But I’m here now, & it’s about time I write my December wrap up. I did one of these posts for every single month of 2017, even though I was late on some months & combined June and July, so it’s very satisfying to work on this post too – they’re one of my more self indulgent series & I definitely plan to keep this going into 2018 too. But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Varying Paces

I started December fresh off a relaxing holiday. I was very charged up & enthused at the start of the month, & just felt like I had a lot of momentum & wanted to channel that into more regular creative content. Well long story short, that didn’t happen. About mid way through the month, I lost some of that momentum & just kind of fell into a slump. It’s easier to explain away times you’re feeling low & unproductive if you have a tangible reason for feeling that way, but I spent time feeling sad & negative and couldn’t really figure out why. But, I decided to just go with it & take it slow. I do feel guilty about not being as consistent as I’d like, but I’d rather write & create from a genuinely happy & passionate space, you know?

Highlights of December

December did have some really memorable days – The first highlight had to be meeting Shruti from StyleDestino, (the badass in the snapback standing next to me at the top of this post! a vegan luxury fashion blogger that I’ve known for ages online. She’s the most committed vegan I know & I’ve actually learnt a lot from following her on instagram. She passionately champions everything vegan, sustainable cruelty free, not just in food choices but also with regards to fashion, cosmetics & other luxury spheres. She’s currently based in Dubai but was in the bay for a bit & suggested meeting up & doing a vegan food trail of the city.

Although I’m not turning vegan anytime soon, it was still really enriching to hang out with her & look at things from a different perspective for a day. It was enriching & fun & I even vlogged the day – we’re definitely going to try & plan something else the next time she’s here.

Also in December, we attended our first Pet Festival in Mumbai! I had been excited about this ever since it was announced much earlier in 2017, had even booked tickets for mom & me a few months ago. Last minute, dad said he wanted to come too so the three of us took Thelma & went! It ended up being pretty dog centric; mom & I even had to carry Thelma because of how angry & nervous the dogs made him (& a labrador that came too close got a swift, hard slap). But overall he was such a star & got so much attention!

Most people hadn’t seen a cat his size plus he was really chill with everyone touching him, so it was fun to take him out!

Etc.

watching…  I spent most of December watching this God awful American police procedural called Blue Bloods. The acting, storylines etc. were all just terrible but since I didn’t find anything else to binge, I still watched almost five seasons of it & absolutely abhorred every minute. Guess if there’s one thing I can take into 2018, it’s no more hate watching. I’ll just seek out stuff I like next time.

I also watched the last few episodes of Major Crimes, another (really great) American police procedural. Definitely had very mixed feelings about the last season, since I loved the show from the beginning but hated the serialised turn they were taking. Oh & there were so many tears. It finally wrapped up earlier this month.

listening to… I’ve got pretty obsessed with Portugal. The Man‘s Woodstock album in December. Lots of great songs in there & I had it on repeat for a lot of the month.

cooking… I started cooking again for a bit in December & it was fun! Our NYE meal (made by me with a lot of help from mom) was Mutton Shepherd’s Pie & Japanese Garlic Fried Rice. Both were keepers & the fried rice has already been made twice more in January.

buying… December was a month of a lot of big purchases that I was looking forward to for a while. I overhauled a lot of photo / video equipment (new camera, lens, etc.) & made a detailed video about it. It was very satifsying to buy things that I’d been wish-listing & planning for a while, even if I did have to cut back on other stuff in the month.

Lessons I learnt from 2017

2016 was the most transformative year I’ve had in a while. I travelled alone, adopted more cats & learnt so much about myself in the process (I summed it up neatly in this post). In contrast, 2017 was slower, it was about getting into routines, some more self discovery (& some improvement too). It was about getting much more selective in many aspects of my life. Of course I learnt some things too, some practical, some emotional. It was about feeling wise at times & feeling like an very stupid at other times, c’est la vie.

stubbornness… This word characterises a lot of 2017 for me. Blogging & being a digital media creator has changed a lot since I started – Some for the better, but a lot for the worse. In 2017 I decided to be a lot more stubborn about my work. Saying NO to a lot more things if I don’t believe in them. While I’ve always disclosed collaborations or sponsorships, I decided to become much more obvious & transparent with disclosing the same. I faced a lot of pushback from clients & agencies, but my first loyalties are always going to be to you guys. I’m hoping that as time passes, brands will realise that audiences are smart & you don’t have to deceive them to market products.

In my personal life, this just meant not putting up with bullshit & being fine with keeping my friend circle very small and not really doing things I didn’t want to do. I went out a lot less & I definitely met fewer new people. I do want to change that a bit this year, but at my own pace, you know? I’ll always go through periods when I want to go out & want to meet new people and periods when I want to withdraw for a long time. I guess I want to get better at managing my social anxiety & not let in rule my life, so I’m still striving for a balance.

breaking bad habits… Ever since I can remember, I’ve always identified as a shopaholic. I’ve always bought too much of clothing, shoes & makeup. For a longest time, I made the silly mistake of thinking that spending excessively on these things was just a character trait / flaw & that I’m always going to have these habits. In late 2016 though, I wanted to downsize a lot & that made me take stock of just how much I have, how I’ve used so many things I bought just one or two times (or not at all!) & that my spending habits were pretty shitty. For the longest time, I used my job as an enabler to why I’m buying so much (‘I can review the makeup!’; ‘I can film a haul!’, ‘I can do an outfit post!’). So in 2017, I made a conscious effort to buy less of these things – for makeup, I went on a detox / buying ban which I wrote about here. For clothes / shoes / accessories, I just tried to be a little more mindful & buy less statement pieces (which I end up wearing very less of) & more neutral / workhorse / practical pieces. I succeeded at the makeup detox & really want to write a detailed follow up post on that. For clothing / accessories, I still bought a lot of things but I guess I improved? I feel like I shopped a bit more mindfully & used a large portion of what I bought often, which felt great. Moreover, it didn’t feel like I was making some kind of big sacrifice by cutting back & I feel these are changes I can sustain better for the rest of my life.

being vocal… I’ve always been opinionated. But I guess as a lifestyle blogger, there’s kind of these pressure to only talk about frivolous luxuries & stay more politically neutral. In 2017, I got louder with my convictions. The world feel’s like it’s going to hell anyway, I don’t want to be quiet & complacent any longer. So yeah, I got more political. I educated myself more & tried to use my platform for hopefully educated even more folks. Lot of 2017 was rocked by the whole #MeToo movement where so many women got vocal about sexual harassment – something most of us tend to deal with on a daily basis (let’s face it, things are pretty shitty for women in India especially). I got more comfortable with sharing my own experiences too, there was no longer a sense of shame around things that have happened to me. I guess I finally placed the blame where it belonged. I saw a lot of women I know get similarly vocal & it was wonderful – even if most of what we’re talking about can seem bleak & negative, at least we’re talking about it. It’s better than nothing. I will continue to talk about issues that affect me / us as I see fit. And it’s very heartening to see a large part of my audience being very receptive to that. If you aren’t – tough luck, I’m not shutting up (but I’m trying to get better at listening & learning too).

Looking Forward To

There’s a lot I’m looking forward to this year! I really want to put out a video of my favorites for the entirety of 2017 but it’s proving to be a task to choose products & get them all together & sit & do it. But it’s definitely on the agenda. Our first trip of the year was to Ahmedabad for Uttarayan, but I’m also looking forward to planning the next one & making some bookings!

I currently have a lot on my plate (multiple videos to film, even more filmed ones to edit etc.) & I’m trying to tackle it all without getting too overwhelmed. I’m still very excited & optimistic for the year!

Obviously some crappy stuff happened too but I chose to keep the lift more positive & commemorate things I actually want to remember. What was 2017 like for you? I’d love if you can share your highlights in the comments! x

The post Looking Back | December + Things I learnt from 2017 🌊 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

November in a Nutshell

The first few weeks of November were spent working & catching up. We had just gotten back from our previous Goa trip (where I was largely without internet connectivity!) so work got kind of piled up. It was quite a productive month for videos though. I sat & edited the vlogs from my Goa trip. I was really excited about these because I vlogged around my ancestral home & village, it was a side of Goa that most tourists don’t get to see. Part 1 & Part 2 of the vlogs are now live. I honestly do think that these might be the best vlogs I’ve ever made & the response I’ve received from you all has been overwhelming – in the best possible way!

More Goa Travels

The last part of November was spent on another Goa trip with the fam! Since I’ve started blogging (& then vlogging) over the years, all trips, even though they may appear glamorous usually include a lot of work. This time however, I wanted more of a vacation & kept work to the minimum. For nine days stayed at an amazing villa, spent afternoons soaking in the jacuzzi, walked to & spent time at the beach, ate delicious Goan food & sipped on shandy – pretty perfect if you ask me!

Of course I did get some work done, & you’ll probably see it on the blog & YouTube channel throughout December!

November Favorites

I filmed a monthly favorites video on vacation, sharing my favorite new acne treatment product, a new skincare brand discovery & a great new multi purpose body balm that I’ve been loving for tattoo maintenance / aftercare. You can watch it above or head to the video page for all product details.

Etc.

watching… The usual TV shows & a lot of Impractical Jokers on vacation. Somehow those idiots never fail to crack me up. In movies, I finally saw Easy A a few days ago & I absolutely loved it! I’m still confused as to why it didn’t achieve Mean Girls-like cult status… maybe not as many quotable lines? It’s on Amazon Prime in India if you’re interested in watching!

listening to… Little of this, little of that. I’ve been listening to this groovy early 70’s instrumental album (I think it’s jazz?) called Accadde a… (it’s Italian & seems to loosely translate to It happened in… or Made In…) Accadde a Bali is my favorite song but they’re all quite interesting (the song about Belfast has a lot of bagpipes!)

In current (pop?) music I’ve really enjoyed Portugal. The Man’s Woodstock album. Of course I discovered it through the hit song Feel It Still but the rest of the album is also really great & my two favorite songs are Easy Tiger & So Young.

Finally, I also made a mixtape featuring some chill instrumental hiphop for the second month running, you can listen to my November Mixtape for free on computers or the soundcloud smartphone app, do check it out!

cooking… I actually did a little bit of cooking this month. There were some experiments with making a popular Indian dessert (you might know what I’m talking about if you watched my Vlune this year. I filmed it so it’ll be on my vlog channel soon. Also did a little bit of deep frying (I’ve never tried it before, it’s always been mom’s domain) & it wasn’t as intimidating as I thought, in fact it was surprisingly fun.

Looking Forward

December is hands down my favorite time of the year & I’m definitely looking forward to festive vibes & playing my favorite Christmas album. I was also feeling really inspired at the end of November so I decided to work a little extra on content this month. If you missed yesterday’s announcement vlog, I’ll be doing at least 10 vlogs, 10 blog posts (right here!) & 5 main channel videos. I chose these particular figures so I could have an extra creative output & still enjoy the month without getting stressed or crazy. I hope you guys will check out the blog regular & share your comments, they make me so happy. Thank you taking the time to read this – I’d love if you could share some things you’re looking forward to in the comments below. Happy Holidays! x

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October was eventful & fun. I finally travelled a bit after few months & achieved some personal goals. Things were quieter in the work front (I didn’t get many blog posts or videos done) but I’ve learnt that it’s ok sometimes.

Both trips this month were really unique. The first one was a little road trip through the Western Ghats with the Google Maps. We stayed at the beautiful Hilton Shillim Retreat & Spa near the Pavana Lake & it was one of the most luxurious & lush resorts I’ve experienced in India! Of course I did vlog the entire experience, you can watch it here.

I then spent little over a week in Goa with mom. We went back & stayed in the ancestral home after maybe 6 or 7 years (I spent a lot of school holidays there!) So it was nice to get that experience again. Life there can be rather slow; but I got to eat a lot of delicious food & fly the drone quite a bit. I already posted a short dronie (shortened for of drone selfie) video on YouTube which shows the house I stayed at. It so interesting to see places I’m so familiar with from a different perspective. I’ll be publishing a couple of vlogs from the trip really soon.

Etc.

watching… October was the month that Stranger Things 2 finally dropped. I had been looking forward to it for an entire year (I spent around 10 hours playing the Stranger Things iOS game in anticipation). I devoured it over two days in Goa. Now that it’s been over a week since I’ve seen it (twice!) I can definitely say that it didn’t live up to the expectations after season 1, but at least it was kind satisfying to see the characters we fell in love with again, I guess.

I’ve been binge-watching Brooklyn 99 (it’s on Netflix!) again with mom, who’s watching it for the first time. I really do love everything about it, the jokes are hilarious and the characters are diverse, unique & likeable, it sort of makes me miss Parks & Rec though.

listening to… I made my first monthly mixtape! The October Mixtape has just under 30 minutes of chill, ambient, mostly instrumental music that you can relax to or even play in the background while working.

I listened to two albums on repeat this month. Gaia by Axian & Corals by Fujitsu. Both of them are similar in the sense that they’re relaxed, downtempo ambient hip hop with lots of nature sounds. Really can’t recommend them enough.

buying... The Amazon Echo was my biggest October purchase. Preordered it at the start of October & got it towards the end of the month. I did a casual unboxing + first impressions video on it. I’m thinking of filming a full review soon, let me know if you’d like to see that!

October Favorites

As always I also created a monthly favorites video for October. Since the weather has already turned cool (hello, brief Mumbai autumn!), I focussed on some skincare & makeup I’ve been enjoying in the cooler, dryer weather. You can watch it below or on YouTube.

Looking Forward To

Making the most of the delightful November weather, getting back to a regular video schedule, & a relaxing vacation with my family later in the month.

Did you discover something new in October? What are you looking forward to in November? I’d love to chat with you all in the comments! x

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September kind of felt like a nothing month, you know? It rained a lot. I fell ill for a bit & things were just kind of slow & frustrating, so not a whole lot to report on. It’s gotten really hot again, so it’s been fun to wear sunglasses & my favorite fire emoji tshirt.

October is poised to pretty eventful month so it was good to have a slow one to just rest & get my bearings.

September Favorites

I have another monthly favorites video out, as per usual. I was so excited to be filming in the garden again! I discussed some of the skincare, makeup, hair & fashion – you can watch it below or on the video page.

Etc.

watching… A few entertaining movies (like Jack Reacher), a few crappy shows – like Hawaii Five O & NCIS. I just finished the second season of People of Earth which was just lovely but I’m sad that I’m going to have to wait a year to see the next season (it’s on Amazon Prime Video here in India, if you’d like to catch up). I’ve also just begun watching This Is Us, which is a little different than the shows I watch (so much sappier) but still sweet.

listening to… I’ve been listening to more indie artists through soundcloud & bandcamp. There’s such a wealth of incredibly talented unsigned musicians that I’m ashamed that I’ve only just discovered them. I’ve been listening to A Groovy Thing by Flamingosis on repeat, it’s mostly instrumental but great music to work (or work out!) to. You can follow me on soundcloud @magali_c – I already repost my favorite songs & make themed playlists, I’m planning to do monthly mixtapes too.

cooking… I’m having so many sweet potatoes that I had to consciously cut back! But the good news is, I think I’m getting better at identifying sweet potatoes that are actually good. I prefer baking them & this recipe (featuring one unexpected ingredient for extra crispiness) happens to be my favorite.

Looking Forward

We’re really getting to my favorite time of the year! The Festival Season in India has started, which generally should be good (think sales, decorations & general cheer). However, the fact that most of Indian chooses to ‘celebrate’ with noisy fire crackers makes it one of my least favorite times of the year. Crackers aren’t just bad for the environment (we’re already living in one of the most polluted cities of the world) they are disastrous for animals. Every time I see my three cats cowering, my heart weeps for the stray dogs & cats that have nobody to comfort them & often injure themselves (or die) thanks to the panic. But, people are idiots.

I am genuinely looking forward to the cooler months (think November – Feb), the Christmas season & everything else that comes with it.

Did you discover anything interesting in September? What are you looking forward to? I’m also planning to film a lot of videos too so drop any requests you have in the comments below. x

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I mean, I love that blog posts have become more editorial over the years. I really like creating posts that focus on specific topics. Informative, concise & accompanied by pretty pictures. But I miss the spontaneity that this blog had when I first started it eight and a half years ago. Back then, I could just come back from a day in college & write about my experience – I never thought too much about it. It made me felt connected to my readers & I loved receiving & responding to feedback in the comments. But I digress. Let’s talk about what’s on my mind right now-

How Do You Write When You Don’t Feel Like Writing? It’s been a rough couple of days here in Mumbai. Monsoon is not my favorite time of the year & we’re already at the end of our third monsoon month. Yesterday was a tough day for the city with heavy rains & resultant floods, suspension of public transportation etc. I was very lucky that me & mine were safe at home but it didn’t make me feel that much better either.

And I guess it’s easier to reconcile being a bundle of anxiety & negative thoughts when you have some specific bad incident to blame it on. It’s more difficult when you’ve been feeling less than great for a week & you have no idea why that is.

In the meantime I’ve been really enjoying reading Little Black Book – A Toolkit For Working Women (I’ve already raved about it in a vlog & my August Favorites, but it’s so good that it’s worth talking about again!) & watching lotsss of Netflix, especially romcoms. Though I usually hate them, they’re a nice way to just pass the time & the happy endings are corny as hell but help when you’re feeling down.

Why am I writing about being sad? I’ve always tried to keep this space positive, light & uplifting (but still real). I’ve always been of the opinion that there’s nothing to gain by spreading negativity or being pessimistic, as it just brings people down.

But on my vlog channel I’ve been trying to talk more openly about topics society tends to consider taboo, like undergarments, periods & whatnot. Life isn’t always happy & positive; & I never want to fool people into thinking mine is always great. Sometimes, it’s healthy to acknowledge negative feelings or bouts of depression. Everyone goes through it & being honest is usually the first step to actually feeling & getting better.

If you’re reading this, I’d love for to leave a comment with your own experiences. What helps pull you out of a funk? I’m trying to sleep better, wake up earlier in the day rather than lie in (sleep is important but oversleeping just makes me feel more fatigued) & set small goals that I can accomplish. And on days that I really don’t feel productive, I’ve been doing an hour of solid work followed by chai + Netflix breaks. One episode, then back to work. I’ve found that it’s helping me stay refreshed & focussed.

In case you’re going through a tough time for whatever reason, I just want to remind you that you’re wonderful. You’re strong, capable of a lot & worth much more than your marks or productivity. If you’re feeling burnt out or uninspired, don’t feel guilty about taking some time for yourself! That’s all I have to say about this, so I’m going to leave you with a picture of one of the more fun cocktails I had at a recent dinner (waffles + bacon + bailey’s, basically my dream cocktail!)

August Favorites

Like every month, I have an extra chatty monthly favorites video discussing some new beauty, tech, book & chocolate discoveries. You can watch it below or on YouTube!

Etc.

Watching… I’ve watched a lot this month so there’s no point even trying to list it all, but in movies, finally seeing Goodfellas was a highlight & among the chick flicks No Reservations was a treat to see.

Eating… It’s been a good month for food! For Eating Out, I dined at now great new places in the city – Café Bandra in Bandra (excellent salmon & risotto!) & Henpecked in Kala Ghoda. I also revisited one of my favorites, BAD Cafe in Bandra.

I’ve also been cooking a lot more this month & it’s felt so nice. I’m throughly obsessed with sweet potato, especially baking it. I’ll show you guys in a vlog really soon.

Looking Forward

Just like a new year, new months can like someone hit the reset switch. I’m hoping to see sunnier weather in September, & hopefully do more blog posts too. Let me know what you guys would like me to write about, I’m always open to suggestions. I’m learning to love being home but I’m also hoping I get the chance to get out of the city, at least for a weekend *fingers crossed*. x

The post Looking Back | August 2017 | Let’s Talk About Feeling Sad 😞 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Buying a drone was exciting! Getting a painful ear infection wasn’t!

I was home both months – no travel, no weekend trips or anything. But I vlogged like crazy (every day in June, more below) streamed copious amounts of TV & movies and even cooked a little.

Vlogging My Life

In addition to my main channel, I’ve had a vlog channel for a couple of years now (it’s called #MagaliVlogs because apparently I’m captain obvious?)

I do Travel Vlogs on my main channel. I always make an effort to make them look more cinematic & aesthetically pleasing. But vlogs on my vlog channel are more natural – no staging, no makeup, no filters, just a real look in my day to day life, whether it’s attending events, errands or just life at home with three cats.

I always try to vlog at least 3-5 times a month on average, but at the end of May I started thinking about doing VLUNE, a popular challenge where vloggers vlog every single day in June (the word itself is a portmanteau of Vlog + June, there’s also Vlogtober in October & the most popular, Vlogmas in December!)

At the end of May, everything seemed perfect. The weather was changing, I didn’t have too much of a workload & I felt just ambitious (crazy) enough to take a month long vlogging challenge. I’ve done a month long blogging challenge (completed successfully) & a 365 photo a day challenge (abandoned after three months, I think?) so this shouldn’t be too much harder, right?

Well, it was.

A lot of fun stuff happened in June though…

We took our eldest & youngest cats for their last walk in the garden before the rains properly set in.

In case you’re interested, I’ve written a comprehensive post on walking a cat outside – the how, why & everything in between.

I bought a drone! (DJI Mavic Pro) & took it on it’s nervous first flight in the garden. Just about 12 feet of the ground. It was so scary but exhilarating & I can’t wait to take this out of the city & really see what it can do.

Mom & I attended a crazy grand Big Fat Indian Wedding over two days. It was so insanely large & decadent – a very unique experience, if nothing else.

I attended an Aqua Aerobics session with Speedo & dressed like a literal embodiment of summer for the Lakmé X Masaba lipstick launch!

If interested, you can watch all my Vlune Vlogs on one handy playlist.

I’ve also been vlogging a fair amount in July like this fun party I attended with Rydell.

Etc.

Listening To

Nothing new to report here. Although I’ve just begun to properly revisit David Bowie’s discography for the first time in a year or so & it’s just making me intensely sad.

Watching

Some people stress eat & it seems I stress watch. June & July were so busy & overwhelming, but I watched an insane amount of movies & TV. The first two were at the cinema but everything else was streamed online.

Wonder Woman

I’m nerdy but not much of a comic book geek. When it comes to superhero movies, I’d always chose marvel over DC. Wonder Woman wasn’t even on my radar until a few days before the movie released, when I woke up one morning & saw a whole crop of growing reviews on sites I trust.

Watching it was a revealation. I’m never going to be able to talk objectively about what seeing it meant to me. It’s a work of perfection, I can’t fault it in any way. I’m afraid that no future superhero film will top it, ever.

Spider Man : Homecoming

Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie

Anchorman

Rizzoli & Isles

Brown Nation

W/ Bob & David

The Keepers

This was terribly sad but important to watch. Warning: It will leave you emotionally drained.

Angie Tribeca (season 3)

Master of None (season 2)

GLOW (season 1) ‍

Chewing Gum (seasons 1-3)

Broadchurch (season 3)

Rick & Morty (season 1)

Archer (season 1)

June & July Favorites

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Getting Back to It

While April was about taking a break, switching off, enjoying my vacation & recharging my batteries, May was when I threw myself back into work. I had been away from my blog & YouTube channels so it was time to get them back on track. I’ve been working on being more regular with content here & May was the fourth month in a row that this blog averaged 20,000 sessions in the month (with 50,000+ page views). That may not be a big number compared to many websites, but for my humble little blog, it’s a personal best & I couldn’t be more grateful.

As expected, most of my readers are from India but there are folks from United States, Singapore, Thailand & more. If you’re reading this, where in the world are you from? I’d love if you can introduce yourself in the comments.

So the month may not have been that interesting, but it was really productive. You can watch my vlogs from May 2017 on my Vlog Channel! (pssst… I’m also vlogging every day in June. Really)

Etc.

Watching… I just discovered Rizzoli & Isles, a crime show. It’s pretty soapy & badly written, but makes for decent dinner time viewing, you know?

Listening To... I’m still listening to Automaton by Jamiroquai, so pretty much same as last month.

May Favorites

As always, I made a favorites video discussing some new discoveries in fashion & beauty. I just focussed on a few things, some of them have been game changing for me. You can watch the video below or on YouTube (where you’ll also find product details + links!

Mumbai whether is super moody right now, some days it’s wet & dark, other days bright & scorching (but still humid as ever). I’m currently doing Vlune & June is proving to be my busiest month yet. But I have some stories I want to write here, so you can expect a few fashion & travel blog posts soon! x

The post 🔥 Looking Back | May 2017 🔥 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Join me as I take a step back & try to recount what April was like.

The Creative Break

A series of tech misfortunes (which I discussed in this vlog) lead me to go into April feeling burnt out. It was obvious that I needed to take a break. Since December, I felt like I had such a good momentum with work & not keeping up with my YouTube schedule felt like I was letting you guys down.

I did a little soul searching & realised that I’m terrified of being perceived as lazy – sure, in real life I may be kind of a slacker & a slob but I take pride in my work. Taking down time always made me feel guilty & I found myself constantly justifying why I needed to take a break & feeling pangs of guilt after.

As a creative (at least I like to think that I am), I can only create good work when I’m really into it. When I’m brainstorming, when I’m enjoying what I’m doing. It’s not the kind of work I can just go through the motions with. So my new mantra is balance – work hard but take time to just do nothing. The aim is to be regular with blog posts, videos as well as all the other backend work (communications, paperwork), to have me time, a social life & more! And it seems even more unattainable when I write it all down. And I’m self-employed, I’m supposed to have it easy, right? I guess the biggest lesson from this is – it’s ok to feel overwhelmed. I may not always have it together. But everyday is a learning experience.

The Family Vacation

When mom & I were in Bangkok this Feb, we loved it so much that we decided to come back – we paid a deposit on our favorite hostel & booked flight tickets soon later. Since we just missed the Kochi Muziris Biennale by a few days during our Fort Cochin trip last December, we’ve been trying to plan travels that coincide with interesting local festivals or cultural events. We got to see celebrate CNY (Lunar New Year) during our Jan / Feb trip to Bangkok, so we decided to come in April, to celebrate my birthday & Songkran (Thai New Year).

While most of my recent trips with mom have been travel + work (creating content through vlogs & more) this was more a vacation in the traditional sense. Even dad came along! All of my most memorable childhood trips were taken as a family, but since we adopted the cats, he’s been skipping out on travels to take care of them. It was nice to relive old times, just chill out, eat my favorite Thai snacks & take it easy.

My parents at Ratchada Train Market, my favorite night market in Bangkok

Of course we did create some content, but at a slower pace than usual. Another lookbook is coming early next week, & I’m pretty excited to share it with you. Also here’s a bonus, super tipsy selfie with my parents. Dad has a serious case of resting bitch face, hehe.

Turning 25 

Turning 25 is weird. I’ve had older friends tell me about it but I never understood it until a few months ago. The closer I got to my birthday, the more I was filled with existential dread. 25 is big. It’s a quarter century. It kind of makes you take stock of your life. So yeah, I was anxious before the 9th. But the day itself turned out to my one of the loveliest birthdays I’ve had in a while. I put on a new pair of pyjamas, slept in, & had the delicious brunch at Luka Bangkok (a chic little find just about 200mts from our hostel!)

We had planned an evening outing but decided to postpone it to later in the week. 9th April 2017 was a super relaxed day & if it set the tone for birthdays to come, I’m a happy girl.

I wrote about my 20th birthday back in 2012 & it was quite like this one, in some ways.

25 Facts About Me

I really wanted to make a Birthday Special video, so I thought of making a 25 Facts About Me video with the facts filmed in different spots as part of my day to day life. It was kinda nuts to start doing this just a few days before – we filmed between events, at the airport & throughout Bangkok. I probably could’ve planned it a bit better but I’m happy to say we pulled it off! We may or may not have been running around to film the last few on my actual birthday.

Nonetheless it was a lot of fun to put together.

Etc.

Watching… I finally started Community during my vacation & it quickly became one of my top three comedies (along with Seinfeld & Arrested Development). I’ve only watched the first three seasons, but I’m saving the rest for later. Since returning home I resumed hate watching NCIS & burnt through three seasons of a network TV show in a fortnight. It’s pretty campy, but good enough to wind down to after a long day.

Listening to… Jamiroquai came out with a new album after a few years. It’s called Automaton & it’s less acid jazz & a bit more Daft Punkesque but it’s peppy – mostly dance music, but good for some cardio too.

April Favorites

As always, I made a chatty video discussing my favorite things (makeup, personal care & tech) in the month of April. Details + links are on the video page.

And with that, we wrap up my fourth monthly Looking Back post. I throughly enjoy writing these & I do hope you like reading them as well. They’re long, rambly & very stream of consciousness but they allow me to write from a very honest place & discuss everything from professional epiphanies to interesting life experiences & more.

I’m looking forward to the rains (for now, I know I’ll be complaining in a week’s time), working on some interesting things for the rest month of May & trying to prioritise better too. What are you up to, today? Let’s chat in the comments! x

The post Looking Back | April 2017 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

It hasn’t been all awful, however. I just happen to have the bad habit of focussing entirely on negative things sometimes. So instead of writing this post right away, I waited till we were well into April. And I found that all the positive things in April made me forget the misfortunes of March entirely. And in the process, I learnt something new about myself too! That I tend to focus too much of negative feelings when things aren’t going my way, but give it a few weeks & I only tend to remember the fun, the good, the truly memorable. And the shitty stuff doesn’t hurt as much!

Weekend Travels

Like I mentioned above, March was in between major travel for me – still missing Feb’s trip to Bangkok while looking forward to the next one in early April. That didn’t stop me from getting a couple of weekend trips in!

In early March, mom & I had the chance to visit Mahabaleshwar for the first time. It’s a hill station in Maharashtra that’s most well known for strawberries. The trip was courtesy of Saj Resorts & we stayed in Saj on the Mountain, a beautiful property with little row houses. We tried our hand at some adventure sports, visited all the touristy sports, shopped at Mapro, huddled by a bonfire on one crazy cold evening & of course picked and ate lots of strawberries! I’m usually always on blogger mode even while travelling but I took that weekend as an opportunity to just kick it. The purer air & cool climate just enhanced our experience & I’ll be sharing a post about our trip really soon!

Later in March I also had the opportunity to make a quick trip to Delhi / NCR for the TATA Tigor Car launch. Going to an automobile launch is always fun (even though I’m no authority on the subject).

I stayed at the Andaz by Hyatt Hotel at Aerocity & I really liked the aesthetics of the place. It had a very strong design focus, definitely one of my better stays at Aerocity (still didn’t top Pullman though).

Our itinerary included waking up before 5 AM on a Sunday (!!!!) but we got to drive through Gurgaon & visit the Heritage Transport Museum at Taoru.

The museum is so beautiful with a large & wonderful collection of vintage modes of transport from the early 20th century onwards. It’s mostly cars, but there were even horse carriages & one pure wood train coach used by royalty.

I was really drawn to all of the vintage muscle cars (some as big as mini buses) but the tiny red Reliant Robin, a three wheeled British car from the 70s ended up being my favorite vehicle there.

I also vlogged that entire weekend, so you can watch it here (there’s a fair amount of giggling involved).

There’s More…

Watching… I ran out of shows to stream, so I began watching NCIS. There’s a lot I dislike about the show, it’s factually inaccurate more often than not & most of the characters are so annoying, but I hate-watched three seasons, hehe.

Listening To… More of Sergio Mendes from last month & some Chillhop music too! Chillhop is like an interesting genre, it’s hip hop beats you can relax & chill out too. I frequently use chillhop music in my videos & I’ve found that I really like turning it on in the background while I work.

Buying… I hadn’t planned on any big purchases in March, but my beloved iPhone 6 Plus showed signs of giving up on me, so I caved & bought an iPhone 7. After hours of excruciating debate on color, I settled on the silver version & I absolutely love it. I’m enjoying the improved camera quality, & all the Delhi photos above were taken on my phone. Not bad eh?

March 2017 Favorites

As with every month, I have a March Favorites video up as well, discussing some of my summer makeup must haves & my newest obsession. I filmed this on the first of April but took some time off for my vacation, that’s why it’s only just gone up. More details, as always are on the video page.

That’s all for March. Hope you guys have a good summer & manage to beat this heat somehow. Many more travel, beauty & food posts are coming up soon! x

The post Looking Back | March 2017 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.