GENDER REVEAL :)

​I love the second trimester! Although there are still days I just feel tired, generally this has been the best season of this pregnancy so far. I am able to catch up on my backlogs in terms of government documents—SSS, Philhealth, and BIR. I pay my own remittances and taxes, so I really enjoyed and took advantage of the priority lanes. Baby bump is quite obvious now, so it's easier to avail of these without getting skeptic looks and side glances.

CONGENITAL ANOMALY SCAN

We initially planned on getting just a regular 2D ultrasound to know baby's sex. However, after careful consideration and upon the advice of my OB as well, we considered a CAS might be better to also know how baby is doing physiologically. What was initially scheduled at Week 20 was moved to Week 22 to be sure that baby's body parts are bigger and more visible during the scan.

HAPPY NEWS!

If you've been following this blog, you would know that I've been MIA for more than a year -- a year and a half to be exact.  I wouldn't bore you with reasons but trust me, there's a lot. Also, this means you will have to read at your own risk. There's a myriad of thoughts I'm trying to organize right now and you know how much I fail at it when I get excited, like I am right now.

If you have not heard the rumors yet nor have seen the hints dropped in different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).. YOUR BLOGGER IS NOW A BABY MOMMA!!!

Crabtree & Evelyn Facial Blotting Tissue

This has been in my kikay pouch for some time now (hence the decrepit pack). If you have been reading my blog, specifically the very rare beauty entries, you'd know I have an oily skin type. Hence, an oil blotting tissue is almost always the most needed tool I can't leave the house without -- Kleenex Oil Blotter to be exact. I have made a review on that in case you have not read it yet.

Woman of Worth: Angelyne Calica

For this particular WOW entry, I'm keeping it short, sweet, and simple. I'm featuring someone very close to my heart. Someone really dear to me.

Wildflour Cafe and Bakery Cronuts

If you haven't heard yet, Wildflour Cafe and Bakery will stop producing the famous croissant-donut hybrid effective end of this month. Needless to say, when this news reached my workplace, the girls and I had a mini heart-attack and some sort of panic. We came to an agreement to sample the intriguing pastry before it gets lost to oblivion. We did so last Monday at Podium.

When a haircut fails

Before: December 24, 2013 (Hair in its normal uncombed state)
After: January 21, 2014 (Hair was blown dry)

New year, new season

While Christmas was spent in Baguio with hubby's family, the New Year's eve was spent with my folks in the house where I have been spending it ever since I can remember. We prepared a lot of things for media noche but I realized I wasn't able to photograph all. The spotlight though should be given to my first ever Authentic Pasta Carbonara. I should be able to share a recipe here next time. Bummer, I failed to capture my first attempt (which was successful, btw) of making leche flan, too!

Anyway, the early parts of the night were spent mostly in the kitchen. Then we eventually watched the street party outside. Finally I ended the year looking at the sky and watching the fireworks with the 3 most important people in my life. Those moments were one for the books, really. Recalling the night never fails to put a smile on my face even today. Thank you God for giving me a wonderful family and thank you for giving all of us a blessing of good health.

How did you welcome 2014? I hope you had a blast too!

Christmas 2013

I had to be on MIA the last month of last year to be able to have a full experience of my real life. I realized I have spent so much time dealing with my cyber life that it had easily become a hindrance for me to stay focused on things that really matter. Don't get me wrong, I'm still in love with blogging. It's just that it's been a while since I got away from this and the social media to really enjoy my surroundings and the people around me without any distractions.

Not so fast, 2014.

We're halfway done with January 2014. Wait...what? I haven't even shared with you yet how insane my break up with 2013 was! Oh well.. time flies, I guess?

I won't even launch this blog-year with a post on my New Year Resolutions, Personal Goals, etc. I'm gonna save you another annoying cliche on your feed. Instead, I'll be sharing with you an organizing system which I discovered during the long break. Watch the video and see if this could be of help to you, planner/organizer-geeks like myself. I'm already doing this and yuhh it's fun to finally have a system when you only have a notebook and a pen. (I have long since stopped buying a planner as I find the preset lines and dates and inserts unhelpful.)

For more info, you may visit their website ==> Bullet Journal

Have an amazing year ahead!

Pacquiao-Rios Live Stream

[LIVE STREAM # 2] | [LIVE STREAM # 3] | [LIVE STREAM # 4]

Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios - Free Live Stream

[FULL SCREEN VIDEO - CLICK HERE] | [LIVE STREAM IN HD]
(DISCLAIMER: THERE IS NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. VIDEO EMBED ONLY)

NOTE: Should ads appear, just click on the small [X] to close.

Enjoy watching! Share if you must! #PacquiaoFTW

Blogapalooza 2013

*Disclaimer: Photos grabbed from The Home-based Diva (Thanks, Mimi!)

Last Saturday was so out of my ordinary and I loved it. Don't we just need a break from routines every so often? Instead of the usual pancakes-laundry-lunch-siesta weekend, the morning was spent administering the Ateneo Law School Admission Test in Ateneo Rockwell along with a friend from college who gave me the said opportunity (Thanks, Faith!). I'm talking about waking up 6:00 on a weekend morning. I know, heroic, right? It was a pretty tight day as after finishing my duty there (around a little past 12nn), I left and headed home to catch the hubby who had to go to work in the afternoon. We commuted to Taguig together (he works in McKinley like mentioned here) and parted ways in Market Market as I went to my next appointment -- SM Aura.

Now now. This was when things got so interesting. It was my first blogging event to attend not to mention that that was the first time I set foot on the newest mall in town. Plus! I got to finally meet my online friends (from Girltalk - blogging threads) whom I have been in speaking writing terms with since last year methinks.

L-R: That's Sally (The Budget Fashion Seeker), yours truly, Christine (Jocris World), and Nathalie (Mental Snapshots). Behind the camera is Mimi (The Home-based Diva).

Sacrifice. It goes a long way.

I am not even going to intro this with a background of how Yolanda/Haiyan greatly devastated the Philippines. It's all in the news. The whole world is aware. So I'll head straight to tackling possible resolutions to this heart-breaking disaster.

Blogapalooza 2013: Few spots left!

While I still have a lot of pending drafted posts on queue, let them all give way for this one exciting event I so look forward to attending..

Bring it on, 25!

*Photos not mine, click image for source.

Year 24 has been the most amazing, exciting, intense, and memorable year so far. It's when I was able to appropriately and legitimately use the adjectives blissful, content, restless, and berserk at the same time. A lot has transpired that up to date I still couldn't fathom how those things can take place and change a person in a snap. I mean getting engaged, changing of last name and civil status, changing of address.. overwhelming!

However, this particular year in my lifetime was not without its challenges (hence, restless and berserk). Nonetheless, I couldn't think of a better way to start a new year but by thanking Him who is and was responsible for everything and the reason I'm still here to face another chapter with a loaded heart and an awkward smirk.

Goodbye, October!

I've got no words to describe October. It wasn't intense nor mediocre. So let's make the pictures (and a little of captions) do the talking.

Duchess's 24th birthday

Green light to pregnancy

source

The past few weeks had been full of waiting and praying and anticipating, career-wise and reproductive health-wise. Today, I'll be sharing about the latter. I've gone through a lot of examinations as instructed by my OB and Cardiologist. It took me more than a month to finish everything and last Thursday, I  finally got an answer.

Couple Shirt ALERT!!!

Disclaimer: Heavy on cheeseballs below.

I might have just found the most appropriate and relevant couple shirt ever! *giggles* When a good friend, Marj, showed me her business' latest design, I got so thrilled. Check it out below.

The Highlands Coffee Croughnut Experience

Cronuts or the very famous pastry hybrid of croissant and doughnut were first launched by Chef Dominique Ansel of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York on May 10, 2013. It traveled Berlin to Singapore and infected the world like a virus until it became the most talked about dessert item in the history. Wildflour Cafe + Bakery in Podium was the first to have it here in Manila. If memory serves me right, it hit the Philippines third quarter of this year.

No One is Innocent, We are All Accountable

DISCLAIMER: You woman, this is another unpopular opinion and you might totally disagree with me but this is my blog soooo.. you are welcome to leave if you think I'm talking crap. :) Then again if you think I'm talking crapola that means you're guilty and I hit your guilty bone bull's eye! So I guess this is win-win for me, really. /blabbering

If there's one thing I like most about my husband, it's that he's such a chatter like me. He tells me almost everything that comes to his mind. Hence, we almost don't run out of things to talk about. And this is the one reason each rare season of comfortable silence in the house is very much cherished by yours truly. I remember when we were still in the stage of getting to know each other in 2010, I would tell my other friends how I have finally found  a guy who's as more madaldal than me; that I found my match.

Anyway, one of the things I often hear my husband whine talk about is his everyday struggle with the opposite sex who could be intentionally or inadvertently pushing him to stumble through their choice of clothing. You see, we talk about these things and I appreciate it that he shares with me even those issues which most husbands would easily neglect sharing to their wives. Let's get into details.

Woman Of Worth: Manuela Basilio

Like mentioned in the previous post, I have been working on something special. Today I'm launching my first-ever blog segment . This is an awesome idea I have been pondering on for quite a while now and finally, we'll be seeing it unfold before our very eyes! 

Drum roll please..

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and presenting..