Homebody Days, Good People & 71 Days Until Christmas

This week’s Happy Planner spread is decorated using one of my newest sticker books, the Happy Planner: The Homebody sticker book that I scored during Bee Happy’s Warehouse Sale!

The original price was Php 850, but I got it for only Php 250. Biggest thanks to my friend, Kaye, for being my pasabuy girlie that day!

For this spread, I used the Don’t Forget heart sticky notes, the sentiments “the good life,” “think happy be happy,” “enjoy the ride,” “hello weekend,” “don’t put off your happy life,” and “do what you love,” along with the note card insert that says “do good and good will come to you.”

One thing I love about this sticker book is that it comes with sticky notes and note card inserts too!

So about the note card i added here, For a while now, I’ve been telling Ton that maybe I really am a good person because it feels like good people here in Saudi somehow gravitate toward me. And I'm mostly at home, so the odds of always meeting just good people is pretty slim. So, there must be a reason why that keeps happening, right? Haha.

Then, a few months ago, while chatting with one of those “good people who gravitated toward me,” she told me she believes she’s a good person because Allah (she's Muslim!) keeps bringing good people into her life too… and she was referring to me.

I was honestly dumbfounded.

I laughed and told her that she was actually on my list of good people who gravitated toward me, and shared how I tell Ton about it all the time.

So when I saw the note card that said “Do good and good will come to you,” it instantly reminded me of that conversation, thus, me adding that to this week's spread!

71 days until Christmas!

We now have two bazaars lined up! One is still waiting for final details, but a friend, another one of those “good people who gravitated toward me," already promised I’d be one of her VIPs and said she’ll message me once everything is finalized.

The other is the Eurovillage Winter Bazaar, and this year I’ll have two more friends joining as vendors too! (read about my first EV Winter Bazaar here!)

It's crazy how quickly this year has flown by. It feels like only yesterday I intentionally started making my design team projects more market-friendly so I’d have enough handmade items ready for the Christmas bazaars.

And now... we’re already here.

Four Years in Saudi

Last week also marked four years since Lucky and I finally joined Ton here in Saudi after eight months of long-distance marriage.

Surprise despedida by Ton's brothers and cousins. The O balloon popped so here's me posing with Lucky as our O! 

Ironically, I completely forgot about the anniversary until Facebook reminded me through my “On This Day” memories.

I reshared one of my favorite stories from that trip:

Four years ago today, Lucky and I finally joined Ton here in KSA after 8 months of LDR. 

Me at the airport asking a kabayan if my cat would also come out on the luggage carousel…

Kabayan: “Kaninong pusa ’yon? Sa amo mo?”

Me, internally: I am my own boss now, bish. 

Looking back, that trip still amazes me.

I was traveling on an escort visa, which wasn’t very common back then. The VFS staff actually had to call the Saudi Embassy before processing my application, even though I already had an email from the embassy explaining the visa.

I flew from Manila to Dammam with Lucky in his carrier, four checked suitcases, a backpack, and a handbag.

Ton also surprised me by booking me a Business Class ticket. It was still shortly after the pandemic, so airfare wasn’t nearly as expensive as it is today.

While going through my photos, I even found a little compilation of photos and videos I made during the trip that I had sent to family and Ton. I’m uploading it to YouTube as a private video so I can keep it with this blog post.

Anniversary Date

To celebrate our fourth year here, we tried Nozomi, a Japanese restaurant in Khobar that a friend recommended.

It actually reminded me a lot of Myazu in Riyadh, more than Kojo in Ajdan Walk.

We ordered several of their signature dishes and, let’s just say… It wasn’t cheap. 

I’m still slightly shocked by how much everything cost, but Ton kept reminding me that at least we got to experience their best sellers once.

Would we go back? Probably not.

Was it worth trying? Definitely.

The funniest part? We still weren’t full afterward.

So, we drove to the ever so proven and tested, Texas Roadhouse, ordered sliders and a few appetizers, and finally left satisfied, with leftovers for the next day too.

Now that felt like value for money.

Small Wins

I finished another book!

Beach Read became my second book of the month, and I’m pretty happy with that little reading milestone.

I also officially started preparing for the bazaars.

Last week I sorted through all the projects left from my previous pop-up earlier this year, together with newer projects that haven’t been displayed yet.

The items that have been sitting around for almost two years have now been transformed into Happy Mail Mystery Packs!

I made 10 mystery packs, each containing 10 handmade, one-of-a-kind surprises.

I also ordered shopping bags for customers, and my next little DIY project is repainting a few cat food boxes with white acrylic paint so I can reuse them as card holders for my booth.

The old ones stayed behind in our previous apartment, they had already served me well for the past couple of bazaars.

Under the Weather

Unfortunately, I started feeling sick in the middle of the week.

By Thursday it became much worse, and even as I’m writing this, the cough, colds, and headaches are still hanging around.

I’m definitely better than I was, but I wish illnesses would just come all at once instead of lingering for days.

One funny story, though…

Whenever I’m sick, I always want Cool Fever. I don’t even know if it actually makes me recover faster, it just feels comforting. It’s basically my security blanket whenever I’m unwell.

Unfortunately, we had already used our last one. So Ton went to the pharmacy to look for an equivalent and came home with two different brands.

One package had a picture of a baby on it.

Ton asked the pharmacist,

“Are you sure adults can use this?”

The pharmacist confidently replied,

“Yes! See? It’s for 2 years old and above.”

hahahauhuhu

Crafting Update

Even while I wasn’t feeling my best, I still managed to squeeze in a little crafting. As long as I get a little strength, there I was - working on something.

Doodlebug

I finished my entries for the World Cardmaking Day challenge, which definitely deserves its own blog post soon.

Traci Reed Designs

I almost messaged Traci to say I wouldn’t be able to make anything for this release because I was sick.

But I just couldn’t let myself finish my final month on this term without contributing.

So I pushed through and created a scrapbook layout.

The leftover die cuts became this week’s Halloween Happy Planner spread.

Bee Happy

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish last week’s doll-themed project.

I had already started two different ideas, but neither felt quite right before I got sick.

Thankfully, I was still able to finish my pop-up card project, another Weeklies challenge for the repurposed prompt, and I also got to unbox my Coco Wyo × Ohuhu Honolulu B Coloring Kit!

Not my most productive crafting week,but that’s okay.

I’ll catch up soon.

Food Finds

As usual, social media convinced me to try random recipes again.

This week’s experiments:

• Sugar-coated yema - The first time I saw it, I thought one can of condensed milk would make way too much. The second time I saw the recipe… I realized I could absolutely finish them all anyway.

• Chicken Tortilla Pizza - This has been sitting in my saved recipes forever. I mostly wanted to make it because it uses pesto. I still don’t like pesto, but Ton does, and I like making things he enjoys.

We also discovered that Pinkberry had a Buy 1 Take 1 promo on their tubs. So, there is now frozen yogurt waiting for us in the freezer. I think I like this better than having ice cream at home.

Looking Ahead

This week’s meal plan includes a few repeats since I wasn’t able to cook much while I was sick.

But the goal this week is simple:

Kick this sickness goodbye and get back into cooking every evening, except on date night.

Ton has been wanting to take me out since I’ve been stuck at home for days, and I think a little fresh air might be exactly what I need.

Here’s to feeling better, creating more, checking more bazaar prep off the list, and making the most of these final 71 days before Christmas.