I love supporting local brands because it gives me this great feeling that I am empowering them by being loyal to their products. In terms of beauty care products, I have discovered a number of great ones via online shopping. The latest one I had is Skin White Solutions.

Price: ₱149.00

Key Active Ingredient: La flora Ec-12

Skin Type: Good for all skin types; best for acne prone skin, dull skin, and skin that has lost its radiance

Description: This high-performing cleanser removes dirt while protecting the skin's natural moisture barrier. It is very gentle on the skin, non-irritating, and has the right pH level preventing skin damage and dirt causing acne. It has no parabens, alcohol, and silicon while being cruelty-free and SLS-Free.

How To Use: Wet your face with water and use your fingertips to apply the Wonder Wash. Massage your face gently in a circular motion, avoiding the eye area. Finally, rinse your face with water and gently pat dry with a towel.  

TALENTED TONER 

Price: ₱199.00 

Key Active Ingredients: Fermented Yeast Extract, Neem Leaf Extract, Centella Asiatica

Skin Type: Good for all skin types; best for skin that shows multiple signs of aging, lines & wrinkles, and gloomy dry skin

Description: The talented toner removes impurities, hydrates and soothes the skin, and helps prevent signs of aging. This product is cruelty-free, paraben-free, and non-comedogenic.

How To Use: Get a clean cotton pad or cotton ball and soak it with the Talented Toner. Then, gently wipe it around your face, avoiding the eye area.

HAPPY CRUSH 

Price: ₱119.00

Key Active Ingredients: Passiflora Edulis Fruit Extract, Jeju Aloe Vera, Witch Hazel Extract, Collagen + another slimming active

Skin Type: Good for all skin types; best for puffy face (chubby cheeks), dehydrated skin, or sun burnt skin

Description: This unique cooling ice gel improves and soothes facial puffiness, eye bags, as well as dry, dehydrated, and sunburnt skin. It also slims and brightens the face and can be used as a moisturizer, mask, and after-sun treatment. This product contains no harmful ingredients. It is paraben-free and cruelty-free.

How To Use: Stir the gel mix inside the container with a spoon until it starts looking like crushed ice. Then, scoop out the preferred amount and apply it to the desired area while avoiding the eye.

With this lineup, your three-step skincare routine is complete! 

Do you want to embark on the journey to getting the #BrighterThanEver skin? Then visit their Shopee page to learn more! Be part of the growing community of #GlowDiggers! 

Photo taken during my visit to San Francisco

In recent years, I have daydreamed of living in a place of my own. At this point in my life, I know that I am ready to move out, however there are certain circumstances that prevents me from doing this. I have always told myself that in the case that I would be moving out, I want my destination to be abroad, for work and for settling down eventually.

These are just the initial list that I have, as a total beginner on apartment-hunting. There might be other criteria that I need to add on the essentials list, but it's a totally great advantage to have apartment hunting sites to narrow down my choices based on the criteria above. I guess I will learn more about the process as I do baby steps along the way. ✨

This month involved a lot of recovering period, due to the stressors that I experienced in the previous month. Slowly but surely, I was returning to my usual gusto with everyday life and for sure the energy that I was giving out to the Universe was returning back to me in a more positive way. It was a slow burn process, which would actually take me two months later to recover into a more functioning state. 

This post marks my 800th entry on the blog. Wild, right? I have never thought that I would be writing for this site for this long. This idea that happened to pop in my mind one morning on my way to work has become the most consistent thing in my life so far. 

1. I enjoy the process of writing. Time and time, I have proved to myself that this is something that makes me happy. I can go on a whole day just writing on the blog and I will not feel the hours pass by. I do believe this is one of my ikigai. The process is also therapeutic for me. Aside from journaling on a physical notebook, writing online about my emotions and experiences help me process them and reflect on them.
2. The blog allows me to reach out to more people with similar interests. Again, we go back to the concept of the serendipity vehicle. This blog allowed me to connect to people that I really won't be able to meet in real life. I was able to go on adventures, attend events, and receive prizes all because of this blog. I might not receive much PR events now, the great ones I receive are comments from my readers! 💖
3. The blog helped me become comfortable with writing. Working on posts trained my mind to translate my emotions and ideas into words, and the skill of writing became truly useful in other aspects of my life, notably at work. I get to write emails and technical documentations at ease.
4. Blogging allows me to exercise critical thinking. Aside from my personal experience, I also write about books that I have read and also movies/series that I have watched. Through this exercise, I get to practice coming up with my own opinion about the content that I just consumed. I believe this is a good mental exercise because I'm not just passively consuming content, but instead I'm also being an active critic about it.
5. I have an accessible diary online. Whenever I feel down (or maybe just bored), I randomly read my old blog posts. I would always feel awed by my old self's write ups. The blog also has proved to be useful when I just wanted to share something with my friends.

• getting media pass on events and concerts
• receiving deals from brands
• generating passive income through ads

• Write about something you love. Inspiration and ideas will surely follow you.
• Find bloggers that will inspire you. I have a list of blogs that comprise my reading list and I just enjoy reading entries from them. I make sure to also comment on their posts because I know how much those can make bloggers happy! 😁
• If having online exposure is one of your goals, submit your blog on sites that curate top blogs on every niche. As of this writing, I am part of the top 70 lifestyle blogs in the Philippines on Feedspot.

I made it mom! 😍

The main goal of the blog has always been to track my life goals. Things just naturally went beyond that. It amazes me because people just find the blog organically.

Last year, I attended the first ever You Well-Being Festival. This is an online well-being festival with a whole array of speakers talking about their expertise in the well-being field. I really enjoyed the experience and I learned a lot. I'm so glad that they pushed through with holding the second one this year! Of course, I kept my promise and also attended year two. And to give back to the Universe, I purchased my ticket pass this time. 😁

• clicking the Submit button doesn't do anything on the page (no prompt or anything)
• upon clicking the Submit button, all the fields went blank - this was what most of the commenters on the city's FB page were complaining about 😅
• there was an error message related to the email address field - I cannot remember the exact message, although my hunch was that the email address was a unique identifier on their database, and this was my second time registering with the same email
• some received an SMS confirmation that they had been registered; some received email confirmation; some received nothing

Yay my second Sakuraco box is here! I started my subscription last month for this Japanese artisan snacks that ships straight from Tokyo, Japan! 😀 The details of the July box was officially released on their site at the first day of the month, and just within 7 days, my box got delivered to my doorstep!

Yubari Melon Cream Sandwich Cookies

⭐⭐ Recommended

This one has a light taste, not so sweet. I like the butter cookies

Yubari Melon Jelly

⭐⭐ Recommended

Based on the snack's description, it was suggested to serve this chilled, but I didn't bother placing it in the fridge. 😂 I straight up ate it was on room temperature. I tasted hints of tamarind, but I could be wrong. Maybe that's the "special ingredients" they added on this jelly. 😁

Some of the other snacks included in the box (that I wasn't able to take photos of 😂) are:

• Kibi Dango - ⭐⭐ Recommended
  It tasted similar to the Waraku no Sato Salt Yokan in the June box. This one came in two's again. My dad got the other one. I was watching him when he opened the packaging and I saw him struggling to remove that layer of 'plastic' on the snack. Later on, I read on the booklet included in the box that the snack was wrapped in edible Oblaat. So my experience of eating the snack was easier. 

• Hokkaido Grilled Corn Senbei -  ⭐⭐⭐ Must Try
  I was mildly surprised when I took a bite of this snack, which looked like an ordinary cracker. I was feeling a bit down one day and what better way to cheer myself up than to eat yummy snacks! And with my experience with this snack box so far, there's really nothing 'ordinary' with the snacks included here. And so I took this snack without really paying attention with the label (I couldn't read it anyway lol). So when I took a bite, I was surprised with the corn flavor! Every bite was very savory. I felt cheery afterwards. I want more of this! 😋

(📷: Inoh)

This trip happened 4 years ago. Yup, it's been that long and I have not written my travel log for this! ☹️ Because the events have happened several years ago already, bear with me as I try to recall the memories I have made during this trip. There were lots of things that stuck with me up to this day, and you will know why when I get to those parts. 😉

These people I'm with were all outdoor beings so thanks to them, I was able to experience a lot of nature during our first few days stay in Coron. 😊

Atop of Mt. Tapyas (📷: Inoh)

At the rooftop of our hostel, playing cards late at night, after a few shots of soju (📷: Inoh)

Of course I'm the one in rash guard. 😅 Inoh was practicing landscape photography then that's why he had all his camera gear and his photos were amazing.

We hired a boat for island hopping and we were able to eat lots of delicious seafood that the boatmen prepared for us (full disclosure: I liked our lunch that day better than the fancy one we had with the whole team a few days after😅).