I’m behind my normal blogging post, but I’m catching the wagon. Let me share with you my four favorites, a book, an app, an organizational tool and an internet find. Let’s get started.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

This book belongs to my re-readable book list - list of books that I’ll read again for reference and inspiration. If you wanted to awaken your creativity, this book is a must read. The instant #1 New York Times Bestseller discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

I do love to read books in google play because I can always read the first pages or chapter for free and see if it is something I would love to finish. Big Magic is one of the books I purchased even before finishing the free chapter. You can tell, I really love this book. Big Magic inspired me to call myself an artist (because I never felt entitled to be called as one) and to find joy in creating. You can check the link below for the free sample of the book through Google Play.  

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Elizabeth_Gilbert_Big_Magic?id=IVMmBgAAQBAJ&hl=en

The subscribers of my blog get an exclusive excerpt from the book. I find it inspirational, especially for creatives who feel like giving up. If you haven’t subscribed yet, clink the link to subscribe now.

link: http://eepurl.com/brS6Cb

Health App & Activity App

One of the habits I’m trying to build for myself is to keep an active lifestyle. Since I became a mom, I stayed indoors most of the time and live a pretty solid sedentary life. Our bodies are designed to move. Studies have shown that people who take fewer than 5,000 steps are considered sedentary or inactive. Between 5,000 to 7,499 steps daily have a low active lifestyle. 7,500 to 9,999 are somewhat active and those who reached 10,000 steps are the active ones. That’s why I love the Health Apps, particularly the Activity App, because it helps me know my numbers, keep track of my movements and eventually reached my health goals.

The Activity App has 3 activity rings which represent your activity goals - moves, exercise and stand goals, that you must close daily by reaching the set goals of steps, minutes of exercise and a number of times to stand in a day. This will ensure that you are living an active life. I’ve been using it for 3 weeks now and I haven’t closed all the rings/goals yet. But hey, I checked online and even active people are having trouble closing the rings as well. The good thing is, this encouraged me to be more active and to be constantly be reminded to move.

This App works with Apple Watch and I can say that the Apple Watch is totally worth it because of this App.

Kikki K Planner

I’ve been eyeing a Kikki K Planner for over a year or two, but I never make it to the website’s Buy button because of the price. But my good husband finally bought gifted this to me when he went to Singapore a few months back! It’s a Pale Pink Leather Personal Planner in size Large that includes an 18-month perpetual calendar and 7 tab sections that can be customized. You can check the link below for details.

I’m a planner person, I’ve been using a planner since grade school (I have a diary and a schedule taped on our wall) and it helped me a lot to stay on top of everything. What I like about the Kikki K planner is its ring bound so you can add pages if you need to and scrap pages that you don’t need. You can customize the tabs by adding separate tabs for Finances, Goals, Projects and others. It’s like having a planner, notebook, to-do list all in one place. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that its gorgeous tool for planning.

On the downside, I find it pricey. However, since this is refillable, you can use it not just for one year, but maybe a lifetime, so taking price per years of use, suppose you will use it for more than a year, makes the price reasonable. The other downside to some could be the size, the Large size is definitely not travel friendly. To me, it’s not really a problem because I don’t bring my planner when I’m out and about. I used it when I’m brain dumping (the process from David Allen’s Getting Things Done method), planning and updating my goals.

A little disclaimer, by no means I’m encouraging anyone to splurge on a planner. I’m even telling you now that you don’t need a planner if you don’t use one. You can go with whatever works for you. But if you are a planner person like me, don’t shy away from quality things that will make you do what you love to do. We ought to find joy in things that matters to us. To me, writing things down is an everyday chore, planning is vital and having my perfect planner gives joy to what may seem to be a daunting task.

 https://www.kikki-k.com/leather-personal-planner-large-pink

Reviews.com

Whenever I want to buy something, I spent hours researching the internet. So when I came across www.reviews.com , I’m totally hooked. The site gives a thorough research, consulted experts and has elaborate reviews. If you are someone like me who tend to go for well-thought purchase by checking a lot of information, go ahead and check their site. Since winter is coming, I’m thinking of updating my skincare routine, so I’m checking on their face moisturizers review https://www.reviews.com/face-moisturizer/

That’s about it for this month. We’re down to last two months of the year, but I still have a lot to share with you. Thank you for visiting my blog. Keep coming and I’ll see you in my next post!

It’s time for monthly favorites again! Time flies so fast, we’re almost reaching the half of the year already. How’s your year going so far? If you ask me, my year is going as planned, for most days I’m doing something that contribute to the progress of my goals.

One of the keys in achieving your goal is being equipped with the right tools, such as apps, gears and gadgets that give you leverage.

For this month, I’d share with you some stuff that helps me keep in line with my financial goals. Let’s jump straight into it!

MONEY APP on iTunes

This is the app I’m using to monitor our finances and it’s close to being a legit accounting system. Trust me on this, I’m an accountant and Finance is totally my jam.

With this app, you can keep track of your spending, budget and bank balances. A few clicks and it can record your expenses, choose the bank account to use to pay the expenses and voila, your expenses are logged and your bank account balance is updated.

Also, you can set up a budget and it will monitor your expenses for you to keep you aligned with the budget you set.

Another good this about this is it’s not too technical so even if you have zero knowledge in personal finance, you can get the hang of it. An important reminder, however is to read the guide that comes with an app before using it. This will help you set up the app well and maximize all of its features. Heads up, it is a long guide, but bear with it you need it.

This app costs USD 1.99 but it’s totally worth it!

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

If I can only recommend you one personal finance guidebook, it has to be this book. In this book, Dave Ramsey shared his 7 step proven plan to help you succeed in your personal financial journey, and I will say, it works!

If you’re new to personal finance, a fresh graduate or someone who’s in debt or bad financial condition, this book is perfect for you. However, if you are in pretty good shape in terms of finance and you’re looking for an investing guide, skip this book. Although it has some investing guide his approach is very conservative.  

One thing I want to point out, some of his advice is not the most financially sound advice. Case in point, his snow ball approached to paying debts, will make you pay more interests on loans. However, this approach will help you create momentum in finishing your loans and will likely make you stick to the plan of totally getting out of debt. So be open to his ideas and give it a go, practice what he teaches you.

GOAL SHEET

Without a blueprint, it’ll be chaotic to build something. Same thing goes with your goal. You need a blueprint to see it materializing, and for that, my goal sheet comes in handy.

Part of my morning routine is to check on my goal sheets and transfer the action items from my goal sheet to my To-do list. This way, I’m sure I tackle accomplishing my goals first, before I endure life’s daily chore.

Sometimes we focus on doing stuff without realizing weren’t accomplishing anything. We put priorities on chores like laundry, meetings or cleaning up and put the goal’s action items for later, until later never comes. 

Not that I’m saying doing the laundry isn’t important. But if your day only allows you to do one thing between doing laundry and going to the gym (an action item for your fitness goal), by all means, put away the laundry and hit the gym! Your laundry can wait, but your chance to lose a calorie so you meet your goals won’t.

My goal sheet keeps me focused and aligned with my goals. You can use it too, and its free to download here.

That’s about it! Have you tried using any of these things I’ve mentioned? Let know in the comments below. If you have other tips for personal finance, I’d love to hear from you as well.

Thank you very much and see you in the next post!

April is a great month for me. I get to see the Cherry Blossoms for the first time, and kick start two of my goals. I started running again and to be able to do this, I had to get up early – hitting two goals at the same time.

For this month’s favorite, I’ll share with you my workout app, running shoes and a book about finding your style. Let’s jump straight right into it.

NIKE TRAINING CLUB (NTC+)

This is my current favorite workout app. It has sets of workout for Strength, Endurance and Mobility – pretty much everything. It’s like a virtual coach. You get to see a demo through a video guide and a voice over to tell you what to do and cheer you in between. Also, it gives you a log of your workouts, which motivates me to keep going.

If you are starting out to get fit, this is a good start. It has set of beginner’s workout which you can do in little as 15 minutes, there’s no equipment required.

One thing I like about this also is the Active Recovery workout. For days I can’t run, I use this app to workout at home. Really, with this app, you have no excuse in getting fit.

ADIDAS CLIMACOOL RUNNING SHOES




Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris

I’ve mentioned this book in my previous post. This book by Jennifer L. Scott, is a guidebook for women on the path to adulthood, sophistication, and style. In a nutshell, it’s the story of the author when she went to Paris as an exchange student and the things that she learned from her host family whom she referred as Famille Chic who took enormous enjoyment from the small pleasures in life and who appeared to have mastered the art of living well.

What I love about this book is the 10- item capsule wardrobe and the chapter where she discussed about Finding Your True Style. If you’re in the process of finding your style, this book is a good guide.

That’s about it. I realized it’s important to find the right tools to reach your goals. I have high hopes with my Nike Training Club app and my running shoes will really give the boost I need to stick to my fitness goal. Do you have any tips to help me keep going with my routine? Let me know in the comments below.

Have a great day everyone!

If you have read my ABOUT page, you already know that one of the goals of my blog is to share with you tools that can help you live the life you’ve always wanted. This tools my friends are summarized in my monthly favorites posts.

Once a month I’d share with you a thing or two of the stuffs that had helped me and that I thought would be helpful for you too. It could be a book, a smartphone app, a productivity tool or tangible stuffs. So without further ado, here it is:

TINY SCANNER

I had mentioned this app already in my previous post on howto organize documents and papers and yes, I’m still using it.

Tiny Scanner is my choice of scanning device because of its portability (since it’s in my phone), ease of use and easy sharing. With this, I’m almost paperless. I scan most of my documents and store them digitally.

One of my favorite ways of using this is scanning my planner and notes. You’ll never know when you’ll need to get back on your previous notes or check out a previous appointment. With this, I had an archived of my notes and planner that I can access from my phone.

Like last time when we went to the pedia for my son, the doctor wants to know when our last pedia visit was. I get to access my planner just by checking on my scans. Tiny Scanner is available through itunes and google play. The link is below.

MAC LIPSTICK in shade Twig

I know this is not a productivity tools or something but you can never underestimate the power of a good make-up. Go check out the beauty gurus online and let them show you how empowering make-ups are.

Every woman should find her go-to lipstick. I blog about it on One minute make up.  No matter how busy you are, it is important to pay a little bit of attention on how we look. This affects our mood and most importantly, this affects how people see us. A little bit of lipstick can boost your confidence and can boost people’s confidence on you. Studies had proven this.

If you haven’t found yours yet, here’s my pro tip (a.k.a. how I find mine). Go to Mac cosmetics counter near you and ask the lady in charge on what’s the most natural shade of lipstick for your lips. These ladies are not just there to take orders; most of them are pro and can give you the best advice on makeups.  So go, find yours now.

THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill

This book was written in 1937 but no, it is not outdated.  This is what I call the “Grandfather of personal development” book. I’ve read quite a lot of personal development and financial improvement books and I can say that the main concepts of most books are the same as what’s in this book. It’s funny to see that the things of the past, or in these case principles of the past, are still applicable to today’s needs.

What I like most about this book is on how he emphasized the importance of FAITH in achieving what you want. I’m a big believer of this principle too. Here’s a little takeaways from the book but best if you read it yourself.

“Desire backed by faith knows no such word as impossible”

“Desire backed by faith, pushed reason aside and inspired me to carry on”

“Faith is the starting point of all accumulation of riches!”

Available in google play.

That’s about it.  Feel free to share your tools that make you productive, empowered and inspired. I’d love to learn from you too.

Go give these tools a try and remember, you can always live the life you’ve always wanted.

With so many travel gears out there, which one do you actually need? I've found the ones that works for me that I'd love to share with you.  Whether I travel on a plane, a boat or on the road, here’s the same travel gears I bring with me:

This is a long overdue post. I never had the time to seat down and write about it.  I even thought of not writing this post anymore. But for the sake of other Toyota Wigo owners, I want to share our experience when we went to Baguio last April 2016.

We need to visit my sister and his son in Baguio and we decided to go there with our Toyota Wigo. We are quite hesitant if Wigo can make it so we checked online if anyone has done it before but there are very limited resviews online. This is the reason why I wanted to share our experience. We weigh the pros and cons, and decided to give it a go.

In a nutshell, Wigo made it! Hurray! We left around 3:30am in Cavite and made it to Baguio around 9:30 am. We took the Marcos highway road. The only challenge was, Wigo had a hard time climbing up to some particular steep inclines. We are a total of three adult passengers and a one year old baby and some luggage. We were thinking that if there was one more passenger we may not made it. You have to really consider the number of passengers. As for gas, we had one full tank from NLEX entrance going to Baguio. And we loaded a full tank again going back to Cavite.

So there, don’t underestimate Wigo’s capacity, this car is superb! Saying this, I’m starting to miss our Wigo. Wigo can conquer Baguio. But definitely don’t think you of driving it to Baguio regularly, that’s not gonna happened.  

See you again in my next blogpost. 

I firmly believe that we shall have no excuse to look pretty. So hear me, ladies and busy ladies, I share with you my one minute make up!

Unfortunately, if you are expecting a make-up routine or a super duper multitasking make-up product or a magic, friends this is not about it. This is about how I try to make myself look “put together” when I’m in a rush. Here it is.

I would wear my most complementing sunnies (yes! My shades) and my perfect lipstick and I can head out to see the world. That’s about it. Wear your most beautiful and favorite accessory and put a little color on your lips. Now you don’t have any excuse to make yourself beautiful. After all, it’s not going to be too difficult because you are already beautiful to begin with. Remember, beauty is subjective and beauty begins when you start to appreciate yourself.

I once post this quote from Coco Channel near my door

 “I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”

It reminds me to make sure that I look and feel good when I leave the house. I no longer hang this on the door. I keep this in my heart. But it’s not out of politeness that I fix myself. It’s not for destiny or for other people. It’s for me. I make myself beautiful for me. I like this bible verse Matthew 22:39 that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Funny how it is unnoticeable but it says to love yourself so you can love others.

Moms, wives and ladies, don’t forget to love yourself so you can fully love the people around you. Don’t forget to be beautiful so you can make everyone around you beautiful too. Don’t forget to be happy so everyone around you will be happy. Women, don’t forget. 

Hi there! Thank you for dropping by. I’ve been into organizing lately and I’m happy to find the ultimate guide. I’ve read tons of articles on how to organize, how to declutter, how to stay tidy and more, still I end up in the cycle of purging, accumulating, and purging again! I felt like something was not right.

Today, I want to share with you my favorite curling iron! I know that there's different styles of curling hair but I guess the best one is by using this product. It really does makes lovely curls and so far, it doesn’t damage my hair. But I don’t curl my hair every day. If you are considering to buy this product, you may want to read this post to further convince you to do so J. Smile on!

What it is:          (Taken for the website) The plates and barrel of your new iron have an extra smooth surface, for maximum straightening and curling performance. It’s not only simple to clean off styling product residue after each use, but you’ll also find that hair glides easily over the surface of the plates as you are straightening and curling. The ceramic surface also helps smooth down flyaways and frizzles. As you smooth each strand, heat is evenly distributed so that the style you create has a salon-perfect, silky smooth, shining finish, Hair slips right off the plates after it’s straightened, right off the barrel after it’s curled as well. The ceramic technology makes styling your hair easier and the results more professional. SRP PHP 2,699.75

What it does:    You can create variety of curls using this curling rod. I will create a blog post for different types of curls. And since it is a split barrel, you can straight your hair with this too! Perfect for everyday and special occasion styling.

Why I love it:    Other than being multipurpose, I love this product because it heats up immediately after a couple of seconds you plug in; no need to wait too long. It curls immediately too, just a couple of seconds, you can release your hair from the barrel and it does create lovely curl. I also love the swivel cord, so you don’t have to worry about tangled cords, when you twist the barrel. And temperature can be set from 1-25, such a flexibility. I particularly, set in 25 when I want to finish curling fast.

Why I don’t:      None that’s material. But just to note, the whole barrel heats up so you have to be careful not to touch it or you will burn yourself. Better to use gloves. Also, your hair might be stuck to the clips, so make sure to avoid too much hair on the area near the clip-ends.

How to use it:   You can check out this video on how to use it. And that's it!

Check out my next post on different curl style you can make with this curling iron. How about you, what's your fave way of curling your hair? Do let me know and comment below.