Summer Solstice

Seeing as the last time I wrote was for lunar new year, apparently the stars literally have to align in order for me to show my face around here. Hi, how have you been?

Me? I’m doing okay. Summer is summering here in Seoul. This week I finally dusted off the air-conditioner and gave it a spin as I organized my closet, finally trading in my winter hoodies for tees and shorts. I haven’t turned it back on since then though because I know hotter days are yet to come. It’s already hot for sure (highs of up to 35 or so this week) but the humidity hasn’t really kicked in yet.

I just finished updating my Seoul Stationery Guide. I haven’t been doing as much decorative journaling or stationery shop exploring these days, but I do want to keep my guide fairly up to date as it is the page on my blog that is visited most often. The life span for most little stores is pretty short, so I try to only include brands that have withstood the test of time, and ones I actually like.

What else? I’ve been toying with the idea of a newsletter for a while now. (I know, laughable when I literally only write once in a blue moon.) But the blog has been feeling a bit daunting because the posts are all just THERE on the landing page. And often I feel like what I want to say isn’t “landing-page worthy,” but just little life updates about the books I’m reading and the dogs I see at the park.

For example, the other day I saw a little white fluffy dog walk by sporting a pearl necklace. Yes, it had paired its leash with a pearl necklace. I couldn’t help but chuckle as it scuttled by.

As for books, my latest favorite author is Sherry Thomas. I started with her historical romances (introduced to me via the Fated Mates podcast) and now am working through The Lady Sherlock series. As you can infer from the name, it’s Sherlock Holmes re-imagined as a woman. Her sidekick is Mrs. John Watson, and there’s a delicious weloveeachotherbutcan’tbetogether aristocratic love interest too. Right now I’m listening to the fourth book, with book eight due to come out next week. The problem is books five and six have wait times of several weeks on Libby. I can’t wait that long! When I binge a series, I properly binge it.

Speaking of books and reading, I finally made a library card at the Seoul Metropolitan library this spring and have added physical books into my reading mix. I still generally prefer to read on my Kindle, but surprisingly the library has a fair amount of popular books that would be several weeks wait on Libby.

This year I also started going to the Outdoor Library. The city started the ‘Outdoor Library’ initiative where they set up huge bean bags, camping chairs and baskets of library books at three locations: Seoul Plaza (in front) of the library, Chunggyecheon, the urban stream, and Gwanghwamun Plaza. I come out almost weekly to borrow some books, lounge in the chairs and listen to live music. Hmm, maybe I ought to do a separate informative post on the Seoul Outdoor Library.

That’s all I can think of for now. Let me know how you’re doing, what you’re reading, what made you chuckle recently. Hopefully it won’t be until the next celestial event before I’m back.

(Friday Night Writes #3)