Jijicream's Diary

Last 2019, when things in my career were somehow getting better, I found out that I was pregnant to our second baby. Take note my first baby during that time was only seven months. It was actually a shocking revelation to me because honestly I was not yet prepared to have a second child. However, I believe everything happens for a reason so I just embraced the reality and got myself ready to be a…

As a new mom, I tried and thought of ways to save money and I learned to be practical. Now that we’re on a digital age, prints don’t matter that much anymore. That’s why I decided to just send digital invitations to our friends and relatives. I don’t want to pay someone to do the layout as well so I just did it by myself.

For me, this is the easiest to prepare among all the party essentials. I am not a creative person but I found a graphic-design tool website named Canva. I found it really useful not just for creating invitations but also for making my social media posts. In this blog, I am going to show a step-by-step guide on making a layout for your DIY birthday invitation using Canva.

Step 1: In order to use Canva. You should make your Canva account first. You can make one by signing up with your Facebook, Gmail, or email.

In my case, I used Gmail to sign up. After signing in, a pop-up message like the one below will appear. Since I am only using it for personal use, I chose “Personal”.

Then another message will pop-up. You can now choose what design would you like to start with.

Step 2: You might not find the “Birthday Invitation” option but you can search any of the following design categories and just search for it in the search box once you are already in the layout area.

As you can see, there is a tutorial box on the left side of the screen. 🙂

Step 3: Choose a template.

Step 4: Edit the template as you wish. You can replace the background color, text, or design. Add photos or upload new ones. Add elements and others. After editing, my Baby’s invitation turned out like this.

Step 5: Rename your file and Save. You can download it or print it directly. Since I will be sending it online only, I just downloaded it.

Click download and you’ll see these options below. Choose your preferred file type and click “Download” again.

Once it finishes processing your file, you’ll see the downloaded file in your “Downloads” folder.

  That’s it! You can now send your digital invitation to your friends and relatives. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by! I hope this post helps you in practically making an invitation layout for your loved ones. For questions and suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. For more practical posts, you can follow this blog. ❤

DIY Party Invitation Using Canva

When having parties, it is very important to make an invitation. We, mothers, take effort to think of a beautiful layout for it and for a credible printing shop to do the job for us.

My Husband’s Birthday at Giligan’s Restaurant

My husband just turned 33 last July 19. It was a Friday then that’s why we weren’t able to celebrate his birthday on that exact day. The good thing was I filed a leave a month before so we can celebrate his birthday on a Sunday. We were also blessed because his company used to give birthday cash to their employees. My husband received  ₱1,000 from his boss.

Last Sunday, July 21, we decided to…

What to Buy with 1500php Budget (Family Budgeting)

  Having a family is one of the most wonderful thing that can happen to a woman. But of course, you cannot expect that family life is a blissful and smooth ride all the time. As a family, we often come across the dilemma of budget shortage or sometimes exceeding within the budget. Most of the time, our main problem is how to spend for food. Therefore, we decided to buy raw food in the market…

5 Reasons Why I Love Online Teaching

A lot of people used to ask me these questions, “Do you have plans to go back to classroom teaching?”, “Why don’t you apply in public? You’re a licensed teacher.”, “Why don’t you like to go back?”, and many more about going back to classroom teaching. Oh well, I guess this is the best time to answer all of these questions comprehensively. I mentioned in my teaching journey blog that I had a not…

I graduated with the degree of Bachelor in Secondary Education, Major in English. This is a course of my choice. When I was young, I dreamt of being a classroom teacher. I got mesmerized with the teachers I watched on tv. I thought that classroom teaching would be an enjoyable job for me.

When I grew up and entered college, the urge of being a teacher went stronger. The fact that being a teacher…

We went to Caliraya Ecoville Recreation Farm and Resort in Laguna. It was a very big and wide farm located on the Hill of Caliraya. This is actually a perfect place to stay if you’re a person looking for a peaceful and relaxing haven surrounded by nature. It has a natural lake, an outdoor pool, a restaurant/dining hall,  eco-huts and inns for staycation. 

Where is Caliraya Ecoville Recreation Farm and Resort?  It is located in Lumban-Caliraya-Cavinti, Cavinti Road, Laguna. Click this link for route instructions: http://www.calirayaecoville.com/our-location/

HOW WE GET THERE FROM MANILA:

From Cubao, we went to  HM Transport Bus Terminal and rode a bus heading to Sta. Cruz, Laguna. The fare is 165.75php. (2-3 hours ride)

From Sta. Cruz Bus Terminal, we rode a tricycle which brought us directly to Caliraya Ecoville Recreation and Farm Resort. We spent 300php for the one-way fare. It seemed expensive at first but the fare was worth the ride. Besides, the farm resort is located on the hill and very far from the city. It’s not convenient to ride a jeepney, especially for us, who traveled with a baby. (We just asked the trike driver to fetch us the following day. We spent 600php back and forth.)

ROOM RATES: I booked in Agoda so I just paid 2000+php for our overnight stay. I personally recommend booking in Agoda because it’s cheaper compared to other travel websites I visited. Thus, it gives me the perk of earning Agoda cash that I can use for my future reservations. The actual room rates are shown in the picture below.

room rates

house rules

room key

hygiene kit

Eco Duo Room

toilet

Here are the inclusions:

overnight accommodation

complimentary breakfast (except eco-hut and glamping)

free use of swimming pool

fishing (fishing equipment not included)

FOOD: The foods really taste good. They offer a variety of Filipino dishes. I think they almost have everything, from appetizers to main courses, even desserts. 🙂 They serve dishes that are good for 2-3 persons (can be good for up to 4 actually) and have a good value for money. The price for main dishes ranges from 150php-450php. They prepare orders real time so we ordered in advance for our dinner.

Snacks and cup noodles are also available in the dining hall. They sell those at reasonable prices. They serve free coffee in the morning, just in the morning. If you want to have coffee in the afternoon or evening it costs 40php. Overall, we spent 1,024php for our lunch, dinner, and snacks.

STAFFS: The Staffs are very polite, hospitable and accommodating. They treat the guests very nicely. They’re very willing to attend to your needs. If they sense that you need something, most often they offer help without you asking.

OTHER ACTIVITIES: You can play billiard and hockey with your friends and family for 100php per hour. You can also do some water sports like kayaking and standup paddleboarding. The kayak is 150php per pax for 30 minutes. Standup paddleboarding is 100php for half an hour, too. If you want to pamper your feet, they offer fish spa service for only 50php per 15 minutes.

  OUR ITINERARY:

After checking in, we explored the room first and took a bath after.

We headed to the dining hall to eat lunch.

We roamed around and took pictures.

We went swimming at around 4 pm and went back to our room before 5.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting in the balcony until 7 pm.

At 7 pm we had dinner.

At around 8 pm we slept already.

I woke up at 5 am and had the chance to enjoy the early-morning mist. I took the chance to take pictures of the area as well as the sunrise.

My husband and baby finally woke up at around 6 am and we strolled on the farm and took pictures.

At around 7 am, we went to the dining hall to enjoy their free coffee.

At 7:30 am, our breakfast was served. I ate tosilog while my husband had tapsilog. 🙂

At around 8 am, we relaxed by the lake while waiting for the pool to be available.

At 9:00, we started swimming and stayed outside until 10:30 am.

When we came back to our room, we started preparing for check-out.

EXPENSES: The accommodation itself is not so pricey but the transport is. It’s because we just commuted back and forth given that we’re from Marikina City. I guess if you go there by car, it’s cheaper. And just in case you would like to have a vacation there and commute just like us, better if you stay there for 3 days and 2 nights.

I would always love to have a vacation and I hope that I can go back to Caliraya Ecoville Recreation Farm and Resort again. It is a place to destress and to unwind. I swear, it’s a very relaxing place where you can spend quality time with your loved ones. You’ll forget about your work. 🙂

For questions, feel free to comment. I would love to reply. ❤

Caliraya Ecoville Recreation Farm & Resort

It’s been a while since the last time we went out of town. I and my husband both struggled to have a work-life balance.

We actually had a great time in that place. It was kind of a long trip though. We stayed there overnight and enjoyed their buffet. It’s actually the food that we enjoyed there the most.

HOW TO GET THERE FROM MANILA:

From Cubao, you are going to ride a bus to San Juan, Batangas.  Take the ALPS Bus. The fare costs more or less 200php per person. 

From San Juan, right in front of the Municipal Hall, either you ride a Laiya or Hugom-bound jeepney, or a tricycle bound to Laiya. We chose to ride a tricycle and we spent 150php because it was really a long trip. The trike directly brought us to the entrance of Laiya Coco Grove. Riding a jeep is cheaper.

ROOM RATES: I already forgot the room rates but the photo below shows all the details of our booking. 

I booked for a couple cabin online which was ₱2, 164.50/night.  Here are the inclusions:

Air-conditioned rooms with own Toilet and Bath (Cabin Room Accommodation and SHARED bath)

Towels and toiletries

Managed buffet dinner, breakfast, and lunch upon check out

Free use of WiFi

Free use of the beach, swimming pool, and cabanas

Use of White Beach facility

Use of playground and volleyball area

Board games like Scrabble, chess, monopoly, etc.

TERMS AND POLICIES:

  BEACH: They have two beaches. The first one is in the area and the so-called “White Beach” is like a few blocks away. You can hardly enjoy swimming at their beach because it is stony. That is why the management suggests going to White Beach instead. They offer free van-ride to their guests so you don’t have to worry about traveling back and forth. 

Laiya Coco Grove Beach

Laiya White Beach

POOL: They also have a swimming pool which is available until the evening. At some time during the day, it is closed for cleaning. 

Laiya Coco Grove Swimming Pool

FOOD: We availed their lunch and dinner buffet so we don’t have to worry about what and where to eat. They served a variety of Filipino food and fruit juice. I can say that eating at their buffet was what we enjoyed the most. We just bought some food for the snack like the halo-halo and potato chips. 

STAFFS: The staffs were accommodating. We were welcomed warmly and escorted to our room by the attendant. The van driver who brought us to White Beach and fetched as after was nice and friendly, We were accommodated accordingly. 🙂

OTHER OPTIONS: Staying in Laiya Coco Grove Beach Resort was really an awesome experience. We would always want to go back. It actually saddened me when I found out that they closed for redevelopment. On the other hand, it led me to search for other beach resorts in Laiya. So if you are planning to spend your summer in Laiya, Batangas here are some suggestions for you.

Acuatico Beach Resort & Hotel

Sabangan Beach Resort

Virgin Beach Resort

Blue Coral Beach Resort

Estrellas de Mendoza Playa Resort

Palm Beach Resort

Acuaverde Beach Resort

Kabayan Beach Resort

Laiya White Cove Beach Resort

Buracai de Laiya Hotel and Resort

  Thanks for reading! If you have other suggested beach resorts in Laiya, Batangas, feel free to comment below. ❤