Online Shopping Tips

The pandemic has changed so many things about the way we live our lives. Even for someone like me who tends to stay home often, being at home and not leaving the house at all has been a huge change. Apart from the one day that I have to report to the office per week, there is no motivation to go out, and even if there was, I often try to find ways to just stay home to be safe. The number of daily new cases in our municipality has not gone down so I feel the need to stay home as much as possible since I am one of those with at-risk conditions. Because of that, most of my shopping for my daily needs has been made online.

My sister usually takes care of the fresh produce that we need at home since we can usually buy them in our neighborhood. We do not even have to leave our street to buy vegetables, meat, and seafood, which is a good thing. As for our other needs, groceries, other food items, and home essentials, we have taken to purchasing them online via Lazada.

Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay

Book Review: Sex and Vanity

Kevin Kwan, the writer of the Crazy Rich Asian series of books, has recently come out with a new novel called Sex and Vanity. As a fan of his books, I knew it was something that I had to have and read. I   do not know if being a fan was an advantage or disadvantage to reading the book: it was an advantage that I was familiar with his writing style, but it was a disadvantage that I expected too much from the book. I am not saying that it is bad, more of it not being what I expected.

Credit: Penguin Books

Album Review: Ronan Keating Twenty Twenty

Ronan Keating is one of my favorite male singers. I have been to the last two Boyzone concerts in Manila because of this guy. When I heard that he was releasing a new album to celebrate his 20 years as a solo artist, I eagerly waited for it on Spotify.

I would like to think of this latest album as his album of duets and an album of wedding songs. There are several duets in the album, with a couple featuring artists that I like such as Shania Twain, Robbie Williams, and Alison Kraus. I call it an album of wedding songs because so many of the songs would make great songs to dance to during a wedding which, when I think about it, is something that his first solo single, When You Say Nothing At All, has been all these years.

New Obsession: Korean Celebrity Vloggers

With most people staying at home, celebrities have been using social media to be able to stay visible and in touch with their fans. I’ve noticed that more and more celebrities are embracing all forms of social media, particularly video, to remind their fans (and their sponsors, most likely) that they are still around.

This pandemic and the quarantines imposed on all of us have made me watch a lot of Korean dramas. My curiosity got the better of me and I went on Instagram, where I found that many of the Korean celebrities, I liked now have accounts. Back in the day when I first started being a fan of K-Dramas, most of them kept to social media accounts in Korea. I am glad that they now embraced more global means of staying in touch with their fans. 

These days my favorite way of keeping tabs on some of my favorite Korean stars is not just Instagram, but also YouTube, where some of my favorites maintain channels and post interesting videos for their fans. 

Recipe Tried: Chrissy Teigen's Mac and Cheese

I have been a follower of Chrissy Teigen on social media because of her old blog, the one where she shared a lot of her recipes. This was before she came out with her cookbooks. She still has a blog today but it is under the name of her brand, Cravings by Chrissy Teigen. Last year I decided to try her Mac and Cheese recipe from the cookbook that I found on Brown Eyed Baker. 

Here is how I did it (with a few adjustments because of the availability of ingredients):

My Favorite T. Swift Leading Men

If my previous post on her latest album Folklore has not made it obvious yet, I am a Taylor Swift fan. I have been a fan of her music since her early years. I have always considered her to be incredibly talented and very smart with the way she makes decisions regarding her craft.

One of those types of decisions that I am thankful for is the type of guys that she chooses to be leading men in her music videos. She has had several of them through the years – a mix of celebrities, athletes, models, and fellow singers. I’ve noticed that when I trim them down to my favorites I really do have a certain type of guy that I am often attracted to: dark hair, strong jaw, intense eyes, and of course, a very handsome face.

Book Review: A Sweet Mess

I love romantic comedies. I know some people have asked me why I love these things when I know that the two characters are going to end up together anyway. For me, as cliché as it may sound, it is not about the destination, it is about the journey to get there.

Credit: Macmillan Publishers