It is not every decade that the Philippines is blessed to be visited by a Pope.  The last two visits were in 1995 by Saint Pope John Paul II during the World Youth Day, then just recently by Pope Francis.  Looking back 20 years ago, I took part of the World Youth Day activities.  In fact, I was part of the official choir who seated at the Quirino Grandstand's front bleachers, just by the right side of St. Pope John Paul II.  I saw the Pope visibly from a distance while he was celebrating the mass and I felt really blessed for the opportunity to sing  officially for the World Youth Day.

But not as visibly close as my encounter with Pope Francis during his recent visit to the Philippines.  On the second day of his visit, he was scheduled for a quick visit to Malacanang to meet President Aquino. Together with our neighborhood friends, we decided to go to Nagtahan Bridge which was very close to home, just one trike away or it could even be a walking distance.  We were up as early as 6 AM to wait for his estimated arrival to the venue at 9:30 AM.

We were at the foot of Nagtahan Bridge as early as 6:00 AM

See that white line where the police is standing?  I was right that very spot after I took this photo.

There were also people at the other side of the bridge waiting for Pope Francis to pass by.

The much awaited moment, Pope Francis was passing by us.  We all felt very blessed by this rare moment.

Goosebumps all over.  The feeling was amazing, it's overwhelming actually!

Here's the video of my unforgettable experience last weekend:

There are definitely moments when we reflect and count on the most important or memorable persons, events or lessons in our lives.  When asked about it, I always come up with three important answers because I always believe the best things come in three's.  Just recently, when I was asked about the things I miss about my mom (who passed away last year), I came up with the best three:

1. Her unconditional love to us her children; 
2. Her strong but happy personality; and 
3. Mom's service to God and people.

Mom with me as a kikay 4 year-older with my 1 year-old brother.

Last December, I shared with you how calorie-burning and how fun the Skechers Go Walk event I attended with other blogging ladies.  A few weeks after the event, I got an email from Martha Sta. Barbara of the successful fashion and beauty blog called The Beauty Junkee.  It said that Skechers is giving my child a free pair!  It was a blessing because I didn't have to buy my son new shoes for the holidays (as I was really planning to buy him a new pair!).  Of course it was a thrilling news so off we went to Skechers Glorietta at the last working day before Christmas (yup, I also Christmas-rushed!).

I've been asked by other Mommy friends, how do I do it?  I asked, "Do what exactly?"  Juggle family time while being an awesome (that's what they think) mom to not just one, but two boys (and we all know how active, eerr, kulit they get), perform well at work (I work smart, not hard), maintain a healthy relationship with Macky (healthy is a good description, because it's not perfect at all), still have some Me-time to relax and de-stress, do some business sidelines, and still manage to blog?

Honestly, I don't know exactly how to answer this in one quick conversation.  I would love to have  coffee and reveal to you the daily manageable craziness I go through just to get things done.  It's no secret actually!  I'm just like any other moms out there who has short and long term goals and simply want to achieve them for herself and her family.  These could be any from the following, not in order:

• Raise children in a loving and healthy environment. 
• Give children a good education. 
• Teach children life values that will prepare them to face the real world and lead good lives. 
• Put food on the table, provide clothes to wear, and make a happy home. 
• Be healthy and hopefully live until I see my grandchildren.
• Serve God by serving others. 
• Leave a legacy. 

I guess that pretty much sums up my life goals.  Simple and practical I must say.  That's why I align my daily, weekly, monthly and yearly activities to be able to achieve all those.  So back to the question, how?  I'm still in the process of realizing my life goals, I think I will be until my moment of death.  I'm  work in progress.  My plans and actions are not perfect and will never be, but I try to be the person I would like myself if I meet another me.  So let me take you through a regular day in  life of me.

Everyday At Home with Macky and Kids
5:00 AM - I wake up everyday at this time to (1) prepare my son for school (breakfast, complete uniform, things to bring, our chitchat bonding and reminders).  (2) I prepare two to three meals in the morning.  One, everyone's breakfast, two, children's breakfast and three, our lunch baons.  (3) On the side, I cook red rice, brew coffee, and heat water for bathing.

6:00 AM - (4) Is my 15 - 30-minute ALONE time  (Alleluia!) when Dandre is picked up by his service. I use this time to blog or list my to-dos or watch TV or stare at the wall or go back to sleep for another 30 minutes.

6:30 AM - Macky wakes up. (5) That's our breakfast-slash-bonding time.  The little one wakes up a few minutes after Macky and sits on my lap for our regular power hugs, kisses and tickling, while I eat breakfast.  At 7AM, Macky prepares himself for work, (6) while I get to play with the little one.

7:15 AM,(7)I prepare for work.  I  should be leaving at around 7:30 - 8:00 AM to get to Makati on time via UV Express vans (Me at work on a separate narration).

6:30 PM to 8:00 PM - I arrive home at around this time depending on shift and traffic.  (8) I have dinner with the family.  (9) I dress down, get down on the floor to play with the two boys.  Different styles for each not because one is 11 years old and the other is 4. But what they both enjoy are my kisses, hugs, tickles, and my silly face.  (10) I put the older one to sleep after talking about how each other's day went.  The little one kisses his brother before sleeping and heads with me to our room for (11) more play and reading books.  (12) He enjoys a good massage before dozing off.

10:00 PM to 12:00 midnight - (13) Is my mandatory (says myself) solo bonding time with Macky.  We usually tell each other how our day went or watch a newly downloaded movie or our favorite TWD series or the some other normal couples do.  (14) If I'm not yet too tired or if we finished the movie earlier than 12 midnight, I start a blog post or finish one.
Everyday At Work
8:30 AM - (15) I arrive the office, fix myself a cup of coffee, fill up my 2-liter water bottles, start my laptop, write my To-Do-list for the day, change my ballet flats into my heeled shoes, then shift from a hat of a domesticated woman into my competitive career hat.

12:00 NN - (16) Lunch time and personal errands time.  I warm my personally cooked lunch or buy from our cafeteria if I was too lazy tired to cook in the morning.  Lunch time is also my laughing time with my crazy smart young colleagues, my blogging time (if there's a deadline I need to meet or if I just have nothing else to do), and my ME-time (sometimes I eat alone and enjoy it or go to the salon for quick kili-kili waxing or eyebrow threading).

1:00 PM -6:00 PM - (17) Work, work, work.  I rarely render overtime, not even when I have promos to launch.  I just make sure when I start on a project, I work backwards and plot on my work calendar what I have to accomplish.  I also make sure I don't write any schedule on the day before my launch to ensure I'm chillax before my project takes off and have a devoted time to breathe! :)

And On Weekends...
Weekends are not scheduled.  We could stay at home or go out to malls or watch a movie/show or visit the in-laws or I attend blog events or do my grocery shopping.  But what we don't forget to do on Sundays is to attend a mass.  I also make sure I write at least one blog post during the weekend.  So that makes two to three blog posts a week, without disrupting or changing my daily routine.  Family comes first.

So there it is.  A day in a life of a multi-slashie-me.  I complete 17 major tasks in total daily.  Nothing really extraordinary, I'm just like any mom who aims to gives the best for her family at all times by serving and taking care of the family, taking care of herself (total well-being and pursuing her passion which makes her happy), and continuously searching for her life's purpose and serve the Lord, in order to leave a good legacy.

It's been more than 10 years since I started working.  Like most of the young career women (and I admit to not being financially smart enough), a big chunk of my salary went to shopping and recreation.  A part of it went to my parents, bills and some were saved but was touched impulsively when a new model of mobile phone or bag came out.  I always said to myself a few years ago, had I known better, I would have saved at least Php 1,000.00 every pay day let's say for 10 years, I should now have Php 240,000.00 for emergency fund.

But as I always say, it's never too late to start saving (and investing, which I started doing a few years back.)!  And the best time to start is NOW!  Yes, yes, yes, NOW!  I've been seeing on different websites and blogs a lot of money-challenge savings plan.  They're all effective given your sheer determination and discipline to follow the amount to save week on week.  But as much as I want to follow any one of those versions, as a full-time working mom who gets money every two weeks, I think I cannot follow the weekly schemes with the given amount to be saved.

So, I made my own practical, doable, adjustable and customize-able 24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge for you to follow and be richer by around Php 6,000 up to Php 60,000 by the end of the year!  This money-challenge scheme is also good for people who regularly get their salaries twice a month.

What's good about the schemes that I developed, inspired by other Money Challenge schemes, is that:

• You could choose from Plan 20, Plan 50, Plan 100, Plan 150, and Plan 200
• You have a summary of all these plans to choose from 
• Once you've chosen a plan, there's a plan schedule you could follow with a corresponding amount to save and running total.  
• A check box at the left side of the sheet for you to tick after you've tucked away to your money bank (make sure it's sealed tightly) the amount corresponding to that week.

24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge Plans 20 to 200

24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge Plan 20

24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge Plan 50

24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge Plan 100

24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge Plan 150

24-Bi-Weekly Money Challenge Plan 200

Before going back to work last Monday, we made sure we ended the holiday break with a grand family activity.   Nothing could be more magical than watching our favorite Disney characters perform live on ice!  Daddy Macky treated us Regular Box tickets to watch "Dare To Dream" Disney on Ice show last January 3 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Wow!  First post for the year, and I'm pressured to make this a good one!  Hahaha!  Well hello loves!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  This has been the longest vacation I think I've ever had for the last couple of years as a working mom!  I am happy that I was able to spend it with my family and was also able to do long overdue home errands.

How about you?  How's the holiday going on for you?  I hope you too are having a blast!

Anyway, while most of my blogger friends had started blogging since January 1, I on the other hand, was asleep almost the whole day.  Wow!  What a way to spend the first day of 2015 right?  The only thing we did as a family was to go out for dinner at Ma Mon Luk in Quezon Ave. to get some warm Chicken Mami on a cold night.  Hence, our first dinner for 2015 was spent outside our home! :)

Every new year, I usually write down my goals, and not resolutions.  I do so because I feel like goals are more targeted to what you want to achieve which should couple with a working plan and actions.  For me, it's more realistic and time-bound.  As I recall last year, my goals were generic and just talked about how to become a better person and start fresh: Forgive, Let Go. Learn. Be Better. Start.  I even wanted a weight-loss journey, which of course didn't happen successfully.  What happened was I lost someone significant but I gained a lot of realizations and life lessons which totally changed the way I look at things today.  This life-changing moment influences my goal-setting for the year.  Here they are:

FAMILY.
I cannot say that I am not a hands-on mom when I am home with my kids.  I am.  But I feel like I have to do more for them, be more involved, be more present, listen more, hug and kiss more, be a better mother than how I am with them presently.  I want to read them more books, keep the school boy more focused on his studies, teach more house chores, and teach more about Jesus.  It's hard to be a working mother because I am away 2,640 hours from them in a year (lunch break and travel time going to and from office included.)  Which means, on days I am with them, I have to compensate for the times I don't see them, that's when I become a hands-on parent.  But when some days turn bad or when I am totally tired, I depend on the helper to do things I am expected to do.  Sometimes I feel guilty about it, but what can I do?  So my goal this year is to be more present for them to meet their needs, wants and expectations from me.  In order for me to achieve that, I have to be more efficient in other areas of my life outside home and to also be healthier so I'll have more energy even when I'm tired from the office.

A photo posted by Louise Antonette Fandiño (@mommypracticality) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:24am PST

The year that is about to end.

2014 had been a remarkable year for me both personally and for my blog.  So before it ends this 12:00 am, I would like to thank the people and brands, who contributed to make it a memorable one.

My blog had its surprise milestone when in February I was asked by Nuffnang Philippines to be their featured blogger for March.   It was such an honor for me to featured alongside other popular bloggers I look up to.
In April, my humble blog had a makeover through the help of my dear friend-mentor Martine De Luna of Make It Blissful.  My friends and I call it Mommy Practicality Version 2.0.
Since then, I got invited for radio guesting engagements.  One in DWDD Bloggers' Hour, which is housed in AFP compound.

While most post about what they received this Christmas, from the most expensive bags or gadgets to as simple as a greeting card (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, let's always be grateful for what we receive), I have been posting socially that this year's a very different Christmas for me and the family.

First of all, mid this year, we lost the most important woman in our family, my mommy.  Her absence is deeply felt and still fresh to us.  Secondly, because of her passing, I was moved to be more selfless and continue her passion to help and uplift our community.  Admittedly, while she used to tell me stories about the projects she was involved in (which actually was stressing her, that we fought about it a few times because I didn't want to see her tired), I just listened, but didn't want to engage in it.  I thought I was too busy with my family, my work, my blog and other things, I don't have time to give more of myself.  When she left us, people never stopped visiting her during the wake and there were so much stories told about my mom.  They never stopped talking about how good of a person my mom was, how mom taught them skills in flower arrangement, tips in purchasing materials for the church, how mom always protected and defended this old woman from people who belittle her, how mom influenced women to fight for what is right and not mind what doesn't matter, how mom's intentions were always pure, her actions always sincere, fair and just.  Mom clearly made an impact in their lives.

So in mine, most especially.  I am my mom's only daughter.  There is so much in me that's her.  Because of this, the spark of selflessness was ignited.  I realized too many things and learned so many lessons about life and giving back for what you've been blessed with.  Even in her absence, mom's guiding me to continue what she started.  To be more involved, to be kinder, to be more compassionate, to be more selfless, and to help even in any little way you can.  That's exactly what we did this Christmas.

Giving Back.
While my blog was doing good this 2014, project after project, I always glorified and thanked God for the blessings and I promised Him in my prayers that I will set aside something to give back.  So I planned to do an outreach program for the Senior Citizens of our community, the organization my mom poured her heart into establishing it last year.  This plan was realized last December 27.  Let me just share a few photos of the event my mom continuously influence me to do, even in her passing.

Christmas Package repacking done at home through the help of my family, with Neurogen-E samples and SMART items.

Christmas packages' simple content which Mac and I bought for our outreach recipients.  Some friends pledged as well to complete all 200 packages.  Thanks to Anne Villafuerte, Vandj Arcega, Esther Lopez, Armi Juan and Nikki Roldan for your donations.

The Christmas packages arrived at the venue through the help of our Barangay Kagawad's help.

My forever partner in crime, Daddy Practicality Macky

My brother Rommel (from SG) and my youngest brother Leo

Booth set up during the Christmas Party Outreach.  Thank you UNILAB!

Thank you Dr. Cheridine Oro-Josef, one of the best Geriatrics doctors in the Philippines, for the lecture on neuro-aging and proper care for the elderly.

On-site check up and therapy by UNILAB

Thank you SMART for providing the giveaways to 500 members and the raffle items for our beloved Senior Citizens.

Thank you Kuya Rommel for helping me distribute the Christmas packages.

My mahal, I couldn't thank you enough for everything you've done to make this happen!

To our bunso Leo, thank you.  Let's do this again next year in honor of our mommy! :)

Thank you po for dedicating a song for Mom.  You made me cry!

Thank you din po for making our Christmases a fulfilling and more meaningful one.

Wacky-wacky shot with some of the Senior Citizens

It was a more meaningful Christmas for me and my family indeed.  This season is truly a season for giving and caring for others.  But if you can do it more often the better.  It's good for the health I say, because it gives you internal peace and a generally positive feeling.  It's not how big nor how small it is that you give, as long as you do.  One doesn't have to be rich, to be able to help, it starts with your desire and intentions to do so.  I'm just glad, mom left me with this heart.  I'm not saying it's the kindest of all, but at least I have a bit of hers, which I know, I could further develop.

THANK YOU!
Thank you my dear readers, for supporting my blog.  Without it, I wouldn't have humbly grown it this far and brands wouldn't be trusting it, plus I wouldn't have the much needed funds for the packages we bought. :)  Dear Nuffnang Philippines, and blog partner brands (Samsung KidsTime, SUN Cellular,) thank you for the trust, a part of my TFs went to this project! :)

Thank you to my my kids, Dandre and Wes, and Macky, for helping me repack the Christmas packages.  Thank you to my dad and brothers for helping me during the outreach day.  Thank you to UNILAB, through the help of Marcie Linao of Love and Light Productions, for setting up a booth to give samples of Neurogen-E, for the free check-up and therapy and for giving a talk about neuro-aging.  Thank you to SMART for sending in premium items which we included in their packages and as raffle prizes to our beloved Senior Citizens.  Thank you God, for all the blessings and for enabling me to do this.

Thank you Mommy, for guiding me through this and for leaving me a piece of your charitable and selfless heart.  I hope I continuously make you proud up there in heaven.  I love you and I miss you everyday.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and from my family to yours, we truly wish you a prosperous and healthy 2015!