a blog all about thrifting
Stacey Nguyen 
Introduction Hi, hello from one of my latest plant acquisitions — the peperomia marcello! (Sometimes called the amigo marcello.) Truth be told, I haven’t had the best of luck with peperomia (aka the radiator plant), mostly because I end up ignoring them and then shocking them with too much water or sunlight. But I’m holding … Read more
New plant haul! I know, I know, I know I shouldn’t get any more plants, but these sparked joy, OK? And perhaps more importantly, they were budget friendly. I haven’t bought any plants for over a month now, and I think that a monthly buying schedule is healthy. Look at me trying to justify my … Read more
A sweet floral-infused vanilla fragrance: Rihanna’s Nude Rihanna’s Nude was one of my first perfume purchases during COVID. The initial blast can be a little strong — you get that floral vanilla orchid with a hint of fruity guava. Still, it dries down to such a classy scent, … Read more
Hello from my lone surviving prayer plant! I am gravely fearful of any plant that requires too much humidity because I live in such a dry little nook of California. And guess what? Prayer plants *love* humidity! While I adore how prayer plants look with their whimsical and intricate foliage patterns, I’d be remiss not … Read more
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Is Only Moderately Life-Changing. Well, it’s been not a minute, but several minutes! Y’all, I finally made my way through The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up! And while it wasn’t magical, I did find myself drawn to KonMari’s brute cleaning philosophy — my main takeaway from this handy little book … Read more
I am shocked by how many ficus plants I’ve owned, given my track record with them. I’ve had several plants in this genus: two ficus lyrata, a ficus benjamina, and of course, two ficus elastica. These are fig plants, but the edible common fig, ficus carica, isn’t your ideal houseplant — it really prefers being … Read more
An honest and morally clear collection of essays, Zadie Smith’s Intimations grasps at how this unprecedented moment in time peels back the layers to reveal our relationships to the world around us. Happy autumn, fell book lovers! My latest read, Zadie Smith’s Intimations, is one of my favorite quarantine books so far. “Intimations” is quite apt … Read more
Elizabeth Acevedo serves up a tender and warm story in With the Fire on High. Hello, book friends! This week I picked up a sizzling hot read: Elizabeth Acevedo’s With the Fire on High. I adored Acevedo’s The Poet X and how it creatively formed a narrative through poetry. So I’ve been jonesing to pick up … Read more
Let’s talk about the dieffenbachia. For me, it’s the plant that I fall in love with over and over again whenever I look at it, but it’s also the plant that I tend to ignore. My dieffenbachia, also colloquially known as a dumb cane, has been slowly eking by over the past year, and while … Read more
Laced with fantasy and folklore, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior is a surreal tribute to storytelling through the memoir form. Hey, y’all! I’m back with a review of The Woman Warrior. Maybe five years ago, my adviser recommended me this book when I was working on a thesis re: Vietnamese American literature, but I hadn’t gotten around … Read more
