I opened my Twitter account last Friday morning and found that almost everyone in my feed is tweeting ‘#ItsMoreFuninthePhilippines’. Apparently, the Department of Tourism just launched it’s new tourism campaign – It’s more fun in the Philippines.

It's more fun in the Philippines!

My initial thought was that it’s too simple, and wordy. But then again, it works. The new slogan is quirky, understandable, and relatable. Instantly, the tag line became an Internet hit. You’ll find Filipinos in Facebook and Twitter sharing their own reasons why it’s more fun in the Philippines. You can find several amusing ones here, and here.

However, just a few hours after the launch, the campaign was caught in a copycat controversy. Someone unearthed the 1951 tourism ad of Switzerland bearing the line “It’s more fun in Switzerland”, and accusations of unoriginality and copying ensued.

As for me, I don’t really care if it was mere coincidence or an outright copy of the old ad. The slogan works. Besides, the phrase “it’s more fun” is too generic; it’s not surprising that it was already used before. Anyway, what really matters is that our target audience, the tourists, get the message – that when they visit the Philippines, they’ll have fun. The ultimate goal is to entice and convince tourists to choose the Philippines as their main destination of choice.

For all those who still have a problem with the DOT’s new campaign, I suggest you read this article, “Some Think #It’sMoreFuntoBash. I DISAGREE“. We really need to stop bashing this campaign, and start supporting it.

“Sure, you have all the right to bash this one and assert your own idea. You live in this country and, ultimately, you are a co-owner of whatever country brand our government rolls out.”

At the end of the day, we want the tourists to come to our country. So if you’re looking for several reasons to visit the Philippines, check out the 25 things that are more fun in the Philippines.

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!

Starbucks 2012 Planner

After 13 days of collecting stickers, I finally got my Starbucks Planner for 2012. The race to complete the required number of stickers for the planner is one holiday tradition that I couldn’t get rid of.

Starbucks Planner 2005 - 2011

Since 2005, I’ve been gulping down Starbucks coffee to collect their planners. Some I’ve used, some I got for collection purposes. I’ve never really skipped a year because I don’t really like having incomplete collections. (Yes, I’m aware that I don’t have the 2004 edition. Too bad I can’t turn back time to get it).

Anyway, I can’t wait to use this one. It’s small, and it won’t be such a hassle to carry it around everywhere. Majority of you would probably tell me to just get a smartphone, but I still like doodling and sticking small memorabilia to my planner / journal. Yeah, I’m ‘old school’ and the Starbucks Planner 2012 is perfect for that.