• Thursday Letter #23: Thoughts on Minimalism

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    First, a quick and important message: I started doing my Thursday posts exactly two years ago and I can’t believe we’re going into year 3! Please always know that I can’t thank you enough 🩶

    In one of the corners of my digital world, the planner and journaling community is celebrating Hobonichi season, or planner season in general. Most of them are getting overwhelmed with which planner to buy, how many journals to use, whether they should get a new cover, etc. I’m glad I’m not one of those people anymore. I only have my eye on one Hobonichi planner—I’m a satisfied Day-Free A6 user since 2023.

    But it’s still fun to watch people get excited. I have this urge to jump in whenever I see posts asking for recommendations for their first planner. But then I see loads of responses already and think to myself, “No need. They’ve got it covered.” I also can’t help but chuckle when I see a big haul of notebooks and pens and stuff because I know some or all of it will get neglected at some point in the next year. I know because I’ve been there too hehe. That was an expensive lesson to learn.

    Hello September

    What I really wanted to talk about is minimalism. It was my 2025 theme and I’m not quite sure if I succeeded. Sabi nga ni Steve Jobs:

    To be really simple, 
    you have to go really deep.

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  • “Yes, boss!”

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  • August Recap

    This month was full of fun adventures and lots of great food, but behind all that, there’s this one thing that has been constantly bothering me and has been brewing for the past few months. At dahil ilang months ko na syang dinadala, feeling ko malapit na kong sumabog ngayong August. But thanks to my family and friends and this blog for giving me space to rant. Thank you also to the most effective distraction: nature. I’m grateful for our weekly hikes, and I always come back to one of my favourite quotes about nature:

    How wonderful that the universe is beautiful in so many places and in so many ways. Its intonations are our best tonics, if we would take them. For the universe is full of radiant suggestion.

    — Mary Oliver

    AUGUST DIGEST

    * links in bold are paid posts

    • Sinubukan kong ilabas ang aking mga saloobin in this month’s Thursday Letter—pero kung alam nyo lang, pigil na pigil pa yun 😅 Wala eh, there’s only so much negative feelings I can take, kaya kailangang i-release yung iba.
    • Happy 8 years in Canada to us (did a mini Q&A session)! Despite the challenges, I’m still glad to have made this choice and we are so fortunate to be here.
    • This month has been stressful to my mind and body (which I shared in my Not-So-Fun Life Updates) but as mentioned earlier, those hikes and my repeated exposure to nature helped soothe my spirit somehow.
    • Ito na siguro ang pinaka-magastos naming week: What I Spend in a Week. Kahit natuwa naman ako sa mga kinain at pinaggagawa namin, we really have to reel it in next month.
    • Kahit sumasakit na ang ngipin ko sa stress ngayong August, I still had to look for things that made me smile.

    Thank you for reading! 🩶

  • Happy Things #35

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    Dreaming of Mommy

    Lately, I’ve been dreaming about Mommy. Sa universe ng panaginip ko, naka-recover sya sa sakit nya at lagi kaming nagha-hug ng super higpit. Masaya lagi yung eksena. Nagkaron ako ng phase na laging nightmares ang panaginip ko so buti naman at napalitan na ng mga sweet dreams. Sana mas madalas ko pa syang mapanaginipan 🩶

    This was a great day

    New Ka-Pitness Member

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  • What I Spend in a Week: Daming Nangyare

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    It’s one of those weeks na alam mong gagastos ka talaga ng malaki. Their cousin visited us for a week and madami kaming plans. It was a fun but hectic week at ang ending, nagkasakit ako.

    But first, time for Best Buy and Bye-Bye of the week!

    Best Buy

    Ang dami kong naiisip na best buys pero siguro ang #1 ko ay yung eczema cream ko. Kasi simula nung bumalik at lumala yung eczema ko (huhu), halos araw-araw akong nagigising ng madaling araw sa sobrang kati. Magigising na lang ako na kinakamot ko yung kamay ko tapos as in sobrang kati talaga.

    My saviour

    Before this, almost 3 months akong eczema-free at sobrang saya! Nalimutan ko na nga yung feeling na walang eczema. So nung nawala sya for a few months, it felt so librerating haha! Kaya asar na asar ako nung bumalik! Feeling ko na-trigger nung kumain ako ng hipon kasi kinabukasan na kinabukasan pagkakain ko ng hipon, merong sumulpot na maliit na spot hanggang sa nagtuloy-tuloy na. Umaasa pa kong kusa syang mawawala, pero nung gabi-gabi nyang dini-disrupt ang tulog ko, I’ve had enough! Nag-book na ko ng appointment sa family doctor namin para maresetahan na nya ko ng steroid cream.

    Ngayon, wala na ulit makati at sobrang saya ko nanaman. I want to be eczema-free forever please!!

    Bye-Bye

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  • Not-So-Fun Life Updates

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    1.

    UGGHHH may sakit nanaman ako! Buti na lang latter part na ng week ako sumama ang pakiramdam kasi bumisita yung pinsan nila from US, and madami kaming nakaplanong gawin that week. Ang sakit ng ulo ko. Halos hindi nawawala yung sakit. Diba minsan pag nakatulog ka, nawawala yung sakit ng ulo pagkagising. Pero yung ngayon, paggising ko andun pa rin. Tapos ang kati ng lalamunan ko kaya ubo ako ng ubo. Halos magdamag akong inuubo hindi na ko nakatulog ng maayos. Hays. Ang bigat din ng katawan ko. If this is a viral infection, feeling ko ang baba pa rin ng WBC ko kasi ang bilis kong mahawa. Si Kenneth at Kat okay naman sila.

    Friday is when I started to get sick and stopped getting my steps in ☹️

    Monday na ulit so may pasok na sila Kenneth. Meron akong until Friday to recover bago magkaron ulit ng labas sa Sabado. For now, I will eat my soothing and comforting wonton soup for brunch and drink lots of water.

    2.

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  • 8th Canada-versary

    Today, August 9th, officially marks our eighth year in Canada. Kung hindi ko pa nakita sa ‘on this day’ feature, hindi ko pa maaalala. Si Kenneth hindi na rin tanda.

    Naisip kong gumawa ng Q&A portion por today’s bidyow.

    General questions:

    Why move?

    Wala talaga akong planong umalis ng bansa. Kaso nung nagta-trabaho pa ko sa Optum, around that time, puro nurses and doctors lang yung hina-hire nila, so napapaligiran ako ng mga kapwa nurses. At ang madalas nilang topic ay yung mga applications nila sa iba’t ibang bansa. Merong may apply sa UK, sa Australia, meron sa US, Dubai, etc. Akong walang interes umalis, nabo-bore palagi pag yun ang topic. Pero dahil magkakatabi lang kami ng cubicles, I can’t help but overhear everything.

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  • July Recap

    I’m looking at my July calendar right now so I could sum up the month for this recap. I noticed that the second half of the month was very active. I tried pilates for the first time, we went on a road trip, had lots of food trips, and last but not the least, we went on five hikes!

    For the past few weeks, hiking is all we’ve been talking about. I can say that this was the time we really fell head over heels with hiking. My algorithm knows about it too. My feed now constantly shows reels of new hiking spots, hiking tips, hiking shoes and clothing, hiking memes, and just everything else hiking-related. I don’t think the next few months will be any different—until winter gets in the way huhu.

    May nakita nga akong meme na ang sabi, “Choose your mid-life crisis wisely.” And I think we chose wisely 😄

    JULY DIGEST

    * links in bold are paid posts

    • Everything went up, up, up in Q2 Expenses
    • In Life Updates, I shared my favourite group chat, my favourite musical note, and my first Stampede experience with friends (miss you guysss!)
    • Sa sobrang sama ng pakiramdam ko around mid-July, I wrote: May Sakit Ako.
    • Our 10th wedding anniversary was initially a flop, but it’s still one of this month’s Happy Things.
    • In Ramblings #57, I quickly talked about that weird nostalgic feeling again.

    Thank you for reading! ♥

    PS: After more than a year, I updated my now page.

  • Thursday Letter #22: All Aboard the Rant Express

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    We’ve been very busy the past few days kasi we made the most out of the long weekend at araw-araw merong ganap.

    Friday: birthday ng Dadi ni Kenneth

    Saturday: together with Faye and Josh, we hiked Lake Agnes Tea House plus the Little Beehive!

    Sunday: watched Odyssey and went to the Taste of Calgary festival

    Monday: Trix and Kris (our Winnipeg friends) plus their kids were visiting Calgary and we met up with them

    The best thing we tried at Taste of Calgary:
    giant inari sushi

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  • Ramblings #57

    I have this cozy, nostalgic lens the past few days. Lahat ng tinitingnan, pinapanood, at pinapakinggan ko, kahit they are all new to me, it feels nostalgic. Hindi ko maexplain but it feels like I’m living in the early 2000s. Basta yun yung aura. I find it so comforting. Ang weird but I hope may nakakagets sakin. Also, I don’t want it to go away huhu..