Flowers, side quests, and romanticizing my life

“Experience” is one of my mantras this year.

I want to fill my cup with meaningful activities and memories—not things. I already have too much clutter, too many unused items collecting dust, and I wanted to spend my hard-earned money more intentionally instead.

As a homebody, this also means literally going out of my comfort zone and having little adventures outside. It wasn’t such a dramatic shift; after all, I’ve always loved going on solo dates, but I knew that I didn’t do it as often as I should.

So, as soon as 2026 arrived, I vowed to myself that I would be a bit more adventurous this time around. We’re almost halfway into the year, and I’m proud to say that things have been going swimmingly.

The past few weeks have been a delight, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what life has held for me lately.

What I’ve been up to

• Finally starting this writing project and falling in love with the creative process all over again (yay!)
• Going on long walks right after sunrise or before sunset, with no music or podcast on, just listening to the birds chirping and letting ideas and inspiration hit me in waves
• Trying—and often failing—to befriend the cats and dogs in our neighborhood
• Slowly getting back to running
• Reading way too many crime/mystery/thriller books; they will always be my guilty pleasure, even though they tend to disappoint me or trigger my anxiety (oftentimes both)
• Doing admin tasks I’ve been procrastinating for months, and riding off the high for days (there’s still more to come, but I have to celebrate my wins)
• Lots of solo dates and food trips, including dropping by The Matcha & Hojicha Collective event at Uptown Mall¹
• Trying out new restaurants with family, and just a lot of quality time with loved ones in general, including a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Tagaytay

Simple joys

• Early morning walks where I can catch the bees’ frenzied dance as they move from one plant to another (but I have to admit it makes me nervous when they get a tad too close to me)
• Birds everywhere; I feel privileged to live in a neighborhood with plenty of areas where birds can rest
• Witnessing the sky change colors, and the sun dip into the horizon
• Going to the secondhand bookstore and finding the exact books I’m looking for, and finding books I didn’t know I needed (and for very low prices, to boot!)
• The pile of physical books by my bed, because sometimes I’m just in the mood to smell the pages and ink and to feel the paper between my fingertips
• Taking my little notebook with me everywhere I go, so I can jot down ideas before they fade into oblivion
• Making my usual iced coffee (or matcha) early in the morning, carefully measuring the ingredients and ensuring nothing is a gram too heavy
• The smell of freshly ground beans
• Enjoying my homemade smoothie in the garden, just being and feeling the breeze and the afternoon sun on my skin
• Craving and discovering delicious iced teas with the perfect balance of sweetness, strength, and flavor (some of my favorite blends were lemongrass/ginger, mixed berries, and guyabano/calamansi); I also got to support small businesses as a bonus!
• Going to a Sunday market first thing in the morning
• Meal prepping for office days—I always try to make my lunches colorful, nutritious, and balanced²
• Stumbling upon an album that just speaks to me on so many levels, and listening to my favorite songs on repeat³
• Turning on my candle warmer at night, with the aroma of cotton candy or pine wafting in my room as I doze off

Here’s the album I’ve been obsessed with (I implore you to please listen to it):

Little adventures

Stardew Valley concert

After months of waiting, I finally went to the Stardew Valley Festival of Seasons concert! It was such a beautiful experience. When the first music started, goosebumps immediately dotted my arms, and I felt a strong urge to cry (but I somehow managed to stop myself because I didn’t want to ruin my eye makeup).

While I don’t actively play Stardew Valley anymore, this game still holds a special place in my heart, and the music will always make me nostalgic. I never thought I’d ever get to hear the soundtrack performed live!

Día del libro 2026

I’ve always wanted to go, but unfortunately, it fell on the same date as the SDV concert. I arrived at Ayala Triangle quite late and missed most of the events. I still managed to snag a few Spanish books, though! It was strange to be surrounded by so many foreigners at once and to actually understand everything they were saying.

Cafés

I’ve always enjoyed going to coffee shops by myself, just people watching, planning, reading, or journaling. I haven’t spent much time in cafés lately, and the few times that I did, I went to my favorites instead of exploring new ones.

My go-to order is an iced oat latte, but sometimes I go for an americano or flavored drinks, depending on my mood. Always iced. I ask for oat milk for my milk-based drinks and always ask for less sweet for the sweetened ones.

Other musings

• I’ve been thinking about cycling a lot. I haven’t ridden a bicycle in more than a decade, and I actually told myself I would never ride one again after I nearly got into so many accidents during my “adventurous girl era” way back in college, but here I am. My dad and brothers are avid cyclists, so they’re all enabling me to get back into it. I’m just a girl, and I’m this close to giving in.
• I thought about labeling this series as “monthly archive”⁴ instead of “life lately,” but I decided against it because I don’t want the (self-imposed) expectation to do this every month.
• A part of me feels that this kind of entry should live in a separate blog. It’s somehow akin to self-indulgence, and a sinister voice is guilt-tripping me for ranting about something that has nothing to do with language learning and writing. Shouldn’t that be the main point of this whole thing? But then again, who cares? This is my blog, after all, and I can write whatever I damn please. The last thing I want is to start too many projects all at once and eventually burn out. Besides, no one even knows this blog exists… which brings me to my next point.
• I haven’t shared the link to this blog with anyone just yet, and less than a handful of people know I’ve been working on it, but not the specifics. I’m extremely proud of what I’ve done in such a short amount of time, and the yapper in me wants to share it with people, but something is holding me back. It feels like an imposition somehow, especially since it’s written for myself and not with the readers’ interests in mind. I ramble a lot, to put it mildly, and I don’t want anyone to feel obligated to wade through my word vomit. It’s silly, I know, but it is what it is.

That’s it for now. Catch up again soon! ✨