About Us

Hi there! I’m Kathleen. Welcome to our family travel & lifestyle blog!

 

AnyTots blog started in 2012 – two years after I became a full-time stay at home mom. Prior to becoming a mom, I worked as an interior designer – designing residential and commercial spaces. During those years, I also created an online baking business and an online clothing store. With my background in design, websites, and photography, AnyTots was born. Now, with the hubby and our two adorable girls, we share our love for exploring new cities, trying new food, cruising and everything in between.

Besides travel and food, our family loves going aisle to aisle in the toy section, binging on Netflix, and enjoying a yummy dessert.

I love chick flicks, shoes, sunset, bakeries, afternoon tea, Moscato, strawberry margarita with salt on the rim, beignets, cupcakes, macarons, tapas, dim sum, Korean and Filipino drama series, Monopoly game, stationeries, photography, and design.

Here are a few more fun facts about me:

• I’m Filipino-Chinese and I speak 3 languages.
• Some of the yummiest food I’ve whipped up in the kitchen are Lasagna, Panna Cotta, Arroz Caldo & Kare-Kare (both Filipino dishes), molten chocolate cake and food for the gods.
• I’d rather collect travel memories than things but I have a collection of Star Wars and Hello Kitty stuff (hope they’re worth a lot someday, haha).
• When I was young, I grew up on top of our bakery/grocery. Yes! It was our family business so I woke up to the smell of fresh bread every day. Yum.
• I own a few domain names with the hopes of going live with multiple websites soon.
• I love watching The Amazing Race, Fixer Upper, Flip or Flop, and The Food Network.
• I enjoy magazines more than books.
• My fave social media platform is Instagram.
• I’m currently playing Cooking City.
• In the future, I want to learn about jewelry design, shoe design, and cinematography.

  

Favorite Travel Destinations and Memories:

• Paris – I’ve always wanted to row a boat and I got a chance to do it at the man-made canal of The Palace of Versailles. I was ecstatic.
• Rome – I will never get tired of looking at Fontana De Trevi and eating Nutella gelato.
• Burano Island near Venice – the cutest place in the world with all the different colored homes. It was totally a surprise to see.
• Florence – For the best Porchetta ever.
• Barcelona – I travel for food and Paella & tapas are my friend. The hubby and I fell in love with Patatas Bravas.
• New Orleans – I fell in love with the architecture, the artists on the streets and beignets at Cafe du Monde while traveling with my parents. New Orleans is unlike any other city in the US.
• Cruising – Our first cruise as husband and wife was so memorable that we now cruise about 3 times a year with the kids.
• Vietnam – The true definition of farm to table food – everything tasted so fresh.
• Thailand – Out of the country school field trip back during college, what more can you ask for. I talked about it for weeks after the trip. And of course, all the $1 clothes I got at a wholesale location.
• Tagaytay, Philippines – Looking at Taal Lake relaxes me. I’d like to retire there someday.
• Boracay, Philippines – When my cousin and I sneaked out from our parents and had way too much fun. Haha. And every trip with the hubby and our daughter after that.
• Baguio, Philippines – Because it’s my parents’ favorite place to go to in the Philippines, so a lot of travels were made there when we were kids and also now that I have kids since my parents love taking them there for horseback riding.
• Los Angeles – Because it’s a melting pot of cultures and every available dish can be found here.
• Disneyland – It’s really the happiest place on earth when it’s not crazy crowded and I get to have a Dole Float.
• Legoland – Because it has the most number of rides that fit our kids’ age and the apple fries is a staple when we visit.

 

Playing Favorite:

• Drink: Iced Sea Salt Green Tea with Lychee Jelly from 85 degrees bakery.
• Pastry: Cream Cheese Roll & Guava Roll by Portos and Garlic Cheese Bread from 85 degrees.
• Ice Cream: Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream from Handel’s in Redondo Beach, Ube Ice Cream, Mango Ice Cream and Cheese Ice Cream (you read that right).
• Chips: Salted Egg Potato Chips (only available in Asia so far)
• Cupcake: Red Velvet by Tiffany’s Sweet Shoppe in La Quinta
• Garlic Fries: from the Dodger Stadium
• Cake: Yema Cake from our family’s bakery
• Beignets: Cafe du Monde in New Orleans and Bottega Louie in Los Angeles
• Starbucks: Pumpkin Spice Latte or Chai Tea Latte and Butter Croissant
• Candy: See’s Candy Almond Royal, Ferrero Rocher, Hershey’s Cookies N’ Creme, Snickers, Baci, Kinder, M&M’s Peanut, and Twix.
• Music: R&B

 

Bucket List:

• Visit Japan to try all the vending machines
• Visit Korea to buy Larva toys and eat tons of Korean food
• Visit Egypt to see the pyramids
• Visit Austria to see the home of the Von Trapp family.
• Go on a Disney Cruise
• Try every Cruise Line there is and go on a 30-day cruise
• Ride Eva Airlines Hello Kitty Plane
• Ride the Ana – Star Wars Plane to Japan
• Visit Puroland with the girls
• Visit Seattle and the first Starbucks
• See Mount Rushmore
• Visit Amanpulo, Philippines
• Go on a road trip around the US
• Travel around America by rail via Amtrak
• Visit an all-inclusive resort
• Visit Hershey Park
• Ride a Hot Air Balloon (when I’m old, not now)
• Visit Iceland to try the Hot Blue Lagoon
• Visit Dubai
• Ride a Tandem Bike
• Visit Bali, Indonesia
• Learn how to Ice Skate
• Cook Paella
• Create a Coffee Station at Home
• Learn how to Swim
• Be featured as a Target designer for my own brand
• Attend all the blog conferences
• Be a speaker at a blog conference
• Learn how to Make Sushi/Sashimi
• Have an Afternoon Tea in London
• Visit every city in America to write about where to stay, places to see and what to eat
• Paraglide
• Ride the Cable Car in San Francisco – after all those visits, why have I not done it?
• Ride an elephant
• Stomp on grapes
• Explore Napa Valley for a week
• in short – travel the world

 

Off the Bucket List – Finally got to do them. Woohoo!

• Visit Kennedy Space Center
• Visit Legoland Florida
• Visit Florida to go to Disney World
• Eat Carbonara in Rome – it was so good!
• Go up the Eiffel Tower – breathtaking
• Eat Tapas in Barcelona – I can eat tapas every day.
• Go on a Shooting Range – did it but didn’t enjoy it. Too scary.
• Go for an Afternoon Tea – I tried it at Princess Cruises & Carnival Cruise, Hello Kitty at Chado Tea Room & American Girl Cafe.
• Parasailing – in Boracay, it was an amazing experience, must-do peeps!
• Donate my hair so they can make wigs for kids who need it – I grow and get a haircut every year just for it.
• Visit the Grand Canyon – but I’d like to visit with the kids again.
• Eat S’mores on a Bonfire – the simplest things make me happy.
• Go to the Strawberry Festival
• Visit Venice – Burano Island off Venice is a must-visit
• See the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• See the Sistine Chapel – an interior designer’s dream to see it.
• See the Walt Disney Studios – loved the 7 dwarfs on the building.
• See Disney on Ice – must have seen 10 already. LOL. Disney on Ice Frozen & 100 Years of Magic is the best production to date.
• Attend the Star Wars Celebration – sensory overload.
• Meet Star Wars’ BB-8 – met him when I got invited to LAX for the arrival of the Star Wars plane. A highlight of my blogging career.
• Wine Tasting in Temecula – I’d do it again.
• Attend the Bacon Festival – yum, yum, yum!
• Decorate the Rose Parade Float – Thanks to Dole for making this possible
• Tried a Hot Stone Spa – it’s really good for the body.
• Attend the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival – got to do the theme park experience & attend the media tasting.

 

What I learned after becoming a Mom:

• Giving birth is easier to endure than the lack of sleep.
• When people tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps, you should really follow that. Learned it the hard way. Haha.
• There is something more painful than stepping on Legos and that’s bumping your shin into your kid’s footstool in the dark.
• When you finally find the sippy-cup after a few days that it’s been missing, just throw it out. Don’t, and I say don’t open it.. ever! LOL!
• Coloring pages cannot keep kids busy for a day, not even an hour, just a few minutes and you need to be ready for the next activity.
• Nothing is scarier than when your kids are sick.
• Moms can move mountains!

 

Thanks for learning about us. Now, it’s your turn. E-mail us at kathleen@AnyTots.com if you wish to work with us or check us out on social media @anytots.