#42: i think the apples rotten right to the core
its my turn to ask for recommendations people !!!
hi hi hi sisters ♡ i’m currently nursing an alani energy drink because i took a red eye last night and and went straight to work from the airport, so i’m running on 3 hours of sleep. but dang energy drinks are just NOT GOOD in my opinion… like they taste like melted super sugary popsicles with fake sugar…
I hope you all had a good 4th of July. I know I have talked a lot about how I have very mixed feelings with how I feel about the United States, and that is still very true, which makes celebrating the 4th of July a little more complicated as I get older. I think its a fun holiday because its a pure summer holiday, filled with yummy food and time outside and fireworks to end the night, BUT I still feel icky about everything… however, I hope you guys were able to enjoy your holiday in some way shape or form, even if it was just celebrating a day off of work !!
for the next couple of months I want to focus this section on recommending different substacks/newsletters that I read. I have really grown to love substack and their platform as a whole. I really resonate with this note:
substack truly is a beautiful little vulnerable corner of the internet and it has brought me SO. MUCH. JOY. so I want to start sharing some of my favorite newsletters that I am subscribed to, OR an article/post I LOVED.
first up we have the girl that got me into newsletters in the first place,
, writer of handpicked. I have been following her emails when they were just that, an email she would send. she switched to substack a bit ago and has helped me in my journey of getting to where I am today. she is a mother of 4, a photographer, a curator of wonderful links, and an all around wonderful person to follow. she’s taking the summer off from writing, but she has PLENTY of articles to read if you want to start now !!
movies: I didn’t watch a single movie this week… shocking I know, I tried to watch a movie on a plane but the volume was NOT working… oh well, there’s always this week, which it will be another heat wave so I have a feeling I will be spending a good amount of time indoors
music: anyone else have apple by charlie xcx stuck in their head because of the tiktok dance?!
in my stomach: OOOH I have a yummy protein bar to share with you guys, the brand is called misfits, you can find them at trader joes. they are plant based protein bar with 15 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. which for a protein bar that tastes this good is an incredibly low amount of sugar with an incredibly high amount of protein. i’ve only had the red and purple packaged ones so far, but I bet if you find the others they will also be yummy!
in about a month from now i’ll be going on a two week trip to europe with bjørn (hes my boyfriend for those of you that dont know) and we are going to a couple of different countries — austria, switzerland, and italy. and I need YOUR recs!! i’ve been to italy before, we are really only going to florence, which is one of my favorite cities maybe in the world?? but i’ve never been to austria or switzerland. in austria we are going to vienna and salzburg (don’t worry we ARE going to do a sound of music tour ♡), but what else have you done in austria? and then in switzerland we are going to be in lucerne for the bulk of the time but also going to thun/interlaken, and burner oberland (murren). SO if you have been to any of these places i would love food, activity, museum, recs, any and ALL are welcome ◡̈
I know I travel quite a bit, and I am so incredibly grateful that I have been able to do so much in my 27 years so far. I was texting my dad about going to europe and he asked “How do you afford to travel all the time? Cuz you seem to travel a lot. Especially for a student. You have a hack you haven’t shared?” which kinda seemed like a judgmental question at first, I don’t know if he meant it that way, but I told him
well traveling in a group with rental cars mitigates a LOT of cost, like for niagara falls I paid just over $200 with gas, hotel, food, and the stuff we did because we share costs and stay in shitty places. and same with boston, we stayed with Sabrina for a night. and I dog sit and babysit to make extra money. I also live off of only like $40,000 a year. I just make it work
but yeah, cheap travel, pay with points, extra jobs, and I live within my means. i’m not in any debt (besides student loans but like thats different debt). I keep and stick to a tight budget
which is the truth. I do travel quite a bit but I budget a lot and save for traveling. I use credit card points and take on extra jobs to make extra money. i don’t spend more than i have and even though I live in new york, my rent isn’t as expensive as a lot of my friends here; which is incredibly lucky for me. if it was more expensive I would probably have to work more than I already do outside of school hours. I think its important to be transparent about money and how we afford to do certain luxuries, especially in the economy we are in today. I don’t know what is “normal” or “average” for how much is in savings or how much is spent on travel or food or groceries, which is why I love talking openly about money. what are your thoughts on talking about money and income and expenses?
BUT money talk aside, I would love to hear some of your recs for europe!!
tiktok: I MUST go; chocolate cake usually isn’t my thing, BUT this recipe looks amazing; I love molly gordon; nothing says summer like SMORES
pinterest: using lore to describe trauma >>>; silly anxiety; surfing pups
instagram: flower fingers; free palestine; I did something cool over the weekend
thanks for reading! it really does mean a lot to me, I love having this space as my own, and its so fun having you guys along for the ride. thank you for being here!
until next week,
