My journey with tuberculosis (TB)

I'm narrating my story to help spread awareness and share my experience and the lessons I learned. Please do not use this as basis for self diagnosis as this does not in any way intend to substitute a medical expert's advice or provide misleading information. Please seek a medical expert's advice! Keep these in mind while reading my story.

I gave birth in our hometown and my husband and I started to live together in Cebu when our baby's still 3 months old. As first time parents, we thought we could do everything with ourselves that time.

It's all about the good food at 30 Kitchen + Bar

What easily comes to my mind when I think of 30 Kitchen is its superb food! Though they have a relatively small place, you wouldn't mind as it makes a cozy environment - a perfect place to indulge on food for comfort.

I first visited 30 Kitchen + Bar when they were still located in a village in Banilad, Cebu City. It was when one of my former colleagues treated us for lunch on her 30th birthday celebration (sounds like a clever idea right?). I remembered I had a rice meal and tasted on a French toast with nutella dessert.

The importance of an Emergency Fund and how it helped my family

When i was young and free with no major responsibilities, I haven't really thought of saving for the rainy days. My mantra was: live for the present. 

I admit, I am really a spender during my younger days. Though I'm aware of the importance of saving, I keep delaying setting aside a portion of my income because every payday, there's always something I have to spend my money on. That was the state of my finances.

Admit it or not, we Filipinos have a bad habit called the mañana habit, where we decide to do things at a later time. And, I'm guilty of having that. What we don't realize is that the best time to act is NOW. And because of the recent changes in my life, I have come to strongly believe that procrastination will get me nowhere.

Affordable Bohol Tour Package: Exploring Bohol in 3 days

This vacation happened on summer of 2011. I can't remember the exact dates but it was around last week of April to first week of May. Please note that the package tour rates and inclusions, and other fees and rates in Bohol may have changed over the years.

We were already looking forward to my father's retirement, so we talked about where we could have a grand vacation. It was the best way we could think of to celebrate the moment that we could already spend a lot more time with our father. I'm the eldest child of 3 siblings and even before I turned one, he was already working away from us. He was an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) for more than 5 years before he landed a job in a big company in Manila.

We wanted value for money, beautiful scenery, nature trip and the beach! And we thought that Bohol was the perfect place where we can have it all.

5 most important life lessons I learned when I became an unexpected mother

When I became a mother (unexpectedly), my life completely turned around.

My family, friends, and the people I have worked with know I'm a control freak. I wanted to plan everything out so I laid every detail of my life.

I thought I had it running according to my plans. I thought I had already realized my purpose. I thought I'm already walking toward the path of my dreams.

But, I was completely wrong.

Detour in Samal Island, Davao

In life, some things don't go as planned. But unexpected things can sometimes turn out to be one of the best experiences you could ever have in your life. This is the best way to describe what happened to our Surigao del Sur planned trip.

Me and my sister Kit has planned this trip to Surigao last year. We were both very excited because seeing the Enchanted River in Hinatuan and the Britania Island in San Augustin is on our bucket list. But due to a last minute change in one of our companion's work schedule, we have to cancel it.

Though very disappointed and with a heavy heart, we just thought of other destination to go to. And, Samal Island was on top of our list.

My son's first birthday celebration: not the usual kiddie party

It was an extremely exciting time for me and my husband when our baby boy's first birthday is fast approaching.

He was born on January (2014), and we thought that celebrating his birthday is the best way to start the year with a bang!

You might think that we celebrated it with a usual grand party - complete with a theme, a hilariously huge birthday cake decorated with popular cartoon characters, a compulsory costume for invited kids, party hosts and clowns, balloons, party hats, and loot bags, and all that you can think of for the precious little one's first birthday celebration.

But, no.