Weekend Update: 8/15

This weekend passed away like a cloud of smoke. Literally, because I smell smoky air whenever I crack open a window! There are fires just half an hour away from me towards the South Bay. The crunchy air quality (yes, it is crunchy to my lungs), combined with the heat wave and the pandemic and everything else going on in the world, makes this moment feel somewhat surreal. Everything feels slow and syrupy and sticky. 

My plants aren’t quite enjoying the heat wave either. (Though, maybe they’re purifying my air! Who knows!) Around this time of year, we get ants, so they went out and about to chew up my leaves and roots before I could set out the Terro baits. Unfortunately, my calathea and dracaena marginata did not make it out of this week alive and are now kicking it in the yard waste bin. RIP.

In better news, I’m still enjoying my succulents and semi-succulent plants! They really do enjoy the hot, bright conditions in my room so much that I don’t think that I’m going to go back to beautiful, papery foliage plants anymore. Wilting plants in this economy? No thank you! I don’t do much for my succulents, though, which is why some of them grow skinny over time. But no more! While buying some ant bait and regular indoor fertilizer, I also picked up some Miracle-Gro Succulent fertilizer and gave each of my succs a squirt for good measure.

One plant that seems to be doing well and minding its own business is my philodendron narrow tiger tooth plant! It’s shooting out more growth, and I adore how it unfurls in this earthy pink color. Philodendrons aren’t succulents, but they are quite easy to please!

And speaking of pink, I’m very much in a girly, Flowerbomb-wearing, writing by fairy lights in a mason jar while listening to folklore kind of a vibe right now. I’m turning 26 soon, and it feels like it’s about time to invest in some nice signature pieces to feel more put-together. So I (blind) bought fancy perfumes this weekend along with sweet celebrity fragrances. I’m creating a vanity corner on my computer desk right now, and I’m excited to share once it looks more presentable! Sometimes I want to feel pretty and chic and blush pink, you know?

When I wasn’t writing or obsessing over Fragrantica this weekend, I curled up on my bungee chair and read. I breezed through Jasmine Guillory’s The Proposal without a hitch, and I’m excited to read The Royal Holiday this week. I do enjoy a light, breezy romance, and Guillory and Helen Hoang are some of my favorite authors in this genre. (With protagonists who are POC, can you believe?) Their reads fall in line with the delicate vibes I’ve been feeling lately, but my other weekend read veered in a bit of a different direction. After finishing my fluffy rom-com, I devoured Junji Ito’s Smashed. I’ll do a full review later, but I’m digging the psychological terror woven into body horror!

Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope my thoughts didn’t feel too scattered! Until next time, keep calm and grow on…while staying hydrated and cool!