What's up guys?
Welcome back to Lavendaire.
This is my July Favorites video, and this is actually
my second time filming this video today because I accidentally deleted the last one.
Yeah, anyway,
July was a month of really rediscovering inspiration and emotion for me.
You guys might have seen my last video, "Do what makes you come alive".
I feel I've spent a lot of time this month just to do things that make me happy,
just to do things for fun, and just take a time to breathe a little more.
So it's been a good month for me.
I feel like I've found a lot of new things that inspire me
and I'm so excited to share them with you today in my favorites.
First favorite of the month is actually a person.
Rupi Kaur (I have no idea
how to pronounce her name), she is a poet and an artist, and you have to follow her
Instagram.
I feel like this is my favorite Instagram of the month.
Literally, she writes such beautiful poetry.
She talks about such pain.
She makes you feel.
She goes places where most people
are afraid to go and she's not afraid to use her voice to be bold and just tell it like
it is.
She's very empowering as a woman, and I love, love, love, love her work.
Check out her Instagram.
She has poetry and she usually puts a doodle art next to her poetry
to go with it.
I just really like that experience, something fresh and something very soft,
yet powerful.
I've never quite found something like it.
So I bought her book "milk and honey",
and I've been reading through that.
Yeah, I just love it.
I love her.
I think it's so beautiful.
My next favorite is Tony Robbins' "I Am Not Your Guru" documentary on Netflix.
If you guys have Netflix, you have to watch it.
Honestly, it's so good.
It made me feel human again.
What I mean by that is it just made me feel so many emotions.
I was crying throughout all of it, and I felt like I got so much from it.
If you guys don't know
who Tony Robbins is: he's a famous motivational speaker.
He's one of the best of the best.
He's, you know, been around for a really long time, for decades.
This documentary is not like
a documentary about him.
It's more about taking you through the experience
of going to one of his events.
He holds this huge, annual week-long event called
"Date with Destiny", and this documentary takes you through each day, what happens each
day,
the kind of people that are there, how he does interventions.
And you see these people
who have gone through these traumatic experiences.
It’s so heartbreaking
then you see how they transform and they go from being suicidal to being–
I don't know, having hope in life.
And then you see the supportive community.
It's so beautiful.
I think it will give you something.
It will definitely give you a lot of something
after you watch it.
It might be different for everyone but for me, it made me feel human.
It gave me emotion.
Also, you guys know I'm a personal growth junkie.
always taking notes when I'm watching things or reading things like this,
so I had my notebook with me and I was just taking notes throughout this whole documentary.
And he had some activities he was doing with his audience, in the event.
I would try to do the activities with them.
I have a lot of fun doing that kind of thing so yeah,
I loved it so much.
Definitely, definitely recommend it.
My next favorite is this comic called "Helios Femina", and if you guys know Michelle Phan
and you're a big fan of her, you know about this because she created it.
For those of you who don't know, Michelle Phan is this huge beauty YouTuber
guru/businesswoman/person.
She's also an artist and she created this comic
and it's so beautiful.
I read it all in one night, all the chapters that are out so far.
and I stayed up til 5:00 AM going through all the chapters because one: The art is so
pretty
and the makeup on the characters are on point because it’s Michelle.
And I just really like the story.
I feel like I haven't read something like this in a long time.
And I just like this digital webcomic experience.
You know how people used to read manga,
it's comic book, paper.
I don't know, that's like the old school way, and I'm just so wowed
by this new school way of reading comics because you're on your iPad and you scroll vertically.
It's very seamless and sometimes there's music to the chapters, and the art is on another
level.
I really enjoy it, so I'm having a lot of fun reading that.
So entertaining and, I don't know,
if you guys like that sort of thing, definitely check it out.
For me, it's also fun
to read the comments people say after each chapter, because people are just so funny.
There's a hot guy and we're shipping him and the main character, and it's just really,
really fun.
Another favorite of mine from this month is something called "Cereal" magazine.
Cereal magazine is a travel and style magazine that just has gorgeous, gorgeous photos.
I learned about this from my photographer friend, Karen, Karen Rosalie.
We did a special project earlier this month that I don't want to talk about.
You guys can check her out at @karenrosalie_ on Instagram.
She's an amazing photographer.
Anyway, she introduced me to Cereal, and Cereal's photos are just so beautiful.
You guys know I love that dreamy, pastel, soft white look.
And their photos are very minimal,
they're very clean.
Very, very well done.
It's just inspired me a lot.
I look at it and I'm like,
"Wow.
I want to create visual work that looks like that.
I want to be able to do that.
How can I learn to be better in videos and photos?"
Right now I'm trying to step up
my visual aesthetic game, and stuff like Cereal Magazine is really helping me.
My next favorites are my only products of the month, and they're the L'Oreal Pure-Clay
Masks.
These were sent to me, courtesy of L'Oreal.
They were super awesome,
sent me a big box of skincare.
The only thing is, I know myself.
I don't use masks very often.
If I buy a mask, I'll use it once every three months or something, just because I don't
remember
to use them.
So I knew that I had them and my cousins, aunts, and uncles were coming over
to swim so I was like, "You know what?
Let's just have a face mask party!"
So it was really fun having everyone do face masks.
It was like a spa day at my house.
And then I had my cousin from France come over.
He brought his French girlfriend to America
for the first time, and it was just fun watching them put face masks on each other.
For me,
that's why this was a favorite, because it brought me this moment of pure joy and fun.
And yes, the masks do work very well.
I think I used both the red algae exfoliating one
and then the green one.
And everyone was like, "Oh my god, my skin feels so good.
Thank you, Aileen."
It was just so fun because a lot of those cousins–all of the guys
were doing it too and they've never done anything like that before.
So it was a great experience.
Really, really fun, a favorite moment of this month, thanks to L'Oreal's face masks.
Moving on to my favorites in music for the month.
This is like my favorite thing of today.
I know today's not technically July, but I just have to share it.
Today I found a video online,
someone posted Porter Robinson's full set at Hard Summer Festival, and oh my goodness.
If you guys don't know me, I'm a huge, huge fan of Porter Robinson
because not only is he so creative with his music, he has such a unique voice.
But also: he creates this full immersive experience with his art.
(Yes, it's art.)
Visually, he has this storyline.
He has a visual palette.
It's very colorful.
It's animated,
Japanese-inspired.
And it just takes you to this new place.
You're literally in another world,
and I just love it so much.
I got goosebumps.
I was listening to it all day.
It just makes me so happy.
If you guys even listen to the first ten minutes of that set,
it's so good, so fun.
My favorite part is around the nine- to ten-minute mark
where it's this girl character talking about how she felt like she was in a dream
and the lines are blurred.
She talks about like, "Did I just wake up?
How long was I gone?"
Then she's like, "And reality will never be the same."
And then it just goes boom into "Divinity",
one of his songs that's my favorite song on his album "Worlds".
I love what he's done to music.
He's really created this audio-visual experience, and he takes you on a journey.
And that's what I think good art does.
Aside from that, my other song I've been playing over and over and over again is actually
a Chinese song so I don't know if it's very relevant or relatable, but it's by this artist
named Coco Lee.
And the song's English title, I think, is "Longing to See You",
and in Chinese the title is "Zhen Xiang Jian Dao Ni".
It's just a really cute, pop-y love song
and I like it because it's like a Chinese Mandy Moore, Christina Aguilera, 90's pop-y
girly song.
And I love that.
So I found out about this song because I heard someone else sing it at karaoke.
Karaoke is where I found out most Chinese songs.
I don't know, I've just been listening
to more Chinese songs lately just because I have more fun learning lyrics to Chinese
songs,
or just to other languages.
So when I'm sitting in traffic, I'll look up lyrics and listen to songs
over and over and over again, just to learn it.
And I learn things phonetically
because I'm not super fluent in Chinese.
It's funny how I can learn a whole Chinese song
but I don't understand what the song is saying.
I just know how to say the words and sing it.
And to me that's really fun.
I don't know if you guys remember, I had this whole phase
where I was learning Italian songs like "Time to Say Goodbye" and “E Più Ti Penso".
I just have fun because if I know kind of how to speak this language basically, it's
fun
to learn a song in that language.
To me, it really helps challenge my brain enough
so I'm not bored while I'm driving.
Next up, the book that I've been reading this past month–or actually listening to–
is called "You Are a Badass" by Jen Sincero.
I just signed up for Audible this past month
and this is the first book that I'm listening to, and I would say that it's a book for people
who are just getting into personal development/self help.
Because for me,
I didn't really enjoy the first few chapters because she spoke to the audience like,
"If you don't like your life right now, you can do this to change it."
Basically I felt like
I wasn't her demographic because I think these kind of books target people
who are not in a good place, who are completely on the other side
and they're trying to transform their life into being happier and positive and whatever.
I feel like I am in a place where I really enjoy my life.
I love what I'm doing,
and so I'm further down the road.
So that's why the middle towards the end of the book,
I liked that more than the beginning.
I feel like this book is a really good reminder
of all the different areas you have to work on, in terms of growing yourself
and living a life that you want.
For me, it's a really good refresher of all these different topics.
Like I said, I just joined Audible and this is my first book that I'm listening to,
so if you guys have any recommendations for any good audiobooks,
definitely let me know in the comments below.
Also: if you guys are not on Audible yet,
and you're looking to start getting into audiobooks, I do have a link where you can get
a 30-day free trial and a free audiobook, so the link is audiotrial [dot] com [slash]
lavendaire.
You guys go on that link and sign up for your free trial.
You can cancel anytime.
It's really easy to cancel, so just try it out.
And lastly, I feel like this goes without saying, but one of my favorite things
of this past month is Pokemon Go.
I feel like I've been playing it for so long,
but I really it started in July.
I don't know, I just have so much fun with it.
I don't care
if some people don't like it, they think it's nerdy.
I love it and I just wish I could play more because,
I don't know, all my cousins play and they're all leveling up really fast.
I feel like,
when I'm at home during the weekdays, I have to work and there's no Pokemon by my house.
So I can't level up.
I can only play on the weekends when I go out, so yeah.
Anyway, this past month I did have some Pokemon Go dates where we went to parks
to catch certain Pokemon and we went to Santa Monica pier, literally walked around
for three hours nonstop, catching Pokemon.
It's a Pokemon-fest in Santa Monica pier right now.
It's crazy, and it's a lot of fun.
I mean, I've loved Pokemon my entire life.
I grew up with it,
I used to record it on VHS from the TV.
And I played all the games, from the GameBoys
to all the N64 games, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Puzzle, Pokemon Snap.
All of those random games, me and my brother were all on it.
We collected the cards,
and even on my car right now, I have this little Squirtle bobble-head
and I got that in elementary school and I told myself, "When I get a car,
I'm going to put this on my dashboard on my car."
When I got a car, I put it there,
and now ten years later, it's still there and I'm playing Pokemon again.
It's just fun.
I love it and it brings me joy.
Alright, that's it for my favorites.
Now I just want to share some quick updates.
Picture Taipei, that film that I shot in Taiwan last year, is finally done.
I told you guys I would let you know when it's done, so it's done and we're having a
screening
in LA On August 13.
I don't know if you guys are in the area.
If you want to come,
you can RSVP by emailing picturetaipei [at] gmail [dot] com.
I'll be there,
we'll watch the film.
It's a 20-minute short film and then we're going to do a Q&A
with the crew after, so I'm definitely nervous about it.
But there's nothing I can do at this point.
The film is done and it is what it is.
It's not my baby, I'm just going to let it go.
I just have to let it go and move forward.
Also: another cool thing is, if you guys are in the minimalism community online,
I'm sure you've heard of The Minimalists.
They're these two guys that blog about minimalism.
created this film documentary called Minimalism: The Film, and it's about minimalism.
And your girl is in it!
I really haven't seen it yet.
I'm going to watch it tonight.
I have the link.
But I just know that I make a cameo in it.
I think my video plays for a little bit.
But yeah, I'm in it.
Check it out, watch it.
I think you guys will-I don't know if you'll like it.
I have to watch it first and then I'll let you know what I think about it later.
Thanks so much for watching today.
Let me which favorite you liked by commenting below.
Give this video a thumbs up and please subscribe if you haven't already.
And I'll see you guys on Instagram and Snapchat at @lavendaire.
Until the next video.
Bye!