It's that time of the year again where I list down my goals, wants, wishlist and the like for either Christmas present or my New Year items I set my savings for. Well, it's actually a yearly thing on my blog that I write down what I want so I won't forget it all and I'll be motivated to save up until I get before the year ends. And for the past few years, I usually put on my list a nice laptop, a camera, and mostly some expensive luxury items which I know I can't afford and probably won't buy anytime soon. For this year I decided to just write down the achievable things I can get within a year which I list down below. I know some things or probably most of this can't be a gift by someone and definitely not necessary but it is something I could work hard for until the end of the year.
You probably have seen this tree somewhere on Instagram a few times already while browsing about South Korea and that's because this is a new popular hot spot backdrop for wedding photos and for Koreans millennials as well who love to share their favorite Instagramable photo locations on social media. Wondering where this tree is located? If yes, continue reading to find out where this lovely tree can be seen as this a must-visit if you're going to Korea anytime soon.
Last November 18, Bench held another edition of their famous fashion show in Mall of Asia Arena with all their celebrity and model ambassadors. They had their first fashion show back in 2014 where the "The Naked Truth" show got controversial. This year, they made a come back thru the "Under the Star" fashion show as they are celebrating their 30th anniversary.
Today two years ago is the day when Sam Smith held a concert here in the Philippines. I can't believe that it's already been that long since that night I heard him sing live. Here's an old entry I did back then that I got to save from my old site, I'm posting this again because I don't want to forget this amazing night.
"It snowing! Let's go out and play!" Finally, for the first time, I saw little flakes of white snows everywhere while it's falling down from the sky. The snow was floating in the air like a feather and it slowly kissed my skin. It was one of those memorable moments of my life, which I'll be forever remembered.
It was a dream come true and a cross mark to my bucket list and to my friends as well to finally experience snow. It may not be a big deal for others who see nothing unusual in falling snow because they see it often but for us living in a tropical, summer-like year long country who only experience rainy and sunny weather, snow is something we wished to see and experience. If you live in the Philippines like me or in Thailand like my friends, you'll probably agree, right?
It was a dream come true and a cross mark to my bucket list and to my friends as well to finally experience snow. It may not be a big deal for others who see nothing unusual in falling snow because they see it often but for us living in a tropical, summer-like year long country who only experience rainy and sunny weather, snow is something we wished to see and experience. If you live in the Philippines like me or in Thailand like my friends, you'll probably agree, right?
I got to visit three national parks when I was in the US which I'll be blogging about in the coming days but for this entry let me talk about this national park first because it is the place where I stayed the longest in my almost four months in the country. And it is also the most memorable one for me, of course. If you are not familiar with this place, let me tell you a little about it.
Aside from me being obsessed with K-Drama, I recently got hooked on k-beauty products as well. I blame Edward Avila and Joan Kim's youtube channel for that. And since I'm such an easily influence little viewer of them I immediately got obsess with the Korean products they use. Thankfully, there is a website called Althea Korea that sells k-beauty items at a lower price and good thing about it, their products are shipped directly from Korea making it legit authentic.
With this site, I won't need to worry about getting different brands all over the internet because this website offers lots of Korean brands and like what I said earlier, everything is straight from where it belongs - Korea.
I already mentioned in my previous blog post what work I did in The Lodge at Bryce Canyon for my cultural exchange program. But before anything else, if you are not familiar with the cultural exchange program, it is a program available for college students and provides them an opportunity to have a cultural experience in the US while having work opportunities to fund their stay. Participants have the chance to acquire jobs that do not require highly knowledge or skills while staying in the United States for a maximum of four months. At the end of the work program, students may remain in the US for another 25 days for travel and entertainment purposes.
I'm glad I came to this meet and greet in Bluebay Walk in Macapagal, Manila because I had so much fun being surrounded with fellow b/vlogger. Just watching them while they do their b/vlogging duties made it extra fun for me because aside from meeting a well-known youtube influencer, of course, I also saw people doing the things that I also love doing. I felt like I was in a place that I know very well, surrounded by people I know I belong.
One of the many reasons why my brothers and I go all the way to the North even though we live far down South (well, not really) - just traveling to Makati would take us about two to three hours then what more if we go North, blame the traffic! Anyway, it's because we're currently obsessed with a restaurant found in Megamall.
It was April of 2011 when I flew to the US to complete my cultural exchange program in my chosen state. It was my first time leaving the country with no adult supervision and also me being away with my family for that long period of months and that gets me scared and nervous actually but knowing that this is a new journey and experience that I need to face on my own brings me that exciting feeling too.
Last Saturday, 19th of August I attended the Tote Bag personalization workshop held by Starbucks at Madrigal Ave. in Alabang. I was able to know the said workshop thru a friend and fellow blogger of mine who informed me about it. So after hearing that, I signed up right away knowing it is really near my town and also a new experience to me. Gladly they send me an email right after and informed me that I got a slot for that workshop. It was a great experience and would totally join again if given an opportunity. Thank you, Starbucks!
And just like any other day we spent in Seoul, we woke up extra early to visit this place so we could get pictures without people walking around in our photos. We didn't even take our breakfast yet just to be here really early and all is worth as you can see in the photo above, only a few people walking by early that morning.
After our Lonely Tree visit in the morning and Gangnam in the afternoon, we also dropped by Sinsa just to visit this cafe I found online while I was searching for unique cafes in Seoul. We got to visit this branch which I believe would be their tiniest one.
My US experience felt like it was just yesterday. This is a major throwback where I can still remember every detail I've been through just to get this opportunity in my hand. It was tough but definitely worth it.
It was during my third year in college when our university gave us the opportunity to apply for a Cultural Exchange program or work overseas thru their partnered agency. We could choose whether we want to take our training hours working in a government agency here in the Philippines or join the overseas internship training or somewhat called Cultural Exchange-student program. I was glad that my parents supported me in this and allowed me to grab this once in a lifetime opportunity.
I must say, the US embassy was the toughest and scariest interview I've encounter in this whole journey. If I remember it right, we had a total of four interviews: agency, employer, Skype interview with the host organization and lastly the embassy interview. Together with all those interviews, we also need to process all the required documents needed and pay corresponding fees.
Anyway, we are given a chance to choose which state we want our internship training to be done as long as we could pass the interview. Almost half of my batchmates choose Virginia, some went to South Dakota and other parts of the US but I decided to join my friend who decided to go to Utah - a state we're not familiar or ever heard before.
It took us almost half a year to process everything until January 2011 when everyone started flying to the US. I was one of the unlucky ones who flew late in the US but I'm still lucky enough to pass the embassy interview. To be honest, I was scared that I wouldn't make it, I thought I'm gonna disappoint my parents who believed and supported me all thru out but thankfully I was really blessed, they passed and gave me a visa. We were given a J1 visa for this internship with a maximum stay of four months in the country. You can learn more about it here.
I was happy, relieve, excited and sad all at the same time until the day of my departure. Fast-forward on the months I'm in the US, I got to blog here the brief summary of my journey. It was one of the most unforgettable experiences that happened in my life that even after 6 years from that day I still remember it like it was just yesterday.
I would like to talk more about my experiences but I guess you just have to wait for another US blog post where I would clearly elaborate every experience I've been through in the past four months in the country. For now, do enjoy this entry.
Game of Thrones will air in a few days and I'm freaking excited!!! Who's not, right?! And so before we all get crazy on the upcoming new season I want to share a photo of me when I met one of the casts of the HBO hit series "Game of Thrones" in AsiaPOP Comicon Manila last year at SMX Convention Center.
During my stay in Seoul, Korea for a short trip with my siblings, I definitely didn't miss my chance to visit a K-Drama filming location I could find in Seoul. I research and look for some places that can be easily found in Seoul and I found out that Heo Joon-Jae's house in the series Legend of the Blue Sea is one of the easiest to find.
We took a red-eye flight going to Korea because we want to make sure that we won't waste any time of our 4days vacation. Having a late-night flight then go straight for a full packed day tour when we reach Seoul, it was exhausting, to be honest. We got to Incheon airport early in the morning and we took the train to get to our hotel. Since it's still early to check-in, we just left our luggage at the hotel lobby without any decent sleep and started our day in Seoul by visiting the most famous temple in South Korea - the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Anyway, this trip has a lot of first for all of us since this is all our first time in the country, my two little siblings first abroad trip and the first trip for us without our parents. We were supposed to visit the country as a family but my parents decided to cancel their tickets so we left for Korea on our own.
Bangkok is probably one favourite shopping cities in the world and is one of my faves as well as it is known to have the cheapest bargain of clothes and the like. It is where you can both shop cheap local design on the street as well as luxury brands in the mall nearby. There are also weekend markets, bazaars, night markets and left and right shopping malls everywhere around where every fashion lovers would totally love.
Torch was one of the first food blog entry I made before and now I'm rewriting this again because I don't want to forget the first time I've tried their food. I got to try this restaurant when we watched Fast and Furious 7 (how long was it already?). Anyway, the restaurant has a wide selection of food from Filipino, American, Italian to Japanese, so you'll definitely love this place if you want to try different cuisine in one sitting.
And it's that time of the year again when our favourite bloggers/influencers gather all in one special day just to meet and greet their ever supportive readers and to share what's on their very own closet to sell. Thanks to Bloggers United for making this possible!
I'm a constant reader of famous influencers ever since I started blogging so I'm not really sure how many BU installment I've been too just to see them personally. And I'm pretty sure that I still wouldn't miss the Bloggers United XIII especially that they have new participants that I want to meet and greet as well. And since it's gonna be in a few weeks time I'm gonna share some photos of mine with my favourite bloggers from the previous installment . To be honest, I can't believe I still got this old photos (thank you Tumblr acct.) and looking back at the photos, I cringe with my look. Hahaha! I definitely look so "nene".
Lets us all appreciate this prettiest and one of the most unique lipsticks ever made! Now I know why it went viral few months ago. This jelly flower lipstick is a beauty brand called Kailijumei. According to my research, it is from a Chinese beauty manufacturer and soon expanded their brand in the US. Anyway aside from its unique appearance, this clear colored lipstick also changes color when you apply it on your lips depending on your body temperature. So cool right?!
Labor weekend just ended and so as the LaBoracay party I almost experience just last year. Anyway, I totally forgot to post it during the said weekend so here I am posting it today.
I never thought a second getaway with just friends happened again. I'm just so happy my parents allowed me to do this trip after I went to Bantayan, Cebu a year before with the same group of friends. I guess they realise that I can take care of myself now at this age... or maybe not.
I already blogged about my first two days in Japan here. I talked about the day we arrived in the city of Shinjuku and spent the rest of our night at the hotel to prepare for a long day tour the next morning where we spend in Tokyo DisneySea. And now here is what happened on the rest of our stay and the places we visited.
It was A Sky Full Of Star with such a heavenly view as I was able to see and hear Coldplay perform live here in Manila. It was definitely surreal! The performance surely did not disappoint. It was a blast from the start until the very end. Listening to people sing along in every song and lyrics of the band plus all the rainbow fireworks, confetti (even if it didn't reach us), big balloons and even our safety in the concert, it was definitely worth every penny.
I can't wait for Coldplay! I'm so excited, I can't hide it! My music playlist is on Coldplay repeat, on repeat button! Hahaha! And before I hear them sing live tomorrow let me tell you my first ever concert I attended.
I can't believe it's already been a year since my brother and I went to Thailand. We visited this country last Holy week (it's the only holiday we can leave our business) and now here we are preparing for another trip abroad in the next few weeks. And before our next big adventure come here's what happened on our first trip abroad together that happened 25th of March 2016. It is one heck of an adventure, definitely!
People who live with me are probably the only ones who know that I love makeup because I rarely colour my face. I may not look like a makeup enthusiast but believe me, I love everything about beauty related topics. I'm no make-up guru or some sort of professional but I try my best to improve and use all the products I keep on buying. One of my goals is to learn how to put eyeshadows correctly and properly blend the colours.
Konnichiwa! Last summer I was able to visit the Land of the Rising Sun - Japan! together with my aunt and uncle who actually just tagged me along on this trip. If it weren't to them no Japan trip for me. To be honest, they were supposed to bring my little brother on this trip but they didn't get my dad's permission because it's not fair to my little sister who also wants to go so they gave me the ticket instead. Just my luck!
I know it's a bit late to post a travel that happened months ago but I would like to share how I enjoyed my trip in the Land of the Rising Sun last summer. This country has always been a place I long waited to visit because Japan is known were Anime originated from. To those who doesn't know, Anime is a Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation. I love Anime growing up, I collect and worship anime characters before, well, I'm into Kdramas after I got older. Watching Anime when I was a kid is one of my favourite thing I do, some of my favourites are Card Captor Sakura, Sailormoon, DragonBall Z, UFO Baby, Yuyu Hakusho and lots more. This is why I want to visit this beautiful country.
Ever since my Canon DLSR got broken and get tired of bringing my bulky camera I decided to do a switch and want to get myself a simpler, smaller and lighter mirrorless camera that still capable of producing DLSR-quality shots. But I still can't decide which one to get since most of the cameras in the market offers a good deal to consider.
My family in my father side maybe a big clan but as an intimate family, we're really small since it's only my father and her sister. Both our families are really close since we live few blocks away from each other and my siblings and I grew up with them and vice versa to my aunt's 2 sons.
I don't remember anymore how many times I did a blog entry about my USA trip that happened 6 years ago. I first posted it on my Tumblr which I did few times then I edited it when I transferred to my self-hosted site and here I am now doing it again because I lost everything when I was in my last platform site. Anyway, talking about it, I hope this is the last time I'll be posting this because I keep on missing the place everytime.
I got myself a Sephora set a few months ago and to be honest, I still haven't tried any of it until now because I don't want to ruin it and of course so I could blog about it as well. Getting this Sephora Favorite Set is like having a haul because in just one box I could have different kinds of makeup in different brands. And everything is in travel size so it literally looks like a mini haul.
I tried to look for the best and my most favourite scene so I could convince you to watch it too. lol! Let the pictures do all the talking! I have never been this excited to end a day and to wake up early the next day and it was all because of Korean Dramas! Watching kdramas was and still a favourite thing I do in my free time. I used to just watched it when there is one showing on television, I always get hooked when ABSCBN has a new series showing at night but they don't have it now so I found myself watching it online instead. Well, it's probably because I finally found a site I could watch it regularly.
Recently I found an article in a magazine that caught my attention. "Talk To Anybody!" is the title of the said article written by Holly C. Corbett in Seventeen Magazine and it's about how you could start a conversation with somebody. This is something I'm not really good at, I could write and express my feeling thru writing easily but I'm having a hard time to start a small conversation with someone personally so this is a bit helpful for me.
I have always wanted to experience an out-of-town trip with just friends but having strict parents I never had a chance until this trip in Cebu with my friend and her friends. To be honest, I was asked by my friend many times already if I can join her in her trips but I always the one who decline since I'm always hesitant to ask permission. But when she said its in Cebu, I got a little bit confidence that my parents will allow me since it's my mothers hometown. I'm so glad I asked for permission because they did allow me. After this trip I learned a few things about travelling with friends and I wanted to share it with you.
It's only been a few days since 2017 started and so much have happened already but unfortunately it is something I didn't look forward nor I ever wanted. I don't want to put it in details, I'll just put it aside and talk about the good things that will come day by day. Just like a friend told me, it's only been a few days that this year started, you have so much days to make it better.