When I think of my 2015, I think of two things: learning and hunger. I say learning because I learned a ton more of myself this year than I have in a while. Leaving my comfort zone at work and actual comfort zone meaning my home and life for chunks of time (approximately 2 and a half months away from home, around 13-18 hour plane rides to get there each) gave me perspective on myself I never had to face before. I learned that I really liked my own space. That I need alone time to decompress after a long day. That being lost in a city isn’t so bad…

One of my oldest friends got married last Saturday. I’ve known her since I can remember. From running around and playing patintero, to having sleepovers at my place, to running to Hotel Intercontinental having a fancy slumber party with our friends right before we graduated college, Pau has been there all my life. We don’t spend every day together, we don’t even see each other more than twice a year sometimes, but I’ve seen her grow up to be a good woman, a doctor, even. I remember being in a jeep together one time. She was talking about her now husband. That he was her best friend, that there was…

My sister was cleaning out her closet earlier today and told me her rule of “If it makes me cringe, it goes.” and it got me thinking. If I had that mindset, all my journal, diaries of all the things I can’t write about online, things I wrote even before I had an online outlet, all thrown out. Because usually, what I write down are the things that are particularly poignant, i.e. embarrassing to see looking back, because they were written at the height of the emotion, or right after those moments, or in those weak moments of pain, and seeming tragedies. My 13 year old me liked to jot…

  The view from Bantayan island in Cebu was gorgeous. A sleepy tourist town, it is 4 hours away from Cebu City, with a 3 hour bus ride and 1 hour ferry ride to get there. It was my first time to visit my birthday weekend, after hearing about it for years, finally getting there for my birthday. You will find it hard to get lost there, as it is small and filled with very helpful locals most willing to help. They have their own recommendations of course, and you will be offered a ton of services, but on the whole, they’re just nice. It is also an island full…

  If you’re in the Philippines, you’ve probably spent hours and hours in traffic getting to places. This year, the traffic is a different kind of struggle, and the malls, like a zombie outbreak. We’re stressing out on an extreme level because everything is taking three times as long, and it’s scary going out there. Crimes against motorists, commuters are on a record high, and the average Juan can’t catch a break while the imprisoned rich are living 200% times better than us. I do think there is a lot to be thankful for. For the fact that we actually have people to meet and places to go to that…

Yesterday, in my daily Buzzfeed scan, I came across this article, of Sara Bareilles helping two couples propose (found here). It, quite honestly brought me to a few tears. While I’m not a fan of huge, public proposals, and this may be most public of all (it is a music video after all), these looked heartfelt, and the song is one I liked immediately after hearing it. The guy that proposed to his girlfriend made Post-It dioramas! The girl proposing to hers, included family and loved ones, and signs that reminded me of the scene in Love Actually, where a guy declares his love for the woman of his dreams,…