Looking back at 2010, looking forward to 2011…….

In retrospect, 2010 was a good year, don’t you think? The Philippines had orderly elections and a peaceful turn-over of power. We didn’t have weather disturbance in the scale of Ondoy. I can only think of that tragic tourist bus incident in Luneta which made us unworthy of world news headlines. It is an episode that is isolated and doesn’t quite happen everyday.

On the personal front, there’s also so much to be thankful for.

On top of this all is the birth of my daughter Lucia and having a wonderful birth experience at the Makati Medical Center. Lucy, now seven months old, continues to delight us everyday with her gaze and her smiles. Each day that she’s growing and changing excites me no end. Having a child at this later stage in a life is both a gift and a blessing. I am scared of the passing time, but more prepared for motherhood:)

Not leaving any debt for the whole year is quite an achievement, as I paid for everything in cash with some savings in between. It’s nice to have peace of mind and not be bothered by major mortgages and ginormous monthly bills. I have this wish to evolve to a different career in the future, or even be a stay-at-home mom, and I hope that happens soon.

Travelling by land, sea and air! My wanderlust was constrained for a bit while pregnant but I was lucky to make up for it all in the last quarter with journeys to Taipei, the Ilocos region, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam

Technology continues to play an important role in my daily life (even as I’ve been delinquent submitting my weekly column for the newspaper). It has been a rewarding year for me in terms of gadgets, as I won a laptop and an Android phone in those media raffles, plus some more! I end 2010 with an iPad 64gb 3G + wifi gift from hubby and am looking forward to reviewing this amazing toy soon 😉

This blog continues to be my pet project and am glad my time spent blogging has been rewarded with sponsorships and supplemental income from the ever-reliable AdSense. I am also happy with this blog’s continued growth as shown by a daily average of 13,000 page views and 5,000 unique visitors per day. Out of a million or more websites in the Philippines, I end the year with a ranking of being in the top 1,300 or so for the PH ( via alexa.com). Not so bad eh? I owe it to you dear reader and I thank you for visiting!

And as I prepare again for a hectic 2011, there’s still so many more to do and some other things to cross off my bucket list.

Here’s the immediate New Year’s resolutions that come to mind:

On top of the list, I need to lose weight. And am probably wasting my $50 a month gym membership, if am only visiting once a month. LOL. I need to get back into shape, and be in shape and I’d probably have to stay away from the computer to do this. Ouch.

More food adventures? This one’s a dilemma. Correlate with above.

Travel. There’s just something to fall in love with each place I go to. I wish I can travel around Asia without eating, but the opposite happens every time. I’d have to travel somewhere far like England or Holland in order to diet because their food is bland 😀

Regarding No. 5, my mantra for 2011 is still to save for the future and not be in debt.

How about you? Have a Happy New Year and a Lucky 2011!!!