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Hey there!

I’m thrilled our paths crossed and you found your way here. Welcome!

Does this sound familiar?

Are you crazy busy – juggling family, work and life in general?

Do you feel overwhelmed just thinking about all of the things you need to do in the limited amount of time you’ve got?

Do you feel like you’re constantly going a million miles a minute because you’re worried that if you stop, everything will fall to pieces?

But while you’re constantly immersed in this pool of busy-ness and all this doing, you still feel:

• Like you’re always behind and forever playing catch-up.
• Frustrated and guilty that your efforts aren’t enough.
• Unaccomplished and unfulfilled because you’re just getting the bare minimum done, rather than making meaningful progress on your dreams and goals.

And as your day wraps up, you tell yourself tomorrow will be different.

But tomorrow comes and it’s simply a repeat of today. And you’re afraid that if you keep going this way, you’ll wake up 10, 20 or 30 years from now only to realize you’ve ended up in a place wherein you’ve aimlessly navigated yourself to.

You Want …

• A better way.
• To make more mindful decisions and intentional actions, rather than be in this constant state of reactivity.
• To know for certain that you are spending your time on what matters most.
• To pursue a life with purpose, fulfillment and joy.

But …

You think to yourself, “How do I do this?”

You’re raising little ones. You have a career. You’ve got commitments and responsibilities left and right. With everything you’re juggling, you struggle to find time for yourself.

You’re discouraged and have no idea how or where to even begin.

You’re NOT alone.

I totally understand where you’re coming from. I struggle with this endless tug of war myself. And like you, I yearn for a better way.

Before motherhood, I kicked butt and took names. J (At least in my mind, I did.) I always had a game plan, as well as a contingency plan, and was very purposeful in the things I decided to do and how I wanted to live.

Then came baby in a baby carriage and things changed.

I wasn’t looking out for just me anymore. I was also responsible for this tiny human. Between juggling work and all that’s required with our growing family, it seemed like all I was getting done were the necessary everyday things.

Somewhere along the way, I lost my direction. I ended up coasting along, allowing the motions to simply pull me, rather than deliberately steering the course myself.

I didn’t notice it at first. But it eventually grew inside me and began to eat at me.

Over time, I became irritable and easily frustrated. I couldn’t pinpoint this lack of satisfaction I felt. I just knew that something was missing.

One day, after noticing my persistent irritability, my husband took my daughter out so I can have some “me time.” I had the afternoon to myself. In the beginning, I was so excited. Time to myself! Then I ended up blowing my “me time” by washing some dishes and watching TV because I didn’t know what to do with myself. So, there I was – unsatisfied again – feeling like I wasted my “me time.”

My husband asked me why I didn’t do anything else – do something I enjoyed. I told him I didn’t know what to do. So he asked me what hobbies I had and what things excited me, and I couldn’t give him an answer. I had no idea what my hobbies were anymore – what activities brought me enjoyment. How could I not know what I was passionate about or enjoyed doing!?

That was the tipping point for me. I knew I needed to make some changes.

Happiness in Between was born

I started this blog toward the tail-end of 2016 because of all those reasons you just read. I felt like I’ve been on auto-pilot and was just coasting in my life. I felt like all I was doing was working, taking care of household chores and having to do whatever else “needed to get done.” I became reactionary (if that’s even a word) rather than proactive and intentional.

I stopped striving for bigger things. To be honest, I just felt too exhausted to even begin thinking about where to start with those things. And as a result, I wasn’t doing the things that brought me fulfillment and joy.

So, I created Happiness in Between – to get reacquainted with myself, start holding myself accountable, serve as a creative outlet for my efforts and share those efforts with others, in the hopes of inspiring and helping them. You can read more about it here.

What You Can Expect Here

I’m on a mission to live my life to the fullest – to live the best life I possibly can and be the best person I can be – as a wife, mom, friend, sister and human being in general, so that when I’m my future self, I won’t look back at my life with regret that I should’ve done things differently.

I want to find my passions and pursue them ferociously.

Being a wife and a mom are something I feel very fortunate to get the chance to be and wouldn’t give up for anything. But they also don’t make up my entire being. I will continue striving to be the best wife and mom I can be, but I will stop putting myself on the backburner in the process.

It will be hard and trying. But, oh so worth it!

And I want to help you do just that as well.

Here at Happiness in Between …

• We’ll examine how we’re living our lives.
• We’ll experiment with how we can live our lives to the fullest.
• We’ll also make it a point to remind ourselves to experience our lives – not just blaze through it or be absent.

There’s power in numbers and I know we can achieve more together.

Will you join me on this adventure?

Together, let’s be brave enough to become who we want to be and live the lives we dream about. No regrets.

Let’s examine, experiment and experience life – all facets of it.

Things won’t happen overnight. But we can start making changes today.

And before we know it, we are …

• Less overwhelmed and more centered.
• Less distracted and more focused.
• Less busy and more productive.
• Less on survival mode and more about thriving instead.
• Less reactive and more purposeful.
• Less discontent and more fulfilled.

We only live once. Let’s make sure we are living it fully and on our terms.

We’ve got big dreams of truly living and we are on this journey to make that happen. While our destination is important – our journey itself is just as important. So, as we make our way to our destination, let’s be sure to pause everyone once in a while to celebrate our progress and enjoy our journey – finding happiness in between.

About Me

I’m Krischelle. I live in Berkeley, California, with my husband, Paul, and our 2 kids, London and Stellan. We’re a family of food-lovers and our weekends are often spent in a park or playground.

With a soul-crushing amount of student loan debt, both my husband and I have “9-5” jobs plus our entrepreneurial pursuits on the side. Yep – things get a bit hectic in the Howl household.

I was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to Los Angeles, California, when I was 19 for college, where I met my husband. We’ve moved around a bit since we’ve been together – we lived in Milan, Italy, for a semester, left L.A. for Orange County, California, then moved to Madison, Wisconsin – living there for about 4 years before ending up in Berkeley.

I don’t function well without my morning coffee and I like ending my evenings with a bowl of Hagen Dazs or a piece of fudgy chocolate cake. I love to sleep and can easily sleep 9 hours each night if given the luxury.

I enjoy writing and editing – no surprise my day job and side gig involve these 😉 I like planning and organizing, and color-coding my notes. My handwriting has regressed a lot in the recent years and I would like to improve on it again.

I like to do as much of my shopping online as possible and take pleasure in finding good deals on the things we need. I enjoy cooking, but not cleaning.

I like learning new things – taking classes or online courses, attending conferences, reading or listening to audiobooks.

I used to practice yoga regularly and want to get back to practicing it again.

I dream of becoming a minimalist – while I’ve been trying to eliminate the unnecessary over the last few years, I know I have a long ways to go.

Buried in student loans and feeling imprisoned by it, my husband and I are working towards being debt-free as quickly as possible. We also want to teach our children good personal finance habits early on so they don’t repeat our mistakes (fingers crossed). And once we’re debt-free, we’d love to travel again and show our kids the world.

Nowadays (and for the foreseeable future), when I’m not at work and taking care of the family, I’m blogging here at Happiness in Between.

Thanks for your time and I hope you stick around!

XOXO