Monthly reflections at the dining table. I'm writing this after waking up from a 15-minute power nap. 💤 I started doing this recently to fight my unyielding tendency to wake up before sunrise, and not get enough sleep throughout the day. Since the pandemic hit the country and we've been staying home, the fam and I have been making significant changes to our lifestyle. 15-minute naps are just one of these little shifts and changes I'm making to make each day better and more productive. For June 2020's reflection, I'm looking back and sharing 10 lifestyle changes I made since our lives turned upside down at the beginning of the year: 01: Bought and used cloth masks Cloth masks for the kids by EIKA.ph Last March, J and I . . .
10 Kickstarter projects I backed (2017-2020)
Kickstarter's my gateway to many exciting products, from brand stickers to stationery to digital games. It's also where I discover creators, some I continue to follow to this day, such as Adam J. Kurtz, Angelia Trinidad of Passion Planner, and the fellas at Prepd. Although I've spent most of my time browsing the site and admiring creators who've taken the leap, I've backed several Kickstarter projects in the publishing, gaming, and design spaces. There are projects I'm still waiting for, projects I love and continue to use everyday, and projects I was disappointed with and stopped using as soon as I received it In the mail. Here are 10 Kickstarter projects I backed since being a member six years ago, and what I think about . . .
Showcase 📽️: Midori MD A5 Notebook
My first Midori MD notebook. Here's something that hasn't happened in a while: a finished notebook. I can't remember the last time I filled the pages of a notebook anymore. I do, however, remember a time when it happened quite often, when I spent my days writing down all kinds of ideas, poems, stories, and journal entries. I keep thinking how that was my "Golden Age" and how much I want to recreate it. So much has changed since, so I'm taking things one day at a time. A simple notebook that is optimized to make writing easy.MD Paper Products I know, it's weird quoting the actual company. https://instagram.com/p/CBEkr3jDCKM/ The Midori MD notebook itself was an absolute pleasure to use. It's the kind of notebook . . .
Waking up to 30
A mind map I did two hours ago. If you asked 18-year old me what my life would look like 12 years into the future, I'd probably describe something far from what it's like this very day. At one point, I told Jayson with utmost confidence that I'd have the time of my life the moment I turn 30 years old. I'd drink, smoke MJ, watch standup comedy, go on a road trip, sing karaoke all night, and eat as much cake as I wanted. Well, things didn't turn out the way I thought it would. https://twitter.com/heysstef/status/1249871534262341637 Luckily, my birthday did start out with love and gratitude. ❤️ My sister-in-law baked me a homemade chocolate cake for breakfast, which explains why I smelled cake baking in the oven at 10:30 . . .
Poetry, essays, and other creative writing are up on the Daily Pagerie
I've finally made time to publish some of my older creative writing work on the Daily Pagerie store. 🎉 There's a new Creative Work category where you'll find poetry, essays, and other creative writing that I've done in the past. They're digital downloads that'll save the product to your computer after going through the order process. These are the first three: Turns of Place (2019) is an intimate letter exchange between writers and friends, Stephanie Gonzaga and Johna Baylon, on travel, home, and the act of journeying. The project began in 2014 and has spanned a total of five years. It's a collaboration that has made not only our writing better, but our friendship stronger than ever. Mosaic (2015) is another . . .
Trello: My Go-To App for Keeping Life Organized and Dreams Alive
Every single morning for the past four years I'd wake up, launch my browser and, like instinct, open and view my Trello boards. The boards list, 2019. It's one of the few apps I've habitually used for the majority of my working life. I use it for everything and anything that requires focus and organization: travel plans, building this blog, the online store to pair with it after, and personal projects dating back to 2014. Trello and I have gone a long way back (August 2013), and it continues to be my go-to Kanban app when I need to visualize any journey from start to finish. It's seen me through the ups and downs, have stood by as I tried other productivity tools, from GTD to Gantt to project management to other Kanban apps. . . .
The Mossery Twinbook
I've used Mossery products since early 2018, but have been a huge fan of the brand for as long as I can remember. Mossery.co website Their commitment to helping artists, writers, students, professionals, and the other folks through beautifully designed tools is inspiring. Mossery planners, sketchbooks, and journals are fun and customizable, with features to help you plan and achieve your goals, whether in life or at work. A few months ago, they launched the Half Planner + Notebook system. It's a 6-month undated planner and 96-page notebook rolled into one, and you can choose the format you prefer. Weekly horizontal vs. weekly vertical for the plannerRuled or dot grid pages for the notebook I placed my pre-order on my . . .
A Full Reset: Clearing the table, changing directions, and what’s next
I've unusually excited to dive into this TBR stack. I remember my Posterous days when I'd do a monthly "reflections" post at the beginning of the new month. It was a favorite routine of mine where I'd summarize what happened to me the month before, what I intend to do next, and what people who may be interested can come to expect. With it being July 1st and all, this seems like a good time to do another Soul Story post where I'd relive the tradition. Battling anxiety, getting a grip on stress, and overcoming busy-ness You'll notice that the books in the stack above tackles creativity, wrangling information through doodling, finding inspiration, and living a long and happy life doing what you're deeply passionate about (and . . .
The Print Cafe Composition Notebook (Pack of 10)
Starting the school year right. ✏️ Any student from the Philippines has brought them for school—the typical 50- or 80-leaves notebooks stapled to bind and printed with red and blue lines. These notebooks would have cartoon characters or Filipino celebrities on the cover. They have the red margin to the left of the page as a guide for numbering lines. While I grew up with these notebooks, I despise them now as a parent. I've bought Holly two sets of these red-and-blue lined notebooks for 2nd and 3rd grade, and each time her notebooks didn't stand the continuous use. The weak card stock covers tore off from the rest of the notebook, the pages fold and bend so easily, and tear if the kid applies too much glue on the page. I . . .
Singapore 2019: One Last Hurrah at KidZania Singapore + Merlion Park
It's our final day at Singapore, which surprisingly was difficult to plan for because we didn't know what exactly we wanted to do or visit for our last hurrah. Eventually I decided to take the kids to KidZania Singapore, an indoor theme park which promises an interactive learning experience where kids could become whatever they wanted to be—a doctor, a fireman, a pilot, etc. We got on the Sentosa Express again, stepped down at the last station, and walked all the way to the large building with an airplane sticking out of its front. Thinking that it was going to be some sort of playhouse x 1000, I told Jayson I'd take the kids myself, while he tours his mom and sister around the island. What I didn't expect were the different . . .
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