got quarantined for 14 days when we got here, and what we did while in quarantine (Jan. 9-22, 2021).
For those who are considering transferring to their respective provinces in this time of the pandemic, you can check out this related blog post:
It has always been on my mind to blog about Oslob, a quaint and beautiful municipality in southern Cebu. After all, that’s where I met the current love of my life back in March 2012 (check our love story) and which I now consider as one of my second homes because I can no longer count how many times I’ve been to this charming place known for its whale sharks and beautiful falls. I’ve also mentioned it quite a few times on my blog, particularly when I’d do my yearly How to Travel and Look Back posts, but I’ve never really come up with a detailed blog post about it yet, until now. And this is just the first. More coming as I continue with my daily blogging.
I was also reminded of it once again when I got interviewed recently by BlogMeter Top (the article hasn’t been published yet, I will share once it’s out) and one of their questions was what is my favorite blog post here in MomTraNeur and I mentioned that it was the story of my current love life. I’m a mushy kind of person after all (in case you haven’t noticed yet), hihihi!
You see, I’ve been married for so long before (2002-2012) and it crumbled in 2013. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I will find love again. I never dated. My ex was my first and last. I never had any other sexual encounters aside from my ex. Despite my being “Sexy Nomad” at that time, I really am a naive and conservative girl deep down. Everything that happened after, with my now current life partner, is nothing but miraculous. And the more I look back how it all came to be, the more I cherish our love and the life we have now. And little did I know at that time that it all started in OSLOB.
So back to Oslob…
OMG! OMG! OMG! This blog post has been on draft mode since January! And because I’ve been sooooo busy like never before, it’s only now that I am trying to finish this so I can finally publish it!
This is a two-part blog post, a bit long yes, but I think I owe it to you (and myself) since I haven’t really posted in a while.
The first part is about tips on how to travel with a toddler. The second part is a photo summary of all our travels in 2017. I want to have a look back at the past year first so I can appreciate more how wonderful 2018 is turning out to be. We’re only in the 3rd month of this year but so many things have already happened and I’m just so grateful for everything!
Just in case you’re new on my blog and you’re wondering how we can do so much traveling, it’s because we don’t work in the corporate world. We’re setting up our farm in Mindanao and I work online which means we can pretty much travel when we want to as long as everything in our life is in place – our workers at the farm, my online work schedule and our finances.
Anyway, I first drafted this post while we were doing our annual trip to Oslob, Cebu 3rd week of January and I was hoping to not leave without recapping all those wonderful travels we did last year! But then life happened — I hit the ground running at the start of the year with work, Tuz was very needy, we were traveling a lot, I had to rest and sleep… the usual, lol! — so I’m only able to write about it now. I know I am super behind in sharing here with you my travel posts. What I usually end up writing here are things about my life as a mother and provider in general and all those self-help stuff I’ve learned (I’m a Psychology graduate so I really do like dissecting my thoughts most of the time by writing them down here). As one of my resolutions for 2018, I want to write more travel posts since we’re traveling most of the time and I’m starting it with this one — our 2017 travel recap and how to travel with a toddler (coz Tuz is two years old now…Yep, time really flies fast, I know!) Hopefully, it won’t take me another 2 months or so to write the next one!
This blog post is mostly a one long rant so please bear with me…
I was very much excited to write several blog posts about our long Boracay vacation last March. I still am looking forward to writing down all my stories, travel tips and what-have-you but I just don’t know when I’ll find the time. Life just got busier and busier that I didn’t realize it was already April and we are once again preparing for a one long family travel, this time, a fun road trip with my parents from Luzon all the way to Mindanao.
Anyway, going back to life getting busy and all… Continue reading
The Panagbenga Flower Festival 2017 is currently being celebrated in Baguio. It started on February 1, 2017 and will end on March 5, 2017. I’m not fond of festivals in general because I don’t like being with a lot of people, getting hot and sweaty (and worse, mugged!) or being caught in horrible traffic but Panagbenga Festival (aside from the Hot Air Balloon Fest) is one of those few festivals I attend almost every year. I even celebrated a long weekend here back in 2007 for my 29th birthday together with my best girls as we were also stalking Brownman Revival (we were a groupie back then, hahahah!) Gosh! That was a decade ago. (Photo below)
We didn’t plan to stay in Subic for one more night. But after doing a ton of activities like the Hot Air Balloon Fest, Ocean Adventure, Valentine dinner by the bay, etc., Mahal just didn’t have enough energy to drive us back to Manila anymore. And so, with a very limited budget at this time, we looked for a very affordable hotel in Subic, around the price range of P1,000 or so per night. If there’s a lower-priced hotel than that, then all the more okay for us.
Unfortunately, those priced below P1,000 are located in Olongapo, a bit farther than where we already were which was in Freeport Zone, Subic, Zambales. Thank God for the deals at Agoda, we found a seemingly good hotel at around P1,200 per night and that hotel was Horizon Hotel. It had 7.9 (Very Good) rating at Agoda so that was good enough for us. We immediately booked using my data on my mobile phone then we headed straight to the hotel. Continue reading
I can’t believe it’s already the second month of the year! Time really flies so fast when you’re having fun! So many things have already happened; the new goals we set out for this year are already coming along smoothly… and slowly, things are falling into place for this new venture we’re doing. I will share with you the details in the future, when it’s already successful. For now, we’re keeping it a secret for it to not be jinxed. Hehehe.
Anyway, February is actually one of my favorite months because aside from the fact that I’ll be celebrating my birthday in less than two weeks, February, for me, has just so many fun activities in store for everyone, especially if you’re living here in Luzon.
Having said that, this will be a 6-part kind of February blog post which will cover:
1. 21st Hot Air Balloon Fiesta
2. Best Western Hotel Subic Hotel Review
3. Horizon Hotel Review
4. Budget Tips for Valentine’s Day
5. Panagbenga Flower Festival
6. My 39th Birthday and How to Celebrate It
Okay, let’s get on with it then… Continue reading
Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!
I took an almost month-long break from blogging to enjoy the first month of the new year. I didn’t work as much, I had some legal stuff to take care of and we headed to exciting adventures as a family. Now that the Chinese New Year has just ended, we’re back home concretizing our new plans and new adventures for 2017. It’s gonna be exciting!
New year, new set of goals and travel plans. Yey! Like I said, we just started traveling again, hence, the super busy schedule we now have — juggling parenthood, business plans, work and leisure. But before I share with you about our current adventures, I want to do a recap first of the travels we did last year through this blog post of knowing how to travel peacefully and enjoyably with a baby. Plus, I still want to share with you one by one those places we visited before that I still haven’t published yet (to be done on some future blog posts). But first things, first…
“Set to bring fun and one-of-a-kind activities and events all year-round, activities reflect NUVALI’s values anchored on the Evoliving (Evolved way of living) principle.
Structured on a system that encourages modern, responsible living supported by a belief in maintaining balance between development and nature, NUVALI’s framework allows each individual the space for a well-enhanced sense of oneness with the natural environment and its bounties.” – http://nuvali.ph
Even before Nuvali opened to the public, this has always been their principle. I was one of the lucky few who got invited back in 2010 to witness everything Nuvali has to offer and as the years passed by, I make it a point to visit the place once in a while because aside from Sta. Rosa being near where I live, Nuvali is just really a fun place to be whether you’re alone, with your significant other or with your family. Continue reading
I blogged last time that we were attending the Nuvali Night Sky Cinema event. So that’s where we came from last Saturday with my family and as usual we had a blast! We were there early in the afternoon so we did a lot of things first before finally heading to the Open Fields for the 2016 Night Sky Cinema. I’ll blog about that on another post after this — about things people can do in Nuvali.
For now, here’s a photo essay of how our Pre-Halloween Family Get-Together at Nuvali Night Sky Cinema went and a guide as well for those who plan to do this next year in case you missed it last Saturday. Continue reading
MomTraNeur - The Self-Help Mommy 