Tuesday, December 31, 2013

#2013


Apart from being the year of the "selfie", I think it's safe to say that 2013 is also the year of the #hashtags, hence, the title.

I used to do my blog's yearly round-up with pictures for each month. However, I mainly take photos now with my phone plus Instagram and again, I'm lazy to copy and paste. For this year, I'll just type type type without thinking.

If I have to sum up my 2013 in one word, I must say it has been a helluva EXPENSIVE year. Two failed treatments and one almost-failed treatment drained our wallets pretty quickly. Not to mention the physical, emotional and psychological uhm, turbulence, we had to go through that was more draining than having our pennies disappear like that. C'est la vie.

Due to such circumstances, I turned to retail therapy to make me "happy" and shopped I did. This year, I discovered the wonders of My Shopping Box, online shopping and Instagram shopping on top of real life shopping. It was a year of fiscal irresponsibility. Sorry, hubby.

It was also a year of concerts. We watched Aerosmith, The Killers and #SugarSmashGin while I watched The Legends and the Classics. No fiscal irresponsibility here though because we always bought the cheapest seats haha.

It was a year of healthy living. After his trip to the ER early in the year, hubby turned to running and joining organized runs. I accompanied him to a couple and slept in the car.  I hate running around in circles with nowhere to go. My friends laughed when I told them that reason, but it's true. On my part, I joined the Zumba classes in our clubhouse or did the treadmill at the gym when I tagged along hubby at the gym. I tried to eat healthy, too. Well, only when it came to the snacks I devoured at the office, like checking the nutritional value for the sugar content. I'm gradually giving up coffee, now drinking green tea at work and decaf when I'm craving coffee. I switched to dark chocolate, too. Hubby will dispute this though and will insist that I am still eating sugar. At least not as much as I used to.

On the travel front, 2013 was a year of firsts - first trip to Boracay with my family and first trip to HK-Macau with hubby's family.

On improving myself, I bought a Noodler's fountain pen  and practiced more calligraphy.  Still a long way to go though. I also joined a rubber-cut stamp workshop. But I think I should just focus on calligraphy this year.

Resolutions for 2014? Maybe healthier living, maybe I could try joining hubby on his runs but until 5k only. Lesser fiscal irresponsibility, if I can help it. 

And of course, my one fervent wish. Please, 2014.###


Friday, December 27, 2013

HK-Macau 2013


We've been to our Asian neighbors which require visas yet we've never been to Hong Kong and Macau. As the day of our trip neared, Hong Kong lawmakers passed a bill or something requiring visas to Filipinos. We were so worried our trip would get cancelled. 

Upon arriving in Hong Kong, we immediately booked a ferry trip to Macau for an overnight stay. We lucked out on a good deal at the Venetian.




We arrived in Macau quite late in the afternoon so after a quick late lunch, we set out to explore the place. 





On our way to the Ruins of St. Paul's, we tried the famous egg tarts.





The Ruins of St. Paul's




Yummy jerky.






The spectacular Wynn fountain light show.





Early morning in Macau

Since we were leaving at lunch and the Venetian was so huge, we decided to just explore the hotel.



Monday, December 23, 2013

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell


Hello, neglected blog, it's been a while. My last post was written a couple of days before Yolanda and I somehow found it hard to blog after that. Anyway, let me take advantage of the Christmas break to update ze blog.

I have always gravitated to Young Adult/chick lit because I don't like reading serious stuff when I absolutely don't have to. Since I enjoyed Rainbow Rowell's Attachments, I bought Eleanor & Park as soon as I spotted a copy.

It's about two teenagers set in the '80s. Eleanor has a bleak (yes, I think that's the perfect word) family background while Park comes from a perfect Korean-American household. They fall in love after a couple of chapters and the rest is all about making you kilig with the kilig that comes with teenage love. I gotta give it to Rainbow Rowell, she writes kilig with a capital K. However, interspersed in their story is Eleanor's abusive stepfather so throughout the story, I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster, alternating between giddiness and despair.

 

Spoiler alert: This does not have a happy ending (looking at you, Anna). Honestly, I like Attachments more, maybe because I am closer to their age than Eleanor and Park, hehehe.


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