This has been a pretty good month for me. Of course, I have now been at home for nearly 7 weeks. We have been playing lots of cards – Chinese Rummy is our new obsession. Have you played? It is so fun! However, trying to shuffle two decks of cards in my tiny hands is tough.
This past month I have really been changing things up with the blog. I just deleted about 60% of my previous content. This blog is different to me than when I first started. Back then I wrote little posts, lots of lists, wrote about one photo, and shared quick recipes.
Now, I want this website to be where you can go for both information and personal stories. Those old posts didn’t feel right, they didn’t feel like something I wanted anymore.
Now, after deleting so much, I feel like the site is much cleaner.
My goal for May now is to go back through all of my old posts and update them, so that way they are relevant now and helpful.
I’m not sure how many new posts the blog will have this month, but I’m really excited to take on this project and create a better website!
Blog Posts Published
Why I Became An Au Pair In Australia. I loved living in Australia and if it wasn’t so far away, I could absolutely see myself spending the rest of my life there. This article is about why I chose Australia to live and work after I graduated from university.
6 Puerto Vallarta Fun Facts. I am a total fun fact nerd. If I ever see a headline “XYZ Fun Facts” I will click on it. I love learning more about destinations, and thought I would share some of my favorite fun facts about Puerto Vallarta.
My Canadian Bucket List. I am very lucky to call Canada home. This country is very vast and has so many different cultures. There is so much on offer to see and do in Canada. I wrote down my current Canadian bucket list. I say current because there are SO many beautiful places in Canada to see, so I know this list will be ever changing.
Is Puerto Vallarta Safe To Travel? When I told people that I was going to Puerto Vallarta, most of their immediate reactions was how unsafe Mexico was, how I better not leave the hotel, how I need to be careful, etc. This informative post dives into whether or not Puerto Vallarta is safe to travel, and how I felt while travelling there.
Melbourne Photo Essay. I decided to look back through my photos of when I was living in Melbourne and chose some of my favorites that I felt really show how incredible Melbourne is.
Books Read
Elizabeth, by J. Randy Taraborrelli. Considering my love for old Hollywood classics, you would think that I’m an Elizabeth Taylor fan. I’m actually not. I’ve never been crazy about her acting, and have not liked what I’ve heard about her in the media. Reading this book I had hoped that maybe learning more about her life I would come to be a fan of hers. That didn’t happen while reading this book. If anything, this book made me dislike her even more. She was so privileged, and treated others in not so great ways. She took what she wanted, not caring who she hurt in the process. When I think of her I think of a spoiled girl who was used to getting her way, and never learned to share.
However, by reading this book I did learn about how she was instrumental in the fight against AIDS. One thing that should be said about Elizabeth Taylor was that she didn’t care about your sexuality. She had many closeted gay friends who trusted her with their lives, and she didn’t betray them. Before her, AIDS was not spoken about. She was the first celebrity to become an AIDS activist, and spent her later years in life doing everything she could to get the word out. She pressured President Reagan to talk about AIDS, and it took years, but she finally got him to acknowledge it. So many of her celebrity friends ignored her requests for help, AIDS was just not spoken about. If it weren’t for her, who knows where AIDS research would be today. So I really have respect for Elizabeth Taylor in that aspect.
You Are A Badass: How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, by Jen Sincero. I was recommended this book by an online book club. A lot of reviews were really great and people spoke of how life changing this book is. I struggled to get through it. I’ve tried reading various “self help” type of books, and none have resonated with me. I found this book to be very boring and so repetitive. I felt like she was repeating the exact same thing, over and over, with different words to make it seem like she was saying something else. That’s okay though! Just because it wasn’t for me is fine, it’s helped loads of others.
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, by J. K. Rowling. Not only my favorite movie of the bunch, but also my favorite book. This was such a treat to read again. I got to read a book with my favorite character, Sirius Black, and it was such a nice book to read again.
Michael Jackson, by J. Randy Taraborrelli. I am halfway through this book, and just like the author’s book on Marilyn Monroe that I read last month, I cannot put it down. Of course I’ve heard plenty about how Joseph Jackson treated his children, but I didn’t know everything. The author knew the family and interviewed them so many times, yet he remains factual in his novel. I am constantly feeling such pain for Michael and the others. If anything, this book is making me realize just what a musical genius Michael was, how shady record labels used to be (and possibly still are) and I’m really empathizing with Michael. What I used to find odd about him, I now can understand. I can understand why he was the way he was. And I wish people had been nicer to him.
Interesting Articles I’ve Read Online
Dolphins and Rare Dugongs return to Thailand. Not going to lie, each time I read articles like this one I cry. I just love that animals are able to be in their natural habitat right now, without humans getting in the way. There’s only about 250 Dugong’s in Thailand, so to see a herd with 30 is incredible!
The Great Barrier Reef’s Great Big Complicated Story. Before I left Australia I spent my final week in the country in Cairns. My specific reason to be there was because I wanted to snorkle the Great Barrier Reef. As we’ve all been told, it’s dying, so I had to get there while I could. This article dives deep (haha, punny) and I learned a lot from this article. I highly recommend you read it if you have any interest in the Great Barrier Reef at all. Guarantee you will learn something.
Beautiful Isolated Places On Earth. After reading this post I was left in complete awe of the world. Some of the most remote destinations on Earth are the most beautiful.
I hope you had a good April, and have an even better May!
