Early this morning, before finally calling it a night, I was supposed to finish a crafting project. Instead, I thought maybe it was time to catch up on my blogging. At around 12:30 AM, I started writing and managed to get through about a week’s worth of updates before sleep finally won.
When I woke up, I got my laptop and was all ready to continue where I left off, only to realize that I may have accidentally overwritten my draft.
For a moment, I actually already considered skipping this update altogether. But then I remembered that I’ve been doing these Happy Planner and Life Lately posts religiously for, well, over a year now, and it felt too sayang to stop because of one lost draft.
So here we go! Attempt number two!
My last Happy Planner and Life Lately update was on July 29 and side from my birthday post and a few crafting projects, August has been pretty quiet on the blog. Before the month ends, I wanted to sit down, look through my photo gallery, and document the past couple of weeks before all these little memories disappear because adulting, and memory gap. haha.
This Week’s Happy Planner
For last week’s Happy Planner spread, I reached for a Maggie Holmes sticker book and a pretty and sparkly golden washi tape. I didn’t scrimp on the pretty flower stickers too!
The sentiments I used were:
- If you want to be happy, be.
- Bright days ahead.
- Scatter seeds of happiness.
I thought they were the perfect reminders for such a busy but exciting season in our lives.
Food First!
Let’s start this post the best way possible, with food photos!
We visited Yasumi once again, which remains our favorite Japanese restaurant here in Al Khobar, and I think, probably our favorite in the Eastern Region.
Their ramen is just really good! Even without pork, their broth is incredibly flavorful. We’ve tried ramen at Itsumo in Bahrain, and while they do serve pork there, I still prefer Yasumi’s broth by a million miles. haha! mej OA but it's true.
Another favorite discovery has been Lazy Cat, where we had our first breakfast after officially moving to Al Khobar.
We’ve been curious about it ever since it opened because… well… cat. Their storefront has a giant cat silhouette on the windows, plus an adorable giant cat statue on the balcony, so naturally I had been taking photos of it long before we actually dined there.
The food was delicious! It’s definitely on the pricier side, but thankfully it’s one of those places where you feel like you’re getting what you paid for.
They also have the cutest little merchandise corner filled with mugs, bags, stickers, and keychains. Of course, the crafter in me had to buy the sticker, not because I needed another sticker (who am I kidding?) but because I wanted to inspect how it was printed, what kind of sticker paper they used, whether it had a laminate… you know… crafter things. Haha!
At only 10 SAR (around Php150), I thought it was actually pretty reasonably priced.
A Little Blogging Change - for this one!
I’ve also decided that I probably won’t be including crafting updates in this Life Lately posts. Since I'd be cramming about 2 weeks of LL here, to avoid making it longer, I’d rather dedicate individual blog posts to each of my design teams and the projects I’ve been working on this month. I’m officially declaring that here on the blog so I’ll actually hold myself accountable. Haha!
Goodbye, Al Ahsa… Hello, Al Khobar!
The biggest update over the past two weeks?
We officially moved out of our Al Ahsa apartment on July 31 and officially became Al Khobar residents on August 1.
Packing up our last belongings was bittersweet.
That apartment had been our home for the past four years, and it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
I’ve joked countless times about Al Ahsa being too provincial and not having much to do, but somewhere along the way, I grew to appreciate its quietness, its slower pace, and as weird as it may sound, its distance from everything. There was something peaceful about life there (says the introvert in me!).
Still, every ending makes room for a new adventure, and I’m excited for this next chapter in Al Khobar.
Our friend Jay spent practically every weekend in July helping us apartment hunt and move our belongings between cities. Having him as our third member of the moving crew made such a huge difference, and we’re incredibly grateful for all his help.
Here’s our final selfie inside our very first Saudi apartment.
After loading the last boxes into our cars, we celebrated with one last dinner at Baytoti before driving to Al Khobar.
We arrived just after midnight, making August 1 our official first day as Khobar peeps!
That evening, we celebrated again with dinner at Piatto.
A Small Personal Win
One thing I’ve been putting off for weeks was getting a haircut.
Between moving and unpacking, I simply never had time to visit a salon, and my hair had become so long and difficult to manage that I finally decided…
…to cut it myself.
Thankfully, it turned out surprisingly well!
My logic was simple: if I completely messed it up, there was still enough length for a salon to fix it.
Fortunately, I never had to.
I’ll count that as a small personal win. If you think my hair was decent on the Piatto photo above, well, yes, I cut that! hihi!
Birthday Month in Our New Home
I love that we started living in our new apartment during my birthday month. For me, it kind of made the move feel even more special.
If you happened to miss my birthday post, you can check it out here!
More Food… Because That’s What We Do
Apparently, moving to Al Khobar means celebrating everything with food.
We celebrated moving at Piatto.
We celebrated my birthday there.
Then on August 4, Ton and I somehow found ourselves back there again before grocery shopping.
The funniest part?
Every single time we went, there was a black tuxedo cat sleeping outside the restaurant.
Whenever we’d leave, I’d call him over, and he’d happily follow us toward the parking lot.
Every. Single. Time.
I kept telling Ton that if the cat followed us all the way to the car, it was clearly a sign that we should adopt him.
(It was mostly a joke… because we both know Lucky probably wouldn’t appreciate having a pet.)
Slowly Making Our New Home Feel Like Home
I’d say we’re about 95% done setting up the apartment.
We’re only waiting for one more shelf that I found on Facebook Marketplace.
Once we pick it up, it’ll go in my craft room, while the IKEA shelf currently there will move into our bedroom to become… our toiletries pantry.
We also scored an incredible IKEA desk on Facebook Marketplace for only 120 SAR.
The same desk currently sells for around 635 SAR on sale, and even more at regular price.
It’s still in amazing condition, I think better than my current crafting table!
I also finally set up our little coffee corner.
I’ve officially named it…
Starbacs.
Because… Bacungan.
Haha!
Craft Room Progress
The craft room still isn’t completely finished.
There are still a few things sitting on the floor while we wait for more shelves.
I’ve also been working on design team projects between cleaning sessions, so it never really gets the chance to stay clean for very long.
But that’s probably a good sign.
It means I’m creating again.
Lucky Is Finally Settling In
One thing I’ve been especially happy about is seeing Lucky become comfortable in our new home.
During our first few nights here, he’d follow me absolutely everywhere.
Even when I’d wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, he’d already be sitting on the floor, seeming to be just sitting the whole time while I was asleep.
I worried he wasn’t sleeping properly because he was too busy making sure I didn’t disappear.
Thankfully, he’s much more relaxed now.
He sleeps in different rooms, naps on his own, and no longer follows me around 24/7.
It’s nice seeing him finally feel at home.
Back to Meal Planning
One habit I’ve managed to restart is weekly meal planning.
We’re now on our third week!
If you happen to notice repeated meals on the planner, that usually means we ended up eating out instead of cooking dinner that night. Hehehe
We also visited Half Lemon again, the same one we used to frequent in Al Ahsa whenever we wanted milk tea or hot pot. Some traditions never change. Like what I always say, if it aint broke!
Adulting Wins
We’ve also figured out a delivery system that works perfectly in our new apartment.
I simply send delivery riders photos of our building, lobby, and intercom panel, then explain which apartment number to press.
Once they arrive, I remotely unlock the lobby door and elevator access so they can leave the package right outside our apartment.
So far we’ve received around five deliveries, and every single one has gone smoothly.
I’d call that another small win.
New Printer!
My trusty HP printer finally started acting up.
It kept showing a printhead error, and replacing the printhead would’ve cost around 200 SAR without any guarantee that it would actually solve the problem.
Since I’d been wanting to upgrade anyway, I finally bought an Epson.
I originally planned to convert it into a pigment printer, but considering how expensive it was, I decided not to risk damaging a brand-new machine.
So yes…
I’m still happily using inkjet.
Meat Moot and an Expensive (But Worth It) Dinner
Last week we celebrated our friend’s birthday at Meat Moot.
The food was amazing.
We had around 2.5 kilos of brisket and ribs between four people, complete with unlimited sides and drinks.
I immediately told Ton that we needed to come back soon just for the brisket. I blame Young Sheldon for that obsession. George Cooper made brisket sound so incredible that I’ve wanted good brisket ever since.
Come to think of it, that show has influenced my cravings before.
I remember when we visited the U.S. in 2020, because of Young Sheldon, we had to eat at Red Lobster. Twice. haha! That's Missy's fault naman.
Back to Meat Moot…
I eventually asked our friend how much dinner cost because I was curious.
Around 900 SAR, cue my mental calculator. That’s roughly Php3,500 per person.
Naturally, I announced that we all needed to maximize the unlimited drinks and sides. haha!
I personally had four cans of Kinza. That's Saudi's version of cola.
The sugar rush kept me awake that night, but it wasn’t entirely a bad thing because after two full days of troubleshooting, I finally got my new Epson printer and Cricut Print Then Cut working perfectly together.
Totally worth the sugar overload.
The Ultimate Budol Story
The day before that, we visited Dhahran Mall to shop for our friend’s birthday gift.
While walking through the mall, a man was going to hand me a flyer. I always accept flyers because I know it’s not an easy job, and besides, I thought I could use it for junk journaling.
Five minutes later…
We somehow found ourselves buying around Php8,000 worth of cleaning products.
His sales pitch was just that good.
He demonstrated everything right there on the spot, and actually, the products really worked.
Afterward, I checked the company’s website and realized we probably overpaid by about 100 SAR compared to their online sale prices.
But if you compare it to the regular prices, we still saved a bit.
Plus… I managed to ask for a free spray bottle.
So maybe the budol wasn’t entirely one-sided. Haha!
Here's a close up of everything we got:
Our First Movie Date in Al Khobar
We also watched Spider-Man, making it our very first movie date in Al Khobar.
Dhahran Mall is so much bigger than our old mall in Al Ahsa that we actually got lost trying to find the cinema.
The movie itself was fantastic.
Despite running for around two and a half hours, it never felt that long.
Now I’m tempted to rewatch all of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies.
After the movie, we wrapped up the evening with burgers at Fuddruckers.
Until Next Time…
Soooo, the past couple of weeks have been filled with moving boxes (in our case, luggage! haha but "moving luggage' is not as dramatic), new beginnings, lots of restaurant visits, little victories, and slowly turning our new apartment into a home.
Life still feels a little chaotic, but in the best possible way.
Hopefully, I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule now that we’re finally settling in, and hopefully without accidentally deleting another draft!
See you in the next Life Lately update!
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