Few days ago, I celebrated my 42nd birthday. I can’t believe I am 42 already. I thought reaching 40s before would make me feel so old but honestly, I feel like life has more to offer and I still feel young enough.

My little family and I usually have a tradition to blow our birthday cake by 12 midnight. But my boys prepared my cake early before 12 midnight because we are off to Muscat early the next day. So we said that we are celebrating my birthday Philippine time instead of Oman time. They told me to stay in the room while they prepare my cake. Awww, I got a beautiful cake with a bouquet of pink & white roses. Hubby even surprised me with a phone gadget gift which I been wanting so bad.

Next morning, we woke up and prepared for our staycation in Muscat. I wore my little red dress for my birthday which is the same dress I wore in my last year’s birthday.

We drove two hours to Muscat to check in Swiss Belinn Hotel. It is a small hotel near Azaiba Beach. Inside the hotel, the vibe is very hip and quirky. We were accommodated by the nice Omani receptionist and gave us our room card.

We got a suite room. There is a living room with extra bed with TV and round table. Inside there is a big queen bed with shower & toilet.

The vibe of the room aligns with the hotel. I love the quirky wall decals, the modern minimalistic feel of the room and the round table perfect to place food orders unlike some hotels. Only downside is that they don’t offer much toiletries available like conditioners, body lotion etc. For iron and hairdryer, we have to request it from housekeeping.

We fixed our stuff in the hotel then we head off to Intercontinental Hotel for our Japanese buffet lunch at Takara. I called weeks before to book reservations for the buffet. When we were in the car, heading to Intercontinental, I got a call from Takara, reminding me of the buffet that starts at 12 noon.

We were warmly received by the Filipino receptionist at Takara. We were brought to our table. Weekend buffet cost per head is 21 omr for adults and 10.500 for kids 5 years and below. The waiter gave us the QR code for the menu. Unlike usual buffet, there are no banquet spread for us like most buffet. We can order whatever we want from the menu. Drinks are not included in the buffet charge.

We ordered a lot of sushi and lots of yummy dishes until we feel our tummies would burst. Hubby tried out their sake. He said it tasted nice and sweet. We finished off our sumptuous lunch with a banana tempura and ice creams.

We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit. I stayed in the room with Zeke to relax while hubby and the two big boys went into the play area of the hotel where they have foosball table and a playstation area.

I got a lovely surprise from my two doctors friends when I got a cake delivery in the hotel. I am so blessed to have sweet and thoughtful friends like these.

Before sunset, we headed to Al Mouj. We made the kids play at their outdoor playground. Then we strolled around the lively atmosphere of Al Mouj. Oman is celebrating National Day so the place is adorned with green and red light all around. We decided to have a nice dinner at Yellow Cab before heading back to our hotel.

We woke up to a wonderful sleep. We went down for our free breakfast. The breakfast options were modest but kids were happy with the Choco Crunch cereals with milk and bread with Nutella spread. I was happy with my Spanish omelette and macchiato coffee.

We relaxed a bit in our room after breakfast before we packed our stuff for check out. We were going to the mall to buy some stuff and do grocery before going back to our house in North Sharqiya.

I love celebrating my birthdays like this – enjoying good food, relaxing in a comfy place with the people that I love dearly.

Can’t wait what my 42 year of life has to offer. I am ready!

Swiss Belinn

Address: Al Anwar Street Azaiba Muscat Oman 130

Phone: 24 908800

Takara

Address: Al Kharjiya Street Al Shati Area Muscat Oman, 114

Phone: 22 060003

I am bidding goodbye to social media unofficially. I didn’t actually deactivate my social media accounts (yet). But I consciously decided not to post anymore stuff in it (or as much I used to). Let me share with you my history with social media and why I am somehow creating boundaries with it.

My History with Social Media

I used to have the good ol’ Friendster (remember that?) like everyone before – the testimonials, the feature of knowing someone is viewing your accounts and yes, keeping up with what is going on with your “friends”. I also just created a Facebook profile that time due to the encouragements of my cousins from Canada for us to keep in touch. But during those times when I was in my internship year of medical school and I wasn’t in a good place in my life followed by a bad break up with my first serious boyfriend, so I deleted my Friendster and Facebook account and never thought of about it.

But when I was in my residency training in Family Medicine, I took a trip to the United States for my friend’s wedding. Her husband is a game programmer and has created online games for Facebook. They persuaded me have a Facebook account for us to share photos of the wedding and for us to play games in Facebook. So I eventually did. I started enjoying posting status updates. And slowly but cautiously created photo albums in it. Around that time, I created a blog in Multiply which I transferred to an official blogging site, Blogspot. I eventually but shyly started posting links of my blog posts in my Facebook account.

When I was already working in Singapore, I got so serious with my blogging and I became more aggressive with marketing my blog. I often would share my blog posts in my social media channels: personal Facebook, my Facebook page, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram. I even try my hand with Snapchat. I enjoyed being in social media; getting updates from everyone; interacting with friends, followers and online strangers ; getting likes and acknowledgment. I did struggle trying to keep up with my blogging peers who seems to get the magic formula in increasing their social following in Instagram while they all reached to 10k, I was still hovering at 7k. So besides the pressure of being online all the time, to be visible, to get more exposure for my blog, gathering more followers from Instagram and keeping up with the commenting & like-for-like, social media has become such a second nature to me that I have to keep everyone updated what is going on in my life. It also became my sort-of escape from boredom, loneliness, anxiety, frustration and many emotions inside me that I refuse to face. It is almost like a tic that I cannot shake off. I need to see that notification. I need to reply to that comment. I am embarrassed to say, that my hubby even observed that I even brought my phone going to the bathroom when I was about to take a bath. I have to post all the foods I have to eat for the day. I have to share all the cute things my kids to the world. I have to share all the quotes I love to everyone. I would often reason out that the reason I am always on social media is to market my blog. But is it, really?

I previously wrote a blog post why I blogged. It is because of my love for writing, never about wanting popularity or validation. So am I just using it as a “reason” for my over-attachment with my social media and my phone. The start of 2021, one of my resolution was not to use the phone when I am with the kids which I don’t think I follow through with. Besides social media and constant documentation of my life in Instagram stories, I always have constant conversations with family and friends on messaging apps which makes me ignore my kids who are with me. I should be more conscious that I should allot a time for me to reply the messages especially when the conversations are not so important like celebrity gossips and sharing funny links with each other. Also late of this year, I got more serious with increasing followers in Instagram that I was constantly in it and creating content.

But just a week ago, I woke up to the reality that social media and my phone has taken over my life. I am so busy documenting my life with it, updating it, creating content and being constantly in it that it seems like my phone is an extension of me. I realised that this got to stop. I don’t need to be in social media all the time, broadcasting my life and creating content for people who barely know me. So I stop sharing in Facebook, not even those quotes that people would guess what is in my mind or what I am going through. I already have stopped way before, posting my thoughts in Twitter and even privated it. I recently stopped posting Instagram stories and has pending 2 more parting Instagram posts.

How About My Blog?

My husband, my number one supporter of my blog, asked me, “Why did you unpublish your Facebook Page? You love blogging!” I do love blogging. I love pouring my thoughts over it. I love articulating my thoughts and documenting my experiences with paragraphs & photos. I will never give it up. But I don’t need to market it at all. I don’t feel the need to. Besides, I am blogging for me. I think of my blog to be like a message in a bottle, floating in the vast sea of the worldwide web, no specific address, just happily floating. No exact address to send the message. No urgency to be read or need to be recognised. Grateful if someone picked up my “message” I sent out into the vast sea and feel inspired after reading it.

If you happen to stumble into my blog, welcome. I can come and visit anytime. I try my best to post weekly. This is a place where I share my musings of life, my family adventure in our current country of residence: Oman and things that inspire me… Say hi in the comment below. I am glad you found my blog….