Although I posted some of my food/cooking thoughts in my previous post, I thought I would post some additional updates here.

Blog Updates

I finally found (through the bludit forums) someone who made a fix for the snicker plugin and now I have comments. I admittedly don’t know much about current coding so I’m glad that someone took on that project.

I had archived some of my older posts (can’t remember why… possibly a temporary thing), so I’ve brought them back. Looking at my old posts is a fun reminder that I mostly write these blog posts for myself.

I spent some time this morning choosing a new blog layout and editing the stylesheet to my liking. I’ve noticed some small bugs I need to fix but for now I will live with it.

As for plans for future posts - they will be sporadic but hope to log more of my hobby things.

Life Updates

My last update in 2023 mentioned my new job (at a screenprint shop)! I’ve been here for about 2.5 years now, and still love it. There is a good work/life balance and I have been able to spend more time with myself, my friends and my family.

Momo & Poppy turned 6 last month! They have been living their best life, hanging around at home.

Artist Alleys /Vending

I vended at a few events in 2023 & 2024! It had been years since I thought to apply to artist alleys due to how busy I was. I still don’t think I would pursue this full time, and I have a lot of questions to myself on what my goal is for tabling at cons. There’s been a shift in artist alley culture in the past couple of years where there is more produced/manufactured merch, and less emphasis on print goods.

For me I think my focus is shifting to small prints, stickers & stationery items, and limited screenprinted goods. I have some acrylic keychains that I made too (my popular designs was one for all the sports series I like , haha!). I don’t think I will venture into more complicated merch, though. Mainly I don’t want to create an excess of stock that I would never personally use.

A small list of events I did:

2023

• San Japan 2023 - I applied to this on a whim as it is a lottery con, and I got in! It was the event that jump started making merch again. I met my good friends box and kumabrows through this event (fellow artists that know Tenipuri!)
• Minna Art Market 2023 - Local TX 1 day event run by an artist that I have followed for years. This was a curated show and the audience was very nice.

2024

• May Night Market - Local show that my friend Nopaulito and Weila invited me to apply to. I hope to vend again and have more filipino forward merch to carry.
• Anime NYC 2024 - I was thankfully picked by the jury for this! I do have a convention portfolio I apply with but feel like competition was very tough. I wish I had the time to extend my days in NYC but I had an event the following weekend. I took my sister with me as my helper and we had a nice sister trip to NYC. I met a longtime artist friend of mine (fish) and my sister and I met a long time online friend (mooncandy.net).
• San Japan 2024 - I was lucky to get picked for the lottery on this one. My friends box and kumabrows were at the same convention and we did a small tenipuri rally. So fun! My only challenge was that it was the weekend following Anime NYC and I was very tired.

2025

Upcoming shows:

• Catty Bat June Market - Local 1 day event - I’m glad to try this one out! I have a small 3” section, so I’ll curate my catalog to bring some of my best sellers.
• Otakon 2025 - Applied to this one as it was a lottery application process! I’m excited to travel for this and do some touristy things too.

I apply to shows a bit sporadically - so I’ll see what comes up next!

Journaling

I have not kept up with journaling regularly.

An update from my previous entry about my photo printer (Canon Selphy CP1300) - it is still my workhorse photo printer. I recently purchased a replacement photo paper/ink pack from B&H Video. Although I haven’t been journaling regularly, I did go print out important photos from 2023 and 2024 to log them in my journals.

For 2024 I had tried the MD Hibino A6 journal. I realized I don’t like the size of a small journal and barely ended up using it. I’ve recently gone back to it to add photos but not much else.

For 2025 I’ve returned to the MD Diary 1 day 1 page. It’s undated so I still had to add my own stamped dates and day of the week sticker. But I like the paper feel and size of each page. I ended up stamping the full year so that I could be all set.

Photos I have been logging:

• OOTD (if I take a picture) - I used to keep a spreadsheet log of my outfits/closet to track how many times I wear a garment (cost per wear!)
• Food Pics - both my own cooking and eating out
• Important pics - I’ve been trying to take more pictures during friend/family events just to preserve the memory in some form, though maintaining the balance of being in the moment can be tricky haha.

I’ll continue to let things be low pressure :)

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I have been watching a lot of solo living vlogs lately which has inspired me to make more food at home (well, I’ve already been doing that, haha). I’ve also been really into making sure I have cute dishware and cute place settings as well. It’s become one of my favorites way of self care.

Speaking of dishware, I found this Japanese brand at a small boutique gift shop in town, and look forward to adding more plates to my collection (but I will have to curate them). I used to think that I would want multiple place settings for a table (when I used to work at furniture store), but decided that my current lifestyle means I won’t be hosting any dinner parties anytime soon haha. Instead, I have been shifting to collecting single plates/cups that fit an aesthetic I like.

Cooking food, for myself, every day

This feels like the most daunting task always. You have to make a meal for yourself, every day, forever, lol! And it never stops.

I feel like I’ve already had the mindset of “eating at home” to begin with - growing up Filipino in America meant that we always ate meals as a family, and a majority of that food was always home cooked/prepared. Also, the formula for a Filipino silog is one of the easiest simple meals to prepare if I’m feeling lazy - rice (sinangag/garlic fried rice preferred), egg, and a protein.

All this to say: eating at home can be as easy or hard as you make it.

Things that I have found helpful:

• Ingredient prepping rather than meal prepping (particularly vegetable prep) so that I can feel like I'm having new meals
• Premade side dishes
• Eating less red meat as I don’t like preparing them
• Always have cheat/easy meals for the days that I feel lazy or am struggling
• Having a "set formula" for a meal has been a game changer. I love presenting my meal in small plates rather than trying to be more economical and one-plate or one-pot everything.

Also, I’ve had varying “goals” for eating in. Saving money and being mindful of what I eat is a wonderful benefit. My current goal is to minimize food waste, especially veggie waste. I have been getting better at estimating how many veggies I can buy before they go bad - but ultimately I have been resorting to making a stop by the store on my way home to buy veggies as needed (which only adds a few minutes to my already long commute).

To be clear, I eat in most of the time for dinner unless I am going out to eat with my friends. However, lunch is a different situation, and I buy lunch more than I'd like haha.

Meals from April - June

I’ve been documenting my meals in my photos/journal. Posting some of the highlights here of my favorites.

For viewing purposes I have photos under a cut.

Read more

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Every year, when February ends, I always think "Wow, 2 months already!!"

I think the rest of the year will fly by fast. The most exciting change in my life is that I recently started a new position and I'm really liking it!! Hoping that the creative opportunities that are available for me is something that I'll be able to pursue. More on that later if it comes to fruition, lol.

I have been playing more catch up (no more than 1-3 days) with my journal entries. But I definitely think that taking more photos of "daily" life has been helping me to keep track. :)

A few updates:

• Hobonichi Weeks continues to be my media log! My reviews side hasn't been updated since some of the media is still being updated, but I will fill those in later.
• TN Vertical Insert continues to be functional. Surprisingly I have been meeting up with friends I have not caught up with in months so it's nice to log those events.

I feel like I have been really getting in the groove of how I like balancing decorating my pages and then writing out my "entry". Very excited to see how March goes. On a happy note, I finished a roll of washi tape. Amazing :)

February 2023 Pages

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It's been about 1.5 months into the year and I decided that I was missing a "time tracker" type of notebook. Although I do use digital calendars/reminders, I think having a physical one is good too just to see things more visually?

I have always liked the TN Vertical layout (I liked it so much that one year I tried the Jibun Techo Biz since they have a vertical layout as well), I picked up an insert that was luckily in stock at Kinokuniya! On top of that there was an in store promo and I had just gotten a gift card, yay!

I'm hoping that my TN will be used for function - time tracking for the insert. I am also carrying around a plain notebook insert for misc notes that I can write in. I already "ruined" it with ugly handwriting ha ha ha.

I also found my TSL pen clip! Attached is my Lamy Vista (tbh probably my favorite fountain pen STILL... it's just trusty and sturdy) and a new addition - Stalogy 4-functions pen. I was able to hack the refills to add gel ink refills, but would have liked it if the tips came in 7mm.

Overall I feel good about this addition to my journaling lineup and I'm planning on bringing around my TN more with me on day to day activities :)

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I treated myself to some storage solutions I've been wanting for a while:

Classiky Toolbox Wooden Desk Toolbox, purchased from UGUISU.

I've been wanting this for a while ever since I saw the listing at Baum-Kuchen. I love being able to see all the washi tape at one sitting... it makes me want to edit the tapes a little bit more!

I also got another box from an etsy store, it perfectly fits my pens for some neat storage!

Earlier I mentioned having a Sailor Moon theme desk mat that I had gotten at a convention. I've stored it away and got a plain nude one instead for a small change.

Another exciting (?) purchase: Sticker Storage!

I like being able to see the stickers clearly. There are only 20 clear sheets too, so I can see that I've hit the limit on stickers to buy. I ended up stopping by Daiso the other day (ha ha!!!!) while running errands and got new stickers again from them. Such a dangerous store to go to... I'm thankful it's a little bit out of the way to add less temptation.

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I've been doing general cleaning/tidying/donating things around my apartment little by little. I found an envelope shoved in a misc shoebox that was from my sister's save the dates for her wedding. She came over one afternoon and we printed the address labels on my laser printer on clear label sticker paper. So then I remembered... I can print on clear paper.

There are sticker accents that I was wanting to find for my journal and realized I can try to DIY it myself! I used some freebie ephemera printables and edited/collaged to make a black and white version to print on silhouette's clear sticker paper.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out - it's close to my original vision! I love how you can layer transparent stickers, it just looks so cute.

I circle punched some pages from furniture vendor catalogs I have been holding onto.

The other stickers! So excited to use them. The top few are handcut into blobs, because sticker paper shouldn't be cut on paper punches. I have four that got messed up but I think I'll still be able to use them after cutting off the destroyed parts.

Overall I think this experiment was a success.

For this sticker paper I'll stick to rectangle or blob shapes that I physically cut out. I'm also looking at the possibilities of getting a silhouette or cricut to make more of my own stickers but will hold off on that!! For now as an alternative, I ended up ordering some clear round sticker labels for future print outs.

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I went to Ikkicon with my friends. It was also LNY weekend.

We mostly like to shop AA at conventions so it was a fun hang-out weekend and we probably spent more time being out and about in town than at the actual convention (Sushi lunch! Sunday brunch!). I'm also not in many active fandoms (so many VTuber content this year) so I'm usually on the hunt for original art or cute art.

Since the convention was only 15 min from my place, I was able to stop by Friday afternoon for badge pickup, and get some commissions of OCs! Next time I will make better character reference sheets.

Caelan bootylicious sketch by DECKITOUT. There was a promo for bunny suit theme hehe.

Soren & Maris sketch by Atomicpowered. They colored it too!! It just made me want to draw more Soris content.

I got some new small prints from Atomicpowered and kqyogurt and reorganized them on my fridge with some other mini prints that I've acquired. It forever will have the Save the Dates from my close friend's weddings and I have so many of Aster's postcards. 

I got a matted print from Alexandra Brodt called Dreamscapes 3. Such pretty colors. For larger prints (8.5x11 or bigger) I have been trying to find ones that would look good framed.

For non-print goods, I got a t-shirt by Shad Andrews, Haikyu!! MSBY Omamori by Tersa/blulious, and FFXIV Monk Keychain by HanaeKariko.

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January is over! In Austin, we ended the month with a freeze day, lol!

I thought I would do a little recap on my last month's journaling. Every year I try to keep up with a daily habit and every year I end up stopping for whatever reason. I'm (sort of) determined to make it this year!!

Things that I've been enjoying:

• I got another photo printer (Canon Selphy CP1300) -- I know, I know, I just got the polaroid one... I'll save it for actual portable needs. The Selphy is great for being the workhorse printer and feels way more cost effective in the long run. Anyways, being able to print photos is a much-needed game changer for me. I even went back through my 2022 photos and printed a bunch that I back-filled in my 2022 Hobonichi Cousin.
• Stickers!! I got a few new sticker sheets and have told myself to use them liberally so that I can justify buying more. I am really enjoying decorating with stickers.

I also ended up getting a 2023 Hobonichi Weeks. Last year I thought that I would use it as a food log (it didn't work), but this year I've decided to use the Weeks as a media log. I'm leaving lots of little comments about how I felt about each work... it's nice to have a place to just write freely. For the cover I chose the Gurunpa's Kindergarden. So cute!! And elephants used to be a favorite animal of mine in the past.

2023 Hobonichi Weeks

January 2023 Pages

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