hello my friends and hello my enemies it is a regular old tuesday and i am declaring today a
self-care day i had kind of a rough week last week i've just been struggling with my mental
health a little bit i'm not exactly sure why so even though filming this video has been on my
calendar for a while it was actually very well timed so self-care will always look different
and today for me it won't really look like quote-unquote treating myself because i did
plenty of watching tv and eating junk food last week instead what i need today and this week is
just to get back to my normal routines focus my energy on something and feel grounded again
so even though my room isn't really done yet as soon as we finished putting in the flooring and
cleaned up all the dust i immediately moved back in here to sleep and work because i missed it
so so so much these days i don't really get dressed up that much pretty much
only when i'm filming videos and i am filming a video today but i think in general it's just nice
to dress up a little bit even if you're staying at home so i'm choosing some clothes that are
comfortable but don't look like pajamas and even putting on some is that jewelry wow who is she
so as i said this video is a collaboration with anna luisa jewelry and they were kind enough to
send me three different pieces to try out so i am now taking those off i feel like i
haven't been wearing earrings enough because then i got these and i got so excited about
them and i just wore them so long that my ears got a little irritated with me
okay well at least they're not they're not bleeding so all these pieces that i got
are so so pretty and well made and they make their gold jewelry using i can't get this off
using 100 recycled gold so like old jewelry or industrial uses or like old electronics and
things like that and so in that way they're not contributing anymore to the demand for newly mined
gold they also don't mark up their prices like a lot of jewelry brands so their pieces start at 39
you can find stuff on their website it starts at 39 and then it goes up to some more higher end
pieces so the three pieces that i got i already showed you the earrings and each one of them comes
in this handy dandy little pouch so as you can see this pouch is a different color this one
was actually a collaboration with michelle choi i love these earrings so much because
they're like statement earrings but they're not making too much of a statement but they just like
reflect the light in such a glittery way it also just feels fun to like have them dangling off your
ears and you feel them moving around a little bit when you're walking it's the little things in life
i have no styling tips for these because i've literally been wearing them with everything so
put on an outfit any outfit of your choice add these earrings and bam you've got style so then
this necklace is a very basic gold chain necklace i wanted to get this one because you can just like
layer it with other necklaces so this one the last piece that i got is a little bit more complicated
it has a little gold spheres along the chain and then this little like sun shaped charm
so i like to wear these together so yeah i'm not really going anywhere today but i'm gonna
still wear jewelry at home because i deserve it if i can get it back on without help for my morning
routine i usually write down three things i'm excited about for the day but it's a self-care day
go big or go home so i made a list of 10 things i'm also trying out this app called ladder that
tracks your mental health so i logged my mood and a little journal entry in there
i really just try to not rush on my morning routine which very much runs counter to how my
brain usually operates which is on a very strict schedule so this is good this is a good change
for breakfast i made one of my favorite cozy breakfast a warm bowl of chocolate oatmeal with
dates and peanut butter this is truly heaven um i don't really measure anything when i cook this but
here's somewhat of a recipe if you want to try and recreate this then i made some coffee i don't
really even drink coffee for the caffeine i just love the taste there's this amazing essay by the
minimalist i know i have a problem i literally listen to the minimalist every single day
but they have an essay called life is an acquired taste that uses coffee as a metaphor for life and
while i have not personally graduated to drinking black coffee at least i drink it without sugar so
i'll take that for now after breakfast i went for a 15 minute walk to get some fresh air and
sunshine but the sunshine part didn't really work out today because it was very very cloudy then i
studied korean which is something that i genuinely really enjoy especially on days when i'm learning
new material rather than reviewing because i get to take pretty notes and use my zebra mildliners
after that i headed down to the basement because i've been trying to switch up my work environment
whenever i'm doing something like writing which requires maximum brain power maximum creativity so
i was working on my script for next week's video and also ordered a
cake for next week's video but that's all i'm gonna tell you for now about next week's video
after that hard work i worked on some tasks that are a little easier for the brain so
i designed thumbnails for this youtube channel so i worked on that which is something i really
really actually enjoy i just thought this was funny i'm so organized with my files but then
like when i have to open something up in lightroom it actually gets really annoying because like to
find these files i had to go hard drives video design projects branding projects thumbnails july
set three unedited it's a lot after that my stomach started grumbling very loudly so
rather than waiting until a certain point in my to-do list it's a self-care day so i just went and
i ate i had some kale sausage soup and i put on this song that i absolutely cannot stop listening
to it's called slip away by perfume genius and it's from the book smart soundtrack which is
a movie i watched twice this weekend it is so good and the soundtrack is just 11 out of 10.
i usually meditate after lunch so the latter app has these relaxing sounds that you can listen to
then my dad butt dialed me for the fourth time in like 10 minutes so
i finally had to call him and tell him
i finished up those thumbnails retouched a few senior portraits
and sorted the photos from a shoot i did recently
then i posted on instagram had a smoothie that
was already in the fridge don't you just love when food is already made
i love that and then i started the dishes made a cup of tea and went back up to my room to read
i've been reading meditations by marcus aurelius which is such an interesting book and it's crazy
to think that the words of a roman emperor written literally 2 000 years ago can still resonate with
us in the 21st century i already did like a quick read of this book so now i'm going through it
slowly and just kind of taking some notes doing some highlights making connections to my life
so not gonna lie i spent the entire second half of that hour like drifting in and out of sleep it was
very rough this just like doesn't have a storyline at all it's literally just like fragments and
thoughts and so you really have to be in the mood to read something philosophical and you have to be
well rested which apparently i was not but in general i do enjoy reading more than i did just
in that past hour so guess what i did i started a book club the last book club i was in was in like
fourth grade so this is a pretty big deal i really just wanted to make like an online space where we
could all talk about books especially nonfiction books because that's pretty on brand with the
bliss bean and also just motivate each other to keep up the habit of reading so the blissful book
club i really did not get very creative with the name it's now open to join we've had a bunch of
people join already i think there's like over 200 now in the group so that's very exciting
each month we're gonna have a different theme so this month's theme is travel because i think we're
all experiencing a little bit of that travel itch because this is normally the time when a lot of
people would be traveling but it's not safe to do that right now so i thought it would be fun
to live vicariously through some travel authors and the book you guys chose for this month on
instagram is elsewhere by rosita boland this is not an ebook this is just a jpeg that i downloaded
for demonstration purposes so i'm hoping to post some discussion questions and polls and stuff you
know like a proper book club should work but also if you guys have any thoughts or want to start
your own discussions please make your own posts i really want this to be a fun and supportive group
that encourages all of us to read more and learn more so the link to join the facebook group is
in the description it's totally free to join and i hope to see you there after that i went to the gym
with my dad and brother and i had signed up to try this new class but then i got there and it turned
out to be a different class and also outside in the 80 degree weather so i just did a circuit
workout on my own because i like to stay in the air conditioning thank you very much we stopped by
the post office on the way back and i'd never seen this before but i had a key in my p.o box leading
me to a bigger p.o box it was like a treasure hunt normally i don't open the mail right away i'll
leave it for the end of the day or the end of the week as a little reward but if there's any time to
indulge in a little instant gratification it is on a self-care day so i read them in the car and they
absolutely made my day so thank you so much to the people who sent me these beautiful letters
after that i attempted to go outside with my brother to shoot some photos and videos for
this video but the mosquitoes were absolutely brutal so that ended as quickly as it started
i came back the next morning at like 7 a.m to try on my own and that worked pretty well i had
like a solid 45 minutes before the mosquitoes caught on to me and started attacking me again
i was super tired when we came inside so i just chilled with my family for a bit cleaned up my
room and started getting ready for bed i know i share a lot of advice on how to be more productive
and effective but it's also important to balance efficiency and productivity with slowing down and
self-care because too much of either thing can throw us out of balance and it's also important
to remember that self-care doesn't necessarily mean vegging out in front of the tv i mean
if that's what you feel like doing that's awesome sometimes i find that really helpful other times
like today i need to go to the gym for example because even though it takes the motivation to
get myself there it ultimately boosts my mood so much or taking photos like that was a little
bit of work and i got extremely sweaty and got even more mosquito bites i nearly melted
but it's also really fulfilling and meaningful to create something and that's a different way that
i can recharge my batteries so i hope this video inspired you to take a similar day for yourself
if you guys want to check out anna louisa and find some pieces to gift yourself or a loved one i have
a 10 discount code for you and you can just use the link in my description to check out the really
beautiful pieces that they have there please give this video a like and subscribe to my channel i'll
see you next week with a new video and some cake and thank you so much for watching bye
you