Life Lately | Exchange Gift, Quick Haul, and Other Things
- Andi Dela Torre Griffiths | Memento Vivere Blog
- Dec 31, 2025
- 3 min read
Hey everyone, hope you’re having a great holiday season so far! I thought it would be good to add another entry before the year ends, so here I am, writing this post on New Year's Eve.
Life Lately | My Planner for 2026
One of the things that excites me about welcoming the new year is deciding which planner to get. Planners work for me, and I also enjoy writing things down.
I started looking for options as early as September, and for 2026, I opted to go for this simple monthly planner from TikTok. It’s not in my favorite color (which is Purple), but I still like it. It’s in hot Pink and has Gold spiral binding.
Color-Coded Exchange Gift with College Friends
Last month, my college friends and I met up for brunch at Manam, and then went to Gab's place in BGC for our life update presentations (yup, we had proper slides!) and our color-coded gift exchange.
We all got to pick different colors for the gifts we wanted to buy for everyone, and distributed them during the occasion. Ang saya! Hehe. This is something I’d love to do again next year.
We also played Telestrations, a cool game that involves a lot of drawing and guessing.
Having fun with Diamond Dotz
I felt like a kid again doing Diamond Dotz, lol. It's one of those creative activities for adults that helps with focus. I received this 2 years ago (I think), but only started doing it last month. My sister tried it too, and she enjoyed it as much as I did! Hehe. Thanks to Hapy for this artsy gift.
FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025
I’m not a futsal fan, but I had so much fun watching the semis for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup. My husband and I decided to go since it’s just in Pasig (my hometown), and the location is close to us. We purchased tickets at the venue and were able to watch Brazil go against Spain. Brazil had so many fans! The majority of the audience inside the arena rooted for them, and I guess all the cheering helped them perform better. They won!
Quick Holiday Haul | Aldi, TKMaxx, Target, and ArtFusion
A week after we arrived in Melbourne, we stopped by a few stores to do some quick holiday shopping. Most of the clothes I've seen were too big for my size, so I only bought one dress, and then just got some essentials.
Gallery
My favorite purchase would probably be this beautiful coaster from ArtFusion Studio & Gallery. Look how nice. They also have accessories, plates, wall decor, and garden decor. You can find this studio at 9 Anderson Rise, Anderson (Victoria).
Guitar and Strap from Coleman’s Music
For Christmas, my husband gifted me a beautiful Fender California Standard Monterey guitar in Sea Foam Green. He also got me a Purple strap, which I really like. I’m glad he got these from Coleman’s Music (266 Coventry Street, South Melbourne) because I’d say it’s the best music store we’ve visited in our search for my guitar. There were many options inside, and the customer service was excellent. The one who assisted us was Tim, and he was happy to help us find the right guitar. I highly recommend this place.
I'm in love with my new guitar and strap. The color is calming. It's something different from my Red and Black guitars back home in Manila.
I guess that is all for today, that's life lately. Thanks for stopping by, and happy holidays!
