Thank You 2014, Hello 2015!

First and foremost I would like to greet everyone a happy new year! I hope all of us had a blast last night may it be by celebrating with your families at home or outside on key locations (malls, parks etc).  And most importantly, that all of us were safe during the festivities. 

I was actually browsing my past blog posts and I was  wondering if I had one last year on this exact date and it was fun that I did! It still doesn't fail to amaze me how time flies that fast. Imagine how 12 months went by and I can't help but think of all the major events and experiences that transpired in my life this 2014. It was not an entirely smooth ride but I had been blessed with so much things that I consider this year a memorable one. I hope you will bear with me as I try to look back on some of the happy memories that I am grateful for (gratitude and mindset are keywords that carried me the entire year actually and writing them is my way of telling the universe how thankful I am that they happened).

1. Three for Thirty (International Travels)

As a breadwinner, there is this nagging thought that doing things that entails a lot of spending makes you feel guilty. That I would rather spend it for the needs at home and that there will come a time I would be able to go abroad for vacation. So I never traveled outside the country because of the cost. Then I realized, I was turning 30 in 2014 and yet I haven't set foot on other country. I told myself to at least be able to visit three countries prior to my birthday. Good thing there were lots of piso fare and I was able to book Singapore, Hongkong/Macau and Malaysia last 2013 and each of those flights is below Php3000.00 round trip! Malaysia did not push through actually due to my US trip but all in all, I was given the opportunity to accomplish this big goal for 2014! I am still working on retrieving my photos for those trips so I hope I will be able to share them soon here on my blog.

2. Trips within the Philippines

As part of my yearly travel, I am so happy that for 2014 I was able to visit the following places: 

- Anvaya Cove (2nd time, February) girl bonding, wakeboarding and paddle board

- Club Manila East, Rizal (March) surfing

- Davao (March) - tour, wakeboard

- Baler (April and November) tour, surfing

- Vinzons and Calaguas (2nd time, April) holy week vacation, beach outing

- 8 Flags, Laguna (May) team outing

- Galera (2nd time, May) girl bonding

- friend's rest house, Batangas ( June) barkada outing

- Sandbox, Porac (November) team bonding/birthday celebration

3. Events, Concert, Musical Plays

I think I started regularly watching musical plays in 2006 (local plays) and this year, I am thankful that I had the chance to watch Wicked in Manila (OOTD post here) and If/Then in New York! As someone who loves to sing, it makes my heart flutter to watch such shows specially that the actors and actresses (local and international) always give their best in their every performance. 

I am not sure how many times Hillsong have performed here in Manila but last June, my retreat batch had an amazing night with their live performance last June. Thanks again to our head Del for reserving our tickets!

In terms of events, I am also glad that I got to attend two BDJ Planner events this year. It is always fun to see co-bloggers and meet new people whenever I attend them. Plus BDJ is always generous with freebies and loot bags too! (OOTD post here).

I also had the chance to attend Brasilipinas 2014 with my dear friend Ann. The event happened at Rockwell tent Makati and it is great to experience the Brazilian/Filipino community in a fun party! I even saw Daniel Matsunaga and some of the models of SM Men's Fashion that night.

Remember my post regarding Suiteblanco opening? Thanks again for Fatima for choosing me as her winner that I was able to attend that day. Yet another first!

And before I forget, it is also this year that I was able to see Shane Filan in person! I also met new friends during that event so it was a totally fun experience.

4. Chance to meet more CEO/Business Owners

Since I got interested with personal finance in 2011, meeting CEO or business owners became a fun experience to me. I do not have photos with the early ones I met but I think I had one with Mr. Ben Chan (Bench) and Gerry Chua (Eng Bee Tin) and Bo Sanchez. This year, two business owners were added to my list and they are both pretty and inspiring ladies: Darlyn Ty of Belle de Jour Power Planner and Denise Aquino of Tokyo Posh!

5. Financial Target

Have you heard of the book entitled "The Secret"? I was introduce to that in 2008 but I never really had that certain enlightenment on things that I want to attract in my life. But this year, for some reason I realized that I was able to achieve the financial target I indicated in my BDJ planner! Well it was late for a year (I think the specific amount I wrote was for 2013) but who would have thought that I would be able to achieve it? To think that this year has been full of travel and happenings that entail a lot of cost. So now I am convince that law of attraction does happen and it is just a matter of mindset and a grateful attitude.  I experience it first hand and I will do my best to continue attracting more blessings this year!

6. Love Life

I may again be single now, but yes, 2014 is the year I had my first ever relationship. It may not have ended the way I imagine it but it is fun to think that I also attracted it the way I did my financial target right? I think when 2014 started I was also focused on finding someone special. I event met some guys during my travel but eventually one guy stood out and won my heart. We are still friends right now so all is well and I am hoping that we will eventually meet the people meant for us.

I hope I did not bore you with the lengthy list but what I just wanted to share them so I can somehow inspire you to focus on the things that you were thankful for even if there are not-so-good events that happened to us this year. Like I said, we attract the things that we focus our minds on so let us always think positive things and never forget to say thank you even for the smallest blessings that we receive.

From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank all of my readers who still visit my blog and I hope and pray that 2015 will be an even greater year for you and your families. Happy New Year!

-Sally Mae, The Budget Fashion Seeker