Okay. I think a proper introduction is in place, yes?
I am Barbie, but I go by a lot of other names in the WWW. Some high school and college friends call me Bags/Bagsie. A few ex-workmates call me Barbiekels/Barbiebelles. College room mates called me Barbskiedoodledoo. I am all of those and more. In this site, I am Barbiekins and Wandergirl.
Why Wandergirl?
I started blogging since my second year in college. I didn't own a domain, and I loved blogged-hopping then. I changed URLs a lot of times. I changed platforms more than I changed houses. I started with Blogger, moved to Blogdrive, went back to Blogger, started Livejournal, Multiply, Tumblr.. The list goes on. I wanted to move to Wordpress recently, but I held back. So yes, I guess I'm staying with Blogger for now.
Anyway, back to the original question. Why Wandergirl?
When I decided to go back to blogging in 2009, I initially wanted to post all my travelling adventures. I started the blog WanderLust* but never got the chance to update it. I have since travelled to a lot of local destinations, took gazillion photos with my Nokia N82, but never have I posted anything on that blog. I did, however, posted pictures on Facebook, but that was it. The aim to post travel tips and more waned like my obsession with writing.
Wandergirl = lakwatsera. That's why I used it. My college room mate once told me that I cannot stay in one place for a long time. Parang laging may apoy sa pwet ko, lagi nangangati umalis. But then, I'm Wandergirl no more. I have since transitioned to being an out-and-about kind of girl to a tiny domestic goddess.
That's when this blog came about. I still had that wanderlust inside of me but I didn't have enough funds and energy to travel. Most of my energy was used up on another thing that I discovered I loved doing -- creating adventure [or is it wreaking havoc?] in the kitchen.
Last year, when I moved to my own place, I started investing in things I think might be useful for me: kitchen stuff. I started small, I didn't have enough funds to buy expensive pots and pans and gadgets. I started slowly.
My obsession with cooking started when I was still a kid. I loved to watch my Mom and Dad whip up delicious creations in our tiny kitchen. They are the greatest cooks, well, next to my grandparents. :)
I came from a family of great cooks, both sets of grandparents are wonderful cooks, so I guess the passion was passed on from generation to generation. I remember telling my Dad that I wanted to go to culinary school but he told me that I don't need formal training. Cooking is already in our blood, all I needed to do was to cultivate it.
I guess he was right. When I started cooking last year, I wasn't armed with a lot of knowledge in the kitchen. I didn't know a thing about baking. All I had was sheer determination, a cell phone to text/call my parents, and the Internet.
I started documenting my kitchen [mis]adventures after watching the movie Julie and Julia. I was inspired.
I am still inspired. A day won't be complete without checking my favorite websites for new recipes, tips, and tricks.
I guess all a person really needs to reach a dream is passion. A lot of it.
And that, my friends, is my story.
What's yours? :)
