February 4, 2013

Fab Feb!

verabear Roundup 35 Comments

I have a feeling that February is going to be a Fabulous month!

That’s our Feb wall paper, the template is a freebie from Zoe Pearn. All I had to was slip in the photo of my Dad and my nephew. Don’t they look so happy? This photo was taken on the first of the month, when my brother and his small family dropped by the house after the little boy’s checkup. He had fever that day but he was so happy to see us it didn’t seem like he was having any downtime.

I am really look forward to what this month would bring, specially on the work side. This is the first month I’ll be spending with my new team (more on that later) and I am filled with hope that our goals are going to be within reach.

As for January, let’s not forgot to be thankful for the blessings we received:

• It was a record month for my Team. We ended with 7% higher CSATs than December, and we also hit our sales goal.
• I’ll be first to admit, having set a routine for the month, and having a smaller team, gave me less stress than I’ve had in the last year. But my team is growing this month so we’ll see how my newfound routine holds up.
• My Team Leads are showing progress in terms of coaching, and taking care of their people. We’re not there yet, but we will get there.
• On the Savings side – I have so far kept up with my goals and also increased my Stocks portfolio. The boyfriend has also begun turning over a certain percentage of his salary to add to our savings. It took some arm twisting, but he’s onboard. We’ll see if we can increase that % this year.
• We set a record high for going to the cinemas in January – we haven’t done this in a long time! I’ve seen a total of five (5) blockbusters in the cinemas. One More Try, Sisterakas, The Hobbit, Life of Pi, and Les Miserables.
• To watch Les Miserables, I went on a date with my Mom! Here’s a photo of her on the reclining seat at Gateway’s Platinum Cinema. The movie was just about to begin
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• Finally met my new godson Jonas! He’s so cute and big at only 5 months.
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• Spent an afternoon with good friends to see the newest baby – Julia Zemira! She’s the first daughter of my friends Reyna and Joel. Though they haven’t really asked me yet, I’m presenting myself to be Ninang!
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• My bestfriend whose family is all the way out in Dubai also asked me to be godmother to her first born, Kenzie! (See his photo collage here) Of course I couldn’t be there for his Dedication last week, but in spirit I definitely was with them. I have yet to meet him in person, but he already holds my heart in his small hands.
• Though I really thought I would be holding my purse tight in January, I bought two pairs of inexpensive but comfy shoes from Payless, and another bead for my Trollbeads bracelet. I named it my Troll bead, for all the Trolls that tried to put me down in December, unsuccessfully. Here’s the official photo of the Troll with Gems bead from the Trollbeads website, and its description is spot on for the qualities I realized I possessed because of this episode in my career.
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• I finished Catching Fire and Mockingjay of the Hunger Games series. Also Book 5 of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, The Last Olympian. My to be read list hasn’t been updated though.
• We also remembered the first anniversary of Papa’s Heavenly Birthday. We still miss him very much. We are grateful for the presence of family and friends who came to remember him and celebrate his life. Sadly, we had to bid goodbye to other uncles in January. Uncle Bawil who I last saw after one of my last therapy days in St. Luke’s last year. He had lost a lot of weight and was there for his regular checkup. We chatted a bit before I had to leave. We felt his absence in Papa’s memorial. Whenever there’s a celebration that calls for sacrificing pigs, he would be here bright and early, ready with his tools. Oh yes, we felt his absence.  Uncle Artie passed on a week after him. They were once housemates, all those years back when Uncle Artie first suffered a mild stroke that changed his life. I think I last saw Uncle Artie during the wake of his aunt, Mama Sen. And before the month ended Uncle Arthur also left for Heaven. I was very good friends with his youngest daughter Yaki and so I saw him a lot when were young girls. But the very last time I had an actual conversation with him was years ago when I was trying to make tennis my game. I was at his Requiem mass and heard his first born Manong Ronald speak about him, I realized that yes, he truly was a man of few words. No wonder I could remember only one conversation with him all these years. I am thankful to have known all these good men. They will always be remembered by their friends and families.

 

I feel like there was so much more in my January. Unfortunately I didn’t do a very good job blogging with only nine posts for the month. My Comments challenge wasn’t met either. That meant I spent more time sleeping in January. I felt like crashing on my bed or on the sofa just as soon as getting home from work. No complaints though.

So January was a blessed month and that gives me a lot of reason to be believe that Feb is going to be a Fab month!

How was your January?