Completed Harvard's Principles of Biochemistry Course

 

I wanted to be productive during the quarantine so I took this Biochemistry class on EdX by Harvard. Clearly, I didn't know what I was signing up for! I spent 4-6 hours a week, watched over 90 video lectures ranging from 8 to 20 minutes each, and took multiple session and unit assessments. It was definitely much work! I go to the office Mondays to Saturdays so I don't have a lot of free time, but I'm glad that I finished it! It feels so fulfilling knowing that I worked hard for it.

Life Updates

Photo taken at the Sydney Opera House, March 2019

Well, 2020, it has been one hell of a ride. We're not even halfway through the year but so many things have happened to the world, and mostly bad. 

The biggest threat the world is facing this year is controlling the spread of the COVID-19. Countries closed down establishments, disallowed non-essential work and activities, and halted all kinds of travel. This is the first time I experienced this, and it's scary. What's worse is we don't know when it's all going to stop. The next several months seem bleak and uncertain. 

The government implemented an enhanced community quarantine in our area, which means, only those working at companies involved in provision of healthcare, and utilities, and the manufacture, delivery, and sale of food items can go out of the house to work. Aside from that, only one person for each household is allowed to go out to buy the family's necessities. 

My family business is distribution of food items to supermarkets, groceries, and retailers, so we still go to work, but we operate on shortened hours and only with a skeletal workforce. To make the most out of my extra time at home, I made sure I was productive. These were some of the things I worked on during the quarantine. 

Thailand 2019: Bangkok City Center

The rest of my trip to Bangkok was spent on eating Thai food (pad thai and mango sticky rice, yum!), getting massages, and visiting markets (Chatuchak) and shopping malls (Icon Siam). 

One unique thing we did was try Dialogue in the Dark. It's a one-hour experience where you would be navigating and exploring different places in the dark to give you a glimpe of how it would be like to live without the sense of sight. You would also be given a cane and a blind tour guide to accompany you. At first, it was very difficult to move in the dark since I couldn't see at all--even if you open your eyes, you would only see darkness--but after a while, it somehow became easier. The blind lady who accompanied us was very patient, and even with her disability, she was able to navigate pretty well. After this experience, I got a newfound appreciation for my eyes and realized that I'm blessed to be able to see the things around me. I highly recommend this experience to anyone who's open to try new things!

That's it for my Bangkok trip! Will be posting my Japan trip next!

Australia 2019: Philip Island

One of the top sights to see near Melbourne was the Penguin Parade at Philip Island. Getting there through public transportation was difficult so I booked a tour for the family. The tour started at Moonlit Sanctuary where we saw wombats being fed, and kangaroos, and wallabies walking around. We had a simple lunch of sausages, potatoes, bread, and some greens. I loved it! But the rest of my family didn't lol. We then went to Churchill Heritage Center where we watched a sheepdog herding sheep, and a guy shearing wool from a sheep. I even got to touch the wool afterwards! Lol.

Next was the Koala Conservation Center. There were only very few koalas in the centre, and it made me quite sad. According to the guides, koalas are dying because of the destruction of forests. They eat large amounts of leaves from the eucalyptus tree, and even in the conservation center itself, the koalas eat more leaves than the trees can regenerate. To make sure that the koalas have enough food in the centre, they have to continuously plant and grow eucalyptus trees.

We had a light snack which I really appreciated because the tour agency made no mention that there was going to be an afternoon snack. It was very simple-- tea and coffee in plastic cups, and a few pieces of crackers, but very much appreciated, nonetheless.

Next stop was the Boardwalk at the Nobbies Centre. It was terribly cold but very much worth it! We saw some rock formations called seal rocks, home to the largest Australian fur seal colony. Our stop here was quick because we still had to travel by bus to the Penguin Parade. 

After dinner, we headed outside the boardwalk to watch the penguins emerge from the sea and walk on the shore towards their burrows where they would be staying for the night. They were so incredibly cute! There were so many penguins and you could see them up close, like a meter away. This truly was the highlight of the day! Too bad it wasn't allowed to take photos of the penguins. This day could've been perfect if it wasn't raining on and off. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything! :)

Cebu 2019

I had an amazing weekend in Cebu last March that I couldn't wait to write all about it! I attended two weddings, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. It was such a big coincidence that the two out-of-town weddings I had to attend happened to be on the same weekend!

Upon arriving at the airport, I met up with my sister, who was currently studying in Cebu that time. We had a yummy dinner consisting of roti, curry, and char kway teow at OSG, and I stayed at her place for the night. The next day, I took a Grab to Shangri-la Mactan, where I would be staying for the next three days. This was also where the dinner reception of the first wedding was held. I had an enjoyable time at the resort, the staff were super nice, and they even gave us a bottle of wine, and fruits upon check in!

A day after the wedding, I had to rush to Cebu City for the second wedding. This time, it was at the Grand Convention Center. Right below the venue, on the ground floor, was Seafood City, the restaurant I've been dying to try in Cebu. You had to get a cart, "shop" for the seafoods, and choose how you'd like them to be cooked. We had our lunch there the next day, right before going to the airport to catch our flight back to Legazpi.

US 2019: Los Angeles

At Page, we hit the rode again and drove for eight hours to LA (can you believe it? eight!!). We were still on the road during dinner time, so we stopped at a roadside diner called Peggy Sue's. We spent a total of three days in LA. Sadly, the weather for these days wasn't great. It was raining every day so we had to cancel most of our plans. We did a lot of shopping instead! Haha.

Day 1

We met up with the cousin-in-law of Ryan's sister-in-law (lol that's complicated) for lunch at Fat Sal's Deli. Then, we spent hours and hours looking around and browsing products at Costco. Seriously, there were so many things I wanted to buy there. If only, they would all fit in my luggage... lol. I also got to try Costco's $1.50 hotdog—yum! We then had a filling dinner at Cheesecake Factory (which I initially thought is the same as Cheesecake Etc.,the cheesecake place in Manila which closed down). Day well spent but hoping that it stops raining tomorrow.

Day 2

This time, Ryan and I spent the day with my uncle, who's based in Mission Viejo. He brought us to Urth Caffe along Melrose Ave. for brunch, and the food was excellent! The rain stopped for a moment so we had time to visit and take photos at LACMA and at the Hollywood Sign. We then drove to Camarillo Premium Outlets for some shopping. I was so exhausted from all the walking so I was excited to know what's for dinner. My uncle brought us to Quarters, a Korean barbecue grill at Koreatown. Everything was according to plan and our restaurant choices were great, so I was pretty happy about this day!

Day 3

Last day in LA! Huhu. First went to Best Buy then had a quick lunch at Panda Express a few meters away. We were in a hurry because we got tickets to watch The Late Late Show with James Corden live at CBS. Entrance is on a first come first served basis depending on how many seats are available in the studio so we had to come early! After two hours of queuing, we were told that they couldn't accommodate us that day. What a huge waste of time and effort! Oh well. We just had to make the most out of our remaining hours in LA. We ate at In-N-Out (yay!) and did some more shopping at Glendale Fashion Center.

That's it for LA! I'll be flying to San Francisco next!

Thailand 2018: Grand Palace & Reclining Buddha

It was my first time in Bangkok last September (woot!), so being the planning-obsessed person that I am, I did a ton of research. Based on travel reviews I read online, among all the tourist destinations in the city, The Grand Palace is the one you shouldn't miss—and they were right! I was completely in awe of the place! The place is huge and almost every corner is photo-worthy. Seriously, you wouldn't have a hard time looking for places to take your Instagram photos lol. 

Even if everything looked great, I couldn't ignore the fact that it was also excruciatingly hot! I don't know what I was thinking wearing this top that covered most of my arms! :P

Since the Temple of the Reclining Buddha was just ten minutes away, we made sure that we visited that as well. The buddha is 46 meters long and is made of gold. I tried to take a photo of the entire thing but since it's huge and it's surrounded by pillars, I just managed to take a photo of its face *insert laughing emoji here* lol. 

Christmas 2018 Wish List

It's my favorite time of the year again! There's just something about Christmas that makes me so happy and full of joy. Hearing Christmas songs at random times of the day makes me all giddy and excited. Lol.

Anyway, (almost) every year, I post a list of random things I like. One of the reasons I want to keep this tradition going is because it's interesting to see how my preferences change as I get older. I'm so surprised that most of the things on my list now are wellness-, or home-related. I never thought this would happen-- shopping for home stuff used to be my worst nightmare. Oh well, I guess I really am getting older! Lol.

Kalanggaman Island

Last year, I went to Ormoc for the christening and birthday celebration of my godson. The event would start in late afternoon so to make the most of our time there, we visited  Kalanggaman island in the morning. Pristine white sand beach, clear blue waters-- the view was amazing. The almost two-hour drive and one-hour boat ride was totally worth it! The island was surprisingly very peaceful probably due to the fact that not a lot of people know of its existence. In fact, I found out about it only the night before, when a friend mentioned it. Lol. 

Christmas 2017 Wish List

(Image source: www.happilyabi.com)

Wow, I can't believe it's already December! Just to make myself clear, I make wish lists for the fun of it (and not to ask anyone for anything). Looking back to a wish list I made six years back, it's interesting to see how my interests and preferences changed through time. The products I listed were mostly related to beauty and fashion-- makeup, shoes, sunglasses, nail polish, lol. This year, my list is totally different!

Life Updates

(Image from google.com)

Some updates about me:

1. I danced in front of a lot of people-- in a panda costume no less! Oh my gosh-- I still can't believe I did it! Okay, one thing about me is I'm very bad at dancing. I guess all the zumba classes I attended paid off because the people who saw me dance said I did good. I still get embarrassed thinking about it. Lol.

2. Arrived in Legazpi yesterday after a week long stay in Manila. My scheduled flight to Legazpi was two days ago. Everything was going smoothly until the pilot announced that we couldn't land in Legazpi because of the strong winds. We had to go back to Manila and reschedule our flight BUT the next available flight was Friday and I could no longer extend my stay in Manila because I was already gone for far too long. I decided to reroute my flight to Naga (there were available seats for the flight yesterday) and took a two hour land trip to Legazpi. It was completely exhausting. But I'm glad I made it home safe and sound!

3. Booked a trip to Harbin this December. Something to look forward to!

Summer Air

Summer is no doubt my favorite part of the year and although the heat is sometimes unbearable, I still enjoy every minute of it! Here I am wearing a flowy jumpsuit from Miss Selfridge on a hot, sunny day in Manila.

Errand Day

While we were in Makati for an errand, I asked my boyfriend Ryan to take a photo of me so I could post it on Instagram. I was surprised because he immediately started snapping dozens of photos-- lucky day! I don't want to flood anybody's Instagram feed so I decided to post the rest of the photos here. :)

Boracay in December Day 2

On day two, we had a little bit of time in the morning for some water activities! We tried parasailing, flyfish (my fave!), and helmet diving. The weather was surprisingly good despite it being the rainy season. 

CBTL 2017 Giving Journal Launch

It's that time of the year again when we start eyeing planners for next year-- seriously one of my favourite things to do! I literally can't live without a planner because I'm a planning freak-- I have to plan things ahead of time. I can't help it lol.

I recently attended the launch of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's 2017 Giving Journal at Greenbelt 5. Unlike other planners, CBTL's Giving Journal promotes goodwill and social responsibility in the community. Read on to find out how.

Boracay 2016

My most relaxing trip to date (and probably my favourite) was my trip to Boracay with friends last June. Since all of us have been to Boracay countless times before, we didn't feel the need to explore the place and try the water activities. Every day, we had the same routine - get up at 10am, grab breakfast at the hotel, relax inside our hotel room for a few hours, get a late lunch, chill by the beach while having afternoon snacks and drinks, swim during sunset, and then grab an early dinner. I've never felt so relaxed in my life! I think I want to make this a yearly tradition. Who's with me? Lol.

OOTD + Levi's 505C Fashion Show

This navy crop top is something I absolutely adore! Luckily, I found this pair of high waisted pants that goes perfectly well with it. I got these pants around 5 years ago, I wore them once, and never had the chance to wear them again until now.

More than the style, the first thing I consider when buying jeans is the fit. And when talking about great fitting jeans, I'm sure the brand Levi's always comes to mind. Just last week, Levi's introduced the new 505C jeans and showcased them in a fashion show at Revel. Keep reading for more info + photos!

Alpha Strength Media Launch

I was invited to join the Media Launch of the newly opened gym Alpha Strength at the ground floor of Sparta Philippines along Pioneer St. and since I love working out, I couldn't find the heart in me to say no. We all participated in a one-hour workout, which was quite fun but physically challenging as well. We were then treated to some healthy snacks afterwards. 

Alpha Strength aims to make you the best, strongest version of yourself. With this goal in mind, they came up with three programs, each tailored to your fitness level -- Be Alpha is for building your physical and mental strength, and is ideal for beginners; Alpha 365 aims to optimize strength, agility, coordination, speed, power, and endurance; and Alpha Mode is all about maximizing your strength.

See below if you want to see some photos of the event. :)

Phuket Day 1

Crossed another country off my list -- Thailand! Although I didn't visit the country's capital which is Bangkok (I'm saving that for another time!), Phuket is just as exquisite with the crazy shopping, the insanely spicy food, and the pristine white-sand beaches.

Highlights of 2015

(Photo from Shutterstock)

There are no words to express how awesome my 2015 was! I learned so many things, embarked on various adventures, met new people, and experienced some great firsts. Read through the entire post to know why 2015 was one for the books! :)