An expanded local destination travel wish list

Recently, it has been featured in the news that the Immigration will require more documents to be presented for travelling tourist Filipinos and the first and last thing that came to mind was that they are a bunch of douche bags. Yup, nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, with that in mind, I realized that it can actually be a good thing since people like me, who have considered going  to nearby countries for travel, will put those plans on hold at the moment and step up the urge to travel to local destinations.

I am lucky to have been able to visit a few of those destinations, thanks to promo fares and stuff. Nonetheless, I dont want to use the term "bucketlist" because I have accepted that our destinations would highly depend on the available promo fares and the date.  To cut the story short, here's a list that expands that list further, a list of places I wish to visit in the years to come:

1. Cagayan De Oro-Camiguin

CDO is such a bustling city and after our awesome trip to Davao last year, we are definitely excited to visit another city in Mindanao! Of course, I wouldn't say no to an opportunity to hit the beach, in this case, Camiguin. Based on initial google searches, Camiguin can actually be reached through a number of routes but CDO remains as one of the most used routes.

The famous sand bar in White Beach

2. Northern Cebu

I have been to Cebu twice- once in passing as we waited for our flight and the second one with hiking buddies and then bf(now hubby). However, we were only able to explore the southern part- Osmena Peak, Moalboal and Kawasan Falls, and this time, I hope we can visit either Malapascua or Bantayan. Lack of budget also stopped us from doing the edge coaster in Crown Regency but when we do it the third time around, I'm hoping we can do that ^^

BRING.ME.HERE.IMMEDIATELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY!

3. Carabao Island and Boracay

I have long wanted to go to Carabao Island but recently did I find out that it can actually be visited via Boracay. I have been to Boracay but it wouldn't hurt to revisit the place and Carabao Island as a bonus.

One of 'em cheesy photos before we got married ^^

4. Davao-Bukidnon

We had such a good time in Davao and given that it is such a big city(we were hardly able to explore it), I am definitely eager to go back. Our van driver also told us Bukidnon is not that far by land, so we are hoping to couple the two destinations. Travel buddies and I would probably do a "repeat" of things that we enjoyed in Davao plus some interesting destinations in Bukidnon- like the pitcher plant farm and pineapple plantations

ze giant pineapple in Camp Phillips

5. Dumaguete-Siquijor

There's not much to see in Dumaguete(or maybe I just havent googled properly) but it is the gateway to beautiful Apo Island and  Siquijor. Siquijor had a bad sound to it due to urban legends but a few google searches told me I had to visit this place. 

Salagdoong Beach, Siquijor

Other places in the country I would love to visit are Coron, Batanes and revisit Bohol and Puerto Princesa, but given that I promised hubby that we'd limit our out of town trips to one per year, still got a lot of time before I blog about those, don't I?

Lemme know whacha think and know about these spots.. Ciao!

Going gaga over house makeovers!

I posted a series of entries about Reese's safari birthday but with the not-so-recent turn of events regarding the house we're going to buy, we finalized that our little boy won't have a swimming party on his first birthday. In as much as the thought of a full blow safari themed party excites me, reality bites and we need as much cash as we can before we move in to the house by May. We'd still buy a cake and do the photoshoot (given how gwapo our baby boy is :P) but the house is our financial priority now and not a party.

Our little one is such a water baby. He enjoyed his first beach trip immensely!

With this mind, I had to divert my attention from jungle themed goodies to house makeovers! The house that we will buy was unoccupied for about two years so even though it was in top condition before the owner migrated to the US, it now needs a lot of work and TLC. Nonetheless I am hopeful that we can move in before May 18- Reese's exact birthday, since we also plan to do the housewarming on that day. Below are some pics of how I hope we can transform his house into our home :)

1. For the common areas such as the kitchen, dining room and bathroom, I wanted to stick to neutral colors and I wanted the colors to jive. I think the palette below would do well with our exisiting furniture- a black LCD tv and black and cream sofa ^^

For the kitchen, in as much as I hate cleaning, I think it should always look immaculate and so colors close to white should be our top picks

For the bedrooms, I wanted them to have more "character" so I looked for colors which were bolder and brighter. We'd probably use the brighter colors on one side and use lighter shades on two other sides

I'm really hoping that hubby would agree to the first one as our bedroom since I was thinking that the second color is more apt for Reese's room. See, I have trouble getting up in the morning as is and I imagine it'll be much harder if the color was calming like this:

Of course, I also looked for pegs for other parts of the house like the bathroom and the dining room though I wasnt able to take a shot of the two. 

Not really a fan of orange but somehow I think that this would work well...

I think black or any dark colored furniture looks really good and with that in mind, I picked this since the picture shows black dining set ^_^

Honestly, it feels like wedding preps all over again- it's so hard to fall asleep because I'll be thinking about how all these ideas would come together.. Giddy giddy up!

A mother's struggle: To spoil or not to spoil my child

Reese turned 10 months today and as crazy as it may sound, I(spare hubby since we havent really talked about it) am already having issues of having to spoil him- mostly in ways he does not even understand and cannot remember yet. 

Today I dropped by a bangketa to buy coin banks for myself and an officemate. Lo and behold I bought more than coin banks and found myself holding a toy car for Reese. The toy car was just 10 pesos so the question was not the price but this seemingly building habit of giving things he did not ask for and worse, he does not completely need- even taking out the "practicality" issue of toys because he already has a ton of toys at home.

I am worried that I will continue to be like this in the future, that I will keep buying things he does not need, I cannot afford, things that are less practical or things that should be earned but given to him the easy way. Let's not even get into things that he want because as early as now, he sometimes gets his way even if he isn't supposed to. Somehow, it is easier to let him eat that extra cracker even though he's full than to put up with his whining. 

I am deeply contemplating whether we should push through with his first birthday party. A few weeks ago, an opportunity to buy a house presented itself and everything was perfect except for the fact that we are highly relying on my parents to help us come up with the money initially and then to avail of a housing loan. The practical thing to do is to forego the party and just use our fund to help augment the amount but my stage mother genes are crying in protest. I cannot easily let go of the whole concept- the customized bubble bottle labels hubby and I printed and pasted, the Madagascar stickers I got and the jars I bought for the candy buffet. My head is still swirling with images of Reese wading in a swimming pool and children having a good time in his party. I wish there was an off button to it all, so that it won't have to pain me as much.

In as much as I want to pretend that I can stop it, I know for a fact that I would still have struggles like this in the future. As I have said time and again, parents can either love their children so much that they would give them the world or love them so little that they dont give a damn about their children. I love Reese with all of my heart and I just hope that somehow I would learn to be a responsible parent as well- a parent who disciplines her child the way my parents have done to me and one who knows boundaries and can say no. For the mean time, I would let the growling stage mother take the center spot and bask in the glory of bringing a 10-peso toy car to her 10th month old boy.

I should probably have another one in my work desk since it cheers me up knowing that
my darling boy is playing with this at home as well.

Forgive me for the cheesiness, he just turned 10th month today and coupled with PMS, they are the perfect recipe to a post like this.  :)

Tired. Just tired.

For about the last six weeks or so, Reese has been waking up at about 4am, sometimes even earlier every morning without fail. He would be demanding in the sense that he doesnt want to play if Arnold and I are sleeping, and wants one of us to bring him downstairs to his crib and play with him. 

Boy Likot, Boy Kulit and Boy daldal who hardly likes to stay put

There were days when it was okay and I would manage after snoozing in the car for a few minutes. But of late, it has been starting to build up, and weeks and days of being sleep deprived are creeping up on me.

I convince myself that it would be better on weekends, but weekends are usually filled with "personal" duties and tasks- buying tv for my grandmother, visiting the in-laws, getting the sister ready for prom, 3 day sale and what have you. Dreams of spending the whole day in bed are elusive, non-existent and close to impossible that an imaginary bitch(or possibly existential) might be laughing her head off somewhere as she watches my misery.

Ze sister on her prom day :)

Most people say they can get by on 5-6 hours of sleep everyday but I can't. I don't want to. I yearn the days when sleep was a privilege and not a luxury, not a treasure that was out of bounds. It sounds coo-coo but I wish people would invent pills or energy drinks that make up for the lack of sleep, not by giving you energy but by multiplying the effects of the sleep a person's get- like telling my body that I actually had 8 hours of sleep instead of 4. or 5. 

Today, my boss in my part time job sent me a message that she is alarmed about me being unable to meet the daily deadline and it gives me the creeps to think that I might get fired. I have been doing this raket for four years and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon, as it provides an outlet to continue practicing my teaching profession in one way or another.

So please, dear God, help me find a way to have more sleep without sacrificing time with Reese. or work. or our finances. Otherwise, please send a magic lamp with a genie that would magically allow my body to accept that days of 8 or more hours of sleep are simply a thing of the past. Calling my fairy godmother, if you have been hiding somewhere and have been planning on revealing yourself, now would be the perfect time to do so.