10/09/2026
Thank you for taking time to read my simple story ❤️❤️
CHAPTER 37 — MY STORY ❤️
37 years of life. 37 years of learning, falling, starting over, and becoming.
Before anything else, let me tell you where my story began.
I am originally a Batangueña. 🌿
After I graduated from high school, I left Batangas and traveled to Baguio, where I eventually became a resident and made a home.
I didn't know then that this beautiful city would become such an important part of my life. Baguio became a witness to many chapters of my journey—the beginnings, the struggles, the lessons, the dreams, and the woman I would eventually become.
It was also in Baguio where my journey with food and online selling began.
From 2013 up to the present, I have been selling my homemade food online and serving customers here in Baguio. Many of my customers have been part of my journey through the years—some have been there from the beginning, while others came along the way and became part of my story.
What started as a simple attempt to sell homemade food eventually became something much more meaningful to me—Ellice's Food in Bilao.
And looking back now, I realize that Baguio wasn't just the place where I lived.
It became part of my story. ❤️
I had no idea what life had in store for me. I didn't have a clear plan, a degree, or a special skill that I could proudly call my profession.
I was simply a young woman trying to find her way in life.
And somehow, years later, that journey brought me to the kitchen.
I am not a degree holder.
I am not a chef.
I don't have culinary certificates or formal training.
I am simply a self-taught home cook and food entrepreneur—a woman who learned through experience, perseverance, and a whole lot of trial and error.
Back in 2011, after giving birth to my son, I moved to my mother-in-law's house. At that time, honestly, I didn't know much about cooking.
But my mother-in-law taught me many things. She became one of the people who helped me discover a skill I never knew I could develop.
From there, I started teaching myself.
I watched cooking and baking videos on YouTube. I experimented with recipes. I failed. I tried again. I changed ingredients, adjusted measurements, and kept asking myself:
“Paano ko pa ito mapapasarap?”
“Paano ko pa ito mapapaganda?”
In 2011, I started selling simple homemade pastries like polvoron and pastillas.
Then in 2013, I started baking and selling food online.
It wasn't a perfect beginning. I was just a woman at home, learning as I went, trying to turn whatever knowledge and talent I had into something of my own.
Then in 2017, I decided to work for a company. I wanted to try another path and see if maybe my luck was somewhere else.
But even while I was working, a part of my heart was always in the kitchen.
I eventually resigned in 2024 because I wanted to give myself another chance—to pursue the dream I had been carrying for years and try to build something of my own.
But life didn't suddenly become easy.
The luck I was hoping for didn't come right away.
In December 2025, we moved to a new place, but we were still in Baguio. It was a new place that we now call our home, and once again, I had to start over.
It was still the same city that had witnessed so many chapters of my life, but this time, we were beginning again in a different place.
It was a new environment, a new adjustment, and another chapter of our lives. Starting over wasn't easy, but I chose to see it not as the end of what I had built, but as another opportunity to begin again.
It reminded me that sometimes, we don't have to go far to start over. Sometimes, we simply need a new place, a new beginning, and the courage to keep moving forward. ❤️
Along the way, some people forgot about me. Some became disappointed. Some may have stopped believing in what I was trying to build.
And honestly, there were moments when I also questioned myself.
“Kaya ko pa ba?”
“May pupuntahan pa ba ito?”
“Baka hindi talaga para sa akin ang pangarap na ito?”
Life is full of challenging times.
There were seasons that tested my strength, my patience, and my faith. There were moments when giving up seemed easier than continuing.
But I chose not to surrender.
Instead, I chose to turn every hardship into a lesson, every mistake into an opportunity to learn, and every disappointment into a reason to become stronger.
I may have been hurt. I may have stumbled. I may have had to start over more than once—but I refused to let those difficult moments define me.
I chose to learn from them, grow through them, and keep moving forward.
And here I am.
Still here.
Still trying.
Still learning.
Still improving.
I may not have a culinary degree.
I may not have a chef's title.
I may not have certificates hanging on my wall.
But I have years of experience, countless recipes I've tried, mistakes I've learned from, and a heart that never completely gave up on the kitchen.
And Ellice's Food in Bilao is more than just a business to me.
It is a part of my journey.
It is proof that sometimes, you don't need to have everything figured out at the beginning.
You just need to start with what you have, learn what you don't know, and have the courage to keep going when things don't go according to plan.
At 37, I am still not where I want to be.
But I am no longer the young Batangueña who left home after high school, unsure of where life would take her.
I am a woman who has experienced many chapters, many challenges, many failures, and many beginnings.
I am a woman who has survived many beginnings.
And this time, I don't want to rush the journey.
I just want to continue becoming the best version of myself—one recipe, one order, one mistake, one lesson, and one day at a time.
So on my 37th birthday, I am not only celebrating another year of life.
I am celebrating the woman who kept going.
The woman who fell and stood up.
The woman who got disappointed but continued.
The woman who started over when things didn't work out.
The woman who turned challenges into lessons.
The woman who kept believing, even when the results weren't there yet.
I am still striving.
I am still fighting.
I am still learning.
And I am still building my dream.
Maybe my story isn't finished yet.
And maybe that's the most beautiful part.
Because at 37, I am still becoming. ❤️
I may not know exactly when everything I've been praying and working for will happen, but I choose to trust God's timing.
> “When the time is right, I, the LORD, will make it happen.”
— Isaiah 60:22 🙏❤️
So I will continue to strive, continue to fight, continue to learn, and continue to believe.
Because I know that God's timing is always worth waiting for.
To everyone who has supported Ellice's Food in Bilao, ordered from me, recommended me, trusted my food, and stayed along this journey—
thank you for being part of my story.
To my customers here in Baguio, especially those who have been supporting me since the early days of my online selling journey, thank you for allowing my food to become part of your tables, celebrations, and special moments.
More than a decade has passed since I started selling online in 2013, and I am still here—still learning, still improving, and still grateful.
From a Batangueña who once left home with an uncertain future, to a Baguio resident, a self-taught home cook, and a woman still chasing her dream...
This is my story.
This is Ellice's story.
And I'm still writing the next chapter. ❤️
🎂 Happy 37th Birthday to me.
Here's to another year of courage, growth, faith, perseverance, and becoming the woman I know I can be. ✨🙏
Chapter 37 — the story continues. ❤️
