What's Going On?

The month of January is almost over and the cold here up north is becoming more and more unbearable that I need to wear couple of those knitted bonnets at night to protect my head from too much cold. My muscle spasm is getting frequent every day or should I say every night which clearly denotes aging lol. Seriously, the cold seeps through concrete walls, window sill and doors. Temp check? My cat wants to snuggle more than usual and as we all know mammals love warmth. 

So, what's going on? 

Donald Trump just had his inauguration thus sparked the Women's march not just in the U.S but also across the globe. I'm really not a Trump fan so hadn't I'm 13,000 miles away I would've joined the march. I think Trump has made it clear from the very beginning that he wants illegal immigrants out of the U.S not taking into account that America was built by migrants. I really don't understand what direction America is headed with Trump as President quite frankly.

Let's not forget that their new Vice President Mike Pence is against same sex marriage. The bright side is, since Trump already had his inauguration the U.S Congress can now have him impeached. However, the ironic part is that once the President gets impeached the VP will sit in the Presidential throne as that's the hierarchy, I bet no one wants Pence to become the President neither because he blatantly announced he does not approve of same sex marriage nor is ok with LGBTs. Oh how I wish Joe Biden ran for President instead of Trump (sigh), he would've been my bet over Hilary but I don't know if he'd even win because he's not as famous as Trump who also happened to be a TV celebrity because of The Apprentice. I really can't wrap my head around why a racist, sexist and someone like this bloke Trump made it as the 45th U.S. President, I mean, why? Is the apocalypse near? Anyways, I wish I could change the world but I can't.

Le Blueberry Oaties; My iPhonography

Alright, 'nuff with my ramblings and lez move on to food, what a good segue isn't it?

Breakfast Club...

I decided to go for Blueberry oatmeal this morning and I effin loved it. I tossed in some raisins, banana, chia seeds then glazed it with Clara Ole's Blueberry flavored syrup called ''Blueberry Thrill" to sweeten it and t'was awesome. 

Oats Oats Baby

I promised myself this year would MY year and I solemnly swear to start doing what I want to do from now on. With that being said, I would go back to infusing more fiber to my diet again like I used to, take more travel photos and do a lot of video editing which is what I enjoy doing most anyways, open myself more to other music genres-- ambient, relaxing kind good for long drive or plane ride perhaps. As of right now Tom Rosenthal, Benjamin Francis Leftwich etc. tops my Spotify playlist. 

Oatmeal can be fun too!

I'm scouring online where to find those colorful detox mix I often see on Instagram, they just look delish e? But, since they're not yet easy to find in your average supermarkets I know it'd be a challenge for the time being so for now, I'll suit myself with those ingredients that are readily found everywhere such as sliced fruits, nutella, yoghurt, almond nuts, peanut butter, chia seeds or whatever your heart desires/ in the mood to shove to your bowl of old fashioned oats. 

I decided to go for a can of fruit cocktail,  yoghurt, Nutella, chia seeds and rolled oats because of how accessible they are and cheap as well. Many people have this common misconception that dieting can be quite costly, well I say it really depends. If you will opt with say dragon  or kiwi fruit of course they cost more because they're not something that's predominantly harvested in the country,  why not go for banana instead? When it comes to nuts I often go for almond nuts because it is easily found at the baking section (usually) of any supermarket nationwide. Chia seeds is quite hefty because a small pack cost 25php and buying wholesale can be cheaper of course as retail always cost more. Nevertheless, I recommend fresh fruits always regardless if it's fresh or frozen.  This type of breakfast always cap off my morning. 

Cross Roads & Paper Towns

I have grown exhausted of heading the uncertain direction and constantly been screaming inside because it’s not the path where i’m supposed to go, not the life that I have imagined myself to be  and felt as if I  just wasted ample of my precious time in a beeline where everyone else is headed, It’s time to go and stop. I need to press the cross walk button and put a stop to this endless traffic in my head.  I'm tired of dealing with all inane things in my life. I’d rather write, this gives me peace and solace. I want to be away and live a life of a recluse for a while. From now on, I want a life that I chose not because of the reason that I have no choice because I do. I don’t want to be enslave by time anymore. I want to go to a paper town. And yes, just to segue, I love this John Green Paper Towns novel more than The Fault in Our Stars.

New year, New Beginning.

To start my year I decided to declutter my make-up corner and discarded quite a few stuff which I won’t be needing anymore (old and consumed blush palettes etc), created a new DIY project and got some new lippies. 

My sister gifted me this Colourpop nude liquid lippie called Ultra Satin Lip in Echo Park/Just Peachy because I asked for it during our exchange gift just for kicks. I’ve never owned any Colourpop before because I am a Nyx matte lippie fan because I find Colourpop kinda heavy compared to Nyx matte lip creams, very lightweight for my makeup pouch which I always carry with me. I know there’s tons of counterfeit CP lippies out in the market today but, knowing my sister, she’s not a fan of fake cosmetics so the one she bought me was 100% authentic from this online shop which sells all original make up brands. How to spot Colourpop counterfeit versus authentic? Easy actually. Counterfeit Colourpop lippies are mostly sold without the box and they’re pretty lighter than the original ones plus they smell good, all counterfeits smells effin good mind you whilst the real one doesn’t have a scent actually and glides on smoothly not that I’m saying the counterfeits don’t because they’re also too good to be true except they flake easily and feels heavy on the lips. 

swatch it baybeh!

my DIY hanging shelves & oh I'm
using those 1$ hats my sissy and I bought
at the Bai Dinh province in Vietnam 
as wall ornament :)

Moving on, another one of my sissies gave me her brand new Maybelline ColorShow Creamy Matte Lipcolor in Mysterious Mocha simply because she’s not a fan of nude lip colors so who am I to refuse right? I love it really because of the berry scent and I’m telling you it smell so friggin good!  I’m not a fan of non liquid lip sticks any more but this one is a must try. I love scented lippies actually, sort of a guilty pleasure lol. I’m looking forward to buying another one when I have totally consumed it. Oh btw, I also found that Maybelline lippies now have their counterfeit versions which made me sad because they’re not as expensive as oppose to other make up brands and an original Maybelline lippie is sold for less than 300php I think so why settle for counterfeit? Alright, nuff of make up talk.

another DIY hanging shelf for my
make up corner

Ok,  I have been pretty problematic with bedroom space because my room is little cramped up to store a lot of things aside from it doesn’t have any built in cabinets nor book shelves! So, I came up with a temporary and cheap alternative/solution to address space issue by making one of those DIY hanging shelves to hold some of my books and old stuff toys. Others have their own version of hanging shelves but I also have mine which involves couple of cheap plastic trays for less than 70php a piece, my favorite jute twines and four adhesive hooks which just cost me less than 25php each.

Drilling the walls can be pretty destructive because it’s gonna be for good unlike those adhesive hooks, you have the option to remove them if there’s a need to do so, no permanent harm done except those gunky stuff that’ll remain afterwards which are easy to remove anyways. I’m not in the mood anymore to drill holes in the wall because IT IS exhausting and concrete walls can be very difficult to drill plus the harm and pressure it’ll do to your hearing can be dangerous.

Suman ala Mode, sticky rice with
Mocha flavoured ice cream

I was pretty happy with the outcome although I did not put heavy books on it, remember, they are just adhesive hooks. I did the same with my make up corner although it eventually dropped on its own last night due to the moist from the wall since I live in a cold place. For now it’ll be just temporary as well because I’m still thinking of buying those real vanity table or what we call “tokador” (vanity table) in Tagalog because the one I currently have is just a makeshift one as it is used mostly as my bedside table. My bedroom though is in dire need of sturdy shelves! I have to save up for one I guess lol. Although If I only have one of those fruit crates I surely could come up with my very own shelves eh? I have tons of DIY stuff in store for this year and I wanna be more inventive than last year.  Hmm.. I guess it's time for some Suman ala Mode (sticky rice with ice cream). This is a lovely treat.

New Year Ramblings

Happy Year of the Fire Rooster! I promised myself to blog, travel more this year and work less lol. I have been pretty tied up lately not because I was busy with the holiday season but it’s cuz I had to work on a Christmas day and so as last night, New Year’s eve. I know, I know, it sucks to be me. It’s actually the first in three years that I, inauspiciously had to spend two of the most important time of the year at work which eventually left me lamenting over it, the downside of working for the BPO industry. Does holiday even exist? Please tell me more about. 

Rants..

I hate to start the year with ample remorse and I promised myself this year to hopefully retire from the BPO industry because I want to live a normal life, sleep at night and most importantly spend the holidays with my family, I don’t wanna be the odd one out anymore. This industry eventually enslaves people and rob them out of their precious time with their loved ones. They boast about the bigger pay, yeah only because you have to give up a lot of things because they require your undivided time as if you’re no longer a human being who deserves to rest and spend time with everyone who matters to you. I don’t want to rant but the sleepless nights because you have to work, the countless hours of overtime and insurmountable stress, it’s just not worth it. 

Wanderlust...

Moving on, my always long term goal is to be able to save up and travel, always to travel, to work to fund my trips because this gives me joy and washes out my exhaustion brought about by work and urban living. I still haven’t decided though where to head off this year, maybe Bagan, Myanmar or Chiang Mai, Thailand? Who knows. 

Books, More books...

Late for the Noche Buena, opened
my presents alone and cold food
waiting for me when I came home. 

I want to collect and read more books this year. My sister had to ask for Lang Leav’s “Lulabbies” (for book collection purposes) this Christmas during their office ‘exchange gift’ thing (no matter how I think that the whole ‘monito monita’ thing just doesn’t make sense because you're compelled to ask something from someone who happened to pick your name written on a piece of paper, shuffled and shoved in a fish bowl or box and let them buy it for you. I mean, why not just buy it yourself to save other people from exerting effort in wrapping them yet you knew from the very beginning it is what you asked for in the first place right? That’s just really ridiculous but yeah, for the spirit  of Christmas lol). 

Ok, I should stop with my ramblings now, I still had a prosperous NYE nevertheless. It’s time to de-clutter, out with the old, on with the new. Again, Have a Happy & Bountiful New Year y’all! I’m hoping this year would be better than the last like I always say.