#nuffnang

Last April 14, 2018, I was one of the lucky people who was able to attend Nuffnang’s event: BLOGOPOLIS: The Digital Journey,held at Dusit Thani Manila. It is the biggest blog and social media conference in the Philippines gathering the country’s top bloggers, best social media influencers, and finest digital experts to share their knowledge and insights about anything blogging and digital media.…

I’ve been a province girl for almost the whole of my life, and it has only been recently (almost three years, to be exact!) since I moved out from my parents’ house because of work and started living in the city. It was a whole new world for me. The noise level was different, no one was there to do chores for me, and I would constantly find myself doing more and more things alone. It wasn’t really lonely, nor was it difficult to adjust. As it was, I actually learned to be more independent, most probably because I couldn’t afford to not to! Haha! With this new adventurous chapter in my life, I needed a companion to help me #BraveTheCity, and there came Urbanize.

About Urbanize PH - Made for Urban Adventure, made for you

Our story is not about us, it’s all about you, the urban dweller, the weekend warrior, the bus gymnast, the railway athlete and the multi-tasking expert. You inspired us to make products with fashion, function and style.

Indeed, Urbanize serves as the reflection of the rugged city streets, the smart casual weekend hangouts and the busy business districts of the metropolis.  Our story is your own story, our adventure is your own adventure too.

A few days ago, some selected bloggers and I got invited to an intimate afternoon filled with fun activities courtesy of Nuffnang and Urbanize. We were divided into two teams of five, and were tasked to finish three challenges in the most creative (not to mention competitive! Haha!) manner.

My group mates. From left to right: Kelly Araneta, Zedrik Europe, Kyna Gem Sy, and JP De Leon.

After filling our tummies with yummy food from Spatzle, it was time for the challenges! Challenge #1 asked the teams to create and style a look based on four themes using items from the Urbanize store, which their representatives will then showcase on the runway. We were also asked to take photos and upload our entries on Instagram.

This was the photo that made it to JP’s feed (because he was the one on our team who has the most engagement on Instagram!) Our team chose to do Business Class on Zedrik and Urban Jetsetter on Kyna.

Zedrik, going down the runway with his Urbanize products. 

Blogger competitions cannot be called true without, you guess it, a flatlay challenge! That was Challenge #2, where we were given a bag full of Urbanize products. The host was to describe each individual product and we were supposed to guess which one she was talking about! After that, we had to roll up our sleeves and take a flatlay photo of what we got in the bag!

I’ve been doing flatlays since 2011, way back when the actual word was rarely used, so this huge mess of people and hands isn’t at all new to me. It’s just funny from an outsider’s perspective, I think, and probably even weird, when you see a group of people huddled over a bunch of inanimate objects obviously arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner. And look, we even used flashlights! 

Here’s what we came up with! Again, thanks JP for taking the picture and volunteering to upload it on your feed! 

The fun wasn’t over though! Challenge #3 had us heading back to the Urbanize store to do a Mannequin Challenge. This was my favorite challenge out of the three mostly because it included us posing behind the glass windows where mannequins are displayed (it has always been a dream!) I wasn’t sure how we did, because we were laughing the whole time, but it was super fun! 

After the fun challenges, we again sat down for refreshments while we listened to Sir Jay Jallorina talk about how to make a career out of Photography. What did I get out of his talk? It’s that in order to establish a name or make a mark in your chosen industry, all you have to do is focus your attention on looking for a problem someone hasn’t solved yet.

Group photo! Our team didn’t win the challenges, but it was a whole lot of fun interacting and getting to meet new people, and of course exploring the different items from Urbanize, proving just how they can be both fashionable and functional!

Thank you so much for having us, Urbanize!

10 Tips on Social Media and Content Creation: Blogopolis 2018

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I can remember the first time the hubby and I were asked to speak in front…

Sisters by blood. Best friends by choice.

I consider myself very fortunate to have both in one person. To be honest, I still feel like the term “best friend” is lacking whenever I describe my relationship with my younger sister, Jam. She’s my #1 fan, my photographer (who knows my best angles and is brutally honest whenever I look garbage in my blog photos), my food buddy, my fellow dog lover, my Christian ministry partner, my confidante. She probably knows me more than I know myself. If I will be asked about the most memorable experience I shared with my younger sister, it’ll be a book of a thousand pages! From our insane “commuting adventures” to my war with her elementary bullies -  for me, even the littlest things are special memories that I will always treasure.

However, if there’s one special set of memorable experiences I would really love to share, that would be my K-Pop Fangirl life with my sister. I know my life isn’t as colorful as those fancy celebrities. I live an ordinary life but I can truly say that my K-Pop fangirl life is made of gold. Back in 2009, when I fell into the fandom, I have no one else to spazz with. K-Pop wasn’t as huge back then so it’s pretty difficult to have someone that can relate to it. As for me, I have my sister, Jam!! 

We went to numerous K-Pop concerts and events together but one crazy experience really stood out from our memories. It was back in 2012 for the BIGBANG Alive Tour Concert - one of the most fun and most chaotic events we have ever experienced in our lives! LOL My sister and I are huge Bigbang fans so we thought, there’s no way we’ll skip their very first Manila concert. We lined up for like 8 to 9 hours just to secure good spots in the VIP Standing section.

It was a very memorable experience because we managed to get ourselves exclusive rehearsal passes. Only around a hundred people were given those passes and it’s insane how we got ours out of thousands who wanted the same thing! We got super close to my K-Pop Kings and just thinking about that moment makes me want to scream! Well, another reason why it was memorable is because my sister and I shared chaos that truly tested our endurance and patience haha! Apart from lining up for hours, we had to survive another 3 hours of pushing from the wild crowd. While our entire muscular system hurts badly, we survived TOGETHER. We sang and danced and starved together. We left with endless laughter and shaky fancams together. 

We make sure we document pretty much everything when it comes to our K-Pop adventures. So if you are a dedicated fangirl like me, you should always be fully equipped with a camera, extra batteries, powerbank and a hand phone that captures real moments in perfect quality. Oh, and pro cameras are often banned in concerts so going for a hand phone with exceptional camera like OPPO F5 is always ideal!

While the K-Pop fangirl adventures I share my sister is always worth telling, each moment I share with her, K-Pop or not, is something I will treasure for life. 

To my incredibly beautiful and kindhearted sister, Jam, I know we both hate cheesy stuff as it makes us barf (bad gag reflex lol). But I need you to read this before I marry you off to the love of your life in a few months!! We don’t have to plan anything, as long as we are together. Let’s walk from one shopping mall to another, eat to our heart’s content without worrying about weight gain, spend more time in volunteer ministry work, share my endless makeup supply, watch SECHSKIES live, take thousands of selfies together... I know we’ll never get tired of each other whatever happens! I love you. 너무너무 사랑해 내 제일 예쁜 여동생. Jekki jjang!!! HAHAHA

I often get so wrapped up in my little life that I forget about the bigger picture out there. Two weeks ago, thanks to Nuffnang, I had the privilege of attending a “dinner organised by Picha Project”. 

I was really swamped, and all I knew was that it would be a buffet-style dinner and that the dress code was evening casual! 

When I arrived, KL was having a massive traffic jam (what’s new, right?), and the organisers announced that dinner would start at 8pm instead of 7pm, to allow time for the other guests to arrive. (Thank God for appetisers. Chinese weddings should really learn from them.)