Wednesday, April 29, 2015

T.G.I. Friday's + More!

Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Hello everyone! Sorry for being really inactive on my blog lately. I've been really busy, and I'm posting this really late too. I just haven't been motivated to write posts lately. But I am back! Anyways, about two weeks ago, my family and I went to T.G.I. Friday's (Which you are all probably really familiar with.) We ordered tons of dishes and it tasted really great. I was really full by the end of the night & honestly, I could barely even move. (Hahaha!) Also here's just a random movie I'd like to recommend: Charlie St. Cloud (2010) it stars Zac Efron and it's over all just a good movie. Oh, and I'll also be going to Bangkok soon so be sure to stay tuned for more posts about that! Okay, I hope you all enjoy this post. 


Bottomless Iced Tea


Shanghai Chicken Citrus Salad

 

Nachos 


Baby Back Ribs With Fries


Friday, April 24, 2015

Living a Positive Life: Reclaiming Our Healthy Relationship with Mistakes (Guest Post By Sahar)

Friday, April 24, 2015
Hello everyone! This is a guest post by Sahar, check out her blog here.


There often seems to be a sharp contrast between what we say and what we do.  For example, most agree that humans are works in progress, that mistakes are inevitable, and that because they offer us much needed lessons, mistakes are a good thing.  And yet society is set up to punish us for our mistakes, making them instead a heavy, guilt-laden burden which can drain even the most positive individual of energy and optimism.
Thankfully, there are many ways we can reclaim our healthy relationship with mistakes.  There is one in particular, a simple one that can be applied pretty much immediately to just about everyone, everywhere.  It requires repeated daily application over the course of weeks, months, and sometimes even years.  
Mantras.  
Their efficiency in breaking negative patterns of thought as well as in establishing new ones is widely recognised.  One needs to find a simple mantra—from Scripture, a poem, a well-known expression, or even something original—and, in time of need, repeat it over and over, even claiming it as a touchstone in times of inner turmoil.  Mantras can be used to learn patience, courage, forgiveness, empathy, and pretty much anything else.
When it comes to separating guilt from mistakes, a few mantras can come in quite handy.  One of my favourites is, quite simply, to “have faith”—that my mistakes are a learning experience and that they are nothing to be ashamed of.  Another one I love is “I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life”—a great one to use when the urge to overanalyse a mistake occurs.  When the going really gets tough, “this too, shall pass” is a well-known and profoundly wise quote I resort to.
There are of course many, many mantras available, which is part of their benefit.  They are also free to find and to use ad nauseum.  But if you find a particularly powerful mantra, it can help to have a physical reminder of it.  You can write it out on a big piece of paper and stick it somewhere you know you will see it.  If you know how to draw, you can decorate your mantra; if you are good at calligraphy, well, you know what to do.  You can decorate it while reflecting on its meaning, using a meditative process such as the creation of a zentangle.  Or, if it a well-known one, you can choose to purchase a beautiful print of it by one of many talented designers selling their art on Etsy.  I also found that making an “Inspiration” board on Pinterest comes in quite handy!

Do you use mantras?  Which ones, and where do you purchase your prints?

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Where To Eat When You're In The Philippines

Saturday, April 18, 2015
Hello everyone! I participated in this link up called "In My City" (Hosted by: Tiffani @ Not Your Average Southern Belle) where basically it's a link up wherein some bloggers could show other bloggers and their readers around their cities and where they can eat when in that city. so anyway, here are my recommendations!



In Quezon City: 
 Co/Op 


In San Juan City: Calderón
Last Sunday, I ate at this restaurant called Calderón with my family. They're pretty hidden in San Juan City, Manila, but it is a really great restaurant, it's absolutely worth it. If you ever pay a visit to San Juan City and you're looking for a place to eat, make sure to stop by Calderón! They serve really great food and the service is really good too. It would really be devastating to miss out. 


Bottomless Iced Tea


Bacalao


Beef Salpicao


Gambas


Calamares


Paella Valenciana 



In Tagaytay City: Breakfast At Antonio's
We don't usually go to Tagaytay City but when we do, it's either a holiday, summer vacation or semestral break. Breakfast At Antonio's is a really great restaurant to visit and whenever we visit Tagaytay City, we always go there. 


Salad

BLT Bruschetta


The participants that joined the In My City link up:
Calee @ Becoming O'Connell, Savannah @ Always, S, Lisa @ Strum Simmer Sip, Julia @ A Southern Heart, Kathrynne @ Positivity in Life, Kristie @ Venga, Vale, Vamos




Thursday, April 16, 2015

My Dog That #MissedTheMattress

Thursday, April 16, 2015
Hello everyone! Before I start with the story of how my dog #MissedTheMattress, be sure to check out Casper! They're a mattress company that makes really awesome mattresses, and as stated "Just the right sink, just the right bounce. Two technologies come together for better nights and brighter days." on their mattresses page. They are the ones who have started this really cool campaign called #MissedTheMattress which I will be doing today!


Before I tell you the story on how she #MissedTheMattress, let me do an introduction first! Her name is Clover and she is a half Maltese and half Yorkshire Terrier (aka Yorkie). I got her around late 2013 or early 2014. Okay, so moving onto the actual point of the post (haha). One night, I came home later than usual, and knowing Clover, she always waits by the door to wait for me. My mom noticed her falling asleep by the door so she snapped this photo! I just found it really adorable when she told me the story behind it. :-)



Here's a photo I got from my personal Instagram account! When Clover was still a few months old, she used to still sleep in her bed. But now, she's already outgrown it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post! 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Ask A Blogger Part 1

Sunday, April 12, 2015


Hello everyone! I've decided to have this "Ask A Blogger" segment on my blog because I've seen something similar on another blog although I don't remember which blog. But, I really hope you enjoy this segment of my blog! Let me know if I should do more and if you'd like to participate, look out for further announcements. 



Question: What is a difficulty that you've come across in your life and how did you overcome it?


Name: Danai Kadzere 
Blog: Living, Learning, Eating (http://living-learning-eating.blogspot.com)
Answer: I had a really hard time deciding between taking a well-paying, lucrative job offer in Miami after graduation or pursuing my dreams, but with much greater risk, on NYC. With the wncouragement of loved ones, I decided to pursue my passions and don't regret it. You're only young once and when you're in your early 20s a stable paycheck is generally not yet quite as essential to your happiness as being excited about your work!


Name: Kelechi Ohiri
Blog: http://thekelfix.com
Answer: One difficulty I've come across in life is learning to accept myself for exactly who I am and the way I was made. As a younger girl there was always something I wished I could change about myself. Some days I wanted to be shorter (I was the tallest in my class) and others I wanted to change the shape of my nose, etc. Learning to accept my body was no easy task but I did it by learning to take it easy on myself. I did things one step at a time and worked hard to make sure that I was excellent at the things I could control. Once I focused on my strengths and not what I thought were my weaknesses my entire outlook changed. Now, I love every single part of myself and it all happened because I was patient with myself. Everything else came with time.


Name: Zobia Alvi
Answer: One difficulty that I've come across in my life is when I first started doing website design and creating my first small business at 16 years old and no one that I surrounded myself with believed in me. It may have been seen as crazy for some of my family members and friends that I would devote so much time and money towards something that may or may not be successful. In business, you have to take many risks and have to listen to criticism that is not at all encouraging and just push it off so you could focus on being successful. I overcame this difficulty because at some point I realized that others cannot stop me from doing what I want to do and that the only person that can stop me is myself. I learned that there will always be people trying to distract you from climbing the ladder to success, but they cannot do anything if you keep climbing and refuse to look back.


Name: Tessa
Answer: The biggest difficulty I have come across in my life is accepting my body. As young women, we read articles, watch empowerment videos and see a whole lot of reality tv. This can really take a toll on how we view our bodies. I have always had a hard time accepting that I won't have that perfect Molly Sims flat tummy or that Kim K booty. I am who I am. Yes, I work out religiously and I maintain a very healthy lifestyle, but I can't change how I was created. I was always very active in high school and when I got to college and became a division 1 college cheerleader, being in little crop tops in front of thousands of people and on ESPN made things more difficult. Although I have not completely overcome this difficulty, I am working on it every day. I still work with trainers, I try not to finish the entire box of chocolates and I maintain friendships with people who could care less about what my body looks like! I have such a huge and amazing support system behind me that reminds me everyday, I am great no matter what. I don't need to meet anyone's "goals" or mental requirements except my own. We are all powerful women and we can all kick some serious a** if we put our minds to it.



Name: Nikki Vergakes
Blog: http://dsdstyle.blogspot.com
Answer: A difficulty I've faced in my life is balance. I love doing everything, but I feel like some things get the short end of the stick. I have two ways to deal with it. My first way of dealing with this is time management. My friends know me as the queen of time management. My second thing that help me if this quote: "Balance does not mean that everything gets equal attention, balance means that sometimes something gets more attention than something else, and vice versa.


Name: Sahar Sabati-Safai
Answer: When it comes to blogging, it has been very difficult to increase readership for a blog focused on topics heavier than most.  It is sometimes quite tempting to change the direction of the blog and set it straight in a genre that more easily attracts readers.  I considered doing this a couple of years ago, when my friends fashion blog reached the same number I had reached in three years in a mere four months.  But as I was working on rebranding my blog, I realised that I had forgotten why I had started it in the first place: to write about matters near and dear to me, not to achieve fame.  And so the urge passed, and I have been instead learning how to improve my writing, networking, and marketing skills.


Name: Lauren Douglass 
Answer: "One difficulty that I've had to overcome in life is moving to Arizona for college. Before my boyfriend moved to Arizona, I moved for college. Moving to a place where you know no one is very hard for an 18 year old. There are strangers, you're living with a stranger, and when your family goes back home you feel pretty alone. My roommate didn't stay in the dorm for the entire first month, needless to say we didn't have a great relationship. However, I did overcome this. It involved counseling with my college's counseling services but I also got involved around campus and talked to people in my class. I put myself out there and made friends. Once my boyfriend moved out to Arizona it was easier because I at least knew somebody from home and my life but I also had realized that Arizona is where I want to live beyond college. It was hard to overcome this challenge but I did and I'm now part of Her Campus ASU with some wonderful ladies, part of the Her Campus Blogger Network (where I found another Sun Devil) and my boyfriend and I have our cat Jingles! It may be a rough transition from high school to out-of-state college, but it does you no good to do wallow and sit by yourself! Put yourself out there! Make friends! Live while you're young!"


Name: Rebecca Pytell
Answer: One difficulty I came across was finding out I suffered from Celiac Disease right after my 13th birthday. It's already a difficult time (one year before high school) for a teen to get through, adding a newly found autoimmune disease could seem rather challenging. However, by learning about my disease right away and fulling embracing a new lifestyle of being 100% gluten-free (and vigilant about cross contamination and educating others to keep me safe), it became very easy to manage. Without this experience and life event, I don't know if I would have ever developed my love for cooking and blogging as much as I do now. I attribute my success as a blogger to having this disease and wanting to share with and help others like me (and with multiple food allergies or health issues) through the struggles and come out stronger, happier, and healthier!


Name: Sara Magnolia
Answer: After completing my first semester of college in Florida I was having serious doubts about whether or not I made the right decision choosing to attend a school that was 1,500 miles away from my home in Massachusetts. I wasn't making the right friends, I wasn't enjoying my classes, and I was ready to throw in the towel. I began the application process to transfer to a school that would be closer to home. I did not tell my friends at school about my decision, but I did communicate my frustration and homesickness to my Mom who encouraged me to tough it for the rest of the year. During the second semester of my freshmen year I was determined to have an awful time to justify my desire to transfer schools. Well fast forward to my sophomore year, I got involved over the summer as an orientation leader where I met a lot of upperclassmen whom I had never met before. It was like a breath of fresh air to meet other students outside of my freshmen circles (i.e. freshmen dorms and Gen. Ed. classes). From there I realized that my college experience was completely up to me. If I wanted to love the school I was at it was all up to me to change my attitude and my outlook. I needed to have an open mind! From that point on I made a conscious decision to change my attitude and my experience changed as a result. I made so many new friends, I changed my major to one that I LOVE, I joined a sorority and a handful of other organizations as well. Now, as a senior who will be graduating in less than a month I am extremely glad that I chose to stay. I have grown to love my University and the organizations that helped to shape me into the person that I am now. 


Name: Quynh Nguyen
Answer: A challenge I have faced throughout my life was feeling lost. Lost to a point where I didn’t know how to move forward or what I wanted to do with myself. I wanted to develop a mindset that would help me look past challenges without it taking a toll on my well-being. The past years I struggled with unhealthy weight-loss and struggled to maintain the healthy body weight my doctors told me I needed to be. I was as low as 97lbs. Without going into too much detail, a lot of my adversities dealt with family, friends and my own character. It all built up for years, trapped in a bottle and when it finally bursted sadness was hard to overcome.

     What helped me get through these truly dark times in my life were the times I spent laying on my bed alone crying and asking myself, “How can I get through this? Is this out of my control?” As I kept doing this over and over, inevitably I found myself crying less. When I was finally able to be in a situation where it no longer affected me the same way it did before, there was no more need to cry for things I could not control. I was called a cry-baby, but guess what? I’m damn proud to be the confident and happy person that people know me as. Getting through this difficult challenge of feeling lost and helpless may have been easier talking to a friend or a therapist (as my doctor suggested), but what for? I wanted to empower myself with the ability to heal on my own without relying on others to tell me it’s okay, be silent, and simply tell me I’m overreacting.

     In reality, we all go through some kind of struggle. But the gift we have is the ability to choose how we respond to it. It won’t come easy but it takes practice and a lot of mistakes to learn from. Focus on developing. For every negative there is always a positive. 

Monday, April 6, 2015

My Current Workspace!

Monday, April 6, 2015
Hello everybody! I have decided to post about my "workspace" or just my where I basically blog on. I have decided to make this post because I've come across cool office spaces at WeWork. They are a coworking company that provides shared offices spaces. My desk is quite messy but it'll have to do for now since we'll be moving soon. (Which is really exciting yay!) If you want me to do an updated version soon, let me know. :-) 

Here I just have my computer, my pencil holder, pencil case, some random stuffed toys, planners, notebooks, my owl eye glass holder, a wooden "K" my friend Lysse gave me (she also has a blog, you can check it out here, she does DIYs and other awesome things!), a snowman that Marie gave me for Christmas; it's so cute, it lights up! and aside from all of that, there many other random things. (haha)

What I love about it:
There's this sort of "extension" table where I could just rest my elbow on and my chair (Not really seen in the picture) is really comfy as well!

What I would add to create the ultimate dream office environment:
Since I do have that free space on my wall that's above my computer, I would love to add motivational pictures that will inspire me to blog more. For example, my photos with family and friends and motivational quotes! Or maybe, vacation pictures/pictures of paradise. Also, to just simply organize it.


Friday, April 3, 2015

Make A Stylish Form For Anything! + Announcement

Friday, April 3, 2015
Hey guys! I've been thinking about creating this event for my blog. Since Positivity In Life is turning 1 on May, I was thinking of having this "birthday party" for my blog. It's just an event where you can meet fellow bloggers and share the blog love! I was planning to have this event on Google Hangout, where we could chat. But it isn't official yet. If you think this is something you'd like to participate in, please let me know in the comments below, check out my form here and please submit your form.

Just a few days ago, I've come across this really awesome website called JotForm. It was really easy to use and learn. Although at first, I was a little bit confused on how to make a form. But then after a few minutes, I was making tons of forms! I discovered it at the perfect timing too. Since, as you know, I am doing the event for my blog. I can see that JotForm will be able to help me in future professional matters. You can also visit their theme store where you can browse ready-made themes made by users, many are free but users can also set a price if they want.






Thursday, April 2, 2015

Travel Diary: Hong Kong Day 4

Thursday, April 2, 2015

March 19, 2015: Thursday

You know what they say "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." I have to admit, I was pretty sad when I realised that it was my last day in Hong Kong. So, I did what I did and made the most out of it! I made memories and tried out new things. Alright, so here's what happened on my last day in Hong Kong.

We rode a boat going to The Peak Tram so that we would be able to go The Peak. The Peak was a place full of shops and restaurant. 


The Peak Tram, like I said, lead to The Peak. It was a short ride but then it was really fun. The train went up a steep mountain to go to The Peak and down the steep mountain to get back to the station. No worries if ever you go to The Peak Tram, it's not scary at all! 


We ate lunch in a nearby noodle resto, then we had snacks at Sweet Dynasty (I had the Crispy Pork Bun!) Then finally, we had dessert at Häagen-Dazs. I had the Caramel Biscuit (I'm not really sure on what it's called) ice cream which was amazing! 


Again, some random pretty flowers... (Hahaha)




This view is just amazing. I am speechless.


So that concludes my trip to Hong Kong. I hope you guys enjoyed it, please let me know in the comments below if you want me to do more of these! :-)

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Travel Diary: Hong Kong Day 3 — Disneyland

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

March 18th, 2015: Wednesday

Finally we're on Day 3 out of 4 already! Technically, it was 5 days but then we didn't do much on the fifth day. :--( So I would consider the 3rd day of our trip as the climax of our trip. We went to, yup you guessed it, DISNEYLAND! The happiest place on Earth. Our hotel was quite far away from Disneyland (we had to take like 3 trains to get there) so we spent the whole day there. It was tiring, but in the end, as always, it was really fun! 



I had this delicious Mickey waffle I purchased by the main street of Disneyland.


Cute little "Tsum Tsum" stuffed toys I found by the gift shops.


The MAGICAL parade, which I believe was called "Flights Of Fantasy" Although, I'm not sure. It was like my childhood in a parade!





Oh, you know, just some flowers... (haha)


Then after the parade, we went to the Golden Mickeys which was basically like the Oscars, except in a Disney version.


Then we rode some rides like the Grizzly Gulch, the Mystique Manor and the Tea Cups. 




Disney at night!