Over the weekend, I worked on this small fun project to help me achieve two things: enjoy my passions to the fullest and celebrate life through focus and accomplishment. I created this to address and eventually silence a crucial personal issue. For so long I've felt like a lost hummingbird darting to and fro, dabbling in my interests and activities, never really taking hold of what I have and what I can accomplish. Everyday I see people on social media holding up their big ass megaphones, blathering about plans and promises, but never really accomplishing anything significant. I look down at my own megaphone and realize I'm still part of this mob—stuck at the same spot, but doing things silently. There are holes and dark corners that . . .
Art Bar by Powerbooks Serendra
My daughter, Holly, loves making art. She's shown interest since she was a toddler and has improved over the years since the day she learned to hold a pencil. She's seven now and loves spending her free time making all kinds of colored sketches. I want to continue exposing her to what the art world has to offer, so I promised to bring her to the Art Bar once we visit Manila. ✈️ Located in Serendra, the Art Bar has pretty much everything an artist needs to do their best work. Canvases, easels, high-quality pencils, brush pens, and the like fill the glass shelves of this 2-storey shop. They carry art supplies and writing tools made in Germany, Japan, and the USA. They also host workshops for up-and-coming artists wanting to learn to . . .
Fonts by Filipino Designers Volume 1
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 . . .
The SuperYR Calendar: Planning the Year Paper-free
"If it ain't scheduled, it ain't real." Or something like that. This tip is a guiding light since I started working on improving my personal productivity two years ago. I followed Marie Forleo of Marie TV and can never forget the lightbulb moment I had when she advised to schedule everything onto my calendar. I've since kept Google Calendar, my planner, and a paper calendar close with me so I won't forget what needs to get done. Keeping paper calendars gave me the satisfaction of crossing days off and marking upcoming events. It didn't, however, give me the flexibility I needed when I made a mistake or had to move an event to an earlier or later date. The paper calendar I was using was your typical promotional calendar that . . .
Welcome to the White House
For three years, I'd wake up to a pair of brown closet doors that stood across our bed. They're covered in scratches and wouldn't close on their own. I'd sometimes secure them with a spare hair tie, yet their flaws seem to amplify each time I see it on my way out of my bedroom. No closet has ever left me as grumpy and gloomy as this. Unfortunately, our closet wasn't the only thing that made me want to tear the house down. The walls that surrounded our home were just as ugly. They're painted this ugly off-white/cream combination, they had holes, crayon markings and scraps of paper tacked to them. Sometimes I'd just enter the kids' room and wish the whole thing would magically have flat white walls a brand new closet that's spacious . . .
Create AND Achieve Big Goals with the Passion Planner
I'm planner-obsessed. Not a day goes by without looking at my weekly spread. I check for tasks I need to do or appointments I need to attend. It's my number one productivity tool and my savior from a chaotic and messy day. I've used all kinds of planners to manage my day/week/month. I've tried Moleskine, Daycraft, giveaway planners from local insurance companies, and the seasonal Starbucks planner that comes with three thousand pesos worth of coffee. I've even tried purchasing planners from digital marketers just to see what their attractive "you-can-make-thousands-of-dollars" planners can do for me. Unfortunately, not one planner has stuck with me through the entire year. More importantly, none of these planners helped me work . . .
Getting Things Done on Your Own with Things 3 for iOS
Things was one of those Mac apps I kept in my App Store wish list for a loooooong time. It's pretty, looked useful, and was expensive as fuck ($59.99 or P2,490). What made Things so popular though was how LOOOONG it took for Cultured Code to build features and release updates for the app. The update from Things to Things 2 took four years, and the time it took to build Things 3 afterwards was even longer. In fact, Things' cloud service took about two years, I think? So last May 18, Cultured Code released version 3. Everyone who loved Things went nuts. Those who knew about the company's notorious roadmap wrote a lot of press about it. After a careful 20-30 minutes thinking about it, I jumped on the Things 3 bandwagon myself. I . . .
GNZGA Goes to Cebu (Day 3)
Today's our last day here at Cebu, so Jayson and I decided to use it to shop for souvenirs and whatever the kids wanted to bring back home. 🛍 The original plan was to visit the renowned Temple of Leah first thing after breakfast + the morning routines. But because of how crazy traffic was yesterday, I decided to skip and Instead head directly to SM Seaside City Cebu. Jayson's extended family's picking us up again and taking us there. No complaints here. Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of photos since our hands were full with the kids the whole time. But the mall certainly lives up to its name as the Philippines' 3rd largest mall. The entire building is circular where you'd walk in a full circle to see all the shops. There were . . .
GNZGA Goes to Cebu (Day 2)
Day 2 is extra special because today is my youngest son's 3rd birthday! 🎉 The little one smiled from ear to ear while we sang him "Happy Birthday" over and over. I want him to feel all the love we have to give throughout the day, so everything he wanted he got it—a bite out of his birthday cake, being carried across the hotel, a glass of mango juice, an extra three minutes in the bath tub, etc. For Day 2, the plan is to spend the morning swimming at the beach and waterpark before heading out for our Cebu excursion. In between, my mother and her family would check in at the same hotel and join us. Unfortunately, our excursion turned out to be a lot more complicated than what I expected. After our morning swim, Jayson's . . .
GNZGA Goes to Cebu (Day 1)
This year, Jayson and I decided to take the kids to Cebu for our very first family vacation. The 6-month long wait felt like forever, but we're finally here enjoying the pools and water slides, the fancy-schmancy hotel beds and carpeted floors, the wide lawns and playgrounds. The kids are having a blast, and I'm "relaxing" after months of work and stress. We're staying at the Jpark Island Resort and Waterpark. Jayson and I visited this hotel seven years ago, so it felt a bit surreal to be back with the kids. I couldn't remember any of it when we arrived until Jayson pointed out the pool bar where we bought a mango shake while enjoying a swim all those years ago. The trip to Cebu also reaffirmed popular advice to bring kids on . . .
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