Hello, everyone. My name is Olivia, and welcome to a new favorites video,
a video in which I just gush about recent things I have been loving. And, I am so excited to get
into this video because I have been saving up all these different things that I wanted to talk about
and now I finally get to gush about them. So, the first thing that I wanted to talk about are
things that I have been watching. So, these can either be movies or shows, but first I want to
talk about the movies that I've been watching and one of them is actually a re-watch and it is the
Lord of the Rings series. This is a series that I fell in love with when I was about 6 or 7, and I
actually have a whole entire video talking about my greatest series re-watch marathon that I did
in the beginning of the year to talk about all the different series that I rewatched,
my thoughts about them, how my thoughts have changed throughout the years, etc. etc. And, one
of the first series that I rewatched was the Lord of the Rings. So the Lord of the Rings is such a
pinnacle part of my life. It is what introduced me to fandoms. It's what introduced me to fantasy and
just like a fictional world that you can fall in love with and feel like you went on a journey with
the main characters. Rewatching the Lord of the Rings has just reignited my love for that series,
reignited my love for the Shire, for Hobbits, and just that lifestyle that I want to emulate
in every area of my life. I just want to become a Hobbit and bake and visit my neighbors and
tend to my garden. That's all I want in life is to be a Hobbit. It's a series that
I really want to rewatch more often because the first time I saw it I was, like, 6 or 7,
and then I rewatched it now, as a 23-year-old. So, it was a very big difference between
the times that I saw it, and I have very different opinions about it, as well, but I'm just so glad
that I rewatched it because it really sparked joy in my life, and I am just so grateful for
that series because, without that series, I don't think I would be as obsessed with fictional worlds
as I am right now. The next movie is actually a live performance that was recorded for Hulu
and I watched it on a whim because Shane Madej posted about it on his stories, and I decided to
just watch it that same night and it is In and of Itself. In and of Itself is just one of the most
moving live performances that I have ever seen in my entire life. It is just such a beautiful
experience. It mixes together illusions, telling a story, the human connection, and just connecting
with an audience. I want people to dive into that performance without knowing a lot about it
and that's what I did, and I have never cried so much while watching a live performance. But,
I just think it is one of the most well-crafted things I have ever seen and I just wish I was able
to see it live in New York City because they did over 500 shows of it, and I wish I had experienced
it. You can just really see the human connection between the audience and the host, and I think
it's one of the greatest things I've ever seen and I just want every single person to see it because
I feel like every single person can get something out of that performance. And it is just beautiful.
It's awe-inspiring and it is something that I just want everyone to see. Now,
let's get to these shows that I've been watching. One that I recently discovered is Escape to the
Chateau. This is a wonderful home renovation show about a couple that moves from the UK to France
and they buy a chateau for about 280,000 pounds and they decide to renovate it to eventually
host weddings and gatherings at it. So, every single episode you watch this family renovate
a different part of the chateau, whether it be in the chateau itself or on the property-- and that
chateau has 45 rooms-- so they have a lot of rooms to renovate. And, it is just such a wholesome,
just very pure experience because they don't add any extra drama to the show to make it
more interesting. It's literally just this family renovating the chateau. It is just such a calming
experience to watch and it just really inspires me to get a piece of property that's old and run down
and renovate it slowly but surely because it takes a lot of patience and a lot of artistic talent to
be able to renovate such a worn down building into a beautiful place that they now host weddings at.
It is one of those shows that I just put on in the background and wind down while watching it,
and it is just so nice and calming, and I wish that more American TV shows were like that because
I feel like, for American television, especially with reality shows, they always add these
different twists and turns that you can clearly see are scripted and it really
adds a lot of unnecessary drama to the show, but this show is just slow-moving. It takes its time
and if there is drama along the way, they will highlight it, but they won't sensationalize it.
It's really about this family's life as they live in a chateau, get used to living in France, and I
love it so much. It is available on Peacock, which is an app where you can watch shows for free.
There are a couple of ads in between each episode, but I don't think that's any like issue because
I refuse to pay for more streaming services because there are already too many out there. So,
Peacock is a really nice streaming service because you can watch the show for free and you just watch
a couple of ads in between and you get to watch a wonderful home renovation show. Now, let's move on
to things that I have been listening to and I want to highlight a podcast that I decided to listen to
on a whim and fell absolutely in love with, and I just want everyone to listen to it because I think
it's one of my new favorite podcasts of all time and it's only 10 episodes. So, once you finish it,
you finish it forever and you don't have to wait for another episode. It's like a mini-podcast if
you will, and it is the Finding Fred podcast. This is a podcast centered all-around Mr. Rogers and
Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and the influence that that show had on society. Growing up, I loved Mr.
Rogers. I just think it's one of the most soothing children’s shows of all time. So, each episode
in this podcast highlights a different aspect of Mr. Rogers and his influence in the world,
whether it be in his personal life or through the show itself. Each episode highlights
different people who were either influenced by Mr. Rogers or worked with Mr. Rogers on the show,
and it is such a beautiful podcast because it really just highlights how influential
Mr. Rogers's Neighborhood was and how it changed society for the better. It's a very niche type
of podcast, but I feel like it also is really helpful if you're looking for hope in society
if you're looking for goodness in life. This is a reminder that people are doing good and
people do want to emulate Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Rogers made such a positive impact on society
in regulating emotions and talking about empathy and talking about serious situations with children
and those children are now grown up to people my age and people older than me and we're still
trying to emulate Mr. Rogers in different ways and we're not perfect at it, but he definitely
did influence us in a positive way. So, if you are a fan of Mr. Rogers, I would highly recommend
listening to that podcast because it made me cry. It was just such an emotional experience and
really opens up a conversation for how can we be more like Mr. Rogers, how would he act in society
today, how has he impacted society today, and how can we make society better through his wisdom and
through his advice. So, the last category for this favorites videos are just things that I have been
loving that I can, like, hold and touch and like use in life, so the things before that were, like,
things that I've been watching and consuming and these are, like, things that I have acquired that
I am so happy with and they bring me so much joy. So, let's start with mugs. I love mugs. I think
I've mentioned it a couple times before; I don't drink out of glasses because I'm very clumsy and
I've dropped so many glasses that I just cannot be trusted with something that doesn't have a handle,
so I drink water primarily out of mugs. So, I have a large collection of mugs that I have acquired
over time and I want to show you a couple of them that I have gotten recently because they are so
cute and they bring me so much joy. So here we go. So, Starbucks has a “Been There” series where they
have mugs for different locations around the world and they also have mugs for different Disney parks
in Walt Disney World, so I got three different mugs from the Disney parks “Been There” series
and this one is the Magic Kingdom one and the inside is blue. I think it's beautiful. I think
it's stunning. So, the next one is the EPCOT mug and I think this one's my favorite because
the inside is purple, so this one has a purple aesthetic and it also has the cartoon details of
the different aspects of EPCOT, and I was supposed to get this in EPCOT, the last time we visited,
but we completely forgot to go into the Starbucks when the park was closing,
so my dad ordered this online and I love it. I just love the designs because they're different
because they have different doodles for each park, but they all have a cohesive design. I'm
just so jazzed about mugs. Okay, so this one is the Animal Kingdom mug and the inside is green to
match the aesthetic of Animal Kingdom. This one is super cute because my new favorite color is green,
next to purple, so having these two mugs together is just a dream come true. They bring me so much
joy and I just think they're so stinking adorable. And, while this last mug is not a Disney mug,
I think it is one of the cutest mugs that I've ever owned and it is a *goat mug*. I
love goats so much. I want to own goats in the future, at some point in life.
I just think that they're so weird and adorable, and I just think that they're very clumsy and
cute. Whenever I drink coffee out of this mug, it just puts a smile onto my face and I love it.
It's just adorable. Another thing that's brought me joy was a gift from my friend Marni, and I'm
just so grateful she got this for me as a surprise and it is a Plague Doctor stuffie. So, this is
from Squishable, and its lantern even glows in the dark. It is just such a cute stuffed animal that
I like to hold when I read and I love it. And, I love how I've gotten over the age where I thought
that stuffed animals were stupid, but now that I'm collecting them. I'm, like. they bring me joy
and they're cute to put on my bed and I love holding them, so, like, why did I think that they
were stupid when I was, like, 16 and 17? I think they're adorable and if you have a collection of
stuffed animals: let me know down below, Let me know what you have. Let me know which one's your
favorite and in case you were wondering his name is Bartholomew and he is wonderful. So
the last two things that brought me joy are very Hobbit-esque and I think that because I rewatched
the Lord of the Rings. These two things just really bring a lot of joy into my life because
they remind me of the Shire and they remind me of Hobbits, in general. So the first one that I have
is a kalimba which my best friend got for me for Christmas and it is just like a hand-held piano,
if that's the best way to describe it, and this creates such a beautiful sound, and I'm just
absolutely in love with it. It's one of my favorite things in the world that I own now,
and it's one of the only instruments that I can play because people told me online,
when I was looking to get one, that if I am able to text very quickly, I am able to play this. I
have been following a lot of people on Youtube and on Instagram to get different tabs for different
songs because a lot of people have been doing covers for very popular songs, and yes, I have
learned the Hobbit song, as well. And it is just such a wonderful instrument. It's very simple to
learn how to use, and I learned how to play this really quickly, and I didn't think I
would because I'm really not musically inclined at all, and I'm actually really proud of myself
because I learned how to use this fairly quickly. I think on day one I was already learning how to
play songs, and if you're like me and you're not musically inclined but you also are interested
by this instrument, I would get it because it's very easy to use and there are a lot of different
tutorials on how to learn different songs that you like from movies or shows and I just think it's
a wonderful instrument. And, I definitely want to play it more often because I don't practice
playing it enough. And, the last thing that I want to highlight is the skirt that I made. I
made this. I made the skirt! I MADE this s k i r t! Look at it! Oh my god. Oh, I'm so proud of
myself. After watching hours and hours of Rachel Maksy's videos, I was inspired to make clothes
myself because I actually took years upon years of fashion classes in middle school and high school.
So, I understand how to make clothes. I know how to use a sewing machine. I just never really
tapped into that hobby, outside of high school, so this is the first garment that I made, I think, in
a literal decade, and I am so proud of myself. I thrifted this fabric from Goodwill for 5 dollars,
and I found a pattern for a skirt on Etsy for 5 dollars, as well, and I made this skirt. I call
it my Lauren Bacall skirt, but it's also like my Hobbit skirt because it just makes me feel like I
can live on the Shire and I can tend to my garden and bake and visit my neighbors. And it's just,
like, the perfect skirt. I think it's so beautiful and classic and makes me feel like I'm the star
of an Old Hollywood movie, or I'm living in the Shire, and I'm just really [ __ ] proud of myself
for making this skirt. It took hours upon hours. I think it took me like a literal month to make,
but I did it I made the skirt, and I cried along the way, and I literally put my blood,
sweat, and tears into it because, one time, I was using the sewing machine and the needle
sliced my thumb open. So, like, blood, sweat, and tears was literally put into the skirt,
but I'm really proud of myself for being able to make that and I'm also really proud of myself
for learning how to play the kalimba. Like, who am I am I becoming? A Hobbit? I think I am. So,
those are the things that I've been recently loving and gushing about and just, like,
it's brought me so much joy in different ways, whether it be a mug, whether it be an instrument,
whether it be re-watching one of my favorite movie series of all time, and I am so happy
to be able to share that with you and tell you a little bit about them and hopefully it can spark
some joy in you as well to watch this video. Let me know what you've been recently watching
or loving or if you've gotten into a new hobby like I have with playing the kalimba or sewing
clothes. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you want to follow me anywhere else,
all my social media links will be down below, and if you want to subscribe to this channel to watch
more videos from me in the future, be sure to do so to see my work in the future and to support my
work in general. Thank you so much for watching, and I hope you all have a wonderful day Bye~