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Life Secrets

Skincare Haul: Skin Cycling

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I am back home at hanggang ngayon, I’m (expertly) avoiding thoughts about my grandma that’s going to make me breakdown. Nagtataka rin ako bakit hindi ako nagiiyak. Scary. Siguro dahil walang nangangamusta sakin at ayoko ring kamustahin ang sarili ko. Ang lagi lang naman tanong sakin ay, “Kamusta ang lola mo?” So naka-focus yung sagot ko sa kung anong nangyayari sa lola ko.

Gusto ko ring magsulat about something light naman. Ayoko namang every check nyo ng bagong post puro kalungkutan lang ang dala ko. Kaya ngayon, I will share kung ano yung obsession ko recently: skincare. Currently, ito yung mga products na actively kong ginagamit:

Bago ko sya isa-isahin, yes, aware ako na ang OA nya sa dami. Pero hindi ko naman sila ginagamit all at once. Some products I only use on specific days. At dun papasok yung skin cycling. It’s basically rotating skincare products so you can target different concerns without overloading your skin. For me na ang skin concerns ay large pores, signs of aging, and uneven skin texture, skin cycling caught my interest. Merong tatlong routines:

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Family Life Secrets

Saka na Muna

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Life Secrets

(Late) Thursday Letter #8 | Mommy

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Bilis ng mga pangyayari. Shocked pa ko na nasa Pilipinas ako ngayon. Parang may mali. Kasi hindi pa naman talaga ako dapat uuwi. Sa July pa ang grand family reunion namin. Kaso may mga bagay talaga na hindi maiiwasan. Ilang taon ko na rin ‘tong pinaghahandaan kasi matanda na rin ang Mommy (lola ko, nanay ng Mama). May mga times na bigla na lang papasok sa isip ko, pano kung magkasakit ang Mommy ng malala? Dapat ready akong umuwi habang medyo okay pa sya, at kaya ko pa syang alagaan bago sya kunin ng universe. Ayokong uuwi lang ako kung kelan huli na. And with her current health status, kelangan ko na talagang umuwi.

Mommy is not just my lola, second nanay ko talaga sya. Sobrang spoiled naming magkakapatid sa kanya, lalo na nung kami-kami pa lang ang mga apo nila. Kaming dalwa ng Kuya ang kanilang unang apos ng Daddy. Unang apong lalake, unang apong babae. Strict sya at medyo mataray, pero sobrang maalaga at mapagbigay. Punong puno ang childhood memories ko with Mommy. Lagi nya kong kabuntot. Sorry muna sa Mama, pero mas ramdam ko yung presence nya nung bata pa ko. Yung pag inaayusan nya ko ng buhok, yung mga times na sya ang nagpapaligo sakin (which I hate kasi sobra syang magkuskos ng buhok ko), sya rin ang punong abala sa pagpapatahi ng damit ko pag may activity sa school, extra baon, pag-enroll sa piano classes, pagkuha ng Math tutor, sobrang involved nya sa lahat ng aspeto ng buhay ko. Since medyo bata ang Mama nung nabuntis sya samin, nado-dominate ng Mommy noon yung pagpapalaki samin. Kaya pag sinabi kong ang Mommy ang pangalwang ina namin, I say it in the most literal sense.

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Free Posts Happy Things Secrets

“Ang Lalandi Nyo!”

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Super kinilig ako nung dumating si Kenneth from his 3-week vacation. Pagbigyan nyo na ko dahil minsan lang kami ganito. Kasama ko pagsundo sa airport yung isa naming couple friend (thanks for volunteering sa pagsundo kay Kenneth!) Nung tinanong nila ko ng, “Excited ka na?” Nagpakipot pa ko. Sabi ko sa mga pasalubong ni Kenneth ako excited. Pagdating namin sa airport, nakita ko na sya agad. Pagsakay ni Kenneth sa sasakyan, kausap ko si Kosh tapos si Kenneth nakanguso na. Eh parang nahiya naman ako na kinakausap pa ko tapos bigla kaming sweet-sweetan sa harap nya. Ilang seconds lang naman tapos pinansin ko na rin si Kenneth. Sabi ko, “Hiii.” tapos sabi nya, “Hiiii.” Tapos parang tinawanan kami nung dalwa. Gusto ko syang i-hug pero ewan ko bakit ba ko nahihiya dun sa dalwa haha.

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Money Diaries Secrets

Q1 Expenses | Magastos Months

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A quarter of the year has passed! Bilis! So instead of the usual weekly spend post, it’s time for our quarterly report. Looking at our numbers always excites me, which is why I’m looking forward to do this overview. Just like last time, I’ll start with the percentages, then move on to the detailed breakdown of the numbers.

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Books Career Insights Life Secrets

I Was Born in the Wrong Era

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Being in my jobless era (once again), ang hirap maramdaman yung usefulness ko. Pinupuntirya nya yung ego ko. Lalo na pag nakikita kong nagta-trabaho si Kenneth? Tapos napapadalas pa yung OT nya these days? Nakaka-guilty. Ang pinipilit kong ipaintindi sa sarili ko, mas napapagaan ko yung araw-araw nya kasi mas may time akong ipagluto sya at mas nakakapaglinis ako ng bahay. But most importantly, may income naman akong natatanggap at naco-contribute. Hindi ako useless. Pero kahit it makes sense na ganito yung setup namin these days, naglalaban yung logic at guilty feelings. I blame Industrial Revolution and capitalism. Bakit pa kasi yun nauso.

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Books French Hobbies Life Pals Secrets

Life Updates | 3 Months in Calgary + Fate and Friendships

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1.

I’m super happy with my current reads. So far, I’ve finished 2 books (Born a Crime and The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and both were easy 5-star reads. My goal each year is to read 1 book a month, and I’m pretty much on track.

Yayy available na sa Libby

Right now, I’m switching it up with fiction and I’m currently reading The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez. I’m really enjoying it. The kilig is kiliging. People on the internet say that if you love Emily Henry’s books, you’ll probably like Abby Jimenez too—and it looks like they’re right. I’m picky with romance novels so I’m glad to have found another reliable author for my romance fix besides Emily Henry.

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Life Secrets

Thursday Letter #7 | Aging and Vanity

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Ahoy,

As an aging woman, ang bilis kong mabudol pag nakakakita ako ng mga skincare product reviews. I am not blessed with great skin, so I do what I can to improve, or at least maintain my current skin situation. To be honest, sa lahat ng ginamit kong serums and moisturizers, wala naman akong nakitang drastic change na nangyari. I think skincare barely does anything at all (despite that, I’ll still share the new stuff I got later). I think it probably just delays the inevitable. At this point, I keep up with my routine not because I expect miracles, but because I worry that if I stop, it will just accelerate the inescapable process of skin aging.

Skincare while watching the remaining chicks (RIP chick #1 😢)

As far as vanity goes, I won’t really try hard or spend so much money on procedures just to look like I’m still in my 30’s. I’ve also read about the harmful effects of botox, so I’m not trying that either. I only have one goal when it comes to aging: I just don’t want to look older than my husband.

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Money Diaries Secrets

What I Spend in a Week | Fun & Games

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Medyo napagastos tayo nitong week na ‘to pero okay lang, masaya naman. But first, the best buy and bye-bye of the week:

Best Buy

We’re having so much fun playing this board game: Sky Team. It’s a two-player co-op game where you play the pilot and co-pilot with the objective of landing the plane safely with no casualties. I read that a real pilot was consulted in the development of this game, and that it’s so well-made, it won several awards already—I’m not surprised. Ang dami ring possible scenarios, plus may upgrades pa na pwedeng idagdag dun sa basic board (already included in the box) para hindi nakakasawa. Meron din syang separate expansion pack (Sky Team Turbulence) pero mukang hindi pa namin sya kelangan anytime soon since ang dami pa naming hindi nata-try na scenarios.

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Hobbies Journaling Secrets

Journal Pages | 2025 Planner Tour

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We’re two months into the year, and I think I’ve found a planner system that works for my personality. It’s not overwhelming, it’s simple, but not boring (well, at least for me). Also, I say planner, but it’s really an all-in-one notebook. There’s the planning side of things in there, but it’s also my journal, my commonplace book, and more. Again, I’m using the Hobonichi Day-Free in A6 size, housed in a cover that’s also from Hobonichi. On their website, they described this cover design as cats of different breeds and sizes chatting happily with each other and saying, “Listen, listen!”

My planner’s home on its second year
The very first page

With the yearly view, it pretty much remained the same as last year. I have my color key and my Zebra Mildliners to mark the dates.

Also marked last year’s travels on the right page

I used to make and sell my own stickers. I no longer operate that small sticker shop, that’s why I have plenty of inventory left—some of them I use so they won’t go to waste. One design is this sticker sheet with pastel-colored mini round stickers that are transparent. Those are what I used here to mark the beginning of each new month:

These stickers have barely visible defects, glad I didn’t throw them out.
I don‘t know what the gray for is yet. Last year, I think I used them to mark my sick days.

The next page is my ‘call log’ spread. Speaking of making my own stickers, maybe 2 years ago, I had this idea of creating stickers of my family members for this spread. Thankfully, I printed plenty of extras so I can still use them for this year. But now that we no longer have a printer and I gave away my Cricut machine, I have no idea what to do when I ran out of these. The idea of buying a Cricut machine and a printer just for this seems illogical. But I really like looking at their faces whenever I flip to this spread! 😍

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