Month in Review : September 2017 – From San Francisco to North Korea

Helllooo and welcome to my second Month in Review!

How was your guys’ September? I can’t believe fall is already here: even though I live in the Bay Area, it almost looks like a scene straight out of New England. There are so many different orange, yellow, and brown leaves falling in my neighborhood… but it’s still so freaking hot in San Francisco!
(Our summers are reversed: it’s cold in August and hot in September, wtf 😭)

Anyway, I’m not complaining at all. I can’t wait to pull out all of the scarves and coats from my closet and finally put them to good use – and go on all sorts of fall adventures in California.

Ready to see what else I did this month? Let’s check out what happened in September!

This Month in Adventures

Looking pretty comfortable there, huh? 

Instead of talking about all of my fabulous adventures in September, let me just put a photo of my cat to illustrate what I’ve done.

The answer? Absolutely nothing. 😂

I think the furthest I’ve traveled from my house this month was like 10 miles to get some boba tea. The rest was spent working, writing new blog posts, and cleaning catching up on Netflix shows and slapping on Korean sheet masks.

Nah, I’m kidding. I actually did get a lot of (indoor) things done this month! I’ll talk about the blog posts in the section below and the rest right now.

I’ve been watching Rizzoli & Isles for a while thanks to a suggestion from Mama N. I’m on the last and final season and already suffering from withdrawal symptoms – until I found Buzzfeed’s Unsolved series and it’s sooo freaking good! Unsolved has a few different genres, like True Crime, Supernatural, etc, whatever you’re into, and the best part is that they release a new episode every week. 🤤

Another show that I’m addicted to is Border Security: America’s/Canada’s Front Line (there are two versions of the same show, you can find them on Netflix). It goes behind the scenes and follows the work of immigration officers in airports and the US-Canada border. Border Security is one of those shows you can play in the background because there are so many plot lines in each episode, and they’re all easy to watch. It’s so interesting to see how real people lie to the officers about their status, or how easy it is to look suspicious (especially when you have a one-way ticket 😅) – but my favorite episode was when a traveler from Sri Lanka grabbed a bag and realized it wasn’t his. Turned out there was a bag that looked exactly like his – with the same lime green ribbon and a padlock!

Anyway, if you end up binge watching any of those shows, don’t tell me that I didn’t warn you. Your whole weekend might be gone before you know it. 

 

 

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Published Blog Posts & What I’m Working On 

September was a way more productive month that August – I finished 2 blog posts and have a few more in the works.

One big thing that I’m trying to work on is writing and scheduling my posts. I used to be really amazed (and slightly confused) at how other travel bloggers could write so much and post on Instagram and pin on Pinterest and have an active social life. Apparently, they’ve been scheduling posts on WordPress and all of their social media channels – duhhh 

I’ve been reading more about how to schedule everything correctly, and the key to this is making sure you have enough time to write blog posts, schedule them in advance (for example, once a week), and making sure to post on Instagram at the right time.

Here are the posts that I finished this month:

-Ultimate Guide to Traveling to San Francisco on a Budget (20+ tips!)

And some that I’m working on (or almost done!):
-Guide to Catalina Island – Day trip from Los Angeles
-City Guides to Havana, Trinidad, and Cienfuegos (not all 3 in one post, lol)

 

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What’s in My Shopping Cart?

Real Stuart Weitzman Lowland boots on the left ($790+) and Kaitlyn Pan dupes ($99) on the right 

I’ve been looking for over the knee boots for like a whole 5 seconds weeks when I saw these Kaitlyn Pan boots – and instantly bought them. 🤤

Over the knee boots are a fall wardrobe staple and look great with everything: jeans, shorts, dresses, leggings, tights, you name it. Since I got these from Amazon, they were delivered in 2 days (thanks, Prime Shipping ❤️) and even came with their own box and duster bag – fancy, huh?

Even though these boots are $600 cheaper than the originals and made in China, the quality is very good: the microsuede material is so soft and the heel is sturdy enough to walk 5+ miles in (as tested by yours truly). If you’re planning to buy the Kaitlyn Pan dupes, I recommend paying attention to the size – I’m usually an 8 or 8.5US size and ordered that originally, but it was too tight in the heel and I had to return it. The second time I ordered a 9.5US and it fit perfectly

If you want to buy your own pair, you can check out the Kaitlyn Pan Thigh High Boots here. They also have the famous Valentino studded shoes (Rockstud) here and Chanel slingback heels here. You can check out Kaitlyn Pan’s entire line of shoes here.

Honestly, I wish I knew who the genius behind Kaitlyn Pan is because I want to give them a huge hug. These boots are so amazing and I can’t wait to wear them again. ☺️

 

 

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What I’m Reading

This month’s book is A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator’s Rise to Power by Paul Fischer.

Luda, wtf are you reading this month?? Yeah yeah, I know that this month’s book is so different from last month’s pick, but I promise it’s really interesting!

A Kim Jong-Il Production tells the very strange (but completely true) story of how Kim Jong-Il kidnapped famous South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-Ok and his wife/actress Choi Eun-Hee to make propaganda films. This book was recommended by another travel blogger, and I would highly recommend it too! It’s about 330 pages and I read the entire book in 3 days because it was so well-written … and suspenseful.  😬

The author does such a great job of taking you to North Korea and explaining every detail of the regime. For example, North Koreans must have a photo of Kim Il-Sung (the “original” leader) and Kim Jong-Il (Il-Sung’s son, and Kim Jong-un’s father) in their house. They have a special towel that they must use to clean the photos – and nothing else. North Korean men must serve 10 years in the army, North Korean women 7 years. Also, there are no traditional grocery stores – normal citizens have ration coupons, and rich citizens shop at state-owned stores.

 

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Goals & Plans for Next Month 

Next month is my favorite month of the year – it’s my birthday!! I’m turning 23 years old (is my retirement check here yet? 😭) and honestly, I have no idea how I feel lol. It’s that age where you can still kind of do what you want, but also a gentle reminder to start adulting.

… And buying everything you want on your Amazon birthday wishlist 🤤

I’ll also be visiting Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau in October for a week and a half – if you’re interested in following my trip, don’t forget to check out my Instagram stories.

See you next month and have a great October!