July Favourites

It's been a crazy busy month, perhaps the busiest I've had this year and I was pretty much drowning in work and more work with back to back classes. I barely had any time to relax but I did a LOT of stress shopping so it was hard to limit this to just 10 things but here we go. 

Shaviyani Bag from Thakethi | I've been wanting this bag for a while but didn't have an excuse to buy a tote until I started a new job and needed a work tote to carry stuff like my water bottle (I hate single use plastics at work and am trying my hardest to not use them) and other tidbits. These are great quality (but I did have my mom reinforce the straps just for extra security) and I love the ochre yellow colour of it. It's a great size plus, shaviyani for my name! I got this at Toddy. 

Bamboo Toothbrush by Zero Waste | I'm very into the zero waste lifestyle (it's still a LONG LONG way to go but I like making small changes) and I changed into this bamboo toothbrush and have been using it. I love how soft the bristles are and the wood texture is interesting. Definitely going to keep using these! 

Number Stamp Set from Doodle | This was a bit expensive for a stamp set and I could get a cheaper one at Aliexpress but it was calling my name and I had to get it. I've been using it a lot and love how big they are. Perfect for weekly bujo pages. There were a bunch more stamps, I gave some to Mick. 

Hair Repair Essence from Ximivogue | If you don't already know, I am high-key obsessed with this store and own WAY TOO MUCH from them. A staff there suggested this to my friend Dhum and after she used and raved about it, I bought it and I agree. I love how good it makes my hair look and feel and it's just great to give some shine and moisture to your hair in between washes. I live by this now. It was also very inexpensive!

Wonder by RJ Palacio, from Kiah's | This is one of my favourite books of all time and I did have the blue cover that I gave away some months ago so I needed another copy to love and of course I had to pick the ochre yellow cover, it's absolutely gorgeous. It also has the additional Julian chapters which I haven't read yet but will get to at some point. 

Yesterday I was the Moon by Noor Unnahar from Kiah's | I've been following the twins for a while, absolutely obsessed with their art and poetry and life so imagine my surprise when I went to Kiah's pop-up shop and saw this, I immediately snatched it. I am still in disbelief that I got this book right here. I've started to very slowly read it because I want to take my time and I know I will LOVE this book. The cover is also absolutely gorgeous. 

Tree trunk-ish coaster | I bought this to take to my new job but then decided to use my old coaster so I kept it to use at home and it's such a great coaster, it is adorable and makes me feel very fancy using it. I bought it off a random party store that I can't remember the name of. 

Tissues from Ximivogue | This came in a pack of 18 for just 37 so what a steal. I love the small size so it's very compact for small bags and it's very absorbent. I will definitely keep stocking this up, it's a favourite. 

Pear Sheet Mask from Ximivogue | Another favourite that I purchased more because it's so good. A pack of 3 for 53 is such a steal considering the quality of it and also it's a mask that fits your face! You can make it almost invisible, oh my god. So refreshing and moisturizing, another favourite I will keep re-buying. I also got the apple version to try out. 

Accessories | I bought the pack of 3 hair clips from Ximivogue which I've been loving and wearing a lot. The hair clip trend is something I am very into. These are so easy to clip into my hijabs and take any look up a notch. The pink clay ring is from my paper creations, that I got off a fair. It was too cute not to buy and I've been wearing it a lot. The super tiny ring is from this store called Fattaru in Lily Magu, which has great bags and accessories that are super trendy. It's a mid-finger ring that's so dainty it's perfect for everyday wear. 

That's just a few favourites I can choose, there are probably more ahaha. 

An Ode to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

I have been obsessed with this show since I saw the first episode back in 2015. Musical drama? yes, please. I have loved every single season, from the funny theme song to all the crazy that was unfolding with great musical numbers ofcourse. I am finally caught up with the ending (I know, yeah took me a while cos I didn't want it to end and didn't want to admit it ended) so in an ode to this groundbreaking show that handled mental health in such a great way and constantly broke the fourth wall and was certifiably funny, let's go on a musical nostalgia trip down the memory lane and talk about all of my favourite songs (out of the 157 or so songs, I was barely able to cut down to even this cos there were SO MANY great songs)

Season 1

How can we forget about the theme song? It's still probably my favourite theme songs out of all seasons and I still say "it's a little more nuanced than that" a lot more than I should. West Covina's in my travel list thanks to this show.

Oh I still miss old Greg so much, while he was kind of bland and hate everything-ey he had a great relationship with Rebecca and this musical number is so adorable I sing it a lot. It's in my top 5!

This song is kinda funny and look at how young everyone is (esp Hector!) and how fun are the lyrics? group hangs are truly the worst.

Oh this is by far, my favourite rap battle, ever. The line "I put the OG in the 5.0 GPA" is so iconic, I stan. I know this entire song by heart and it's kind of insane but I really really loved how it all came full circle later in season 4. Absolutely fantastic.

This is the only Darryl song I like. I liked his chracter a lot but they definitely played around with it a lot. This song is a bopper and Darryl here reminds me of the 13th doctor ahaha. 

WHAT A MAGICAL SONG? oh I was always wary about Jobecca but this song was so adorable and magical and such a great ending to the season, so perfect. I loved when Becks and her brother sang this in reprise again in season 4, it's just absolutely full of whimsy and joy. I wish life was always filled with this song.

Season 2

OH CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS THEME? so freaking cute. I love when she does that BLAM. Just, so damn good, a great start to the second season. 

This song is literally my favourite song from the entire series. I've watched it way too many times than I care to admit and shown it to all of my friends. I love the Marilyn Monroe reference and all the triangle puns, everything is so fun. ah, when they did the quadruple love triangle song in season 4, it was kinda meh but I'm so glad for the existence of this song and it will always bring me so much utter joy.  

Ah, Brittany Snow. This song just kills me with how funny and accurate it is. Also can we talk about how absolutely gorgeous Brit is, she is oozing so much grace and as much as I hated that she was with Josh (if you haven't figured out already, yes I really disliked Josh ugh) I'm glad she was in the show and had this great number. 

After the math of love triangles, this is my second fav song ever. Santa Anna Winds as a character? hell yes. What a great idea and Erin really played the part and made this a lovable and adorable an of course absolutely bonkers song. I live for when he sings "weeeeeirrd". 

Honestly, second season had the best songs, so many and this one's another favourite, I LOVED the idea of the song and how feminist and anti-feminist it is the same time and at the end when Paula is confused dancing. I also loved the female friendships in this show so much, it all works out great and uh so healthy, love love love it.

Season 3

So different, yet absolutely hilarious. I love the Taylor Swift reference here and the confusing messages which was so in-line with this season omg. Also can we talk about the outfits, so appropriate. 

I actually did like all the sexy getting ready songs and the period sex song, despite how completely crazy they were (haha) but this song, ooh it's so sexy and still so weird and funny like how does Rachel do it all? Also, this song really made me #TeamNathaniel. I was very much torn in the later season but a big part of me wanted Rebecca and Nathaniel together. 

I actually loved Trent eventhough he was super weird and was a subverted male crazy boyfriend trope. Season 3 was definitely very interesting because of Trent. He deserves a special mention and that BLAM omg. Trebecca, as problematic as it was, was a whirlwind and hilarious. 

Oh, how can we forget jail Rebecca and sad outdoors Nathaniel in this song (forget about Josh, ugh). When Nathaniel later sang Becks' song, I was like OMG HE'S SINGING HER SONG!

Season 4

Oh I loved this theme too, they just always get the theme right! I loved Debra and all the crazy things she says, I diligently watched every episode just to see what she says! Can we have a mini episode of Debra?

Jim and AJ are definitely favourite recurring characters, they are absolutely amazing and this song was hilarious, especially the part where the lawyer comes and says this is not the views of the network, lmao. 

How can we forget this cringe song that's absolutely hilarious and happens in a graveyard? Absolute cringe indeed. The dresses, oh man they are so great. 

Another hilarious number from this season, I loved how it went to different genres of music and Darryl and White Josh were all like, wait this is not about us? Also let it be known I LOVE Maya. She's so great, one of my fav side characters, and she truly embodies the millennial employee. 

Ending this with my favourite number from this season, brilliantly played by Luca, what an adorable kid. I was laughing along to all the child star references, it was so well done. 

I have so much love for this show and it will always remain a favourite. Thank you Rachel Bloom and the team for bringing so much joy to my life through all these songs and your utter brilliance. I wished so much I was able to see the concert, how magical it would be to see everyone. I also loved that Skylar played Greg later, and he did justice to the role, While season 4 definitely was a bit love-hate-ey for me, I'm glad it ended on such a good note. It was phenomenal and I'm glad i have these songs to keep me company!

What was your favourite song?

Quiz: How Maldivian Milennial Are You?

BuzzFeed style quizzes are always so much fun to do and me being hella into the millennial culture of course love everything Gen Y so when I saw this tweet spreading about how millennial you are based on the popular American foods, I had to make a Maldivian version of it. It is currently doing the rounds on twitter with most people being cancelled (whoops, sorry) and also me being more educated about the history of Mortal Kombat. 

So, I decided that I wanted to make a better quiz that reflects more of the Maldivian Millennial culture (at least I hope so!) and came up with this. Let's see how you fare. I myself keep getting the middle ground haha. I'm clearly not as Gen Y as I think. 

Let me know what you get, share in the comments!

Ximivogue Rice Sleeping Mask

I've gotten relatively obsessed with skincare (when I like something, I dive head first into all of it) and after seeing the sleeping masks from Jayyida (check out her insta, she does these in depth amazing reviews of products) I knew I needed to check out what this whole sleeping mask thing was about. So while I was at Ximivogue (which is my new favourite store in the entire Maldives!) I saw a bunch of sleeping masks. After a quick minute of checking out their selection, I settled on the rice mask (I had seen Jayyida talk a lot about rice products) which also looked super cute. 

It's in a slightly thick a little milky translucent mixture that feels so so soft on my face. I wear it two times weekly. Usually, after I clean my face with a light facial wash, I would put on some rose water (I use it as a light toner) and directly massage in a semi-thick layer of sleeping mask all over my face and apply some lip balm to hydrate my lips. It dries in a little bit and you almost don't even notice it on your face.

In the morning, when I wash my face, it feels absolutely soft and I like that it also makes my skin look so hydrated because usually my face becomes extremely dry at night. (I have combination skin) My tub is almost to the middle and I've used it semi regularly for about two months now so it lasts a while and I haven't had any issues with it. Once it empties, I might try another variety because I saw some strawberry and aloe ones that I also want to check out. 

I didn't have Iced Tea in Dhigurah

The weekend before last, few friends and I made a quick weekend trip to Dhigurah. It was on our travel list for a while and we've heard so many good things about the thundi and how beautiful it is (which it was!) so we were all excited. 

We stayed at this very fancy guest house Dhiguveli and it was so gorgeous. It was right next to a small beach, and our room has a small french balcony with bougainvilleas. We stayed for 2 days and 3 nights. The guest house was absolutely great, they had everything. we had dinner two night there and breakfast which was both great. They made these amazing chicken fingers, I really should have taken more pictures of it. 

After a two hour launch ride (which was super comfy with big chairs, almost like it was a flight), we made it to the island where our van was waiting to take us to the guest house which was just on one end of the island (near the road to the thundi!). We had dinner that night at the guest house and played some games and went to bed so we can get up early for breakfast. We had breakfast at the guest house and went around the island to look for water sports. Sadly we didn't find any. 

We rented bicycles (these big ones with huge tires) and rode all the way to the thundi, which took about an hour and half (felt like 5 hours to be honest). My legs were so tired and I had to stop midway cos I thought I was gonna faint. After a while, we couldn't bike because it was too fasmadu, so we walked through what felt like an obstacle course to find the beach where a lot of people were having picnics. After that, it was 10 more minutes to walking to the thundi which was an uproar. The waves were crashing at each other, hungry and ravenous. No wonder this island is called Dhigurah, it truly was long, and exhausting but worth it. 

The thundi was everything except it almost drowned us. We were taken away by the waves and it was so strong, the current pulling us three steps away for every wet step we took. I thought we were not gonna be able to make it to the shoreline, it was so exhausting. But once we rested a bit on the beach (while my heart palpitations returned to normal after what I felt like I was definitely not gonna make it) we were ready to play one of our favourite moodhu games, moodhu bashi. We rode back another hour or so to get to the guest house. The ride back seems easier. 

In the evening, we found that we were too late for lunch so we had evening tea and we strolled around the island looking for cute picture walls and taking too many pictures of flowers. The island had an abundance of saimaa. We went to the thundi for a second time to see the sunset, this time hiring a buggee to spare ourselves the legwork. It was absolutely stunning and worth it. We came back and had dinner at another guest house restaurant. 

The second day was very laid back as some of our group went back so the rest of us rested for the most part, and I ate too many magnums and my legs were so damn tired from all the biking and walking. We didn't go back to the thundi but we managed to play a lot of games and have good food. 

Overall, it was an absolutely well deserved trip and I would definitely want to go back to see that thundi one more time.