Did

Got my first mammogram: I was overdue about a year but decided to just do it this month. It wasn’t fun but it was thankfully brief. For all the female elder millenials that hit 40 recently (or even not so recently lol), don’t forget to do these preventative health scans!

Made a goal to eliminate processed meat from my diet: I know eating a lot of processed and red meat isn’t good for your health, but that was again brought to my attention with a NYT article this month. Then I ate a chicken sausage and felt like crap. So even though it’s almost the end of the year I made a resolution to eliminate processed meat from my diet. I’ve already cut down on my red meat consumption quite a bit, but will still get some chicken sausage or ham slices once in awhile. But for the sake of my health and my family’s health, I’m going to avoid even those items.

Updated the following blog posts: The Row Margaux 15 Review, Quince Home Goods Review (with the addition of a review for East Fork pottery).

This is officially my K-drama summer (leading into a K-drama Autumn?). This month I continued watching Love Next Door on Netflix weekly (honestly it’s annoying to go back to the old way of waiting weekly for the next episodes, but it’s also probably better for my sleep schedule 😂). I also started watching weekly (airs Monday and Tuesday) on Amazon Prime No Gain No Love, because I like the actress Shin Min-A (from Hometown Cha Cha Cha). Even though this show isn’t as hyped as Love Next Door, I’m enjoying it a lot more (it’s definitely funnier). Then I got VPN to watch Teo Yoo’s newest show on Netflix Korea where he tours around the US making music, but unfortunately there’s no subtitles so I can’t understand it. But while I was clicking around I watched Log in Belgium, which is Teo Yoo’s arthouse movie/pandemic project— it’s a mix of creative isolation “psychosis” (brought on by having to isolate in a hotel in Belgium during the first few weeks of the very first lock down—an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone) and real life events and press tours (at times feeling like a vlog or a TikTok/Insta Reel). I found myself very amused and even LOL’ing at certain parts (though I did have to skip ahead at other parts). But overall I appreciated the goofy lovable side of this actor. Again there were no subtitles so I could only watch the first third (and some parts at the end) where he spoke English. I know I’m shouting into the void here but Netflix bring both Teo Yoo’s shows to the US and give me subtitles! Then using my VPN, I used Sydney, Australia, as a location and was able to unlock a bunch of older K-dramas that I never saw including What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (meh I couldn’t finish it). Instead I binge watched Marry My Husband on Amazon Prime, which was a lot more compelling (and starring the same actress Park Min-Young). I think my shopping addiction has turned into a K-drama addiction (and my credit cards are like 😮‍💨).

And lastly, thanks to getting more immersed into Korean entertainment, I’ve been looking at my MBTI personality type (because I guess that’s a thing there?). I never took stock in it much before since all the answers were self-perceived and it almost seemed like you are what you think you are (or want to be). But maybe I’m getting to know myself better because having revisited this personality test, I fully feel that I really am an INFP. And that has helped me understand a bit better why I do/did the things I do/did. Anyway what’s your personality type (I feel like there might be a lot of blog readers who start with an “I” lol though I have no real proof of that) and do you take stock in such things?

Bought

Vintage Louis Vuitton Epi Noe Bucket Bag: I’m not sure why I impulse purchased this vintage LV Noe bucket bag, my first LV in a looooong time. It might have been the Kenyan Brown color, which I don’t see pop up as often. Or it might have been the $150 price tag. But whatever the reason I love it and have been using it pretty frequently. It was in “poor” condition, with some tarnishing of the hardware and wear to the leather (but all the straps are still attached and there’s plenty of life left). I love the carefree, well-used vibe of the bag. Plus this bag holds A LOT (like both my 40oz Stanley and my daughter’s water bottle, along with a change of clothes, etc.). I can do a full review of this bag if anyone is interested.

Quince Sensa Champagne Flute Set (used referral credit): I don’t drink often these days (and pretty much never at home), but I find that when I do it’s usually a celebratory flute of something bubbly. And after a housewarming get-together where again bubbly was served in my mismatched and cheap champagne flutes, I decided to go for this matching set of Sensa flutes from Quince. I love the feel and shape of these flutes so much that I’m considering getting other wine glasses from Sensa via Quince (however I have to note of the set of 6, one came broken so I only have 5).

Bosch 800 Series Dishwasher, returned it, and then got the Bosch 500 Series (🤦🏻‍♀️): My husband and I are very picky about our dishwashers since we both hate to wash dishes. It was the first appliance we purchased at our last house, and it’s the first one we purchased for our new place as well. We just can’t handle a crap dishwasher that can’t get all the food stains out (nothing grosses me more than baked on food stains thanks to the extreme dry cycle of a dishwasher). And so we got the Bosch 800 series dishwasher. We used it for one day, and as good as it is in drying, we decided to return it to go back to the 500 Series (which we had in our last home). Let me tell you what a hassle that was (but hey I found out I can help lift a dishwasher into the bed of a truck with moving straps 💪🏼). But it was worth it because we’re ardent fans of the Auto Air feature of the 500 Series. Anyway if anyone’s interested in a comparison review (since we now have experience with both) let me know.

Dunst Classic 28 bag in brown: After writing my Korean bag brands review I ended up purchasing this bag a second time in brown (my first one is black). I love the simple style and the quality is decent for the price point. I look forward to using this bag more when it starts raining since I’m not as concerned about these Dunst bags as I am my other designer bags. Also it’s been really fun to try out different bag charms with this bag.

Dunst Leather Logo Half Zip Sweatshirt: And while I was clicking around looking at the Dunst bags, this half-zip sweatshirt caught my eye. I liked how the D logo (which kind of looks like the Delvaux logo), matches the brown of the bag. And I saw them style it with a light blue button down (which I already have from Quince), and fell in love with the look. Honestly this outfit feels so me right now that I don’t have any regrets on purchasing this sweatshirt (even though I just said I don’t purchase new clothes anymore lol, guess I still do once in awhile). I got a size M and it’s a bit oversized. I think I would have preferred a small but I can live with it. However, I’m very tempted by the navy version now but I’m going to hold off.

Returned

Everlane Way High Cropped Gardener Jeans and The Gardener Skirt: You know how sometimes you buy one new thing and that opens the flood gates for more new things? I think I ordered these two items because I purchased the Dunst sweatshirt (again, even though I said I don’t buy new clothes anymore). Well I ended up returning both of these items since they both were a bit too big on me, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the “gardener” style (where the pockets wrap around the leg—it looked a bit weird to me). Anyway I got these two on credit (leftover from my Everlane review years 5+ years ago), but I can’t believe I used to do order things from Everlane almost every week.