Epic 2011

My first post of the year! Woot! I hope to finish this post in one sitting but boy this is gonna be quite tedious. Imagine compressing your one epic year in one post. I see too much mediocrity here. Listing all the fun and inspiring experiences and encounters that I so wanted to write about but was too lazy or too distracted or too busy. Excuses, excuses I know. But then again, allow me to run you down of the many (and I feel major) things/happenings in my 2011 that made me sum it up to one word: EPIC! This is just a rundown. Not only am I planning but wants to execute it, and write more about the adventures that have the asterisk after them below. And with more photos. But for now, allow me to share with you a glimpse of my 2011.

JANUARY

• We get to spend our December 2010 Christmas and January 2011 New Year in Punta Cruz, Maribojoc, Bohol with Nanay and the rest of the Balatayos.
• Attended Liveloud Concert, a worship concert organized by Youth for Christ.  Because I missed long praise fests with full band and my YFC Kuyas and Ates, I decided to come over. 'Twas fun! 

YFC Liveloud Concert. Photos by Jeremiah Toledo.

Christmas and New Year with the relatives and extended families in Bohol. 

FEBRUARY

• SFC Icon in Camarines Sur

MARCH

• GK Kalinga sa Bayan in Calauan, Laguna. My tweets below of the experience. Thanks to twitter I am able to document my GK adventures when I'm too lazy to blog. Hihi Which I know shouldn't been the case because it defeats the purpose of my reason to blog: to be able to share and inspire readers of the different human and love stories I get to encounter in my every GK adventure.
• Today was moving and inspiring and we met one cool priest who's into guns, pets, motorcycles and seriously helping the poor.
• "Hindi ko nga alam kung paano kami papatahanin bukas sa pag-iyak" - Tito Ompong on their last day of their 2-mo everyday feeding program 
• Kung pwede lang isa-isahin yung mga kuwento nila at ibahagi sa buong mundo. Kung may walking dictionary, sila ang walking Bible. *saludo* 

APRIL

• GK Bayani Challenge 2011* in Bantayan Island, Cebu with family and friends! Fun, inspiring, and definitely filled with love! 

Mission trip and a vacation (for a day) with the whole family!

Let the GK Bayani Challenge 2011 begin!

• Holy Week with the Oquinenas
• Talaba,tahong,kinilaw na isda,sinugba na isda,shrimps,leche flan,mais con yelo.Thank you for the sumptuous lunch,titos & titas of GK Cavite! 
• Trying out Banapple. Banoffee cake. Oreo brownie cake. Coffee toffee cake. Yum!

MAY

• GK Leaders Conference in University of Makati and Batangas. My second mission trip with everyone from Team GK Marketing! One of the craziest time of my 2011. 
• This was also the time of the year that GK1world's traffic shot up. Thanks to Manny Pacquiao, Charice Pempengco, Jasmine Villegas and Taboo of Black Eyed Peas. All of the news were released all in one day and with Tito Tony accepting the Nikkei Award in Japan, that was one great and blessed day which (turned into a week) in the life of GK. See tweets below. 
• It's good news Thurs Pacman signs up 2 b GK champion, Charice & Jasmine sing "One Voice" for GK, TM wins Nikkei Asia Prize!!
• TabBep: My song is a Latino / Filipino world anthem to show our unity within brown pea-ple and it's gonna be the anthem for #Gawad Kalinga
• We were absolutely thrilled when we saw the GK flag being waved in Manny's fight! See that?

JUNE: My birth month!

• Was able to book a PISO flight so I was able to spend 5 days back in Cebu with family and friends. A gift that I absolutely love. And thank you for the midnight surprise roommies! My personal wish for myself tweeted by me during my birthday below. I don't think I wasn't able to do all. Haha
• My 23rd year's resolution: must organize. must systematize. read, listen, learn, absorb, write, do. love more. travel more. laugh more.

It's a triple birthday celebration! Happy Birthday to me, Matt and Mark! :)

• Sagip Conference with Team GK Cebu
• Started my Digital Mentoring class and I was really excited and looking forward to it. It's been more than a year that I realized that I wanted to learn website and social media marketing and those related to digital marketing to be able to become the best for my job in GK and to share my knowledge and experiences along the way. I am grateful for all the opportunities of growing in that aspect that God has blessed me with. Hopefully more learning and sharing opportunities will come my way this 2012.

JULY

• Our fellow GK workers decided to take us around old Manila: Binondo-Quiapo-Intramuros. I enjoyed every moment of it. I don't mind the walking at all. I would've wanted to visit that place again so I can elaborate my experience. History never fails to interest me!

What we saw when we went around Binondo and Quiapo. I want another tour because I can't remember even one place that we've dropped stopped by because I didn't take down any notes and blogged about it right away. Or maybe because they're in Chinese names. Hihi

Intramuros. Been here twice. I love its old, Spanish feel with the preserved, cobbled streets. But I still want to take the Intramuros tour with Carlos Celdran.

• Andrew Lloyd Webber Concert. Thanks to the cast who got in touch with us for a GK Tour, we got free tickets! Woot!
• GK mission trip in Mindoro with Ate Bai's ACT.
• GK Dupax mission trip for the SIGA Barkadahan Camp. I miss youth camps! I miss serving the young! What makes this trip more inspiring is we were with the SIGA coordinators from Las Pinas who were once SIGAs in their respective GK communities. It's inspiring to see them all empowered and sharing their stories and having fun with the youth in our GK communities in Dupax del Norte. 

Fun SIGA Barkadahan Camp. I want to serve more camps with these young(er-than-me) people! 

AUGUST

• Princess Diaries with SFC CC1B chaptermates. :)
• I love the talks, sharings and the revelations. :) I love the cooking session and the yoga-like exercise. Thanks Ate @teacher_tintin ! :) 
• Had an inspiring weekend. We are daughters of a great King. We are captivating. We are princesses. We are His beloved. 
• Tagaytay with the roommates for the long weekend. 
• Tagaytay. Highlights: short trekking in Picnic Grove, waking up to a breathtaking view, ukay-ukay. 

Tagaytay for the long weekend and looks like someone's got the rock and roll sign...rock and rollin'. Cutie RB! 

SEPTEMBER

• The Igsuons decided to splurge on a budget trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan that most definitely deserve a separate post. Two thumbs up!
• We'll go firefly and dolphin watching, cave spelunking, wildlife trekking, diving, swimming and see the Underground River when I bring my family the next time around. 
• I was in awe the whole time. God's majesty and magnificence and awesomeness truly reflects His creations. Breathtaking as always.

• GK Headquarters moved to a new location. Thank you Tito Gerry Choa of Profriends.
• Showtime experience with Joyce and Kervin! They are as fun live as they are fun on TV. Total riot!
• Our last SFC household fellowship. Both of my household heads are moving to another chapter in their lives, one for marriage, the other for career. Sigh. I hate goodbyes. But that was definitely one awesome night.

OCTOBER

• GK Expo
• GK Hope Ball
• Isabela bound with Tito Bien to check the GK villages in Kuya Dan's area and bring relief goods to our GK families affected by Typhoon Pedring.
• GK Global Summit in Sydney, Australia. Wasn't able to actually attend the event but I feel like it. Been following updates all weekend through.
• Taboo visited a GK village in Taguig after their BEP concert and he's coming back!
• GK TGIF

NOVEMBER

• HOME for All Soul's Day and All Saint's Day and to spend family time.
• Explored Lilim with the Igsuons, the del Rosarios and new found friends. Thanks Ate Cha and Tito Oscar for sharing your paradise with us!

Can't wait for the Part 2 of this Lilim Adventure. I wanna take photos!!!

• My first Human Heart Nature Summit held in GK Enchanted Farm.

DECEMBER

• GK Planner 2012 is here! You want one? We still have them! :)
• Dinner with Saihai MMV. Three consecutive days with them drove me nuts. Aaaarrrgghhhh. Hahaha
• Social Media Conference with a social media nonprofit blogger that I really look up to, Heather Mansfield. 
• GK Operation Walang Iwanan in Cagayan de Oro, Dumaguete and Iligan. It was a devastating tragedy that cost the lives of hundreds of Filipinos but it again brought us together as one nation. And Team GK was there as always, on call. Everyone was busy in the relief centers, in ground zero despite the holidays. They all made me proud to be part of Team GK! A thought: I should learn and discipline to write my GK stories right there and then as to not let the inspiration "escape" me. I can do better than this.
• And...Cebu and Bohol for the holidays with the family. :)

There you have it, my EPIC 2011. It was a year of more self-discovery, more travel, more mission, more quality time with the family and friends, of goodbyes, of learning more, particularly for my work as GK's online marketing person, of meeting new people, of more inspiration and growing in faith, hope and love.

I would want to blog more this 2012 so I can give justice to the inspirations that I get to encounter in every mission, every adventure, every story of hope, faith and love that inspires me in one way or another. All I know is I continue to pray that God will use me powerfully and send me the right people and inspiration to bring me to a place where I am able to fully utilize my potential for His greater glory, to reflect His glory. Because that's the very reason of why I decided to tread this path in the first place. :)