Flashback to my 2015 highlights, looking forward to 2016!

by Carol Ranas
11 minutes read
2015 has left us to pave way to 2016. It is a new year, a new chapter of my life as an adult. But before I bravely face another year of adventure, I can’t help but look back on the highlights of my 2015 that made it a kick-ass year for me.

 #2015bestnine

More Food Adventure

I must say that the highlight of my 2015 is the foodie adventures I had, thanks to my Zomato family, blogger friends and PR peeps who trusted me. I’m no food critic, but the experience of trying different flavors excites my palate. Though I must say that it messed up my tastebuds, but as I think about it, as a home cook, I’m more challenged to step up my game because of these delicious dishes I’ve tried.

Check out my top 3 pics in different categories. I decided to categorize them based on your budget. Top 3 pics for high-end and expensive restaurants: Buddha Bar, Solaire and Le Jardin.
Top 3 pics for Mid-Range restaurants: Cafe Naya by the Palace, Mama Lou’s Italian Restaurant and Mati’s Meat and Bread.
Top 3 Budget (and Convenient) Places to Eat: Apag Marangle, Tai One and C’Italian Restaurant.

For 2016, I have something exciting cookin’ up for you foodies. It’s still inside the oven and I’m fired up that it’ll be a great 2016 for us foodies! 🙂

Diverse Blog Content

In 2015, I’ve injected a few beauty and style posts in my content to make it more diverse. I know you’ve loved my food posts, but I was wondering if you wanted to see more of me and the response was really great!

Sample OOTD posts

So for 2016, I’m gonna tap into different types of content and try to curate most of my posts. Hopefully, you’ll like them as much as you liked my food posts. 🙂

Travel with Family

2015 had been the year where I get to spend most of my time with my family. Most of my travel was with them and I’m happy we did. Less flights, but more roadtrips were made this year, thanks to Dexter.

BOHOL
CAGBALETE
PAGSANJAN
TAGAYTAY
CALAGUAS
BAGUIO

I’ve written about my two trips to Baguio and Calaguas. But there were trips that didn’t make it to my blog. They have been in line too long and I’m still thinking how to write about them so that all my trips are properly documented in my blog. Soshi and I spent our anniversary in Tagaytay, and we actually made Tagaytay our escape place from the busy city. On my birthday, we went to Pamapanga to enjoy the authentic Sisig and scream our heart’s content at Sandbox. We also went camping at Cagbalete.

Work Promotion

This was unexpected, but I was thankful for the promotion. I have a full-time job aside from blogging. I loved my job as a Quality Evaluator, and I’m pretty good in it. Apparently God had a different plan, He wanted me to take on a much bigger challenge, being a Team Lead. A Team Lead role is no joke, specially for a socially awkward person like me. Personally, I’m not good in handling big groups, I’m more of a one-on-one person type of mentor.

My Team, the Peridot Pixies

It was a big leap for me. I think that this role will help me grow more in an interpersonal level and the lessons I’ll learn along the way will greatly help me as I thread through my adult life. I’ll grow and blossom along with my team, the Peridot Pixies.

Engagement

Finally, this is one thing I’ve been looking forward. I was praying feverishly to God to make the formal engagement happen before the year ends. There were no big surprises because I know it’s not in Soshi’s personality. I helped him with the whole process. So I have an idea that a proposal is on its way, I’m just not sure when it’ll take place.

Our Anniversary and my Birthday passed and no sign of any proposal. I was starting to fidget. I was so anxious so I kept prodding and asking Soshi if he has any plan at all. He was killing me inside. I want it to be special and heartfelt, but Soshi is really taking his sweet time.

The proposal was simple. It was a rainy morning at Bag of Beans Tagaytay. He gathered both families and made the big announcement right then and there. I didn’t expect my family to show up that time because of the storm. It was one happy memory. No, I didn’t cry because I was so happy that day. I was so proud on how Soshi managed to pull it off nicely.

My 2015 was a blast! I know that I’ll make more memories in 2016 as more big milestones will happen for me. I’m expecting a lot of ups and downs because God has a lot more in store for me for 2016. I’m excited!


Bring it on 2016!

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