Photo by Boris Pavlikovsky from Pexels


November went by in a blur and now in just a couple of days, it’s going to be December. Full blown Christmas season. In fact, it’s already the 1st Sunday of Advent. Am I feeling Christmas-y? Not really feeling it as much as I did in the previous years. I think my Mom isn’t feeling it so much as well since she’s decided not to put up the Christmas tree this year. It is gonna be a strange Christmas. It’s a strange year overall. 
Anyway, here are six things I want to tell you about how my month went by: 

1. Tried Starbucks Baked Apple Latte
When Starbucks releases their annual Red Cups, it’s usually one of the first things I do to get in the Christmas feeling. So as per my usual tradition, I tried the new holiday drink, Baked Apple Latte. I have to say though, it was an underwhelming flavor of drink. Still Toffee Nut and Peppermint Mocha for me.    
2. Got the highest pageviews number on my blog this month and adsense earnings too

The highest pageview I got ever was about 13,000 for this blog. It was driven by a blog post that has to be my least favorite blogpost ever because it was about a tragic news about someone I knew. That was years ago and now, that number has been surpassed.
I also got the biggest jump on my adsense earnings this month. I find both these developments awesome. So thank you dear readers for helping me get those numbers.
3. Getting more and more into gardening 
My red nerve fittonia had grown so lush that I decided it was just time to propagate it and I was finally able to use the small pots that were just stocked up in our house. I enjoyed that so much I went and bought more pots online and propagated and repotted a few more plants that are now happily displayed inside our house. 

Just a couple of my newly propagated plants 
My vegetable plants are also still nicely growing in our backyard. It was able to withstand the recent strong typhoon that hit Metro Manila. 
And I still found those not enough and found myself two more indoor plants to take care of. Meet my pink polka dot plant with its matching pink pot and my green nerve fittonia.

My pink polka dot plant is sitting pretty on my window sill and it is a lovely sight to see in the morning when I open my eyes 
I’m a little sad about this green fittonia baby though. It started so lush but now there’s only 1 stem full of leaves still standing. I’m hoping it will survive. 

 

4. Found another series to binge watch on 
Netflix series and movies have really been getting me through this whole pandemic. I’m adding Dawson’s Creek to that ever growing list of series that’s getting me through. I used to love this series when I was a teenager. I shipped Joey and Pacey as a couple before and re-watching this show now as an adult only reinforced that shipping. Pacey is a really good teen boyfriend. 
5. My 2020 GoodReads Reading Challenge achieved and surpassed 
I haven’t been able to reach my reading goal for the past few years now. So many other things I’ve let get in the way before. But considering I’m still continuously sheltering in place, I’ve been able to take all this free weekend time to do some reading. Amazingly, I’ve felt more motivated to read. If you find yourself in a reading slump, maybe these tips can help you out. 

6. Cooked my first carbonara 
My mother’s a greak cook. But me? Well, I’ve never been able to cook anything more than instant foods like noodles and hotdog in my life! I’ve always wanted to try my hand in the kitchen. But also every time that I want to try, I’d find that my mom was also too busy to teach. 
Now we have nothing but time. And I have successfully cooked my first carbonara! Had my cousin and uncle try it too and got good feedback. Definitely want to try to practice my cooking skills more so I can really get the hang of this because it feels amazing to be able to cook more than just the instant ones.  
   

Just here to proudly show off my carbonara creation 😊

7. Bought a comic book
Since the lockdown began, I have been penny pinching. No buying non-essential stuff! But this month, I made a little exception to that and I allowed myself to buy a new Archie comics. I love Archie comics. Archie and the gang are soooo funny.

 

8. Tried a home service foot spa 
I also made this other exception to my no spending on non essentials rule – I tried a home service foot spa and pedicure. Well I kind of needed this. My big toe’s infection healed a couple of months ago already but my nail was still dark and thought it was dead already. I just couldn’t take seeing that dark part of my big toe anymore. Luckily, I discovered VIP Nails Manila which offers home service. 
I booked an appointment via Facebook and I was happy with the overall service – from the community manager that constantly got me updated from the moment I booked the service to the nail technician who went to my house to do my nails. I didn’t even have to prepare anything except for the electrical outlet. Will definitely be trying their service again. 
So that’s my November. How did November go for you? And are you feeling Christmas season already?