The last time my name was printed on a local newspaper was in high school (about 16 years ago) when my football team won against a college team and the two scorers' names were mentioned. That was a huge deal back then.

The succeeding posts in this blog would most probably be all about our wedding because, honestly, I have not gotten over it yet. Our wedding is nothing short of amazing. It is magical but it's real. It's simple but it's the best. It's cheap (by current standards) but it's definitely full of love.

Here's the same-day edit video made by Love Dot Date Production. I love everything about it and it melts my heart every time I hear Jan's vows.

Hello everyone! I'm back to reality... but in a much better reality despite going back to a monstrous work load needed to be done pronto. I'm finally married to my travel buddy, my soul mate, my best friend!

I know this blog still has a lot of catching up to do, but for now, I'd like to share our special day as captured by our lovely guests:

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.

That's what I keep telling myself every time I come across a hashtag for the wedding.

One friend suggested #anJANnasiSARAH.

Big NOPE.

Less than 20 days before the big day and I have finally felt a tinge of pressure.

I thought we have already settled almost everything when I realized there are a few more things needed to make our wedding personal and extra special. I know we want to keep things simple, but here I am, lumalabas na ang kaartehan ko.

Ang dami ko palang gusto, si Jan napapakamot na lang ng ulo. Here are some:

All this time I thought wedding preps are unbearably stressful it can bring out that bridezilla in you. But that is not the case.

You see, we only have less than a month to prepare. With Saturdays as our only free time, technically, we only have 3 days to iron everything out. We are still looking for a cake, our custom wooden guestbook is yet to be created, our guest list has not been finalized yet, I lost our wedding ring holder (the one I carved our names on), our marriage license is yet to be released, we're in the middle of printing our invitations, and we still got a few more items to be ticked off our checklist. But! We already have our shoes and that is good enough for us. Haha.

Jan and I are planning to apply for a South Korea visa this year, anticipating a 20% rejection rate.

Funny thing is, South Korea isn't really on top of our travel list. And I think that's because our souls have not been sucked into this Korean fandom abyss. Thank heavens! 

We have a lot of catching up to do. I hate not writing about the shiznit happening in my life because that's what this blog is supposedly for. But this is what happens when you have a counterproductive after-work hobby. I get mentally drained every time I get off work that I wouldn't have enough strength to do anything else but ogle over videos of cats being adorable and jerks.

But also, I just came home from my best vacation yet. Jan and I couldn't get over it that we still talk about our escapade and eat ramen at local shops even if it pales in comparison to the real ones. Yes, a few days ago, we were in Japan.

Tokyo

Jan and I went to the casa last Saturday for Bill's periodic maintenance service (PMS). Since we still have 2 hours to spare before our turn, we decided to go to SM to pass time and browse for wedding rings.

We went inside Odysseus Suarez and I was glad to see the same friendly man who accommodated us before. Initially, Jan and I wanted platinum rings but since we’re not some senator's kid who can easily burn at least 80k for these tiny handcuffs (the design we wanted costs around 100k), we settled for the poor man's version of platinum instead, the white gold.

We still have a little more than three weeks before our next out-of-the-country trip and I've already packed. Excited? Yes! And that is an understatement. In fact, I am too excited that I almost forgot I'm in the middle of wedding preparations that I left everything on pause since we got our visas approved. Hashtag that, priorities. Duh.

Jan and I went shopping for down jackets at Uniqlo yesterday. We were quite pleased that they got almost everything on sale.

He scored an ultralight down jacket for only P1,990. Not bad, I must say. And he was quick to shop. Unlike me, I was torn between colors that it took me quite some time to choose. Picture this, if we were in the battlefield, Jan already got his target acquired with a shot gun and his finger on the trigger. I, on the other hand, will be killed before I even got to choose what weapon to use (mind you, by standards, I shop faster than 90% of girls).

After days of anxious anticipation and nights of reading horror stories of rejection and denial, Jan and I reached the highest level of excitement when we received our passports with approved visas yesterday that we did not feel the strong earthquake that shook our city.

You see, the biggest fear for a would-be and even a seasoned traveler with a weak passport is not getting lost in a foreign country. It is getting denied of visa or worse, getting offloaded in the immigration.

And for someone who does not have a normal and stable office job, having an approved visa, especially in one of the G7 countries, is such a share worthy success story for me. And I think I have to prepare myself for more "the anticipation is killing me" moments because that is just one of the many visa applications that we'll have to go through.

You know how I still get "judged" for being skinny despite my reputation of being a voracious eater and having a flabby midsection (that's about 2 inches of pinchable flab, I kid you not).

"Kain ka ng marami. Mas maganda kung magkalaman ka ng konti."

No high waisted pants can hide my flabs.

Not that I take offense at such. But I'm sick of explaining that I don't go on a diet or that it runs in the blood, yadda yadda. So before anyone strikes me again with remarks about being underfed, malnourished, and that I should go get a quarter pounder, let me tell you this: I would eat the next person who will tell me that I look better with more meat.

I dare thee.

I took a day off from work last Monday so I could dedicate my day for the visa and wedding preparations. What I planned was to get my PSA birth certificate (BC) in the morning and meet with our coordinator and photographer in the afternoon.

Three of my friends told me it only took them two to three hours to get their certificates at PSA. So I took the shot of getting the BC myself since it's also the cheapest way. I only had three things on my to-do list, I figured I can still do some shopping for crafting materials since I have the entire day for myself.

That I apparently forgot to post.

And I'd like you to believe I was busy.

1. Bagged two awards at the Davao Blog Awards co-presented by PLDT-Smart.

Best Personal Blog

Jan and I visited our future home yesterday and we're so happy about the progress.

See?

Knowing how real estate development works here, one could say that that's a lot of progress.

#TeamNoLigo

Haha. I'm really looking forward to the day we move in because finally *drum roll* I will have a custom bookshelf/mini library! But before I start with anything for our home, I still have a wedding to plan. We haven't made a lot of progress and we only have four months! And what's worse, I still have to decide which five out of a hundred wedding DIY ideas are realistic enough for me to actually attempt to do.

May the gods of patience and creativity be ever in my favor.

P.S. Hey Chronos, please bestow me with a lot of time too because I'm also having Japanese lessons in between.

I would have loved to write about the 2018 that has been awesome or whatever topic that's fitting for the new year but I am more excited to share this with you.

You see, I never really thought a bridal bouquet can cost so much. Php 5,000-7,000 seriously?! No, thanks.

Today, I decided to create my own bridal bouquet because aside from the fact that we'd rather spend our money on more important things like a fridge full of frozen yogurt, I was bored as hell as well.

Plus, crafting things makes me feel giddy all the time.

So here's what boredom got me:

I'm not sure whether I should start my intro with a defensive speech as to why I got 39 new books (not including the children's book I got for Rhett) in less than two months or should I just accept my fate that I always get defeated in a battle against impulsive book buying.

Supportive. As always ♥

Here’s the thing, when you are in front of a million new books priced at 50-90% off, there's no way you could ever resist that. Not me. And it's not all the time you can get big book sales like this, that's why you have take advantage of it.  Meaning, you can’t just go barging in a book sale and NOT buy a book… because that’s just stupid. And besides, I don't really have anything to spend my money on.

I have got to admit, when I was ten, I already knew the exact dress I want to wear for my wedding day. I want one that screams royalty. A sparkling ball gown, adorned with diamonds, having a 6-hoop petticoat underskirt, and all that jazz.

More than twenty years later, I do not want myself anywhere near that kind of dress. It simply does not suit my style. Not a single, tiny bit. And for once, Jan and I agreed to fork over our dream wedding from our own pockets—which opened my eyes to the sad reality that, weddings, even the simplest ones, can rack up a huge bill in a blink of an eye. With our budget, honestly, the gown is the least of my priorities. I mean, I'm not that willing to spend a ball gown that could cost half our budget that will only be worn once, for six hours at most.

I have never really figured out parenthood, especially when I'm doing it alone. As much as it flatters me every time I get a pat on the back for doing twice the parenting work without losing my sanity, what makes my heart flutter is when someone says my son, Rhett, is a well-mannered and grateful boy. I'm not exactly sure how I did that because to tell you honestly, motherhood is not all that pretty. I have those bad mom moments too.

You see, I am guilty of making my son disappointed on many occasions.

I suppose the wedding preps should have gotten me busy. But truthfully, I have no excuse for not posting regularly.

Honestly, Jan and I haven't gotten far with the wedding preparations. We'd love to think we're busy but all we’ve been doing is play Big Fish. Yes, that terrible messenger game that does nothing but spam and steal time. And we can't stop.

We still have six months to go—which caused a bit of panic to my friends who have gone great lengths to prepare for their big day. Don't fret! We have made progress, of course! We have already scoured the jewelers for our rings (okay, we only went to one). And drove around the city to do ocular inspections of the possible venues (okay, again, we only went to one). What can I say? We were sold. Immediately.

When I told the universe I'm ready for the great stuff, awesomeness started pouring in. I just hope I don't jinx this, but it does feel like the entire universe is working in my favor.

Don't get it wrong though. My life is not exactly all rainbows and butterflies as I would have loved to imagine. Shit happens. But you can only either sulk about that or move on and give shit the middle finger it deserves. And I chose to do the latter.

Anyway, I revisited my blog today and realized I only have one post for November (big deal haha), when in fact, I got tons of these "I am sooooo blogging this" moments. But Instagram took the light away.

I'm blogging now because the incoming days are going to be blog-worthy (assuming I can give time to write about it). So before I get overwhelmed and end up not writing about anything at all, I might as well do a blatant gloating because that's what bloggers are supposed to do.

Here's what I've been up to lately:

Today is 11.11. Every online and physical store is on a HUUUUGE sale. Tempting, yes. But I wasn't really psyched about it because:

1. I'm broke. And even if I had the money,
2. The internet has been fucked up since Thursday.

So instead of wasting precious bandwidth, loading websites that will only make me a thousand more poorer, I'll blog about last month's National Book Store's Book Binge Bazaar book haul instead.

One of the reasons why I was not really into fashion (aside from being boyish and lazy back then) is that I don't have the luxury to splurge on every new trend that hits the town. I was always under the impression that fashion requires a lot of money (blame that to magazines and fashion writers who only feature designer brands, as if frugality has no place in fashion).

I was doing okay with my casual style until one day, I got into a job position that requires meeting and interacting with some of the big names in the industry. From then on, I set all my life bars higher, including my style.

Even though I go gaga over Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, or Linkin Park, it has never been a secret how much I love boy bands.

I guess you can blame that to the curtain haircuts made famous by Nick Carter back in the 90s. That pretty boy look definitely won too many hearts. But more than the pretty face, they got the phenomenal stage presence, smooth dance moves, cheesy songs, and the voice that definitely made teen girls fall head over heels. And I guess, I have not outgrown that stage until this very day.

I was 12 when I fell in love with these guys. I used to watch them every day on MTV. And even though I claim to be a huge boy band fan, I've never seen one group performed live.

There was a time when a fellow blogger walked up to me and said, "I read your blog and I look up to you, Ate Sar." (non-verbatim)

WHOAH! WHOAH! WHOAH! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, YOUNG BUDDY! Because you don't know what you're talking about. But, thank you!

It's not the first time I heard someone say that but it never really sank in me because I honestly still think of myself as a misfit. Not worthy of being an inspiration or an "idol". I suck as a blogger and an adult too.

All this time, I thought that people who read my blog will see me as an internet drama queen who whines about working too hard but is lazy as fuck, or someone who constantly complains about being broke and still eats at Japanese restos every week.

I don't remember the last time I posted something beautiful or helpful. I only blog about the most trivial and uninteresting things in my life. I also rant, but in the most subtle, often (slightly) funny way, with an occasional use of strong language.

I think people see a different Sarah whenever they read this blog. But here's the thing, if you meet me in person and expect me to utter "shit" and "fuck" like how I do it here because I'm supposedly pissed off at the littlest things, then you're going to be disappointed.

This is a long overdue post. And since I convinced myself that I am busy, I never really got to post about the weekend that was well spent in Manila.

We only have a little more than 48 hours and it was Red's first time in the metro so we did all things toursity! Here's how we spent it:

The holiday season is an exciting time — bright lights, colorful  lanterns, and the jolliest songs fill the atmosphere. Although it is something we look forward to, truth be told, the Christmas can be a battlefield. If the shopping frenzy and long queues were not nerve-racking enough, the frustrations of looking for the perfect Christmas gift will definitely get you at wits' end.

You see, the only reason why I dread the holiday season is because I know I am a bad gift giver. I spend too much time trying to figure out what my recipient really wants that sometimes it drains all the energy in me and I become exhausted, mentally and physically.

So what do you think is the best Christmas gift idea? I swear, I could list a hundred items but different strokes for different folks. What I think is the best for me may not apply for you. And what I think is the best for my recipients, is not what they actually have in mind.


Finding the perfect gift can be quite challenging. But if you are in the brink of exhaustion and stuck looking for a gift, here's something that can help you brainstorm for that best gift idea.

I got hives and the itch is really killing me. But I'd take the hives any day than spend 15 minutes in Facebook where my blood pressure can shoot up to an alarming level from all those political posts on my feed today.

But before the hypertension turns into brain cancer because I can't seem to get myself off Facebook, I'll share with you the weekend that has really been crazy.

I was invited to a La Germania roadshow last Saturday and in the middle of our activity, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook our city. The event had to be discontinued and we were all asked to evacuate the mall.

Life, lately, has not been exactly boring nor exciting. But all is well. I can't promise I'll be back writing up a storm again but I will post a few shit no one cares about to let you know I'm still alive.

Here's what I've been up to lately.

1. Sleep
I'm the type of person who sleeps at 2am, wakes up at 5am, and can still function normally like how a person who had a good night's rest does. But lately, I'm getting at least 6 hours of sleep and I love how it does wonders in making me look fresh in the morning.

Squinting made me look sleepy though.

Hello everyone! I haven’t updated in two weeks, which is not very like me. I've attempted to write sensible and relevant entries twice and on both times, I didn't get to hit the Publish button. None of it was good enough. I try to balance my entries between relevant and nonsensical, but regardless, I'm on a writing slump.

So maybe today, I'll just talk about my short hair because blogging about things that do not help the society in any way sure as hell beats scrolling down Facebook aimlessly for hours (I'll leave Facebook one day and move to Reddit, I promise).

I was born with a naturally straight, super fine, no volume hair. And for three years, I've been cutting my own hair because it didn't matter if I looked shaggy or not. Sometimes, I wish I had that grunge hair or I can pull off that messy bun. But my hair simply just untangles and tames itself before I could even say "comb".

I never really had a bad hair day until I saw this:

December last year, two of my closest girl friends from the same circle had their weddings on the same day, same time, but different places. Sounds impossible but, yes, we were able to make it to both wedding ceremonies and receptions.

December 28, 2017. Claire and Karren's wedding.

This entry was supposed to be for the color run I was too excited about, but that didn't happen. And that's not even the worst part yet. There was a bit of lashing from disappointed and frustrated participants and we, the bloggers who promoted the event, were somehow caught in the crossfire. I would have loved to talk shit about it since my pre-event post has convinced a fair few people to join. But as a courtesy, I'm keeping my mouth shut until the organizer issues a public official statement - to which as of this writing is still zero, zilch, zip, nada!

This is why I preferred keeping this blog clean from sponsors and ads. Somehow I took the bait and now I feel a little pressured to consistently update this blog with POSITIVE content. I definitely miss those times when I had tons of shit to say without feeling a single ounce of guilt or worry. But right now, that's not going to happen.

I do not have a sweet tooth. And that basically means, when it comes to desserts and sweet treats, I am too hard to please.

While everybody drools at the sight of a cake or a doughnut, I have this uncanny ability to shrug off or worse, refuse sweets. Yeah, sue me. This puts people in panic mode like it's a crime not to like sweets or something, and with unbelieving eyes, they ask, "are you on a diet?!"

Oh boy, if that slice of chocolate cake were 2 pounds of crabs or bacon, I'd eat the sh*t out of it.

It's not that I do not eat sweets.  I have few favorites as a matter of fact. It's just that, I have uncommon preferences. I want something that's dominantly bitter or sour - if that still counts as sweet. And usually, these are special & limited edition, seasonal, locally unavailable (like Boracay's triple strawberry crepe. sigh), and mostly, expensive.

Today, we have a new doughnut in town.

Krispy Kreme, together with Malagos Chocolate, brings us a whole new level of chocolate experience with Dark Chocolate Glitz! This newest addition to the premium doughnut collection is exclusively available in Krispy Kreme Davao stores for only Php 49 each.

That’s good news for Davaoeños, especially for dark chocolate-lovin' people like me. But I really hope this doughnut is not exclusive for the Kadayawan Festival only because it's going to break my heart far worse than watching the last episode of Brooklyn Nine-nine if these were gone before Cardo Dalisay dies. This is definitely a new favorite. I love that it's not too bitter and not too sweet. Just right.


I hate to say it, but I just devoured 3 pieces of these doughnuts in one sitting and I'm still craving for more. Well, there goes my fitness goals. If you see me writing about getting broke and being diagnosed with diabetes, blame it to this doughnut. Haaay stahp! How can one food make me happy and sad at the same time?

I started to purge my closet and got rid of the clothes I no longer wear. Most of my clothes are ukay-ukay, so I have this bad habit of buying anything since it's really cheap because I know I won't feel bad about it even if it's something I probably wouldn't wear. I sorted them according to frequency of use and unsurpsingly, I got more clothes I have not worn and don't remember at all.

WARNING: PHOTOS OVERLOAD

There was a reason why I was always broke the past few months. It was only last April when I finally made up my mind to go with Jan, bought the tickets in May, and flew a month after. So that's almost three months of fighting the urge to buy milk tea, refusing fast foods, declining Friday night invitations, and pretending Shopee does not exist.

This is the fourth time Jan and I went out of the country, second time in Singapore, and the first time we did it with the family.

A lot of things happened and I wouldn't really want to put everything in detail because that's going to take forever. But here are some snaps during our trip. I may have to create separate posts for the Trick Eye Museum, S.E.A. Aquarium, and Flower Dome, but given my pseudo-busy schedule, we all know that's not happening any time soon. So for now, I hope you enjoy looking at these photos.

Universal Studios 

After more than a month of wearing dresses, squarepants, and all things chic because I felt the need to dress my age (my style has always been juvenile and has not changed since high school), I conclude that denim jeans are the least comfortable clothes ever. 

Okay, the "need to dress my age" part is not true at all. I was, honestly, left with no choice because all my clothes are still in the laundry, and that includes all the four jeans I have.

I finally understood why some women do not like wearing jeans. All this time I was led to believe that these closet staples are the comfiest, being conservative and non-restrictive to movement, but my whole life has been a lie.

I love how this hangs like a skirt but is actually pants. I hope this style lasts a long time because I'd like to make it my closet staple like how I did with jeans.

I know I've made bad life choices when I was young that I regret until this very day. Plucking and shaving my armpit hair when my mom told me to leave it alone, for example.

The years of plucking and shaving left ugly, tiny bumps on my armpits that would not go away no matter what product I used. For someone who prefers to wear tank tops, sleeveless shirts, or anything presko like me, it feels better to forget about covering up the problem area and simply wear whatever I want. So despite all the products that failed me, I never gave up and found ways on achieving that smooth and beautiful underarm.

Raise those arms with confidence! (Also, the lights and camera settings make it appear I'm fair-skinned. I am not.)

"Miss, may bigger size kayo nito?"

"Ilang taon po ang susuot, maam?"

"10."

I lied.

I remember during my freshman year in high school, I saw a batch of seniors who were standing in neat rows under the heat of the sun. They looked cool in their combat boots and fatigue, except, they were more like puppies to me than soldiers. They're pretty good at obeying commands. Sit, roll over, drop and play dead, or whatever the commanding officer tells them to. I watched them every Friday and told myself I've already been potty-trained since 2, I don't need new tricks, and I'm never going to be a trained pup. And the only way to elude the comedy and horror of Preparatory Military Training (PMT) is to be part of a varsity team.

Sarah, we care about you and the memories you share here. We thought you'd like to look back on this post from 8 years ago.

Damn! I hope Facebook will stop "caring" because On This Day memories usually remind me of the bad decisions I made, people I'm no longer interested dealing with, and the dumb things I hope I never posted.

On the flip side, some memories are indeed worth looking back. This photo for example:

One thing I hate about driving is getting through traffic. So I rely on music to stretch my patience and keep my cool. Right now, if there's one thing I get excited about driving, it's going to be this:

My 3rd year high school Math teacher forced me to join our school's Math Olympics for two reasons:

1. I detest Math and/because I'm bad at it.
2. And he knows it.

Right after the competition, when I went up the stage, the faculty head who pinned the gold medal on me uttered, "Congratulations, future Engineer!"

I MADE THE SWITCH.

I am now trying to live a plastic free life. I know it won't be drastic because plastic has been practically in every part of our lives (some even disguise themselves as friends). It won't be easy to ditch plastic completely but we'll get there. Baby steps, they call it.

I'm into DIY and reycling, so that's a start. I also started refusing plastic bags from mini grocers if I can carry the products with my hand or inside my bag. I also use my own reusable eco bag for large groceries. I am having my caffeine fix in my own tumbler (and by caffeine, I mean milk teas with only 0-25% sugar). And now, I use reusable straws.

I got these sandals because I fell in love with it at first fit (it's reeeeally comfy). Then only to realize that being a sneaker worshipper, this is downright blasphemy and I honestly do not know what to do with it.

You know what's funny?

It's when you know you can write a 2-page, single-spaced in-depth analysis of the space-time continuum with your eyes closed but you have to turn to Google to help you compose a single line on how to accept an invitation.

This is not my first time to be invited to such events.

I know it's totally against my character to watch sloppy action-fantasy shows but I can't believe I have finished two seasons of Shadowhunters in two days which just shows what a big loser I am. I know it's quite a bummer but at least it frees up some of - what I'd like to believe - my unproductive time.

Well, I am never really a TV or movie person. So you could easily say that I don’t have the best taste when it comes to motion picture or anything in general. In fact, my preferences go from being too cliche to too corny to too mainstream. My all-time favorite movie? Mean Girls. My all-time favorite band? Backstreet Boys. My all-time favorite series? Riverdale.

Yesterday, I took Bill to the casa* for a PMS and I remember having this kind of conversation with a friend:

Jan and I have been eyeing Dahilayan for a long time. But since we see transportation a potential problem (going to Bacolod or Cebu was easier), it always gets to the bottom of our must-visit list. But not until we had Bill.

Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon is by far our Jan's longest drive. Our road trip destinations are going farther and farther and I guess, sooner or later, we'll find ourselves driving to Camiguin, Dapitan or even as far as Visayas! Or not.

So it's been four years and I'm trying to come up with a decent entry for this day. I think I'm done with these cheesy posts after the Avengers: Infinity War left me feeling so empty because Loki died in the first ten minutes of the movie (I don't care if you'd kill me for that spoiler. I'm already dead inside).

Anyway, since today is our fourth anniversary (I still won't post anything cheesy but),  I'll leave you with something that could be quite intriguing, perhaps eyebrow-raising, and just might give you a wee bit of a shock. Here's a little confession: I made the first move.