Here's to Another Year!

 And so another year ends. It has been a journey of ups and downs but we are here.

Here's to 2026! May it be better than 2025.

We all have quirks

My family loves to make fun of my quirks it seems. They're not really mean or anything but it can get annoying sometimes. Like, give a girl a break.

One of mine is my tendency to hyper organize my ebooks. Sometimes I go beyond the genre and author organization and head straight to separating the books by series. My siblings refuse to browse through my books. They say that they have no clue where things are and they would rather I recommend books to them than take a look around my digital library for a new read that peaks their interest. They should be happy I never employed the Dewey Decimal System. 

Another quirk that I firmly believe is overreaction on my siblings part is the fact that I am really good at making a cake give 15 slices when 6 was the expected serving size. The kids have banded together and refuse to let me cut anything except fruit. I don't cut meat (i.e. turkey, roasts and such) because I always hack it apart. But I thought the whole cakes and pies thing was fine. Apparently it is not. I have a ban on me. If they see me with a knife about to cut banana bread, they will go out of their way to stop me. Yes, I do feel hurt by that.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below. Tell me about your quirks. 

I don't really want to know

 I have always loved reading. Words make sense in ways people and the world in general never really had. I can understand how a character operates because I have seen its growth. People are layered in ways most books aren't. The world operates in a completely different way too. Books are like a safer, simplified mirror of the world we live in.

That said, I have a lot of books. Not just physically, but digitally. There is an ongoing joke in my family that I have a library. Not a physical one, but a digital one. I don't have enough space for a physical library.

In order to have a library, one must own over a thousand books. I passed that years ago. I honestly don't know how many books I have now. And I don't want to know. There comes a point in ones life where one just stops obsessing over things like that. At least, for me. 

Now, I just want to read a book I think is interesting. It was like this in the beginning and I think it fine for it to be this way now.  

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

Fake It Til It's Real K-Drama Edition

 Fake Relationships are one of my favorite tropes. I already did a post on books with this trope. Now I give the K drama edition. All blurbs from AsianWiki. Real Quick Honorable Mentions: Happiness, Because This Is My First Life, A Business Proposal, Perfect Marriage Revenge. I mentioned them before on my blog so I won't mention it again.

Lie to Me

A woman in her late 20's is always asked "when are you going to get married?" On a whim, the woman then lies that she did get married.

Kong Ah-Jung  is an administrative official for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. She then co-ordinates a meeting for government officials. The meeting appears to flow smoothly and she is even praised by the minister. Disaster soon strikes when bees attack the meeting place and the meeting turns into chaos. Taking responsibility for meeting, Ah-Jung is ordered to submit a written apology. That evening Kong Ah-Jung goes to a club and drinks away her sorrows.

Meanwhile, Hyun Ki-Joon is the president for conglomerate "World Group." He is handsome, smart and from a rich family. But, in his teen years due to an accident he lost both of his parents. Since that time, Ki-Joon and his younger brother were raised by his aunt. Ki-Joon has a responsible character as an older brother but his younger brother Sang-Hee is more carefree. The younger brother Sang-Hee then comes back to Korea and meets Ah-Jung at the club, while she is drinking away her sorrows. Ah-Jung and Sang-Hee start to chat and Ki-Joon shows up to looking for Sang-Hee. He misses Sang-Hee. in front of the club Ah-Jung passes out and Ki-Joon takes her to the hospital. In order to ask Ah-Jung about Sang-Hee's whereabouts, Ki-Joon stays next to Ah-Jung's bed all through the night. The next day, they go their separate ways.

On the following day, Ah-Jung meets So-Ran who stole away her first love Jae-Beom. So-Ran and Jae-Beom eventually married. After So-Ran and Jae-Beom became a couple, Ah-Jung studied hard and passed her government official exam to impress Jae-Beom. At the hair salon, Ah-Jung on a whim lies to the couple and tells them that she is married. Ah-Jung then goes to a hotel to pay Ki-Joon for the other night's hospital bill. An accident occurs and she spills tomato juice all over her sweater. Ah-Jung is so embarrassed she pretends to pass out. Ki-Joon picks her up and takes her to his hotel room. During this time, Ah-Jung's friends watches and a rumor soon spreads that Ah-Jung and Ki-Joon are married ....

Okay, the first half of this drama is pure Rom-Com gold. The second half is exhaustingly angsty. It's not bad. It's actually quite good. I just got tired of the back and forth. If you watch it, you'll get what I mean. It is an older show so if it seems dated, there you go.

No Gain, No Love

Son Hae-Young is the type of person who doesn't want to lose money under any circumstance. When growing up, she had to share her mother's love with others. She often found her partners in relationships below her break even point. Now, Son Hae-Young faces the possibility of missing out on a job promotion at her workplace. To avoid such a loss, she makes a plan for a fake wedding. She recruits Kim Ji-Wook to be her fiance. Kim Ji-Wook works part-time as a cashier at a convenience store. He is the type of person who can't ignore people in need and tries to do the right thing. He is smooth with every customer at the convenience store, except for one person. That person is Son Hae-Young. When she suddenly asks him to become the fake groom at her wedding, he somehow accepts her offer.

This series is more, how shall I say this, mature. It is still a Rom-Com but with surprisingly deep and mature moments. The things that need blurring will be blurred, so have no worries there. I enjoy this show's use of irony and tongue in cheek. It has a two episode spinoff which actually helped me better understand a secondary character's development. So, I wouldn't say it was an absolute thing you need to watch as well. But it did make the whole thing more fun.

Love in Contract

Choi Sang-Eun is an attractive woman, with talent and charm. She works as a contract marriage master. Her job is to help her client have a perfect single life. She transforms herself for each of her clients. Her client Jung Ji-Ho has been in a marriage contract with her for 5 years, running on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week. Jung Ji-Ho is a mysterious man. Her new client Kang Hae-Jin is a popular actor. She has a marriage contract with him on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Choi Sang-Eun becomes involved with her 2 clients and finds herself in a love triangle.

This one is a Rom-Com with more drama in it than I initially expected. I went in thinking I would get  comedy only to get way more drama. Still a fun watch, just prepare yourself for Chaebol drama. 

Would You Marry Me

Kim Woo-Joo is the only son of a family that runs bakery Myungsoondang and he works there as a marketing team leader. The bakery has an 80 year history. Personality wise, he is a bit narcissistic and rational person. He gets involved with subcontractor designer Yoo Me-Ri for work. One day, she suddenly asks Kim Woo-Joo to marry her. Meanwhile, Yoo Me-Ri is going through some trials in her life, including a broken engagement due to her ex-boyfriend's infidelity and a fraud lease on a newlywed home. Around this time, she received good news that she won a special prize for newlyweds which is a top-class townhouse. Her problem is that she has already broken off her engagement. She suddenly proposes to Kim Woo-Joo, who has the same name as her ex-fiance. This is how they begin their fake newlywed life for 90 days.

I just started this one. Rom-Com with a dash of Thriller, heavy on the Rom-Com. It is very difficult to laugh quietly at 4 in the morning when all you want to do is tell someone what just happened on screen. I am thoroughly enjoying this drama. 

I hope you get to watch one or more of these delightful series. As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

New Projects

 I finished working on a new throw blanket. It is a beautiful Rubbed Sage color and it will be so warm. My timing is good as there is snow on the ground as I write this.

I was working on a different blanket but the yarn was so plushy, it messed up the tension of the whole thing and caused the yarn to snap twice. I was so frustrated that I scrapped the whole project. Yes, there may have been some screaming involved. My mom and siblings gave me a wide berth and mega side eye. They said that it felt like I was mad at them, not the yarn. 

For the sake of my mental health, I switched to the sage yarn. I didn't give up on the other yarn. I just needed some time away from it so I could figure out how I should work with it. I think I might have figured it out. Time will tell, though.

Anyway, I over did it in the beginning by knitting like my life depended on it. I was trying to make up for all the time I felt that I had wasted. Now my body is sore. My mom said I probably need to do a workout to warm-up my body before I start knitting.

Oh, before I forget, a picture of the blanket is below.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

Open Letter to the Ladybug in my Room

 Dear Ladybug,

Last week, you kinda creeped me out. Why were you flying so aggressively and slamming your tiny body into my light? Why were you buzzing so loudly that I almost mistook you for a bumblebee?

I was wondering if you were hopped up on some kind of ladybug juice. You know, the kind that leaves you a bit loopy. I was mildly hurt that you wouldn't crawl onto my hand but I got over it after seeing how out of it you seemed. I haven't seen you since then and I hope you are better.

Your inadvertent roommate who was there first,

Yafania

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

Second Hand Embarrassment

 Have you ever had a moment when reading a book when you have to walk away? Not because you were busy or had someone call you away. The character(s) just made you so embarrassed that you had to walk away. I am experiencing as I write this post.

I really want to finish this book but our female lead is such a wild card, I'm a little scared. She might be more than I am used to handling. I know her plans are going to fail but watching her try so hard is kinda pitiful in a way. It's embarrassing because she doesn't see until later that plans A,B,C,D,E,F,G and H  were all for naught.

Please if there is any one out there reading these posts, if someone you know is that bad, just stop them. If you can't do that because they won't listen, quietly film it to remind them later to behave better. They're going to act like it never happened. So video evidence is need.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

When You're Hooked

 On a Saturday night whim, I started a novel. It was book one out of nine and I had low expectations. It is currently Wednesday evening and I am about to start book eight.

To be honest, its name is a bit corny. The synopsis was a bit interesting but the name threw me off for a long while. If I wasn't bored at the time, I probably wouldn't have even bothered picking it up. So thankful I did.

I guess, what I am trying to say is this: Not only should you not judge your books by the cover, you also shouldn't judge them just by their name and synopsis. They might actually be incredible but just have a really hard time telling you how.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

The Colors and Scents of Fall

 I looked outside today and saw that Fall is well and truly here. Yes, the weather has been cold enough for me to have to throw layers on. Yes, the trees in my neighborhood have mostly turned. What I mean is there are leaves on the ground.

One of my favorite childhood memories is that of jumping into a pile of leaves. That is what would get me excited when I would see the trees changing colors. Of course, I don't do that now. My knees won't like afterwards and I really need them to like me.

I also always enjoyed how crisp the air would get as Fall slides into Winter. And the scents! The faintest hint of wood smoke. The spicy scent of basil going to seed. Cinnamon Apple candles and air spray perfuming the air. The sweet and savory scents of baked goods.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.