In my first few months as a Mrs., I never expected to enjoy the domesticated life as much as I do now. A year ago, I was still on the fence between getting married or not. Hello wedding jitters! There were a ton of changes that had to be taken into account too. Nevertheless, I still compiled something like this to set my 2023 right, which can be read here.
My husband and I (gosh I sound so old now) deal with our daily struggles with a team mindset. It's such a nice feeling to finally have someone do the chores with you. I don't know about you but my laundry time has greatly decreased because the hubs helps out. My favorite part is when we eat our meals together as we try to fight the distraction of going online and just really catch up with one another in the moment.
2023 was such a challenging year for me personally, but that doesn't mean it deserves a half-assed farewell. Here's how I and the people I love bade the year goodbye.
Here's 
She told me about her Japan adventure and how she braved going into her first out-of-the-country experience. I salute her and her decision to conquer the huge language barrier! We bonded over stories of mishaps and finding solutions and other life things in between.
Speaking of the Land of the Rising Sun, my brother came home from Japan too. In his short stint as a construction worker there, he realized that the country was heaven to tourists but hell for workers. It was a real unfortunate thing that he had to go through some suffering abroad but we were all just so glad that he was able to come home in one piece. Being a generous soul as he is, he was able to send some money to our mom and save some for himself too.
Given his larger appetite for income now, he went ahead and launched his small food business called Rap's Kitchen - he makes food packs with his specialty of flavored chicken and his spin on the Filipino favorite crispy pork sisig. I just love how he turned his bad experience into something challenging. I'll always be here to support him.
The instructions for the lunch were clear - go to Naekkum Cafe and wear white! I got the second memo loud and clear but getting to the first one proved to be quite the challenge. This quaint cafe was located in the most unassuming corners of Banilad, Cebu City. You'd think it was a residential space, but it actually was home to this cafe and a photography studio. It had that homey vibe and Korean dishes that was not a combination that I expected too.
Here's my AXA Tan Dynasty Empire team and this is not everybody yet. You could also see who got the memo right and who were quite the special snowflakes 🤣 People come and go but these people have surprisingly stayed throughout the years. To more years? Let's gaaaw!
In my night side hustle, a department was extending invites to other departments to their year-end thanksgiving party. Since my team was given three seats and two won't be able to make it, I went ahead and asked if I could bring the hubs, the organizing team agreed and so we came prepared. I'm really grateful for this experience since it was one of those rarest times when I get to enjoy an event that I wasn't a part of the organizing team. I get to sit back, relax and take lots of pictures.
It was a night of drinks and partying and perhaps the only downside to that night was me not being able to win anything in the raffle. I guess it was the universe telling me that I should give chance to others. Hahaha, watch out next year! I especially love how my favorite makeup artist, Ms. Girlie Loquete, did my look. She knows what lip color suits me best and I liked how she used stones to adorn my hair. It was so cute!
The hubs' closest cousin got married to her longest love for 10 years. The four of us went to Bantayan in 2019 and I was just so honored to have seen them grow in their darkest phases and now finally committing a lifetime to each other. We started the celebrations on the wrong foot since we weren't able to witness the ceremony due to bad traffic and an even worse decision to take the longer route. I was just so happy that by the time we got to the church, the family was still able to take their family pictures. I still regret taking that longer route until now. But here we are, after a stressful traffic situation and a round of pica-pica and main dishes.
I love getting all dressed and dolled up and I was just so thankful that an old friend gave me a set of hand-me-down dresses so I wouldn't worry about what to wear anymore. I initially wanted to have my makeup done but due to schedule conflicts, I decided to just do my own makeup. Recent circumstances have been telling me to save my money and be more resourceful so I'll go ahead and do just that haha!
Meet my Manito Louie who I had picked through an online secret Santa generator. It was the coolest thing! When everyone was pointing at me to be the organizer of the Secret Santa, I just had a random thought of looking for an online generator and poof! Everyone had their manitos and manitas in a few minutes. It even had a wishlist portion for gift ideas. My manito originally wanted an iphone case or a cap but I knew he had an eye for quality and I couldn't risk him not wanting what I could've gave him so I gifted him GCash to buy what he wants to instead.
This is the whole bunch and most are men. The team is led by Ms. Debbie, and that is why we call ourselves Team D. This was a fun night, as can be seen in this edit, we had a spontaneous salo-salo and raffle draw. It was amazing except for the fact that I lost another raffle draw yet again 😂
This was one of the friendships that I didn't expect would make it even after getting out of our then company. In that short few years of friendship, we have seen each other go from one chapter of our lives to another - one of us is already a mom, another is doing well in her overseas career and there's me. We all love Taylor Swift and dressing up! T is for TMX (our previous company) and Taylor Swift 😍
This time, our girl Vana would spend Christmas in the PH and she wanted to get caught up with us in style. She delegated the roles - I was the driver, she was the banker and Hannah was the booker. We gladly obliged. It was a fun night reminiscing how we went from going to Silogan ni Gian and now to this - expensive silog! We then ended the night a bit tipsy from the wine and ordered McDonalds fries and Mcflurry. Next year, we made a deal that the roles would be rotated and I am now cold sweating since it would then be my turn to be the banker 🤣
One of the major highlights of 2023 for sure! Juli Ponder, the owner and founder of Fit & Fab Pole Fitness, is a powerhouse and she attracts women who are powerful too! With the recent updates from her health condition, she wanted to push for this show to happen and I dare say that it is the biggest that her pole studio has ever seen! Talk about getting over the setback!
She has always said that Fit & Fab is her business-wise. She wants nothing more in the world than to spread the joy that the aerial arts has opened up for her. Here's Coach Anne and our common friend Achellie and my outfit as the the host for the show. I had a blast preparing for that big day. My performance was only a minute and thirty seconds long but the preparation time was for as if - a full three-minute solo 🤣 This is me being the extra that I am. It also is apt for my annual theme this year - timeliness and timelessness. I realized that while I may think that the procrastinator me is dead, she is much very alive but is currently on life support. I want to cut her off for good. I like being prepared for things. I like to not be stressed by the time that I have left. So I trained my butt off and I must say that I liked my performance.
When I was still obsessed with Gossip Girls, I couldn't forget what Blair Waldorf said "If you're going to be sad, you might as well be sad in Paris." I had subconsciously followed that advice right after I heard it. So when my girl Tine wanted to cry, I told her that we should cry in a nice place. So off to Vue we went. We had dinner and a glass of cocktails. No crying happened but it was nice to be around women who have so much love in their hearts, despite the circumstances in their lives.
This was one of the hardest battles that I had to face in my life - protecting my family. 2023 had been so tough on us emotionally that I decided to just lift all of our problems to the Father Almighty because we could not handle things on our own anymore.
This was after a really traumatic experience that my mom, grandma and little brother and sister have had to endure. It was awkward getting in the car with all the tension in the air. Regardless, our goal was clear - we wanted to take a breather and end the year right. It was a celebration for new beginnings and closing old wounds to finally heal.
There 2023, I celebrated you. Thank you for an amazing year. 2024, what adventures await? One things is for sure though, I will still be as chaotic as I was in 2023.
She is on a mission to become better than who she was yesterday. A candidate for Masters in Business Administration and a Financial Advisor, she hopes to give value to this space as a motivated individual. She found the perfect marriage between what she wants to do in life and her mission in financial advising. She balances her work and life in the comforts of her home, co-working spaces, and cafes. She loves to meet like-minded people and live her life to the fullest. Watch this space for tales of self-improvement and self-acceptance, per Mark Manson, "the philosophical tightrope."
Being in the crypto blogging space since 2018, she believes that the community is the greatest asset of any crypto-based project. So far, the Hive Community is her favorite.
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