PHILIPPINES IN A NUTSHELL

Helloooo everyone! 

Pulilan, Bulacan -- A field in my mom's hometown

I'm finally back from the Philippines and have been settling back into reality. It's always hard to settle back into daily life after a long vacation, but it's been nice slowly getting back into it. 

I'll be writing more in-depth posts about different aspects of the Philippines such as food, provincial life, Coron Island, and many more as time goes on but I just wanted to post a quick update on how things have been! 

The husband created a recap vlog of our time with my mom's family, and hopefully, there will be more vlogs of the rest of our time because our time with my mom's family was only 2 weeks out of the 5 weeks we were there! This vlog documents our time in La Union, Mt. Pinatubo, and Coron, Palawan. Of course, there will be more photos and info on all of these places to come in the future, but until then, enjoy this short vlog :)

HELLO 2017!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Can you believe it? It is already 2017! 

I love the start of the new year because it always represents new beginnings and fresh starts. & even though you can technically refresh & restart any time throughout the year, the new year itself is great because everyone is doing it as well. It serves as motivation. 

As I've done for the past few years on this blog, I've documented a few goals I want for the year, both blog-wise and personally. This year will be no different. Here are my goals: 

Blog goals: 

[] Post consistently every week, regardless of frequency

[] Make new business cards

[] Attend as media to one event

[] Attend at least one blogger/networking event

[] Venture out beyond this lifestyle blog :) 

Personal goals:

[] Travel to a new part of Australia

[] Travel outside of Australia (not counting California) at least once

[] Go back to school for something I am passionate about (I am actually working on this as we speak, please pray for things to work out the way they need to!)

[] Get into doing devotionals either by myself/with my husband, doesn't have to be daily

[] JOURNAL

[] Read at least 3 novels for pleasure

[] Physically create (paint, draw, sculpt, etc) 

[] Enroll in a creative fitness class (dance/silks) 

[] Learn to cook at least 2 Filipino dishes really well (so far I can cook 3) 

I write my goals down every year to keep myself accountable, to see how I change by the end of the year, and also to encourage anyone who may be on the fence or thinking about any specific goals as well. With my blog goals, because I failed so miserably with what I had for myself last year, I am keeping my list fairly short and simple this year. With my personal goals, I just hope to keep exploring and growing more and more. This will also be my first full year married (CRAZY) so that will be new for me as well. 

Here's to new starts! I hope you have a strong one to your new year :) I'm excited to see where this journey takes us. 

2016 Overview + Looking Back on Goals

Hello from the Philippines! I've been having such a great time here, hence the lack of posts (which I warned about haha) but at the same time I'm also getting new ideas for future posts, and potentially... videos? 

Anyway, 2016 was a huge year of transitions for me. I moved to Australia, I got married, and I've been pretty much adulting for the rest of the year after that hahaha. Although a good chunk of my life wasn't documented here as it happened, I was still pretty active on social media (ahem, Instagram), and don't worry, many things I've experienced this year can also be saved for separate posts next year ;)

With the blog, I took a purposeful hiatus this time. Last year it was accidental and this year, while it was initially unintentional, I decided that I can't apologize for living my life in the moment. HOWEVER, I have gotten back into writing more regularly and it's been good (despite me being on vacation & slacking here haha, but you understand). Instead of pressuring myself to get straight back into my old schedule when I'd write 3 times a week, I now just have one post up a week until I feel comfortable to get back into more frequent posting.  As I've done with previous years, let's look through my goals for this year: 

Blog Goals: 
[] Get back to at least 2 posts per week  [] Send out a biweekly newsletter [] Have Instagram following hit 1500 [] Have Twitter following hit 1k [] Meet up with at least 4 other bloggers/influencers [] Start selling something (whether physical or digital) [] Make the move to self-hosted [Does my wedding count if I use the photos for my blog? haha] Pose in at least one full-on photoshoot (with a makeup artist/hair stylist, photographer, etc) 
Personal Goals: [] Go on a road trip with friends (carry over from last year) [x] Take at least two major trips (domestic or international) [x] Move. away from SoCal (;  [] Read at least 6 novels for pleasure [x] Go on a trip with Darell to anywhere [x] Become fully self-sufficient (parents do not financially support in any way at all) [] Take some kind of creative class (dance, crafting, etc) [x] Regularly attend a small group

Okay, so I clearly slacked in my blog goals but like I said, I'm not going to apologize for living my life! That's the hardest part about being a content creator, I think. It's the fact that while it's something you love, you always need to be thinking about the next thing. When you're out with friends, it may be taking photos or videos for a blog/vlog post. When you're at home with your partner relaxing, you might actually be writing instead or planning out what to do next. It's a hard thing to do, but it is definitely worth it when you can nail it all down. For me personally, having a full time job also really drained me from being able to write as much as I wanted to, but thankfully I'm done with that so I can focus more here!

Having said all that, I am pretty proud of myself and my personal goals, however! I accomplished almost all of them, which is really great. I went to Gold Coast, Australia and here now to the Philippines for my two major trips. I moved away from Southern California. On my trips I went to this year, I went with Darell, my new husband :) I have become fully self sufficient financially. And I also finally began regularly attending small group at church, something I hadn't done for maybe two years or so until this year. 

I've been seeing a lot of memes about people saying 2016 wasn't that great of a year, it wasn't anyone's year, etc, but honestly it was my best year yet! Yes, it was the hardest and most emotionally draining for many reasons (hello, US election) but I wouldn't change anything I did this year for the world. I'm excited (but kinda shocked) that 2016 is done already, and I cannot wait for whatever next year brings! 

I hope you are able to celebrate the end of this new year on a positive note even if the year itself wasn't very positive! Happy new year, and I will see you next year ;)

Next Stop: PHILIPPINES!

Hey y'all! So the last two weeks have been crazy with me finishing up my full time job, moving into the master bedroom of our home, and now packing for the PHILIPPINES!

I briefly mentioned it on Instagram a couple weeks ago but yes, it has finally come. We are heading to the Philippines for 5 weeks!

To be honest, we wanted to stay in Australia and work this holiday season because they pay so well in the holidays, but this year is also my family reunion for my mom's side of the family. I haven't been to the Philippines in 6 years (& Darell 5 years) so we decided to just take this time to enjoy with our families. Besides, we don't know when is the next time we'll be able to do something like this again!

We will be spending some time with Darell's family, as well as both my parents' families. When my family from America arrives just after Christmas time, we will pretty much go hard on doing touristy stuff for two weeks because it's part of the reunion celebrations and because my family is from there, we are less likely to do touristy things when we visit. We are even visiting the island of Palawan this time around, and I haven't island hopped in the Philippines probably since I was 3 or 4, so this will be a treat!

And then outside of those crazy two weeks, anything can happen! Our schedule is mostly free for the other 3 weeks that we'll be there without my American family so who knows what Darell & I will end up doing!

Having said that, we most likely will have some down time since we won't be in a hurry to do things most of the time that we're there, so I may have a blog post once a week while we're there, I might not. I will definitely try to do an end of year/new year post on the 31st and the 1st like I've done for the last few years since those don't usually take too long, but we will see! Hopefully I don't sleep our entire flight to the Philippines & maybe I can get some work done. 

We will also be vlogging our trip! Not sure how many vlogs it'll be but they will most likely go up after we come back. And of course, after the trip I will be posting specific posts about visiting the Philippines, the food, and so much more :) So until then, follow me on Snapchat (@duhhkrisellee), Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook where I will be posting updates!

Stayin' Alive and Well

It's been so long since my last actual post! BUT-- before you chew my head off for not doing much the past couple of weeks, let me explain.  + I moved back to school two weeks ago and I didn't really have time to settle because I was here for a music camp since I am a music student. I've also been broke so I haven't been able to organize/decorate my room in the ways that I want to just yet. 
+ I started school last week! While my schedule isn't as academically intense as it has been in past semesters, I was still trying to get used to my schedule and my living situation (see above). However, so far I love my classes! 
+ I've been commuting back and forth between church and school because of my involvement at my church on the weekends (thursdays - sundays). It's been tiring, but I do very much appreciate having a car to transport myself. 
+ God has blessed me with work! I work as a character performer (currently mascot characters but hopefully a princess/face character one day) and as a freelance face painter on the side so I've recently been doing a lot with that as well. I actually just recently gotten some extra cash from myself so hopefully I'll get to decorating and organizing my room soon (especially cause it's been terribly messy lately). 
+ I've also had other things happening recently (ex: BeautyCon LA, my sister leaving for college 6 hours away) that have also prevented me from posting and being as active as I'd like. 
Here are a few pictures of the past couple of weeks for a glimpse into my life as of late: 
BeautyCon LA: 

I got to meet Shannon (aka Shaaanxo) at BeautyCon. I love her videos and her accent!

Got a free pair of jeans from Lucky Brand (worth $119) as a result of this picture. BeautyCon haul to come soon!

 Sister's going away dinner:

preview of my room so far!

Yes, I took on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The full video is on my personal facebook.

First day of school #ootd: Black/White sleeveless top - stole from my sister // Boyfriend jeans - freebie from Lucky Brand Jeans // Brown flats/sandals - Charlotte Russe // Purple backpack - old from Target

Of course, I had to have some boba this past week.

One of my best friends is an RA this year (above) and I am so honored to be a "floor aunt" for her floor! I didn't directly mention this on the blog, but I applied and didn't become an RA this year (and briefly talked about it), but I'm so happy for this lovely friend of mine who did get chosen for it. I'm honored to join her on this rollercoaster in this part of her life with her! And plus, I get to do everything an RA does without the commitment and obligation! :] (whoops!)

My roommates from last year, reunited! (I'm still living with Alissa, on the left)

My school is so country they turned it into a country club for a night.

Some face painting samples for you to see my work so far: 

And of course, I have to include a picture with the boyfriend.

Although I can't guarantee that I'll be back to my 3 posts a week schedule anytime soon, I do hope to get posting at least once or twice a week! I've missed you all!

Christmas Haul Update // New Year Update

I can't believe I put writing this until just now! The past few weeks have been exhausting, especially from writing everyday for a whole week for my series!

Because of my countdown to the new year series that I just ended on New Year's Day, I haven't really been able to blog about much else. A lot has happened in the past week and I'd like to take this time to share it with you guys [:

First of all, I posted a Christmas Haul last week up on Youtube! Although I didn't get much money this year, I did get a ton of awesome gifts, plus others that I got after Christmas and wasn't able to add onto this video.



Lots of bloggers have been adding disclaimers to their haul posts saying that they are not trying to show off, but simply sharing what they got in case anyone is interested in some of the same things as the blogger or needs ideas or things like that, and I will definitely say that I do my hauls for the same reason. With that being said, here's what I got:

• Gray Leather Bag: Forever 21
• Navy Blue Cardigan: RVCA
• Mustard Yellow/Green Cross Scarf: RVCA
• Mustard Yellow Beanie: RVCA
• Purple Beanie: RVCA
• Flowerbomb: Sephora
• Clean on Me Shower Gel: Sephora
• Dior Lip Gloss: Sephora
• Sephora Formula X Nail Polish in Fahrenheit: Sephora
• Boscia SuperCharge Overnight Moisture: Sephora
• White Infinity Scarf: Old Navy
• "White Citrus" Eau de Parfum: Bath & Body Works
• Dior Travel Makeup Kit with Mini Brushes and Mirror
• Yves Saint Laurent Gold Edition Makeup Palette from Travel Collection
• Sweet Pea Body Lotion: Bath & Body Works
• Sweet Pea Shower Gel: Bath & Body Works
• Black Molskine Notebook: Target
• $10 Target Gift Card
• $10 Starbucks Gift Card
• Lancome Dual-Finish Matte Porcelain D'Ivioire 
• Givenchy Healthy Glow Powder
• Lancome Absolut Rouge Lipstick in Jeweled Pink

Pretty cool line-up of gifts, huh? I am refraining as much as I can to waiting until I get back to school (which is in a few days) to start using most of this stuff, so I am excited to start the new year with a bunch of nice things. 

Last Sunday, I received a gift basket as a prize for winning a contest I entered through Mary Kay last month at the New Girl Expo! My prize was a free pampering session and a gift basket with some really nice stuff! 

In the bag, I got: 

+ Mary Kay Satin Hands Set, which includes a Hand Softener, a Hand Scrub, and a Hand Cream
+ Mint Bliss Energizing Lotion for Feet and Legs
+ Two pairs of Christmas-themed socks (hehe I love socks)
+ A red Mary Kay nail polish
+ A purple Mary Kay nail polish (I got this from a mini giveaway she did)
+ A red gift box (there was nothing in here but I can use this in the future for gifts!)
+ And a cute little bear, the one you see [: (I gave this one to my niece)
















Another addition to all these wonderful gifts was that my godmother gave me a really nice sweater from her favorite store, Gilly Hicks (part of the Abercrombie franchise), but unfortunately it's closing! She said my sweater was the last thing she bought from there, which I thought was really sweet of her. Another aunt of mine got me a really nice picture frame, and honestly I could always use some nice ones because I want to print out my pictures and display them or use the frame for some pinteresty use, haha.

Now onto New Year's Eve! I spent it with family. I normally spend it with my dad since my sister and I spend Christmas with our mom and her side of the family, but I decided to spend New Years with them too since they were actually planning on doing something. We just ate a lot, made s'mores, and danced to Just Dance hilariously until we got tired. It was a lowkey, but fun night.

Yesterday was my dad's birthday, so we celebrated it with an afternoon/night in Hollywood!

I never thought a picture like this would ever be on this site. Source: fanpop.com

We ended the night watching One Direction's movie on DVD at my godfather's house (my 16 year-old godsister is OBSESSED). I never really cared for them before, but I will say after watching it that most of them are cute (sorry Liam, I think that's the one) and I think Louis is the most attractive one, haha. I may listen to more of their music after watching their stories, which I think were pretty humble and ridiculous at the same time if you ask me, haha, but I can NEVER be like one of their crazed fans. I just can't. I just wouldn't have the energy in me to be so psychotically in love with anyone like that. Not even my boyfriend. Regardless, I do give them props for their dedication, no matter how crazy it is.

So, there goes my random post, catching you all up on life within the past week or so. Happy new year, once again, and I'm excited for what's to come!

Until then,