Dessert @ Sage

I would have asked my sister to take a second shot where I would smile better but the camera's battery was gone. 

We took a side trip after enrolling for a class in BCSAT. It's a short walk from Tesda in PFVR to Sage in Military Cut-off.

I love the ambiance in Sage. Purple and muted shades of green! Good food, quiet place. Non-smoking area which is probably one of the reasons it doesn't attract the younger "hanging" out type of people. Good business decision, in my opinion. They've designated a smoking area outside (the entrance area).

Feeling Pretty on a Sunday

Despite spending Saturday night out with friends, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for waking up early today. I'm not a morning person, well, not really. I'd rather sleep in but being a mom changes that completely. I don't have a choice. When my little boy is up and poking my eyes because he wants to get out of the room already, I have to get up as well.

Aside from feeling pretty proud, I'm feeling rather pretty today. In Manila terms, I may feel fat and I blame the heat. I expand in warm places. Haha! Let's just say I feel more confident about my body here at home. 

Managed to get me and my little boy ready for church! Plus points for being able to convince my sister to come with us.

It's a challenge to walk around and meet people we've known since childhood because they all know our story. Well, they all SEEM to know our story. Three sisters, all with a child, single. Yep, something went wrong. Bad decisions, bad choices. Moving on. 

Charge to experience. Our little boys are blessings. Lessons? Definitely. But they're more of a blessing, to me at least. I can still name a few people who like to point out what a "wonderful" life I would have if I didn't get pregnant. But that's them. This is me. My little boy? My gorgeous little boy? Whiny? Yes, but I love him so much!

                        

Today was a good day and it's just another thing on my list of things to be thankful about.

Saturday Trip to the Park

Friday was a challenging day for me. My little boy was extra whiny and clingy. To top that off, he had tantrums, yes, with an S, plural form. TANTRUMS, throughout the day. He just has so much energy in him that I don't think he can manage to stay at home for a whole week.

I noticed that when we go out to the park or to the mall, he doesn't scream as much throughout the day. But when we're stuck at home, he gets really pissy. So, Saturday was his day. Here are a few photos from our trip to the park!

Marcus watching the bump cars

Me, playing with the camera effects, this one's the Toy Camera Effect

The kiddie slide, more like the baby slide

Marcus and Boo

The Big Kids' Slide 

The boy who refuses to smile with his mouth open

 

 

 

 

 

 I can see my tummy flabs but as long as the little boy enjoyed the day, it's all good.

RED

Wearing the lip print long sleeved shirt from Ahaishopping and Ultra Glazewear Lip Gloss in Fiery Red from Avon that came with special edition box from Glamourbox.

Quarter Life Crisis

Call it whatever you want, but at 24 I didn't picture my life to be this way. Graduate, a degree holder, but working a job I have no idea about. Single mom, living with my parents in a house that isn't even ours, I'm not sure where my depression is coming from.

I have a roof over my head, a job that pays for my son's diapers and milk. I'm not alone, I have friends and a family. Call me spoiled, picky, privileged or whatever, I don't even know the word that would describe how ungrateful I may look to others who are having it worst than I am. But knowing some people are in worst situations doesn't make my failures seem lighter in my eyes. It is true, we are our worst critics and while some may tell me I'm being too hard on myself, I just really didn't envision myself in this situation.

Living here in the Philippines doesn't make it easy to pull yourself together and make your life a success story. I know, it's just an excuse. It's a stupid excuse, really. Even I know that. For the past 4 years, I argued that going abroad, working overseas isn't the only solution or way to get rich or earn money. I believed that wherever a person is, she can be successful. I pushed this and stood by it despite family members and friends telling me that as a nurse, the money is overseas.

I still refuse to believe it but lately, maybe they were right. Should I have left 4 years ago, maybe I'd have savings by now. Maybe I'm supporting my parents and sending my sister to school. Maybe I don't have a son. Maybe.

But no, I'm here. Depressed. Feeling in debt to my parents, grandparents and aunt for sending me to college to take a course I don't have the heart for. Feeling guilty for having a son, making a mistake and thinking I can raise him on my own.

I love my little boy. I really do. I don't regret having him. I'm hoping it's normal to go through this kind of depression.

But really, I can't seem to pinpoint the reason for self-pitying. I'm just there, in that line of "feeling sorry I'm such a failure."

What do I do? Listen to depressing songs and hope I can cry this out so I can just shake it off and move on.

Quarter life crisis? I'm not even 25 yet. Jeez.

Goal for Soul No. 1

It's been forever since I've played the piano. For years I've always been jealous of people who can play songs, not those children's tunes I grew up practicing to. I mean REAL songs.

Before I get into my dramatic imagination of playing the piano and singing along, here's the thing. I'm tired of making excuses. It's harder, tougher and much more difficult to practice and re-learn playing the piano but it beats feeling sorry every time I hear someone play.

Emeli Sande's Read All About It really touched my heart. Whether it's the lyrics or the piano, maybe both? I want to learn this and I'm giving myself a month to at least learn to play a simple arrangement I found on the internet.

2GO Service Review

2GO is a shipping/forwarding services. To be honest, I'm not sure how far their services go but a lot of online shops/store use them for delivering products.

Convenient? Definitely. Here's the thing. I shopped in Lazada thrice now. The first product I bought was a camera, the second one was a hard drive and the most recent one was a Ben10 watch and two educational kits. Anyway, not the point.

Lazada always sends a tracking number after they've shipped the products and I'm not sure if 2GO takes this for granted thinking not everyone really checks the status of their shipment BUT, during the time I was waiting for my camera, I checked frequently. I got surprised when the status said, Undelivered, no person at home, or something like that. The next day, I asked the guy who delivered and he apologized saying he wasn't able to make the delivery before 5PM so he put that status instead.

I thought, okay. Rough day probably. No problem.

But then, it happened again! Anxious to get my package soon so I can gift wrap it, I checked numerous times a day. Maybe it was the anxiety, but this pissed me off big time.

Bad address? This was my third order from Lazada. I had my mobile number registered and whoever had a hard time finding our house should have called the registered number on the parcel. It was a good thing I was out when the package arrived. My mom had to sign for me, otherwise, I would have given the delivery guy a bad day.

I have no problems with Lazada. I love their products! 2GO services on the other hand. Err?

It's a challenge to get customer service and your Contact Us page is not helpful. While you have an online chat support, I challenge anyone who was actually able to contact someone via their chat support to tell me about their experience.

Fully Booked Online Store Review

I had to wait a whole day before writing this just to make sure I'm not making a review out of frustration.

Here's the thing, it's my nephew's birthday on the 10th, he's turning 9 years old. Sad to say but he's never experienced opening a wrapped present for his birthday. EVER. Let's just say, we're not accustomed to wrapping gifts or throwing themed parties. For birthdays, we usually eat out or cook food at home and invite close relatives.Grandparents, aunts and uncles usually give money as a gift thinking it's better that the money is used to buy something useful and not some random toy they pick up in the toy store.

Sounds practical. But this year, it's different. We wanted to buy him presents.

Being a book lover myself, I wanted to get him The Spiderwick Chronicles. It's not something he asked for but it's something I wanted him to read. It's a personal favorite of mine (which is why I wanted him to share my enthusiasm for the book)

Checking National Bookstore here in my town (we have only one, it's in SM Baguio), I felt outraged that they don't have a copy. Well, to be honest, I was irritated that the woman in their customer service said they don't carry that book. If I wanted it, they can order it through Amazon but I have to wait for a month. I shop online A LOT. I could have done that but I need the books this week. Err.

So browsing online, I found a few sellers here in the Philippines that were selling their used set for cheaper prices. Thing is, how cheap can I be, right? First wrapped present and I buy my nephew a used book. Browsing. Browsing. Fully Booked has an online store. I type in the book and tadah! They have the book. Yeiy me! Despite being unsure how soon they can send it,(nothing on their site has shipping information) I bought the book using my card.

I got this response:

I thought, hmm, who's A-Solutions Inc. Anyway, I got redirected to this page:

Okay, that's it? Alright, let me check my email for a confirmation. NOTHING. Nothing came that day. Nothing. No, Thank You for shopping! No, here are your order details! No, contact this person or this number for more inquiries, etc. NOTHING.

Then the next day, I got an email saying they don't have the books.

I responded hoping that they won't give me store credit like most online stores do.

And this is the response I received:

I've checked my card account and I haven't received my money back. I worked as a customer service agent for T-Mobile UK for 9 months. I understand that it takes a while for vioded payments to reflect on client's bank statements. I completely understand that.

In short, I wasn't able to get my nephew the book for his birthday.

What's my beef with Fully Booked Online store? 

1. Stocks should be updated in their stores. Every online store should do that so customers know it's OUT OF STOCK, thus CAN NOT BE PURCHASED and PAID during Check out.
2. Fully Booked should create a page on the site about payment options, shipping options, number of days to expect your order and more on how to contact them! Their Contact Us page is a list of their stores, addresses and numbers. 

I'm not sure it makes sense to buy their book online and call their stores to ask them about the purchase. Right?

Why am I writing this? Well, I hope that anyone who, (in the future) would want to buy something off Fully Booked's online store would think twice. Buy the book in their stores or elsewhere.

In case you're not familiar, this is Fully Booked's Logo. To avoid any copyright issue, I got this logo from this site.

Don't get me wrong. I love Fully Booked stores! I used to spend house just walking inside Fully Booked in Gateway.