Why I Love My Passion Planner

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As a former BDJ Bella, I used to carry a Belle De Jour planner everywhere. My first impressions of the planner were published in this post.  I liked the BDJ planners for all the extra pages and features it had. I particularly benefitted from the Cash Flow and Bill Trackers. Talk about adulting huh?! Although I don’t really plan by-the-hour, I found that making lists helped get me on track. I even wrote about Lists on the BDJ Blog!

The monthly inspirational pages, and the quotes all over the pages were also nice to have. I missed having those when I decided to ditch planners and use a handy notebook ala Bullet Journal instead. But my pilit Bullet Journaling days are over. The only BuJo tip I really followed was to add page numbers and maintain a table of contents. 

This year, I decided to finally get my own Passion Planner


I am a Passion Planner Kickstarter backer in their 2014 campaign. I liked CEO Angelia Trinidad’s story and vision. Being a backer gave me access to the PDF printables of the various pages they had available. Right after my wedding, I printed out the Mind Map pages and sat with my husband for a visioning exercise. It allowed us to really think about what we wanted to focus on and understand the steps we need to take to achieve our goals. Of course, the real action doesn’t stop there and is another story altogether. 

Before 2016 ended I had been thinking a lot about how to further up my game. I wasn’t completely satisfied with how I’d been leading my life. Sure, I have a good job, and a happy family life, but I felt that I could do more each day. I had been pushing my team at work to make their game plan a tool for success, but I felt that I didn’t have a real overall game plan. I considered several options, including Elise Cripe’s Get To Work Book, but the cost of the planner plus International shipping was a big issue for me.  Finally, a backer’s sale plus a deal on International Shipping just before the year ended made it easy to choose the Passion Planner. 

My choices were the dated Birds & Bees Blush Classic, and the undated Paradise Blue classic that starts on a Monday. Why 2? One is for next year, but if the wind blows in another direction, I may decide to give it away, Hah! We’ll see. A new edition was released in March and it is taking all my self-control to keep away from carting it. The Lavender Bliss. It doesn’t just come in my favorite color, but it also has a Mandala-themed cover design; and, each purchase is matched (1:1) by a donation of planners to organizations that help raise awareness on domestic violence. You can learn more about the different editions at the Passion Planner Shop.

Get One, Give One

Their mission of giving one planner away for each planner purchased isn’t limited to the Lavender Bliss. The Limited Editions sold just determine which groups receive the free planners, but overall they believe in giving back to the community the best way they know how: by providing people a tool that encourages them to go out and reach for their goals and make their dreams come true. I love that about this company. 

The Passion Roadmap

The Passion Roadmap is also a big reason why I love my Passion Planner. It’s not just the pages, but the process. Because of the mindmap I was forced to really think about what I want. And to examine whether I am spending time towards the pursuit of my goals or if I am wasting it on things that don’t really matter in the long run. The process forces you to be SMART about your goals too. The Monthly Reflection helps in accountability, but also allows you to reframe your thoughts and actions if necessary. 

Customizable

I love how I have been able to really make it my own. It really is becoming more than just a planner, but a journal and keepsake that I can keep and come back to in coming years. It helps me live out my scrapbooker dreams for now (but reminds me that I should spend time on actual scrapbooking too). Look what I’ve done on the first page:



#PashFam

The company behind the Passion Planner has done an excellent job harnessing the power of social media. They have built a vibrant community and they continue to spread inspiration through their Website, YouTube channel, and Instagram. I love spying on other people’s weekly or monthly layouts as featured on their feed. They also share tips and just a lot of motivation too. 

If it isn’t obvious yet, I really love my Passion Planner. I am using the classic size, which I realize is huge, but I can’t imagine having enough space on the compact version. I’m sharing my January pages to close this post, but know that it’s now the first of April and I am still loving everything about it. 





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It is the 25th day of the year and already I can’t wait for 2017 to be over. Or maybe I should say, I am looking forward to the year to get a lot better.

You could say that I’ve had quite a time so far. My program is shutting down (but I still have a job), and I had an accident on Friday night. I crashed into another vehicle. Although I am quite thankful that neither the other driver nor I sustained any injuries, the hassle of getting my insurance to pay for the repairs on both cars is stressing me out.

 

Unboxing

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When a package gets delivered to my door, I always get a sense of excitement. It doesn’t matter that I was the one who ordered it, and I know exactly what’s inside the box or bag.

HN box

It doesn’t matter that’s it’s just an order of bath and body essentials to restock what we’ve already used up around here.

HN goodies

There’s still excitement with every unboxing.

Do you like Unboxing too?

I am a Human Nature advocate and I personally choose their products and encourage friends and family to do the same. If you’re interest in their products, you may sign up online to be an advocate and get a discount for every purchase. Remember to input Vera Ocampo as the person who introduced you to Human Nature. As an advocate you can also earn from selling these amazing products from your friends and family. 

Body Positive

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There’s been a lot of body positive posts and videos going around that are targeted to promote sensitive and inclusivity. Now, there is no single view of beauty or sexy. They come in all shapes and sizes. Thin is no longer in. All good.

How does this affect me?

I am big. I am bigger than most girls. I wear 5 times bigger than the average person at work. I have no facts to base that from except my perception of their sizes. I am not going to be surprised if many are XS, and most fit a Medium-sized shirt. All my clothes are 3XL or larger.

In recent years, maybe in the last 6, I’ve been able to wear pretty clothes. I used to be just a shirt and jeans girl, not necessarily by choice, but because there weren’t many options for my size. There’s a lot of big blouses and big dresses, but I felt like they weren’t for my generation. They were always for the Madam, the older ones, that is.  I wear more dresses now than I’ve ever had since I was a little girl. But I still don’t wear sleeveless tops or dresses without a cardigan on top. In this weather? Heh. See it’s not my size that prevents me from wearing sleeveless shirts or from baring skin. I want to be confident in a bathing suit or even a bikini but I’m not! My arms go from fair to dark, top to bottom. No matter how many times I get tanned, the colour just doesn’t get fixed. It’s also my dark pits, and the dark lines on my neck/nape. Yes. I’ve got all those other issues that I think would make people who see say ‘yuck.’

How can I blame them? I feel exactly the same way about those darn things. Naliligo naman ako, I take a bath regularly and scrub myself down. I’ve used several different products to make them go away but nothing seems to work.

Frankly though, why do I care? Why do I care so much about these things? There is so much more to me than my appearance. And if the people who like me now would change their mind after seeing me exposed, well to hell with them.

So for my birthday lunch with the family a few weeks ago, I didn’t wear a cardi over my dress.

stripes

stripes

And no one gave me crap about it.

Of course I only had loved ones around the table with me, and it was my birthday weekend. But there were lots of other diners at the restaurant that day, and I really didn’t care to check if anyone was repulsed by how I looked. I was busy being happy, and acknowledging my blessings.

Then I wore a tank top to the grocery last week. So will I be ordering a two-piece bathing suit soon? I still don’t think so.

Anyway, here’s the family shot of that lunch two weeks ago. Amir was trying to eat his mashed potato right off the plate so he could get a mash ‘stache. He is hilarious!

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Impromptu Road Trip

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When I ask the husband what he would like to do for the weekend, he would be hard-pressed for an answer. We hardly go to the malls anymore, and we hardly ever go to see movies in the cinema these days. We’ve even missed the Batman-Superman movie, as well as the more recent Civil War.

Lego_Badong

Happy with his purchase

Sometimes, he would tell me of an errand he needs done and he would like for me to drive him. Such was the case for Sunday, 15th of May. We were to head to SM San Lazaro where he’s to meet up with a Lego seller, and then drive all the way to Pasay for a brief visit to his parents. I stay in the car for both stops. It’s faster for him to go in and out of the mall with just one objective. If I go with him, we’d be window shopping all over the place. Or worse, we might end up buying something – maybe a snack or something.

For his visit home, I also stayed in the car. We have to park a block away from their house whenever we visit. That day, I just parked along the main road, hazard lights on. And this was a quick visit because Nanay wasn’t home. So he just said Hey to Tatay, grabbed a few things, and came back.

On the way there we were already talking about where to head next. Robinson’s Magnolia was a good option – so we could buy a bigger thermos to lug cold water with. SM MOA was another option, or behind it rather, at the bay area, because I really wanted to go somewhere we could just hang out. I have been wanting to go to a park, somewhere where we could relax and I could read or crochet for a few hours. I’ve also been wanting to drive to Tagaytay.

It was 12 noon, and he said yes to Tagaytay.

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There are so many dining options in Tagaytay City, but since I’ve never tried it at Mahogany Market, that’s where we went to eat. It’s the Bulalo capital, so they say. I’m happy to report that the Bulalo is just as good as anywhere else in Tagaytay, the fried Tawilis too. Leslie’s and Dencio’s have the advantage of a nice view, but the many stalls at Mahogany Market offer unlimited free senyorita bananas, and even a plate of chilled pineapples! They even offered free coffee after the meal. That was good coffee too, very tasty.

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After lunch, we wondered where to go next. It is summer and even Tagaytay is hot and humid. We didn’t go to the Picnic Grove for fear that there might be a lot of people there. The husband insisted that there were still places along the highway where you could stop, park, and admire the view for free. I didn’t believe him but we went ahead and drove the length of the highway. We spotted the Sales Office of Splendid, and what do you know? There’s free parking, and people were stopping to admire the view. We stopped there for about an hour, for crochet and a nap.

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On the way home we decided to take a different route, not the Sta. Rosa route, but the Alfonso-Silang road. We followed Waze and was again amazed at the good but narrow side streets of Cavite. This province sure has a lot of small bridges. It’s also nice to note how there are many big, beautiful houses tucked away and hidden from the main roads. When we finally got back on the main road, there was the Sunday afternoon traffic – people are heading home to Manila. It wasn’t too bad though, just slow going at some areas.

We decided not to follow Waze at some point and just follow the road to Cavitex. It meant an additional hour of travel, but it was nice and steady. The husband ended up sleeping for the most part, but I would wake him up every ten minutes or so. Haha.

We are definitely not spontaneous people. We usually talk things through a few times before we do anything, that’s why end up not doing much most of the time! Lol. But it’s nice to just do something like an impromptu road trip. Good for the soul. 🙂

 

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