To All The Boys 3: Always & Forever

February 17, 2021

The third and final installment, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: Always & Forever finally came out on Feb 12. I finished reading all 3 books last month and while the movies are definitely different from the books, they still incorporate a lot of elements and cute Easter eggs throughout.

My honest review? I fell in love with the first movie, I wasn’t absolutely crazy about the second, but I loved how the last one ended. It wrapped it up rather nicely. While I am a fan of bittersweet endings, I also am a fan of really cute sappy happily ever afters. I am a Disney girl after all.

I love these movies for a few reasons, but most of all, I love that it was a unique and clean love story. Everything about it was very soft. It wasn’t overtly catty, sexual or over the top like the OG teen movies of the 90s. It was good clean fun, humor and story. I’ve been loving movies like this and Sierra Burgess Is A Loser. Being a straight edge girl for basically…all of my life, I really relate to Lara Jean’s high school experience. While everyone else is out being sexual and going to tons of parties, besides being sheltered and not allowed to go, when it comes down to it, my idea of ‘fun’ is not the same. I enjoy cooking, reading, writing, fashion, and all the ‘boring’ stuff that LJ enjoys too. I had a similar style and fashion sense growing up. I wore a lot of cutesy and kawaii style clothes but was still eclectic and very versatile with my fashion. I didn’t really like to wear what “everyone else was wearing” at the time, which was a lot of Abercrombie and Fitch and Uggs. I wore my hair in pigtails and had a box of tons of cute hair accessories that my mom had sent from Vietnam for me. While watching the second movie, I realized I had a similar dress with red bows on the shoulders and it inspired to work on a small project of my own recently in recreating 3 of her looks from the second movie, while marrying it with my own personal style. I wanted to do it since last year but I only had the one dress. Just recently I came across the Valentine’s outfits from one of my favorite brands and then serendipitously stumbled upon the mint dress as a suggestion from one of my favorite Instagrammers. It all worked out perfectly in time for the 3rd movie release. Sometimes you just get lucky like that at a certain moment in time for a reason. My hubby helped me with this small project and I really loved how it turned out.

I remember being just as dramatic and emotional as a teenage too. I find her antics hilarious. I had similar daydreams. I worried about the same things. I have a similar relationship with my sisters and family is very important to me too. I also love that the third movie incorporated elements of New York. And if you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading here because *spoiler warning* I LOVE that the conflict in the third movie is not another love interest or ex insecurity, but that she falls in love with New York City itself, and puts her in a pickle on where to go for college. I related to this too as I wanted to go away for college, but I didn’t want to go too far because I didn’t want to be far from my boyfriend. Ultimately, I wasn’t as brave as Lara Jean, but I didn’t really need to be, because I didn’t really find any out of state schools I really wanted to go to. Looking back, I don’t regret it but not because of the boyfriend aspect, but because I honestly would’ve hated moving back and forth every semester and in between semesters, lol. I hated that part a lot about college. It was always a hassle moving in and out. But I digress. I also really enjoyed the storyline between LJ and Gen. I loved that they took it a different direction than the books and it was really heartwarming to see the jung connection come full circle. Their relationship was definitely complicated but I loved the ending it got. It was a storyline that is really nice to see in this day and age, especially for female empowerment and women uplifting other women and supporting each other.

I also love that Lana Condor is Vietnamese American because representations really matters. It’s very rare to see a Vietnamese girl as the star and to see that she killed this was amazing to me. I hope that it paves the way to see more Vietnamese stars and Asians on the big screen because I would love more relatable stories to be picked up and told.

If you haven’t watched it yet and are interested in starting the series, they ‘re all available to stream on Netflix, and I honestly really recommend it if you love cute love stories and romcoms. It’s a perfect series for the Valentine’s season. I wasn’t in love with the Beginning Middle End song at first just like Peter, and then somehow later on in the day, it hit me hard and now I’m in love with it. Funny how music can be like that sometimes.

Happy Valentine’s Season!

The Floral Escape

October 4, 2020

The Floral Escape is a new outdoor floral pop-up that just opened today and is running through til end of November. Consisting of 12 floral installation backdrops for your gramming needs, all perfectly spaced out from one another, it’s perfect for a socially distanced, fun, fall activity.

It’s been a minute since I visited any pop-ups or any events due to the chaotic nature of 2020. A little part of me misses it because it’s always a great opportunity for some cute photos and content, given how well it’s done. And fortunately, this pop-up, I would definitely say delivers! There’s so many different ways to photograph each one from different angles for different looks. There’s a lot of potential especially from full background to close-up shots with the installations. It came highly recommended by my friends over at @popupgirlsnyc, and I can see why! The event staff on site were so sweet and took great care of us as soon as we arrived, answering all questions and gave us ample time for everything for our visit.

From the rainbow floral entrance-way to the tractor next to the barn when you first walk in, to the beautiful floral archway walk-through, there’s a rainbow throne for you to selfie on, and a gorgeous lilac fantasy forest to twirl around in. There’s a GIANT pumpkin spice latte for those pumpkin spice lovers (unfortunately I’m team apple, never was a fan of pumpkin spice, lol.), a beautiful floral elephant installation, two barnyard doors for backdrops - one simple for that perfect fall profile pic, and one extra over the top with giant roses and bushels of apples for that bitch in us, hahaha. And of course, no Instagram trap is complete without a wall with a wing backdrop, and in this case, all adorned with roses. Even the benches and wagons there are extra af and ready to gram as you walk through. There is no place to simply sit and relax without being in someone’s pic because every part of this space is a photo-op, hahaha! If you’re looking for some cute photos and fun for the day, I would definitely recommend it. There’s street parking as well as a big lot on-site for free parking!

The Floral Escape is located at 73-50 Little Neck Pkwy in Floral Park, NY. Admission cost is $20 for adults, $14 for children 10 and under, and free for children under 1. And even better, it’s located at the Queens County Farm Museum, where entry to the farm grounds after you finish with the pop-up, is free, in case you need to do some pumpkin picking, visit some sunflower fields or any of your basic bitch fall activities on the farm. The Floral Escape is open Monday to Friday from 12pm to 5pm, and Saturday and Sundays from 10am to 5pm.

Staying Active During Quarantine

March 25, 2020

I want to stay active during this time. I know there will definitely be some muscle loss and some slight flab regained to my stomach area because I’m not working out as hard as I usually am with my full heavy lifting routine. And thus, my body is not burning as many calories everyday anymore but hopefully that will bounce back quickly when I can finally go back to the gym. Hopefully this quarantine period is a shock to my system and throttles the plateau I’ve been stuck in, once we’re back in business and can start lifting normally again.

My goal is to do at least 30 minutes of activity a day, if not 1-2 hours. It’s harder at home for me due to lack of equipment and I get distracted easily in the house and will lose focus. I’m just not a home workout person, I learned. I do best inside an actual physical gym environment. This is a totally different type of discipline I need to work on. I also can’t do just cardio, especially with no race to train for and no specific goals or timeline in mind. Unfortunately, running alone will literally “run” off my muscles so I do need to continue lifting to maintain the shape I’ve worked so hard to build for the past two years.

I got desperate enough in the first few days of gyms shutting down that I finally caved and ordered a barbell and weight set but I have to wait for it to arrive. In the meantime, I’m using my husband’s dumbbells but it’s hard because they’re much heavier than what I’m used to lifting so it’s going to take a bit before I can build up to handling them without difficulty and they don’t work as well for the leg and back exercises I’m used to doing with a longer bar with the weight more evenly distributed. I even got so desperate that I’m deadlifting and squatting my bike as an alternative. I saw a video on Instagram today where a girl was using her sofa as an alternative to a leg press. It gave me the idea to leg press my treadmill (my sofa set is too big and bulky to leg press). It looks strange but it’s working and damnit, I’M TRYING.

Honestly put, I’m struggling with the whole home workout thing because (a) I’m so used to my routine in the gym with the same machines over and over and (b) I don’t have a routine established yet. It’s going to be a learning curve adjusting at first before I can settle into the groove of things and figure out a set routine I like and will rotate through on a daily basis. BUT! I’m working on it. I’m determined to get through this and make do in the meantime. I really refuse to do nothing and be complacent with being lazy during this period. I’m going through different home workout videos and seeing what I like and trying to put together alternatives to my leg, back, chest, shoulders and arms routine.

Here are some ideas of ways to keep active during quarantine that I’m trying if you’re interested:

Running/Walking - I try to aim for 20k steps a day, and a minimum of at least one 5k run a day.
Biking
Lifting - barbells, dumbbells, bikes, cases of water/drinks, anything heavy and sturdy to hold on to
Stretching with resistance bands (donkey kicks, fire hydrants, monster walks, crab walks, etc)
Body weighted exercises (planks, push-ups, leg lifts, sit-ups, etc)
Virtual workouts - there are a lot of people streaming their workouts online if you’re interested in joining in. There are also a lot of workout videos on Youtube, Instagram, etc that you can save and do on your own time as well. I’m saving all the IG videos in a folder and going through them when I have free time.

I’m also trying to practice eating more mindfully. What I mean is, I don’t want to eat just because I’m bored or have nothing to do. This is how things get out of hand real fast. But this is why I need to fill my days with things to do, increase the time spent on physical activity, etc to make sure I’m always occupied so I’m not bored and left to wonder about what I should eat. I know what my problem areas are and I’m working on changing them. It’s also hard to eat healthy during this time because of the scarcity of items in stores. Some days I can find my regular items I buy and other days, it’s a madhouse and the store is ransacked. I’ve also found that this quarantine time is dangerous for cravings. I found myself making excuses and giving in to food indulgences. I need to work on this, find my center again and work on that discipline.

These photos were taken in the first two weeks of March before gyms were closed down as I was working on cleaning up the damage from my Disney trip and I was training for my DC cherry blossom 10 mile run before it was cancelled. I’m leaving them here to remind myself where I left off and to keep it as motivation as I work towards putting together an effective home workout routine for myself to get myself back there.

These photos were taken the past two days. I’m going to try and monitor my progress or should I say regress so I can keep myself in check and keep the quarantine damage to a minimum. The number on the scale is definitely creeping up and they don’t lie because I can definitely feel the bloating and see the definition leaving my stomach area as I’m not burning as much anymore to keep it in check. But I mean, I’ve done this several times in the past 2 years as I train for races and work towards goals to look good for vacations and such so it won’t be much different. I should have faith in myself in knowing I’ll get back there in due time once I get back on track.

I’ll be honest, it IS getting really hard to push through and show up for myself every day but I’m really trying here to make it through. I fall into a depression every time I think about it because I worry about so many things like falling off the wagon and reverting back to old ways. I worry about progress lost. I worry about weight gain. I worry about the stress it will have on my mental and physical health if I don’t keep up. And then that stress adds further to it and I worry that that stress is causing me to eat my feelings and wonder if that’s how I’m gaining weight. The water retention and bloating I obsess over constantly. It’s one big inner battle with myself as I navigate this home workout/quarantine land mine. I obsess over pictures I took just two weeks ago about how my body was still defined and within the last week since gyms have been closed, the definition in my abs is suffering. Ugh. That’s another thing I know I REALLY need to work on that I said would work on for 2020 but the whole corona thing isn’t exactly helping. I said I would work on being kinder to myself and easier on myself. But so far all I’ve done is the opposite. The scorpio dragon in me and my obsessive ways. Maybe I’ll work on that during quarantine too. Practice being gentler on myself.

There are other non-workout things I can also do to take my mind off this. I have a few books I borrowed from the library that I have yet to read so I have those to look forward to since the library is also shut down for the time being so there’s no worry about having to finish them soon to return them. I also have my old Gossip Girl books I keep wanting to re-read.

I also have a lot of shows and movies to catch up on. I should probably make a list. It would be helpful to have something to watch during times I have to run inside on the treadmill because the weather isn’t exactly run-friendly or because it’s late at night after work and that’s the only time I can squeeze my workout in because this quarantine thing is throwing my sleep schedule further out of wack since I don’t have to be up earlier to make it to the gym on time before work. You see how easy it is to fall back into bad habits?!?! This is why I worry about my health and fitness. As well as my mental health. The gym has been keeping me sane for the past two years as well as physically well. It’s what I need to do to feel normal, to build up energy for the day, to take out all my stress on, to feel productive, to create endorphins and just damnit, feel good for the day. We ain’t trying to revert back to old demons, y’all! Please send help.