SANITY PROJECT: The Catching Up Series

Looks who's back! Mwahaha! I know, I know. Sabi ko noon goodbye to this blog already but here I am again. Funny right? (or not really?) But why am I back nga? Bakit nga kasi? Hahaha! First of all, I really miss writing. Sometimes I write long captions on Facebook when I feel like writing. Kaya lang we all know that Facebook isn't the best platform for our deepest thoughts. But aside from the fact that I miss writing, I suddenly had this urge to "fix" everything. Feeling ko andami kong backlog sa buhay so here I am again trying to get my $h!t together. And of course, that would include making this blog catch up with my life.

So where did we stop? Are you ready to know? Dundundun! 2016!!!! Hahaha! So that's gonna be four years worth of photos and blog posts. BUT I AM READY! (naks!) Actually, I have edited all photos for my 2016 posts already. Kitams?!! This  time around, I am serious about this. Sabi nga ng tagline ko, I have a penchant for documenting life; and I feel like I won't be able to move forward until I no longer owe this blog those four years worth of documentation. Hehe! Me and my issues! Call me petty if you want. :P

But what happened to Borbonita.com, you may ask? I wrote a few travel posts early 2018 but life happened and I became a bad blogger again, as per usual. Haha! But I'll see. I might just turn it into a travel blog, or maybe my new blog altogether. I'll decide when I get to finish my backlogs -- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. Easy peasy! Ano ba naman yung apat na taon. :)) Hahaha! But I am loving the process so far cause I also get to organize the gazillion photos lying around. I stopped doing back-ups since I stopped blogging so this little sanity project is gonna hit two birds in one stone. So please bare with me. Or better yet, cheer for me! ;)

Blog posts comin' up in 3.. 2.. 1!

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goodnight, a taste of apple

I saw thing coming -- the day I'd say goodbye to A Taste of Apple. And let me tell you, making the decision wasn't easy. This has been my home since late 2010 and I love this little island in cyberspace. Six years ain't no joke, man! But I haven't been a good blogger since forever the second half of 2014. I had sporadic updates until October but after that I was completely gone. It's only until March of 2015 that I finally decided to resurrect the blog. I realized that life was picking up and I didn't want the blog to miss up on the wonderful memories. So I played catch-up. Check out the CATCHING UP SERIES here. I made detailed posts for the second half of 2014 and the entire 2015.

Aside from the fact that I've been neglecting the blog, another reason for this goodbye would be the fact that life lately is all about new beginnings. I know I've said this numerous times already but I'll mention it again for the last time here. I had to stop working for exactly 3 years and 3 months {because I was sick and not because I only want to -- you got that?}. That's from February 2013 to April 2016. Imagine that! But God remains to be good. Come May 2016, I finally got myself a new job. I can't say I completely got my good health back but at least I'm well enough to go to work again 5 times a week.

Another milestone would be me turning 30 last July. Yuck dba? Hahaha! As much as I hate the idea, we all don't have a choice when it comes to aging. So I'm embracing it with open arms. I am considering August 2016 as a new beginning. Fresh start, bagong simula! I'll write more about this milestone soon. Hindi pwedeng hindi because I feel like I have gained so much wisdom from the 3-year break that I took. Ang daming life lessons, ang daming realizations. So I really have to write about it. I honestly can't wait to do just that, if only I have enough time in my hands.

So with all that's been happening, I thought to myself, heyyy, my blog needs to be revamped. I was thinking of changing the layout, probably come up with more precise categories and make it feel edgy {because fashion-wise I bid farewell to my girly self already}. But the thing is, I love A Taste of Apple so much that I can't get myself to touch it. It was a war in my head. I wanted a fresh start yet I can't let go of what I have now. So I made a decision -- I'm preserving A Taste of Apple. I'm preserving the template, the layout, the pages, everything! Including the goals that I never got to do. Dito lang sila. Even if it's embarrassing that I never got to do a lot of things that I wanted to do, okay lang. I still plan to accomplish them in time pag naayos ko na ng tuluyan yung buhay ko but for the meantime, dito lang sila. Utang ko muna sa sarili ko. Hehehe.

Another decision that I made? Adopt a new island in cyberspace. That's how it goes right? Goodbyes come hand in hand with new beginnings. I decided to preserve and say goodbye to A Taste of Apple but I'll give life to borbonita.com soon. See? I even bought a domain this time. And I vow to be a better blogger. I also vow to keep loving life and staying inspired so I won't have to go through another hiatus. I generally feel good about everything right now and I'm so grateful.

So pano? Til Borbonita.com is up! :)

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feed for dummies

Ooookay. So my blog feed got messed up {for the first time, mind you}. All along I thought it's Bloglovin that's being stupid. As in galit na galit ako sa kanya to the point I tweeted pa my annoyance. Hehehe. False accusation, sorry naman! But can you blame me? My last published post in Bloglovin is dated January 22. I already made six posts after that.. 

                                                                             January 29:   2013 at a glance 

                                                                             January 30:   perfection ❤ 

                                                                           February 03:   blog chain: the liebster award 2014 

                                                                           February 04:   rivercreek farm 

                                                                           February 12:   late night whatevers 

                                                                           February 22:   it's about time

I linked them up on purpose just in case, you knoooww, you wanna catch up with your reading. :) Anyway, last night I finally decided to face the problem and I found out that it wasn't Bloglovin after all and that the real culprit was none other than.. my own FEED!!

common web feed icon

So what is a feed? A web feed (or news feed) is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Meaning, kay pareng feed tayo dapat magpasalamat kung bakit may laman yung mga dashboard natin. Likewise, if our blog feed gets caught up with errors, we won't be able to see our new posts in our own Blogger dashboard. Same goes for our Bloglovin accounts and our followers' dashboards and blog rolls. That's exactly what happened to me! The only way for my readers to find out about my new posts is to actually visit my blog. At this point, I'd like to thank Jun and Mae for having the initiative in doing so and for pointing out my blog's oddity. If it weren't for these two, I probably got stuck hating Bloglovin. Ooops!

When we talk about feeds, two more words arise.. syndication and aggregation. I know right? Pagbigyan nyo na 'ko! Syndication.. from the root word syndicate, meaning an association of people or firms blah blah. So syndication is like the process of making syndicates. Web syndication..  refers to making web feeds {the syndicate} available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary or update of the website's recently added content. Connect, di ba? Aggregation.. from the root word aggregate meaning total. Simple as that! Aggregation refers to making the syndicated web feed accessible in one location for easy viewing. If I understand things right, Blogger performs the syndication and our dashboard brought about by GFC {Google Friend Connect} and Bloglovin do the the aggregation. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. God forbid, wag naman sana. :)

Moving on, there are two main feed formats.. Atom and RSS. The latter sounds familiar, noh? RSS means Rich Site Summary and is often dubbed as Really Simple Syndication. It is based on XML, a widely used standard for textual information exchange between applications on the Internet. RSS feeds can be viewed as plain text files, but they're really designed for computer-to-computer communication. Atom, on the other hand, is very similar to an RSS feed but it was developed to address the flaws of RSS. Comparison between the two loiters over the cyberspace but let's not dig deep into that 'cause my braincells are hurting already. Kidding!


Default Feed. If you are using a popular blogging platform or publishing tool like TypePad, Wordpress, or Blogger, you likely publish a feed automatically. Yep, that's wright! So feed illiterates such as myself can actually be a "blogger" without understanding feeds, syndication, RSS, etc. Although, FeedBurner's services allow publishers who already have a feed to improve their understanding of and relationship with their audience. More on FeedBurner later!

To see your Blogger feed settings.. from your Blogger home page > Settings > Other > Site Feed Section.

In Post Feed Redirect URL is my DEFAULT FEED

FeedBurner. Everyone who has a Blogger account, automatically has FeedBurner access too. Cool beans! That's http://feedburner.google.com, by the way and simply use your Google credentials. FeedBurner is a web feed management provider launched in 2004 {and later on acquired by Google}. It provides traffic analysis and an optional advertising system. But for my case, I used it in troubleshooting my feed.

To check your feed's health.. from your FeedBurner home page > My Account > FeedBulletin > Click on the link you're subscribed to.

The topmost/recent line says it's all clear now, cause I fixed my feed nga.
But prior to the fix, it displays a couple of error lines.

What Went Wrong. Just so you know, there is a feed file size limit. Google support says it's 512K but the error message on my feed bulletin says it's 576K. I'd like to believe their support documents need updating. But anyway, the problem was that my feed exceeded the limit. *insert grinning emoji here* It's rare for a feed to be larger than the limit but when it happens the most common cause are entries edited in Microsoft Word and copied later on in Blogger. Note to self: Notepad can do the trick, skip MS Word.

Finally, the Fix. No brainer, really! Reduce your feed size below the limit! At dahil bawal ang swapang cool, I'll tell you how.

From any page of FeedBurner > My Feeds > Feed Title {or your blog's title} > Edit Feed Details

Change the Original Feed Address. My default was http://atasteofapple.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default and I changed it to http://atasteofapple.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?max-results=15. The max result can be any integer from 1 to 500. Click the button Save Feed Details. It will tell you whether you updated it succesfully or your feed size still exceeds the limit. Just lessen the max result until it no longer exceeds the limit. Viola! The blog posts that weren't reflected on your dashboard will finally appear as if you just published them. Fist bump!

woohoooo!

PS

I'd honestly let you skip this post 'cause quite frankly, if I didn't have a problem with my blog, I wouldn't bore myself with stuff like this. Like SRSLY.

PPS

Thank you, Wikipedia & Google Support. Like SRSLY.

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need i say more?

Goal #13 Buy dearself a digicam - CHECK!! 

meet pana-pana ♥

**2012 goals entry here

**2012 goals updates here

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what's in my huge bag?

..or better titled 'what makes my bag darn heavy?'

See the gigantic bag below? That's my current everyday slash pangharabas bag. Ain't it huge? And to make things worse, I am such a midget! Haha! :)) I usually receive unsolicited comments like "ang laki naman ng bag mo" or "para kang nagbabakasyon". You don't understand, people. I have a long list of can't-live-without stuff at kapag nawala sila, mamamatay ako {weh?}.

my ever reliable Penshoppe bag

To begin with, that mother bag contains baby bags. It has a bag organizer, kikay kit, dental kit, gadgets kit and wallet.

baby bags

Now the bag organizer keeps the stuff below.  These are crucial. I feel impaired without them. Let's get a rundown, shall we?

can't-live-without

• tissue, in all forms possible - the dry ones, the wet ones, and fem wipes of course

• sanitary pads - for emergency purposes

• meds - biogesic, alaxan, kremil-s, dolfenal, and diatabs {girl scout much?}

• band-aids - for unforgiving new pairs of shoes, for cuts, scratches and hangnails {you know  how blood and wounds drain my strength, sooo..}

• perfume and handfoam - both in sweet pea scent. bangooo

• deodorant - for unplanned overnights or activities

• mirror - need I elaborate? 

• aviators - because I wear shades anytime, anywhere. walang basagan ng trip

• book - whatever I'm currently reading, which as of this writing, is How to Walk in High Heels by Camilla Morton.

• planner - my BDJ planner which is not in the picture because I forgot to include it and I didn't want to arrange my stuff like that again. Pero hindi ako tamad huh, hindi talaga. :P

• and lastly, my umbrella ella ella eh

Moving on, my gadgets kit holds pens, flashdrive, internet stick, credit card security device, charger, connector and earphones. Sometimes it holds my lappy cords too.

gadgets kit

Next, my really not interesting dental kit. Toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and floss. Just the basics.

dental kit

And last but definitely not the least, my kikay kit. I can never leave the house without it, bilang hindi naman talaga ako masyadong maganda. Saktong ganda lang! Hahaha! Noticed it's Hello Kitty? I think I'm getting addicted again to that annoying pa-cute cat! :P

kikay kit

• two way cake - fanny serrano in duchess 

• powder blush - nichido true colors collection in sunkissed, which I rarely use kasi nga hindi ako tamad

• eyeshadow - maybelline diamond glow in copper brown and elf in matte mauve

• lipgloss - maybelline lipsmooth color bloom in pink blossom

• lipsticks - ever bilena in off beat pink, maybelline color sensation in toffee cream and mocha pearl. mahilig sa brown si negra

• concealer - fanny serrano in cashew

• clear mascara - fashion 21, because I grew tired of the usual mascara and that's the only clear mascara I found

• eyeliners - maybelline impact express smooth feltliner, so easy to apply, I am a fan

• brushes - for the blush and eyeshadow, I do not even know how to properly address them. haha!

• comb - everyone needs one, unless your bald

• eyelash curler - for pretty eyes in an instant

• tweezers - for stray kilays, tumutubo ata sila every minute. nako naman

• nailcutter - incase I forgot to cut my nails at home

There you go. So basic yet so dami.  I hope my intended audience sees this. Ma, hope you get to read this. Hindi ako galing sa bakasyon, ok? :D

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messed up no more

Look who's back! Haha! I've been a bad blogger. I feel so messed up since July started hence so uninspired to write. Work almost took the life of me, I had to work for 12 or more hours a day for about two weeks. By the end of the second week, I am literally sick. I wasted the weekends getting decent rest and sleep. And I wasted the Monday after that by taking a sick leave and getting more rest. Work got piled up and other responsibilities {cleaning my room, fixing my closet, etc.} were left undone. Now, who wouldn't feel messed up? #endrant

The good thing is.. I filed a week-long vacation leave several months ago and it started last Monday. Yep, Monday. But is only now that I got inspired to blog. I guess I no longer feel messed up. Dapat lang. I already spent five days cleaning and fixing things in my rooms {at home and in the apartment}. I also went mall hopping to accomplish my "to buy" list. From laptop accessories, to my own accessories, to the needs of my closet, to make-ups, to toiletries, to new DVDs.. I can go on and on.

mickey mouse laptop sleeve, cuteness :D

girly girly laptop decals

Aside from my "to buy" list, I also have this "to do" list that got longer because of how busy I was. That includes having some clothes and shoes repaired, getting my clothes from the laundry shop, bringing home excess stuff from the apartment.. and have I mentioned cleaning my room and fixing my closet? Wheew!

can't get enough of them

because I missed wearing make-up

Now I have few more days to.. uhmm.. blog? I still have to do a bucket list update, which by the way I wasn't able to complete before turning 25. Epic Fail. But I promise to complete them at least WHILE I'm 25. Hahaha!

Got to go! I wonder what's for breakfast. :D

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resistance is futile

Resistance is futile. I can no longer remove blog reading and lookbook stalking in my system. This is bad. Ohnooees.. :S

Here's a list of blogs I've been stalking.

Chronicles of Vanity

This blog inspired me to create a blog of my own. This is where I got the idea of making my own 25 before 25 list. If I'm not mistaken I found her link through girl talk. I am so thankful I bumped into this. My blog along with my 25 before 25 list is providing me so much direction. 

The 30 before 30 Project

This is Chronicles of Vanity's inspiration of her 25 before 25 list. I don't get to visit this blog as often because it's more of a travel blog and her goals are, well, still unreachable for me.

Lush Angel
I got addicted to her fashion posts. She's my favorite until I found Thirstythought.

Below are two of my favorite lush-cious outfits:

Thirsty Thought

From the brainchild, Krystle Uy. I love the way she writes and I looooove her style. Thus, aside from her blog I've been stalking her lookbook too. Am I creepy? Hehe. I am almost done checking out all her lookbook posts. I need a new blog/lookbook to stalk. Any suggestions? 

See favorite looks below:

isn't she and her outfits lovely?

Tricia will go places

Been stalking Tricia Gosingtian's Tumblr and Lookbook too. This started when I found out she's one of Forever 21's brand ambassador. I don't like her style as much as Krystle's though. Probably because I am more for casual looks, not super trendy I-just-finished-fashion-show looks.  

Isabella Magalona

Just because her tumblr is popular. But it has turned into a photo diary, hence the new blogsite IsabellaMagalona.com. I admire how her blog is different. Not so much of a fashion and beauty blog. Entries I can remember talk about her opinions on current events, her thoughts on famous personalities, her love for writing, among others.

Tsinatown

Chos lang! Because Sheena is a friend. Hahaha! I kid. Because she writes well and.. because she's a friend. Have I said that already? Kidding aside, I love how her blog entries reflect how she truly feels {Despite lying that they're fiction}. Haha, peace CMD! =) Something I cannot and will never do with my blog. I cannot get as transparent. And I have no plans of being one.
 

So there.. I hope I didn't miss any.. I hafta go blog-hopping now! 

**photos taken from their respective blogs, hope they don't mind. hihi.. =)

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they come in pink

Thank goodness gadgets come in pink too. I could not have developed any love for them if they don't. ♥

I am not so much of a techie person but I'd surely die without the basics. I first had my cellphone in second year highschool. While everyone was fine with their alcatel, philips, etc., I have my Nokia 3210. Haha! Sosyal. It stayed with me for years, which means I got left out when high end phones came out. Then I had Nokia 3530 in college. Mhog and I shared the same cellphone unit until mine was stolen. Stupidity I'd rather not share. Then I had Motorola L6. My first ever pink gadget. I still have it with me actually but its almost useless since it restarts from time to time when you're using it. I still would not let it go since it is where my old Smart SIM resides. They'll grow old and eventually die together. Sweet! Haha!

my poor Motorola L6

Now lemme share my set of pink gadgets and how I feel about them just now. Because While writing this, I realized I love 'em and I could have at least noted when I actually got them, aka their birthdays. So sad I wasn't able to do so.

Anyhoo, I first got my cam. The very reason I applied for a credit card. {Can I just take this opportunity to thank HSBC?} It's a Sony DSC-S930, nothing special honestly. It's just pink. I used to really love it then because before I bought it what we had are those cameras with films. I don't even know how to properly address them now. Old school huh? Sad to say, I cannot appreciate it as much now. Who would want to smile and pose for a low end digicam when DSLRs are just around the corner. Bitterness. But I don't want a DSLR for myself just now. Not until they come up with pink ones. =)

ang naaabusong digicam

Next, I got my phone. A pink Samsung Star, S5233W. I used to call it 'star ng buhay ko'. Haha! I find it funny then, now I find myself babaw. ;) I think I got it several months after I got my cam. I can't exactly remember when. I can dig on piles of important receipts back at home but this blog entry won't wait for that. Anyways, I love my phone because..

*Back when I wasn't living in an apartment yet and I had to travel 2 hours back and forth the mountains of Pangarap, a game in it called WiseStar kept my sanity.

*In relation with reason number one, long travel hours and unbelievable traffic taught me to listen to the radio, via my samsung star of course. Now I suddenly missed Chico and Del. RX fan here. =)

*I love the Memo. It is where I save important details like usernames and passwords, whether work related or not. Plus, you have an option to password protect them. Just be careful when deleting a memo, you might delete all. Then get crazy for days. Trust me, I should know.

*Free internet access whether via wi-fi or globe connection {I won't tell how, bleeh}. Free facebook. Free Twitter. How can you not love it?

*Obvious reasons like getting in touch with family & friends. <3

*Last but not the least, it's pink.

ang STAR ng buhay ko

Third on my list is.. drum roll please.. my laptoooooop!! I finally got one. It's a pink Samsung R440-JT08PH. Again, nothing special with specs and all. The usual 14 inch, with 2 GB memory, 320 GB hard disk, i3 processor. Just pink {See, I don't sound techie}. It has been planned since August that I'm going to get one come November. Yes I know, it's already December but who cares. What's important is that I'm crossing off another item on my 25 before 25 list. Goal #6 Buy dear self a laptop - CHECK!!

ang bagong bida

And because it's Christmas I will share my wish list of gadgets. Again, it's a wish list. Libre ang mangarap.

  

First is Nokia C3, in pink of course. This is kind of realistic. If I manage to stop myself from shopping next year, I might get one. After all, the mother is suggesting that we all switch to Sun to make communications between us easier. I cannot totally switch so I MIGHT get a secondary phone. I.need.discipline. 

via
Nokia C3
P5 995

Next is Sony Bloggie, in pink again. I didn't have any idea that it exists until I collected flyers and brochures from Cyberzone. It looks so cute and convenient to carry around. Really made for blogging. Blogging. Bloggie. Blogging. =))

via
Sony MHS-PM5K
P8 999

Third on my crazy wish list is Sony DSC-TX5. Do I need to mention I want it in pink? It is Sony's slimmest water-proof camera and it's worth 22,999. So, dream on.

via
Sony DSC-TX5
P22 999

And lastly, I want Sony Viao E series. It's actually an option when I bought my laptop. I just got scared that I might need to totally sacrifice shopping and out-of-town trips if I chose it, so I dropped it. No regrets. It can stay on my wish list forever. Haha!

via
Vaio E Series
VPCEA35FG/L/P/W
P54 999

What's on your list? Do they come in pink too? :)

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island hopping in cyberspace

HOP ON!
 

Yay! I've been thinking of this I'll-start-a-blog thing for almost a month now but unfortunately never had enough drive to so, not until today. Yes, finally, here I am trying to compose my first entry.. and I'm having a hard time! Lord, pano nga ulit mag-blog?? 

I used to blog in Multiply, back in the days when I was jobless aka bum {oh how I miss being one, gusto ko na magLOA! Haha! ACN pips, if ever you're here, forget I said that!}

Anyway,my Multiply site is now abandoned, same goes for my Friendster account. But just now, I visited my Multiply site, saw that my background isn't working anymore {what's with you Photobucket? I have fixed 'em anyway}, tweaked my oh-so-private settings and posted my link on Facebook. In short, it's for everyone to see na, the blogs lang ha? Who the hell cares with multiply now, anyway! Hehe.

And my Friendster account? It has long been abandoned. Pero I posted the link on FB na rin. Woot! Andame ko kunware links!

my Mutiply site

Am I that thin before, that my nose dominated my face? {or maybe, I just picked a very bad photo. HOPE SO.}

my Friendster account
it isn't as plain before
just don't wanna check out the CSS thing anymore

Now, I am on Facebook. No, lemme put emphasis on that. I am currently addicted to Facebook. Facebook sa tricycle, anyone? Pbbhht! Thank you Globe super surf unli, or is that super unli surf? Let me get away with that. It escaped my mind along with soooo many other things. Hai.. but I can't rant as much as I want to in Facebook.

my Facebook wall
this, I'm currently loving ♥

So BLOGSPOT, thank you for this another island in cyberspace. You, yes you, dear Blogspot is now the perfect sanctuary for all my brain vomit.

Lately I've been into so much {or at least for me that's so much already}. I am not used to being upset and all.. but this bitchy life is giving me a taste of emotions I'm not used to. And that same bitchy life is forcing me to embrace some effin' clutter. But the perfectionist in me can only take so much.

So, before I completely lose my direction along with my sanity, I decided to come up with my own 25 before 25 list. 25 things I want to accomplish {yes, accomplish, not just try} before I turn 25. Even if life is a little far from being perfect right now, and while I still do not have enough courage to make a difference, at least crossing off items from this list will make me feel better. Hey, to start a blog is the first item on the list so I'm crossing that out already. Cheers!

I will soon share my list, I have yet to complete it. Prolly that would be my next post. Yay! I'm excited. It feels good looking forward to something.

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