Frannywanny

This year flew by at record speed (and I feel that I've been saying this every single year) but seriously, with all the things that's been keeping us super busy in our lives, I can't believe that we're nearing the end of 2019 and we're less than a month away to welcome the new year. The holiday feasting and partying have surely began two weeks ago for me when I met up with my bestest friends. We've been best of friends since we were in high school so that means we've been friends for more than 2 decades already. Back when we were young (and silly), our group went by several names -- 4 Musketeers, Phantombunnies, The Mosquito Gang (don't ask me about this one haha) and many more. It shows how crazy we were but despite that, it shows how we just wanted a name that would bind the four of us together..forever. If you really think about it, we're four women with very different personalities. One is the analytical thinker, the smartest girl in our bark...

Just a few hours ago, as I was scrolling on my phone, I got a notification to look at several photos taken on the same day as today but 2 and 3 years ago. The first photo was that of my sister with my barely-a-month-old niece A. Oh, how A has grown into a smart little toddler who can easily surpass her daily word count and would delight us with the funny things that she would say. The second photo was of my twins, a few days after their first month celebration and it reminded me of how tiny and fragile they were before. We truly came a long long way from that to our active two year old toddlers now who are starting to talk a lot more each day. One thing that I'll never forget about being a new mom to my twins was my breastfeeding journey. I've mentioned this several times here that I actually had very low expectations of myself breastfeeding. I guess it's because my mom didn't breastfed (and it wasn't that widely practiced back then) and my sister struggled with l...

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney This was the quote that inspired the Uy siblings to strive and to pursue their dream of building their company, Superb Catch Inc. , 20 years ago. As I was listening to the speech of their president, Ms. Jennifer Uy Ampon , I suddenly got teary-eyed as flashes of memories of how me and my sister Pan started our own little business when we were still both in university. Not known to many, our mom had a mild stroke TWICE as in two weeks in a row and with the doctor giving her strict orders of going easy at work and Papa was on semi-retirement already then, we knew we had to do something in order for our parents to not worry about our family's finances. After all, they've worked so hard to give me and my sister a comfortable life and most of all, the best education possible; so we knew that we had to be proactive in at least covering for our weekly school allowances and whatever misc...

Long time readers of this blog will know how much Paul and I love going on staycations. Back when we were a young, newlywed couple, we would go around town spending our weekends at various hotels in and outside of Metro Manila. Even when we moved to Singapore, we would still go on staycations to celebrate our anniversary or either of our birthdays. Things change when you have kids, that's true. Of course, we spent their first year learning the ropes of twin parenthood and going on a staycation is no longer as simple as packing a small carry-on bag with clothes good for two to three days and to just head out the door with no specific itinerary in mind. Going for an overnight stay away from home with our twins takes a whole different production level. It's about packing their clothes ahead of time taking into consideration bringing at least 3 sets of clothes as buffer, getting them to choose only a handful of toys and trying to negotiate while doing so as they want to bring their...

Before anything else, let's get some things straight -- I'm not a beauty blogger/vlogger and boy, do I have so much respect and admiration for all of them after creating this 6 minute video. *salute* Listening to my raspy voice while editing the video made me cringe BIG TIME and I actually contemplated multiple times whether or not to publicize this video for everyone to see but well, I've been sharing a good part of my life with you all for the past 12 years so I hope you'll all forgive me (or at least my voice haha). No judgements, right? Anyway, the reason why I thought of creating this video is because I recently tried this new skin care brand called Secret Nature  which I purchased via Lazada and I'm loving the effect it has on my skin. Secondly, I do value having a good skin care routine as I believe that genetics can only go as far as if you also give your skin the TLC that it deserves. Just a brief background, for many years I've been using a sp...

"If you can dream it, you can do it."- Walt Disney Life has been extremely busy for all of us. Balancing responsibilities at home, at work and elsewhere. Often times I feel that 24 hours in a day is not enough to do everything that you have and would like to do. As we grow up, we also tend to complicate things. Being around my twins made me realize that sometimes, we just have to remind ourselves to find the joy in the simplest things. How we have to stop complaining, comparing and to find contentment in what we have and what we are given. I thank my twins for reminding me that there's beauty in the world around us and I just have to take a step back to be less critical. As I watch them play, I love how they just let their imagination run wild. From trying to lick their pretend ice cream and to use Lia's beaded necklace as a stethoscope. My only hope for my twins is for them to live their dream. I promise to be the kind of mom who will be their biggest cheerleader...