Okay okay okay... You already know what I'm going to say don't you... everyone say it with me, "Hey guys! I know it'd been a while, but this time I really want to be better at posting more consistently."
We know what the reality is though, I love this blog with my whole heart, but sometimes I really do forget that it exists, I get in my head and worry that no one will read, no one will enjoy the posts, but I REALLY want to have it as an archive for the future! I want to come back here and see this snazzy new haircut! See where I was in this time of my life! See what I was wearing, read what I was going through, all that stuff! So with this I give you a ✨life update✨
As we know, I'm still living at home! Very grateful to be doing so, I seriously do love it here... Especially as all the flowers are blooming and people are getting vaccinated, Richmond is coming alive again! I have been loving taking long walks everyday, journaling in the park, going on picnics and really savoring the little moments I do have while I'm still here.
I have been applying for jobs again!! I have a few things in the works at the moment, but I won't spoil anything for the sake of potentially jinxing myself! But just know that i'm VERY excited about what's possibly in store for me! Another reason why I am loving savoring my time here in Richmond, I hopefully will be moving sometime soon! I feel like I say that a lot, but this time it's for real :-)
Things with Reece are going really well! (Reece is my boyfriend, is this news to you? I really don't know if I've mentioned him on here yet, oops!! Peep my instagram for some cutie pics of him hehe) He actually just got a job in NYC! Very excited for him!
This week my whole family is in town!! Which is just delightful :-) Mimi came to visit after a whole year and a half of not coming here due to COVID! Saunders came to visit while she was here for a while and then surprise surprise, Emma flew in on Saturday night!! I had no idea she was coming, it was SUCH a fun surprise! It's so amazing to have everyone together here again! I really cant believe it's been over a year since we've all been under the same roof! HUGE shoutout to the Pfizer Vaccine for sponsoring this family gathering lol. BUT for real! I got my first vaccination two weeks ago, I could not be more excited about the world being on the mend now! Here's to a bright, shiny, HEALTHY, healing future!!
HELLO! Many of you were requesting life updates since my being here in Hong Kong, so here you go: currently I am sitting in bed, sans pants, eating pesto penne pasta with chopsticks, authentic, I know...
But really, as impressed as I'm sure you are with my chopstick vs. penne skills, I don't think that is what you are here for. Luckily, I'll do my best to provide what you are here for, highlights! And no, not any kind of Glossier or Jeffree Star highlights, so if you're here for that, best you clicked out now.
It has officially been two weeks since I've been living in Hong Kong. So far SO great. Besides going to classes everyday, (okay minus one day when I was super sick) ((everyone gets a travel bug at some point right?)) these are some of the fun things I have done since being here.
Art Central
Last Friday, my friend, Michele and I went to an amazing art show called Art Central. It's a massive showing of art from all around the world from artists who are just emerging, to highly established ones. It was SUCH a cool experience. I especially loved seeing not only pieces that brought me joy, but what made others stop and take a second look, and maybe even take a photo. Everyone has such different taste which I love. Glad I could spend the morning surrounded by curators, art lovers, collectors, and pleasant gallery goers that day, oh yeah and Michele, she's alright I guess...
We got noodles that day for lunch from a Michelin Star restaurant, it didn't disappoint and I felt fancy.
Exploring Sham Shui Po
Sham Shui Po is the neighborhood where SCAD is located. Just to clarify, the student apartments are on the Gold Coast, which is about give or take 20-40 minutes (depending on traffic) away from Sham Shui Po, which is in the city. Gold Coast is much more residential, where as Sham Shui Po and surrounding city neighborhoods are bustling with street vendors, smells of some kind of unique food wafting through the air, crowded cross walks, Peppa Pig merch-filled markets, and bubble tea, lots and lots of bubble tea.
Neon signs line the streets as do motorcycles and strangers, I love it. I'm working on getting my bearings, and beings comfortable exploring solo without getting lost. A major plus about Hong Kong is that it is super duper safe. No one is out to get you, scam you, rob you, hurt you, or harass you. Honestly! Obviously I still have all common sense in tact, but it's nice to not have to be on high alert 24/7 for sketchy strangers.
Flower, Jade, and Ladies Markets
Last weekend, Claire, Michele, and I decided to take a trip to Jordan and Mong Kok (neighboring neighborhoods of the Sham Shui Po neighborhood). To say the least, it was overwhelming. SO many people shuffling either too slowly or way too quickly through narrow paths. Claire's face in the photo above perfectly depicts how we felt at the Ladies Market. There, everyone was trying to get from one knock off to the other, bargaining and hunting for the easiest merchant to swindle for a lower price on cheaply made designer knock offs and knick knacks. I succeeded in this field multiple times, it's safe to say I'm not only proud but feeling kinda cocky, ask me about my new "Gucci" sunglasses, I dare you.
As for the Flower and Jade Markets, the Flower Market we just walked through, no swindling there. Just orchid smelling and succulent price comparing, none were worth it for me though, seeing as it would probably die upon first touch of my not so green thumbs anyway. The Jade Market was similar to the Ladies Market in the sense that EVERYONE was trying to get you to buy their jade, not the guys in the booth next to theirs! I didn't end up getting any, 1. because it was not real, however priced as though it was, and 2. I wanted to get something for my mom and sister, but thought I would wait it out until I'm further into the quarter, knowing there will probably be more down the road... ya know?
All in all it was fun to market (turning the noun market into a verb, meaning to go to the market... go with it).
Ma Wan Piers
I have been to the beach twice now, once the first weekend to the beach at my apartment, and the second time, yesterday, at Ma Wan Piers. After our market day, we took the public bus home (typically we will take the SCAD bus into town from the apartments and have SCAD be a launching point for any adventures, however it runs at weird times on weekends, hence: public bus) when we saw what looked like a cool strip of restaurants, shops and a beach on our way home. We made note of the closest bus stop and adventured back there yesterday.
We were right! It was cute. The beach, although shelly, has SUCH a beautiful view of mountains, the big bridges (they're pretty) and planes from the airport constantly taking flight (see above photo). We checked out the beach for a hot second, then walked around in the town, we came to the conclusion that this is a highly residential area and we ate dinner at one of the neighborhood spots.
It was a beautiful day, people were walking dogs, everyone seemed to know everyone and would run into all their friends on the sidewalks, we sat outside and enjoyed the scenery and people watching as we ate good Chinese food and drank tea. After dinner we went back to the beach where we watched a bit of the sunset over the mountains. The water felt so good on our feet, and I had purchased a tiny pineapple to match my swimsuit (bc I'm extra like that) which was delicious. Afternoon adventure well spent.
SoHo and Central
This morning, Tori, Hannah (my roommates), Michelle and I ventured out to Central, Hong Kong for a CUTE bite to eat. I hate to overuse the word cute but OH MY GOSH THIS WAS THE CUTEST FOOD EVER!! As seen in the first photo of this post, we went to an Instagrammers dream of a restaurant, Yum Cha, for googly eyed dim sum and pineapple bird cookies that came in literal bird cages, does it get much better than that? Like... no. And the best part? They were actually delicious. We also got vegetable dumplings too, don't worry we are kinda healthy.
As a vegetarian, finding food I can eat is tough, but not in Central, they are quite accommodating in this more diverse part of Hong Kong. Central reminds me a LOT of Manhattan, if that helps at all. Just with WAY more alley markets and stairs.
After breakfast/lunch/brunch we headed to SoHo which is just another part of Central basically but less sky scrapers, more boutiques, murals, small restaurants and local love. Oh but wait, it started sprinkling? Just another casual day in Hong Kong, a monsoon warning went out so we sought shelter in a Pret a Manger. Once that passed, we were back at it on SoHo where most of the photos above were taken. Today was tiring and wonderful.
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Overall I really do love it here so much. I love my new friends, my roommates, my classes, and most of all this incredible place. I'm so, so tremendously grateful to have this opportunity, thank you Moms and Pops! And SCAD!!
There will be more posts like this to come, just let me go on more adventures first ;)
Until then, have you seen my latest vlog? I post them weekly! xo, O
Hey everyone!
I have some GREAT news!!!
last night while I was blogging and sitting at the table drinking a smoothie, for some reason I jumped up in excitment of something and my smoothie spilt over all my laptop keys! And wait for it here's the awesome news: none of my keys work!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!
I hope you can catch my sarcasm... I am not happy, so I don't know how long I will be away from the blogging world... Maybe I can blog on my mom's computer (where I am now)
but editing photos will be impossible... ugh we'll see.. xoxolivia.
Shutterfly wanted me to be able to enjoy the rest of my winter with one hundred and one free prints. Thanks Shutterfly!!! And on that occasion I ordered 101 black and white prints from photos I have saved over the past or just found online....
I organized them into five piles of: art, body parts, words, people, and landscapes/nature
I had mostly people
so this is the before..
and the after! I really like how it turned out it looks sweet right now as I look at it while laying on my bed blogging...
just a reminder that I am constantly making new buttons. I LOOOOOVEEE a good button swap, so feel free to click that "buttons" page up top and snag one of those little things.
not the right size for your blog?
that's alright! Just contact me and I will make it work!
