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Life Lately: What I’ve Been Up To so far in 2026


Hi, it’s Izza. It’s been a while since I posted, and I’ve honestly missed blogging. This lifestyle blog has been a great outlet for me to share my thoughts—and I have a lot of them. It’s been my online diary since 2014. I love every post I’ve published so far, even the ones that weren’t written well. I love being a Pinay lifestyle blogger.

I know I haven’t been very consistent here over the past few years, but deep in my heart, I still want to keep this blog alive.

I don’t want to make empty promises again, but I’m going to do my best to blog more. I need this, too. Sometimes, I want to come back to the younger Izza who truly, genuinely enjoys writing.

For my comeback post, I thought I’d give you an update on what I’ve been up to lately. Consider this a personal update blog post. So let’s catch up, shall we?

My life currently

I’m still single with no kids. HAHA. Nothing has really changed in the relationship area of my life. No boyfriend and no prospects. But please don’t feel sorry or sad for me. I feel great. I’ve been busy enjoying the most important relationship I have: my relationship with God. 

I’m still working from home on a graveyard shift from 11 pm to 8 am, Monday through Friday. I’m still into running and even hit some milestones this year, which I’ll be sharing with you more later. Ultimately, I’m still trying to live my life to the fullest—one day, one book, one run, and one trip at a time.

Here are some 2026 highlights so far:

I Ran a Marathon

The biggest milestone of my running era so far is that I ran a marathon! This deserves its own post (and I can’t wait to write it), but I can’t do a life update without mentioning it.

Last June 12, 2026, I did the Galaxy Manila Marathon. That's 42.195 kilometers of running the most brutal race route: EDSA. Yes! I ran Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.


I got to tick off the very things I said I wanted to do for my first marathon:


✅ I want to finish the whole thing. No DNF!
✅ I want to finish strong and joyful. No injury, please.
✅ I want my first marathon to be memorable.

Now when I hear EDSA, or even just pass by it on a normal day, hindi lang traffic ang maaalala ko. I have a story too. I conquered that highway—those bridges and tunnels—on foot, on race day, with my own two legs.

I Lived in Eastern Samar for a Month

A week after my marathon, I flew to visit my parents in Eastern Samar and stayed with them for one month. It was the longest I’ve lived in the province. I have so many stories to tell, but for now I hope you can watch this video. This is also my comeback video on YouTube. Yay!


I Got My Hair Colored

It’s not my first time getting my hair colored, but I can confidently say this is the boldest color I’ve had so far. I don’t really know what to call it, since I only showed a peg to the hairstylist. I also didn’t go to a known salon, just one in our neighborhood. To be honest, I don’t think my peg was followed, but I learned to love the result anyway.



I always say my hair is low maintenance. It’s been mostly black, my natural hair color, so doing a balayage blonde was a risk I’m happy I took. I’m even considering keeping it colored for another year or two.

Lastly, my hair is the longest it’s been in 10 years. I’ve been bold with my haircuts, and I’ll randomly do a pixie cut whenever I feel like it. Evidence HERE. But at the moment, I haven’t had a haircut in a while. A couple of friends told me I look good with long hair, but honestly, it’s been getting hotter lately, so I think I’ll get a haircut soon. Nothing drastic, though. I’d like to keep a bit of its length, ideally below my shoulders.

Areas of My Life Update


My life revolves around seven core areas: Spiritual/Faith, Personal Development, Finances, Health and Fitness, Blog and Business, Relationships, and Work/Career.

Watch the video above about these areas of my life.



Here are some updates on each area so far in 2026:

Spirtual/Faith

In 2026, I went on a journey to read and finish the Old Testament. I’ve been going through it slowly, perhaps too slowly, but wow, the learning has been so, so good. I’ve been learning more about Him and His character. I used to read the Bible as part of my to-do list, but now it’s different. I look forward to it, like I have a date with God.

If anything, I could definitely be more consistent in this area. At the moment, I’m reading Judges and doing a chapter of Psalms and Proverbs.

Instead of aiming to finish the Old Testament this year, my heart is set on reading, studying, and learning what I can. I want to relish the moments I meet Him, get to know Him better, and receive the love and lessons He’s been showing me. I’m still learning. I’m still growing. But this area of my life feels more intentional right now than it ever has, and that matters to me deeply.


Personal Development

At the start of the year, I set a goal to finish 26 books. By the second quarter, I hit a reading slump, so to take some pressure off, I’m adjusting my goal to 18 books instead. So far, I’ve read 9, and I have unwavering faith I’ll finish 18 before 2026 ends.

Aside from reading, I also went all-in on supplements this year—Collagen, Vitamin C, and multivitamins—and I want to keep that as a habit. I’m also focusing on improving my skin. I think my skin loves the Celeteque Facial Cleanser; it calmed my rosacea after such a long time.

Finances

The financial foundation I built in previous years is still there, and for that, I’m grateful. I can afford my needs, with some wiggle room for wants. I treated myself by watching the Les Misérables in Manila Concert in January and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Concert last June.

For the rest of 2026, I’m focusing on being more intentional with my spending and tightening up the areas where I’ve been a little too lenient. I’m also purging and (hopefully) selling some of my things, like books and clothes. I’ll share a full financial update on SavingsPinay.ph where I’ll go into all the details.

Health and Fitness

Getting into running has changed my relationship with myself and my body in a way I didn’t expect. I'm happy I got into it last year and continued to do so. 

For most of my life, fitness was something I did inconsistently. Now it gives me life. It’s part of my ritual, out the door at 5 pm for a run. Right now, I’m in a training phase, building toward two races in November and February 2027. 

Beyond running, I’ve been more consistent with sleep this year than ever, which on a graveyard shift, is its own achievement. I’ve also been paying more attention to my health by taking supplements.

Blog and Business

Both IzzaGlinoFull.com and SavingsPinay.ph have been quieter than I wanted them to be these past few years. Life got full, and content creation slipped lower on my priority list than it should have. But I’ll always have a heart for creating. The drafts have been piling up for a while now, and I know I need to come back—for my sanity.

So here’s where I’m at: I’m recommitting to both blogs. I want to publish more consistently and share more honest, personal content. IzzaGlinoFull.com, where I share my life, will be home for my beauty, faith, running, books, travel, and personal musings. SavingsPinay.ph, where I talk about money, will have real, relevant, and applicable money lessons and stories.

I also want to get back to podcasting soon. I genuinely enjoy sharing my thoughts publicly. For now, I’m just happy that my first YouTube video in a long time is live. I’m thrilled with the views it’s been getting. Thank you.

Blog and business is the area of my life with the most room to grow—and that excites me. I know I have everything in me to flourish here.

Relationships

If there’s one thing I know is true, it’s that God gave me an incredible family and friends. They aren’t perfect, but I’m deeply grateful for the fun, intentional people who make up my support system.

My family has been a constant this year. My eldest sister, youngest sister, and I have all been into running, and even though we’re in different phases of our journey, it’s been so fun to share something in common. We also live in different areas, but we still do our best to get all the siblings together whenever we can. I also looked into my niece and nephew on separate occasions, which I thankfully survived! Haha. And I visited and stayed with my parents for a full month.

My Family and I in Subic, Zambales

Buhay Probinsiya in Eastern Samar Philippines

I’ve also met up with friends from different stages of my life. I am always happy to reconnect, catch up, and make new memories with my friends. I even traveled recently with two of my workmates. We went to Dumaguete and Siquijor, and it’s been a great balance of family time and social connections so far.

Me and my workmates in The Mango Ranch, Dumaguete.

Work

If there’s an area I don’t talk much about publicly, it’s work. There’s just not much I can talk about apart from navigating working from home on a graveyard schedule and meeting with my remote workmates in person now and then.

I do have a YouTube video explaining what I do for work. Happy if you can watch or listen to it:


I think out of all the areas of my life, work has been pretty consistent. Doing it for four years now, I kind of built a routine already. If there’s anything, I’d like to see where I could still improve. 

What I Want to Achieve for the Rest of 2026

We’re now entering the last quarter of 2026. It’s a bit scary, honestly, because I still have a lot I want to achieve before the year ends. But I picked up a book and read The Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod, and it gave me so much inspiration to keep moving. He said we’re all just two decisions away from achieving our goals:

  • Unwavering Faith - deciding in advance that you can handle whatever comes up, and refusing to let doubt (or a bad week) talk you out of continuing.
  • Extraordinary Effort - showing up and doing the work at full intensity.

Unwavering Faith + Extraordinary Effort = Miracles.

The remaining months are an opportunity to pursue my goals with renewed focus and determination.

Here are the things I plan to focus on:

  • Read 18 books. I’m currently reading Book 10 and have been dedicating at least 30 minutes a day to reading. The only issue is that after I finish a book, I struggle to decide what to read next. I go back and forth until I find the one that fits what I need in the moment. I know this has to change, especially if I want to reach my reading goal this year.
  • Publish new blog posts. My mission for both blogs is to keep showing up. The drafts are already there; it’s time to work on my perfectionism and hit publish. I don’t want to waste this momentum again.
  • Get back into content creation. I already have momentum, so I just need to keep showing up. I’m hoping to revamp my social media presence and establish a content creation workflow across IzzaGlinoFull and SavingsPinay PH. I also want to publish new YouTube videos, especially about my travels since I have a lot of footage waiting.
  • Train for my next races. As mentioned in the beginning, I already have two upcoming races signed up for. I’ll have a 10km race in November and my second marathon in February 2027. I’m still hopeful I can finally do a Sub 30 5km and Sub 1 10km this year. I consistently run every 5 pm, although the weather hasn’t been too nice lately.
  • Continue my non-negotiable daily habits. Reading and studying the Bible. Getting through my reading list. Journaling. Taking care of my skin and body. These are the non-negotiables I’m fighting hard to turn into daily routines.
Related reads:



Overall

For the rest of 2026, I’ll be living by this: Unwavering Faith + Extraordinary Effort. I believe I can turn things around before the year ends and I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to make that happen.

I’ll keep showing up.


How's life for you so far in 2026?

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