CODENAME: TOMATOSTELLAR

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Thank You Pilot

I have 268 other things going inside my head. I thought of writing to relax a little bit, but the sight of Microsoft 365 apps did just the opposite of that.
But here I am powering through on Word.

1. I want to find a nice pressed powder because mine just shattered. I thought I was already winning when I noticed that I had pan-ned it. I wonder if refill is available.

~~ proceeds to open Google to find out ---it’s not.

2. And then I started obsessing over the flat warts spreading on the side of my face. I sighed. Nklai asked “wuht rongg?” I told him about it and that I need to see a doctor. He replied “maybe go to hot-tee-tal”. ♥ I’ll set up an appointment for another day.

3. I want to plan our May trip and have saved some attractions here and there; but April will come sooner and I don’t really have anything yet. And hearing Arjen’s story about the bumper-to-bumper traffic they got stuck on when they last went home to Quezon on a Maundy Thursday, I’m seriously considering just staying in the city.

4. I made a super-duper ugly beach scenery watercolor painting. Watercolor is so hard to control; so I went back to just one subject and followed a YouTube tutorial of a tree. I wish had the budget and time for proper lessons.

5. I finally did it. I switched pens -- and used the Sarasa that Mina got me for Christmas. I will probably use my green Pilot pen ‘til the end of its life. But moving forward, my planner has a vintage red brown ink from February onward.

You will always have a place in my heart green Pilot pen

Sunday, February 08, 2026

クラゲ

Random morning trigger kasi may napanood akong Reel of Internet strangers - 3 friends na naga-update sa friend nila who passed away 21 years ago.

Nung kabataan ko, for some reason may nabasa akong isang text/DM ni ate kay Mommy; I forgot what it was about but she shared her worry about something.

Na-realize ko na I kept things from Mommy ‘coz I felt like I had to protect her from feeling worried or any other negative feeling dahil sa heart condition nya. But that moment I realized I wanted to have a more open relationship with her and just tell her everything.

And now yun lang yine-yearn ko. Have adult conversation with Mommy. Hearing her wisdom and feeling the comfort of sharing everyday life update with Mommy.

2026

Approaching the final year of my 30s.

clouds + roses

Interesting conversation.

Meaningful connection.

Sabi ko yun muna mga mini goals ko.

Mag-improve yung painting ko ng clouds & roses kasi nakaka asar yung mga last kong gawa, pero it’s Feb pero tamad na tamad pa rin ako mag set up. Daydreaming of a quiet little studio para hindi na kailangan mag set up + ligpit.

So far, sunflower and jellyfish pa lang finished work ko.

Yesterday nag “weekend watercolor” kami ni Nikolai coz hindi ako tumuloy dun sa gusto kong workshop.

Interesting conversation x meaningful connection - na medyo mahirap dahil busy during work hours and parang ayaw ko na lol.

Especially disappointing when people don’t show up.

I’ll try harder if opportunity presents itself.

Pero tipong kahit kami ni Ali, pag nagwwalking walking, wala akong ma-contribute sa usapan.

Anyway, also other mini goal - iwas complain / rant.

I don’t have a plan on how to achieve.

Kthxbye.

Monday, January 19, 2026

stories about the apo you loved before you met

Nasa “Look!” phase na kami. When little children like to show and tell - just about everything.

Imagining what it’s like kung nandito si Mommy, and she would shower Nikolai with attention and praises, kahit mga simpleng bagay lang ipakita.

Haay

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Manifesting Walkable Philippines

Walkable community

Parks

Trains

Parking lots (it’s a me problem)

Tuesday, January 06, 2026

010626tue004412

Iinis na naman ako at di ko ma control reaction ko!

Ang hirap maging dysregulated na nanay reactive ko. Ang hirap iasa sa helper, kaso parang ako lang nagmmultitask?!

Haay unang rant

Many more to come

ps. Bakit may AI kineme na tong Blogger

Let our thoughts run wild

Thursday, January 01, 2026

CMG October 2025_new

Camiguin has been on my travel wish list for more than a decade and I can't believe that it is not as popular as the other (trendy) destination on Social Media right now.

Dubbed as the Island born of fire, Camiguin is the second smallest province in the Philippines. It is situated north of Mindanao, located in the Bohol Sea.

It has its own small airport in the town of Mambajao, but only serve flights from Cebu by Cebgo.

I got us CEBpass last year, and redeeming it would mean choosing flights within 30 days from the time of redemption. My target dates were somewhat rigid because of Ali's schedule - the need to apply for vacation leave 4 weeks ahead.

There were no Camiguin CEB Pass seats! But I really wanna go here, I planned for an alternative - choosing another airport even though there would be additional land travel and ferry ride.

Butuan had plenty CEBPass seats available; we chose this instead.

Knowing what I know now, I discourage doing this if you are traveling with a child.

Our travel time from our home took about 11-12 hours!

I've written how our trip (car ride, flight, bus, ferry) went, but it seemed complain-y so here's a summary:

Park N Fly > NAIA Terminal 3 > Butuan-Bancasi Airport > Robinson's Butuan > Balingoan Port > Benoni Port > Agoho Resort

Camiguin is kinda expensive! Our maybe I was disillusioned, thinking a less popular destination would be cheaper (compared to Boracay and Siargao).

We agreed to a "pakyaw" / special trip Tuktuk from Benoni Port to our accommodation, Agoho Resort in Mambajao for Php700. The trip was about 40-minute long.

I only felt that was a little steep because I think that fare difference with commute via multicab would've been far cheaper - like it wouldn't even cost half of that.

Now as I write this I feel like I'm trying to justify the "comfort" (compared to cramped seats on a multicab) and our bags, etc. I don't know. Since it's been a while since I traveled to a more rural area, I don't really have a point of comparison.

But my oh my Camiguin is beautiful!

It was raining on the morning of our first of 2 day pasyal days! Agoho Resort is great location if you plan to visit White Island!

We took Adams deal (our tuktuk driver from the port the day before) of a whole day service/land tour for Php2000.

We started late in the day and didn't rush our stay at each destination so we only got to see 3 stops on Day 1:

White Island Sandbar

Katunggan Mangrove Park

Mantigue Island

After Mantigue Island, I knew Nikolai was already beat. Though Adams was still willing to add a few stops to our tour, we kinda called it a day!

We were back to our accommodation at around 5:00pm. For us it felt pretty early, though it was already dark outside and it had been raining most of the afternoon.

We headed out to get coffee at Saga Specialty Coffee and then dinner at Alex.

There were so much more we wanted to see; they all seemed pretty close to each other when looking on Maps but it was kind of hard to plan the logistics with a small child, and tryk seemed to pass by seldom. I assume a lot of locals own a motorcycle to get around the island.

On the 2nd day we decided to rent a car. It was sort of a gamble, but really sound like a good deal: Php 1800 (excluding gas) for 1 whole day. Ali took care of this and I felt this was a more appropriate option if you are traveling with a small child.

The sunrise was beautiful. We were blessed with a beautiful weather on our 2nd day! I knew I wanted to come back to Mantigue Island, and that's exactly what we did!

We also visited Old Church Ruins and Tuasan Falls.