TSN Blog Anniversary Sparty!

I met the girls of TSN last year November at the Babypalooza Bazaar. They're the noisy girls beside our booth hihi, peace! They're friends of Mommy Fleur and their blog is super funny! I love love reading their blog, nakaka-adik!

The pretty ladies of TSN: Sophisticated, Provinciated and Domesticated

Last July.. or June ba yon? Yes hindi ko na maalala sa tagal. #momnesia Hih! They celebrated their first blog anniversary with their special friends, yez. And Paper Chic Studio is one of them! It was small and intimate gathering lang. The mini sparty was at St. Nails at Petron Gas Station along Edsa cor. Pasay Road.

I was so happy to be invited because I get to be with my mommy blogger friends as well as meet some personally who I've only met online lang. Food was also served!

Ang sosyal lang!

They gave out disposable slippers for us to wear!

 Kulit ng photo diba? Along with it was the services offered where each of us can choose! Of course, washi tape by Paper Chic Studio ang pandikit!

Let the pampering begins! I chose mani-pedi-foot spa!

I was choosing between the matte navy and grey. Can you guess which one I chose?

Busy-busy ang mga muthers! That is Mars on the left of Planet Marsy  and Sha of Kikay Mommy Sha

Hand Paraffin treatment for Em of Akira and Everything Nice

No need for introduction, ang ever sikat na si Mommy Fleur!

Some brought their kids, I wish I did. But I had a morning event kaya I didn't bring Y.

And here's all of us!

Thank you TSN for a wonderful afternoon of chika and more chika! I love love my nail polish that day!

So soshal! Thank you P, S, and D!

A Morning About Financial Planning and FQs

It's been 3 months since I resigned from my job. In a year or two, Y will start pre-school. Although I have a business and earning well, I can spend for our daily needs and expenses but I'm still worried about our future finances like their education funds, retirement funds, or the inevitable... death.

Ever since, budgeting and managing finances is not my forte. I want to invest my money but I don't know where to begin. I'm really glad that the #SoMoms have sessions like this, we get to learn and educate ourselves about different investments, how to save for our children's future and more. It's really a road to a #BetterMe.

But first, our venue for the session was at The Gallery 1 of New World Makati. It's a small function room with a private kitchen! I was floored! It's my first time to see a function room like this. I feel so sosyal. Hihi!

See the oven on the left side? Fresh bread is being baked!

The blueberry muffin is yummy!

To start our talk, Dandee Adapon of AXA gave a brief background about the company and why is it necessary to have a financial plan and being prepared.

And to talk to us more about money matters is Rose Fres Fausto. 

Mary Rose Fres Fausto graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1985, with a degree in A.B. Economics. She was an investment banker before she decided to be a full-time homemaker. She is married to Marvin, a fund manager, and they have three sons Marty, Enrique and Anton. She believes that raising their children well is the greatest contribution parents can give to the country and the best service they can offer to God.(Taken from her blog)

I was very kuripot during my school days. I would always keep my allowance so I can save. I like seeing my savings add up. My parents started us early, teaching us how to save and all. But well, what I wasn't prepared for was the expenses and money matters when I got married and had kids. I'm really scared that I won't have enough money for my kids' education! 

Money matters should be a family affair. In some families, speaking of money is considered to be not proper. But I think it's better to face reality rather than ignore it. That is why I've always been honest about our money matters to my husband.

I learned a lot from Rose's talk. And I hope I can do it and teach my kids on how to save and invest. Some of my things I've picked up from the talk: FQ - Financial Intelligence Quotient Didn't know there's such thing! Having a high FQ is your economic self defense! I want my kids to have high FQ! Kids nowadays have so much spending power, it really is the new generation. While I'm a bit scared, I want my children to be capable on managing their money.

Planning your financial future should involve your child. I never knew this. It's never too late to start teaching your kids about money, if not, start them young! Rose's kids invested their money in stocks. She and her husband taught their kids early, and I must say WOW. I must learn not to be scared of investing in stocks. Seeing how successful Rose and her husband with raising children to be money-wise, I want my kids to be the same.

I grew up having my own "kiddie" account. I remember my passbook has a Kangaroo cartoon. If I remember it right, it was from City Trust! And I also did the same for my kids. Yukie started her piggy bank (more like Robot bank) just this June. We told her that it will be her money to buy a new Barbie doll ( I don't know if that's a proper way of teaching), and she would always ask for our coins and put it in her piggy bank. But other than that, I opened a bank account for each of them when they turned 1. All of their ang paos from birthdays and Christmases, I deposit them to their respective accounts. And every time I have extra money, I also deposit to each of their account.

Got an emergency funds? Retirement savings? We need start to save for our retirement! My first thought was: What retirement? That's like years and years from now! We think that this is so far away that we delay saving for our retirement. This should be one of the first things to save for. I don't want to burden my kids of having to provide for me or ask money from them. They will also have their families in the future and that would be their priority.

Got extra funds? Invest them. There are so many kinds of investment nowadays, there are short term and long term investments. Choose what your comfortable investing your money into. Learn how they work and not just put your money where interest is high.

I'm so glad to have attended this talk. BOS and I need to talk pa about investments but I've certainly learned a lot! Thank you again #Somoms!

Of course, I would also like to thank New World Makati for serving us breakfast and lunch!

AXA is having an ongoing promo! You can win a trip to Lego Land in Malaysia! Just sign up here!

Raizo Turns 1: Shakey's Quezon Avenue

I wanted a fuss free party. I started looking for venues like clubhouses and events place but when I computed for the estimated costs, I had to think twice. I was still working when I was planning R's party and I was strict on the budget I set so I had to look for another option.

I remembered a friend of my sister mentioned about Shakey's Quezon Ave have their own arcade inside the restaurant. I Googled and stumbled upon couple blogs. So we decided to do an ocular first one Sunday and had our dinner there. And right there and then, I picked and reserved our function room and put a downpayment. I didn't get their package because I didn't like the only theme available which was Justice League. Pwede naman daw. :)

This was the function room when set up

The function room can fit upto 120 people but siksikan na. I think 80 people would be just right. 

For the food, I had 9 orders of the monster meal and had it served buffet style.

Pasta! Carbonara and Bolognese!

My favorite!

Medyo nagkulang kami sa food. Yeah. Some of my relatives came late and the pastas were finished by the time they arrived. Kahiya hihi! 

I also availed of their promo of when you buy 200 tokens (which I gave away to the kids and what the stubs were for) for the Fun Zone you get a 32-inch pizza!

Pizza was HUGE! We had tons of leftovers that lasted a week! Haha!

Verdict? The place is a bit a small. I had a photobooth placed at the back so it became a little cramp. They are strict with the time. My party as scheduled 10am-12nn. The party started at almost 11am and by 12nn, the manager was already telling us our time is up. Our program wasn't done yet that I had to hurry up our host. We ended at 1pm. Hehe.

It's either I should went with my original plan of getting a venue or get a later time. I hope my guests had fun despite the place being so cramped and a short program that had to be hurried up.

Shakey's Quezon Ave

Lot 3 Blk. W-39-E Quezon Ave. corner Abad Santos St Brgy. Sta. Cruz Heroes Hills Quezon City

Tel. No. 351-0221 

         351-0223

Raizo Turns 1: Paper Treats, Paper Chic Studio and The Candy Shop Prints

My go-to graphic designer for invitations is Paper Treats. Trisha did my niece's invitation, Paper Chic Studio's flyer, business card and now Raizo's invitation, thank you cards, and stubs!

Trisha of Paper Treats is very easy to work with. We only corresponded via email. I showed her my pegs and sample invitations that I saw over at Pinterest. We had three revisions before the final invitation.

 

Super cute right? I love love everything! And we're also collaborating on something for Paper Chic Studio! So watch out for that! :)

For printing and other party effects, my other go-to person is Pat Leano of The Candy Shop Prints. She is in the printing business and I love her other products which you must check out! I had everything printed by her (but you can also have Paper Treats print for you). I got stickers for my invitation, name tags and thank you stickers.

Stickers for invitations

Sticker seals for giveaways

Name tag for kids

And here's how my invitation looked like. I love DIY. It looks homemade hihi but I loved it!

Used Paper Chic Studio's favor bags as envelopes and sealed them using robot washi tapes also from Paper Chic Studio!

Thank you cards tied to our giveaways using Paper Chic Studio's baker's twine!

Stubs given out for tokens to be claimed to used at Shakey's Fun Zone!

I love working with both Trisha of Paper Treats and Pat of The Candy Shop Prints. Very easy to work with and always a smooth transaction!

Here's their details! Contact them now na!

Paper Treats

FB: https://www.facebook.com/PaperTreats?fref=ts

IG: http://instagram.com/paper_treats

The Candyshop Prints

www.thecandyshopprints.com

IG: http://instagram.com/iameyecandy

Raizo Turns 1: Robots Theme!

When I was still pregnant with R, I was already thinking of his birthday theme. Pinterest is always a great source for inspiration! And that's where I got the idea of having Robots as the theme!

I made a board for Raizo's party. Same thing I did with Yukie. These were my pegs and you can see more here:

Also found clip arts at Etsy which I used for our invitation.

So cute right? I also looked for costumes that I initially wanted to DIY but didn't find the time to do it! So I had them made hihi.

Find out what R wore to his birthday! Though he didn't wear full costume, he was still so cute!

Stay tuned!!!

Raizo Turns 1!

1 month late post! Yes I know... Hihi! Trying to cross out pending posts in my list!

We celebrated his birthday and christening at the same time. We had his christening the day before at a church near our house lang and had lunch at Tao Yuan in Lucky Chinatown.

Our little boy: H&M Polo, Gap Baby Jeans, Baby Jane Bows, Old Navy Red Sneakers

Our candles, washified and prettified!

Tao Yuan Feast!

We had a simple and short ceremony. I had a hard time booking for our church that's why I opted to do it the day before. It gave me more time to prepare for next day's party and at the same I was stressed!

Party was held at Shakey's Quezon Avenue on the 9th of June. R's real birthday is the 11th, by the way :). We chose Shakey's because who doesn't love Shakey's??? We were also on a tighter budget and a birthday party at this pizza place was just right.

Our theme was Robots!!!

I really wanted this theme even before! Look at those cute robots! The BOS wanted a "dragon" theme because R is the year of the dragon but buti na lang pumayag sa robots!

My Robots!

I had so much fun planning this party! I'll save the other photos on my blog posts on different suppliers!

I want to thank everyone, friends and family who came to R's birthday party. To aunties who sent gifts even after the party, Thank you!!!