Recent Loves in January

Hello dear friends, I hope you've been keeping well and safe, wherever you are. 

Welcome back to another Recent Loves entry. I have decided to turn this into a monthly series, wherein I will share with you a round up of things I've loved throughout the month. It could be a list of recommendations of sorts; it could range from stories, life moments, art, songs, podcasts, films.. any and all things that made life a bit more thrilling in the past month. 

Recent Loves springs forth from my desire to encourage ourselves to talk more about what we love. Whenever we talk about what we love, our eyes sparkle, we can't contain ourselves, and it feels like we could keep going if we allow ourselves to. Let's have more of that.

And so without further ado, allow me to start--

Recent Loves in January

Shiny new green earrings

These earrings found its way to my home on the last day of the previous year. I'd like to count it as part of the things I loved in January, because that's when I started using them. These were sent to me by the lovely Chia, whom I've met in this blogging space a couple years back. I remember that I came across her blog through one of her book reviews. Even though I don't read much now (it's because public libraries aren't a thing here in the Philippines..), I still can remember the things I loved in novels I've read before. And so whenever I'm able to read the thoughts of a fellow reader, especially if it's about a novel I've loved before, it is most likely we can be good friends. 

@mijaph is her shop which she launched last year. It is filled with all things elegant and dainty, and they smell sooo good ♡♡♡ do take a look at her shop; you might find something you'll fancy. 

Early morning bike rides

One of the things I'm aiming for in this year is to bike more often, especially for nearby errands. I've always just been biking around in the neighborhood, but never really ventured outside into the area where commercial establishments are. I guess this is due to my thinking that people who drive on the road would have no patience for a novice biker like me.. but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. : - ) I'm just really extra careful especially when it comes to curves and bends; cars usually drive really fast in those areas!

It was during my holiday break that I was able to bike with a good friend, who encouraged me to go out together in the early mornings. Through this experience, I was able to gain the perspective of a cyclist. I've always been the one inside the car either driving or sitting on the passenger's seat, never really knowing how it must feel like to be biking on busy roads. But now I know how it feels, how I must be mindful and alert at all times.

Although I don't do long-distance biking to the nearby cities and provinces, I'm simply just grateful to be able to ride a bike and reduce my carbon foot print in this small way.

Journaling and collage making

Journaling Kit from @frans_journal

Since I've gotten back into having a bullet journal, I also found my way back into loving stationery, such as stickers, sticky notes, etc. You can read more on this and where I bought my first journaling kit through my previous blog entry: My 2021 Bullet Journal and Goal-setting Ideas !

I've also been trying my hand at making collages. I find that this activity requires a level of spontaneity; at first I found myself overthinking things a bit, like, worrying about if it would look nice or not (I don't want to waste any of my pages!).. but I ended up just going with whatever felt right. Nowadays, there's not much opportunity to be spontaneous.. so I'm going all out with my collages!

It's also a great idea to recycle old pages from phonebooks, novels, newspapers, and magazines, making new things out of them in the form of a collage. Let's make new things out of the old ♺

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake from @aniciasbakery

In January, we were able to celebrate my parents' 34th wedding anniversary. We celebrated at home with chocolate cake. You can never go wrong with chocolate cake, my mom once told me. I took that statement to heart, and picked up this wonderful cake for them. 

On the way to picking up this cake, my dad shared with me how his friends went biking in the morning and he wanted so badly to come with. But at the same time, my mom told him to go to the market to buy sweet potatoes. What did he end up doing? 

He ended up buying the sweet potatoes, and making my mom happy. :") 

Handbuilding pottery

 

My dear good friend Sher tapped me to join in with her college friends on a handbuilding pottery workshop earlier this year, and I accepted! I have zero experience and knowledge with pottery, but I was curious and willing to learn. I had no clue what I wanted to make until the last minute, but it all came naturally when the session began. 

It's always great to be trying new things, and to have the technology to have these kinds of sessions. I have so much I'd like to share about my experience, and I hope to share them in a separate blog entry in the near future. 

Drawing with oil pastel

Friday nights have been all about staying home and making art. I'm carrying over my oil pastel journey from last year into this present time, just because the bright artworks I can make out of it brings me so much joy. Please look forward for more artworks. Also, if you have anything you'd like me to draw, please let me know. I will draw it. : - )

Songs, podcasts, Kdrama, online courses

• A song I've had on replay. It's Korean Indie, but please, have a listen : - ) 
  
  

• I've been listening to lots of podcasts and keeping them in the background while doing work, chores, drawing.. whatnot. I've been gravitating towards conversational ones, wherein the speakers just ramble. Lately, I've been enjoying listening to podcasts from the Dive Studios. They talk a lot about adulting, and it's nice to hear other perspectives. The latest one I listened to was Holding Onto Our 20s. I also enjoyed the one with Keshi, which was Testing For Our Careers . I loved it because Keshi spoke so much and it was the first time I heard him talk a lot. 

• I just recently finished watching Because This Is My First Life. Actually, this is my second time re-watching it.. I really loved this series, because it shows the realities of adult life; tackling the struggles of career, dating and marriage, family and friendship, and having a home. 
  
  When I was in my teenage years, I always thought those who were in their twenties and thirties had their life figured out. But now as a 25 year old, I realize I'm still figuring it out, piece by piece. Fret not, however! Let's figure it out together. Just keep living day by day, planting seeds for the future, and trusting in God who is with us always.

• Did you know, Google offers free online courses on a variety of topics through Google Garage? They also host free webinars on useful skills that we could apply in real life or in our careers. At the moment, I'm taking their Digital Marketing course, just for extra knowledge. : - ) if you're a student or a young professional, I recommend you check their courses out. There's something for everyone.

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So that's it for all the things loved, and you might love them too? I hope..

Let's talk about the things we've loved. What have you loved in January? ♡ 

Let's see what everyone's been loving through a blog hop! I hosted one last year, however I found that the linky tool I used needed a paid subscription.. so let me try and use InLinkz this year instead. It still has the paid subscription features, but... let's see how it goes.

To join this blog hop, just leave your link to your latest blog entry (see my sample), or any favorite entry you'd like for us to read. : - ) I'd very much appreciate if you could link back to this entry as well, so we could reach more people. But no pressure, though! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a great week ahead, dear reader.

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