You have tried going to the spa, having a massage, going on a long vacation yet you still feel stressed? Here’s a suggestion for you: A patch of nature in your own home. A sight of nature will surely relax the stressed mind. However it is hard to find such a sight in this busy city of New York. So if you can’t find nature, you might as well build it at home. Here’s what I did:

First thing I did was to visualize the setting I want. I made drawings so that I can clearly describe what I want. After that I itemized everything and listed it on a sheet.

In my list are trees, flowering plants, birds and fishes. I went to a local gardening shop to get some great looking pots that will look well indoors. Then I bought Bonsai trees and sunflower plants. In my Cherokee scrubs I placed the plants in the pots. It looked great.

After setting up the mini garden, it is time for the fauna. I bought a small aquarium from a pet shop nearby. Just a five gallon aquarium with a couple of goldfishes did the trick. For the final touch, a pair of peach faced green love birds.

Now, when I feel stressed, I just get a chair, sit in my mini garden and read a book. In just a few minutes, I feel relaxed and well again.

Whenever I travel and arrive at a particular accommodation – be it a five-star hotel or a simple bed and breakfast – the first thing I always check is the bathroom. I am very particular with that area of the accommodation. I find it quite alarming whenever I’m not comfortable with the bathroom. In fact, it’s more often than not a make or break deal with me in picking accommodations.

This is exactly why I was ecstatic to find that the place I rented for my 3-day getaway last weekend has a spacious bathroom with Saniflo toilet! I was so happy I spent at least two hours each day of my 3-day weekend enjoying my hot shower and lounging in the bathtub. It’s a good thing my friends are used to my long hot shower and bath habits. During the getaway, they generally just left me alone to hog the bathroom whenever it’s my turn.

The economic recession certainly took its toll on the insurance companies. Many closed down or have been acquired by other companies. I have received reports that our current insurance agency is having trouble financially so the boss wants me to consider getting a new one.

A friend of mine, who is an HR from another company, suggested that I try looking for life insurance rates from Wholesale Insurance. She said that companies can avail of this at a much cheaper price. Considering this option, I wrote proposal to my boss and I asked him to review it. Now it’s up to him to decide if we will get it or not. For now, I have still a few chores to do like update my facebook. haha.

Oh I just remembered. Lately I was given a good “home insurance package” offer by an insurance lead. The insurance is comprehensive and it includes the house and everything in it. I became interested in home insurance because of a tragedy that happened to a client of mine, I think it was shown in CNN last week.

It was a medical facility that exploded because of gas leak. The facility was literally blown into pieces. Fortunately, insurance converted it all, so not much worries for the owners. The insurance offered to me is included in the office insurance; this is why it’s cheaper. What do you think?

Since I started working last 2004, the Asian Cruise has been on my list of “must save up for”. Unfortunately, I still don’t have enough money to be on an Asian Cruise. To cap it off, I don’t want to go on an Asian Cruise alone… That would be very dismal.

Quite determined to make my dream into reality, I decided to do some canvassing and came across the Rhapsody of the Seas – one of the cruise ships of royal caribbean. Its 5 Night Southeast Asia cruise is simply perfect with these as its “Ports of Call”: Hong Kong, China | Okinawa, Japan | Keelung (Taipei), Taiwan | Kao-Hsiung, Taiwan.

Somebody please help me go aboard that ship! I’m accepting donations and sponsorship, if you must know. Hehehe.

I’m flabbergasted. There’s actually an international point system vacation club – Buena Viva Exeter. That is, all you have to do is buy points depending on the number of years you expect to be traveling, the nights you generally spend in a hotel, how much you spend per night in each hotel, the number of people you generally travel with and voila – you’ll get to avail of the widest possible range of holidays in five different continents! They even have a Holiday Calculator to help you answer those questions. Amazing.

Their services pretty much includes anything else you will need when traveling – from efficient bookings and travel insurance, to flights, ferry crossings, car hire, airport parking and even cruises. To cap it off, you not only get to unwind in top class international resorts, your points will even be re-allocated to you each year until 2047!

Dang. I ought to be saving up for cool packages and memberships like this and save myself from the hassle of worrying over my next destination for the next X years.

When travelling, whether out of town or just somewhere near, one of my biggest worries is packing my things. Generally, I carry at least two bags and one paper bag, plus several unused plastics for my dirty clothes.

Then I discovered the Tote Bags by port authority clothing. For less than 4 USD, I was able to buy a hyacinth colored, durable, polyester tote bag! Its compact size is simply perfect for carrying all my essentials, plus some. The tote bag is actually becoming one of my favorites. Nowadays, I get to go to places without having my hands full, literally, with bags.