Top Important Reasons why you need to prioritise sleeping

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Jeannine

When I was young, I was always asked to have a nap in the afternoon, especially on weekends. Does this sound like your childhood too?? Being able to sleep late at night has always been made to look so cool that’s why it’s always every child’s nightmare to hear about the word, “bedtime”. And lastly when we are feeling old enough but still a bit young, a curfew, so you get forced to stay awake within the four corners of your room with nerves within you that still want to party outside. We’re so eager to become an adult already, ain’t we?!

And then comes adulthood, where everyone who expects it to be so cool is faced with a ton of disappointment and left overwhelmed. What we have been fighting all those years of not being asked to sleep has been one of our wish list nowadays. How ironic!

Sleep is one of the most important part of our wellbeing, hence, should be included on the top 5 of your list of Self-Care. Here are the reasons why:

Brain Function: Sleep is very important for our brain to function. The more we lack sleep, the more our minds become cloudy and chaotic inside, not being able to make right decisions. Our brain would be slow in understanding things which could affect our way of living.

Immune system: When your body is able to get the rest it needs, your immune system is kept at its best and able to fight against various bacteria, viruses, and diseases. By avoiding sleep deprivation, you also avoid putting yourself at risk of common diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Regulate appetite: Having the means to buy food or a partner to eat with always isn’t the only reason why most people gain weight. There’s much more to it suck as poor sleeping habits. When you’re deprived from sleep, your body’s ability to regulate your appetite is affected as well. This may be the first time you hear about this, and if so, it’s my pleasure to be the person you’ve heard it first, “If you want to lose weight, make sure you have enough sleep. By simply keeping track of your sleep, you can be assured to keep your weight or lose weight without doing any other thing at all.”

Emotions in control: It’s never a good feeling to feel irritated at all times. Not only are you not able to function the way you want to but even affect the people around you as well. You tend to be short tempered, and if you’re a mom, it is guaranteed that your children would feel that heat from their hot headed mom. Try to avoid this by making time to sleep. There’s always tomorrow to continue with your long to-do list.

I’ve ended my 2nd paragraph with the phrase, “How ironic!” And the more this blog post comes to an end, the more I come to think about this couple of questions and mind-blowing common answers.

No eating – We panic, complain, felt like going to die which resorts to us doing all sorts of things just to make sure we’ll somehow have something to eat.

No sleeping – Felt cool and even brag to others how little sleep you had.

Why is this ironic? Because of our lack of knowledge on how important sleep is and not being able to prioritise to have which our body need more. Fun Fact: Our body can last 8-21 days without eating, or at most, 2 months guaranteed you have water to drink. Contrary to that, our body could only last 264 hours or 11 consecutive days before our body shuts off due to lack of sleep. One of the movies I’ve watched during Pandemic times that is surely related to this topic is the Netflix movie, AWAKE. I hope you find time to watch this and be an awakening to this bad sleeping habit.

So the next time you think you’ll not have enough time to sleep, how about try to have a nap. There’s a lot more on the benefits you can get from Napping.

I hope this article help lit that spark within you into living a healthier lifestyle. Read from here some Easy to start habits for a better Lifestyle.

Join our community and be one of the first to read my latest blogs! For daily positivity and Self-Care, you can follow my Instagram account @themommywithagoal.

Everything you need to know about exploring Vatican City

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Jeannine

Vatican City, one of the most sacred place to visit for Roman Catholics. Actually, religious or not, it surely is worth the visit when you find yourself in Rome due to its beautiful architecture, museum, and history. It also inscribed as a UNESCO site in 1984 and the only one that consist of an entire state.

So, what do you get to see when you visit Vatican City?

First on the list is the St. Peter’s Square or Piazza San Pietro (in Italian). You can’t miss this as it’s what will be welcoming you once you enter the gates of Vatican City. This large plaza located directly in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica. This is one of the picturistique places in Vatican where most tourists take their #instagrammable photos.

You wouldn’t want to miss seeing what’s inside your backdrop when you took that photo at St. Peter’s Square don’t you?! St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the holiest holiest sites of Christianity and Catholic Tradition. Traditionally, it is the burual site of its titular, St. Peter, the head of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. Aside from St. Peter, the Basilica is also where 91 popes are buried.

It is also the world’s largest church where you’ll be amazed to see impressive works of art and gigantic dome, pillars, and statues. Even my 8-year old was impressed and whispered to me while we’re wandering inside, “Mommy, this is the most beautiful church we’ve ever been”. A big contrary to what she said when we’re in Athens and visited the Acropolis where she said, “We came here to see rocks?!” Kids clearly don’t know how to filter their words yet.🤪

Oh! And did I mention, going in the St. Peter’s Basilica is for FREE. There’s a fee though if you’d like to climb up the dome on foot (that’s 551 steps up) or you have an option to ride the lift. You just need to queue and have your bags check. Don’t be intimidated by the long queue you see as the lines move really fast. Once you’re cleared from the initial checks, you can enter either the St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican Museum.

Which leads us to the next place you can see inside Vatican City, the Vatican Museum. We didn’t get a chance to visit the museum as we started our day very late and the queue to the museum was quite long that time. That’s also the reason why we chose to just go inside the basilica instead.

The Vatican Museum holds an immense collection of the of art amassed by the Roman Catholic and papacy throughout the centuries.The museums contain roughly 70,000 works of art though only 20,000 of them are on display. These artworks are the most renowned Roman sculptures and the most important masterpieces of the Renaissance art in the world.

That being said, it’s no wonder one of the most visited museums in the world (garner about 1 million people annually) and with 24 galleries with the Sistine Chapel, notably being the last room visited within the Museum, you’ll surely need a whole day to splurge looking into these artworks beauty. I’d surely want to visit this the next time we go to Rome and would make sure to plan our day early so we can make our money worth of those tickets. haha..

Lastly is the Sistine Chapel. Aside from the fact that this is the official residence of the Pope, this room is a truly special one. Why? Because not only one, but two of one of the most notable artists in the Renaissance have their artworks inside this room. I’m talking about Michelangelo who painted the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512 and covered the wall altar of his world known, “The Last Judgement” artwork.

Here’s how to get there:

TRAVEL BY METRO: The quickest way is to take the Metro. Rome is quite easy to navigate especially if you’re going to start your journey from their main terminal, Roma Termini. You’ll need to buy a ticket on their Metro and ride the orange line to Ottaviano on line A. Note that finding this platform can be a bit tricky (despite all the signs) so if it’s your first time here, it’s better you ask one of their kind and helpful train staff to avoid riding the wrong train.

It’s a short walk from the Metro to the walls of Vatican City (about 5 mins walk). You can just follow fellow tourists as you can’t miss to see the walls of Vatican where you just need to walk around to the entrance.

TRAVEL BY BUS: Alternatively, you can take bus #64 (takes around 20 minutes), from Termini train station where you need to get out at the last stop of the route – Piazza Stazione S. Pietro. From there, you’ll need to walk 15-20 minutes to reach the Vatican City.

What to wear:

Remember that Vatican City may be considered as a tourist destination but its still a Holy place so avoid wearing revealing clothes, like short skirts, dresses, and shorts. However, if you happen to visit during summer and the weather seems too hot, it is advisable to bring a scarf to cover-up. As for the footwear, wearing sandals is okay, but please try to skip those flip flops. And like any Holy place, hats should be removed upon entering the buildings in the Vatican. Lastly, food (you can as long as you don’t eat it inside) and metal tools ( scissors and knives) are not allowed.

Best time to visit:

It’s best to allot a whole day to be able to let yourself immerse on the beauty of each part of the Vatican City. As per our experience, we arrived around 12nn and all were able to do is take photos at St. Peter’s Square and go inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Our original plan includes the Sistine Chapel but it was too late already when we reached there (it closes at 4pm) so it is really recommended to plan your time wisely if you want to make the most from your trip.

Budget:

Here’s what you’ll get for FREE: entrance to the Vatican City, St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’ Basilica, Tombs of Popes (under St. Peter’s Basilica)

What you need to buy a ticket: Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel (located inside the Vatican Museum, guided tours, St. Peter’s Cupola (dome) or if you have that extra $$$ and would want to have the privilege to skip the line, all of those you can buy from here.

So there you have it! I hope you find the information on this blog post valuable. We’ve visited Greece(Athens), the Netherlands(Papendrecht, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam), travelled via EuRail to France (Paris), then took the EuRail again to Italy(Rome). Let me know in the comments below which one do want me to make a blog post next.

If you have kids and feel daunted by the thought of travelling with them while they are young, I hope you get to read my other article about the Reasons why you should travel with your kids.

Does your life make you make lemonades?

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Jeannine

I’ve always envisioned this blog to be a go-to for everyone needing some resource for some Self-Care. And though I’m still on the process of making that happen, what I’ve thought I would be having but turns out to be better than expected, I can’t help but think of the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.”

Which brings us to what this blog is all about. Lemons! You read that right?! I’ve never been a lemon gal growing up mainly because lemons is an imported good in the Philippines so we always use small limes instead. When we moved here in Singapore, my interest with lemons have also been born. With all the great benefits lemons give, it sure has been a staple at home not only for cooking purposes but for other things lemons does its magic!

In collaboration with Trees.com, let’s dive more into learning about the Meyer lemons. Meyer Lemons are very common here in Singapore and probably one of the staple food we have in our kitchen. Despite that, we usually don’t give much thought of where the goods we buy came from (or this could just be me🤪) as it’s a known fact already that Singapore imports 90% of their food. Nevertheless, isn’t it interesting to know more about where your food comes from and moreover learn where it really originated? That’s exactly what would be shared to you and to make this still in line with Self-Care, I’ll be sharing how lemons can be used in your daily Self-Care.

Meyer Lemons on groceries nowadays may be marked as a product from USA but do you know that it really originated from China? Ha! I know that nowadays, some may skip buying products from China due to the quality of how it has been made, produced, grown but I guess, in this case, China is in its DNA.haha.. In the early 20th century, Frank Meyer introduced the plant to the U.S. after discovering it during a research trip for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It got his interest as Meyer lemons are a hybrid between regular lemons and mandarin oranges. It can grow up to 10 feet tall and have an average lifespan of 50 years. From that time on, majority of the Meyer lemons in the U.S. are grown in California, Florida, and Texas.

In 1960, a virus nearly wiped out the Meyer trees in California. One stock was found to be virus-free, saved, and was used to develop the “improved Meyer lemons” we consume today.

What separates Meyer lemons from the others?

It tastes so sweet that it’s used raw in salads and desserts.
It is more complex than regular lemons that it has a bergamot-like scent.
It has THIN SKIN thus makes it have a higher juice.

Now, you might be wondering why that “THIN SKIN” was highlighted and here’s the reason why:

Due to its thin skin, it makes it difficult for it to transport.
Due to this reasons, many supermarkets don’t carry Meyer lemons.

Not to worry though, why wait for supermarkets to sell them when you can have grow your own Meyer tree? With this new hobby most have adopted since the start of the Pandemic, yes, I’m talking about taking care of Plants, maybe, you’ll be interested to grow your own Meyer tree as well.

Know that there’s tons of other things lemons we can do, as part of Self-Care, aside from making lemonades(healthy drink to keep you hydrated and boost your immune system) and having a plant to take care of (cultivates mental health).

Health benefits: Rich in Vitamin C, support heart health, helps control weight, prevent kidney stones, protection against anaemia, reduces cancer risks, improves digestion and many more.

Household benefits: Cooking ingredient, great help in cleaning chrome fittings, freshens up the air, helps clean fruits and vegetables, stops fruits from browning, and kills weeds in the garden too! Check this link for more.

Self-Care benefits: Helps treat acne and blackheads, lighten dark spots and blemishes, gets rid of oily skin, calm down itchy scalp, and many more.

So there you have it! I hope this gave you a full blown realisation of how lemons are important and I hope you get to have a more deeper love for lemons as well. Trust me, it’s more than just making lemonades!

Are you loving this article? Try reading my other article on Easy habits you can start for a better Lifestyle. Remember, we shouldn’t overwhelm ourselves doing anything. Life is too short not to do things with joy and happiness.

Top 5 to reasons why travelling with young children is the best

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Jeannine

If you have told me last March that we would be having a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower soon, I’d probably laugh at you. Unlike most families we get to watch on YouTube who go travel the world for a living (oh well, maybe if you support our YouTube Channel😁), our family of four does what most families do (have normal jobs), live in Singapore, and relying on a single income, I’m a SAHM. So the chances of us doing this is quite slim given the high cost of living here. Yet, life is truly full of surprises and incredibly unpredictable, you just have to hold your breathe at times, be grateful, and to pinch yourself into reality!

Us having a picnic with this beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower

I grew up with my parents working abroad. They made sure though to make up with quality time every school vacation. So you can imagine our anticipation whenever March comes nearer (school year in the Philippines starts June and ends in March) so we can go fly to Japan to visit our parents. Let’s just say, I got that love for travel because of my parents. Riding our mini-van, we would do convoy trips with my aunts and uncle who are on their own mini-vans as well with our cousins around the mountains of Japan. Those memories are really memorable ones that I wouldn’t forget and a topic we could talk about the whole day laughing without fail.

Being a parent myself now, I for sure would love to have those kind of memories with our children as well. So equipped with a grateful heart for any opportunity that may came our way, hard work from the hubs, and a watchful eye on our finances, we didn’t have any second thoughts when the chance for our family to go on a Europe trip arise.

Taking one hiccup at a time that came our way, we managed to pull off the most epic trip our family have gone to to-date! I guess I’ll make another blog post on all the hiccups we’ve managed to find a solution with. For now, here’s the details of our Europe travel:

Flew from Singapore to Greece via Scoot Airline
Flew from Greece to Netherlands via Aegean Airline
Travelled by train from Netherlands to France passing through Belgium via Eurail
Travelled by train from France to Italy passing through Switzerlands via Eurail
Flew from Italy to Singapore passing through Finland via FinnAir

All in all, that’s a staggering 30hrs 90mins on air(on a plane) and 1 day 17hrs on a train in a total of 18 days. Isn’t that amazing!!! That may be a long time but since did stayed most of those days in Greece and Netherlands and only started our train travel on the last 8 days our trip, I must say, we’re all happy to be back home in Singapore to have a good rest by the end of our trip. haha…

Data from our Eurail app on how far and long we’ve travelled

So why would I still encourage parents to go on an epic adventure travelling with their kids? Here’s the reasons why:

You want it. If you love travelling like me, that love for travelling isn’t removed from your identity no matter how many kids you have nor no matter what age your children may be at the time being. If you have the means (time and money) to do so, do it!
You need it. Being a parent comes with tons of responsibilities. We are all humans and needed a break once in a while. A change in scenery, gaining new experiences, and adding up some family memories can’t be exchanged with any material thing.
You get to save. Being both from the field of Finance, we can’t deny how much conscious we are when it comes to our expenses when we travel. That’s why, one thing we love about travelling with our kids is we get to save from fare. From either travelling for FREE or HALF-PRICE on airfare to totally FREE on trains such as SHINKANSEN (when we travelled in Japan back in 2019) or EURAIL (when we travelled now in 2022).
You’ll remember it. One phrase parents always get from others when they travel with their young is this, “Travel when your kids are older so they’ll remember it too“. Well, I’ve got only 3 things to say to them, “I’ll surely remember the trip and would document it with tons of photos so my kids would get to see it when they’re older” , “We’ll go back again when they are older if it’s worth visiting again“, and lastly, “Appreciate your opinion but we think we’re doing great with out parenting, thank you, you can go ahead and mind your own business.” haha…okay, that last ones can be pretty harsh and personally I haven’t used that but given in our society today where everyone seems to know too well of everything on everything, you have my blessing to use it if the need arises.😉
You only get to do it now. Life is short. Yesterday has already gone and we can’t be sure of tomorrow. Our only guarantee is today, so always make the most of it. Once your kids have gone bigger, you might not have the time or resources (money) to go on a trip, or your kids may rather go on trips on their own. Now is the time you get to spend with them, so go ahead and do it!

Hope this video inspires you to travel as well with your family

Okay, I know this blog post can be too optimistic and blindsided by the cons of travelling with kids, so let me do another blog post on that just so you can get to prepare from all of them as well. One thing’s for sure though, it may be difficult, hard, and tiring but with a few tips and tricks on how your trip can be made easier for you and your child, I guarantee you, IT WOULD BE ALL WORTH IT!

Are you going on a family trip soon? I’d love to hear where you’re heading or where you’ve been to!Let’s share ideas, tips, places to travel, etc. and do what moms do best at…SUPPORTING EACH OTHER!

Cheers to EPIC FAMILY TRIPS!

Mom Review: JBL JR300BT Kids Wireless headphones

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Jeannine

As you all know by now, our daughters are enrolled on Virtual Schooling. And like any other schooling, we might be spared from transport, uniforms, and other school expenses but in general, there’s other items normal children don’t require that our needed. One of them are headphones.

Attending different classes at the same time but on the same room, using headphones is a necessity for them to understand listen to their teachers clearly without compromising the other.

We chose to get them the JBL JR300BT as we already own different JBL headphone and speakers over the years and have tried and tested its quality. Budget wise, we find it reasonably priced.

Imagine our dismay when yesterday, our eldest’s headphones won’t open nor charge despite just being used as normal the day before. For a headphone only used for a maximum of 5-6 hrs a day for less than a year, I was so upset. I tried looking online for what could have went wrong but with only two (2) buttons to play with to make it work again, I was only left with an option I saw online which requires me to open it up.

Luckily I got to my senses quickly and discard that though since I can’t find the smallest screwdriver we have that could is needed to open the headphones. I resort into checking our Lazada app where we bought it around mid-year last year. Luckily we got it with 1-year warranty. Having bought it on the 6th of June last year, I’m just grateful its still under warranty. I quickly messaged the JBL, the seller online.

Communication was swiftly done as they are quick to reply and gave immediately the details confirming that our item is still under warranty and gave the address and opening hours of their service center. I was delighted to know that the service center isn’t that far from our home either.

Arriving at their service center the next day, I was quickly assisted by this kind lady. She only asked me what is wrong and did a little diagnostic test on the headphones herself. I was asked to fill-up a form online (on an ipad) and as before I was finished, she’s already ready with a new set for me.

I happily came back with a new headphones for our daughter and not needing to buy new ones.

Here are the other reasons why we chose JBL JR300BT for our kids:

JBL Safe Sound. With the right amount of decibels, which is lower than 85dB, it gives us peace of mind that our kids ears are taken good care of despite using their headphones daily for 4-6 hrs a day.

Wireless. Gone ar the days where we needed to furiously untangle headphone wires everyday. We don’t want to go through that hassle with our daughters. Another thing is potentially forgetting they are wearing their headsets (connected to their laptops) and suddenly needed to go somewhere else.

Battery Life. As mentioned, the headphones were bought for daily usage as both our daughters attend virtual schooling. With up-to 12 hrs of battery life, we don’t need to worry that their headphones battery would die-off while they are in the middle of a class.

Easy controls. The headphones only have two buttons on it. One to open it and another to connect to bluetooth, just perfect for kids to easily operate.

Fits Comfortably. Like any headphones of JBL, the fit of this is greatly made. Not only is it comfortable but compact as well. This has been well tested when we travelled to Europe just weeks ago. As the kids attend their virtual school while we’re on the train, it sure is easy to put back and pack as we continue for our next destination.

Designed for kids. JBL JR300BT has 3 colours to choose from Pink, Blue, and Teal which kids would enjoy. Our eldest got the blue while our youngest got the pink one.

Stickers. If you asked our daughters what they love the most of their headphones, they’ll surely answer without a blink….the stickers! True enough, their headphones has been well personalised in less than 5 minutes of us giving it to them.

Stickers included (kids raves about this)

The verdict:

Without a doubt a very happy customer based on the performance of their customer service. Having items changed for a new set is made, fuzz free. Even communication with JBL through Lazada app has been swiftly made and for any customer, we surely would give a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for their great work.

As for the of JBL headphones though, I want to be honest that to say that I was quite dismayed by its performance. Having loved their other headphones and speakers which we have been using for the past few years already, I hope this is a one time thing only and just so happened to be the 🤞🏼lucky ones to get the one with a factory defect. Purchasing something and finding it not working without even a year from buying it makes you want to think of the real quality of it. It’s a great thing that this has happened while it’s still under warranty. A few weeks away from its warranty wearing off. As much as I would like to contemplate with all my WHAT IFs, let’s just focus on the good side.😁 Headphones has been replaced!

JBL Customer Service:

SKM Building

60 Marsiling Road, Level 1, S739107

Opening hours: Mondays to Fridays 10am to 5:30pm