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. . . .

Choosing to stop plastic usage and go reusable was easy-peasy. Training my family to adopt a no-plastic lifestyle was and is still hella hard.  It took me months before I could convince Jayson to stop using plastic bags for our weekly groceries, and even then we're still not 100% plastic-free. If I don't have any of my canvas totes or reusable bags at hand, we'd end up coming home with plastic bags filled with fruit, snacks, or food for dinner.  One of my bigger challenges was getting Jayson to stop using coffee cups. 7-11 and Starbucks are his favorite stops for a coffee fix, and the number of plastic caps that end up in our trash always drives me nuts.  I eventually got myself a reusable Starbucks coffee mug, and convinced him to . . .

https://vimeo.com/100981409   I discovered Renegade Folk on Instagram a long time ago, completely head-over-heels over their limited edition Feeling Good sandals in Marsala. They're simple, sexy, and exactly the kind of sandals I'd wear everyday. The brand itself is admirable as they've grown into one of the most popular local fashion brands in the country. Launched in 2007, Renegade Folk relies on the skills, talents, and creativity of their team of Marikina-based artisans to produce comfortable and stylish footwear. Every pair is made by hand and competitive in the market. Unfortunately, I had a couple of pairs on my shelf at that time and wasn't open to the idea of buying shoes online, so I didn't look into the brand further. . . .

Before moving to Cagayan de Oro city, I brought a super old Fisher-Price basic telephone and a stuffed Thumper doll that I’ve had since I was a child. Both were for my kids to play with as they settled into their new home. I guess I saved them so I could anchor to cherished memories of my childhood as well. They remind me of the fun and stuffy afternoons inside the makeshift bedroom my parents built for my sisters and I at our now-defunct lights and electrical store. We’d stay upstairs where all the stocks were stored while they managed operations below us. https://www.instagram.com/p/BbHVsjhnB_n/?taken-by=dolldalitadollmaker A Dolldalita doll has that same charm that sweetens a child’s memories of playtime. This adorable and . . .

I've always loved creating and managing projects, but I've yet to find the project management tool that I'd stick with for the rest of my life. Each PM tool I’ve signed up for has their strengths and limitations. And with every one of these tools I had to adjust the way I plan and manage to fit within their limitations. Todoist was fast and simple with ticking things off the list, but managing the work that needs to be done for that task is always messy business on the app. Trello is ideal for all things kanban, but kanban itself doesn’t really feel like I’m completing a project. Like a neverending waterfall of tasks and processes. Asana—well, I just deactivated my account five seconds ago. Mindmeister and its brother . . .

Socially responsible stationery—it’s everything a paper collector like me could ask for. I get to bring ideas to life while helping others in need. You can just imagine my joy when I stumbled upon Bright Books by Amy O’Shea. Founded in 2009, her experience in Uganda with the Arlington Academy of Hope inspired her to start a business that could help the communities that struggle for electricity access everyday. I was shocked to learn that the most frequent health problems encountered at the clinic were chronic upper respiratory infections. Not malaria, not AIDS but chest colds, in large part because of the indoor air pollution created from kerosene lamps and cooking over open flames. This seemed crazy to me because we have the technology to . . .

It was on the third week of May 2017 when I decided to change my lifestyle. I wanted to lose weight, be more active, and prevent myself from becoming sick. Unfortunately leaving the house and going to the gym wasn't an option for me yet. My 3-year old son throws gargantuan tantrums when he knows I'm leaving that it's impossible to say goodbye without stress. Instead, I decided to browse through fitness apps on the App Store to see if I could work out while at home. It was a tough choice considering there are thousands of weight loss and fitness apps, but I eventually started my fitness journey with an app called 8fit. The first thing that drew me to 8fit was the visual queues that came with the workouts. As someone who hasn't done . . .

While traveling home from our 2013 family trip to Macau and Hong Kong, I stopped by the souvenir shop at the Mactan Cebu International Airport and spotted this blue-green bamboo creation with the name loudbasstard carved on its side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxPS_NX3PyM Founded in Cebu on that very same year, loudbasstard is an eco-friendly natural music amplifier cut and carved out of bamboo by Filipino craftsmen dedicated to their work. It’s natural because you don’t need additional cables or electricity to enjoy your music. Just insert your mobile phone into the slot and music fills the room. Unfortunately, the amplifier I purchased four years ago can’t accommodate bigger phones like the iPhone 6. Its design, however, gives . . .

During my blog-building days, I loved searching and picking out fonts to use for my websites. I'm no typography expert for sure, but as an end-user I've come to appreciate good-quality fonts paid and free. I opened myself to learning typogography basics, such as font styles, pixels vs cm, line and paragraph spacing, and font pairings. Everything from downloading fonts to installation came down to hands-on trial and error. Most, if not all fonts are created/sold by professional designers around the world. How awesome would it be to use fonts made by Filipino designers? Imagine what personal blogs, e-commerce websites, and corporate sites the likes of Globe Telecom and Jollibee would look like if they used quality fonts made by our very . . .