This month, I only have one Kdrama recommendation for you, which is only there for one reason (you'll find out) but there are a few other exciting dramas to keep you entertained.

Agency

The main reason this Kdrama caught my eye was because it's set in an Ad agency, very Mad Men vibes. I work in marketing so I'm already intrigued, and there are a few notable faces, Lee Bo Young (of Mine) takes the lead as the female head of the agency in a cut throat industry, along with Son Na Eun (Ghost Doctor).

Premiere Date: 7 January

No. of Episodes: 16, twice a week

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches

With Alexandra Daddario at the helm, I'm so excited for this. The thing with me is that I love anything witchy, but I'm also very averse to horror, but it looks like something I can handle. She plays a neurosurgeon who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches, and must deal with things that has been haunting her family for years.

Premiere Date: 8 January

No. of Episodes: 8, once a week

Koala Man

This animated show from the creators of Rick and Morty, is sure to bring a lot of laughs. I'm not a particular fan of this animation style but I do love the humor! Aussie humor is something I'm getting used to, and this show is going to defo help. It follows a family father who lives a not-so-secret identity as the titular hero who possesses a burning passion to snuff out petty crime. There's a lot at stake here, and Koala Man is here to save the day!

Premiere Date: 9 January

No. of Episodes: 8, all binge-ready

Accused

This is giving me Law & Order meets Lie to Me vibes and I enjoy episodic shows a lot. I know it's going to make me feel emotional. The show revolves around ordinary people getting caught up in extraordinary situations, where one wrong turn leads to another, until it's too late to turn back. The cast lineup is very promising including Abigail Breslin, Rachel Bilson, and Molly Parker to name a few.

Premiere Date: 22 January

No. of Episodes: 15, 2 episodes a week

Shrinking

Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Phil Rhodes, a grieving therapist who starts to tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge changes to people's lives - including his own. There's not a lot more information about this but with a cast including Ford, Jason Segel, and Christa Miller, I think we have a show that will make us root for the characters and find a little breakthrough of our own!

Premiere Date: 27 January

No. of Episodes: 10, once a week

What shows are you excited for this month?

I love doing the year end highlights, looking back and reflecting on a year lived. I've been doing it since 2017. (Missed 2018, ugh) but you can check out my older years here. 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021

2022 was a year of the big change, which led to so many new things that I'm grateful for, but it also feels like I've hit a little slump on living life somehow.

The one constant I've managed to keep is doing the daily crossword. In fact, I managed to start a streak and keep it going for more than a month, which is a big deal. It still takes me a really long time to finish one, but I enjoy the process so much and it feels like a hobby that's just solely mine (mostly because none of my friends do the actual crossword) and makes it all the more of a solitary activity that I love.

During the first three months (prior to my move to Aussie) and a few weeks after, I had some classes, definitely felt like my last classes. I miss teaching so much, I miss being inside the classroom, I miss the conversations, the quizzes, the games, the inside jokes, there's just something so fun about teaching.

We did see a few movies in theatre here (including watching Avatar twice, once in a bed in a movie theatre, which is such a surreal experience), and we love going to see movies, it's one of our fav things to do. Movie theatre magnums and popcorn just hits different.

I've always been big on kdramas, but 2022 was when I took that obsession a bit more by going into #kdramatwt and I made a few friends there which is fun. It's always crazy watching an ongoing drama, all the theories, all the fanfare. I just love that. I also managed to watch the same amount of non kdrama? Now that is kind of sus, I thought I was a kdrama girlie through and through but looks like I do tend to deviate away, ahaha.

Leaving also meant a lot of celebrations (and missing even more!). We had multiple farewells despite the circumstances we had to leave in, and I cherish every single second of them. I miss celebrations the most because I'm a party girl at heart and my family and friends know me as the heart of every celebration.

Last year I found myself (for the first time in years!) having a lot of free time because I wasn't doing 4 jobs at the same time. So, I got into plants, and managed to keep a lot of plants alive (12 died but that's a lesson learnt) despite me falling sick for months, and in between moving apartments. I'm taking that as a big win!

Coming here meant finding everything new. Between two moves, learning the neighborhoods and trying to cook more, we didn't go out to eat that much (finding halal food is still a hassle!) but I do enjoy cooking, and have a few signature dishes that I can do really well. Plus, I'm now an overnight oats kinda person. I do love finding little coffee shops and trying new desserts, definitely a plus to moving to a big city is there's an abundance of both.

I really slacked off on content creation last year. In total, my content didn't even reach 10 posts over the four main platforms I use, which is newsletters, this blog, my youtube and podcast (which was at a staggering zero, whoop), but this year I plan to post more. I have missed writing and putting content out there a lot, it definitely gave me a purpose to keep documenting my life (because I love reading back on it).

Mostly, last year was about rediscovering myself as me, because who am I without my family, my friends, my home? I'm finding that out. Moving was so hard but it has also brought so much new things into my life and for that I'm grateful. I'm grateful for a new home, just for the both of us. For sunlight in the mornings, for the vastness of this city and for the beauty it adds to my life everyday. 2022 was tough, but it brought me a lot of joy and love.

I hope 2023 brings lots of light to your life. What was the thing that brought you the most joy last year?