Welcome to My MissAdventures, a spin-off of my personal blog which you can find at miss-monologue.livejournal.com.

My MissAdventures is where you'll find wonderful, descriptive tales of my travels, shopping finds, food trips, and anything under the sun that brightens my day.

So sit back, relax, and let me do the talking.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Up All Night

I've been having such a hard time sleeping these past weeks. I've been working late and my body clock's messed up. If I go to bed at 1 am, I end up sleeping at 3 or even 4 am. I even find it harder to sleep when I know I have to wake up early the next day.

I don't know if I should be amused or stressed about it. At night (or early morning) my mind goes into overdrive and I end up thinking of just about anything! I have epiphanies and new ideas, realizations and become reminiscent. I wish I had the patience to write all my thoughts at night so I won't forget them. I know I've had brilliant ideas at night but I can't remember them concretely anymore.

Another reason why I can't seem to catch some sleep is because I often experience sleep paralysis. It wasn't until recently that I found out that it's an actual disorder. I always thought I was just prone to nightmares. By nightmares I mean waking up during a scary dream and not being able to get up and move. I've had these kinds of nightmares since I was younger but I would have them only when I had high fever so I thought they were related. It wasn't until high school that my dreams became more frequent and I started to get used to it. I can already distinguish when I was still dreaming and I already knew what to do to wake myself.

During college, I started to get "nightmares" even when I took naps during daytime. They weren't scary dreams but I would try to move and shout and I would be aware of the activities around me but I couldn't wake up. They also became more frequent at night especially when I slept late after working on plates. When I would go to bed at 2 or 3 am, I could already expect that I will have around 2 rounds of nightmares. It was a bit stressful, and I would try to call a friend to assure me I was awake. I realized recently that it was similar to the movie, Inception where they used totems to assure themselves that they were already awake. Haha!

I only thought about Googling my situation last year and found out about sleep paralysis. All the descriptions were spot on! I also read that most people who were diagnosed with the same condition were prescribed with medicines but they didn't really help. Some people even took advantage of the situation and controlled their "hallucinations" once they knew they woke up in their sleep. I actually tried it but I can't.

As of late, I've had less of these episodes and I've learned to handle them so most of my hallucinations aren't scary anymore. It's just the not being able to breathe part that I'm not able to control. I still sort of panic that I can't breathe.

I still haven't decided if I should have myself diagnosed, I am not sure if there are actual diagnosed cases here in the Philippines since most of us just consider it as bangungot. (I did!) i'm also not keen on the possibility of taking medication for it since it's not life threatening in any way.

Have you experienced the same? Let me know! For now, I shall enjoy all the sleep I can and try not to stay up all night.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Hello August!


Yes, I am one day late, but still, hello August! 


I need to motivate myself to write and because August is Jan's birthday month, I shall use him as inspiration for my posts! (Yay! - cheerleader inside me.) Jan introduced me to e-commerce and my whole life has drastically changed since then. It started with eBay and his bidding and buying stuff online. Then during my "in-between-jobs" a.k.a. unemployed days, I opened my own online Multiply shop which later expanded to eBay, too. I didn't become rich overnight, I didn't earn my own million that way ( I still haven't actually) - but I was able to earn enough to live without asking for money from my parents for those four months before entering the corporate world again. I've since stopped selling on eBay, but my Multiply shop is still active and I still sell new stuff now and then. 


The whole point is, Jan introduced me to e-commerce and most importantly, online shopping! And now I am a slave of online shopping. Slave is a big word, but I don't think I can live as conveniently without it. There are things I'd rather not buy online, but for most things I can always rely on Multiply, eBay or Amazon to find great deals on stuff I badly want (impulsively). With credit cards and online fund transfer (which Jan also acquainted me with obviously), it's so easy to buy items at any time of the day. And one more reason I like online shopping is, I like getting things in the mail! I kind of forget I paid for them and feel like I'm thought of and I have a gift! There's also the anticipation of receiving what you just saw onscreen. For this month, I'll  make posts on all the things I've purchased and sold online since 2010. I can't recall my first purchase anymore so I'll do it in random order. 


Today I'll start with my most recent purchase, craft tapes and stickers from Quaint Desk and Hey Kessy! I would often browse through their sites and plan to buy but would always hesitate when I realize I won't be able to use them anyway. I don't know what got into me last Monday when I stumbled upon Quaint Desk's site and realized the stuff are more affordable than I thought and out of impulse, made an order. I also checked Hey Kessy's site since I knew she sold similar items to compare prices and placed an order, too. 


Washi tape is a popular item with crafters but it's quite expensive for my budget, ranging from Php 80 - Php 150. Washi apparently translates to Japanese (Wa) Paper (Shi) so washi tape is paper tape. Since I'm not particular with brands anyway, I decided to stick to a variety of cheaper items rather than one expensive one. I bought a couple of tapes and a set of greeting cards I've long wanted to buy from Quaint Desk and a set of masking stickers from Hey Kessy. Yes, I bought them all in one night! I only realized I spent a lot afterwards. Haha! 


Here's the haul!

I love the simplicity of Hey Kessy's logo.


The set had its own packaging!


Here's the Masking Sticker set in Basic colors. I had a tough time choosing between Basic and Pastel since I loved pastel colors but I wanted bright colors and blue and green. Good thing pastel was already out of stock. I consider this a steal at Php 220 (plus Php 50 shipping fee). Compared to a roll of washi tape at Php 150 with just one design, I have 27 different sheets with different patterns. I felt like a kid while ogling at the stickers. There's such a multitude of colors and patterns that I'm having a hard time choosing which to use first.



Lots of colors and patterns to choose from!

Instagam photo
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Clever logo by Quaint Desk
As soon as I received the package from Quaint Desk, I was giddy as a child (again). I felt like I just received a gift! Her packaging is so pretty even if it's so simple. I was also touched by the note. Joanne probably sends everyone notes ( I do, too!) but it was thoughtful of her to write every single one of them! And to top it all off, she included a cute paper flower to boot!
A thoughtful note from Joanne
A freebie, too! Sweet!


Whenever I hear of fabric tape, what comes to mind is neoprene tape, the one mostly used for medical purposes. I first encountered Quaint Desk's fabric tapes in Alessandra Lanot's Calligraphy Crafternoon (more about that soon) as we used the tapes to stick our works at Pino's wall. I made a mental note to buy myself some soon, but I forgot it easily as I always do. I chose to buy a set of 3 tapes at Php 130. I'm not the biggest fan of floral designs - I prefer Cath Kidston's polka dots and stars over floral patterns - but I liked the contrast of blue and pink on this tape. I wanted to buy another set, one with orange and yellow, but I knew I would already be going over my budget. I also bought 2 tapes called Coffret du Couturier Autocollant at Php 50 each - Quaint Desk describes it as vintage European-inspired deco tape, which I actually find too pretty to use! Oh, and I also bought pink scallop lace tape (Php 80)! I bought so much tape in one night that I need the creative juices to flow soon! Oh yes, before I forget, I also bought envelope note cards / greeting cards which are the same as the one Joanne used for her note. It's a cute steal at Php 40 for around 40 sheets.

Lots of tapes to tire myself with 

I also bought greeting cards shaped like mail envelopes!

Instagram photo
I must say both Joanne of Quaint Desk and Rowena of Hey Kessy are very efficient sellers. They confirmed my orders a short time after I placed them and confirmed my payment right after. They were both surprised of the fast fund transfer at around midnight thanks to online banking, and confirmed that my items will be shipped the next day. My Hey Kessy items arrived immediately on Wednesday while Joanne texted me that Xend was not able to pick up the items. She didn't really have to explain as the rain was crazy and Xend has its hands too full these days, and as an online seller I experience these situations myself. My Quaint Desk haul arrived early today without any mishap. 


I also admire these two ladies as they are crafters and sell the stuff they use themselves. I started selling online because I wanted to share stuff I have discovered from scouring different shops and suppliers and make it available at an affordable price. I think these ladies have the same mindset as well. 


I've yet to use my new tapes and I'm really excited but I still got my hands full at the moment. I'll post my crafty ideas soon!