our wedding day

in light of it being married for 6 months already (and noticing i haven't blogged about our wedding day at all), here are some special photos taken by our sweet photographer on our day!

we really had the best group of friends be in our bridal party. we love them sooo

my sister made majority of my dessert table! with the help of a sweet friend being her sous chef and another sweet friend who made our amazing cake! when the dessert table opened, the desserts were literally gone in SECONDS. not even kidding.  

 

i look back and am so grateful for all our friends and family who came to celebrate us and our marriage. we loved how everything turned out, but most importantly, we loved that we got almost all of our guests to dance at one point or another!

my new year goals

goals are my favorite things. i constantly write goals on a day-to-day basis in my planner, at work on receipt paper when i'm bored, it's kind of obsessive. & with 2020 here, i thought sharing my personal goals will ground me more to them and inspire someone to make and set goals too! & trust me, i'm not the best at keeping them, i always want to take that sip of soda or eat that cookie after telling myself that i need to cut it, but regardless of that it's always nice to stop and restart after messing up. i'm all about refining here, we'll get there together. 

  

take advantage of my camera more
i have our dream camera, and we barely take advantage of it because we're babies and don't wanna carry the beast around. we also haven't gotten the lens that we prefer yet ontop of the lack of knowledge i have on how to work with the settings (good thing the hubby knows, he's a wonderful instagram husband that's for sure) but i'm getting there! this includes "learning how to use adobe lightroom and presets" as a sub-goal too.

take opportunities to say "yes" to traveling 
i have plans ALREADY to travel to 4 different places this year! planning it towards the end of 2019 was so exhilarating. most of them are mere thoughts of traveling to those destinations, but that's just the start of it, and then writing them out on my planner and looking up the cost of flights makes it all the more real.

cut soda & limit sweets at home
i really don't drink a lot of soda, but when we go out to eat and my hubby wants coke, i take a sip here and there, thus i want to cut it completely! same thing with sweets (except not cutting that completely, sorry i love chocolate way too much). so i'll start with limiting sweets at home, to no sweets at home, but still treating myself when we're out! i'm getting older, and i've noticed that after consuming those things it makes my stomach all pudgy for a few days as if it's been chilling there till it's ready to move out, and that's no bueno for me. fingers crossed my hubby will follow too haha.

double our savings & pay off debt
i've devised a plan to increase our savings! the last 6 months of being married i've noticed that our money is going to bills, food, etc (obv) and we're not investing or saving it, even if it were just 10 bucks here or there. in that case, our savings is not growing and have become stagnant. i also want to pay off the debt i have. it's not a lot, but they just need to go. 


& other goals that need attention too but don't need much explaining:

• more disney days 
• service opportunities 
• become more of a "gift giver" 
• write letters (i'm gonna really try with this one)
• enhance my creative outlets 
• blog mooooreeee (yo, this is my constant struggle)

New Years Eve

this year for new years eve we celebrated differently compared to other years. it's filipino culture to stay home and introduce the new year, collect 12 (or more) different round fruits that symbolize prosperity and fortune, turn on all the lights in the house, and fill bowls with rice and money. my mom still laid out the fruits and rice and money on the table, but we broke tradition this year and went out while the ball dropped instead of staying home lol.

my best friend invited us to watch a balloon drop at the Hyatt hotel this year! they hold a bunch of balloons all the way up to the ceiling of the lobby (which is ab out 18 stories or so high), and then drop them at the time of the count down! it was something totally different and fun! we also danced and took a ton of photos in the freezing cold (50 degrees for us floridians is freezing cold lol).

i hope everyone was able to ring in the new year with high hopes and full of love and gratitude! happy happy 2020!

lookin' at 2020 like:

i love the end of the year. it's hopeful and exciting and rejuvenating in a refining way. i look back at 2019 (and since it's a special kind of looking back since we're closing off the decade) at the falls and growth that i've experienced. and it's humbling to come out of it with a grateful and positive heart. i've learned to get out of my comfort zone, have more fun, be less judgmental, speak my mind, embrace laziness and self-care, and yada yada yada. 

we really don't know what the next year or 10 years will bring, but my gut is telling me that it'll be good. real good. cheers for what is ahead! whatever it may be, i hope we can tackle them with grace and have fun while doing it! 

new year, new planner

i'm a huge planner. something i've been anticipating to get into and didn't know how or what worked best for me. luckily, i developed the habit on my mission and when i got back i was obsessed with scheduling out my day and was in search for a planner that absolutely called out to me. and i found them! (note: it's good to find your own groove! so take what you like from me and make it all you!)

my planner:

i love using Rifle Paper Co's planners!

• their planner covers never disappoint, and they come in multiple options and styles so you aren't limited to just one type of planner 
• i looove the weekly layout where it allows you to write things down in a bullet system, or allow you to check things off as needed 
• their font styles aren't overbearing, they classy. 
• and my pens don't bleed through the pages!

my stationary:

i adore using stickers and washi tape on my planner. i used to have this feeling that i was "wasting" my stickers or unsure of what sticker should go where. basically i was overthinking it that now i just plop them anywhere and all of a sudden it was no longer an issue, haha. 

• i place my stickers on my weekly and monthly layout basically anywhere i want or where they make sense to the planned event or occasion
• i use my washi tape to cover any cancelled plans or mess up's so atleast it looks cute and decorated 
• note that rifle paper co planners come with pretty stickers THAT are sooo easy to remove so they're basically re-usable, so A+ 
• the gold clip is a divider that i use to help me get to my week quicker (i bought it at target)
• i've been using this kate spade pencil pouch for years, it's small enough to fit my essentials and keeps everything organized for me 

my pens: 

and this pen is THE pen. i swear by this pen and i also buy them in bulk because i have this fear that it'll be gone forever so i gotta stock up somehow. the Zebra Sarasa pen with a 0.7 point allows me to write smoothly, doesn't blot through the page, and i absolutely love how thick it comes out. you think i write all cute? well i owe it to this pen, honestly. 

keeping the planner going throughout the year can be hard and un-motivating, but i've found it fun and almost relieving to take a specific time out of the week, to sit down and plan out my next week. it def. gets me pumped for what's ahead! whatever you do in your planning, do what works best for you! make it a space where you write out your goals, note down quotes, jot out your grocery lists, etc! 

happy planning & happy-almost-2020!