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Friday, November 16, 2018

Waiting for the weekend

Last week was cool. I was able to accomplish two weekly goals (no lates and an average of 7hrs of sleep) so I'm pretty hopeful for this week. I filed for a birthday leave tomorrow and I'm so excited about it. We're staying 2 nights at Tagaytay where I booked a bnb. It's the first time I'm coordinating an out of town trip with the family so I'm pretty thrilled.
Monday (Nov 12)
○ Bus going to the office - ₱15
○ Costa Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Rice - ₱20
○ Driver's license medical and renewal fee - ₱1,003
V&M Exfobomb and CPC+G Oil - ₱730
○ Shopee - ₱1,575

☽  Slept 7hrs 58mins
★ In at 3:06PM
✧ Spent ₱1,923

Okaaaay, I should've done my shopping during the weekend no? I'm way over budget today but I don't care 'cos I was just waiting for the right time to purchase all those (referring to V&M and Shopee) hehe. Today was rather exhausting, I thought I lost my driver's license so I had to commute to work and try to find it. That also meant I had been driving without a license for the past few days. Thankfully, I remember handing it to BPI last week when I was applying for a 3rd party account, and true enough when I came there, they kept my license. Hooray for not needing to spend 200+ for a notarized Affidavit of Loss! So yeah, after getting my card at BPI I rushed to LTO and applied for renewal. They don't accept change status requests so for the next 5 years my Driver's License will still bear my maiden name. Kebs lang kaso I was looking forward to a more handy ID with my married eh. I only have my passport lol.
Tuesday (Nov 13)
○ Parking - ₱110
○ Costa Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Rice - ₱20

☽  Slept 5hrs 47mins
★ In at 3:32PM
✧ Spent ₱270

I love today's baon. I cooked pritong tangigue with atchara on the side (from my mom). Ang saraaaapp! Still swamped with RPA tasks lol but I'm feeling positive about it haha.

Wednesday (Nov 14)
○ Bus to work - ₱15
○ Costa Primo Iced Mocha - ₱0 ***
○ Rice - ₱20
○ Betadine gargle - ₱140
○ Bus going home - ₱15

☽  Slept 6hrs 39mins
★ In at 3:52PM
✧ Spent ₱190

I just had to highlight Costa under expenses because they gave me free coffee! Turns out that the iced mocha they served me yesterday was too bland. I noticed it too, there's less choco syrup. The manager asked me about it awhile ago and I told her that indeed it has less chocolate, so she offered to replace it! Aww suki privilege! Thank you Costa Coffee, I'm loving you more each day! :D

Also today, we had our annual APE. I lost weight in fairness but I can't feel it lol.

Another thing today, my ahjumma Mhy sent me a box of tea from Dubai! Bonggaaa, may pa-kutsarita pa HAHA!

To be honest I'm feeling kinda lucky today, during our meeting with the director my manager informed us that he's signing me up for an RPA Conference next year. Huwow. I feel honored!

Can I just say that I'm really enjoying creating RPA workflows right now. The current processes we're working on is unearthing the developer in me. UIPath isn't really a code heavy interface, in fact it's frkn drag and drop. But the data being processed always needs to be normalized, cleaned up, formatted, or whatever. And this is where string manipulation techniques and basic programming come into play. Hopeful to get this technology rolled out in the firm, maybe we can even create an RPA team or something LOL.

...



Okay I thought I was having an unusually lucky day but no. Shocking news: Pastor Aris, or Paris as we call him, died today. Unexpectedly. He just collapsed and they were unable to revive him at the hospital. Hay Lord. I will miss him a lot. His sermons, his tight handshake, his counseling. I will miss catching him go down the Podium after service... because for some reason he always vanishes from the stage after the closing prayer and suddenly he's down the hall entrance greeting us. :( Too soon, Lord.

Thursday (Nov 15)
○ Parking - ₱110
○ Crappy UCC Iced Cafe Mocha - ₱200
○ Medicines - ₱442.25
○ Shades - ₱649
○ Grocery - ₱68.05

☽  Slept 7hrs 22mins
★ In at 2:33PM
✧ Spent ₱1,469.30

This afternoon I went to Greenbelt for a while to get new shades and buy some cheese spread. On the way back I decided to try UCC's cafe mocha to see if it's any good. IT'S TERRIBLE. SO FRKN TERRIBLE. It's too sweet I had to dump it down the drain, literally. Such a waste of money. Remind me not to get adventurous when it comes to coffee. Nitro 7 and Costa will remain my favorite mocha makers. PERIOD.

I'm sick today (of all days) so I had to take extreme measures to get well. Also because I didn't want to spend my birthday weekend wheezing my life out. I'm drinking a lot of water, regularly taking BioFlu, taking 2 doses of vitamin C, and just now I invested in a throat spray. It's more handy than a gargle and I feel like it targets my throat much better without me gagging. It's kinda pricey though so there's that.

-----

I'm capping off my work week today because I'm on leave tomorrow (guess what!). And so, in summary:
  • I'm still in for NO LATE NOVEMBER! I didn't think it was possible! Yahoo!
  • I spent a whopping ₱3,852.30 this week. But that's okay because I renewed my license and bought medicines. As for my shopping spree, if you could call it that, I just bought the essentials. I'm out of Exfobomb and CPC+G oil, the car's matting is getting old, and I broke my 3-year-old signature shades and replaced it. So yeah.
  • I slept an average of... 6hrs and 56mins. Awwww, not good. :( 
Have a happy weekend!

Monday, November 12, 2018

Weekly Diary: No Late November!

This week looks good! Spent ₱1220 this week, got no lates, ate a lot of rice, drank a lot of coffee, and felt quite accomplished at work. Also, I slept an average of 7 hours this week! Here's to hoping it pushes through for the rest of the month at least!

Monday (Nov 5)
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110
○ Costa Primo Iced Coffee - ₱140
○ Rice - ₱20

☽  Slept 9hrs 58mins
★ In at 3:05PM
✧ Spent ₱270


Today I indulged in coffee and ate rice huhu! I can't help it! Munggo ba naman baon ko, pano na.

Also, I'm starting another challenge for myself, aside from documenting my expenses (I never really put a cap, I'm just happy if I don't hit 1k per week hehe), I'm also documenting my daily time-ins for NO LATE NOVEMBER. In an effort to make my birth month more positive and to also make up for the horrible state of my timesheet last month, my aim everyday is to arrive at work before 3:59PM. :)
Tuesday (Nov 6)
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110
○ Rice - ₱20

☽ Slept 6hrs 19mins
★ In at 3:20PM
✧ Spent ₱130

I can't help it! My baon is daing na bangus and ampalaya salad with itlog na maalat. How can you not eat rice with that?


This afternoon, Red (my senior) and I got treated to coffee by our "clients" from the finance team. They took the RPA workflow we created for them really well and I thank God for it! They were so happy they just had to treat us to Starbucks. I will cherish this message forever because don't we all seek validation?! Also, this helps my appraisal lol.


Ever since I signed the counter-offer, I've been struggling to internally justify that I deserve to be here, that they made to the right decision to keep me. I didn't really think I was doing a lot, and yet they decided to up my pay by 50% just to make me stay. I'm still reeling at the thought you know. Also, I feel pressured to perform better.

Wednesday (Nov 7)
○ Taxi going to the office - ₱140
○ Costa Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Taxi going home- ₱120

☽ Slept 6hrs 36mins
★ In at 3:47PM
✧ Spent ₱400

I'm not late but wary at the rate at which my time-ins are moving closer and closer to the late line. Yikes. I also just added another metric, sleep hours, in another conscious effort to reach at least 7hrs of sleep each day, or 7hrs average in a week. Looking at my Fitbit history, I haven't been successful in this attempt ever. What usually happens is I deprive myself during the weekdays and oversleep on the weekends, thus pulling up the average. But I don't want that to be the case. Urgh. I want to sleep longer!

Today I woke up really exhausted because my sleep was interrupted by the repair man who arrived at our condo at 11:30am to fix our shower heater. I thank God our security guard called to wake me up otherwise I would've slept away and missed the text messages. Also grateful to have finally gotten the chance to fix our heater. It's been acting up for months but we never paid attention, until the ber months crept in and we knew we had to do something lest we freeze in the shower in the coming months.

Next thing I need to prioritize is to have our freezer door replaced, and to schedule another deep cleaning session.

Thursday (Nov 8)
○ Parking - ₱110
○ Costa Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Rice - ₱20

☽ Slept 6hrs 21mins
★ In at 3:17PM
✧ Spent ₱270

It's a very special swelday today because the counter offer has reflected! Hooray for a higher basic pay and more allowances! Perfect birthday gift! And so I just had to sneak out for a celebratory manipedi.


There's a lot of work coming our way and I just hope I get to manage my tasks properly. As much as I want to continue developing RPA workflows for now, I had to remind myself that hey I'm a QA first and testing projects are a priority lol. RPA is so fun.

Friday (Nov 9)
○ Parking - ₱110
○ Manang's kwek kwek and banana-q - ₱40

☽ Slept 5hrs 50mins
★ In at 3:21PM
✧ Spent ₱150



There's a Jolijeep at Palanca that sells blockbuster streetfood. Sobrang havey. They have kwek kwek, kikiam, squid balls, turon, banana-q, etc. There was a line when we got there but it didn't take long to get served. Their banana-q is so gooood! <3

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

The week that was

I'm kind of enjoying documenting my week in terms of expenses. For one, I get to remember what I did the whole day haha and I can always babble about the things I spend money on because don't we all???
Monday (Oct 29) - ₱110
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110

Still not completely recovered from flu. My colds has escalated to an annoying cough, a splitting headache, and now... a freaking toothache?! I'm not really surprised. Whenever I get a flu I tend to always always wheeze everything out like crazy 'cos I can't stand the feeling of a clogged nose. Apparently I'm killing my sinuses and for some reason the nerves are connected to my teeth, so yeah.

Work wise thank God there's progress in this RPA workflow I'm creating. I was having a hard time dealing with this Silverlight application our finance team uses but thankfully I found a way through it. Wooh. There's still more to this task so help me Lord!

Tuesday (Oct 30) - ₱110
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110

I'm done with the 2nd sequence of this frnk RPA workflow. I'm so stoked to get through this and focus on other automation test cases next. I'm looking into spending some time going through UIPath Academy to soak up on tutorials. Maybe I can try getting certified too, they offer free certification until December 31 soooooo... we'll see!

Wednesday (Oct 31) - ₱108
○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Starbucks coffee - ₱80
○ Bus going home - ₱14

My officemate gave me Starbucks GCs yesterday so I had the chance to use it today. Shared it with a colleague and we both got this customized drink that's too strong and too sweet. If I remember correctly it's white mocha breve something no water double shot something?! Hahaha! Too sweet!

For our baon I cooked honey garlic chicken wings with butter parmesan baby potatoes on the sides. It sucks. Remind me to stick to bbq marinade, the honey garlic we got is too... bland haha. Also, I think I undercooked the chicken it's still frkn bloody huhu.

Thursday (Nov 1) - ₱0
Totally no expenses today 'cos it's the start of the long Undas weekend. Jeckie and I had plans to drive to Fairview to see my family but we backed out because we wanted to rest and just spend a whole day with each other.

We ate dinner at Kabab and Curry where we got to spend our coinbank money. We didn't max out on our 3k budget so hooray for another date covered!

Speaking of that coinbank money, I'm not sure if I've already shared but at the beginning of the year we made a conscious effort to save all the 5 and 10 peso coins we have till we fill their designated cans to the brim. We were able to fill the 5 peso can last month and it totaled to ₱3,320 -- that's 10.4lbs! And instead of going to the bank to exchange them, we went to McDonald's instead where there's always a need for coins especially during weekends. We got the paper bills good and the store manager even gave us free BFF fries. Yay!

Friday (Nov 2) - ₱319
○ Lunch at Galleria - ₱179
○ Costa Primo Iced Coffee - ₱140

Met with the in-laws for lunch at Galleria and stayed 'til night. Our tita was checked in at Holiday Inn so we hung out for the rest of the afternoon eating and playing Undercover. It was fun, albeit super stressful. My palms were sweating the entire time that my phone can't recognize my fingerprints! Hassle haha. 

GRAND TOTAL - ₱647
SUB 1k weeeeek! HOOORAY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!! :D

Monday, October 29, 2018

A week in expenses (also, down with flu)

So, my last money challenge was a bit of a fail. After 3 days of consistently taking the bus to work, I gave in during the last 2 days and took a cab/drove the car lol. Today is a new challenge, I'm cutting down on coffee expenses... kasi grabe that's ₱140/day din pala I'm spending on coffee I could've just prepared at home if I only wake up earlier diba hahaha. So yeah, conscious effort tayo! And because I found that parking at Greenbelt 5 is more affordable, I'll try to make sure I wake up early enough to arrive there with at least 20 mins allowance before my shift starts, because looking for a slot is a bummer and I still have to walk some 10 mins to the office.
Monday (Oct 22) - ₱260
○ Parking at the office building - ₱260

Today I failed to avoid parking at the office lol, but I did make sure not to spend anything more than the parking fee because I want to put a ceiling on my daily expenses. ₱260/9hrs is too hefty for parking alone.

Tuesday (Oct 23) - ₱110
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110

Our office had an event so I was able to score dinner yay!


En route to work I spotted this new Toyota Innova side by side (almost) with a Fortuner. And can I just say, Innova na talaga dream car ko ngayon hahaha. It's so beautiful hahaha and the rear side almost has that Fortuner appeal. I love it.

Wednesday (Oct 24) - ₱262
○ Cab going to the office - ₱122
○ Cab going to home - ₱140

My manager updated my schedule to 4PM-1AM after seeing how many lates I've incurred this month. I personally wanted to stop him and just ignore my lates, I'll just face the deductions, but I think it was in his goodwill to offer so I agreed and apologized. So now, my brain is wired to think 4:59pm is the new late and it sucks haha. Huhu.

Thursday (Oct 25) - ₱95
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱70
○ Eggpie form the pantry - ₱25

My head feels so heavy right now, I almost didn't want to come to work. Aaaaand, I gave in. I took a half day sick leave today because I really couldn't bring myself to focus on my work anymore. I was so sick from... flu I guess? I don't know what it is exactly but I have colds, my throat hurts, and I'm feeling feverish. I knew I got it from my husband 'cos he was sick last week, and for some reason a lot of my officemates were sniffing like crazy too.

I tried to rest at our office's sleeping quarters but failed to get even a minute of quality sleep because the room was full and two girls were snoring loudly lol. I was hoping to let the heavy traffic pass but I have no place to rest in the office so I just left early.

Friday (Oct 26) - ₱245
○ Jollibee - ₱150
○ McDo - ₱95

Today I spent the day trying to recover. I filed another sick leave. My eyes are so frkn heavy. Remind me not to take nasal decongestants anymore, I think I'm good with just paracetamol. And because I have no strength to cook, I decided to eat out. Grabe this day, I'm super weak but I drove myself out to eat fastfood hahaha. I have no appetite but I knew I had to eat something, pero hindi ako nabubusog, alam nyo yon?! Kaya super lamon ako today argh. Thank God my husband stayed at home din... to work, but also to take care of me lol.

I missed the Halloween Night at the office because of this frkn flu. Sayang free food haha.


GRAND TOTAL = ₱972
Hooray for spending less than 1k this week!

Monday, October 22, 2018

Money Diaries: A week in October

Random photo of the week lol (SkinStation Shangri-la Plaza)

Last week, I made an effort to spend less after noticing how easily my wallet thinned after just a week of failing to prepare baon. Root cause would be my waking up late every day. It eats up time I could've spend preparing food. I also always end up rushing to work and choosing to take a cab or bring the car which can be expensive. So yeah, here's how my week went with this personal challenge!
Monday (Oct 15) - ₱218
○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Coffee! - ₱140 (I have a new favorite, Costa's Iced Mocha! Ang tapaaang even with milk, I love it!)
○ Kalamay - ₱50
○ Bus going home - ₱14

I love watching the baristas at Costa Coffee prepare my favorite iced mocha. The beans are fresh, they grind some upon order (or baka madalas ko lang sila naabutan na walang grounds haha), press it and pass it through their espresso machine. Then they mix the espresso with chocolate syrup then shake it with ice crystals. Then they fill my primo cup halfway with milk, then pour the coffee mixture in. My cup would be brimming with coffee and yet walang natatapon?! Even when they cover it with the dome lid hindi talaga tumatapon yung maguumapaw kong kape. Amaaaazing hahaha

I love it!

Tuesday (Oct 16) - ₱168
○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Costa's Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Bus going home - ₱14

Argh. I arrived late (for the nth time this month) to work again. Pinilit ko talaga mag-bus eh kahit ang tagal mag abang! Huhu. I had two meetings today at work, both of which are about gathering potential test cases for RPA. I realized how much I sucked at presenting and getting all the important information in a meeting. I should learn more. Thank God for my senior!

Wednesday (Oct 17) - ₱168
○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Costa's Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Bus going home - ₱14

I arrived late. Again. Grabe ang lala ko na argh. Anyway. The kiosk manager at Costa Coffee recognizes me and my usual order now haha. Primo Iced Mocha forever!


Thursday (Oct 18) - ₱309
○ Cab going to the office - ₱155
○ Costa's Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140
○ Bus going home - ₱14

Took the cab today because I can't afford to arrive late to the office again! Aaaargh.


Friday (Oct 19) - ₱250
○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110
○ Costa's Primo Iced Mocha - ₱140

Late parin ako ano ba namang buhay to. I brought the car to beat the time but when I passed by Dela Rosa I got thrilled at the sight that GB5 parking is still not full. So I went in and parked there instead. I totally forgot I was supposed to be not late today. Jusko huhu.

Also today, I passed an application for parking slot in our building. Hopefully it gets approved fast.

GRAND TOTAL - ₱1,113.00
That means on the average, I spend ~₱220 per day. Coffee is to blame eh no? I could've slashed 700 off my weekly expenses if Costa wasn't so tempting lol.

Maybe I'll try that next week. No coffee at work ganon. After all, I used to drink coffee before heading to work, but because of my effed up sleep schedule I've been missing on out my coffee "mornings". Let's see next week!

5 Baby gifts you'll love from Lovingly Signed


Personalized baby items are the best as it adds sincerity and warmth to any gift. If you're looking for baby items to give to one of your friends, or if you yourself is looking to getting cute baby items for your own little one, then you have to check out Lovingly Signed. Lovingly Signed is a unique online shop that specializes in personalized baby gifts. Just wandering at their website will make you all warm and fuzzy. The clean layout, the color palette and easy navigation all work to make your stay on their online abode a welcoming one.

If you want to get ideas on the perfect items to get, read on!

Luxury Towelling Robe


Towel robes are a baby essential you'll come to value more as time goes by. Unlike clothing items that can be outgrown so fast, robes may be used for more than a year. Have it embroidered with the baby's name and let Lovingly Signed do all the work. They'll package it in a luxurious box and get it delivered for free (Singapore only). Rest assured your package will arrive safe and sound right at your doorstep.

Knit Blanket


Blankets are yet another of those baby essentials you shouldn't miss. And having it personalized with your cutie pie's name is definitely a great touch. The high quality, 100% cotton knit blankets comes in different pastel colors like baby pink, powder blue, silver grey, and plain white. Your baby will definitely sleep soundly wrapped in this soft, cottony, warm, and fully breathable blanket.

Gift boxes


If you're looking for something more exquisite, a luxury gift box containing a cute plush toy would make a wonderful gift. Lovingly Signed gift sets come in different themes. You can get a rabbit, unicorn, bear, or a piglet plush, along with either a bath set, towel set, blanket, or snuggle set. The cute packaging, and carefully curated items inside a the lovely box will surely elicit a gleeful squeal from your little one.

Personalized Toy Storage


Organizing your kid's toys can be made of nightmares to a lot of parents. If you've got more than 1 kid around, it gets even messier and harder to deal with. A personalized toy hamper from Lovingly Signed will take care of your storage issues for you with style. With the toy baskets embroidered with your kid's name, it would be easy to sort items. And because the baskets look super cute, they won't be an eyesore to your home!

Baby Books


Aside from baby clothes, books are also nice items to give babies. Lovingly Signed offers cute and educational books that your children will surely love exploring. The books are adorably pretty, with elements your baby would love to play around with like furry tails, textured pages, and beautiful illustrations.

These are just some of the things you'll love at Lovingly Signed. All of their products are made from the finest quality, and the packages are arranged beautifully. They offer free shipping for Singapore addresses and their products are also affordable. Do check them out and let me know what you think!

All photos are taken from Lovingly Signed website.

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

3 Halloween costume ideas you'll love

Halloween is just around the corner and you bet, everyone's all about looking for the right costume. Aside from dressing up your home to look lit and up for the season with cute decor and tapestries (click here), you also want to dress the part and be strut the best costume in town. Here are 3 halloween costume ideas you'll love!
Be a pretty witch



A witch costume is one of the most popular choices out there. It's timeless and classic and overall speaks halloween on every angle. Get this dress from DRESSLILY if you want to look pretty and elegant with powerful spells to cast!

Be a superhero

Superheroes will never be out of tune when it comes to dressing up for halloween. Everybody's got a favorite, so it's just a matter who wears it best. Be creative when choosing your costume. Get your family's participation in it, better yet, why not dress up to be a superhero family. Try The Incredibles, or Justice League!

Be a monster

Nope, not the real bad ones who cast evil vibes all over. Some people like to play it safe by looking pretty and glam this halloween, but some want to dress the part of being scary and be a monster on that special day. There are a lot of scary costumes you could consider. You can be either a zombie, a scary nun, or an alien ala predator. It takes a lot of effort to acquire realistic costume and prosthetic but it's every worth the scream you'll get once you start knocking on your neighbors doors!