Hi, friends! Hello, HIVE!!

Finally, I took the shot. I am Janine, a 29-year-old pure-blooded Cebuana-Filipina, living in a beautiful town of Alcoy, Cebu, Philippines. I am a government employee under the Philippine National Police for approximately 7 years now. Also, a daughter, a sister to my only sibling, and a wife to my amazing husband – not yet a mother though but God willing I will become one, in His time.

(Typical bare-faced meh :P)

(One of my favorite pre-wedding snaps)

Ma. Precious Janine is my full first names (because technically that’s 3 😃) which I really had a hard time spelling and writing on paper when I was a kid. With big penmanship, I remember I can’t completely write down my full name given my last name is also too long. Gladly, it’s changed now that I’m married and have only 1-word last name 😄 Everyone calls me Janine, or Anin for short. When I was in the secondary, my teachers and classmates call me my second-word name (Precious) since there are 2 other Janines in my batch. How cool was that 😎 Nobody calls me Maria, only those who likes to mock. Should you wish to call me my first name, feel free. I also love the idea of having a variety of names 😜

I am married for a year and a month now with my 10-year boyfriend. We didn’t intentionally wait after a decade to settle down- we just waited for the perfect time and that we’re ready. I will soon share the things I prepared and what I did as a “budgetarian bride” during our wedding. As a self-proclaimed budgetarian, it’s a delight to let others know that you don’t need to spend too much on your wedding day. You just have to be creative and resourceful in all aspects whichever is applicable. Practically is a must 👌🏽

Isaiah 60:22: When the time is right, I, the Lord, will make it happen.

I am also a graduate of B.S. in Psychology in one of the universities in Cebu. Although studying for the course was challenging, as I went along, I found that it wasn't really that difficult. Psychology is life. It is what you deal with every day and what you tell everyone you encounter. If there’s one thing that I learned throughout the journey is to always, always use your charm. Trust me, the odds will be in your favor 😉 and if the magic won’t work, you can always have an option.

I see myself as an ambivert type of person - someone who is both loud and silent; a mixture of bold and shy. But I admit I am more of an extrovert. Like 60% of an extrovert, 40% introvert. It actually depends on who I am with and the environment I am in. I am more of myself when I am with my comfort people, but I am teaching myself to learn to become openly socialize with new acquaintances.

(These are some of my comfort people)

I am an animal lover. I love everything that’s environmental-friendly. love everything that contributes the earth. I am a lover of life. We have 7 dogs in the house, 1 who’s adopted after seeing her abandoned beside the street. We also have 2 cats, but I guess now they’re 4 because the momma cat just gave birth to 2 kittens which she still hide upstairs. Not to mention the other 2 adopted cats who we feed everyday in the backyard coz they’re too afraid to mingle with the other pets (awwee ☹️).

(Sharing with you few of the cuties I met along)

(These sweet Rottweilers even came near me and let me pet them both. How adorbs!)

(*Yes obviously I'm a dog person)

Some of the things I love to do:

COOKING/ BAKING

An amateur cook/ chef I must say. I love cooking and baking - sometimes the result works perfectly well, sometimes not 😅 Honestly speaking, I am not much of a cooker, but an eater instead lol. My brother cooks well than me, I guess he got it both from my parents. I only do it as a hobby most of the time. I even need a copy of a recipe or watch everything on the internet just to make it through 😄 At least I tried haha. I also cook/ bake depending on my mood and the stock we have in the house. I love making everything from scratch (coz I’m budgetarian like that 🤪) Whenever I see something in the internet that I like to try, I’ll do it. Especially if it’s sumptuous and mouthwatering.

(I seldom work in the kitchen, but when I do, I wanna make it extra)

I also make and bake cookies with my cousins which we turned it as a business. We call it “Lola Crispina’s Tostado” because the whole recipe is from our late grandmother. It started in the middle of the pandemic where everyone’s going cray on online businesses and what nots. And so we also gave it a try. As things getting back to normal and all other life happenings, we are in hiatus but we’ll get back on track as soon as we figure things smoothly.

(Our logo)

FREEDIVING

Though water is not my element, I’d love to believe it is. It’s where I find tranquil. If you happen to visit my Instagram account (@j.anineeee), some of the pictures I’ve posted were taken on a beach, underwater or anything that belongs to water.

I grew up living in tropical seasons where the playground is just in the beach right across the house. I remember in my childhood days when almost everyday, especially during summer, is our beach day. We were in the sea swimming and playing with cousins til the only visible areas of the body are the eyes and teeth. No one actually taught me how to swim than my father. He would just throw me in the sea and let me swim my own - I can barely recall how many times I drank myself to the sour-flavored seawater. But that’s how I basically learned how to swim, and I gues that’s when I started to love everything underneath.

I am am blessed to have been given a lifetime partner whose passion is the same as mine. He first learned freediving all by himself merely by just watching videos on how to equalize which is wrong because it’s very important to learn from the coaches and professionals. He joined me in when he enrolled to a freediving class happened just in our place. I have long been wanting to learn freediving but when I try it myself, I find it hard to equalize not until I learned it firsthand during the freediving intro class. Now I get to enjoy swimming underwater without having to hurt my ear 😅

(Just playing around during one of our fun dives)

(This was during one of our line training when I reached my PB (personal best) at around 19-20 meters. Kiliiiggg!)

(Some of our underwater prenup shots captured by our friend)

GOING ON ADVENTURE/ TRAVELING

My soul also thirsts for adventure. I think that’s a real Sagitarrian thing. As much as I love being in the water, I am also up for anything that excites my core. I am a wanderlust and love to travel places I’ve never been to, explore nature and the beautiful sceneries. I also love to go back to places I feel homie and get along with the locals which makes the place even more alluring.

Being a sanguine-phlegmatic type of person, this platform is like a happy place for me. I get to discover new acquaintances and making new friends as well as learning new information from other people’s posts. Not an alien to this kind of platform and I’m at peace knowing that this platform doesn’t require too much; I just have to be myself. It just feels like I putting everything on a diary but this time I know there will be a lot of people who reads it. I see a lot of potential in every person that belongs to this community. Thanks to Kuya @jayparagat for encouraging and inspiring me to be committed and dedicated to this. And as you journey with me in this platform, I hope I’d get to share my passion with other people in the community and express more of myself through the things that I post. More of the things above will be up in my next posts and am sure this will make it worthwhile. It may just be mediocre as I normally am, but I know I'm making it passionately and wholeheartedly.

Cheers everyone! 🍻