Confessions Part 16: A Year of Full of Hellos

Last year, around this same time, I wrote a post about how 2017 was shaping up to be. I called it The Different Kinds of Goodbye because well it was full of goodbyes. It was still all about saying goodbye up to the end of the year because I found myself leaving the job I thought I wanted.

Now that we're in August 2018, I found myself looking back to how this year has been so far for me. This year seems to be about Hellos.

Hello second chances   

Last year, I decided to leave in search of greener work pastures. But I ended up realizing I was better off where I was before so I left the shiny new workplace and went back to the previous one. I've been back for 8 months now. The only difference is I am no longer part of the PR group. I'm part of the digital marketing group. New challenges. Same company. 

I also have a couple more travels lined up for this later part of the year. Going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Hongkong and Macau. I've been to all these places before. My first ever trip abroad brought me to Kuala Lumpur and my first travel with my mom was to the latter two. But here I am, going back!

Hello new adventures

This year, I'm finding myself exploring again. Remember when I went to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar? And when I celebrated my birthday with a trip to The Dessert Museum? 

I might have gone to Kuala Lumpur already but honestly I didn't enjoy it the first time around. It was work that brought me there - to chaperone winners of a contest and it was overnight. I did see Petronas Twin Towers and the Blue Mosque from afar and got to buy chocolates and a little souvenir but I didn't really get to experience much of it. 

Same goes for HK-Macau. I did see some places in both but I want to go back and explore some more. Take more photos too! 

Hello new friends

My best friend has been in a relationship for almost a year now! And that means I've known his partner, Dom for that long as well! He's a sweet guy who's crazy in love with my best friend and honestly who could blame him? I think he's nice and he's amusing with his corny jokes. I'm glad to know him. 

Rej is also a new friend. I've known him for awhile since he teaches the Body Jam class at the gym but we've never really interacted much 'til this year. He's a cool guy who seems to be a lot like Ryan   - personality wise. Who would've thought a spontaneous movie invite could bring me a new friend? 

Current List

Currently Reading: Origin by Dan Brown

I super love Dan Brown's Robert Langdon novels. They're so full of mystery and suspense! Plus the descriptions of the places that Professor Langdon finds himself going to just make me want to visit Europe and US more! If people who loved Koreanovelas went on a travel visiting famous places featured in those shows, I'd be the one doing a Robert Langdon travel itinerary. 

Almost done with the book. Well halfway through it at least. I would've honestly finished by now if only I didn't have to wake up early the next morning. I am super intrigue with this story and I can't wait to find out what happens! 

    

Currently Thinking About: The new Plains and Prints x Mark Bumgarner collection

So local fashion brand, Plains and Prints recently launched their newest collection - a collaboration with fashion designer, Mark Bumgarner and I love the designs! Have you seen them? I'm honestly a fan of Plains and Prints. I love how chic, playful and colorful their designs are.

Currently Saving Up For: Well my travels of course! 

I promised myself that I will not depend on the salary I will get right before I travel for my pocket money. I even downloaded an app where I set a target amount to save for my trips and a deadline to which I should have met my goal. 

It's called Saving Made Simple. Just as its name says, it makes keeping a record of my savings simple to manage. I'm actually not just using it to keep track of my travel funds but for all other savings I have. 

Recent Watch: Like Father 

It's a new Netflix original film that stars Kelsey Grammer and Kristin Belle. You have to watch it! It's such a tear jerker! Also it makes you realize that while work is important, there are other aspects of your life you just shouldn't forget to make time for.

Here's a trailer:

I also did watch Veronica on Netflix. I heard claims it's so scary that a lot of people can't bring themselves to finish it. It's from a true story. But well in my honest opinion, the movie was dragging. 

Recent Blog Post: Before I Go to Sleep book review 

It's a psychological thriller that's worth reading. Trust me. 

What's on your current plate? I would love to know.  

Book Review: Before I Go to Sleep

Still keeping up with my Goodreads challenge to read 12 books by end of 2018, I want to tell you guys now about my latest read: Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson. This is a pre-loved book which I bought from a friend of mine at the gym for only Php100. I still have a lot of books I bought from The Big Bad Wolf Books sale earlier this year but I found my interest veering away from my usual chick lits. Not that I don't want chick lits anymore but I guess my reading palate was looking for something different. I think that happens to the best of us book lovers from time to time - wanting for something new than what we usually read. 

How would you feel if every night that you fall asleep, you wake up in the morning not knowing who you are, where you are and what has happened to your life? I would most likely be scared to sleep. Well that's Christine's life.

The Plot (from Goodreads): Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle-aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up with must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories. 

Every day, Christine must begin again the reconstruction of her past. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more unbelievable it seems. 

This was definitely a different book for me to read because when I'm not reading chick lits, I'm usually finding myself drawn to murder mystery books like Agatha Christie and lately, crime thrillers thanks to James Patterson. Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller. 

On the first few pages of the book, I was already intrigued as to how the whole story would turn out especially after she found her journal where a warning "Don't trust Ben" was written. My eyes widened in surprise when I read those three letter words. I mean, why not trust Ben? This was her husband we are talking about! Why would she not want to trust the man who's been by her side throughout the ordeal? Why would she not trust the man who has to endure explaining every single day to her who she was, where she was, what happened to her and who he was in her life. 

I think that having someone you can trust is a very important thing when you have amnesia. After all, you'll be dependent on this person to tell you about the forgotten pieces of your life. It's a very scary idea - not knowing who you are, who those people around you are and realizing that you lost a huge chunk of your life's memories. So it's even scarier to think that you can't trust the person you're living with to tell you the whole truth about you. 

In terms of how this book ended, I'm honestly not sure what to feel about it. It has a nice ending but I guess I was maybe expecting for more. But then again, perhaps the ending is more realistic. I believe this book took a lot of research just to be made into a story so why should the ending not be as close to reality? 

What I'm surprised with is that the reviews of this book on Goodreads is a mix. I expected it to be a five star book. That's how I rated this book. But there were those who thought it was badly written and that there were a lot of inconsistencies to it. 

A quick look on Google and I found that this book had actually been turned into a Hollywood movie starring Nicole Kidman in 2014. 

Seems like it was a pretty exciting movie to watch to. But I don't think it was shown in the Philippines, was it? I'll have to find myself a copy of this movie so I can watch and see if the movie adaptation really did do this book justice. 

With Before I Go to Sleep now added on to my list of books I've finished reading this 2018, that puts my 2018 Goodreads Challenge to:

Have you read this book before or seen the movie? If you want to buy this book, you can shop for it through Amazon.

The Sweetest Birthday So Far at the Dessert Museum, S Maison

One stormy day in July back in 1985, a baby came into this world. Fast forward to years later and that baby is all grown up and officially 33. Whenever my birthday comes rolling around, depending on my mood, I either throw a party or make it a low key celebration. During my 31st birthday, I threw a Murder Mystery party. Last year was a videoke party with select people. This year, my birthday celebration was simply a dinner with some of my closest friends.

But when your birth month comes rolling around, I'm sure you also receive various promotions from different brands so you can celebrate your birthday by giving them your hard earned money. Ha! Ha! Well as I was browsing through Instagram one day, I came upon The Dessert Museum's post that for this month, all July babies are free with the condition that we bring a paying companion with us. Since I've always wanted to visit the place ever since I learned about it, I brought along another my other friend, who's also a July birthday celebrant and two more friends willing to pay for a visit at The Dessert Museum.   

That's Dom, my friend who's birthday is also July. Actually, the day of our Dessert Museum visit is his birthday so you could say he too celebrated his birthday in the sweetest way possible.

While it's called The Dessert Museum, it's not really a museum though there are some trivia about desserts that you'll find written on the walls. This pastel colored place is really meant more for getting your photos taken around to post on your social media accounts like Instagram.

This group photo of us (Dom, me, Ryan and Mai) was taken by the nice staff of The Dessert Museum. I guess they're trained to do this sort of thing for the visitors of the place. It's not obvious in the photo but I was honestly a little scared of being on that upside down lollipop. I'm such a klutz so the risk of encountering an accident while on it or while climbing it is high. Plus my sandals didn't hold much friction on the top's shiny coating.

The place is filled with sweetness from lollipops, donuts to candy cottons! And yes, you can eat some desserts in here too so there's a treat not only for the eyes but for your sweet tooth as well.

We went on a weekend and the place was packed! But don't worry, you'll be able to take photos without strangers accidentally photo bombing you as the staff controls the number of people who go inside each room. Plus we let the others take their turns first and move on to the next room before we take our photos so we can have the place to ourselves.

Each pastel colored room is just so worth taking photos of! Here are some more photos of us in The Dessert Museum.

This definitely was a sweet 33rd birthday. And it's by far, my sweetest one yet. If you're a July baby, there's still time to head over The Dessert Museum and get in for free! The Dessert Museum is located at the Ground Floor, S Maison, Conrad Hotel, SM Mall of Asia Complex.



What I Wore:

Romper from Maldita
Sandals from Melissa Shoes

Confessions Part 15: Rainy Days and Birthday

It's been raining like crazy these past few days in the city. I would say that I'm not the best fan of the rainy season even though my birth month is July which means a whole lot of rain. Luckily these days, I come armed with the right clothes for the season.

Seen here wearing my favorite pastel green parka from Topshop and pastel green Eton from Butterfly Twists. I swear it's only a coincidence that my boots match my jacket. I bought them on two separate occasions and did not think about how the color would match the other.

Of course in this weather, a parka is a good idea because water slides off of it - my arms are protected from wearing a wet outfit which usually happens even when I'm holding an umbrella. As for my boots, well with non stop rains, there's usually a little bit of flooding involved so my pair comes in handy for keeping my feet warm and dry!

In other news, recently celebrated my birthday with a dinner out with some friends. I'm grateful to be 33 and to be surrounded by people I care about. It was a pretty low key celebration compared to my previous years when I threw a videoke party and a murder mystery party. Though I did feel a slight twinge of sadness remembering last year and how excited I was to celebrate it. It was a year full of possibilities for me both in the career and romance department. A year later and I realized the career change I chose was not exactly the best move to make and the guy I thought could be a new love interest - well that's gone kaput too since we had a falling out earlier this year. My sadness is more brought about by the latter but I am slowly coming to terms with what happened.

Anyway if you feel like getting to know me, you might want to read my last confession where I shared 33 things about me.

Some of the awesome people I have in my life I call friends

 
Current List

Currently reading: Origin by Dan Brown

I started re-reading LA Candy by Lauren Conrad which I started way back in 2011 but never got to finish as I was just reading it in Powerbooks but then just recently I saw that Dan Brown's latest Robert Langdon novel is now available on paperback so I had to get it. Lucky me, I got it on a discount since National Bookstore is having a sale which runs 'til July 31!

Currently watching: American Horror Story

I know this series has been running for awhile now (I think Season 8 now?) but I've only just begun since I saw that it's finally available on Netflix! Looks intriguing and exciting!

Next on the blog: My weekend at the Dessert Museum

July babies are free this month so I finally convinced my friends to go. It's a real awesome place to take photos worth sharing on Instagram. I took a lot! Will share those on the blog soon. Meanwhile, do checkout my IG for some of the photos I've already shared.