Summer Edition: As Of Late, I’ve Been…

Before I begin, I must give credit where credit is due for this blog post idea: Mara Ferreira. After reading her post, I thought it’d be fun to adapt her idea and add a little twist to it to make it more me. Thanks in advance, Mara! And if you don’t already follow her, you really should. She has such cute style and is an amazing mom to her little boy Augustine! I also love when she shares her grocery store finds so if you’re into healthy eating, she’s your gal!

I figured sharing an update on the fun stuff in my personal life would be interesting considering I love posts like these from other bloggers I follow. To me, when bloggers share these kinds of posts, I feel like they’re more approachable. It’s like you feel like you know them through these kinds of posts so you’re not afraid to interact and have a conversation.

And that’s my goal: to grow my relationship with you guys so we can talk about anything! And when you recognize me in public one day, I never want you to be afraid to come up to me and say hi! 

Also, since I tend to update y’all more on what’s happening with the direction and focus of SSD, I thought a reality-type post would be fun to write for me too. Get ready because it’s going to a long one!

Here goes!

AS OF LATE, I’VE BEEN…

WATCHING

Funnily, I’ve been taking it easy this summer. I’ve been forcing myself to slow down and relax so that means watching television wayyy more than I usually do. Frasier reruns have been my life! Did you know that there’s a possibility of a Frasier reboot? I’m kind of excited, but without John Mahoney, I don’t know if it’ll be the same. I love Marty and Niles the best out of all the characters of the show!

Love It or List It has been fun yet frustrating to watch. I can’t stand the couples who “want it all” and then give a crap budget for Hilary to redo their home or David to give them everything they want in a new home. Another thing I can’t stand was when this woman said she wanted open-concept, David gives her an open-concept home option and then she legit says, “It’s too open.” What the heck did she think open-concept meant?! You might not want to watch this show with me because I tend to be very loud and a tad bit vulgar with my commentary, LOL! 

I also recently started over on The Crown (SO good by the way!) because it had been a while since I last saw it. Warning, if you haven’t seen it, each episode is an hour long and it’s very easy to binge watch until 4am (true story)!

For movies, from what I can remember, I’ve recently watched The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (quite possibly my favorite action comedy, haha!), Hotel Transylvania, Coco (such a cute movie with a twist!), Thor: Ragnarok (obsessed is an understatement), Black Panther (legit ah-mazing movie), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Game Night (what a cray cray movie!).

Oh and I’m also dying to see a few movies that just released! It’s been a long time since I’ve actually wanted to see movies when they come out in theatres because I always get the luck of sitting in front of a kid who kicks my seat. Anyway, on my radar is: Mission Impossible: Fallout, Crazy Rich Asians (have the book), Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Infinity War, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

READING

Reading has always been my favorite past time since I was young. And now that I’m done with college, I love making time to read personal development and fiction books. Currently, for self-help, I’m reading Boundaries in Dating by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend and restarted Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

For fun, I’m reading a fantasy series through Audible called The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. I finally have time to find out what happened in one my favorite TV shows, Legend of the Seeker, that was abruptly canceled years ago. LOTS was adapted by Goodkind’s books and the show was amazing! This series is 20 books long and I’m SO excited, haha! I’m three hours (out of 35!) into the first book right now and it’s brought back so many memories from the show I loved so much! I know, I’m such a nerd, lol!

The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard is another book I’m reading. I’m almost halfway through, however, I’m reading this from a fiction standpoint as I don’t expect “cold hard facts” about what happened in this particular time in history to be 100% accurate.

I just recently finished Secrets of an Irresistible Woman by Michelle McKinney Hammond on my Kindle app and it was so good that I finished it in two evenings! Definitely going to re-read this book during this holiday season for sure!

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman was also another book I finished this summer. So good, but I can’t give away much because it’s sad at the same time.

I love that I’ve been a reading machine this summer. It wasn’t until I started on fiction books that I seriously forgot how fun it is to escape life through reading!

PLAYING

If you know me very well, it’s no secret that I like to play video games. As of late, I’ve played Rockband and helped Rachel navigate through Assassin’s Creed. Currently, I’m trying to find the cord that goes to my Playstation because I want to play a few old games I love like Metal Gear Solid and Mortal Kombat again. Wish me luck!

EATING/DRINKING

I’ve been eating a lot of salmon, chicken and kale lately. Speaking of, I’d die for a bowl of HG Supply‘s grilled salmon with sweet potato hash and mushroom and quinoa pilaf with garlic aioli on the side. Add some sparkling water and I’m a happy camper. I think I could eat that dish every single day and not get tired of it! Confession: I’ve been relying on coffee a lot more than I should to get through my day. 

Considering the fact that I like to balance my life and actually live it to the fullest, throw in the two giant oatmeal raisin cookies I ate last week in there too. “Two cookies? Really, Huong? It’s not that big of a deal.” Excuse me. Each cookie is bigger than a compact disc (anyone remember those?). Yep. And I may have had a third cookie yesterday without any feelings of shame or guilt whatsoever. 

WEARING

As someone who loves fashion, I’ve been living in my workout clothes with my hair in an attempted French braid for my after work sweat sessions. For the style side of things, I’ve been wearing my long grey cardigan I found at TJ Maxx nonstop. I know. I live in Texas. It’s still August. And it’s about to hit 100 degrees today. Well, you know what? I have two words for you: cold office.

BUYING

I’ve set some financial goals this year and have cut back on my spending tremendously this past month. However, I decided that if I’m going to spend my money on “fun” stuff, it’s going to be beauty-related (mostly skincare products) or just restock on things I need.

In my cart currently are this shampoo, hair towel and jet lag mask that I almost bought last week, but I’m waiting for another Sephora Sale to launch (more on that soon) to save some money!

LISTENING

Music-wise, the entire album of Anthem Lights, I Am They, Shawn Mendes’ Nervous, Nathan Sykes’ Good Things Come to Those Who Wait have been on constant repeat! Podcast-wise, it’s all about Lewis Howes (per usual) and his latest episode with Dr. Joe Dispenza BLEW. ME. AWAY!

PLANNING

On the blogging-side of things, I’ve been brainstorming and planning my brand strategy. For the fun part of life, I’m looking into revisiting my passions and also trying new things I’ve never done before. More on that later once I get an idea of what I’m wanting to do.

LOOKING FOR

Fashion-wise, I’m on the hunt for a camel-colored coat, booties, cashmere sweater and a wool scarf for this fall/winter. Life-wise, I’m looking to be a better version of myself. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO

The fall season is my favorite. Not only do I get excited about fall fashion, but I also appreciate the transitioning of seasons. I’ve been ready for cozy and cooler days since summer began, ha!

LOVING

The faith part of my life has made a 360 degree turn and I couldn’t be happier about my journey. My relationship with the Lord has been growing each and every day. And I’m loving the experience of understanding the depth of His love through reading the Bible and my devotional.

THINKING ABOUT

Now, more than ever, I find myself daydreaming, praying and manifesting about my future and it’s so incredibly exciting! I seriously can’t contain myself!

HATING

I hate seeing people not go for their dreams because they’re afraid. Since I’ve dealt with my own fears in the past (and have improved tremendously on it), I get how people feel. However, it just pains me to see the deep levels of fear that literally limit people from living their best lives.

Once I got grounded in my identity, that’s when things changed for me so to see this fear that cripples those I care about in a deeper sense hurts me. 

SLACKING ON

As of late, I have not been able to keep up with my main health priority: sleep. That and I’m not drinking enough water. Working on that this weekend for sure! Sleep that is. 

STRUGGLING WITH

My lack of energy has been a real problem these last two weeks. Of course I know one of the contributing factors is that I’m not getting enough sleep. However, I’m planning on doing a detox in a few weeks so I know it’ll help with the energy problem soon too.

What’s been going on with you as of late?

Do you have any updates? Exciting news? Things you’re planning? I’d love to know and cheer you on!

How do you feel about this ‘As of Late, I’ve Been…” post? I thought it’d be nice to replace the Transformation Thursday posts I’ve written as I weave those throughout my weekly posts.

Let me know what you think in the comments! If you like it, I’ll do these once a quarter!

SHOP THE POST

Black Bell Sleeve Dress (on sale for 40% off) | Aquatalia Sandals c/o Clothehorse Anonymous (what an absolute find!) | Pearl Drop Earrings (old, similar tiered pearl drop earrings) | Nude Lipstick in shade Intense Nude