My May Favorites

May was the most eventful month I've had in a while. There were a lot of things I wanted to go and see, like movies and shows, and I discovered a lot of new music that I'll be listening to on repeat for the entire summer probably.

West Side Story at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

I could go on and on about how much I love Lyric Opera's production of West Side Story, but I already raved about it in a previous blog post about my experience as a WSS Insider and on the blog I share with my sister. So I'll try not to write too much. West Side Story is one of my top two favorite musicals of all time, but I'd never seen a live stage production of it until this year. I've watched the movie several times, but it simply cannot compare to live theater, especially Lyric Opera's production. Corey Cott and Mikaela Bennett were amazingly outstanding as Tony and Maria. The supporting characters and ensemble were also just as talented. I've simply never loved live theatre more than I have during the four times (yes, I saw it four times) I watched Lyric Opera's WSS.  

"Exhale" by Sabrina Carpenter

If you've seen any of my recent monthly favorites posts, you're probably familiar with Sabrina Carpenter and know she's one of my favorite musical artists. She released another song from her upcoming album, Singular: Act II, and I love it. "Exhale" is kind of short at only 2:50, but it has such a clear and strong message. It's a great reminder that we all need to take a break every now and then, and it's quite calming and relaxing to listen to, which goes along with the message of the song perfectly.

My Favorite Pop Culture Galentines and Valentines

Happy belated Galentine's Day, and happy Valentine's Day! In honor of the lovely holiday, I'm sharing some of my favorite female friendships and romantic couples from some of my favorite books, movies, and TV shows. A lot of people often think of Valentine's Day as a day for couples, but I want this post to serve as a reminder that this day is simply about love. It doesn't matter if you're single, in a relationship, married, or engaged. Celebrate the day with people you love, whether it be friends, family, or significant others.

Galentines

Lara Jean and Chris (To All the Boys I've Loved Before)

As the self-proclaimed Filipino Lara Jean Covey, there was no way I could leave my favorite fictional character to ever exist off this blog post. Whether you've read the book or have only seen the movie (if you haven't at least seen the movie, please do ― this is probably like the fifth time I've mentioned TATBILB on my blog), you'll know Lara Jean doesn't have very many friends, but she does have Chris, who's her best friend. (And if you haven't read or watched TATBILB, Chris is short for Christine.) The two of them have been friends since they were kids, but now that they're older and have developed different interests and whatnot, they don't spend as much time together. But that doesn't stop them from being best friends and being there for each other. 

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Get you a bestie like Chris.

A post shared by The Letters Are Out (@toalltheboysnetflix) on Aug 25, 2018 at 1:06pm PDT

As someone who also doesn't have a lot of friends and doesn't spend a lot of time with the ones I do have, I really appreciate and admire their friendship. Lara Jean and Chris don't hang out as much as they used to because of school, different interests, and just different lives (we all know life's much easier when you're 7). But when Lara Jean needs Chris, Chris is there. Chris even goes on the ski trip for Lara Jean ― and Chris doesn't do school functions (or school)! 

For me, pretty much all of my friends live in different states, thousands of miles away. So I don't get to see them very often. But if and when I need them (and when they need me), we're there for each other.

My January Favorites

January certainly felt like a long month to start the year off, but right now it's a new year celebration for those who celebrate the lunar new year. Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate! Anyway, back to the long month of January. The -40 degree weather certainly made it seem longer and definitely contributed to what I loved last month. From keeping me warm to taking care of my skin, several things caught my attention last month.

My Oh My Supply Co's THE SNUGGLY DUCKLING x DREAMERS DESTINATIONS Unisex Crewneck - Pink

I got this for Christmas and actually featured it in my What I Got For Christmas 2019 post, so it may look familiar. I wore this a lot last month. It's super soft inside and definitely comfy. I can even wear another shirt underneath it if it's extra cold (which it was last week in the Midwest). I love the color, and I love Tangled, so it's a sweet, subtle way of showing my love for the Disney princess movie. My Oh My Supply Co actually has lots of variations of this design  for other Disney movies, like the Cave of Wonders and Agrabah for Aladdin, so if you love Disney, you should definitely check it out! (You can click on this subhead if you want to go to their site.)

My December Favorites

Before we get too deep into the new year, I wanted to share my last monthly favorites post of 2018. December was a great month as I got to spend a lot of time with my family, and I also just love Christmas and the holidays. Last month, I tried new recipes and food, watched new movies, and bought new things that I adore.

As usual, any of the stuff I've featured and found online will be linked in the subhead.

Disney "Being a princess is exhausting" pajamas

I found this super cute pajama set at the Disney Store at the outlet mall on a clearance rack for only $18 and instantly loved them. I've always been a fan of Disney princesses, but my love for Disney ― especially the princesses ― has grown within the past year. At first, I was upset because the only size left was extra small, and I haven't worn an extra small anything since middle school probably. However, when I took it off the rack and got a better look at it, I realized it was a big extra small and would totally fit me.

I love the light pink color as it goes great with the gray princess print and text and the gold accents. I love the sketches of the princesses everywhere and like how they all have different expressions. I do wish they included more of the princesses, but that's alright. These pajamas are super comfy and I even like to wear the pajama top when I'm not sleeping.

What I Got For Christmas 2018

Happy new year, and happy holidays! Christmas Day may be over, but it's still the holiday season, so my Christmas spirit isn't gone yet (though I'm not sure it ever fully goes away). It's been a week since Christmas, and my favorite part of the holiday is most definitely giving presents. I actually love giving gifts no matter the time of year as I've been known to buy gifts for my family and friends especially for no reason. I even buy gifts for my favorite gymnasts and performers. So I definitely love Christmas because it's all about giving.

But of course, I also enjoy the receiving. It's nice to see what your loved ones think you would like, and I've been blessed and am so thankful to receive all that I did this past Christmas. I don't know what I did to deserve it, so I just want to thank everyone who gave me a gift and show them how much I appreciate it, which is why I'm sharing what I got for Christmas in this post.

(If you want to shop any of these items online, just click the name of the item. Yes, I realize this means I've seen the price of these, but that's not why I linked them. I just want people to be able to buy/find the items if they want. Besides, I'd already seen some of these things before, and it doesn't mean I know how much someone paid for them. After all, the holiday season means lots of sales and promo codes.)

My Oh My Supply THE SNUGGLY DUCKLING x DREAMERS DESTINATIONS Unisex Crewneck - Pink

My sister, Ashley, themed almost all of my Christmas presents around Disney Princesses, and they were all products I knew about but hadn't bought for myself. The first one was this comfy crewneck.

I first saw discovered this sweatshirt (and maybe the company itself) when I saw Stephanie Styles, one of my favorite Broadway actresses ― and one of my favorite people ever  ― wear this in an Instagram post. The Snuggly Duckling is the name of a place in the Disney movie Tangled, which is definitely one of my favorite Disney Princess movies. Rapunzel is my favorite Disney princess, and pink is my favorite color, so I just loved this. Now I can match my fave!

The Disney Natives "I want to be where the people aren't" tee 

I remember Ashley sent this shirt to me on Instagram once, and I instantly enjoyed it and thought it was funny. In case you don't know or haven't figured it out, the saying on the shirt is a play on a line from "Part of Your World" in The Little Mermaid. Ariel sings "I want to be where the people are," but this, as the site says, is the perfect shirt for the introverted Disney fan, because introverts need time away from people. I am definitely an introvert, so I thoroughly enjoy this and am so glad the text is pink! I showed this to my brother, and he actually wanted to know if there was a men's version, because he, too, is an introvert. 

Cakeworthy 90's Princess Denim Jacket

Everyone could use a good denim jacket, and this is a great one. My sister and I have discovered a lot of Disney-related clothing brands lately, and Cakeworthy is a great one. You may have even seen some of their merchandise in a Disney Store. 

Now that the '90s are back and trendy, I've been seeing not only a lot of denim jackets, but embroidered denim and patches and pins on denim. This jacket combines that with all of the Disney princesses that existed in the '90s. This is such a fun denim jacket that will make me feel just as cool and royal as the princesses on the back.

The Backstage Blonde x TodayTix "Strong Female Lead" T-shirt 

Here's the one non-Disney-related Christmas gift I got from Ashley. It's actually related to one our newest interests, Broadway. So this shirt is from a collaboration with a Broadway dresser and blogger, Teale Dvornik (aka The Backstage Blonde) and TodayTix, a site that helps theater fans find last-minute tickets to Broadway shows and other theatre events all over the world. Teale originally sold "strong female lead" shirts on her own site store but collaborated with TodayTix for a special collection.

While "strong female lead" often refers to a powerful leading lady in a movie, TV show, play, musical, or any other performance art piece, it can also just refer to any strong woman. This shirt is to inspire women and girls to be the "strong female lead" in their own lives, which I love. And of course, I adore that this shirt is pink, because the original ones Teale sells on her website aren't, and you know I love pink.

Patagonia 'Better Sweater' Jacket

One thing I can always count on getting for Christmas is pajamas. My mom always buys me at least one set of pajamas. Whatever else she buys me is usually a mystery unless I specifically ask for something and she says, "This is your Christmas present, then." This year was a mystery year ― sort of ― but more on that later. 

Since I hadn't asked my mom for anything specific for Christmas, I didn't know what she was going to get me. So I was definitely surprised by this Patagonia jacket. I'd never expressed interest in having one, but I definitely wouldn't have minded owning one. My mom bought my dad one for Christmas last year, but he never used it, so he gave it to Ashley. I guess my mom wanted me to have a Patagonia, too, and now I do! 

I honestly don't see myself wearing this too often, because this is definitely a more outdoorsy jacket that you'd wear when you're hiking or something, but it'll be nice to have a light but thick jacket to keep me warm when I don't want to wear something big or puffy. I finally have a casual winter jacket to alternate with my North Face!

Juniors' So Chenile Marled Cable Chenille Hoodie from Kohl's

These next three items are from my best friend Carly, and what I love most about them is that she put together an outfit for me when I'm usually the one putting an outfit together for her, so I am very touched! The first part of her gift was this super comfy-looking hooded chenille sweater. Chenille is totally in right now, and I actually don't have a chenille sweater yet, so this is perfect. I also don't own a hooded sweater, but it seems like a great idea, so I'm excited to wear this.

Gold Foil Print Floaty Shorts from Pretty Little Thing 

The next part of my gift from Carly are these shorts. How fun are these?! I love the gold. I love the leopard print. I love the flare fit. It's so glam but not in your face. Paired with the chenille sweater, these would be cute and dressed down a bit.

Marina de Buchi Personalised Script Name Gold Bracelet

And here's the last thing Carly got me for Christmas. I don't actually think I've ever owned a piece of jewelry with my name on it before, so I'm pretty excited about this bracelet. I don't really wear bracelets in the winter because my arms are almost always covered, so no one can even see what's on my wrist, but I can't wait to wear this.

Henri Bendel Jetsetter Backpack

My mom has been kind of obsessed with Henri Bendel for the past year or so maybe, so it was only time that she'd get me a Henri Bendel bag. Back to the my Christmas present from her sort of being a surprise: this one was so not a surprise. She straight up asked me which Henri Bendel Jetsetter backpack I wanted, which was nice because then I knew I'd like it, but it also took away some of the fun in getting presents and being surprised.

Anyway, now every girl in my family and all of my mom's sisters have Henri Bendel Jetsetter backpacks. My mom bought one for everyone. None of us have the same one, though. What's great about this backpack is that it can be a backpack or a messenger bag, which I love. Who doesn't like versatility? Now I'll take good care of this bag because Henri Bendel is going out of business soon and this will be my first and last bag from them.

Pink Longchamp Le Pliage backpack

My mom's sisters are pretty big on designer bags, so it makes sense that my aunt got me a pink Longchamp backpack. She actually bought me a classic purple Longchamp purse a few years ago, so I'm glad I got a pink bag this time (because you know I love pink and it's nice to have a different color since the styles are very similar). This isn't as big of a bag as my Henri Bendel backpack, but it's still a good size that could fit everything I need in it, including a water bottle. This color is great for spring, and I don't have a backpack in this shade of pink yet, so I'll definitely be using this in a few months.

ColourPop Disney Designer Jasmine Creme Lux Lipstick

If you guessed that my sister got this for me, then you're right! This limited edition ColourPop Disney Designer lipstick was the final part of my Christmas present from Ashley, and it's the only thing I knew she got me. I don't remember when we found out about the Disney Designer collection, but when we did and the hot pink Jasmine lipstick was out of stock, we were both bummed. 

As you definitely know by now, pink is my favorite, and Jasmine is one of my favorite Disney princesses (definitely my favorite Broadway Disney princess ― I love Courtney Reed!) So when she found out ColourPop restocked the Jasmine lipsticks, she told me she bought two for me. I also bought one for myself before Christmas, because they had free shipping, and I know they won't be around forever. I've already used the one I got myself and love the shade of pink. Definitely princess worthy!

Happy new year! What did you get for Christmas and/or how did you spend your holidays?

A Royal Countdown with The Disney Princesses 12 Days of Socks Box

For the past 12 days, I discovered a new pair of Disney Princess-related socks in the Disney Princesses 12 Days of Socks box I bought from Target. I'd never done an advent calendar, 12 days of Christmas box, or anything like this before, so I was excited about getting this box and having something to open every day. Plus, I love Disney and the Disney Princesses and was in need of more socks, so this seemed like a great fit.

To see close-ups of the socks and box itself, head to my Instagram and view the "12 days of 👸🏻🧦" story highlight.