What I Bought in June

Who knew it would take a pandemic and my awakening to social injustices that would finally curb my spending on clothes. This has probably been my lowest buy month, but through no conscious effort on my part. I just didn’t feel like thinking about clothes and buying much this month. And I’m totally fine with that.

What I Bought

I’ve spent the bulk of my money this month on plants from Leafy and Bloomscape. They’re one of my joys right now. I wonder if I’m going to end up becoming a plant-fluencer lol.

I did buy a pair of Only Child Dune pants (in this color but in linen) secondhand on eBay. I’ve tried Dune pants before (a size 2), pre-pregnancy, and ended up selling them because they were too tight from the get-go (guess I was being overly optimistic about losing weight). Now I bought them in 2 size larger t so we’ll see how they fit *fingers crossed*! Full review to come of course.

I also purchased this cotton striped dress from Kemi Telford (a black woman-owned brand based in the UK). It’s going to be here soon and can’t wait! I was also tempted by this gingham dress and this fun patterned dress but decided to stick with my usual favorite, stripes lol.

Nothing gifted and nothing sold this month.

Still Learning

Before this week I’ve heard the term “doing the work” bandied about and I never really understood it. Or maybe I just disregarded it because it made me uncomfortable or because I didn’t think it applied since I’m not white. I’m also pretty sure I never did the work because I never had a child. But now that my views and biases will get passed down to her, now it definitely matters. Regardless I’m ashamed to say that it has taken me this long to finally sit with the discomfort and face my role in all this. By not speaking up, I am that Asian police officer in the group that killed George Floyd (and thank goodness he was there because then the Asian American community can no longer excuse their silence). But better late than never? I hope so.

Though I grew up in Hawaii where there are less racial tensions and a lot more hapas (half White/half Asian), there is still racism towards Black people (called Popolo in Hawaii slang—next time you hear that in Hawaii, know that it’s a derogatory word). There are so few Black people who grow up on the islands (most are tourists or military) that I’m sure many locals don’t view anti-Black racism as their problem. The racism is there but never addressed. It’s racism behind closed doors, and it’s just as pervasive and dangerous as overt racism because we’re passing it down from generation to generation. That’s why I need to do the work. Because the buck stops here.

I’m sorry for all the times I laughed at racists jokes, where I encouraged that behavior in others. I’m deeply ashamed that I’ve made a few racist jokes myself in the past. I’m ashamed to say I only started following BIPOC influencers last year (and I’m ashamed to say I excused myself for not doing so earlier because I thought I had a different kind of style than most black influencers—so not true and so ignorant). I’m guilty of thinking that since I’m not white and have faced discrimination that I don’t have to do anything. This is me just beginning to come to terms with my errors. I’ll probably keep making mistakes along my path to becoming an ally—I’ll admit I don’t think I’m there yet. But I’m going to keep trying.

I’m still continuing to learn all the ways I can do better, and every person has their own work to do. As for me, I’m committing to reading the anti-racists books from my last post and continuing to learn. I’m going to use my small platform here to promote BIPOC brands (I’m sorry to say I just started doing so with my TwoDaysOff Clothing review). I’ll also continue to donate to BLM and other anti-racist organizations. I understand this is the least I can do right now. But I promise, I’ll continue working, listening, and learning.

Listening and Learning

Hi guys, so I decided to take a break from posting this week because reviews feel so irrelevant right now. There’s no need to add a distraction when we should all focus on doing the important work of confronting racism in our own thinking, of recognizing our non-black privilege, and taking steps towards making a better world through our actions. There are a flood of resources on Instagram right now, but if you’re not on that platform here are some of what I learned this week:

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From Temi here.

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Homework, via

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And where to donate (also add to this list NAACP legal defense fund)

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And yes to some this may look like I’m jumping on a bandwagon since I’ve never posted BLM material before. So I apologize that it took me so long to get here, but I’m working on doing better. I guess you can say I’m finally “woke”?

Weekend Update/Ramblings

What a world we live in right now. I’ve been mostly quiet on social media because I didn’t want to post a George Floyd tribute and then post an outfit photo or something equally as frivolous right after. But at the same time I don’t want people to mistake my silence as complicity. I donated some money but I need more time to continue to process everything. This New York Times parenting article also made my heart hurt: imagine having to move to another country to ensure the safety of your child and to give your child a fighting chance. Faced with the same dilemma, I would probably do the same (of course it’s a privilege to make this choice, a privilege that many don’t have.)

In other news we’ve broken quarantine. We now have a quarantine crew (or corona crew?) that we hang out on the weekends. It’s with several other families with small children that Emi can play with. I think it does her really good to hang out with kids her age and older since she’s learning from them. She is also way more social than I am and can’t seem to get enough of new people (I feel bad that she only sees my husband and myself day in and day out). I do worry about the increased chance of getting ill but since we don’t see any vulnerable people, I’m taking the risk so that Emi can get some socialization. Anyways everyone has to consider their own level of risk that their comfortable with and so far we are ok with this. Thanks to Allison for pointing me to this Emily Oster (the author of one of my fave baby books, Cribsheets) post about assessing your own risk tolerance level.

Anyway I wish you all love and care this week. Please take care of yourself out there!

What I Bought and Sold in May

What I Bought

After seeing this Sezane puffy sleeve embroidered top on Erica (insta: ahistoryofarchitecture), I decided to finally try out Sezane. I’ve thought about trying out their stuff before but nothing quite compelled me like this frilly blouse lol. I absolutely love it (I’ve been wearing it for the #may30x30 challenge over on Insta).

I technically bought this in April but I forgot to add it to my list so I’ll add it here: this gorgeous Heinui dress. This purchase was also instigated from Erica lol. I had never heard of Heinui before, but it’s a small slow fashion brand run by a French woman in Barcelona. All her dresses are made to order using custom printed fabrics. I just got this dress and guys, it’s goooorgeous! It’s like Elizabeth Suzann quality but with unique styling and color!

Several plants and planters from Leafy, a Bay Area plant company. And two more plants form California Tropicals (pictured above after repotting) because I’m now an impulse plant shopper (which isn’t a bad thing since it definitely does less damage than being an impulse purse shopper lol).

A reader here talked about Loq shoes after reading my St. Agni post. I immediately went down a Loq rabit hole (which consisted of checking out their website, looking for reviews, and then scoping out eBay and the RealReal). I ended up purchasing these Carmen mules from the website since it was on super sale. I say for the mules you can go with your true size (in this case it’s a 38 for me), though I think in general their sizing runs a tad small. I would probably go for a 39 in most other styles. {And while searching for the link above, I saw them on super sale here at Nordstrom Rack if you’re interested.}

And speaking of the RealReal, when I went to scope them out I reignited my TRR addiction (plus I also had about $200 in left over credit burning a hole in my pocket lol). I purchased a couple things from them including another Ulla Johnson top ($58 for 100% silk!), and things from new-to-me brands Horses Atelier and Cecilie Copenhagen.

I’ve been wanting a nap dress for awhile (not really to nap in, but just one of those loose and easy dresses you could nap in). Anyway it was love at first site with this dress from Ichi Antiquities (another brand I’ve heard a lot about but had yet to try). I’m hoping I won’t be disappointed!

What I Was Gifted

So technically this was gifted by my husband and I’m not sure it would fall under this category, but since I didn’t purchase it it’s a gift right? Anyway as a Mother’s Day gift, he purchased a pink anthurium and two plant pots from Shop Pigment (as requested by me lol). As for gifts from brands this month: nada.

What I’m Selling/Sold

Sorry my blog closet sale is a little slow going. Since all of that is going to charity, I’m selling my more high ticket items to replenish my blog spending account over at my Instagram account (they’re saved under the “Closet Sale” highlights).