Planning for our Taiwan DIY Travel 2023

Exactly a year ago, I booked our tickets to Taiwan!!

It was a quiet night for me, the kids are asleep. I was browsing the internet and then decided I want to be able to travel again internationally. Our first one was in Hong Kong in 2018, which I felt happened a long time ago so.. I decided to write down an itinerary. I know I wanted to visit Taiwan next but I am not sure why. I felt baka boring, the kids will not enjoy it, or it will just be super boring travel for us. What do you expect? It was not like Hong Kong na merong Disneyland or Singapore na maraming activities. 

Having that in mind, I still feel like I want Taiwan to be our next destination. I did my research on the best places to go and how to get there. I looked at Google Maps to have a feel at how the streets looked like and get myself familiarized, lol! And lastly, how much it would cost us. The last thing in mind that I had at the time was to look at airfare. I told myself that I wanted to have an idea of how much do we need to be able to apull this off soa I went to Cebu Pacific website which is my go-to airline and was so surprised to find out that they were actually doing a piso sale that day!! I got so excited and took that as a sign hahah! I was able to find a fare of around Php 13,000 for 4 people both ways. Super cheap if you asked me. Our ticket to Hong Kong was around 20k+ for the three of us. 

I immediately went to book the flight but got so sad to find out it got fully booked in a snap! I decided to book only from Manila to Taipei flight for Php6,000 for the four of us. Our flight date was November 25, 2023 which gave us 7 months of preparation. We're not rich so I need a lot of time to save and plan for our upcoming trip. Since I have written out every place that I want to visit, and only booked one way, our trip will be flexible and will let me decide on tours and itinerary while looking for a cheaper return ticket.

One of the reasons why I want to visit Taiwan is because I am a fan of the OG Metor Garden cast. I wanted to visit National Chung Cheng University where they shoot most of the scenes from the series. However, upon research, it will take almost 2-hour travel from Taipei. I was worried that it it may be difficult for the kids so I decided not to include that in our itinerary and only focused on Taipei area and the North Coast. 

Google Maps is super helpful in planning the itinerary. It gives you an idea of where each tourist spots are located and which are the ones you can go to that are close to each other. I also asked my sister for tips since she traveled to Taiwan multiple times already. When I was doing my research, I got so hyped and excited because I found out that Taiwan is an interesting country and not boring at all. If you are into activities like Disneyland etc, it may be a little boring for you since Taiwan does not offer those kinds of activities. It is more on a chill side of traveling which I really looked forward to because it will be our first time traveling with Vince and Dwyane. I was kinda afraid that it will be difficult for us to roam around so I only wanted this trip to be as chill as possible. 

Two months before our trip, I was able to find a hotel that's cheaper and so close to Ximen station and Ximending night market. I booked via Agoda. For our tours, I decided not to book any from Klook this time because I really just wanted it to be relaxing and not rushed like our Hong Kong trip. It was also a plus that forex is more affordable than HK so I thought I wouldn't need to book ahead of time. I also found out that kids below 6 years old are free in their trains, buses and most attractions just as long as they are with a full paying adult. I thought I'll just buy tickets there rather than book ahead to make sure that Vince will actually get free transportation etc.

For our pocket money, I looked at our itinerary and looked for fares from Google maps anda tried to compute the total expense for a rough figure. I also decided to allot 500 NTD for the 4 of us for each meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) so that's 1,500 NTD per day. I joined a Facebook group that gives a lot of tips for traveling in Taiwan and they said you'd need approximately 1k NTD per head per day to be able to eat decent meals, transportation, etc. I thought that might be too much for us, besides, I am a budgetarian traveler, that's too steep for me lol! But if you have the means, do not limit yourself. We are all different in how we travel, our appetites, and our wants, so you do you. 

So that's about it. In my next post, I'll share more details of our day-to-day went, the tourist spots, and a lot more tips when going to Taiwan. See you on our next post! 

Welcome, 2024!!

 Welcome, 2024!! 

It's been a while since the last time I actually posted anything here on the blog. Would you believe I only had one post last year! Lol! Just so you know, I started vlogging last year. It was fun definitely but iba pa rin talaga ang old school blogging like this. Hindi pa rin kasi ganon ka kapal ang mukha ko to vlog in front of people, haha! 

Anyway, I'd like to share here some of the highlights of our 2023. I didn't even feel like we had a lot of things happen but looking back, I realized that we received a lot of blessings too! 

Here are some of the highlights of our life in 2023 from a monthly perspective. 

January 2023

I attended my cousin/sister from another mother. She actually got married a year before. Because of COVID-19 cases rising, she has to do plan B of having a civil wedding even though ready na talaga ang lahat for their church wedding. Same-same, naiyak na naman ako sa walking down the aisle na yan, haha! I am so happy for her!! 

February 2023

Daryl and I's passports expired in 2022. I was contemplating if we had to renew last year kasi hindi rin naman biro ang expense to get a passport pero syempre I wanted us to go out of the country din so I have decided to renew both our passports. Later on, I got the kids' passports, too. I was surprised na ang bilis lang when I took the courier service for the kids versus when I picked it up (for me and Daryl's passports). 

Later that month, I decided to start our own YouTube channel. I realized na masaya din yung meron kang video remembrance of all the fun things that we do as a family versus mga pictures lang. :) 

March 2023

We discovered that there's a Kidzoona in SM Sucat. It was Vince's first time going to the playground like this so it was a very exciting time for him. He loves slides so much kaya sulit na sulit ang bayad namin. Lol!

April 2023

For Daddy's birthday, we stayed at Hotel 101 for a night. I did a review of the hotel on our YouTube channel here. 

May 2023 

We moved into our own home!!! It was such a huge milestone for our family. We started buying this house in 2020, during the pandemic. It was on a preselling status at the time and it took 3 years for us to finally move in. We got the keys in October 2022 but it was too late for us to move in because Dwyane's already enrolled in a school in Las Pinas so we opted to finish the school year before moving in. 

June 2023

For Vince's birthday, we went to Wetpark Adventure Lagoon in Venice Grand Canal Mall in Taguig. I vlogged about our experience here, including some tips and total expenses. 

July 2023 

Daryl and I celebrated our jowa-anniversary with a couple massages in Banahaw Heals Spa and capped it off with a dinner at Ippon Yari. We tried their ramen and for us, it's a so-so, lol! 

August 2023

We enrolled Kuya Dwyane in a school 5 km away from our house. Our house is more or less 1km away from the highway so we bought an electric bike as our service. 

September 2023

Daryl and I went to our high school alma mater for an alumni basketball game. It was so much fun watching and seeing some familiar faces and reminiscing about my high school life, lol! Nakakakilig pa kasi it's actually the first time and I went there with Daryl and honestly, we never saw each other when we were in school kahit pa sobrang lapit lang namin sa isa't isa. Never kaming nagkakilala, haha! 

October 2023

For Kuya Dwyane's birthday, we opted to arrange loot bags for all of his classmates. Happy naman sya giving it away to his classmates. 

November 2023

We went to Taiwan!!! I didn't expect that I would enjoy Taiwan so much and it instantly became my favorite country to go so far. As if kala mo ang dami ko ng napuntahan, haha! Mas favorite ko sya kesa sa Hong Kong. I vlogged about our trip on our Youtube channel. You can watch the full playlist here  and let me know what you think. :)

December 2023

It's our first New Year's Eve in our new home. I prepared food just enough for us compared to previous years. Maybe because I am getting older so I started to appreciate that we have enough food to last us overnight or even the next day versus having lots of food in the ref na kailangan mong pilitin ubusin. It was less stressful preparing, less stressful in thinking sino ang kakain or saan dadalhin ang food. So I guess this will now be our new norm. 

Overall, we had a great year! Kung hindi dahil sa mga review na ito, maiisip kong hindi naging maganda ang 2023 namin, pero hindi pala. Ang ganda, ang kulay at ang saya. Above all, we are all healthy, thriving and complete. Here's to hoping I will be blogging and vlogging more this 2024. :) 

Have a blessed New Year everyone!!

Salakot Alfresco Dining and Cafe in Silang Cavite

 Last month, Daryl and I celebrated our Jowa-nniversary haha! It was actually just our anniversary date when we were in the girlfriend-boyfriend stage. It's not yearly that we celebrate but this time, I wanted to get out of the house, a long drive with the family. Alam mo yon? 

Kakaboring din sa bahay talaga eh. I have been working from home since the start of the pandemic so I want to be able to go out when the time and budget permit. Hehe. 

Niyaya ko si daryl to eat at Salakot Alfresco Dining and Cafe in Silang Cavite. 

We left the house around 3pm kasi I planned to have dinner there then we can go straight to Tagaytay just to chill in Skyranch. We also decided to bring Bruno, our male shih tzu with us because I heard they allow pets.

We arrived in Silang exactly before dinner. I am so glad we were able to secure a small Kubo. They don't allow reservations so it's on a first come first serve basis. 

I honestly don't know what to expect since di rin talaga ako nakapag search about the place and it was a sudden change of plans. Lol. Talk about the impulsive me. 

We were able to secure a parking space because there weren't so many cars/people when we arrive. 

The place was nice. Malamig ang weather and maaliwalas ang paligid. What I didn't like about it though is because the place was outdoorsy-nature type, mejo may mga insekto pero expected naman na talaga iyon. Mejo worried lang ako because of Vince na sobrang lapitin ng lamok talaga. Nagmana sa akin sa pagiging favorite ng lamok na kagatin. 

I realized just now that I don't have photos of our food haha. It took 15-30 minutes din before they served the food from the time we ordered kaya pag ka serve pa lang eh kumain na agad kami. Hahah. We ordered Cheesy baked bangus, half bulalo, Inihaw na Pork rib and Buffalo wings. The food is okay, nothing super fancy. Parang mga usual na restaurant din sa Tagaytay. The serving was pretty decent din which is good to 2-3 people depende sa lakas kumain. We spent around 2,400 pesos sa food but we were able to take home a lot of leftovers. We even ate them for two days after hahah. 

When it got dark, they opened the lights on this very nice walkway with leaves and flowers, so cute. 

After dining in, we went straight to Tagaytay Sky ranch to chill. We paid 100 pesos for the entrance fee and roam around lang. Daryl and Dwyane rode the bump cars, too, and bought some snacks inside. Mejo expensive syempre but that's something you'd expect for a place like that. We only spent around 1 hour to 1.5 hours there because it was getting chilly. We were blessed with the perfect weather for this mini-trip. 

We went home straight after kasi mejo madilim talaga ang highway in Tagaytay at night tapos super tinted din ang car so mejo mahirap mag drive. 

Overall, it was a great quick escape from work and house chores. A perfect mini-getaway for me. =)

Vince's 3rd birthday at McDonald's - Kiddie Party 2022

A lot of things changed since the pandemic, including how we celebrate birthday parties for kids. Two years ago, Jollibee and McDonald's offered birthday party venues and packages, but these parties were restricted due to health protocols. 

With that two years passed and while the economy is starting to open again, I am so glad to hear that McDonald's finally opened its party venues at the start of the year. Although it wasn't our intention to celebrate grand parties this year because the boys are turning 3 and 9, it made me really excited to throw a small party for Vince. I remembered when Jami was the same age as Vince, he had two huge parties - Shakey's when he was 1 year old then Jollibee when he was 2 years old. I have decided that it's very timely that parties are already allowed for Vince to have a small celebration of his birthday too. So I think, it's his 1st to 3rd birthday in one. Hehe.

In May, I went to the nearest McDonald's branch in front of Robinson's Las Pinas but they said they don't offer parties yet. Super sayang because it was the closest to where we live. My next options are either in Pamplona or in front of SM Southmall. I have decided to visit the one in Pamplona since we have guests coming from Cavite and some other parts around the Metro and this is the closest to Las Pinas and Pasay/Cavite boundary. I also like this branch because they have a play area for kids (although still closed due to pandemic), Mccafe, drive-thru, and dining area, so basically a very busy branch. 

When we got there, a party has just finished so I had an idea what it will look like. I am unsure at this point as to how many people we'll invite but I opted for 50 heads. Family ko pa lang, 20 heads na so I gave 30 more for Daryl and common friends. I also chose package 2 which has Spaghetti and Chicken, regular fries, drinks, and hot fudge sundae. I also opted to serve the same food for kids and adults.

The downpayment is 2,000 pesos and they gave 30 invitation cards on the set of you paying for the downpayment. I remember during Jami's time, I think it was only 1,000 pesos but it was 8 years ago. Haha. I also chose merienda time of 3pm to 5pm. 

On the day of our party, we arrived just before 4pm and the crew was setting up the venue. It was a small venue but it was fine since we were expecting around 50 heads only. 

I like that they have a bench in front and a small chair for the celebrant alone. 

If you are from the South of Metro, you probably know how traffic is in Las Pinas especially on a Saturday afternoon so everybody was late, haha. Our guests started arriving at around 4:30pm. 

The venue can accommodate more than 100 guests in two venues together. We were given the smallest one since we are expecting only 50 pax.

The cake is from Little Bites Cupcakery. This is the second time that I ordered a cake from them pero first time kong nag order ng fondant. I will blog about Dwyane's 7th birthday and Vince's first birthday too in the coming days. I borrowed my sister's jars and bought cookies and candies in the grocery. 

Blowing of candles ng birthday celebrant. Just like the normal Jollibee/Mcdo party, they hosted 1 children's game and 1 adult game, then question and answer game tapos proceeded with blowing of candles and kainan na.

 

Binky, the birthday boy! 

Children's game

Adult game

Finally, I met these beautiful girls that I am working with since 2020. My virtual kamaritess hahaha

Walang matinong kuha, napakalikot ni Griffin! Haha

Chow time!!

Overall, it was a great experience since the pandemic. Once in a while masarap din yung maranasan mo yung mga bagay noon diba? Although be very careful pa rin kasi pandemic pa rin and Covid cases are still high. I was glad that I gave Vince the party he never had for his 1st birthday so after 4 years na ulit ang kasunod pag 7 nya. Hehe. 

New Year's Eve 2022

 Hey everyone! 

Happy New Year!! Hope you all have a good start to the year 2022! 

Just a quick update on how our January started. Our New Year's Eve went really well. I made sure we'll be wearing the color of the year shirt (which I want to make a yearly thing since 2016, lol!) 

This year's color from Pantone is Very Peri. Ang hirap ng color na ito actually! Haha. We don't have violet clothes, I realized. I don't want to buy shirts that are violet in color or buy a family shirt with prints for New Year kasi they are quite expensive talaga so I thought of doing DIY this time. I watched Youtube videos on how to dye shirt using joboss. The struggle is finding a violet joboss. I ordered through Shoppee but wasn't sure if it will be delivered on the 29th. 

I looked around dito sa area namin, but had trouble finding violet. Mostly red, blue colors lang ang available. I checked din sa National Bookstore pero sold out na daw, huhu! 

I went to Baclaran to buy plain white shirt for the family. Round neck for the boys while I got the V-neck for me and Nanay. This is the first time that I tried dyeing shirt and was quite nervous, hehe! I did Vince's shirt first then Dwyane. 

Vince's shirt went really well though mejo weak ang color. I wanted a little darker ng kaunti sana but it will do, I guess. The next shirt was Dwyane's. This time, super naging weak ang color and some of the parts were not dyed. Since bago yung shirt, it was so hard for the shirt to absorb the liquid. Dapat pala, I made the shirt wet then proceed with dyeing to make sure kapit ang kulay. Too late na so Dwyane's shirt wasn't colored as much as I want. 

I did Nanay's shirt and I loved the result. Naabsorb kasi ng tela yung color easily and it was just the right color din. I went ahead and did Daryl and my shirt since I am confident dyeing from here on. Hehe! 

This is actually the best photo na meron kami. Yearly, it's a struggle to take a nice family photo. Haha! Aside sa masikip ang house, ang hirap din mag pose ng mga batang ito, kainis! 

For our Noche Buena, we had 2 kinds of pasta (Spaghetti and Carbonara), Caldereta, Barbeque, Shanghai, Biko and Maja, Buko Pandan and Fruit Salad. I invited my youngest brother and his family to celebrate NYE at home. The kids fell asleep just before 12 midnight so wala na kaming photos after this. Lol!

The next day, my brother got sick. On the 2nd of January, Daryl went home with a high fever, headache, and body pains. The next day, I felt I'm having bad colds then went sick that same afternoon. I have a fever but easily recover after drinking Paracetamol. No other symptoms aside from colds and a little cough. We had a teleconsultation for Daryl so he can have an RT-PCR request from a doctor. 

The day Daryl and I are feeling a little better, Dwyane started getting feverish and Nanay started having bad colds, too. Later that afternoon, they both fell ill. When they started recovering after two days, Vince got feverish and fell ill that same day. I noticed the kids having really mild symptoms and only having fever. Nanay was complaining of being dizzy and she's coughing. 

We looked for a testing center so Daryl can have RT-PCR. It's a requirement for him to be able to go back to work. We started looking on the 8th and were only able to book an appointment in Red Cross on the 10th of January. Daryl was feeling a lot better at the time of saliva testing. 

At this time, we haven't received the result of the RT-PCR test from the Red Cross even after calling them yesterday to follow up. He wasn't able to come to work since the 3rd so I made him ask his superior since the quarantine requirement as per DOH is only for 10 days from the time you no longer have symptoms, sabi ko pasok na sya sa requirement. His employer allowed him to go back to work tomorrow and will have the PCR test to follow. 

I am really glad that it wasn't something serious. If it's indeed Covid-19, I am thankful no one needs to be hospitalized and it was really just like flu for us. We're not feeling any symptoms now except Nanay who's still coughing. It was crazy, her prescription meds are not available anywhere. I even went to the next city because I was told by Mercury Drug that the meds I'm looking for are not available in every branch in Las Pinas. Crazy!!!!

Anyway, hope everyone is feeling a lot better and your family's doing awesome this 2022!

Hello Again!

Hey, everyone!! 

It's been a long time that I have not posted anything here on the blog. I got so busy with life and a lot has happened in the last 3 years! 

Imagine? My last post was in July 2018, which is our Father's day celebration (that happened in June but posted in July, lol!) So funny! Anyway, I was browsing through Instagram where I saw all the posts I made in the past. It seems that I also stopped posting on Instagram for some reason. My last post was in June 2021. While going through some posts, it reminded me why I was blogging before. I don't even care if anyone will read the blog, but I do it for my own purpose. I want to rekindle old thoughts, memories, etc. And honestly, it was so fun reading all of it. It reminds me of how far I have come, the good and the bad, and everything else in between. I was also reminded that this is what I do good. I love sharing my thoughts, I love talking, I never get tired of talking. Haha. 

So, as I said, in the last three years, a lot happened. I don't even know where to start so bear with me as I organize my thoughts. As you know, I am not a very organized person. 

I think one of the major things that happened in our family is having another bundle of joy. Yes! We had another baby boy. He was born on the 4th of June 2019 via VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-section)

He's 2 years old at the moment and is our little kulit!! :) 

Our New Year's Eve 2021

Another thing is that I finally had the courage to leave the corporate world! It was a blessing in disguise actually. I left a month before the pandemic hits our country. Now, I am working as a Virtual Assistant for my clients for a year and a half. This changed our lives for the better and I am forever grateful! 

Vince's first birthday in June 2020

Seriously, I was really looking forward to 2020 just because I like the numbers, lol! I have so much planned for that year like getting married, celebrating the boys' 7th and 1st birthday but it didn't happen because of the pandemic. We celebrated at home with some family members and this made me realize that we actually don't need a big celebration. :)

This pandemic hit us really hard but be thankful that you're healthy and thriving despite all trials this year. :) I will probably post more life updates in the coming days. I'll just have to gather some photos left and right. Talk soon! 

Father's Day at SM By The Bay, Mall of Asia

So it's the other half of 2018 and long over due pa rin ang posts ko! hahah!

Today, I am sharing our Father's Day escapades. It was unplanned actually but we all enjoyed the time we spent with each other before the school year starts.

Our plan was to eat out and buy Jami's school shoes for this school year. His old one no longer fits. We were very lucky to inherit the shoes from kuya Third, not to mention the brand, it was barely used. I was hoping we can still use it this year dahil sobrang maayos pa pero masakit na sa paa ni Jami. =(

Anyway, Daryl raised an idea in going to SM Mall of Asia to break our routine. Lagi kasi kaming sa SM Southmall so since Father's Day din naman, I said yes. We arrived after lunch so we looked for a place to have our super late lunch. We chose Tokyo-tokyo. Mejo madami na kasing gutom si Daryl so perfect ang unlimited rice. Haha!

Okonomiyaki and Sumo Meals

After our super filling meal, Daryl treated us with rides in SM by the Bay. I found out na sobrang dami na pala talagang rides dun, naging theme park na din halos. Perfect for family weekend bonding din ang place, mejo madami nga lang ang tao madalas.

I have been wanting to try the Moa Eye ever since. Although it won't be my first time since we rode the Sky eye in Sky Ranch Tagaytay, I still want to experience the one in Moa. There were booths just below the attraction where you can buy your tickets. Each ticket costs Php150 per head. Children 3 feet and below are free of charge. Jami's around 4 feet so we paid full amount for him. The line wasn't that long when we were there so after 15 minutes of waiting, we had our ride.

I would say na mejo luma na rin, ilang taon na rin naman kasi tong nakatayo. Some parts became rusty na although I felt safe while riding naman. The view of the city and the sea was nice too. Mas perfect if we made it before the sunset. However, it was raining the past few days before the day we went there so it's kinda cloudy, hindi tuloy kita ang beautiful sunset by the bay.

We also tried some of the rides, I just forgot what they are called pero sobrang expensive. Each ride costs Php 80-150 for only 5-10 minutes! =(

We saw Bumper Car which we want to try sana kaso sobrang haba ng pila. I bet Jami would love the driving part pero not the waiting in line part. Hahah! Nag proceed na lang kami sa ibang rides.

Our last stop was the games area. Sobrang expensive din. Each game costs Php 100-200 talaga eh! Jami tried the duck game where you have to catch 2-3 ducks and you should score 5-10 points to get a bigger stuffed toy.

He got less than 5 points kaya eto lang!

He named him Mr. Chicks! =)

Overall, ang mahal talaga sa SM by the Bay. It was worth a try but definitely not going to come back for these rides/games anytime soon.=)

Just before the dark kicks in, we decided to buy the shoes. We went to the department store to look for the perfect shoes. I realized mahal na talaga ang bilihin ngayon ano?! School shoes ranges from Php400-2,500 na talaga eh! Grabeng inflation! Anyway, we looked for several shoes that fits in with our budget kaso hindi ko type because of the quality. I am so glad we found one, however we went over the budget. Looking at the difference, I bet this is worth it versus those that are within our budget. Mukhang madali kasing masira, hindi nakatahi, or yung mga tipo ng shoes na nagbabakbak. I am just hoping this would last long. Haha!

Happy mid-week everyone! =)

PNR or Philippine National Railways and What to Expect

Last week, I celebrated my 28th birthday! =)

I can't believe it! Ang bilis lang talaga ng panahon. There were days that I think of me as the 20 years old young, dumb and broke version! hahaha.

Anyway, just like last year, I didn't file a day off from work. I actually went half day just so we could have a blowing of candles at home. Daryl bought cakes the night before to surprise me in the morning! Ang sweet ng Babe ko na to! Hahah =)

He actually asked me to choose the cake that he'll buy but I was torn with Mary Grace's chocolate cake and black velvet nila. There's a Mary Grace Cafe branch in Naia Terminal 3 kaya nakabili sya. Na surprise naman ako na dalawa talaga ang binili nya for me. =)

I woke up early then woke Jami and Daryl up so they could sing me happy birthday song! Lol! Haha. Yun din naman ang instruction ni Daryl the night before, gisingin ko daw sya pagka gising ko. I cooked them breakfast and ate the chocolate cake. We also bought Pansit ni Aling Lucy's Panciteria. Super mura kasi doon and masarap naman talaga. They only have 2 branches and bought are in Las Pinas. Good thing yung isang branch, walking distance lang from home so kayang- kaya bumili anytime na biglaan. We didn't plan anything grand for my birthday. Alam nyo naman, hindi talaga ako sanay ng mga bonggahan birthday. Laging birthday celebration at home with family and closest friends lang.

As a promise to myself last year, I planned on doing something new or experience new things yearly as much as possible. Regardless if it's big or small things so long as it's something new and helpful to me as a person. Lol! I actually can't think of anything else and doesn't want to spend a cent until one rainy day, I thought of doing something that I wished I have done years ago.

If you're living in the south of Metro Manila (e.g Las Pinas and Cavite), you are probably experiencing heavy traffic in Coastal Road given the improvements on the expressway. Sobrang traffic that the last straw was when I spent 3 hours on the road just to get home. It was the worst! I never dealt with that before and 2 hours of travel time is the longest that I can bare these days. I have a son whose waiting for me back home so I don't want to be staying on the road doing nothing while this could be used for a bonding moment with Jami or Daryl diba?

Anyway, a day before my birthday, I finally decided to try another route. Walking distance from the office building was a PNR station. I always think of PNR is worst than MRT. I can see their trains are old and rusty, over crowded and not well-maintained stations. However, I always wanted to try to ride someday and I guess that someday was the day before I turned 28th. I thought this will be a good additional experience for me.

I promised myself I’ll do and experience something new each year before saying goodbye to the old me. Paragliding ❌ Bungee Jumping ❌ Out of the country ❌ Hiking ❌ Riding PNR ✅ 🤣🤣 It may be a small thing, but it was a brand new feeling! I am a happy 27 year old woman! 👩🏻😊 #thrillseeker #ayearolder #imjbirthday #imjevent #imjcelebrations

A post shared by Jen Alipio (@its_mommy_jen) on Jun 13, 2018 at 5:10am PDT

I was so scared since I don't know what to expect. I heard a lot of horror story in the past about PNR like people living along the train tracks are throwing things (worst? Poop) on the train, a lot of pickpockets, mga ganyan! Hahaha! But I also had that exciting feeling na finally makakasakay na ako and I have something new to do. Sobrang babaw lang ano? But I made the right decision sa pag discover ng pagsakay sa train.

How was the experience? It was great actually. I have been riding the train since then. I have listed down the Pros and Cons.

Pros:

1. Cheaper. Yes! I am able to spare Php10 off my daily transportation budget which I can add on my expenses for the day or additional savings.
2. Since I get on and off their last station (Alabang), I always have some time to sit down before going off the train or save myself a seat and nap for 20 minutes before going to work.
3. Timely. They have a scheduled arrival and departure of trains. There were times na mejo late ng 2-10 minutes pero bearable naman compare sa MRT and LRT na hindi mo alam kung may darating ba o wala. Hahah!
*Edited - I actually experience a delay of 30 minutes. This was during heavy rain fall. 
4. Train Marshals. Yes! They have train marshals
5. Slightly bigger trains with overhead open cabins for your things. It will make it convenient for those that are standing kasi they could put their bags overhead para hindi masikip masyado.

Cons:

1. Crowded. Just like our other trains here in Manila (MRT and LRT), crowded din naman talaga but since they have wider trains, mas maraming kayang i accommodate. 
2. AC unit not enough. During times na sobrang crowded, the ac unit could not cool the train properly so mejo nagiging mainit sa loob but you are always welcome to open the windows. They have screens na so in case of emergency na may nangbato, hindi naman tatamaan yung mga pasahero.
3. Railways are not maintained. Since madaming nakatira sa paligid ng railway, I guess mahirap tuloy i maintain ang facility. Open area ang bawat stations although may guards naman, hindi din basta basta makakapasok ang mga hindi pasahero.
4. Due to settlers living near the train tracks, laging bumubusina yung train to let people know that it's coming. Minsan kasi, may mga bata talagang nag lalaro along the tracks kaya madalas may naaksidente. Most of the time maingay yung train due to constant honking.
5. Inaccessible during heavy rain fall. Since PNR has stations in Manila area which gets flooded easily (Espana), train gets delayed and worst, cancel it's scheduled arrival.

Above all these, I am quite happy with the experience and it was something I always look forward to nowadays. It's a perfect break from all those traffic and it makes my day interesting. I have been working in the same company for 4 years and finding new ways to transport is one of my way to make sure I am not bored on my daily routine. =)

Again, Happy Birthday to myself! A tap on the back for always being happy despite of the life trials! =)

The Highest Meralco Bill I ever paid!

It was a good thing that summer is over so makaka move on na tayo sa pag a unlimited aircon hindi ba mommies?

When Daryl and I started living together, we of course have been paying our own bills. I am so glad that we now have wonderful jobs that give us food on our plate and enough money for our needs. Bonus na lang kung merong pang 'wants'. Anyway, our ac unit is broken since last year after summer. It broke exactly the first week of rainy season so hindi ko na muna sya ipinagawa dahil tag-ulan naman na. The problem was the frion. Hindi lumalamig yung unit because it ran out of Frion na daw. Since June last year, we contented ourselves na walang ac. Okay naman, nabuhay naman kami because the weather was not that humid unlike kapag summer months talaga diba?

Fast forward to late March when summer started, grabe hirap na hirap na kami matulog. Our room has a direct sunlight in the afternoon so imagine the humidity inside our room when the sun sets. Sobrang init talaga! Daryl and I decided to get the ac fixed. We contacted someone via Facebook which happened to be our schoolmate in High School.

We were charged Php3,300 ata which includes the total renovation of our ac. Inayos pa kasi yung mismong makina dahil butas butas na daw (he showed us naman na totoong sira na) plus the Frion charging and cleaning. Pikit-mata na lang sa pagbabayad kahit over budget ng Php800. Hahaha! Our budget kasi was only Php2,500 to get it fixed pero dahil no choice na rin naman, inisip na lang namin na magiging maalwan na ang pagtulog namin sa gabi.

Finally!! Goodnight sleep na latuurrrr!!😌😌 #imjweekends

A post shared by Jen Alipio (@its_mommy_jen) on Apr 14, 2018 at 1:29am PDT

Or so I thought.

Came April, the appliance usage was soaring high!

Late night use of TV which usually only up to 10pm. By that time, umaabot ata ng 1am.
Almost everyday na pag gamit ng washing machine (dryer).
Nataon pang night shift si Daryl so meaning, he has to use the ac in the afternoon to be able to sleep well sa hapon. And since sobrang init nga, I let them be para na rin kay Jami. He tends to stay inside our room kapag naka on ang ac.

I was really nervous come end of April when our Meralco bill usually arrives. I was expecting it to be more or less Php 2,500+. Our usual bill was Php 1,000 to Php1,300 during cold weather months while it goes up to Php 2,500 every summer months. When the bill came? Halos maiyak ako! Hahaha!

Pinaka nakakatakot na nakita ko! Mas scary pa sa insidious 1!! 😱😱Tumaas ang balahibo ko at kinabahan ng todo! 😨😨 Para akong nanlamig sa takot, tipong binuhusan ka ng malamig na tubig habang nakatitig sa maliit na papel na ito. Iyak na mga momshies!! 😭😭Musta bill nyo? 🤯🤯🤒🤒 #infinitybills #meralcobill #budgetruined

A post shared by Jen Alipio (@its_mommy_jen) on May 28, 2018 at 5:58am PDT

Don't be fooled, dalawang bill talaga yan. We had one that's due since last month for Php 1,800+ plus the new bill of Php 3,500+.

Even so, I was so surprise to see na sobrang tumaas yung bill from Php 2,500 with ac usage (previous summer months) to Php 3,500 for only a month this year! I was told tumaas nga din daw talaga ang singil ng kuryente. When I posted this photo of our bill, ang daming naka relate! So basically nag taasan nga lahat and almost everyone had the same horror story.

I was just glad that summer months are over and we are starting to have rains. I remember when I was younger, tuwang-tuwa ako kapag summer, ngayon sobrang scared ko na kasi ang taas ng bill ng kuryente! hahahah! It wasn't that hot in the afternoon anymore so no ac usage while we limit to only 3-4 hours come night time. We also watched the usage of every appliances at home and make sure they are turned off when not in use. I am expecting it will lower down to Php2,000+ for the month of May 25 to June 24 cut off.

How about you guys? What are your Meralco bills horror story? =)

Daryl's 29th Birthday

I was browsing through my old blog post specially those years na sobrang bata pa ni Jami (around 2015 and 2016). This is actually the best part of blogging because I can still read old stories of mine na totally forgotten! I am so thrilled everytime I read and reminds me of how our life has changed.

Anyway, I was looking into my posts in April and didn't find one for Daryl's 29th birthday!

Since it fell on a weekday, we decided to celebrate after work. Nagkataon kasi pareho kaming morning shift in April so we could have celebration over dinner. We went home together so we could buy food na lang as we don't have time to cook. We arrived in Las Pinas around 7pm.

Robinson's Las Pinas is just walking distance from home so we opted to buy fast food there rather than going to SM Southmall. Mejo traffic kasi going to Southmall although you will have plenty of food options talaga.

We bought Jollibee Spaghetti (in party size), Bucket of chicken, Family size pizza from Greenwich, a tub of ice cream sa grocery and a cake I bought in Conti's prior to going home. It was an intimate celebration but we loved it anyway! =)

We have another visitor that night, Bojo, Jami's playmate. They both sang happy birthday! Look how happy the boys are!

Of course hindi mawawala ang family picture plus 1. Hahah!

Nanay took this photo! Hehe. :)

Again, happy birthday babe! I know this wasn't like those you had when you were young but I am sure na hinding-hindi mo na ito ipagpapalit sa kahit ano man. Kumpleto kahit may lungkot at saya, basta ang mahalaga, sama-sama. Nyaks! hahaha! I wish you good health babe! Jami and I love you soooo much!