I spent my first Christmas away from home all alone. Last year, I got to spend Christmas with my family. And this year, I spent it again away from home, not all alone now but with my friends my second family.

Warning: This post will be picture heavy! :D

It's the last day of 2014! Yay! I know I'd been too mushy during Christmas Eve, well I'm just missing home so much so I guess that's alright?.

Image taken from Google

I'm still missing home, I don't think I'd ever get used to being away from home, but I decided to do away with all the sadness because as I tried to look back, 2014 has been so wonderful and there's a lot to be thankful for. I was blessed beyond belief!

December 24, 2014. It's the day before Christmas. My day has just started while more than half a day has already passed back in the Philippines.

Christmas 2013 with my family back in the Philippines

I've just finished my breakfast and I'm preparing for my lunch as I write this post, while I'm sure my household back home is now  busy preparing for tonight's Noche Buena.

I'm living alone away from home, Mark and I won't be seeing each other until the weekend, both my flatmates are out on vacation, add the fact that I'm in a country who doesn't celebrate Christmas, so it's a bit of a struggle, no, make that it's definitely a struggle, for me to get through today.

And even just going through some old Christmas photos is giving me tears. And yes, I am missing home, big time!

Living away from home has got to be the most heart-breaking and life-changing decision that I ever made. But please don't get me wrong. I've been living in Dubai a little over two months now, and so far, I'm very much okay with my life here.

Finally! Thank You, Lord, for making this happen! Thank you very much to everyone who also helped to make this happen. Thank God for such loving, supportive, and generous family and friends! 😊🙏 #ldrnomore #goodmorning #dubai

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Aug 8, 2014 at 9:12pm PDT

I have a nice house, I still get to buy things that I want, I eat good food, and Mark has been taking very good care of me here.

Our home away from HOME. Posting this for everyone who's asking (well more like worried :p). Don't worry, aside from the little homesickness, I'm okay. Mark is doing a good job in taking care of me here. :) #dontworry #imokay #homeawayfromhome #dubai

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Aug 8, 2014 at 8:23pm PDT

And this, my friends, is what he really built those muscles for. Haha! I love you @markeugenesantos! 💪✌️😘❤️ #happy27th #happy10years #10yearstoday #10yearsoflove #10yearsandalifetime

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Aug 8, 2014 at 7:58pm PDT

Love is...the little things he does for you. 😊❤️ #helovesme #labandero #boyfriendduties

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Aug 8, 2014 at 6:58pm PDT

I also have nice neighbors, it's safe everywhere, there's no traffic, and I get to visit different places.

Went out for a quick walk. The 10-minute walk to and from our house and the grocery seemed endless because of the scorching heat! 😂🙆🔥☀️ #anginit #dubailiving #dubai

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Aug 8, 2014 at 11:29pm PDT

Wow. Just, WOW! 👏👍 #DubaiMetro #Dubai #fullyautomated #driverless #GuinnessWorldRecords #longestfullyautomatedmetronetwork

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Sep 9, 2014 at 9:52pm PDT

Surely life here may be easier, but as I've said before, it's actually my first time in 28 years to be away from my family, and that for me is the hardest part. Although I'm not the very sociable type, I'm also not used to being alone. Yes, I have Mark with me, I have neighbors around, I've already made friends here, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that nothing really compares to the bond that a close-knit family has.

I get by with a little help from Skype. Hehe...Skype session with my loves. 😘 #missinghome #skype #dubai #dubailiving

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Aug 8, 2014 at 10:11pm PDT

If there's one consolation, I just love how I can still communicate with my family and get updated with them through the internet. And because of having been away from them, I now appreciate and miss even the littlest things.

Sunday is family day. 😊 #fambam #skypesessions #missinghome

A photo posted by kriska marie (@kriskamarie) on Oct 10, 2014 at 11:09pm PDT

I miss how my dad would enthusiastically greet me whenever he comes home. I miss how he always checks on me when I'm out. I miss morning chikahans about Zumba stuff over breakfast during weekdays with my mom.

After visiting Regina RICA, we went on a 15-minute drive on the main road and about 5 to 10-minute drive into the mountain side until we reached Daranak Falls.


We all were excited as this would be our first time to swim into fresh water.  We pulled in into the parking lot and the lush greens surrounding the place added up to the excitement. After paying for the entrance fee and picnic shed, we walked onto the bridge leading to the falls right after the entrance.

Date of visit: March 28, 2014

Read full story HERE :)

Because we already had a pre-Mother's Day dinner at home last Saturday (will post that on the blog soon), our family celebrated Mother's Day yesterday by having some lunch out. After hearing mass at SM Marikina, we started to scout for a restaurant for our lunch. We wanted to already have a table reserved, because we know that every restaurant will be packed with families also celebrating Mother's Day.


We all agreed to celebrate it by having a boodle feast at Seafood Island. Mark and I already tried one of their boodles in their Cubao branch and we both enjoyed it so I was pretty sure that my family will also enjoy it here.

I've said in my last post that a tour in JE Camp hotel and Resort would probably take around an hour, depending on how you want to explore the place. Well I guess we were so much captivated by the beauty of the whole place that we finished our tour after almost 3 hours haha! :p


We were supposed to go to Daranak Falls and Regina Rica, both still in Tanay, but because it was already getting late, we just had to drop them off. And so right after the tour we headed to Julia Bandoma Vista Restaurant, or Halamanan as what it's well-known for, to have our lunch, a very late lunch that is. :p

It was just an ordinary day when Mark suddenly thought of heading out for another adventure. My dad, who's fond of asking our whereabouts from time to time (yeah he's sweet like that :D), did his morning routine of asking what we (Mark and I) plan to do for the day, so I told him that Mark wanted to visit JE Camp in Tanay, Rizal. I guess my dad was also up for an adventure that time that he thought of going there too with the whole family.


And so there, after breakfast, we found ourselves all packed up and set for a family bonding. :D We arrived at JE Camp in Tanay, Rizal, after around an hour-long drive from our house.

Got to witness another feel-good and "proud Ate" moment last Saturday. My baby brother, Jaoey, received recognition for being the #1 Best in Math among the whole batch of Grade 5 students in their school! Yay! :D


All of us in the family actually got giddy when Jaoey announced the news! I even joked on going up the stage with him with some tarps and banners and Daddy also said about contacting some media men to cover the event. Hahaha! Yup, we were all that excited for Jaoey's accomplishment. :)

Please forgive me for another long overdue post. I'm just trying to cross out each one of my backlogs. :D

Part of the series of the pre-birthday celebrations that I had was another lunch out with my family. It was actually an impromptu lunch out. I guess Daddy was just feeling a little lazy to cook that time that he decided to eat out.


I already knew that we will have to dine at a Chinese restaurant, as that is the only cuisine that somehow keeps up with my daddy's meticulous palates. :) Good thing the Chinese food choices within Antipolo are already expanding. We now also have North Park here in our place. Yay!

We were supposed to have some ice cream and snacks at the ice cream house in Robinsons Magnolia after our lunch and a little shopping, but we'd still have to endure a long queue so we decided to just dine elsewhere. We decided to leave the mall and dine somewhere that's already near Antipolo so we won't have to worry about braving the traffic anymore.

Mommy and I wanted some burgers so we suggested to dine at Army Navy in Cainta.


I first got to try Army Navy when I was still working in Makati. My first time didn't leave a good impression though because the burger tasted bland and was a bit try. But I enjoyed their Freedom Fries and Libertea on my first try!

My older brother, Chino, just turned 30 last Monday, January 13. I already posted about the birthday cake that I made for him, now let me share with you what we had for his birthday dinner. :)


Daddy had to go to work so we had Chino's birthday celebration over dinner. And because Daddy was out during the day and got no time to cook, he just had us order some Shakey's pizza and sushi.

I mentioned in my previous post that even weeks before my actual birthday, we already had a series of pre-birthday celebrations/lunch-outs with my family. Here's the first of 'em.

It's the weekend after Christmas when daddy decided to go out and stroll. He wanted to go to malls other than where we would usually go. SM Mall of Asia and Robinsons Magnolia were the choices, but because MOA's too far from where we are, Robinsons Magnolia got the most votes.

We arrived at the mall just in time for lunch. We always have to consider Jaoey whenever we dine out, and because he loves fried chicken, Classic Savory was were we had our lunch.

Savory Chicken Combo C4 - Php 385.00

I've tried Classic Savory countless of times already, and whenever I'm with my family, we always get the same orders, the Savory Chicken Combo C meals. I guess that's just how it goes for my family. Whenever we loved something in a certain restaurant, we can come back as many times and order the same dish over and over! :p

The renewal center in Farmers Plaza has already transferred, so after our merienda, we headed to SM Megamall because we will be having dinner there and there's also a renewal center there.


We got to the mall a little after 4pm only to find out that the renewal center has also transferred. And because we were still too early for our dinner reservation, and as per Jaoey's suggestion, we decided to kill time in the arcade.

Our initial plan was to just have a little family dinner out during my birthday since Daddy's still not sure if he'd have to go to work. But because Daddy was allowed to be on leave during my birthday, I got to celebrate the whole day of my birthday with my family! Yay!


After having breakfast at home, we started our celebration with thanksgiving at Monasterio de Sta. Clara in Quezon City.

It's my 28th birthday yesterday and it was such a fun day!


Actually, even weeks before my actual birthday, I already had a couple of pre-birthday lunch-outs with my loves. I'd go to the details in my next posts, but for now here's a sneak peek of how I celebrated my 28th birthday!

Wishing everyone a blessed and prosperous year ahead!!!

Happy New Year!!!

kriskamarie   sweetnothings.kriskamarie
kriskamarie   kriskamarie

Here's a simple animation for a special person like you! :D

Animation and Editing by Gia, Illustration by Kriska :)

It was my daddy's birthday last Wednesday, October 30. Since he had to go to work, we to decided to just have the celebration over a buffet dinner at Vikings.


Together with the rest of the family, we went to SM Marikina for lunch. And since we're with Jaoey and he got to choose what to eat, we had our lunch at KFC while waiting for our daddy dear.