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100 Happy Days

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#100happydays

Have you heard about it? I’m on Day 6 of my personal 100 happy days’ challenge. What is it all about?

Here’s what it says on the challenge home page:

What?

We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being.

71% of people tried to complete this challenge, but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason.These people simply did not have time to be happy. Do you?

How? Plain simple!

every day submit a picture of what made you happy! 

It can be anything from a meet-up with a friend to a very tasty cake in the nearby coffee place, from a feeling of being at home after a hard day to a favor you didto a stranger.


#100happyday challenge is for you – not for anyone else.

It is not a happiness competition or a showing off contest. If you try to please / make others jealous via your pictures – you lose without even starting. Same goes for cheating.

So I took up the challenge and began on February 11th. I think it’s important to note that for some people, happiness doesn’t come naturally. Which is why we must intend to be happy. It is my intention to be happy for a hundred days. That’s more than enough days to make happy a habit. Smile

I’ve always said that I already am a generally happy person. It takes a lot to get me down. But it may also mean that being so leaves me highly prone to taking for granted those that make me happy. Hence the challenge to document and share the 100 little or big things that make me happy.

Please do join us! I share my photos via Instagram (@verabear) with the hashtag #100happydays. It can be shared in any way you choose – via Facebook, or your blog, Twitter, or if you choose to go private, you can just send them a daily email. If you’re already doing this, or are already done, please do link me up because I definitely would like to know what makes your days happy Smile

101 in 1001

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Today I am happy to embark on this challenge of accomplishing 101 set goals in 1001 days. Today is Day Zero. Or today is Day 1001. Haha. Whatever. Be sure to read that post to understand what this challenge is all about.

Here’s my list, in no particular order:

Update – 4.19.2018 – crossing out tasks I already accomplished. I have a follow up post here. 

  1. Start and finish the online HomeEc (Sewing) class I signed up for months and months ago.
  2. Relaunch my baking and pastry home business.
  3. Redesign and declutter my blog.2015
  4. Organize our photographs
  5. Organize my digital supplies
  6. Project Life Wedding guestbook, 30 Days of Thankful, Pinto Art Museum mini-book 
  7. Have a monthly backup day – online and offline
  8. Edit my closetDone in previous years, but needs to be done again. 
  9. Finish my TBR pile (this will be a big challenge as it continues to grow) Probably NEVER gonna happen!
  10. Edit my book collection
  11. Build an emergency fund
  12. Connect with friends regularly (set a date with a friend/s each month)
  13. Make breakfast for the family
  14. Cook dinner for the family
  15. Declutter my Pinterest
  16. Organize the bedroom
  17. Get our bedframe replaced or repaired
  18. Setup a creative space at home
  19. Setup the book swap website
  20. Close one (or two) of my credit cards
  21. Put in at least 2.5 hours of exercise time each week (beginning next week), and maybe increase it after a few weeks
  22. Get a regular massage (frequency to be decided later on)
  23. Have a once a week shake or fruit juice only day. I had my daily green smoothies 2013-2014
  24. Make time for getaways, no matter how simple, near, or far (once every 3 months?)So maybe we’re not doing it quarterly, but we are definitely taking time off for vacations now.
  25. Setup Analog days (how often?)
  26. Cultivate my love for photography (determine how and execute it)
  27. 1 full week of getting to work early (versus not late)
  28. Then two weeks
  29. Then a full month!
  30. Go to two places I’ve never been to before. Jose Panganiban, Cam Norte in 2014, Coron, Palawan in 2015
  31. Travel to another countryThailand 2017, Taiwan 2018
  32. Edit my Reader
  33. Sign up and attend a class/es (could be culinary or baking school, or even a make-up class!) Haha not those classes, but I did a Basic Knitting Class, Amigurumi, and a virtual assistant/work from home Class.
  34. Grow my portfolio
  35. Do a monthly review blog or layout
  36. Create my dream board 2016
  37. Take my car to the carwash every Monday
  38. Organize our living space (this will take a lot of planning)
  39. Send happy holiday cards every Christmas I participated in the Trollbeads Christmas Cards exchange for two years, maybe 2012 and 2013?
  40. Organize a vacation for the whole family Las Casas 2013
  41. Do something to help cultivate Alfred’s photography hobby/business
  42. Draw up a financial plan
  43. Make the wedding happen 12-13-14
  44. Watch at least one theater play/musical per year
  45. Have a no-spend month.
  46. Do a baking challenge (determine what the challenge is and execute it)
  47. Get involved at Church (determine how, at what level, and do it)
  48. Cleanout our pantry
  49. Reorganize our kitchen
  50. Make a ‘baon’ plan and execute it!
  51. Make green smoothies and healthy smoothies a part of my day
  52. Make a quilt
  53. Participate in Ali’s Week in The Life, or make my own
  54. Determine an exciting or busy time in our life and do a mini book on it
  55. Find a cable for the GF1 Lumix
  56. Make a career move (up or out)

Okay. So I only have 56 goals so far. Nonetheless, today is Day Zero. Smile

Taking on the Day Zero Challenge

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Back in May, I had read a blog from somebody doing the 101 in 1001 challenge. I wish I could link you up to that blog because she was really very inspiring, but I didn’t bookmark it. I suppose she’s someone on My Reader, but I so far haven’t seen her post about her list again. Sad smile

Anyway. 101 in 1001 is a challenge to go through a list of 101 goals (or tasks) in 1001 days. That is a huge undertaking, both in the number of goals, and in the period of time. Almost 3 years to complete. When I first heard about it, I had written up a list. So far, I haven’t completed my 101 goals. So instead of starting in June 2012, it has been pushed so far back.

I’ve given myself a deadline. I will complete my list of 101 and post it here this weekend. My 1001 days will officially begin on July 14. I thought about launching it on my birthday, but that means waiting two more weeks to start, and I’ve already wasted a lot of time as it is. I gotta go by my word for 2012: START.

It probably won’t be a surprise that some tasks on my list will be blogging related. What may be a big surprise is that so far, there’s nothing really work-related. Or current-career related. Not sure if that will be true of the final 101. We’ll see.

To know more about this challenge, and to checkout other people’s lists, checkout Day Zero.

If you’re doing your own 101 in 1001, link me up and let me be inspired Smile

Back to School

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For most kids in the Philippines, school’s been back for three weeks. Sometimes I wish to go back to that young and carefree life, but then I remember how much I didn’t like school. Really. I may have been a good student in the eyes of classmates and teachers, but deep inside I was itching to be outta there. Homework wasn’t something I cared much about, but they had to be done. And waking up early! My gawd!

Oh okay, it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t hate it. I just really didn’t like studying. I really love reading, just not books for my academics. Although I did enjoy reading school books one summer while I was in elementary school. Guess what they were? The Noli and Fili. It was either my kuya or our kasambahay’s books that I read. So I went through the required reading for Pinoy high school juniors and seniors just because I liked it. But when I had to read along as a high school Senior myself, I didn’t. I read Greek/Roman mythology too, from my brother’s books. But we didn’t tackle them in English class much (bummer).

I further realized how much I didn’t like being in school when I gave up dreams of being a lawyer. Seeing Malcolm Hall regulars with their 4-5 inch thick daily readings turned me off. Spare me the agony. It just wasn’t for me. Years later, when Friendster was all the rave, I went through a crisis. Batchmates in medical school or law school made me envious. That should be me! Instead, I was working at an NGO (I loved my work then, don’t get me wrong). It felt like I wasn’t chasing after my dream.

But then I realized, well, it could be me. If I really wanted it.

It wasn’t a question of whether I could make it through law school, or med school. I’m sure I could. But I had to be realistic. I would be miserable at least half the time!

Now there’s something I really enjoyed while I was studying: Writing. Not copying notes, mind you. Composition writing. Theme writing. To a certain extent, I liked having to do ‘papers.’ Some kids would complain about having to write essays on exams; as for me, I loved it!

 

Photo Jun 21, 8 49 37 PM

I had no problem getting good essay writing. As long as there was a question to answer, and I was inspired, the words would flow through my pen to the paper. How many “my memorable summer experience” essays did I have to write in my life? ‘Don’t remember. Sometimes I wish they were returned to me, or that I bothered to keep them. I don’t think kids have to write those themes anymore.

No doubt, the yearly journalism workshops we did for the school paper (Young Trinitian’s Voice) were invaluable experiences. They did help me write better. I attended for three years, grades 4 to 6. I missed that when I moved on to (a different) high school. When I look back, I knew more about writing and putting a paper together when I was younger. Now I know zilch. And my writing’s gone bad I can’t make money doing business in research paper for sale. haha!

So there. I guess I didn’t hate school after all and it wasn’t a dreadful experience. Smile

How about you, did you look forward to writing exercises in school?

By the way, photo is mine. Those are my colleagues taking notes during the big meeting we all attended back in April.

30 Day Challenge: Begin & End Your Day feeling Balanced

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The 30-day challenge over at Crystal Wilkerson’s blog starts today, February15th. If I were normal, or if I decided to commit to this last week, I should have started this morning (or last night, as my day really starts at nighttime). But since work schedule is in EST anyway, I’ll be taking the challenge on an EST calendar as well Smile

What is it you ask?

 

 

Why is this important to me?

This challenge is important to me because I need it badly. I have never been known to be punctual. I show up. But most times, I’m late. Sometimes I am early or on time, but it isn’t most times. And that’s not something I am proud of. I’ve actually come to accept that about me, but it isn’t a good trait so I want to change. And I need help to change, this might be it. When I die, I don’t want ‘the late…’ to be the biggest joke of all.

I know that the challenge isn’t about being punctual, but a good reason why I’m late for most things is because I don’t heed my own wake up call all the time. I’m in a love affair with the snooze button. An abusive love affair. So though the challenge may not make me punctual for every appointment I make, it will at least help set the tone for my day, and that’s good enough for me.

Also, one of my resolutions (trying to do a happiness project too, hehe) is ‘to have a bedtime’ and to ‘wake up early.’ Two resolutions. So this challenge will actually help me achieve at least three things: get to work on time, all the time, follow a bedtime schedule, and wake up early.

Why should I take the time?

Anything important is worth making time for. I will consider this an investment in time and effort, and the payoff will be big. Hopefully, I won’t even have to wait too long for the ROI. Smile

Why now and not later?

Now is good a time as any. Besides, my word for the year is Start.

Why will this help me?

This will help me in so many different levels, I can’t even begin to list them. But finding balance before my actual day starts is an exciting prospect. Most of the time, I am a zombie as I get ready to leave home, and while I drive to work. I get to my desk, I sit, and it takes me at least 15-20 minutes to warm up and get things in proper perspective. This challenge, for me, promises a new way to start the day. If successful, I can hit the ground running as soon as I arrive in the office.

Why should I not give up?

In some form or another, I have done a similar challenge and I stick to it for awhile but not see it through the end. I have had enough of that. I shouldn’t give up because life is too short. I will think of Papa, and take on this challenge as a tribute to him who always gets up early.

Are you in on the challenge?

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