a guide to all things vintage
I’ve been an avid secondhand shopper since, well, forever. I grew up piggyback riding my dad at the West Wind Capitol Flea Market every weekend and later discovered the magic of thrift stores and consignment shops in college. On my first day of college, I wandered downtown Berkeley on a breezy June afternoon and discovered … Read more
When I worked in downtown Oakland in college, I’d occasionally return to my quaint Berkeley studio with a huge plastic bag of jujubes from Chinatown. I never really ate jujubes growing up (we were really more of a longan family), but I decided to pick some up while buying banh cuốn rice roll sheets during … Read more
I am fond of the idea of being a chic rose girl, but unfortunately, I’m seldom a rose girl in practice, especially when it comes to fragrance. In my mind, a rose girl effortlessly spritzes on a rose perfume and a rosewater facial spray before she slips into a crisp poplin wrap dress to grace … Read more
Now that I’m 29, one hard truth that I’ve come to accept about myself is that I’m a fairweather outdoor gardener. Unless I’m cleaning up our already established rose bushes, I water and attend to my outdoor plants based on whim. And when you live in the sweltering and bone-dry heat of the Central Valley, … Read more
I spent most of July pummeled by feelings of anxiety and dread, so I swiftly fell down a cozy culinary mysteries and Is It Cake? rabbit hole when in search of some much-needed comfort. (Translation: I pretty much scrapped my plans to read all of Jane Austen this summer.) These days, when I’m not watching … Read more
I am a neurotically detail-oriented Virgo daughter of a must-have-things-visually-orderly Libra mother, so, of course, against the advice of every proper rose planting guide out there, I spent a few hours pruning our unwieldy and crispy rose bushes this past warm June weekend. While most of my effort went towards deadheading spent blooms, I also … Read more
In proper Swiftie fashion, I have been in a lavender haze lately. That’s to say, the English lavender I’ve been harvesting from the garden has had quite the soporific effect on me as a tea. Or maybe the trials and tribulations of adulthood have just left me in a perpetual state of drowsiness over the … Read more
I think I have sufficiently established that I possess very little skill when it comes to the culinary arts. That said, I do enjoy infusing whatever rudimentary meals I cook with a generous amount of flavor. One lovely flavor trifecta that always hits the spot for me is chili peppers, fish sauce, and Thai basil … Read more
I took the day off today, and my boss was none too pleased. (And, for the record, I’m my own boss.) But given the beautiful weather, I decided that it was worth catching up with work over the weekend if need be. The temperatures have been tepid, if not somewhat cool, in the Central Valley … Read more
It’s been a while since I’ve done book reviews here, but I’m proud to say that I’ve been keeping up with reading this past year! I post most of my mini reviews on Instagram (@howdyfronds – cheugy, I know), but I wanted to share a few of my favorite recent reads on this blog. Without … Read more
