Johanna

Been dreaming of wide open spaces and clean fresh air everyday for a good while, and now I get to smile in my heart and say it for real: it’s all happening.

Am moving on to literally “greener pastures” in Nuvali, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and will no longer be a true blue manilarat.

Thank you for the visits through the years and most especially for the kind words. Will maintain this site as a tourism jump off point to keep fighting the good fight to #helpDOT, but do hope you also join me on my journey towards sustainable living in MyNuvaliHome.com:

I dream of a simple home, a home that keeps me home.
I dream of a home that’s pretty.
I dream of a home that makes me happy.
I dream of a home that would make retreats and vacations unneeded, because the clarity and deep joy that I find in them, I find at home, everyday.
I dream of a home that has both silence and laughter.
I dream of a home that has love.

My Nuvali Home: my first big adult commitment.

It’s not just a house; it’s a big YES to a lifestyle shift– to more quiet everydays, filled with meaning, in resonance with the quiet shift to a healthier, more conscious lifestyle that values and always upholds what truly matters: family, people, ordinary lives, joy in the everyday, helping others, helping who needs help now. It’s one that requires a lot of listening, and a lot of path-clearing… one that is awakened, awakening and awakens.

This is the sustainable life, this is what My Nuvali Home is about.

My plans of relocating to Palawan and getting involved in sustainable tourism have taken a backseat (for now), and am realizing that the work that I have and want to do is still in the mainstream.  If it is to push for a real sustainable lifestyle, I must first live it in order to be able to talk about it.  And so I’ve been exploring the farming alternative for when my lease expires in February, ideally somewhere near Manila, with Tagaytay as the best bet…

A few weeks ago, my brother gave me a grand idea: instead of moving to Tagaytay to be a farmer, why not just get a small house in Nuvali, and live the life I want, in a way that’s personally sustainable for me:  I can bike all I want everyday, have a small outdoor area for my art and permaculture, and make a living in real estate, selling the same lifestyle I’m building for myself– the sustainable Nuvali lifestyle with lots of wide open spaces and green green green everywhere.  Genius!!!

When Nuvali was launched in 2007 as Ayala’s big city project in Sta. Rosa, I was so in love with it.   It was the first time I heard of any concrete plans to build a sustainable community in scale, and I was so happy that such a vision was being supported and implemented by someone that meant business, with real funds and real energy from people who believed in it.  I was even happier that people my age–my peers–were excitedly buying in!

I’ve been living in a 50-sqm loft for almost a year now, and if only this had an outdoor space, I’d have no complaints, so a small house surrounded by a garden will be just perfect for me.

The main hesitation was the isolation from everyone else, but Sta.  Rosa is just a few minutes away from Alabang, and I’ll still have access to city conveniences (there’s National Bookstore in Nuvali, haha, priorities!).

Mom and Dad were also more supportive of this plan than the farming option, especially if they’ll just be in Tagaytay, and they went with me last week to check out the Avida site itself, where there are house and lot options for sale:

It was raining so we just drove around to get a feel of the community…

The houses are identical (there are three models to choose from), and they have the modern-minimalist feel of sleek clean lines, but I like that they used earthy tones to lend a sense of warmth to the place.  A purely white house makes for a too sanitary life think–yey to color in our everydays!

If I choose to buy now, I’ll be able to move in by next summer, and I’ll be living in my own house in a community that I feel safe in, but is still far from noise, pollution and traffic!   Sounds heavenly wahhhhhh!

This is one of the standard two-bedroom houses…

I’m interested in the most basic of them all, like the one below.. just 53 sqm floor area, and about 120sqm lot area…

I can build a fence around it, have a small lookout garden/patio and a carport… but most important of all, it’ll be my own house!  That’s one more thing off my 30-before-30 list, hehe!

Of course I would love love love to have my dear friends as my neighbors… If any of you are also considering a shift to a healthier lifestyle, this is it!! Xavier will start its first schoolyear 2012 for co-ed, right in front of Avida, so no need to worry for your kids or future kids’ schooling. There’s already St. Scholastica’s,  La Salle and Ateneo Graduate School in Sta. Rosa, plus plans for UST and Everest Academy.  There’s also a Waldorf school inside Georgia Club next door to Nuvali.  For work, there are a number of IT companies and call centers already operational, plus the almost 20 industrial parks in Canlubang.  There’s also Alabang for more options.  Teehee… tara!

Here’s something more about Nuvali, from my old post in April 2008, “Nuvali: where I want my friends to buy“:

I pass by the main Nuvali entrance along the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road on the way to Tagaytay almost twice a week, and I always find myself smiling, almost like a mother in patient admiration of a child as he comes of age, thinking that in a few years, there will be a thriving, empowered community living on that exact spot.I’ve been in love with Nuvali since I first heard about it in September 2007, and I’ve already decided that it will be my future home and the home of my kids and their kids.

Why Nuvali?

1. Offhand, it’s really because I believe in the project.
It’s not just another piece of land converted into livable space for houses. Much like a visionary company with inspiring people behind it, Nuvali is a project with soul, and it shows. There is a real commitment to responsible living, which is not something you hear property developers in the Philippines rally everyday.

2. It is a responsible venture, with long-term quality life at its core.

As more and more people in the world clamor for greener lifestyles, it makes me proud and excited that in our own country, someone (or some group, i.e. Ayala) is doing his fair share in not just conducting business responsibly, but in providing ways–concretely and with the long-term in mind–for people to also live their lives responsibly. This means that we, as individual citizens, can also directly participate in this green revolution by living the green lifestyle ourselves, and living it not just in bits and pieces, but wholly and collectively!

3. It offers a shot at holistic, responsible living to those willing to work for it.
Living in Nuvali is not cheap, but it’s not incredulously expensive either. We were very happy to service one OFW client, and his wife and three kids based in Laguna, as they excitedly made their lot purchase. Bank financing is readily available, with options to pay in 10 years or more.

More recent updates:  A wakeboarding complex like the one in CamSur will be put up within Nuvali itself, hopefully operational by December 2010.  That’s in two months!!! Woohoo! Imagine going out for a short bike ride, and having a wide lake (and hot muscled boys perhaps) waiting for your viewing pleasure… !   Plans are also in place for biking trails, a bird sanctuary, tree nurseries, and a number of open fields (called “The Fields” ) for soccer, frisbee, etc.  So exciting!!

Taraaaaa!  Neighbors anyone??