As we get ready to go back to California in a couple weeks, I just wanted to collect some of my thoughts about what I’ve learned after living in Hawaii for the last 4 months. But note, I was born and raised here so not everything is brand new to me. But I haven’t lived in my hometown for an extended time since I was 18, so there are a lot of things I’ve learned about living in Hawaii as an adult.

I got a bit carried away again during my birthday month (again). I think pandemic + stress + the excuse of my birthday let’s me get more carried away than I want.

During stressful times, I fall back to my my favorite escape/brain-numbing habit: TV. And well, in general my screen time has gone way up. So I thought I might as well make some recommendations so it’s not a complete waste of time 😆. Here are some of the things I’ve enjoyed watching:

Oh boy, what a week huh. Well maybe especially if you’re an Asian-American (or Asian-Australian, Asian-Canadian, or Asian-European, though you guys don’t have the same fear of gun violence lucky ducks). Here, in Hawaii, I’m grateful to be able to feel removed from it a bit since Asians make-up a majority and racism to Asians is quite low. But the shooting in Atlanta and all the hate crimes targeting the elderly in California has me a little fearful of going back to California (I’ve started looking up purchasing pepper spray on Amazon).

Ah another year older and another birthday not celebrated due to the pandemic. I don’t miss it too much because (thank goodness) I’m an introvert. But I realized that I haven’t properly celebrated a birthday going on 3 years now. Two years ago I was recovering from a C-section in the hospital and last year we had just entered lockdown. I guess it just gives me an excuse to spend a bit more on my birthday present to myself than I normally would— probably fool’s thinking but 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Some things I’ve enjoyed reading lately:

Neela is one of my favorite bloggers out there because she writes so well and her words often resonate with me. I also find that she’s a great role model when it comes to lessening consumption and thinking about our clothes. Her 2021 Style Resolutions has given me a lot to think about, especially #7. Here is one of my favorite paragraphs of her post:

Recently I’ve been watching a spate of social media themed documentaries, movies, and TV series. And it has really gotten me thinking about my current (nano) “influencer” status (discussed more at the bottom). Anyway I highly recommend watching these shows:

Whew for a month there (the month of January) I totally forgot my blog name and was quite un-curated in my buying. I definitely purchased way too many things. Luckily I did a lot better in February. And since I’m working on limiting my spending for the rest of the year, I’m adding back in the section that I used to call “What I Wanted.” But I’m taking inspiration from the Luxe Strategist, and am renaming it “What I Resisted” since it’s a more accurate description.

I was recently inspired by Eva Chen and Jessica to start using a habit tracker. I’ve never used one before but was intrigued when Eva started using a paper one. Yet it didn’t seem like something I would keep up with. But when Jessica mentioned using an app, I thought I’d give it a try.