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Moving from conspicuous to conscious consumption and doing reviews along the way.  Find plenty of unsponsored reviews of Quince, Everlane, Grana, and Cuyana on the site!  I'm working towards a minimal waste lifestyle, and oh yea I love bags >.<

December 2024 Recap

Did

Had a colonscopy: I’m a bit early to the game (they recommend having it done at 45), but I decided to schedule one due to some issues with my gut and a history of polyps in my family. I have to say it’s not as bad as being extremely hung over or a bad case of food poisoning, but the prep is not a walk in the park. Also I did not think I had it in me to not eat solid food for 40+ hours, but I did it. I had one polyp and did some biopsies of my lining. We’ll see what the results are.

Updated these reviews: Quince Kids Clothing review (with their leggings), Quince Sweater review, Quince Jewelry Review (added the pave diamond domed ring and the gold pave diamond U earrings), and my Korean Bag Brands Review (added Facade Pattern and Roh Seoul).

Removed a blog post: I don’t recall ever having removed a blog post before, especially not a popular one. But this month I decided to remove my How to Authenticate a (Phoebe Philo era) Celine blog post because I’ve had way too many one-time users ask for an authentication (some quite rudely). And I feel guilty not lending a hand, especially when I know if it’s fake or not. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the one who argued their item was authentic after I gave my opinion. Honestly I don’t need to do this for the general public. So for those who’ve been following me for awhile and genuinely want to know if their 2008-2018 Celine bag is authentic please feel free to reach out. But for now that post is gone.

I tried a free trial for an Instagram subscription to Eva Chen’s account. I’m a big fan of Eva’s so when a free trial offer for her subscription popped up I thought I’d give it a try. Since she’s an Insta employee, I figured she’d provide the better than average content for the extra $2.99 a month you’re paying. And I can see how this is supposed to be like a Patreon account through Insta, but I have to say I just didn’t find the value in it. I’m glad I got to try it out but honestly it’s not worth it. It’s basically the same content she provides for free but just more of it. Do you subscribe to anyone’s Insta account for the extra $2.99 a month and find it worth it?

 

And finally, the project my husband and I have been working on since last year May has finally opened: Kidplex! We opened a kids indoor playground in San Ramon, inspired by the many playgrounds/kids cafes we visited in Japan and Korea. It was a long tough battle to open (let me just say do not open a business that requires a building permit in San Ramon—they’ll bounce it back to you even for the slightest typo and cost you another two weeks šŸ˜–) and I’m sure we still have a lot left to learn about this business. But at least we’re finally open (you can follow along on our insta: @kidplexcali). So this is just to say this space might get quiet as this new business takes off (though I have posts until at least January scheduled out), but I hope to be back to a regular posting schedule once Kidplex finds its feet. Wish us luck!

Bought

Madewell Harlow Pants: As I said in my review of Madewell’s Harlow pants, I wanted to try the other types that Madewell produced since I first purchased them. So I got several pairs of the Harlow pants in drapey twill from their Black Friday sale. I’m glad I waited for them because I was able to get them for almost 60% off.

 

Quince organic cotton leggings and baby alpaca-wool waffle stitch polo sweater (pictured above): The only things I purchased during the black friday sales at Quince were the cotton leggings for Emi (because she’s been getting holes in her Uniqlo heat tech leggings like crazy) and a sweater for myself in the all popular color brown. I try not to rebuy sweaters but this one was just too good.

 

Secondhand Hermes Plume 32: I also got this for a great deal and had the intention of reselling it, but somewhere along the way I fell in love and ended up keeping it. It can just fit over my shoulder but is can also fit a laptop, which unfortunately my Dunst Classic 28 cannot. I didn’t love the Plume 28 but I’m 100% about the Plume 32.

The Row Hugo Slide (also wearing in the picture above): This was an impulse purchase through influenced by Instagram šŸ¤¦šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø but when I saw these shoes for 60% off I couldn’t resist. I love my Birks, so I figure I would wear these fancy Birks as well. And I love them. I’m still a little too scared to wear them out (these are made in pony hair), especially since it’s the rainy season. These Hugo slides feel infinitely more luxe than my regular Birks but they’re definitely not the same kind of workhorse.