Christmas in the Eyes of a Child

Christmas is always the most wonderful season of the year especially for kids! But for grownups, its meaning has been tarnished and associated to so many different meanings! For employer expenses shoot up for employees' bonuses, for businessmen it's like a dollar sign  as they double their earnings because people do not mind spending their money! I always enjoy Christmas and even now in my late 20's I still do! When my sisters asked me, what's with Christmas that still excites me, I just nod and recall good Christmas memories!

Aside from the fact that I receive lots of gifts, left and right; it's the time when people are showering so much kindness to each and everyone that we end up praying "Sana araw-araw ay pasko! Admit it,  people are extra caring, patient and  kindhearted!

It has been five years when I joined the magical world of SM and Christmas means a lot different! This is the time when I cannot go into shopping ahead of time because there are lots of more important things I have to do before I think of shopping for my myself! This is also the time that my job spells BUSYNESS and stress!

Last year, I am so proud of our centerpiece! Because from the start I knew what I want to see as centerpiece! I gave a title that's so me :) It's Sweet Christmas at SM City Batangas!

Candy house plus candy tree made last year's Christmas so sweet! Plus we had cupcakes, variety of candies, chocolates and candy canes in our candy buffet!

The candy tree is just an addition to our centerpiece! I got the inspiration from Candylicious  in Singapore during our first trip to Sentosa. And I'm really satisfied with how my contractor gave justice to my love and  addiction to sweets :)

This year, I'm kinda confused! I have lots of things in my mind! I like snow, i like santa but all year round I'm imagining of a snowy playground with hundreds of snowmen playing! And I ended up having a WINTER WONDERLAND with all the fat and huggable characters around!

View from second floor

The "Bear Tree" made it more special! Thanks to Bear Cuddler for lending us all the cutie bears :)

After all the busy days and nights, everything is all worth it!



And of course, what I like most about my job? Dressing up :)

But what completed my happiness is when i saw kids' smiles turns into laughters... Instead of performing their dance number, they play around as if they were in real snow! Truly, this is Christmas in the eyes of a child!





Pahiyas Fest is the best!

I love colors and lights and i admire creative people, that's probably the reason why I love Pahiyas Festival among other local festivities that I know. I was in SM Lucena for My City, My SM  and  one of the endorsers is from Lucban. Soon after the event, at around 8 pm, we went ahead to Lucban with my  good friends in the magical world. I was  still in my yellow dress, matching the bright colors in Lucban but I didn't mind.

Great that I joined my SM friends in this trip! My eyes were busy adoring the leaf-shaped wafers called kiping! It comes in all great shapes, brilliant colors and it truly depicts festive celebration. And it's really nice for photo opp, yeah that's the best part actually.  

During our trips, we comment on funny yet entertaining statues and I love the climate! We also enjoyed the food in Ground Zero! Perfectly Italian piconne in the province of Lucban! It's amazing because I  didn't expect much in the place and yet I consider it a wonderful travel experience :)

Kota Keluarga for Beautiful Batangas

I am a beach bum so living in Batangas is absolutely rewarding! I’m close to stunning beaches, deep blue sea, translucent water, virgin islands, fresh breeze and lots of nature wonders! Swimming gives me inner peace, it feels like the sea waves can take away my burdens! Yes, I’m convinced I was a mermaid in my past life. I can even sleep at the sea, floating! My mom doesn’t believe I can do so until she really saw me floating asleep. The sea waves are lullabies to my ears! (baby ) hehe.

I have been in hundreds of resorts and beaches in Batangas and other places,  but there’s one place where I want to go back every now and then. Have explored the stretch of Laiya, Mabini, Nasugbu and  Anilao beaches  but the pristine water and clear sky and rough rocks that were naturally formed  over the years made me fell in love with Kota Keluarga! 

Going there is easy especially now with Startollway. Travel from Manila to Batangas is now 1 and a half hours. It is located in municipality of San Juan, southeastern-most part of Batangas along coastlines of Barangay Laiya and Baluarte. Here's the map.

Unfortunately, Kota Keluarga is not open for everyone, it’s a residential resort which means you need to own a part of the subdivision or know someone who lives there to enter this paradise. Since very few can afford a piece of land there, the beach has maintained its coral reefs and white powdered sand.

Unlike in other famous beaches, you won't find a banana boat here! There's no souvenir shops, nobody will offer you to braid your hair or put tattoos on your skin, it's just you with the nature. And what I love most? There’s no communications signal at all, whatever your network is. You are really "out of coverage area" Yes, I love twitter and facebook but when I’m in Kota Keluarga, I can bid goodbye to social networking sites!

I'm glad I was invited to have an overnight stay here. I enjoyed playing with the waves, climbing and jumping from the rocks and of course, the rock that stands proud at the shoreline, and take note it looks like our favorite muffin :)

Two thumbs up Kota keluarga for Beautiful Batangas!

Travel MORE with LESS

Travelling is always an exciting thing to do. How much more if you’ll be paid to explore places, try on different food and delicacies, discover dynamic cultures and share your stories to the world? Amazing right? Absolutely! Being a travel writer must probably the most rewarding career I could have. But of course, as per experience it’s not really easy! But it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop sharing the fun, go travel and explore the world, this way you’ll appreciate life better.

Of course, thousands of considerations will arise when you travel but the best way to enjoy the adventure is not purely how much you have in your pockets to shop and unwind! There are always “diskarte” to have fun, to travel MORE with LESS J

 

GO FOR SEAT SALE! I so love Cebu Pacific and their marketing wise campaign "It's time every Juan flies" because they truly live up to the promise of affordable travel fares. Plan ahead and get feeds on the latest promos, this way you’ll be able to get the best rates whether it’s domestic or international flights.  

PLAN YOUR LOOK – Planning will always keep you organized but hey you’ll save a lot with your plans. Plan what to wear in your trips. Street-smart day 1, bubbly-on-the go day 2, comfy-chic day 3, whatever and however you want to look; plan it! Though I’m really guilty of changing planned clothes from time to time, I still manage to mix and match with what I have on my luggage. How did you save from planning your outfit? You need not to carry too many blouses, sandals and accessories! Travel lite means pay lite!

WEB CHECK IN – Let’s make use of the internet to confirm our presence on a flight and print our own boarding passes. I really love this! Depending on the carrier and the specific flight, we may also enter details such as baggage quantities and select preferred seating. It lessens activity at the airport, reduce passenger waiting times and most especially help us save our money. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that most of us have already spent 1/8 of our “ baon” while we are still in the airport waiting for our flights. Because people who travel a lot hate boring moments, sitting and watching people pass by is a no no!  Temptations are everywhere! Coffee house on your left, travellers’ kit on your right, we can easily justify the need when we are bored. So better yet, stay away from temptations and just click the web to check-in J

TRAVEL WITH YOUR BEST BUDDIES and NOTHING WILL GO WRONG! In fact this is the best tip I could ever give to all!  For sure best of friends know how much you can afford for the travel so you’ll help each other to stay within the budget.  You can abuse (yes, that’s really how best buddies are) each other without being so cautious on their feelings! I’m glad I have real friends like them J.

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Small Fish in a BIG Pond

The feeling of boredom that's resulting to  decline in performance is one of the common problems of  employees who have been in their jobs for 5 years, especially if type of work is routinary. Good thing I am in fast paced Marketing, everyday defines challenges. In my current work, we use the term "magical" to describe our world. Because everyday you have to do magic to be able to deliver and keep up with work demands. But since I'm here for 5 years already, I feel that my magic wand doesn't work anymore.

People who are also in this magical world can testify how much hardwork and perseverance is needed to stay and survive. " It's really hard to be a small fish in a big pond". Through the years, we were mold to  be tough  (as tough as the walls of our world:) We were trained to work hard and smart. Other suggest to work smart not hard, in our world it must come together or else you'll left doing all the hardwork while someone is getting all the credits. But you shouldn't be too smart as well because as soon as your stars shine, office politics can immediately create eclipse.

Reality bites, office politics is the game everyone plays! So whether we stay or quit and find another pond to swim, it will still exist. Contrary to my expectations, as you go up the ladder it becomes more difficult and complicated. There's no easy job after all!  This made me sad but led me to a better perspective about work and career as a whole.

So to make myself motivated again, I had series of re-assessment and realizations which may work for other as well:

• Let's coexist! Even if we don't like our colleagues and we hate their management styles.
• Stay on neutral ground! This is very hard especially for the idealistic workers but this will keep you away from trouble.  
• Renew your love for work! For sure, we won't stay long in a company if we do not really love our jobs.
• Take a break! Have some time alone, far away from your routine. You'll find out, you're missing the job that causes you headache.
• Redesign your work place. Why not? Add colors to your environment but of course consider the company policies.
• Change your aura! I highly recommend this, you're old in the job but don't let it show in your face and the way you dress up. Change your wardrobe and try something different :)
• And most of all, enjoy your work.

Mixed Emotions

My boss gave me real high appraisal for my performance for the first half of 2011 which makes me happy and sad at the same time! Happy of course, my efforts and hardwork paid off, sad because of the time I lost again to be with my family, to get a good rest, to enjoy nature, to just sitback, to stay idle for quite sometime, to be in solitude, to attend to family affairs, to be with loved ones; simple things that really matters in life. Because I sacrificed all these for my career;  to get things done, to do magic, to troubleshoot, to be the best in my profession. Well, I'm reaping the rewards, but sometimes i feel like I'm losing more... more of the simple and small things that make up a person.

A friend told me that everytime I feel this way, I should drive around Pallocan west and check the reasons why I am working hard. Haha, this is great! Let's not entertain regrets and  always justify our actions! 

 Reason # 1 : My dream house in neo victorian style...

Reason # 2 - My Baby Sparky! Been paying this for more than 2 years now.. 2 more years and you are absolutely mine!

Another way to eliminate sadness? Enumerate reasons why you stay in your job:

1. When your crazy litlle ideas turned big and great! It's a relief when people appreciate your projects and applaud you for ideas and concepts you didn't even think will work.

2. Dressing up for the event! Why not? Never let the people know you didn't sleep for several nights just to give them flawless and well organized event :)

3. Giving people more reasons to smile and believe in luck by simply doing your job well :) This was when we launched the Golden Money Tree promo..

4. Meeting and working with people who believe they can do magic as well! Never thought it will turn out this good , thanks to my dear sponsors.. 

 5. Being involved in noteworthy advocacies! It just feels good to at least be part of Earth hour, Earth day celebrations and the like.

At the end of the day, we'll go home with happy heart and big smile..

Recovered

Yey! I thought I lost this blog because of my PC trouble when I was creating this. Finaly, I can start my day right. Yes, blogging is really important to me. Way back, i maintained an account in blogspot for 3 years when it was still hosting blogs for free. When my account was blocked, I stopped blogging  and used the traditional pen and journal for my diaries. At least for sure, it's something I can really keep, but hey this is more exciting except for the really confidential matters that you wanna write but you don't wanna share. :)