This month’s month-in-review is a few days late because I’ve had a busy weekend and I’ve been busy in general! These last few days, I’ve been finalising plans for a family trip through a few cities in Switzerland, Vienna, and Budapest, and I’m off this Thursday! If anyone has recs or travel guides for Lausanne, Gimmelwald, Lucerne, Vienna, or Budapest, please leave ’em in the comments or shoot me an email!
I was going to say that I’ll be taking a break from my regular posting whilst I’m traveling June 6-24, but I haven’t really been posting regularly soooo… hehe. What you can look forward to is a roundup of iPhone snapshots as I leave each each country for the next (like I did for San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Cambridge, London, Paris), and in the weeks that follow, you can look forward to the full travel diaries!
Read
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling // ★★★★★ // This is the book responsible for my tic of mixing things in alternating directions, i.e. drinks, batter, etc. The series takes a darker turn introducing horcruxes, but on a lighter note, this is also where we see love begin to blossom between our favourite characters. Remembering the movies, I was fiercely opposed to Harry and Ginny together, but now refreshed by the book, I’m all for Ginny!
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho // ★★★☆☆ // Read this with Sadia! Pretty much everything I’ve heard about this book has been super positive; many mention this book as one they keep returning to from their childhood. Funnily enough, neither Sadia or I enjoyed this book all that much. I found it a bit contrived, and it was also kind of stressful to read as it sent me into a few existential crises, but I admit that that may have more to do with my personal mental and emotional state than with the book. If you’re interested in the book, I would still encourage you to give it a try since my opinion is in the far minority. If you’re a bit mentally/emotionally unstable right now (particularly about your purpose in life) like I am, maybe wait a bit before you read this book. (Full review here)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman // ★★★☆☆ // The blurb for this book didn’t interest me all that much (it focused a lot on small town hockey), but everyone was raving about this book on bookstagram (mostly 5 stars!), and many said you didn’t need to be interested in hockey to enjoy the book. The blurb tried not to give much away and as a result doesn’t give the most accurate picture of what the book is actually about; it’s not about small town hockey but about a sexual assault case and how it affects this small hockey town. Once again, my opinion about this book was in the far minority and I didn’t enjoy it all that much. There was a lot about this book that was maddening for me, i.e. the egos of the hockey players, the locker room talk, the overuse of melodramatic universal statements. There was so much aggression and toxic masculinity that felt more stereotypical and contrived than poignant. But again, if you’re interested in the book, I encourage you to give it a try, and I hope you really enjoy this book like most other people did (Full review here)
American Panda by Gloria Chao // ★★★★☆ // After some disappointing reads, I needed something light and easy to get me excited again. I picked up this YA novel about a Taiwanese-American girl who is torn about cultures and expectations, and is conflicted about whether to continue being an obedient daughter or follow her dreams. My favourite part about this book were the parents’ small quirks that I’ve totally experienced with my own parents! This wasn’t a particularly deep or culturally enlightening book, but it was a fun one. (Full review here)
The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn // ★★★★☆ // Read this with Sadia and Kat! Still in need of something light and easy, I went for one of my favourite genres: thrillers. This was my second buddy read, and it was especially fun to do a buddy read for a thriller because we were able to react and speculate together. I haven’t read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, but I’ve seen many reviews noting the striking similarities between the books. The conclusion seems to be that you only need to read one of these two books, and The Woman in the Window is slightly better for its stronger character arc. (Full review coming soon)
To be read
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara // I love true crime, so I’m excited for this book about the Golden State Killer. I’ve heard that this is one of the most well-researched well-written true crime books, and it’s a favourite for many.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman // After three months on the library waitlist, this book has finally come in for me! It was one of the most popular books last year. I’m soooo excited for it but I’m trying to manage my expectations. It seems like a sweet, quirky story.
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim // My first Goodreads giveaway win! If this is my only Goodreads giveaway win ever, I’ll be so happy–such a highly acclaimed book, by an Asian-American author, with the most beautiful cover I’ve ever seen. It’s actually my favourite book cover of all time and it sparkles!! Anywho, this book is “a literary courtroom drama about a Korean immigrant family and a young, single mother accused of murdering her eight-year-old autistic son.”
Naturally Tan by Tan France // I was supposed to have read this book before publication on June 4, but that’s not happening. Nevertheless, I’m still excited to get around to it! I love Queer Eye and how the Fab Five see the beauty in everyone. I’m intrigued to learn about Tan’s own journey.
Recursion by Blake Crouch // This is carried over from the previous month’s TBR. This is a sci-fi involving technology that preserves memories. I haven’t read sci-fi in awhile, one of my favourite genres, so I’m looking forward to this one! To be published on June 11.
Movies/TV shows
I watched Avengers: Endgame and Tolkien in theatres! I find superhero movies entertaining but I’m not emotionally invested. I enjoyed Endgame and thought it was a great film for fans, hitting the nostalgia factor well. I really enjoyed Tolkien and found it super refreshing to watch such a cinematic film after watching stuff like Endgame and Captain Marvel. Love period pieces, loved the soundtrack. Lily Collins is beautiful. I saw some reviews say that Tolkien was boring, but I was immersed in the atmospheric quality.
I went to a friend’s place for a viewing party for Always Be My Maybe! I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would–I originally thought I wouldn’t get past seeing Randall Park and Ali Wong as themselves rather than the characters they played–and almost cried three times! I don’t want to spoil anything in this post, but if anyone wants to chat in the comments, let’s get into all our feels together! I’ll probably be rewatching this on Netflix (:
I also watched Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile on Netflix. It was okay. I think I was hoping to learn more about the crimes, but seeing as this film was exploring Ted Bundy’s girlfriend’s perspective, who thought he was innocent, it makes sense that there wasn’t more about the crimes.
And of course, I finished up Game of Thrones, including the documentary The Last Watch. My friends and I kept to tradition, coming over to my place, making dinner, and watching together. For S08E04, we had creamy beef pasta and arugula salad. For S08E05, we had caramelised onion and apple grilled cheese and chicken avocado salad. For S08E06, we had Shake Shack; for the finale, we had intended to order off their Game of Thrones menu, but alas, the Dracarys Burger wasn’t available in store as advertised on the website, and they were out of ingredients for the Dragonglass Shake. Luckily I got the chance to try the Dragonglass Shake earlier in the month. For the documentary, we had red curry noodles, using this recipe that Jessica shared.
For lack of other shows to watch, I started rewatching Grey’s Anatomy. I started at the episode with Demi Lovato (S06E22), and right after that was the super intense two-part season finale with the shooter in the hospital. I teared up so many times but I don’t remember ever tearing up watching Grey’s Anatomy before! I think I’ve become more emotionally unstable post-grad lol.
Spendings
Monthlies – 45% • Transportation – 16% • Groceries – 11% • Coffee – 1% • Bubble tea – 3% • Food – 11% • Books – 0% • Clothes – 2% • Other – 11%
I spent almost $300 more than usual… yikes! Let’s see where I went wrong…
I spent $125~ more on transportation–where did I even go?? I did spend $27 for round-trip tickets to NYC, but what about the other $98??
I spent $50~ more on groceries.
I spent $50~ more eating out. I blame my “Parisian” day in Philly; the cafes I visited weren’t cheap, and I went a little extra with my orders so that the spread would look more interesting on camera. I also snacked more and had more ice cream.
I spent $30~ more on clothes. I don’t usually buy clothes, so this really just means that I spent $30 on clothes. I bought three pairs of shorts, bringing the total shorts in my wardrobe to four. Summer is here y’all!
I bought three books, but that hardly made a dent in my spendings at $6: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel by Karen Karbo, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone.
My miscellaneous spendings fluctuate month to month, but this month’s spendings were the highest yet. This month I spent it on: two movie tickets, flowers (for that “Parisian” day in Philly, but at least they were dried flowers so they’ll last forever), stationary for homemade postcards (stamp, stamp pad, postage stamps, card stock), a 1000-piece Game of Thrones puzzle (on sale at the HBO store!), kickboxing gloves, thrifted homeware, a hair serum, shopping at United By Blue’s warehouse sale.
I was thinking that my overspending could be attributed to the weather warming up, resulting in me only being able to think about immediate gratification whilst dying in the heat, and thus being more impulsive with spendings, so maybe my spike in spendings for eating out makes sense. Surprisingly, my coffee and bubble tea purchases stayed pretty consistent. On the other hand, I’m quite puzzled by my spike in spendings for transportation, and I’m interested to see whether my grocery budget changes with the seasons. I’ll have to keep an eye on my clothing and miscellaneous spendings. I probably shouldn’t have bought that Game of Thrones puzzle, and maybe I didn’t need everything I bought at the United By Blue warehouse sale.
Lately
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Making this “Parisian” vlog in Philly was the proudest moment of the month for me! The idea came to me one evening, I brainstormed locations that same night, spent the next day shooting footage, and finished editing the following afternoon. For behind the scenes, check out this post.
Visited Louise and her Scottish Fold Earl before they left for summer break!
I suddenly had the urge to make zucchini bread. In retrospect, it was probably because zucchinis are back in season, I started seeing them everywhere, and I remembered how delicious the zucchini bread from my college dining hall was. This quick bread was super easy to make and I already had all the ingredients needed in my apartment except for the zucchini. Would highly recommend making this to munch on for breakfast, for dessert, or with your afternoon coffee! I followed this recipe.
Popped by a thrift store and had the sudden urge to buy a vintage door/mirror!! If I was settled in my forever home already, I might very well have bought this. I think that it’d be such a special piece!
Popped by United By Blue‘s warehouse sale with Bomi, Connie, Malini, and Miranda! I bought a copper tumbler for $10, a bauble hat for $10, and two bandanas for $10 (together).
After United By Blue, Bomi, Connie, Malini, and I had lunch at Bubblefish. We had all decided on what we wanted to order, but then we saw our neighbouring table order an impressive-looking poke bowl, and we had to copy them.
Went back to campus for the first time in forever to help Kat deliver enamel pins from her Etsy shop sales!
Since I was at campus, I decided to return to my old haunts and hit up Pho Street for lunch. It was a dreary day out and a warm bowl of pho hit just the right spot. I also had some iced Vietnamese coffee. Pho Street’s Bryn Mawr location has the best iced Vietnamese coffee I’ve ever had so far!
Steph visited Philly from San Francisco, and it was so great to catch up over desserts at A La Mousse! She had a matcha mousse cake and I had a sizzling matcha brownie.
Made a day trip to NYC and met up with Heather, Poonie, Kristy, and Kathleen! Kristy visited from Toronto and Heather visited from Connecticut; it was the first time I met up with them since high school! The three of us had brunch at Gotan first, and then we headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to meet up with Poonie and Kathleen.
Victoria and I started hustling Philly’s kickboxing gyms for their free trials! So far, we’ve tried CKO Kickboxing (followed by frosties and fries at Wendy’s) and FightFit FightStrong (followed by crepes at Vineyards). FightFit is our favourite of the two by far. We have a second free trial from CKO to take advantage of, and there’s one more gym we want to try out before committing to anything. I wasn’t planning on getting a kickboxing membership after getting through our free trials because I already have my own gym/pool membership, but FightFit has an amazing $35 deal for the first month that I’m considering, though I may not continue after the first month.
You see a lot of cool stuff on the internet, but much of it happens far away from you. When I learned about Martabak Ok via Thrillist and found out that it was in Philly, I went for it. Martabak is an Indonesian street food that comes sweet or savoury. The sweet version is like a stuffed pancake, and the savoury version is pan-fried. We had wanted to try both a sweet and a savoury, but when we got there, they didn’t have the savoury ones available yet, so instead of a savoury martabak, we shared fried tofu, and then we each got our own sweet martabaks. I got pandan martabak stuffed with cheese and sweet corn, and Victoria got pandan martabak stuffed with cheese, peanuts, and chocolate sprinkles. The flavour combinations might seem strange, but they were so good! I plan on revisiting to try their savoury martabak.
I spent a day dog watching with Victoria! I wanted to creep on other people’s dogs and perhaps snap some thematic shots of A Dog Named Beautiful by Rob Kugler–which I won off an Instagram giveaway hosted by my friend Sadia–for my bookstagram, but I ended up photographing the book at Lil Pop Shop (where I had a strawberry rhubarb lemonade popsicle), and then dog watched at the nearby park free-handed!
I later had a Mister Softee rainbow sprinkle cone that same day.
Went hiking at Ridley Park with Bomi, Malini, and Delaney, and had a picnic too! Hoping to make a full post on it in a few weeks!
What was your highlight of May? What are you looking forward to in June?
PS: may 2018, may 2017, april 2019