We started the year with Miguel's fifth birthday celebration. We had lunch at High Street Cafe in Shangri-La at The Fort and we certainly had a wonderful time. The food was good plus it was a long time since we last ate in a buffet restaurant with such ease.

For the first time, Miguel was also able to join his first educational tour organized by his school. We went to Pinaglabanan National Shrine, El Deposito, and KKK Museum in San Juan, Metro Manila. We also visited The Fun Park at Sta. Elena where the children had a chance to see and interact with farm animals.

Throughout the year, we were able to realize our goal of taking the kids out every weekend. We would go to the mall and have lunch in our favorite restaurants. We would also take the kids to indoor playgrounds and parks where they can interact with other children. We also attended birthday parties, in which the mascots made our kids extremely delighted.

We were also able to travel around Metro Manila and out of town more often. Aside from our regular trips to my parents' house in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, we went to Canyon Cove in Batangas; staycation in EDSA Shangri-La; Paradizoo in Mendez, Cavite; Andy's Place in Bacolor, Pampanga; Aleah Private Resort in Calamba, Laguna; Azure North in San Fernando, Pampanga; and Purico Cabin Resort in Apalit, Pampanga.

In terms of my career, I would say that things went smoothly. Not all expectations were met, but it was generally a good year for me. It was not perfect nor ideal but I was still thankful for the financial reward that was commensurate with my hard work.

In terms of blogging, I had a good run for the first half of the year but the last half has not been favorable to my blog because of the Google Helpful Content and Core Updates. My traffic and earnings continued to decline and by the end of the year, my pageviews were down to the level that I had 2 years ago.

Brand collaborations were also good. I didn't have many partnerships last year but the brands that I worked with were the ones that I liked. I also like it that way because it can be time-consuming to create content these days because digital creators have to do both photos and short videos to cater to the different social media platforms and demands. On this front, I think I might really have to lay low on brand collabs.

I find it hard to adapt to current social media trends; I'll leave that to the younger ones. I'll just focus my energy on writing long-form content for my blog and push for my personal advocacy even if no one seems to be reading blogs anymore.

Other than that, this 2024, I will continue to pursue my goals which I wasn't able to fulfill in 2o23. We will also continue to support Miguel's development journey. That alone is already hard work and is enough to keep our days busy.

I wish you success and prosperity this 2024!

More stories: