It was a Dickens of a week again. A couple of days ago, our car ended up getting wrecked in one of the storms that seemed to have become the Edmonton norm this summer. We’d been lucky to escape unscathed so far, but our luck ran out. Because of that, we’ve had to postponed our planned trip to BC (which was already on the line because of wildfires over there). On the brighter side, my bestie arrived for a visit this week and we’ve been making the most of our time together. Her birthday was on Wednesday and mine is on Saturday — it’s Leo season, baby!

I’m turning 46 but going into it with renewed excitement and energy. I have a bunch of personal passion projects on the go that I’m super pumped about, and they are making me so excited for what comes next. It’s a feeling that reminds me of childhood, when the world seemed full of nothing but possibility and fun. Except, now, I’m the adult in the room and I can indulge all my passions and pursue my dreams without worrying about other people’s rules and expectations. That’s the key bit that I want to hold on to as I enter this next chapter/year: the joy of doing things purely because they make me happy, and sharing that joy with others without asking for permission, approval, or validation.

The downside of losing our planned vacation is that my vacation reading list is probably going to languish for a bit. I do want to get through it, but it may take me longer than a week now. Because … the upside of a staycation is that I’ll get more time to write! I’m hoping to power through the last half of my current WIP and finish it before I have to go back to work. I need to get this story down on paper, ASAP, so I can get it out of my head and make room for other things, haha! I am absolutely obsessed with it at the moment, and I get ridiculously excited every chance I sit down to work on it, because I get to discover a little bit more of the story and characters. My new number one goal for 2027 is to bring out this book series — I can’t wait to share it with y’all.

My other new goal is to brush up on my Spanish. It’s been 25+ years since I practiced it consistently, and I’m beyond rusty at this point. But now that I’ve picked up football as a hobby (again), and Atletico Madrid as my Cinderella team, it seems like a good opportunity to work on getting back to a better proficiency. I don’t expect to become fully fluent or anything — though anything’s possible! — but it would be great to be able to follow the news and commentary on my team in Spanish.

I’m still trying to figure out my exact plans for my birthday, but I’m not too fussed about the specifics; with my family and bestie around, I know it will be fun no matter what. The hardest part is going to be picking my birthday outfit 🙂 I’ve been experimenting with a slightly different vibe lately, which has also been fun, so I have almost too many options to choose from. I’m not complaining though. It’s a good problem to have.

Have a great weekend!

Other than my son’s birthday on Monday (I got my days confused last week, lol!), the big thing this week was the World Cup aftermath. I watched the final game on Sunday and screamed my lungs out when Ferran Torres scored the winning goal. It feels so rare and so satisfying when the right team comes out ahead, and karma is fulfilled. I was a mostly casual watcher of the World Cup, and I don’t buy into nationalist tribalism as a general rule, so I had no particular favourite teams going in. Even into the final. I hadn’t watched Argentina’s previous games in the tournament, and while I had a sense that the team was disliked, I didn’t have a ton of context as to why.

Well.

I soon saw for myself.

The behaviour of that team in the final, on and off the pitch, was an absolute disgrace from a sportsmanship perspective (never mind the actual football played). The constant fouling, attempted ref manipulations, the post-game violence … blergh. Spain was a class act, and the better team technically.

Because I ended up getting sucked into the spirit of the World Cup with the last few games especially (England-France was a wild, fun ride!), my IG algorithm now thinks I’m a football fan, LOL! Plot twist: I used to be! I grew up in Romania, after all, and spent a few years in England so this shouldn’t be a complete surprise. So, I’ve been drawn into a nostalgic spiral, watching cuts of big football moments from the 2000s – the last decade whose players I still remember (some of them very fondly) — and enjoying the memories that are resurfacing.

There was one particular meme making the rounds just before the final that unlocked a core memory for me: people posting that they became a fan of Spain because, at 13, they fell in love with Fernando Torres, aka El Nino. I was quite a bit older than that but I, too, had a massive crush on him in the mid-2000s, which I had forgotten about until now. It brought back that whole era for me so vividly.

[Sidenote: El Nino is still pretty dishy even today. As is Sergio Ramos ;)]

I think I’m going to write a whole post about some reflections inspired by the World Cup – don’t worry, it won’t be about my fave cute Spanish players, or the Haaland-Bellingham bromance, although maybe it should be – so I’ll leave it here for now. And instead bore you a little bit more by talking about my other current obsession: my new book.

I was not supposed to start a new book at this time, but life happens.

A couple of weeks ago, I got this fantastic idea for a follow-up to the book I just wrote back in May (which is still pretty much in raw draft form at this point). Committing to a series before you’re even sure that the first book is any good is … not a great idea. But this new story has got me by the throat. I started writing an outline – it involves a lot of world-building and I was trying to feel my way around it – and the next thing I knew, I was 4 chapters deep into a first draft. Oops!

For now, I’ll just say this: think The Name of the Rose meets Interview with the Vampire. A murder mystery set in a convent on an island, where all the nuns are vampires. Vampire nuns! And a protagonist who has a special gift for talking to supernatural creatures, and a fallen angel for a sidekick/bodyguard.

I am so pumped!

Have a great weekend!

Three Thrift Finds

This vintage Gap suede mini skirt was on the pricey side, but too good to pass up. The chocolate brown colour is to die for, and the fit is incredible. It’s the perfect length for my proportions, too. I ended up paying $25 with a coupon. For 2026 thrift prices, that’s a pretty good deal. The current State of Thrift is sorry, indeed.

After thrifting my dream pattern (the Amish Buterprint in turquoise) a couple of years ago, I’ve been on a Pyrex no-buy — mostly because I don’t have room to store more. But! I saw this pair of Woodland Cinderella bowls and, well, the heart wants what it wants. The brown colour looks great with my turquoise pieces as well as the mustard yellow ones (Butterfly Gold pattern). I had another coupon, so the pair ended up being $40. Again: pricey for thrift, but cheaper than Etsy and other resale sites. I made some room so it can sit next to its sisters.

This Skagen watch wasn’t in the showcase and only $10, which felt like a steal. It needs a battery, but so do all of my watches, haha! I wear them for looks, not functionality. I like how delicate this design is, and love the rose gold mesh band. The amber mother-of-pearl dial is stunning.

Three Books to Read

It has been a long time since I’ve read much Romanian fiction, but I grew up with it and I still have a huge spot for some of the turn of the 20th century authors, like Caragiale, Cezar Petrescu, and G. Calinescu. But I had never read anything by Hortensia Papadat Bengescu, and wasn’t really familiar with her work until I came across some Reels from Romanian Bookstragrammers. They made me realize that I was missing out, so now I’m on a missing to track down her books. I found Bach Concert in English translation, and am very excited to read it. It’s supposed to be one of her best novels. I expect the vibe to be a little E.M. Forster-ish … to give you a general idea of the setting and themes.

I have read Marvyn Peake’s Gormenghast before (and was obsessed with the TV mini series adaptation), but it has been decades and recently I got the itch to re-read it. I’m saving this for my lake vacation, so I can immerse myself in the world of Titus Groan and savor the beautiful prose.

I started Gnomon a few weeks back and quickly decided that I needed to put it aside for my vacation as well. I’m enjoying the writing and the premise is very intriguing and hook-y. It’s a murder mystery set in a dystopian surveillance state where the government has access to every thought in your brain. Looking forward to picking it up again soon.

Three Perfumes

Sun, Moon & Stars is one of my go-to summer fragrances. I thrifted the bottle a while back, but I only started wearing it again this year when the weather warmed up. To me, it smells like the 90s, period. It’s a powdery floral — but it’s not soft powder. There’s an edge to it that modern floral fragrances don’t have. It feels almost crisp. In my mind, it comes from the carnation and narcissus in the middle notes.

Another one of my fave summer fragrances: Britney Spears’ Jungle Fantasy. Ignore the atrocious bottle. The juice smells fresh and fruity and a touch aquatic. It’s a pretty good dupe for D&G L’Imperatrice (which I also have), for a fraction of the price. It’s supposed to be a watermelon-forward fragrance but, honestly, I don’t get much of that when I smell it. To me, it’s a juicier, non-lemony version of D&G Light Blue.

I finally got my hands on Guerlain’s classic Insolence — and I adore it. It smells like violet candies. If you love violet, and don’t mind sweet perfumes, you have to try it. Its sweetness is not gourmand at all; even less so that Lolita Lempicka, which is the most similar fragrance to it that I have in my collection. Insolence has more violet and no anise. It’s too heady for daytime wear in the summer, but I love doing a couple of spritzes on my wrists before bed. It mellows out beautifully overnight and I wake up to a soft, powdery skin scent that’s still quite delicious.