scenes from a (very) intimate dedication

Dear T, I wouldn’t say ‘Welcome to the Christian world!’ as I believe you’ve come from Christ and will always belong to Him. Instead, I’ll echo what a couple of your godmothers have said in their messages: ‘You are loved’… and punctuate that statement with lots of kisses and bear hugs until you flail your […]

half year

My son has just turned six months old, and I’m getting emotional (save the happy tears for the first birthday, momma!). Allow me to indulge in some baby-centric narrative. His first two teeth are about to come out. Bottom front. He keeps on feeling them with his tongue, making it appear that he’s sticking it […]

2pm cocktails

I’ve been staying away from alcohol since I found out I was pregnant almost a year ago. Now that my siopao is four months old, I finally felt comfortable with the thought of consuming negligible amount of alcohol…starting with refreshing cocktails I shared with a dear friend (and former boss!) at two in the afternoon […]

[photo diary] Art Fair PH 2019

I arrived at the conclusion that it works for me to go to events like this only once in a few years. The last one I visited was the 2016 run, and prior to that the last was in 2013, Art Fair Philippines’ launch year. I get easily overwhelmed and exhausted (hello tita me!). This time, […]

spark joy (of missing out)

I can’t believe a whole month off 2019 has just breezed by. Tomorrow, we will be waking up to a brand new one: February, one of my favorites. My son is halfway through his third month, and I find myself wishing for the proverbial freeze frame button (Surely, there has to be one tucked somewhere??). Hours […]

11 weeks + 2 days post-partum

Sometimes it still feels surreal that I’m already a mother. I welcomed 2018 as my usual spontaneous, introspective single self, and said goodbye to it feeling like my old self…but minus the spontaneity and with a little creature literally depending on me for sustenance. The first few weeks were the toughest. A rite of passage. […]

[photo diary] la union

Today being the last day of 2018, I initially planned to write a year-end entry with the lovely La Union sunset photo. It was taken May of this year. I was 18 weeks along, hence I jokingly refer to this weekend getaway as my babymoon. Thought of also sharing a bunch of snaps from my […]

This quiet season of transition

I have grown through the years, and I’m proud of (or more like at peace with) the journey that’s uniquely mine. There are a few real regrets; so many lessons learned along the way. I am still very much a work in progress, but I’m grateful and relieved that you will be entering my life at […]

Almost

Sometimes it feels like I’m so close to stumbling upon something. I just don’t know what exactly.

When it hits you

You were wandering around those narrow alleys in downtown Kyoto. You were alone. It was early Sunday night and you just came from hiking to the summit of Fushimi Inari Taisha with Nakatsuka-san. You already polished off an early dinner, a comforting bowl of kitsune udon, and had allotted the rest of the evening to […]