I’ve been pondering whether or not I’ll make a new year’s resolutions list for 2012. My track record of implementing resolutions isn’t really good. And well, after reviewing my 2011 resolutions, I must say that my record hasn’t changed. I only had 5 resolutions for 2011, and accomplished zero. Great, huh?

Now, I have no choice but to make my new year’s resolutions a must do list. Since I haven’t accomplished anything in my 2011 resolutions, they’ll be part of my first 5 must dos.

1. Lose weight! Instead of losing 10++ lbs as I promised last 2011, I actually gained 5 lbs. How nice. I really have to make it up to myself this year. Expected Result by end of 2012: Lost 20++lbs.

2. Save, save, save! My savings relatively stayed the same throughout 2011. I owe myself moolah. Expected Result by end of 2012: Reached my savings target.

3. Keep my room organize. Well it’s less messy than the previous year, but it still needs improvement. Expected Result by end of 2012: No more clutter!

4. Be more productive. I really need to find the time to do these or else, I’ll find myself dealing with the backlog a few years from now. Expected Result by end of 2012: Finished the college scrapbook, printed 2010 & 2011 pictures, placed the 2010 & 2011 pictures in the albums.

5. Blog more. Blogging 10 times every month is probably too much for me. I’m lowering this down to 5. Expected Result by end of 2012: Have 5 posts every month, revamped photoblog.

6. Shop less. It seems like I’ve been on a shopping spree for the entire year. Sadly, this is the direct effect of gaining the additional pounds. Gaining weight has definitely limited my wardrobe choices, thus, the need to shop for nicer fitting clothes. So I will really have to work on resolution #1 to accomplish this one. Expected Result by end of 2012: My shopping expenses will be 30% lower compared to 2011′s.

7. Spend less on coffee. Coffee has been my lifeline since college. It’s rare for me to last a day without coffee. However, my coffee expenditure has been ridiculous for the past few years. If I’m going to accomplish #2, I will need to stop spending so much on coffee. Expected Result by end of 2012: Coffee expenditure will be 50% lower compared to 2011′s.

8. Don’t be afraid of failure. Ever since I’ve stepped out of college, I’ve been dreaming & wanting to start several things, such as my establishing own business . However, I’ve always been fearful of a lot of things, mostly of failure. Well, I’ve come to realized that being afraid won’t get me anywhere. So this year, I’m going to swallow several courage pills and jump start my business idea. Expected Result by end of 2012: Started my own business.

I was gunning for a top 10 must do list but I’m already satisfied with this. Moreover, I already had a hard time accomplishing 5 resolutions last year, I don’t think it would be a great idea to stretch out the list further.

So 2012 has started. We all have 366 days to complete our resolutions. Good luck to us!

It’s the last day of 2011. As 2011 comes to an end, I can’t help but look back on this year with amazement and gratitude. This year has been given me a lot of wonderful memories, and awesome adventures. I may not have blogged about all the travels I’ve done for this year, but I certainly have a lot of pictures stowed in my hard drive. Let me give you a glimpse of my 11 memorable adventures of 2011.

1. Got lost in Bangkok, Thailand (read my Bangkok adventures here, here, here, and here)
   

   Elephant Ride!

2. Finally saw hot air balloons at the Hot Air Balloon Festival
   

   16th Hot Air Balloon Festival

3. Had a nice view of the Pyro Olympics
   

   Amazing ending for team Portugal

4. Celebrated my 25th birthday with family & friends
   

   My 25th Birthday

5. Experienced Singapore with my family
   

   at Singapore

6. Chilled at Boracay with my Ateneo girls
   

   Two rainbows at Boracay

7. Adventured at Coron, Palawan with the Awesome Outing Group (AOG)
   

   Underwater adventures at Coron

8. Bonded at Laiya, Batangas
   

   with the girls at Laiya, Batangas

9. Zoofari-ed at Subic
   

   Tiger!

10. Food tripped at Sonya’s Garden with the boyfriend
    

    The ultimate healthy buffet at Sonya's Garden

11. Relaxed at Bohol with my family and the tarsiers.
    

    Relaxed with the tarsiers at Bohol

I’m hoping 2012 could match my 2011 adventures. I’m excited for the new year!

Happy New Year everyone!

The holiday season is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. Not only do I get to reunite with my family and friends, I also get to give and receive presents!

For this year, I was really on a tight budget because I’m currently surviving on my savings (long story). Because of this, it proved to be a challenged to find nice, useful, and budget friendly gifts. After tirelessly shopping all over the Makati malls, I was able to get a cool thermal pack for my dad, a Rustans gold pouch for my mom, a nice Warehouse top for my sister, a cute keyboard cleaner for my brother, Addidas jersey for my boyfriend, colorful hair elastic bands and magic wallet for my girl friends. (Shucks, I forgot to take their pictures!) I hope everyone loved their gifts, and use them one of these days.

Now for my gifts, I got these pretty cool stuff.

Christmas Gifts from friends

*I won the Blackberry in a raffle but I still consider it as a gift. *

Christmas Gifts from family and the boyfriend

Christmas Gifts from cousins

I want to say THANK YOU! I really love everything that I got this Christmas. A lot of them are really useful – actually, I’ve already started using some of these items. So happy!

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

It seems impossible for one man to change the world. This generation, however, lived and experienced several chain of revolutions triggered by one resilient and creative visionary. It is quite an amazing feat for one man to drive change, and to ripple that change globally; Steve Jobs did. The reactions, and tributes from people all over the globe is a testament to how far and encompassing his influence has reached. He may have his detractors but it doesn’t change the fact that Steve Jobs built and left us a legacy.

I have been introduced to the world of Steve Jobs & Apple back in high school. I dreamt of owning one of those colorful iMac G3s but I couldn’t persuade my parents to get one. I finally got my first Apple product, the Powerbook G4, when I started university. The small powerful laptop had been my lifeline throughout my college life. Without Apple & Steve Jobs’ vision & leadership, that one constant thing in my college life wouldn’t have existed, and things may have turned out slightly different for me.

And for that simple yet significant thing, thank you, Steve Jobs.

PS: Two years ago, I bought my current 20-inch iMac, the long overdue upgrade from my then 5-year-old Powerbook G4. This blog post, “In Honor of Steve Jobs: Goodbye, Powerbook G4“, generally shares the same experience of what I’ve gone through with my own Powerbook G4. And yeah, it’s weird how we’ve come to be emotionally connected to specific gadgets.

So, another year has gone by. I’m practically a quarter of a century old. Life has been good, in general. Though this week is just stressful. Managing my time has become more complicated than ever. There’s always the constant juggling of things to do – work, social life, or other extra curricular activities. Even though a year has gone by, I feel like I still have so much to accomplish, so much to do.  And right now, I’m cramming – work, parties, and everything else. More time please! I wish I could do everything.

25 things to do at 25

1. Travel. My main destination target is really Europe. But I’m realistic enough to know that it’s not a destination I can afford to go to anytime soon. As for this year, I’ll be satisfied if I could visit any of these places – Shanghai, Beijing, South Korea, or any of the ASEAN countries.

2. Save! This has constantly been in my to do lists. I can say that I’m saving little by little, but I’m not reaching my savings goal. The main objective is to reach my goal this year.

3. Lose weight. Since I’ve made my new year’s resolutions, I’m proud to say that I have lost weight… to my surprise, actually. I’m not one to monitor my weight obsessively. So when I had to weigh in during the medical checkup requirement for the driver’s license renewal, I was surprised to see the figure. I actually lost 10lbs! hurray for me!

4. Finish my overdue mini projects. I have several ‘projects’ that I’ve put on hold. One is the scrapbook that has been in the making for nearly 3 years now. I need to finish that.

5. Prepare for graduate school. I have been postponing my application for a year now. It’s time to complete that and submit it!

6. Learn a new language. I’m actually taking up Mandarin lessons. I should be able to slowly converse in Mandarin.

7. Organize my room. As always, it’s in disarray. However, I’ve been able to slowly segregate and organize my things in categorized cabinets and drawers.

8. Spend a day bumming around. I’ve done this when I still had a summer vacation. But since I don’t have that privilege anymore, I think I should have a bum day at least once a year.

9. Cook. Just cause?

10. Read 12 books. One book a month for 12 months!

11. Take a martial arts class. I really want to try out Kali!

12. Do a NCIS marathon.

13. Do a LOST marathon.

14. Get myself an iTouch. I’ve been wanting one since it came out. I think I’ve delayed gratification far too long.

15. Be more positive. Think positive thoughts!

16. Explore the Philippines. I want to go to Sagada, Bohol, and more!

17. Improve on my photography. It’s an expensive hobby, but it’s something I really really want to do. I don’t care if hundreds of photographers or wanna be photographers have popped out in the advent of cheaper cameras, I still want to improve and grow as a photographer.

18. Go to Hidalgo. Just so I can check out the cameras there.

19. Go to Ocean Park. Just because I haven’t been there yet.

20. Learn more about stocks, mutual funds, and everything about investments. Aside from just saving, I want to learn about how to invest my money. Money doesn’t grow on trees, and despite being a savvy saver, it’s just not enough. With all the things I want to do, I need a passive income to support that.

21. Have a pamper myself day!

22. Give back to the community. It may be donating or volunteering for a good cause.

23. Treat my family to dinner. I’ll be able to cross this out on the day of my birthday. Haha!

24. Learn something new. What that is, I should find out soon.

25. Stay young!