Happy Planner Layout + Traci Reed's Me Time, Life Lately | In My Hobby Era, Housewarming & Little Joys

Hello! I’m still getting back into the weekly Happy Planner blogging groove, but hey… kudos to me for not letting another two weeks pass before writing a Life Lately update. (well, it will be two weeks if I delayed this for 2 more days haha)

This Week’s Happy Planner

Last week’s Happy Planner layout was decorated using the leftovers from the Me Time Mini Album and Scrapbook page I created for Traci Reed’s newest collection launch 

I really really love this collection because it feels so me. It’s all about hobbies and the little things that bring us joy, which I think so many of us can relate to. It was a nice collection to use for a planner spread too!

Some of my favorite embellishments and sentiments I included were:

• Me time is time well spent.
• I love having something to work on solely because it brings me joy.
• Enjoy the process.
• In my hobby era. (This one couldn’t be more accurate!)
• Winding down by doing what I love.
• Create more of what you love.

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Hosting Friends at Our New Home

Life lately has revolved around finally having people over!

We’ve already hosted two friends’ families, and as I mentioned before, it has been the best motivation to stop procrastinating on all the “we just moved in” cleaning and organizing. Especially my craft room! The pressure of having people over will really um, well, pressure you! haha.

Jun and her family

Two weekends ago, we invited Jun and her family over for a little housewarming.

I met Jun about three years ago through Facebook when I was looking for a cat sitter before one of our vacations. Lots of people responded to my post, but there was just something about the way she messaged me that immediately put me at ease.

She spoiled Lucky even before meeting him, buying him little clothes and accessories, and over the years she looked after him at least three different times, each for one to two weeks.

Eventually, we started asking some of Ton’s Tea Boys from work in Al Ahsa to cat sit instead, simply because it was more convenient. Lucky could stay comfortably at home while someone stayed over to watch both him and the house.

When we moved to Al Khobar, I assumed Jun watching Lucky again was no longer possible because she just gave birth. And with 2 kids, a cat will probably be too much.

A while ago, I invited her to one of Happy Sandscapes’ events, thinking that after recently giving birth, maybe she’d enjoy getting out for a little while. As our conversation was ending, I casually sent her a photo of Lucky. She immediately started gushing about him and even said she still remembered how good he smelled. 

Then she surprised me by saying that whenever we travel again, she’d happily watch over Lucky - for free!

I was really, really touched. It wasn't that it was free but that she love Lucky enough to just want him over and that it was her who offered.

We had already looked into veterinary boarding nearby, which costs around 50 SAR a day (about the same as what we used to pay), but I never liked the thought of Lucky spending days in a small enclosure sleeping beside his litter box. Knowing he’d get to stay with someone who really loves him instead gives me so much peace of mind.

Since I told her before that we will invite them over our new place once we've settled in, I invited her already as she won't be able to make it to the event I invited her to.

I made beef kare-kare and chicken inasal, while they brought cake samplers from Cake House and pineapple ginger tea. I forgot to take photos of the cakes (of course), but they were so good! I especially loved that it came as tiny one-inch slices in different flavors. You get to try several kinds without getting tired of eating just one.

I actually also baked brownies and we had vanilla ice cream so we can make brownie ala mode but forgot to bring it out. hehe. I ate some after they left and when I remembered instead.

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Che and her family

This weekend, it was Che and her family’s turn.

Originally I wanted to invite all three Happy Sandscapes ladies and their families, but our dining table only has four chairs. When Che arrived, she laughed and said everyone would’ve fit anyway, we could’ve just had some people eating in the living room with their plates.

Maybe next time. 

For dinner I made beef pares and chicken barbecue.

After dinner, their daughter Carrie asked if she could see my craft room.

Well… once we walked in, we pretty much never left. 

When we were moving, Ton joked that I had way too many craft supplies. I agreed and told him maybe he should stop me from buying more.

Being the supportive husband that he is, he said he still wants me to get the latest collections, tools, and machines, but that we should also make sure everything I already own actually gets used.

The moment he said that, I immediately imagined inviting Che over for crafting days.

Sure enough, both she and Carrie absolutely loved the craft room.

Carrie was amazing! She decorated three notebook pages using stamps, stencils, and Distress Oxides, made a mini notebook, created two keychains for herself and her sister, colored stamped images that we turned into sticker sheets, and even had time for a little show-and-tell before they left.

Watching her proudly present everything she’d made to her parents, Ton, and me was honestly one of my favorite moments of the weekend.

Since they only live about ten minutes away, I told Carrie she could always ask her mom if she wanted to come over to craft.

I’ll almost always be home anyway. 

They also brought us chocolates, but we never got around to opening them while they were here. I still haven’t opened them actually, I think I’ll bring them with us to Indonesia to share with the family.

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My New Filming Setup

One thing I’ve discovered about my new craft room…

The lighting at my actual craft desk isn’t great.

The balcony window is heavily tinted, and while there’s lots of natural light, it creates strong shadows.

Buuuut, the spot near the balcony door has the most beautiful lighting all day long! Unlike our home in Al Ahsa where I had to wait until around noon for the perfect light, this spot stays gorgeous until around 4 PM.

My solution?

I started crafting on the floor. 

Ton wasn’t having it though, so he suggested buying a small folding table.

We looked at SACO, but the tables there were more expensive than we wanted. I found one on Facebook Marketplace for 90 SAR, but it didn’t seem like a great deal when we’d bought an actual desk for only 120 SAR. Then I spotted the exact same table brand new on Amazon for the same price and ordered it.

Buuuuut, Amazon delivered a folding wagon instead. 

I checked, and I could’ve easily returned it.

But here’s the thing… I’ve wanted one of those wagons forever, for groceries and especially for taking Lucky on little winter walks.

It normally sells for around 160 SAR or more, so I basically got it for almost half price.

Needless to say… I kept it. 

I’ve already been pushing Lucky around in it. Our new apartment is about three times bigger than our place in Al Ahsa, and sometimes he gets tired halfway down the hallway and just dramatically flops onto the floor for a break.

The wagon has become his royal carriage. 

I ordered another folding table afterward, and thankfully that one actually arrived.

So now I finally have a proper filming setup!

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Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino

Starbucks brought back their Unicorn drink here in Saudi, but only for a few days. For some countries that it was also made available, most only have it for a day.

I’d seen lots of mixed reviews online, with most people saying it wasn’t very good, so I wasn’t planning on trying it.

Ton reminded me that it had been nine years since it was last available and convinced me to at least give it a chance.

So we ordered one for delivery.

Turns out… I loved it!

So much that we ordered another one the very next day.

I was planning to get a third before it disappeared, but by the time we went back to Starbucks, it was already gone.

Definitely worth trying while it lasted!

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Reading & Watching

I’ve finished three books this month, although reading has slowed down because I started binge-watching The Resident.

Tbh, it was Matt Czuchry and Emily VanCamp who convinced me to watch it.

I loved Emily in Revenge, and I will forever be Team Logan from Gilmore Girls. 

I’m already in Season 5, and since a couple of my favorite characters have already left the show, it’s started feeling a little slower.

But with only the rest of Season 5 and one more season to go, I might as well finish it.

I really do want to read more next month though.

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Little Adventures

Two Thursdays ago, we crossed over to Bahrain for dinner at Bahay Kubo and ended the evening with a massage. Such a nice way to kick off the weekend.

I also attended Happy Sandscapes’ very first Happy Coffee Circle at Urth Caffe. I already knew many of the ladies there, but it was lovely meeting new faces too. 

After breakfast with the ladies, Ton fetched me and we had Japanese lunch with friends.

We also made a quick trip back to Al Ahsa for my pulmonologist appointment. We talked about arranging future consultations online while having my tests and medications done at the Almoosa branch closer to home, so hopefully we won’t have to make the four-hour drive every time.

All free - meds and inhaler!

While we were there, of course we had to eat at one of our OG Al Ahsa favorites, Tenderloin Co.

I tried their steak and brisket, and yes… brisket again. 

As I mentioned in my previous Happy Planner and Life Lately post, brisket has a special place in my heart because of Young Sheldon.

We also met up briefly with our friend who had just returned from the Philippines to pick up my Bee Happy haul.

To my surprise, his wife and daughter had also sent little gifts for me.

That was such a sweet surprise.

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Right Now…

Tonight, I accidentally fell asleep after dinner and didn’t wake up until around 10 PM.

Which means…

I’m definitely not going back to sleep anytime soon. 

So here I am, catching up on early Polkadoodles blog posts, writing this Life Lately update, maybe squeezing in one more blog after this…

…all while enjoying a box of Cinnabon that’s keeping me company.

I can’t think of a better way to spend a quiet late night. Oh and here's Lucky who is just lounging beside me - so sweet talaga!

Until next time, here’s to more crafty days, more good books (I promise!), more friends around the table, and more little moments that make everyday life feel extra special. Thanks for catching up with me, I can’t wait to share what next week brings! 

Happy Planner & Life Lately | Catching Up on the Last Two ++ Weeks

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:

After shopping, we grabbed a quick snack at Cinnabon and tried their MochaLatta Chill for the first time - ang saraaaaaap!!!

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!