Happy Friday!
Back with another Friday Favorites. This will probably be the last Friday Faves for this year since I have other fun Holiday themed post ideas planned for the next few weeks, but we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled program in the new year!
FIVE FRIDAY FAVORITES
Vietnam 2020
Now that the weather is getting consistently colder by the day, I want nothing more than a big bowl of hot pho and an escape to somewhere warm. So I am thrilled that 2020 is a Vietnam year!
If you’re new here, I’m half Vietnamese on my mom’s side and my grandmother and a ton of my aunts, uncles and cousins are still in Vietnam. It’s a long and expensive trip so we try to visit every two years and 2020 is the year! We are going at the end of January for the Lunar New Year and 3 out of my 4 aunts from the US are traveling as well and I’m even more excited because my cousin Jeffrey is coming along this time as well! We are even traveling together so he can hold my hand when I get scared on the plane since Eddie is not coming!!
Out of all my cousins, Jeffrey & I are closest in age and just close in general! I saw him in October when I went to his wedding, but I’m so excited to be spending 2 weeks with him and soaking up all the food, warm weather and family time!
Taylor Swift
My queen. My everything. A few weeks ago I ordered this sweatshirt from her website the minute it dropped. I love fashion illustrations to begin with, but an entire collage of Taylor through the years?? Yes, yes, yes, sign me up. It just came in the mail this week and I am in love. On top of that, Spotify just released personalized lists on who your most listened artist of the year is, along with your fave songs and all that jazz and my number one artist of the year and the decade was Taylor Swift! I am not at all surprised!!
New iPhone!
I normally don’t go crazy over new iPhone launches, but something about this phone (cough, the cameras, cough) made me want it so badly so I finally upgraded my phone and my mom’s phone. We both got the iPhone 11 Pro Max in gold and I bought us both Casetify cases which are my favorite cases out there. I opted for this little chihuahua one since I’m obsessed with Kenny and chihuahuas in general and mom got the cherry blossom one. But, so far we have been loving the new phone and the camera really is great, especially in low light.
Birthday At the New York Palace
There was a time where I had a tradition of taking birthday blog photos at the New York Palace and making a day out of it with my family to take photos then eat at a nearby diner and then shop around. Here is 2015 and here is 2016.
I haven’t done that for the past two years for personal reasons and because my anxiety really got the best of me the past few Holiday seasons so I’m excited to bring the tradition back this year! Mom and I are getting up super early on Saturday morning to take photos for the blog in preparation of my birthday next week! And while we’re at it, I’m going to try and knock out a few more outfit posts to wrap up my December content!
New iPad!
Somewhat of an impulsive Black Friday purchase! If you read this post, then you know I picked up an iPad during the Black Friday sales. I used to have one and then it broke and then I had a not so great one and now I finally have a brand new baby of my own.
I got the gold color, which side note, I’ve been loving all the gold Apple products lately! Anyways I’ve just been loving having an iPad again. I’m using it to get my life organized, I have all my streaming services downloaded on it, I’ve been reading all my fave blogs again, working on my blog through it and downloading new books. I think for my Vietnam trip, rather than lugging over 3+ books, I’m just going to download them to save room in my carry on bag.
THIS WEEK WAS
Girl. We are approaching shark week. It’s almost period week. Whatever you want to call it, she is almost here. So I’m sure you all know how my week is going. The pre-cramps, the hormones, that’s it. That’s how my week is going.
SHOPPING CORNER
Turning “Beauty Corner” into “Shopping Corner” this week because I wanted to share some random things I’ve purchased from Amazon lately that I really love. Am I the only one that goes on random Amazon shopping sprees? I swear it’s like an infomercial, they can sell me on anything.
I was not about to spend $40+ for a clear phone case at the Apple store so I ordered this inexpensive one and I actually love it. My boyfriend also just got a new phone and paid for the Apple case and honestly I think this one is way better.
I’ve been trying to “jazz up” my desk at work and ordered this rose gold iPhone stand because I like to keep mine within eye sight during the day to be on the look out for any work fire drills. This one is so great. It’s heavy and sturdy and does it’s job. I’ve owned a few phone stands that are flimsy or too big and this one is perfect.
To match the pink/rose gold theme of my desk, I ordered this marble pen holder and it’s so fab.
Okay, you’re definitely going to laugh when you see this one and think it’s weird. But, whenever we travel to Vietnam we bring a ton of gifts for our family over there. We are allowed two suitcases up to 50lbs to travel and I wanted a good scale to weigh the luggages that wasn’t the little rinky dink travel one so I got this big guy and while it may seem ridiculous, it really is great!
A few weeks ago, I had a girl’s day with Eddie’s mom, sister-in-law and brother’s girlfriend and we got our nails done before going out to dinner. I picked this color and randomly and was obsessed with it so I decided to order it off Amazon because… why not?
I picked up a new AirPods case because I felt like the light pink one I had before was just a little too plain for me and the Disney lover in me just needed something more and I love this new one.
CURRENTLY…
Watching… Doll Face on Hulu! Actually I finished it already because there are only 10 episodes that are 30 minutes each so it’s such a quick and easy watch. One of my coworker’s recommended this to me and now I’m telling everyone because it’s fabulous.
Listening… Krystal Faircloth of A Pinch of Lovely has a new podcast called Slow Your Scroll. I’ve followed Krystal for a while now and I love her as a blogger and she is an even more amazing podcast host! She is charming, genuine, funny and her guests have been spot on. I listen to a few blogger podcasts and I find that they can sometimes be preachy, a little too money or affiliate focused and even defensive over the criticisms bloggers receive. I like that Krystal addresses those things, actually listens, can laugh it off and doesn’t come across as pretentious. AND through her podcast, I discovered Kate Kennedy and her podcast Be There in Five. I’ve only just started listening but so far I am OBSESSED with her and her outlook on the blog world and I can’t wait to keep listening on.
Reading... A Great & Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I read this when I was in high school and remember liking it, but never finished the series so I wanted to revisit it. I’m having a hard time connecting currently, but that’s because I’ve been reading back to back rom coms and this is more of a fantasy/mystery, but I’ll get there!
HAVE YOU READ?
- I adore Cailtin and have been following her since the beginning. I love her so much more after reading this article about her struggle with anxiety. It’s so relatable and genuine. She opens up about medication which is still a big stigma in society today. Last year I was on anxiety medicine for a bit, but felt so self conscious about it so I love that she opened up.
- I recently discovered Dileiny’s blog, but I’ve been loving every post she puts out, especially this one where she celebrates one year of blogging full time and shares the lessons she’s learned.
- I’m so late to reading this post since it came out in 2018, but I loved reading about Blair’s career in merchandising. I’m new to the merchandising field, but also working at Gap Inc where Blair got her start so it’s really cool reading her perspective.
UPCOMING
- Getting up early this weekend to take blog photos at the New York Palace. Are you even from New York & even Christmas if you don’t?? Afterwards, I’m sure we’ll be tired so hoping to get some salt bagels with lox then head home to take a nap and go to the gym.
- For the rest of the weekend I’m hoping to have a relaxing weekend in, working on my blog and watching Disney+ originals with Eddie.
Have a great weekend! Thank you for stopping by & reading.
Love reading your posts – I feel like I can really get to know you! Your weekend plans sounds fun, yummy bagels!! I live in SF so hoping to make it to some festive events this weekend as well!
Lisa
http://www.theeverydayelevated.com