I need a break. Seriously. Being pregnant is taking a toll on me. I need to relax. But since I am confined to the city, taking a voluntary ban on travelling, I think I can’t go far. I also can’t do a lot of relaxing stuff, like getting a massage, a hot oil treatment, even a foot spa. I figured, what can I do to alleviate the restless wanderer in me? I also have that monetary confinement at the moment, saving every penny for my giving birth. Think, think, think! I believe I am naturally creative so I started to plan a staycation instead!

What’s a staycation? It’s literally a vacation but spent in the comfort of your own home. I believe it’s really a way to minimize what’s causing your stress and enjoy the moment without the hassle of packing, travelling, and high budgets.

We’re not actually spending our staycation at home. We live in a condo, and I would welcome the bigger space, so we’re eyeing checking in a hotel somewhere near. If our reservation is approved, we’ll be there next week, Holy Week. So this early, I’m claiming we’ll be there, and here are some of the things we plan to do, yes, watching cable TV is part of it.

1. Watch cable TV – I miss TV and though I still firmly believe it’s a waste of time, I like to watch once in a while to update myself on the latest shows available. Or perhaps good movies that I haven’t found DVDs of yet. Or good series that I just hear of.
2. Swim – my son loves the water, and I missed his last swimming session so I intend to swim and have fun with him. The place we want to stay in has a roof over the pool so no need to worry about sunburn!
3. Lounge around – I don’t know what’s with me, but I like sleeping in other beds for a change. So, I’m currently having a love-hate relationship with our bed since my back aches due to the growing baby inside me, and it’s not giving me the support I want that I am actually excited to try another bed.
4. Walk around – the area of the hotel is like a park so maybe we can go outside to walk and get fresh air.
5. Cook and eat – the place has a cooking area too so I’m relaxing by cooking in a kitchen that isn’t mine!
6. Repeat 10 times – and do these all over again in a span of two days.

These might be everyday things to others, but for me, I don’t get to do all the time. That’s why I would want to do them, and what perfect opportunity is the coming week. I just hope the place is free for us to use. You may notice that we’re hitting on Holy Week, so aside from all these, we usually attend a virtual retreat that I actually really like, it allows me to reflect on the occasion but gives me enough room to do other things as well. Yes, we still can’t live without internet so thank God for mobile internet. How about you, how would you plan a staycation?

We have a close friend who celebrates his birthday today and he thanked everyone who made his life wonderful. He’s in his mid thirties now, and what struck me most was how important he noted of the relationships he built over the past thirty-X years. Not just with his family, but friends, colleagues, community too. The other day, my husband and I were talking about how we can invest more in relationships. You see, we’re not perfect. We need a couple more lessons on how to invest in relationships and keep them and we know it. Not just a one off, it’s a phase, we’re done thing, but real, genuine, and lasting relationships.

Unlike my earlier days into the blog challenge, I don’t have a list of what I’ve done to share with you. Again, I need a couple more lessons myself. But I recognize that I have a lot of role models I can look up to, our friend being one. So this is more of a ‘note to self’ post, rather than ‘I did this’ post.

From church, to work, to family, here are my observations from the people I believe are champions in investing in great relationships. I can only hope and try my best to learn these and apply them myself, so that one day, when I look back to my life, I can say that I’ve invested well.

• Overlook each other’s faults
• Be genuinely interested in each other’s life
• Listen to each other and not judge
• Accept each other and let go of things not in your control
• Forgive each other and forget the hurt
• Don’t compare yourselves
• Be emphatic, not a critic
• Share your life with each other
• Don’t be afraid to be yourself
• Give each other a chance to know themselves
• Spend time together
• Know each others’ dreams and fears
• Pray for each other
• Celebrate with each other

I don’t know how to perfectly execute all these into one perfect recipe but I know that it’s really worth it to invest in relationships. It’s like magic. I also don’t know if my observations are enough, I’ll know soon. And though I know I need hard work given my state now, I pray that I have the wisdom to know, and the will to do these so I can say that I’ve had great relationships. That in the end, I may glorify God who invested in me.

I have been blogging, albeit inconsistently, for almost five years now. I haven’t been successful in keeping at it, always finding a reason to stop. But hey, I always do come back to try again. If it’s blogging for me, how about you? It’s difficult to build a habit much more stick to it, and I believe that’s what 30-day blog challenges are for.

But aside from building a habit of posting on my blog, there are far more important things that you need to build a habit on in order for you to be successful in life. Deep huh? Let’s be specific – to be healthy, you need to exercise at least three times a week. Not once a month. And eat healthy every day, not once a quarter.

So how do you build a habit? In my own experience, here’s what I observed:

• Have a firm resolution – decide. You need to be convinced that you need to do it, otherwise, you won’t.
• Establish accountability – get support. Tell the world, your team, your spouse, your best friend, what you plan to do and be accountable to them for the results. They will also serve as moral support and added motivation, sometimes a slave driver, but hey, it’s your success they’re after.
• Bite size your goal – start with three days, then a week, then two, build it up to a month until you feel it naturally. Don’t start with one year immediately, it’ll fail.
• Rinse and repeat – if you fail, and you will some time, don’t be afraid to start again and again until you get it.

And believe me you, I’ve been at it for too long and I’m still going to try again. It applies to all things, not just blogging. As you move along, you’ll get more confident. As you build confidence, you’ll see yourself doing far greater things than just blogging. Here’s to your success as you build a habit!

My work week starts on a Tuesday unlike most people with their Mondays. I find this an advantage because I don’t feel the Monday traffic but let me tell you that I still feel the rush. Tuesdays for me is the day when we produce the weekly reports, get on weekly meetings, and get updates on what happened and what will happen. And with my weekend just finishing on Monday, my mind’s sorta not cooperating most of the time. Yours too probably, so it’s really essential to start your day right.

It took me a while to gather myself together, but I found that being consistent at it, helps. Now if you look for tips on how to start your day right, you’ll find all kinds of stuff – from keeping balance, a healthy lifestyle, a good sleeping habit, to keeping a good hygiene by starting your day with a shower. I won’t go into that anymore, much has been written about it but I will still share my piece.

Here are my critical five steps to do to start your day right. Your work day at least.

1. Clear your mind of distractions – focus. Leave everything behind, the dishes, the bills, and the mess at home. You are in the office so be in the office. Easier said than done but you need to focus, really. Otherwise, your mind clutter will just distract you from doing what you need to do.
2. Know where you are and where you are going – review and plan forward. Remembering is difficult so when you get in first thing in the morning, recall what you did the day or week before, then plan your next action steps around those.
3. Write things down – list down the things that come into your mind. If you are doing this for the first time, you might get overwhelmed with all the things you write down, but as you become consistent, it will get easier. Writing things down makes sure you won’t forget. Whatever you use – a notebook, pad, laptop, have a place to write things down.
4. Prioritize – there’s nothing more important than knowing what is. Yes you have all these things to accomplish, but which ones come first? It takes special skills, I know, but you can’t put off assigning value to your tasks forever.
5. Pray – pray that you have the focus to do the things you need to do, the memory to remember things, the diligence to be consistent, and the wisdom to discern what is important. Oh and it’s also the most important step.

Do these and they might work for you so you can start your day right. Try it too, on your non-work related tasks aka your personal lives, these might just be the things you’re looking for to straighten up your schedule, home, or projects.

My toddler is going to school in June but he will also attend summer classes, so as early as now I am on the lookout for his school supplies. The school gave me a list, which is very helpful for first time school moms. I was looking at so many school supplies that I want that when I saw their list, I realized I will over do things, so the list will keep me in check.

One of the things that I am worried about was the bulk. Kids these days have too many items on their bags. Or so I think I didn’t have these many way back when. My son’s school is just around the corner so getting a school bus was out of the question. A light pack is then essential not to break his back.

But aside from packing a light bag, I also want to pack it light on my budget. We all know how much school fees eat out of your household’s budget, especially preschool fees, so I figured there must be a way to save on school supplies.

Here are a few things I did to save up on school supplies, without trying to scrimp on the quality of school supplies I buy.

1. Stick to the list – if you have one. If you don’t, write one down. Add to the original if you must, but write it down. It will keep your naturally shopping eye wandering from the essentials.
2. Compare prices – before you start buying, go around shopping. Look at prices at the major bookstores versus your local grocery store. There are school supplies found in odd places I tell you. You’ll be surprised at the price difference, a saving in itself.
3. Buy in batches – my strategy is to group the school supplies together so I can buy them in batches. I have a budget per batch, and I buy them one by one, slowly but surely. That is of course, if you have the time.
4. Squeeze in the budget – since I don’t have room for a whole big chunk of school supplies in our budget, I decided to save up on some other items, then squeeze the school supplies in. For example, instead of buying Brand X biscuits for my son’s snacks, I bought the cheaper but equally tasty brand. Or I tried to extend the life of our dishwashing agent to skip this week and use it for school supplies. Since I buy in batches, a saving in one area will offset my school supplies purchase.
5. Recycle what you have – some of the items on my list need not be new, so I gathered up things I don’t use which can be used for school. I have a few pencils lying around, so instead of buying new ones, I got them and will use them instead.

So far, I don’t feel the bite in my budget. Of course I had to let go of some luxury like buying during a sale (since I don’t have a budget that is just there), and I spend a tad longer time buying everything since I have a few more batches to go, but I find the strategy working so far. I have our first batch of school supplies for the little boy already, and he’s so excited he just might start using these so I’m keeping them inside the closet.

So, I’m starting another challenge, this time for 30 days. I’m joining my husband’s challenge. 30 day blogging. Again. This time though I’m more confident with myself because I did 40, didn’t I? So here is me, starting on Monday. 30 days of sharing my thoughts with you. Watch out

I pray that I will have a healthy pregnancy, and that the baby inside me will develop normally and completely. I’m quite heavy now and I pray that I will just compensate my weight with my baby’s. I also claim normal delivery and zero complications. I am starting on taking vitamins for my baby and eating healthy sans the cravings. Please pray with me.

I also claim that my husband will tolerate my moods, and that J will be ready by the time his baby brother or sister comes. I claim that whatever needs we have right now, God has already provided for. An affirmation I got just this morning:

Dear Lora Mae,

This year, you’re not going to experience a drizzle of blessings. You’ll
not experience a quick and light rain of blessings. This year, you’ll
experience a downpour of blessings.

Believe,
God

P.S. Lora Mae, expect it.

Who wouldn’t be excited and thankful with that?