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And since it's a new month, it's time to share my August favorites! August turned out to be a rather interesting month compared to the rest of my summer, mainly because I didn't read that much but discovered and started using/doing a few new things. Here are my August favorites:
Hot pink LUSH high low dress from Dry Goods
I wore this dress to a family friend's birthday party. It was s big celebration at the Maggiano's ballroom, so it was an occasion to dress up for.
I love pretty much everything about this dress: the color, the style and fit, and even the price! This was on sale for $12 at Dry Goods, so there was no way I could pass that up. I don't have any dresses like this, so I thought it would be a good addition to my closet. It's also one of the only maxi-esque dresses I've found and can actually wear without worrying I'll trip over it.
Live Original Devotional by Sadie Robertson
I've had this devotional book for several months now, but I didn't think I had the time to use it on a regular basis during the school year. So I didn't even think about starting to use it till this summer. One of my friends asked me about devotionals, so I was inspired to finally start using this.
I really like that it has 52 different devotionals, one for each week. It makes for a good first devotional because I can just do it once a week. I've done some devotionals on apps before but I like the ones in this book more because it's easier for me to connect and engage with the book. The book has questions and lines for me to write my answers down while the apps I've used don't have anything like that. The fact there's an actual activity I'm supposed to do with the devotional reading just makes it easier for me to remember it and makes me feel like I'm growing more in my faith.
YouVersion Bible app
My friend who asked me about devotionals also told me about this app, which I like better than any other Bible/devotional app I've ever had before. It has tons of devotional plans, a daily Bible verse, and lots of translations of the Bible. I can even set reminders and notifications to read my devotional plan and to look at today's daily verse. And unlike the other devotional app I have, all of the plans are free, which is great. Also, there are tons of topics and categories to find a devotional plan that fits and interests you best.
Duolingo
I actually had this app a few years ago but didn't have the time to actually use it, so I got rid of it. Now I have lots of free time, so I decided to download it again so I can learn (and re-learn) Spanish. I took Spanish for two years in high school but stopped even though I really enjoyed it because I wanted to be in yearbook my last two years of high school. I also took one semester in college but hadn't taken a Spanish class in college in so long that I wasn't as good as I was in high school.
Duolingo lets me refresh my Spanish skills and will help me learn more Spanish. I really enjoyed learning Spanish and would like to learn as much of the language as I can because there's really no disadvantage to it, so it's nice to have this app.
Sydney and Paul's contemporary from SYTYCD
I haven't been super into this season of So You Think You Can Dance, but I absolutely love this dance! It was the first dance of the season where I went 'That's definitely one of my favorite dances of the season.' Sydney and Paul are both ballroom dancers but you wouldn't know that if this was the only dance of theirs you saw. The emotional execution and connection is so strong in this piece. It made the dance really believable and outstanding. Contemporary dances are nothing without that emotional aspect, so they really nailed this one.
Allison and Logan's hip-hop from SYTYCD
I have quite a few favorite lyrical hip-hop dances from SYTYCD, and I will definitely be adding this one to the list. I just love the emotional aspect lyrical hip-hop brings to the dance genre. Watching a combo of hard-hitting moves with a great story full of connection and chemistry is just something else.
Allison is by far one of the best dancers to ever come from SYTYCD, and this dance shows why. Her acting ability is amazing. Sure, a lot of dancers from the show are technically great, but having that acting and storytelling ability is what really sets you apart as a dancer. She and Logan performed this piece so well and were able to sell this story.
Bandstand
So I ended up going to New York for a few days last weekend to help my sister move out of her apartment and come back home from her internship, and we saw this Broadway musical during my short visit. She saw it twice before and absolutely loved it. She kept raving about it, so I definitely wanted to see it. Plus, someone who almost made SYTYCD's top 20 one season is an ensemble member of the show, so I wanted to see him before, too. (Unfortunately, he wasn't at the show I saw.)
I don't love the show as much as my sister, but I definitely enjoyed the show and its music. It's about World War II veterans coming home from war and starting a swing band. While some of the story was predictable, it wasn't too predictable and had some good little plot twists here and there. Also, all of the music is played live; the cast and orchestra plays the instruments for the songs live, and that's impressive. As a dance fan, it was fun to see some cool choreography to swing music since that isn't too prevalent now.
Newsies
I've wanted to watch Newsies but never got the chance to and missed it when it was in Chicago, so I'm glad Disney filmed it for digital release. As a journalism grad, a musical relating to newspapers is intriguing to me. And though it was never my favorite subject in school, I do enjoy history, and Newsies tells the story inspired by the 1899 Newsboys Strike in New York. That strike isn't a topic I really learned about in school, so it was cool to watch a musical that could teach me about it and entertain me at the same time.
The songs are pretty catchy, and I love the choreography! There are so many intricate and difficult combos, lots of sky-high leaps and beautiful turns. I haven't seen that many musicals, but Newsies definitely has the best choreography of any musical I've seen. Newsies definitely shows the athleticism needed to be a dancer.
1-800-273-8255 by Logic feat. Alessia Cara and Khalid
I actually didn't know about this song (its name is actually the National Suicide Hotline) until the Monday after the MTV VMAs. I don't really listen to much mainstream music or stuff you'd hear on the radio too much. In fact, when I looked at best dressed lists for the VMAs, I didn't know who most of the people were.
Anyway, I heard about this song after the fantastic and inspiring performance Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid did at the VMAs. They performed this song with actual suicide survivors onstage. It was just such a powerful performance. I highly recommend you watch it (embedded below).
Marble phone accessories
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| Incipio Marble [Design Series] phone case in pink/rose gold | Marble Chic Popsocket |
So I'd seen this Popsocket (the circle thing on my phone) on my Instagram feed for quite a while, really liked it, and wanted one for myself. I love the marble design and how the gold stripe and light pink contrast with it. Plus, it makes my phone easier to hold and acts as a phone stand (in case you were wondering what a Popsocket is for).
I found the Popsocket online but didn't think it would look good with the phone case I had on my phone at the time, which was mostly clear with some rose gold flakes all over the back. So I decided to look for a new phone case that would go with it better. Plus, I wanted a different phone case. Luckily, I found this pretty pink and rose gold marble one from Incipio, and it looks great with the Popsocket. I love the rose gold, and the shade of pink is nearly identical with the one on the Popsocket.
Forever 21 sleep mask
I've wanted an eye mask for sleeping for quite a while now because both in my old apartment at school and in my room at home, the window is in a spot where the sunlight can easily wake me up. I've tried adjusting the blinds a different way, but sometimes that makes it worse and so the sunlight is right in my face when I wake up. So I thought an eye mask for sleeping would solve this problem.
The problem was I didn't know where to get one. None of the stores I normally shop at had them until this week. Forever 21 has a bunch of fun new home and gift stuff, including this cute little animal sleep eye mask. I'm not sure what animal it's supposed to be, but it's soft, pink, and cute, so I like it. I've worn it for two nights now, and it does a good job.
The first night I wore it, though, I guess I moved my head a lot in my sleep, so it slipped off my head. I woke up in the middle of the night and was confused when I could see. Haha. But it does prevent me from waking up due to the light being in my face. Plus, it prevents me from going on my phone before bed or if I wake up in the middle of the night.
The first night I wore it, though, I guess I moved my head a lot in my sleep, so it slipped off my head. I woke up in the middle of the night and was confused when I could see. Haha. But it does prevent me from waking up due to the light being in my face. Plus, it prevents me from going on my phone before bed or if I wake up in the middle of the night.
Fun New York ice cream
When I went to New York, there was one thing I definitely wanted to do during my short time there: try ube ice cream. My siblings and I found a Facebook video that was about this soft serve ice cream place in New York called Soft Swerve that serves ube (aka Philippine purple yam) ice cream, and we were like, 'We need to try that!' My sister and brother got to try it in July when my brother went to visit my sister, but I was obviously left out since I was at home in Illinois. They both said it was really good, and I love ube, so I was upset I didn't get to try it.
Luckily, there was enough time to go to Soft Swerve and try it! It also wasn't out of the way of anywhere we were going. The place isn't very big, but the line did go out the door when we got there. It seemed to be a pretty popular place the whole time we were there, which was probably about 30 minutes since we ate our ice cream at the shop. I got the ube ice cream in a chocolate cone with Oreo crumbs on top, and it was delicious! It also wasn't too much ice cream or too sweet. If you like ube or want to try some unique ice cream, Soft Swerve is the place to go. They have other Asian flavors there, like matcha and macapuno cocounut, too.
The next day, we ended up going to another ice cream place in Chinatown. I'd never heard of this place before, but it was pretty busy, and I wasn't going to pass up my aunt's offer to buy ice cream. I got the chocolate Oreo ice cream, which I was ecstatic about because my two favorite flavors are chocolate and cookies and cream, but there isn't a chocolate cookies and cream flavor to buy in stores.
The ice cream was nice and creamy, and I loved finally getting chocolate cookies and cream ice cream! I wish more places offered it. They have a ton of flavors at this place, including normal ones and Asian flavors, like taro and pandan. They also make shakes if you like those more.
What did you find and/or really enjoy this past month? Try any new foods or discover a cool place, book, or movie?
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