I’m so sorry that I haven’t been consistent about replying to your comments, but you can be assured that I’m reading all of them! Lemme give you a lil update about my Internet situation in Beijing: Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter are not blocked (surprisingly, but Tumblr and Pinterest are blocked), but the Internet connection sucks, so my activity on those platforms are still limited. WordPress is not blocked, so I’m able to write blog posts and upload photos, albeit uploading photos takes forever. I receive emails when there are new comments, so that’s how I’m keeping up with them, but Disqus is either blocked or takes five-ever to load, which is why I haven’t been replying consistently. Bloglovin’ is on the same boat, which is why I haven’t been keeping up with your blogs or others and why I haven’t been sharing Friday Favourites, other than the fact that I’m generally bad about sharing Friday Favourites every week.
Books
Shiver Hitch by Linda Greenlaw | ★★★☆☆
Impossible Views of the World by Lucy Ives | DNF
White Fur by Jardine Libaire | ★★☆☆☆
The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki | ★★★★☆
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo | ★★★★★
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang | ★★★★☆
How to Fall in Love with Anyone by Mandy Len Catron | ★★★★☆
Naked as We Came by Arden Moore | Arden’s self-published anthology is getting published on July 5! Pop by the blog on July 4 for a sneak peek.
Mischling by Affinity Konar | ★★★★☆
Movies & TV shows
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt · Empire · Sherlock · Kardashian · Logan · Rogue One · Collateral Beauty · Moana · Zedd: True Colors · Wonder Woman · Pretty Woman · Notting Hill
Cafes/Eats
Philly | Function Coffee Labs – Japanese flash ice cooled coffee · The Dutch – savory dutch baby · Menagerie Coffee – iced matcha latte · Vineyards Cafe – maple ham crepe · Konditori Coffee – iced mocha latte · Bryn + Dane’s – rickshaw sesame wrap · Bodhi Coffee – London fog · Good Karma Cafe – iced latte · Greenstreet Coffee Co – matcha latte · A La Mousse – matcha lava cake · Happily Ever After Dessert Cafe – strawberry nutella Belgian waffle
Beijing | 鲜芋仙 (Meet Fresh) · The English Tearoom – rooibos caramel cream tea · MOMO Cafe – rose latte
Shopping haul
Timberland canoe river 1/2-zip pullover, forest night Christmas green
YETI Rambler, 20oz stainless steel + metal straws
Wishlist
I love the Soludos platform espadrilles, but I’m not confident in buying them unless I get to try them on first, because I have annoyingly wide feet. I’m also loving the ruffle/frill trim wrap dress style, and the one from SheIn is a steal, but I’m not sure that I’ll wear it that often because I don’t like wearing sleeveless clothing that requires me to shave heh…
Jason Polan x Soludos wink platform espadrilles
Soludos lemon platform espadrilles
SheIn botanical print frill trim cami dress
Happy moments
The Timberland pullover that I mentioned in my shopping haul? I got it at Philly AIDS Thrift for $5 because I fell in love with the colour; the colour looks better in real life than online. At the thrift store, it was labeled “Christmas green.” I can do Christmas all year :3 Anywho, gotta love a thrift store steal!
I got complimented on my Uniqlo Gudetama shirt twice in one day! The dude at Kungfu Tea complimented it, and when I was at the train station, some dude who worked there complimented it too. He asked me where I got it and even took out a notebook to write it down haha.
Flew first class on an international flight for the first time! I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to sprawl out like that. Even with my seat shifted all the way to the front, my feet couldn’t reach the foot rest at the front haha. I don’t know why, but these last two years I’ve been getting air sick, and I did a lot more traveling before and never got air sick. My mom says I’m getting old LOL. But sitting in first class was a comfortable ride. If only I could always roll so high!
So good to be back home with good food! I love having fruit every day, my favourite of which has been cold peaches. When I live on my own, I never think about grocery shopping for fruit, except for frozen strawberries and blueberries for smoothies (I get bananas swiped for me from the dining hall during the school year hehe). I’ve also loved eating more Asian food, my favourite of which has been 红油抄手.
When irl friends troll you by messaging you through your blog’s contact form instead of texting you. Love you Jolie ♡
Baking with the whole family. Full blog post on the blog eventually!
My little brother Danny left an index card at my door with a note saying “Danny wuz here.” He wanted to ask me if I wanted to eat chips and salsa haha.
My brothers have gotten in the habit of asking me whether I’ve done my daily yoga, which I think is funny and helpful. I’ve finally started the 30 Days of Yoga with Adrienne challenge from 2015 LOL. You’re supposed to do it for 30 days consecutively; I’ve skipped some days in between, but I have been doing it consecutively for the most part. I’m on day 20! I think my brothers think, “I can’t believe she’s doing yoga. So random. So dumb,” so they like to check up on me and see if I’m still doing it. After I finish the 2015 challenge, I’m going to move onto the 30 Day Yoga Camp, and then the Revolution 31 Days of Yoga. I love that it’s all free, and you can do them at home with no equipment. I also plan to eventually try doing Blogilates’ 6 Week Body Toning Bootcamp.
Lately
The first two weeks on my own in Philly were fantastic. Now I’m home in Beijing and it’s good, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m not loving the weather here. I don’t have any desire to leave the house for muggy air or thunderstorms, so a typical day of activities might include sipping on coffee (the only reason to leave the house but be assured I come straight back), messing around on the guitar, watching TV shows, and reading books. Not too much going on here! But I do have exciting news that will be shared on the blog on July 5, so look out for that!
How was your month?