While putting together my various monthly and annual wrap-ups, I realised that many of my favourite moments of 2019 also translated into my favourite posts of 2019, so this year I decided to combine those wrap-ups in this one post.
~ T R A V E L ~
Japan: What I ate in Japan. Japan actually happened at the very end of 2018, but I didn’t get around to recapping it until the very beginning of 2019. Typically, I document my travels in diary format, but this time I gave it a little more focus. I feel like the majority of my posts are photo dumps that don’t mean anything to anyone but me, so I’m proud of offering you slightly more structure and had to shout it out in 2019’s highlights since it just missed 2018. Let’s pretend the structure of this post wasn’t forged out of necessity because I came back from Japan and realised I only took pictures of food.
Hawaii: The same sky. A short sentiment on celebrating the small moments. It’s easy to fall in love with sunsets. Let’s also fall in love with the sunrises and wake up every morning in celebration.
Switzerland: Travel diary. Definitely my top travel destination of the year. In one week in one country, I experienced summer by the lake and winter in the mountains. Words can’t quite convey the quiet peace I found in the grandeur of this country’s natural beauty. I hope to find this peace in myself one day.
Austria: Travel diary. I’ve traveled alone, with friends, with family, and with just my parents before, but this was my first trip in my 23 years of life with just my brothers and neither of our parents! In charge of our own itinerary, we kept it simple, streamlining our time in Vienna on Ringstraße; if you’re traveling on a tight schedule, most everything you need to see in Vienna is on Ringstraße. Besides seeing the sights, my brothers and I also had fun cooking together in our Airbnb. Cooking is still novel for them. No, my brother’s grilled chicken/salmon over rice doesn’t count.
Hungary: Travel diary. I vividly remember that Bloglovin’ was down the day this post published, so give it a peek if you missed it! Budapest was such a friendly city and had some of the best food + attraction combos, which is perfectly suited for someone like me whose natural inclination is to luxuriate rather than go on a wild hiking adventure. This travel diary is another rare post with a vague structure, sharing my favourite food + attraction combos, so snaps for me haha. I also must bring attention to my love for Hungarian lemonade.
“Paris.” You may or may not recall that I wrote a post to go with the vlog, but it was mostly just to shove this vlog in your face, so I admit that the blog post wasn’t my best work and it won’t be linked here. Enjoy the vlog though! I filmed the most Parisian scenes in Philly and edited together a “Paris” vlog. I’m really proud of how it turned out and would go as far as to consider it one of my most creative ventures. This project was conceived and created over the course of an evening and two days!
Philadelphia: Talking to strangers. Not a travel post, but had to give some love to my city and make space to share one of my favourite posts of the year. We’re all living, walking, breathing stories; here are some fleeting moments where our stories have overlapped.
Manhattan: Birthday disposables. This year I celebrated my birthday with my birthday twin and best friend/arch nemesis Kat in Manhattan with a disposable camera on hand. I really leaned into the analogue aspect of this documentation by handwriting and scanning the text to go with the photos. It took a long ass time cleaning up those scans, so I probably won’t be doing that again anytime soon, but I would love to get in the habit of using disposables.
Brooklyn: Sketchbook Museum. I’ve popped in and out of Manhattan countless times, but this was my first proper trip into Brooklyn (proper = exploring further than the Brooklyn Bridge/Dumbo). I shared this spot in a post, but the writing wasn’t as succinct/effective/strong as I would have liked. Although it wasn’t one of my favourite posts of the year, it was definitely one of my favourite experiences of the year. I would highly recommend checking out The Sketchbook Project at the Brooklyn Art Library if you ever find yourself in the neighbourhood. It’s basically a library of 41,000+ sketchbooks from 130+ countries—not quite a library because you can’t check out the books, but you can create your own sketchbook and add it to the collection. I love the creativity and presence this unique space inspires. You can check out their website here.
China & Taiwan. The big moments come and go, but the small moments make up the everyday. I’ll always come back here, no matter where I end up. A joyful night sneaking 煎饼 before dinner.
~ M U S I C ~
Jacob Banks. Favourite concert ever.
Tom Odell. He stood on the piano.
Andrew Belle. Grey’s Anatomy dream come true.
Bruno Major. For the second time.
Sofar Sounds. Intimate gigs with local artists. Planning to see more in the future.
Abhi the Nomad. Bomi’s favourite, seen with Bomi.
~ B L O G F R I E N D S ~
Jessica x Little Henry Lee. Caught up with Jessica over coffee between her move from Canada back to Australia!
Mei x Ice Pandora. Seeing as Mei was visiting NYC from the Netherlands, the least I could do was pop by from Philly! Check out Mei’s recap of our foodie adventure (of course) here.
Abby x Lace & Lilacs. Showed Abby around Philly for a day; I’ll have to revisit Paris for her to show me around! Check out Abby’s recap here to see Philly in film.
What’s a highlight from your year and/or what post are you most most proud of writing in 2019? Leave a link in the comments and I’d love to check it out!
Happy New Year!
2019 by month: december, november, october, september, august, july, june, may, april, march, february, january