joy story: 2011 in retrospect

The past year was okay in general. I was able to breeze through it sans major major problems. But if 2011 were a person, I'd say there were lots of room for improvement, not my best so to speak.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
♥ Meeting the last cousin (we haven't met yet at the time) last January. Cousin M and friends came here in Philippines to meet the cousins and I reckon to also get to know part of his heritage. Although we didn't get to connect with them that much due to time constraints and fear of terrorist activities (there was a bus bombing in Makati around that time) so they opted to stay in their hotel. But it was fun getting to meet them albeit the nosebleed English, haha!
♥ successfully avoided Coke and Starbucks Mocha Frap for 40 days. My sacrifice for the Lenten season which I should've carried on doing even after the 40 days.
♥ The Script concert with Ycel. Subsidized by Ycel. Loved and enjoyed every bit of the concert. My only regret was not preparing myself before going which was due to deliveries that had to be done.
♥ A 400-peso Bacolod trip for my cousin's wedding. My only travel for the year.
♥ Free movies c/o AD and her handy dandy movie passes. Whenever I had to make deliveries, I just go to AD's office where I wait for her to get off work then she drives me to where I need to make the delivery. So I watch movies to kill time. Hitting two birds with one stone, eh? ;)
♥ New series! Awkward, 2 Broke Girls, Hart of Dixie and New Girl. But my favorite has got to be Awkward. Me loves that series to bits. As in I could watch and re-watch it for 20 times and not get tired of it. I love it that much. I dunno if the Philippine masses has caught up in the bandwagon (and I hope not) but I got on it because it's a high school kilig chuva and I'm a sucker for anything that can be my source of vicarious kilig.
♥ This is going to be mababaw but Dan finally admitting he likes Blair in Gossip Girl. For most, Blair +Dan was unthinkable four seasons ago judging by how they used to hate each other but ever since that conversation they had by the window during season 1, I've been wanting this to happen. And it did. I'm so happy.

♥ 82/100 movies. You Again * Flipped * Get Him to the Greek * Grown Ups * Love and Other Drugs * Tangled * Eat Pray Love * The Social Network * My Valentine Girls * Due Date * Mean Girls 2 * First Love (Sing Lek Lek) * While You Were Sleeping * Life As We Know It * How Do You Know? * Never Let Me Go * Catch Me... I'm In Love * The Out-of-Towners * The Chaperone * Morning Glory * Little Fockers * Wall Street 2 * The Roommate * Little Manhattan * Thor * From Prada to Nada * Just Go With It * Rio * X-Men: First Class * Beastly * Insidious * Gulliver's Travels * The Rite * Green Lantern * Waiting For Forever * Something Borrowed * Departures * Unknown * Source Code * Daydream Nation * King's Speech * Monte Carlo * The Last Song * The Adjustment Bureau * Harry Potter 2: Chamber of Secrets * Transformers: Dark of the Moon * Super 8 * Hangover 2 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 * Bridesmaids * Take Me Home Tonight * See You in September * Bad Teacher * Captain America * Iron Giant * Ang Babae sa Septic Tank * Prom * Chasing Liberty * The Other Woman * The Switch * One Day * Bring It On (re-watch) * Larry Crowne * Kung Fu Panda 2 * The Change-Up * Sherlock Holmes * The Invention of Lying * Horrible Bosses * A Little Bit of Heaven * Real Steel * No Other Woman * Anger Management * What's Your Number? * I Don't Know How She Does It * Sixteen Candles * Drive * Abduction * Crazy Stupid Love * The Adventures of Tin Tin * The Help * Trespass Not bad, eh? Well, wish ko sana 100 pero at least I'm 20 movies closer to my goal than last year, hehe.
♥ 13 books. Every year I'm getting closer and closer to my 24 books target per year ☺
♥ My December bazaar in the village I oh-so-love. Feeling ko kasi I belong. Charot. Haha. I just love it there because they love my products (Hi fans!). There were a few glitches but that could be charged to experience. Mahal nga lang but at least I know better now. December has been crazy but it's the kind of crazy I'd love to experience all the time.

THE DOWNSIDE
♣ The nail spa didn't go too good last year. Plus, there was another addition to the roster of nail spas in the village. Ang smart, diba? Really felt financial constraints last 2011 and it was depressing. Malungkot maging mahirap. Hehe. Huhu.
♣ Still didn't lose weight and it seems that I seem to lose my willpower to resist temptation. Kung makamidnight snack, akala mo pang 16-year old pa rin ang metabolish eh. Boo.
♣ The many disasters that struck the country and abroad. Although we weren't direct victims of the natural disasters that happened last 2011, it's still sad that that many lives were lost. I guess that's a reminder of how uncertain each day. Maybe we have to start living as if each day were our last... We'll never know.
♣ Friends going abroad to work.
♣ No personal development pa din. That's because I am not doing anything to further my development.

So generally, 2011 wasn't too bad. BUT I REALLY WISH AND AM KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED THAT 2012 WILL BE A WHOLE LOT BETTER (MOST ESPECIALLY, FINANCIALLY HOHOHO!) Anyway, so without further ado...

MY RESOLUTIONS FOR THE YEAR 2012
○ Our NY resolution staple since 2005- LOSE WEIGHT.
○ Maximize my gym membership. So mukhang may tool na tayo for Resolution #1: Lose weight. AC enrolled me in a gym para magpapayat na daw kami. Good luck. Although I really plan getting on my healthy weight and I need to do it just in time for my NY trip. Hanep sa pagenvision, ano? Law of attraction lang daw yan ;)
○ This should have been first-- LEARN TO DRIVE. Super nahirapan ako this bazaar season because I had to commute most of the time. Everyone's busy so transportation wasn't readily available. Supermega thank you sa LRT because it made my commutes much easier, not to mention a whole lot cheaper! But yes, I need to learn how to drive so I wouldn't need to rely on other people to drive me around.
○ Apply for a US visa. Got my passport renewed last year so this year's for visa application.
○ Stop picking on my zits.
○ Plan nail spa's calendar of activity for the whole 2012 in advance. Be more aggressive with marketing. Basically, to make the nail spa a lucrative business.
○ Be more open to new things.
○ Travel to another country, either alone or with friends
○ No more midnight snacks. Pati na rin late night snacks.

I'm sure there are still more. I really want to make 2012 the best year of my life ever, as the mother of all resolutions hehe.

To cap off this post, here are some of the highlights of my December 2011 since I was too busy to update this blog~

First up~ after the hullabaloo of my December bazaar but still amidst the ordering frenzy, took a short break and took my gehls to watch ABS CBN's Christmas Special c/o J.

who iz?

oh, it's the enchong... abs kung abs
ngunit subalit datapwat...
dot dot dot. alam na natin yun. apir

TOP 3 EYE CANDIES ;)

Xian Lim. Nevermind Kim Chiu

Sam Concepcion. Still jailbait. Boo.

And Paulo Avelino. Omigaaahd.
How can someone be that guapo???

And yes, Sarah G's a guilty pleasure~

I love her. Love the expression on her face ;)

There was one day when AD helped me deliver an order. After collection, it's lunchtime! Nakadilihensya na kami eh haha. Originally, we were supposed to try this Thai restaurant in Kapitolyo but since they were still closed, we tried Cab Café instead

This is what we had~

beef tapa for AD

and grilled liempo for moi

strawberry shortcake for dessert

The tapa was okay but I didn't enjoy my liempo that much. I just like my liempo salted and not too much of those toyo marinade. But I guess okay na rin. The bigger disappointment was the strawberry cake. Maybe because it looked so good I was expecting too much from it. Compared it to Vizco's strawberry shortcake which was just delightfully exquisite.

Of course, December won't be the same without get-togethers with friends and families. Well, most especially this year because our dad's side of the family had their ancestral house renovated and they all came home for the blessing