My March and April Favorites

At this point in time, we're closer to June than April, so this post is definitely delayed but oh well! Again, I didn't discover enough favorites in March or April alone to dedicate a whole post for those months on their own. In March and April I added a bunch of new music to my go-to playlist, wore new fashion trends, and tried new beauty products that have now become staples in my routine.

I've also tried to group similar things in my monthly favorites posts (music and movies together, clothes with accessories, all makeup together, etc.), but this is the first time I've actually labeled the groups with headers. So if you only care about what music I'm listening to or what new clothes I've found, you can easily scroll to that section!

As usual, click the link in the subhead if you're interested in learning more about or buying a certain product I've included.

Music

"Leave the Door Open" - Silk Sonic

Simply put, this song is Blasian excellence. A Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak collaboration is something I never knew I needed in my life. The song and its sound are so smooth and suave, and the vocals are incredible. It's certainly be a while since Bruno Mars has released a single, and this was totally worth the wait.

Too Young to be Sad EP - Tate McRae

As a dance fan, I've been a fan of Tate's before she started seriously making music. I can't believe it's been six years since I was watching her slay on So You Think You Can Dance, and now she's all grown up, performing at awards shows and having songs on the Billboard charts. I've enjoyed listening to the songs on her latest EP for the past few months now and particularly like how although they're all pretty "sad" songs, they aren't all ballads and do contrast in sound.

"deja vu" - Olivia Rodrigo

I wasn't expecting Olivia to release another single until maybe after the second season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series premiered, so "deja vu" was a pleasant surprise! It has a more chill vibe and sound to it than "drivers license" that always makes me want to blast it with the windows down while I'm driving (which I do when it's nice out) but still has a bit of angst to it. "deja vu" also has some synthetic pop/electronic moments that make it easy to jam to. So I think the music video having scenes in a convertible driving down the Pacific Coast Highway fit the song perfectly, and I can't want for the entire sour EP to be released next week!

My January and February Favorites

I've wanted to do resume my monthly favorites posts this year, but all I had down from January was a few songs, and I didn't think that was enough for an entire post. So I'm combining January and February, because February was a lot more exciting and had more going on for me.

I feel like all I did in January was listen to "drivers license" on repeat. (I'm 100% serious.) But I actually gave my attention to other things in February, so here we go!

drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo

Do you know how much I love "drivers license"? I love it so much that it's the song that finally got me to stop listening to Taron Egerton and/or Aaron Tveit on repeat for the first time since late spring of 2019! When it first came out, I listened to it on repeat for at least a few days straight.

Olivia is a genius and a star, and I've been so proud of my fellow Filipina because of her monumental success since releasing her first single. "drivers license" is truly something else. I mean, it's got to be if it finally got to me to stop listening to Taron Egerton every day! I'm 100% one of those people who cannot and do not relate to any of the lyrics in the song, but that's how good it is. It just hits you in the feels regardless. And the bridge? It's a dramatic burst of musical fireworks.

Skin - Sabrina Carpenter

Yes, I am a fan of both Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter.  I listen to both "drivers license" and "Skin." We exist. I would like to never see or hear of any supposed drama relating to this ever again. Pitting women against each other isn't cool. Thanks.

Now that's out of the way, if you've followed my blog for a little while, you may know I've been a fan of Sabrina Carpenter for a while now and have loved her since she was on Girl Meets World. It has been so wonderful hearing and witnessing Sabrina's musical journey and growth, and "Skin" is a great example of that. Plus, it has an A+ message and reminds us that we do not need to give or pay attention to those who don't deserve it. It's not easy, but if people are trying to hurt you or tear you down in any way, you can choose to not let their words or actions hurt you. 

My February Favorites

I meant to get back to blogging on here earlier this year, but we all know it's certainly been a whirlwind of a year even though it's hardly mid-March. However, now felt like a good time to step away from other things for a bit and bring some attention and love to things that I've enjoyed and have made me happy, so here are my February favorites.

I'm going to be totally honest here and say this blog post should honestly just be called My February Favorites: P.S. I Still Love Everything To All the Boys I've Loved Before, but that's too long and there is one thing on here that has nothing to do with my favorite Netflix movie series.

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You

The highly anticipated sequel to the Netflix original movie To All the Boys I've Loved Before (adapted from Jenny Han's novel of the same name) was finally released last month (based on Han's second book in the series, P.S. I Still Love You), and I LOVED IT! I love the movie so much that I actually watched it three times on the day it was released. I even woke up early so I could watch it before work because I didn't want to wait until I got home from work that day to watch it.

While I don't think it was better than the first To All the Boys film, I still think it was a good adaptation like the first and had the same essence and vibes that made us all fall in love with the first movie. Lara Jean is still highly relatable. Peter is still setting the bar high for boyfriends. Kitty is still sassy and up to something. But P.S. I Still Love You actually made me cry at the end, and the first one never made me cry. So that says something.

Lara Jean deals with what it's actually like to be a girlfriend and in a real relationship and the insecurities that can come with that, especially as an introvert, an overthinker, and a hopeless romantic whose only real experience with platonic love beforehand was reading about it in novels. I found that to be very authentic and because the movie showed those flaws, the audience gets to see Lara Jean's growth and maturity progress.

I don't really know what else to say without spoiling the movie, but I will add that the soundtrack is amazing, as it was for the first movie. Also, if you haven't read the books but are looking to, the second book is rather different from the movie. The first movie goes into some of the second book's content, automatically making it so the movies have to be a bit different. I'll stop now because I could probably keep going, but TATB2 is another great, feel-good movie, and Team Lara Jean forever!

Love Letter Signature Embroidered T-Shirt from Something Good Merchandise

I'm going to be brazen and totally honest and include something I designed and sell from my own merch brand in this post. My sister and I designed and released a collection of  To All the Boys-inspired shirts/sweatshirts/hoodies, including this T-shirt, which features my own handwriting embroidered on a shirt!

We wanted this design to be something Lara Jean would like for herself, so we went with something cute and girly with the script, more curved letters, and the envelopes with little hearts on them!

World Book Day 2019: My Favorite Fiction Books

I've always liked to read. I've always seen reading as entertainment, something you do for fun. Even when I was a kid and my mom would make me check out books from the library that I had no interest in reading and even when I was in AP English classes and reading books seemed overwhelming, felt like too much, and wasn't always fun, I still wanted to read. I simply wanted to read what I wanted to.

And nine times out of 10, I want to read fiction. There's just something about being immersed in another world where anything can happen, even if that world is realistic fiction and just like the one we live in. Sometimes it's just nice to get out or your head and your problems with a good fiction book.

So in honor of World Book Day, I've decided to share four of my favorite fiction books, in no particular order. (And if you want to see more of my favorite books or what I'm reading, add me on Goodreads or follow me on Instagram and look at my books highlight!)

180 Seconds by Jessica Park

This is a book I got on Amazon kind of out of the blue. I think I might have gotten in on Prime Day. I'd never heard of it before but the story sounded interesting and young adult fiction is right up my alley and it was on sale, so I bought it. (Honestly, that's how I end up buying a lot of the books I own.)

180 Seconds is about a college student named Allison who doesn't like to keep people very close as she spent a lot of her life in foster care, going from one family to another. A junior in college, she has been adopted and legally has a dad (though she may not call him that), but doesn't really have anyone else in her life except her long distance BFF, Steffi, whom she knows from their time in foster care together. 

One day she's just strolling around campus and ends up in a social experiment where she's supposed to stare into a stranger's eyes for 180 seconds. She ends up really connecting with the guy whose eyes she stared into, and he basically changes her life ― but not in a "I found my soulmate and my life has been forever changed" sort of way. He helps her learn to trust and the importance of having people in your life whom you can count on. I do admit the staring into someone's eyes for 180 seconds thing is kind of weird, but I can definitely see how it could impact someone as long as it were the right someone. 

This became one of my favorite books, because it was one of the first books where I felt seen, where I really connected and related to the protagonist. There are a lot of times in this book where Allison feels alone and like she has no friends and is just anxious about the entire concept of basically having no friends despite being a junior in college, where everyone around her is surrounded by other people and making lifelong friends. She struggles to make friends, and I 100% related to all of that. I just graduated from college when I read this book, and college is when I realized and accepted that I didn't have a lot of friends and that making friends was something I struggled with, so reading this really affected me and made me cry a few times.

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. 

View this post on Instagram

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.

Why Lara Jean Song Covey Means A Lot to Me

If you've gone on social media ― specifically Facebook or Twitter ― or opened Netflix in the last two weeks or so, you've probably heard of To All the Boys I've Loved Before, one of Netflix's latest original  movies. Based off the young adult novel by Jenny Han, To All the Boys follows the story of protagonist Lara Jean Song Covey after the secret love letters she wrote to five boys she had a crush on are somehow sent out.

The movie has quickly become a sensation for various reasons, from its cute but not terribly stereotypical story to the lovable and relatable characters to the family relationships to the Asian-American representation― not to mention it's a good adaptation of the book.

I've already watched To All The Boys twice (I know that's not much compared to others, but my sister doesn't want to watch it all the time like me), and I could honestly probably watch it every day. What I love most about the movie (and the book) is Lara Jean herself. I didn't realize this when I was reading the books last month, but I relate to Lara Jean so much. I like to joke that I am Lara Jean. As I read the books, it was easy to see how I was similar to Jenny Han's protagonist. But it wasn't until I watched the movie and saw Lana Condor bring Lara Jean to life on screen that I truly realized just how similar and how much Lara Jean meant to me. (Side note: there might be spoilers for the movie and entire book series in this post.)