Have you ever had a place that you pass by quite often, but have never made time to go inside? If so, perhaps you’re like me and you never had a reason to, or, never made the time to, but it’s been in your periphery as “this place exists”, but nothing further was jotted down in your mind. To go a step further, after a number of years of passing by this place, perhaps you’ve begun to make a mental assessment of the building from its exterior, noting the traffic going inside, the state of its cleanliness and silently, unacknowledged, affirm or contradict that original opinion formed about why you have not yet made a point to visit this place of business, until something, or someone, changes your perspective.Continue reading “Adventures in Reading”
Unboxing: Blessed is She 2019-2020 Academic Planner
Every year I tend to buy at least two planners: my Erin Condren for the year, and I’ll experiment with a new brand that I haven’t tried out yet, just to see if the grass might be greener elsewhere. This year, it was a close call between the Cultivate What Matters planner (bright, fun, playful, inspired) and the Blessed Is She (BIS) planner (modern, functional, Catholic-focused). You can see from my post title which one I decided upon.
And then this week, a lovely gold box with Scripture showed up on my porch.Continue reading “Unboxing: Blessed is She 2019-2020 Academic Planner”
My Rule of Life, 2019-2020 Edition
In April 2018, I wrote about how to go about establishing a rule of life, and since this has been a subject coming up recently, I thought it was time for an annual revisit. I’ve broken my guidelines into Morning – Day/Afternoon – Evening – and General/Year-Round.Continue reading “My Rule of Life, 2019-2020 Edition”
What’s Playing: Love 020
Viewed: 2019. 03/13-03/21
Netflix episode list and trailer available here.
This post is in no way sponsored or endorsed by Netflix.
I was bound to stumble upon this 2016 drama series sooner or later. Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) is a young entrepreneur designing his first game with his college-age friends when he stumbles upon Bei Weiwei (Schuang Zheng), a remarkable female gamer, skilled at combat in a RPG that is a national hit.
When Weiwei gets dumped inside of the game by her in-game husband, she receives a proposal from the server’s top player, Yixiao Naihe, who, unbeknownst to her, is the school’s most popular guy, Xiao Nai. They’re a formidable pair on the servers, but would they have any chemistry if they met, in real life? Love 020 explores the dangers of anonymous romances online, and the unspoken attractions of those around us, and quite naturally, the misadventures of unrequited love in a dramedy worth your time, if you’re a fan of online RPGs or of Chinese romances.
The romance is sweet and pure, and the conflict makes sense — it’s not all misunderstandings and love at first hate. As a former gamer myself, I was tickled by the scenes included in the series where we get to see their avatars interacting within the game, and that imagination come to life, from dealing with guild politics to fighting a mob boss. It was so much fun!
If you’re not sure about the investment of watching the full series (it’s looooong), there was a 103 minute film version released the same year (different actors) that consolidates the plot. Both were available on Netflix the last time I checked.
Over the past six weeks, I’ve been sharing some of my recent Netflix favorites with you and now, we’re all caught up. I’m currently working my way through another Chinese romance TV series right now, so there’s definitely a possibility that I’ll share my thoughts on that, if and when I ever finish it. Hint: it’s got, like, eighty episodes or something, it’s a long-term investment of my time, which has been limited of late.
Meantime, if you’ve got a great series in this genre that you highly recommend, please leave me a comment with your suggestions. If it’s on Netflix, I can add it to my watch later list, sooner or later. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed these brief looks at some fun drama/romance/comedies.
Edited (06/19/2020): Since this series did not continue beyond this point, for the sake of looking back, I’d like to briefly add some honorable mentions I also enjoyed during that period:
- Inborn Pair
- Love Alarm
- Love, Now!
- Rookie Historian, Goo Hae-ryung
- Well-Intended Love
Lavender’s Blue
This year’s birthday marked a quiet celebration of lavender, lovingly woven into the decorations and gifts from loved ones (see below) and culminating into a long-wished-for dream, visiting a real-life lavender farm.
As it turned out, we didn’t have to fly to Provence, just to find lavender fields. In a small town in the Midwest, tucked between fields and a copse of trees, is the small farm of Long Row.
The barn is the showstopper in terms of architecture at Long Row, boasting a timeless design, and classic charm like a tin roof and timber-frame construction. Chip and Joanna Gaines would be proud. The interior is part cafe, part gift shop, and includes a space for rentals.
At the time of our visit, the lavender had been harvested, save for a few late-blooming plants, a favorite attraction to eager bees.
We were however given permission to see the recently harvested lavender drying in the barn loft, and the lavender ropes were turning blue-purple as they aged.
You can imagine the fresh lavender scents and the sensation of blue buds crushed underfoot as we walked. The scent of tea wafting from kettles in the cafe. The allure of lavender-filled treats awaiting consumption.
So yes, the farm is quite charming overall and while I regret missing the peak bloom season, I’d love to come visit again next year and see the fields abloom and restock on some loverly lavender products. Learn more about Long Row Lavender here.
Lauren Miller 