2022: A Year In Review

I always look forward to writing my year-in-review entry. Every time I write one, I read my previous entries first. This is my 7th entry since I started this blog. Can't believe 7 years already passed and this is one of the reasons why I still keep this blog as my journal. I may not be consistent as before but I don't plan on giving up on this blog even if I already do other content on other social media platforms.

Actually, I didn't plan to write one this year because 2022 was a stressful year for me. But as I reminisce, I realized that even my small achievements and memories are still worth writing about. 

In late January, Bap and his family went back to the US. And yep, I cried my heart out just in the first month of 2022. Haha! After living with him and his family for a couple of months, I finally settled back home again.

My former boss closed his clothing business. It was also the end of my four-year career as a freelance virtual assistant because I want to try full-time blogging. I was able to work with brands/resto/cafes and got busy from February to June. I stepped out of my comfort zone and started uploading more vlogs. I do voice-over vlogs now. I had a hard time adjusting to doing events while planning and publishing content to different platforms at the same time. I uploaded more videos but fewer articles here on my blog. I think I pushed myself a little hard that time and it drained me. But I was surprised some of my vlogs got views. Haha. 

After all these years in blogging, I would like to thank the brands/restos/cafes/companies who worked with me in the past years and keep trusting me to do the work and collaborations. I would also like to thank the new friends I've met this year. There are actually a lot! I'm glad that blogging and content creation is booming these days.

We started a family-owned business in March and it's our Mama P's suman, a famous kakanin here in South Luzon. We take bulk orders for occasions and sometimes sell on weekends. Unfortunately, we're having a hard time when -ber months because it's the rainy season and it's hard to get banana leaves. Hopefully, when the weather gets better, we can sell our suman again. 

My life as a furmom also turned into something I didn't expect. I HAVE FOUR DOGS NOW! 🐶 Last year in December, I was just so proud that I was able to overcome my trauma. Now, I am obsessed with dogs! I just love them so much! I now have two female and two male dogs.

Stormy is our oldest dog and I got her ever since my aunt died. I saw her old photos and she's already seven years old. She's fury and I'm just sad we can't heal her eyes. It's always wounded. She won't let me cut her nails. Lilac is my first owned dog and she's turning two in three months. Got temperament issues just like his dad. Haha! She's having a hard time adjusting to Lucky and Max because she's not the baby anymore. Haha.

In March, I was able to rescue and adopt Lucky, an aspin we found in our street. He had severe mange and is malnourished when we got him. He got a limp on one of his back legs because his previous owner or someone in their area ran over him. It wasn't corrected because it was already healed when we got him. Our neighbors told me that he was previously owned by our neighbor who abused and neglected him. I actually plan on getting another dog but I wanted a small one like shitzu but didn't have the budget yet. But God has other plans. Lucky was sent to me and it was one of the best things that ever happened to us this year. My friends donated so I can bring him to the vet. Mama was against it at first but she learned to love him afterward. After his skin healed, he turned out to be a handsome doggo. He gained weight. He is appreciative and intelligent. Lilac had a hard time adjusting because she used to be an only kid and she use force to play. Haha!

Since he's the one smaller, I was able to bring him out to cafes with me. Though he's kinda reactive to other dogs. Sometimes, people judge him because of his appearance but I don't care at all. I'm proud of him for surviving and he deserves the world. I posted a Tiktok of his transformation and it went viral. My Tiktok account is now for my doggos and me as a furmom. 

We adopted another aspin in July and he's name is Max. He's now 6 months old. As a puppy, he's a naughty and playful one but an introvert. Haha. He's a big boy! I didn't expect Lucky to adjust easily as he's reactive to other dogs. Lucky has a lot of patience to play with Max and deal with his unlimited energy. My Lucky boy is such a good brother to him. 

I document my life as a furmom on my TikTok account. I never expect to have a thousand views on that account, especially for people to notice my dogs. You can follow us here: https://www.tiktok.com/@lainedogelio

The last quarter of the year was the most difficult time for me. I had issues with the lessor on my rental space. We had quite a few sessions with the barangay officials and it's still not settled yet until now. I was able to retrieve my space and I turned it to my store. It's a big risk and step for me as I am actually not prepared but I know God will provide. I hope that the business I opened will flourish and grow in the upcoming year. 

I started my new business in October. I opened a printing and school supplies shop since we're just near schools. School supplies shop was also my business before the pandemic. I still have some stocks so I thought why not just continue it. I added a printing service. In the next month, I was able to add a few stocks of food snacks and other merchandise. The progress is slow, I know, but I don't have a team yet and I do everything all by myself. It's pure hard work and it's so satisfying to see that I started from scratch and it looks more like a store now. Haha! I still got a long way to go and baby steps but at least I can see it moving.

It's another upside-down year but I'm looking forward to a better year in 2023. I'm thankful for the experiences and memories I made with different people which made me into the person I am today. I always love it when I feel like I'm ending the year as a different person. It means I grew, learned, and matured. As we should! 😉

Thank you for everything, 2022. See you again next year! 💖

You may read my past Year in Review entries here: Click here!

xoxo,

Elaine