Month: July 2014

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Weekend Story: Puzzle Mansion and Mushroomburger, Tagaytay

Last Saturday, the hubby and I drove up to Tagaytay to meet with his high school BFF Jeff and his family. They were staying at One Tagaytay Place for the weekend to celebrate the birthday of his wife Karen. The initial plan was to dip in the hotel’s pool and have merienda after but we ended up visiting a puzzle museum which turned out to be more fun.

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puzzle here, puzzle there, puzzles everywhere!

Puzzle Mansion is literally filled with puzzles. Did you know that the world’s largest puzzle collection owned by a Filipina named Gina Gil Lacuna is housed there? I bet you did because it was all over the news in 2012 after it was certified by the Guiness Book of World Records.

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Home Improvement Project: Front Extension

Armed with the PhilHealth refund check we received in May, some extra money and additional funds from my PILs, we have finally pushed through the construction of our front extension. We hired our old contractor Ronald and his team for the job which took almost three weeks to finish.

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the finished product (sorry it’s been raining a lot these days, hence, the sinampay)

We built concrete fences on both sides, a metal gate with matching metal grills in front, polycarbonate roofing and tiled flooring. We also asked Ronald to put a hanging sink with wooden counter tops (using my MIL’s narra scraps) in one corner so we could do some cooking and cleaning outside the house. This will come in handy when we’d have guests coming over or we’d suddenly decide to hold a last-minute party with our families.

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Tea Party for my Godchildren

Last Christmas 2013, I threw a tea party for my godchildren at our Bacoor home. (I know, super late post!) 🙂 It was attended by just two of my godchildren along with their mommies and several cousins. I think I had a total of 10 guests then which I fed with my own cooking and some store-bought fruits, nuts and candies. Of course, we had tea as drink to complete the experience.

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the hostess (a.k.a. yours truly) with my simple spread

It was my first time to host a tea party and it proved to be fun and challenging for me at the same time. Because the tea party was scheduled at 3pm, I went to the supermarket the day before to buy the supplies I needed. On the day of the event itself, I woke up early to bake some chocolate chip cookies and a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, prepare some bite-sized whole wheat sandwiches and whip up my special linguini carbonara.

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No to Mindless Spending

Aside from cutting back on my expenses to save more money, I took on the challenge of a shopping fast because I wanted to say no to mindless spending. I can be the worst impulsive shopper if I want to, you know. But I realized it would just lead me to nowhere in my journey to financial freedom, so I decided to stop.

We all have an imaginary (sometimes physical) list of things we want to acquire or have. It could be a designer bag, a set of expensive jewelry, a piece of modern furniture, a hi-tech gadget, or a trendy home appliance. Mindless spending, or in this case, shopping, happens when we suddenly come face to face with a particular item in our so-called “list.” Normally, such item is hard to come by that when we chance upon it, the tendency is we buy it right away without second thoughts for fear that such an opportunity won’t present itself again. It’s like a moment of destiny when the universe conspires to make things happen for us. I’m telling you, I’ve experienced it a lot of times and the impulsive shopper in me always won.

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Shopping Fast: June Report

Note: I started my self-imposed shopping ban on January 1, 2014. I made it official online through this post, and called it a “shopping fast.” I also shared there the reasons why I took the challenge and laid down some rules to guide me while on it.

Shopping Fast: January Report
Shopping Fast: February Report
Shopping Fast: March Report
Shopping Fast: April Report
Shopping Fast: May Report

Hello July! Please be kind to me like how the past months have been. Anyway, back to my shopping fast report. I think I’m getting used to this no shopping thing. For the whole month of June, I have not shopped for anything fancy or cute or beautiful. You know, the things that are included in my guidelines. I did it and I’m gonna do it until November 30th, the end of this shopping challenge.

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