Click, Click!

www.notesbynyx.wordpress.com is my brand new blog site!

There, you can also find an archive of my Travel TV Shows, if you haven't seen them yet--a fun way to learn about the Philippines!



Enjoy!

Link to My New Blog

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed reading this blog--its been an amazing last 5 years, and all I have learned lots in the growing process. So much is happening and changing around us all the time, that it is essential to develop, improve, and discover all we are capable of!

(Below: an old picture from my wedding day!)


You can find my new posts here, but I'll also keep this blog up for good times' sake :)

Notes By Nyx Blog

P.S. Don't forget to also check back for updates on my website: www.nyxmartinez.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year, New Blog...?

Wow! Was 2010 memorable, or what!

It was my first full year as a mother, and happy to say I SURVIVED and am loving Parenthood! With each day that Karsten grows, he becomes more fun to be around (more interactive and less indecipherable!) and I feel like I'm rediscovering life along with him, as it happens a day at a time.

And my little man is walking already! What an achievement to remmeber. He walked right into the new year, almost as if telling us there'd be no slowing him down from here on out!

As far as the rest of life is concerned, I'm pretty happy. We have more travels coming up, new ventures, the days are busy but not too much, I have been able to find the balance between personal life, career, and parenthood, in an ideal situation to work in (home-based!) and never felt more blessed.

But as the new year also marks new beginnings, I've also been working on a new blog to journey along with you, and will announce it soon. For now, I hope your year was off to a great start as well, and that you will open your hearts to everything that is yet to come--the good and the bad--and live every day for what it is worth.

Cheers to new beginnings!

On Being a New Mom at Christmas

A year ago, I had my first white Christmas. It was also my first hospitalized Christmas. After two days of intense labor and then an emergency C-Section, my perfect son Karsten was born, just before Christmas Eve.

And so, when the nativity church bells tolled over snow-sprinkled roads, I could hear them chiming from the ward where I was admitted. I sat in the lobby, watched the pretty lights from the hospital window, and felt all festive. The tiny bundle lay peacefully in my arms, and I looked out over the silvery-blanketed German town. Visitors of other new mothers were coming and going in the corridors, and as I waited for my husband, who was bringing over home-cooked traditional Weinachtsgans (Christmas goose) for dinner, I felt it was timely that on December, I had become a mother, too.

I reflected on past Christmases when, as the volunteer coordinator for our Christmas outreach programs, December was normally the busiest month of the year. This time, I was instead, doing nothing, but learning what it meant to be a mother: sleepless nights, painful stomach, the sluggishness of extra weight, and a brand new life which helplessly depended on me.

And my own life would never be the same again.

If you are a new mother this Christmas, or about to be one, I suggest you bask in it. Learn to let go of the usual stresses that come with the season; enjoy beginning this new journey with your little one.

Here are 5 more tips to help you enjoy the season:

(Click here to continue reading the rest of this article)

12 Gifts that Cost Nothing but Love (For your partner)

There’s a plant-bed full of Aloe Vera bushes behind our house, and they remind me of the love that has blossomed and matured over the couple of years I have been married. It was originally just a single potted plant—the first gift my future-husband ever gave me.

The sprig of an Aloe Vera plant may seem a strange present, and I have to admit I thought so too, in the beginning. But when he explained that it was to soothe the blistering sunburn I’d gotten during our first date together at the beach, I knew it was a priceless gift of love. Many moons later, I used the same plant for the scar from the C-section birth of our son, and again to heal a burn I’d gotten while in our house.

Each time I see those bushes, I am reminded that love must be tended to, watered, and nurtured, like that single plant which multiplied. I also remember that often, the sweetest gifts are not store-bought nor ordered from a catalogue.

Now, it’s that time of the year again when we are bombarded on all sides with consumerism and the pressure to buy, buy, buy, that perfect gift for that special someone. But love isn’t supposed to be costly, is it? Is it possible to cancel out the costs and spend nothing but time for something meaningful?

(Read the rest of the article here!)

Almost Christmas!

I am trying, ever so hard, to not get caught up in the rush.

It's not the easiest thing to do, is it? Christmas is next week already, and I have not bought a single gift. I was awake last night, thinking about all the things I must prepare (Karsten's birthday is a couple of days before Christmas) and all the commitments I intend to keep. Every time I step out of my house, the traffic aggravates; the crowds of people annoy; everything seems to buzz with stressful vibes...

This morning, though, the Lord made it very simple for me. He told me to just enjoy my family, to celebrate my marriage, to give of my time, and then everything would follow.

Perfect peace is a nice idea, but sometimes harder to achieve...

I'll be trying, then, to just be still at times when I should be, and do when it's time to do. Christmas is a celebration of love, of family, of togetherness. I hope this year, I can give gifts that truly matter.

Pure Space

I turned a new leaf in the blank pages of my life’s book yesterday, and marveled at how wonderful the emptiness felt—no trying to rush to fill it up; no regrets for what was written there, because there was still nothing. Only pure, white SPACE.

I own that space now, the part of my life that yearned to be free, and free to write, and do, and be.

I’m living that dream now.

Yesterday marked the beginning of it—closing one chapter, and beginning another. And then, as if by serendipity, I was invited to a VSO event for Filipino volunteers around the world. I stood, talking to two young Filipinos--a doctor from MSF on my right, who was on his way to South Africa, and on my left, a volunteer who had just gotten back from below 10 degrees in Mongolia that morning. They had come back from untold adventures.

And I realized: our world is as big as we dream it can be. Love is as much as we give it. I met people who were reaching out in their own small way, and I felt as if they were blessing me, by asking me to partake of that night. They were writing lines in my newly turned page, marking what would be a day to remember.

Today, I am grateful

For a new start

For New Beginnings

Happy Endings

Fine Transitions.

Today is a milestone in my life

When Life happened

Just as it was meant to be.

Happiness is mine, because I let it

Perfection is yesterday’s tomorrow

I bask in the now

The fullness of now

Not knowing in full

Not needing to understand

Just being where I am today

And that…

Is what makes me grateful.

Book Launch of Chicken Soup 4 the Soul, Christmas Magic

We launched the special Christmas edition in Manila last November 3. After a short introduction and interview, I signed copies of the book for those who purchased it, and for the media. What a memorable day. I'm so grateful for everyone who made it happen, and everything that has happened in my life to bring me here.

A few pics:

New Article: Inter-racial Relationships

Thinking of marrying or moving in with a man of a different race, background or even religion? The truth is, it’s not much different than any marriage, where the rules of unconditional love + hard work apply.

There will be challenges, yes—plenty of them. But the beauty of a mixed marriage is the diversity that both parties bring, and the multi-cultural world you get to create within your own home. Just imagine how well-rounded culturally your children could be!

In random order, here are ten tips for maintaining a mixed marriage, and being happy in it.

1. Know yourself and be yourself. It’s okay to be who you are. In fact, it’s essential. Marrying someone else should not change you, the person they fell in love with in the first place. It should give you the opportunity to discover even more about yourself and your own potential, enhanced by your partner’s.

Read the rest of the article here! on SmartParenting.com

10 Tips on SmartParenting.com

My boys in Pohrsdorf, Germany

Click here to read my latest contribution to the Philippine Parenting Website, an article about balance in our lives as parents.

Have an awesome day with your loved ones! Oh, I have to go to work in a Halloween costume today! Fun, fun!

Spice of Life

Boracay, 2008

On the recent Expat Insights TV interview, Johannes and I were asked to talk a little bit about married life--specifically, marrying into a different culture. The same week, I was commissioned by FemaleNetwork.com to write an article along the same lines.

While doing the research and thinking about my own experiences, I came to the conclusion that injecting diversity into a marriage is like cooking with spices. The concoctions you can come up can be as crazy or as spicy or as tasty as you make it, and that's all part of the fun.

Like any relationship, we do have misunderstandings,we have the usual challenges, we have our personal problems. But we also have a lot of fun.

We both have different interests, while at the same time, enjoy similar things. We bring a fusion of opposite cultures into our family and our son gets to have the best of both worlds. I love being married to someone who is adventurous, and at the same time, technical and more level-headed than I.

We are also often in the (not proverbial) kitchen together.He is an awesome garlic-slicer, having had chef's training, and I love playing around with the wok and mixing recipes to achieve a taste that doesn't go by the book.

In life, I've learned its important to stay yourself and yet be open to the newness others can bring to it--the different ideas, the opposite opinions, the undiscovered worlds often have a way of enhancing ours...if we can be willing to open our hearts and enjoy it.

--Wishing you awesome relationships in every aspect of your life today!

Recent Fun Stuff

The Expat TV ad featuring Johannes and I...

My little Naughty who got even naughtier after getting measles last week...

With host Raju on the set of the interview with Expat TV yesterday where Johannes talked about Kiteboarding in the Philippines, and I promoted my Chicken Soup story...


With Mandy at the recent Dutdutan Annual Tattoo Festival, World Trade Center, Manila...

At the Tattoo Fest with a festive guy...

After the TV interview with RPN Channel 9, shot at my house...

On the media tour in Angono, home of a few of the country's most notable artists...

During the press con of Repertory Theater to promote their upcoming musical, 'Little Women'...

Meeting author Juliet, an Amazon record-breaker who tales her true Rags to Riches story in this book...

Mommy's Tears

I cried today because I felt so helpless
I cried today because I felt so far
If I could soothe the pain of living,
I would...but you needed to be where you are.

I cried today because you were suffering
Hurting--and was I to blame?
I cried when you cried and the whole world wept
It hurt more when you called my name.

I cried today because I felt a weakness
The strength I thought I knew was gone
And instead, what I really was--a mother--
Was what I needed to be all along.

--19 October, 2010. 8 pm

Contemplating

I have stood at many crossroads at different times in my life, when my heart told me it was time to stop and take a deeper look at everything...and tonight, I find myself right there, again.

Baby is sick with a very high fever, and this event (the first time he has ever been sick in his little life) has allowed me time to pause and shift gears.

I realize I need to find a better balance again, to get to the place where I find true true freedom in all things, to stay on the path that leads to my destiny and take the road less traveled. Life has been so good to me...and yet, sometimes, life asks us to do just that: to stop for awhile to listen to our hearts instead of just trying to survive--really listen--and that's when we can truly live.

Enjoy this slew of quotes, from passionate blogger Henri Juntilla, including my favorite, Number 3.

Friday Thoughts

Two Saturdays ago, I had the opportunity to do a phone patch interview at 9am on a radio program called 'Celebrating Life'. The spot was about a half-hour long, during which time, the host asked me questions about my life and experiences, my volunteer work, travel writing career, and of course, the Chicken Soup story.

It was fun, as I got to just talk on the phone, as if I were conversing with a single person. It felt intimate and less intimidating! The next weekend, a TV show came to my house to actually shoot, so that called for a little more effort to dress up and prepare my house--a different kind of fun, ha. The Saturday after this one, my husband and I will both be guesting on a TV show, to be shot in their studio. So each interview has been varied.

They are saying I'm the first Filipina to have an entry in the book. Whether this is true, I am not sure, but I told them I can't claim that fact for sure--the publishers told me they haven't heard yet of any others...so it's their call, ha.

In any case, I'm so glad to have this platform to share more stories and inspire more people, on a bigger scale than I ever imagined! It's something beyond my dreams...and yet, pushing me further to pursue those big dreams, no matter how high the stars!

Sometimes, life happens like that for us--doors of opportunity open; windows of inspiration let in more light. And when that happens, it's up to us to find out what we are supposed to do from there. I have always believed that God has our best interests in mind; he lets things happen to bring us closer to Him, and to our destiny. Sometimes, that road is hard to find. But we need to accept when even bad things happen, because we never know how all the experiences in life pave the way for something bigger.

Happy weekend!

Everyday Miracles

AP Foto

Wow...after watching the live footage of the miracle rescue in Chile and the hope that was shared and celebrated throughout the world, I feel like none of my problems are too big, and nothing is ever so frustrating in comparison.

Maybe this is what we all need--renewed inspiration, a spark in our lives, and the will to keep going.

Wishing you many more miracles today!

The Day to Day

Today is a weekend, but I feel so tired. So much has been happening; physically, at times, it feels like I can't keep much. At the same time that there seems to be so much going on, still there is so much I want to do, that sometimes I forget to put the brakes on.

Maybe that's what I need to do just now--step back and breathe, before the pace speeds up again tomorrow.

Most of what's going on is exciting, and I'm glad it's all happening...I just wish sometimes there was a pause button, one where my morning alarm can't go off ;)

Don't you feel that way some days?

More Surprises

After meeting with Jack Canfield, I was given an invitation to attend his seminar the next day. This free invitation was worth 300 euros! So of course, I went.

It was great both being inspired, and meeting other wonderful people who, in turn, encouraged me to pursue my dreams and live the life God meant for me to. During the seminar, Jack personally announced my inclusion n the Chicken Soup book, and that was really special, too!

Not yet 24 hours later, I had already gotten many media queries. It's now the weekend, and I have 4 TV guestings scheduled, a 45 minute radio interview first thing tomorrow morning, a few website announcements from various blogs, and a book signing in the works, coordinated by the publishers, Simon and Schuster.

Please pray for me--its all pretty overwhelming and I need to find time in between my other work--and my family--to take care of it all. I am excited at what the Lord has in store, where this journey continues to take me, but sometimes that excitement can be a tiny bit frightening, you know?

It's all a leap of faith...here we go!

Meeting Jack Canfield

This week, I felt the surge of struggle...and then strength. I don't quite know how to describe that moment, but it happens to all of us, which is why I posted this on my Facebook page:

'A problem that causes us anguish is exactly what we need. It is the opportunity we have been waiting for. This is hard at the time, but anything good takes some mental effort.'

The so-called problems have been forcing me to take a step back and reevaluate a few things in my life right now, think about my priorities, and what my orignal goals are--put things into perspective, you might say.

When these things in life happen, I always keep my eyes open for what I call The Signs. You know, that little nudge in the right direction. It could be during a conversation with a friend; it could be something you read in a book or on a blog; it could be a song you hear, or a literal sign posted on a bus downtown.

This week, it came to me in a few things; one was in the form of a phone call that a meeting had been arranged for me to personally interview Jack Canfield, the co-founder of The Chicken Soup for the Soul books, who is only in town for two days! How awesome is that? Now I have something in common with Oprah and Larry King Live, who also sat for a telecast chat with him. :)

After an hour, I realized he said nothing new--it was all stuff I had heard before but maybe needed to hear repeated. Like the signs, telling me to stay on track, focused, passionate about what I love and live for.

So yes--I was inspired, encouraged, strengthened.

I love life's little surprises.

A Bit of Magic!

This is just for fun, ok?

But Click this link and tell me if yours isn't freaky accurate!

What's Up

Besides my travel-writing, I've also started writing for some local women's websites and parenting websites. Having another outlet for the other creative stuff that follows parenthood will be the solution, I think, to everything going on in my head--and heart--right now.

I also was able to get a gig with Deutsche Welle, the German cable TV channel, as their foreign news correspondent. Interesting, fun, and challenging all the same time!

Also, heads up, next month CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL is coming out with a Christmas Special called 'Christmas Magic', and.....I'm in it!

One day, before I became a mom, I was lying in bed surfing the Net and got this crazy idea to send in a story to the Chicken Soup call for submissions. So I did, and months later, just when I had forgotten all about it, they notified me that my story made it to the final selection for this year!

I'm so excited! What a dream come true. I grew up reading this series and it was what inspired me to start writing in ways that could reach out to others with simple words. I hope and pray that with this little story, someone out there, somewhere, will be inspired. If even just a little spark, and give them some hope at Christmas time.

Maybe this is Jesus' Christmas gift to me--getting published in an awesome book. I'm very happy. Make sure to get a copy when it's out in your city! :)

Love, Love, Love!

Life with a not so little baby has been exhausting but also so much fun! At just 8 months, Karsten's personality is really starting to show itself. His current favorite toys are TV remote controls, cellphones and cold water bottles.

He loves swimming, anything to do with water-play, and beer. He likes to wait up for me till I get home (even when I am out for the night and not back till late, he waits up like a husband!) and sometimes hums himself to sleep.

He can't sleep without his comfy pillow, and prefers to save his poo diapers for me, first thing in the early mornings, or last thing at night. He can already climb stairs, and to the top of couches. He is so dangerous!

Whoever said your life ends when you have kids? All it does is ENHANCE it and GROW it and give you all these experiences you never knew you could have, all this love you never knew you were capable of.

I love my little boy!

Gratitude

(Sunset from pdphoto.org)

September is here, and the year seems, once again, to have flown by. I've been trying to spend the early moments in the morning before work to count my blessings a little--and I end up realizing there is A LOT!

I am so, so thankful for everything the year has brought so far. I am thankful for good health, a loving family, a steady career. I am thankful for the people in my life right now, and the opportunities that I have been given to give back.

I've met some amazing people this year, and my work allows me to come in contact with so many unique personalities and characters. Yesterday, on the way to a jazz concert at Ayala Museum, I caught a taxi ride and the driver was one of the nicest, sincerest and honest people you could hope to meet. He told me stories of his passengers, gave me tips on traveling in the city, and left me with better awareness and respect for people like him who make our lives easier in ways we don't even realize. I told him about my frustrations with some nasty drivers, and he shared what the other side of the fence is like--and the nasty passengers some taxis have to deal with.

It's easy to take those people for granted--the guard at your office building; the bus driver; the cashier lady. But they all contribute to your day in some way, and after yesterday, I want to make better effort to appreciate the little things day they do without complaint.

Later that evening, a British friend told me how he once lost his passport in a taxi here in Manila, and the taxi driver gave it to the priest that Sunday mass, telling him he would know what to do and how to locate the owner. The priest was able to contact the emergency number of relatives in the UK, who then called up my friend so he could retrieve the lost passport from the priest.

If what goes around comes around, let's remember to be kind to strangers, to helpers, to the people we don't normally notice but who are a part of our everyday life. Let's be thankful for them.

Monday Madness in Manila

(Photos from BBC)

It is a tragic day anywhere in the world when lives are lost because of misunderstandings, stupidity and failure. The hostage situation yesterday was sad on so many levels--embarrasing, and a grim reality of how chaotic this place can be.

People are blacing the blame on different circles: The government, the media, the hostage-taker. Maybe it should be a moment to look inwards instead and ask ourselves what we are doing to benefit our our country and our people in positive ways; on a day-to-day basis.

I do not sympathize with the hostage-taker, but in a repeat situation of another hostage story in this country some time back, the bottomline was similar: 'listen to my plea for help'. So much of the tragedy could have been prevented, had his issues been resolved months ago. Lives would have been spared and families not torn apart, had his case been investigated properly.

While we cannot make conclusions or assume that we would have done better in the same scenario, it is clear that we have a long way to go as a country and now that the wound is greater than ever, it will take a long, long time to heal.