Open-hearted joys 開開心心 96
Happy Friday, my loves!
I’m writing this week’s gratitude list amidst a sweltering British heatwave, and feeling largely grateful for my fan and the bowl of iced water that’s sitting in front of it. It’s true what they say: 33°C in the UK is not the same as 33°C elsewhere. I’ve lived in humid Hong Kong, visited my family in tropical Malaysia, holidayed in 42°C Greece mid-heatwave, and there’s nowhere hotter than our doorstep right now. I think I’m a hot-weather girl though, so my SPF, my water bottle and I are lapping it up. Also, upon reading this list back, I can understand why people wonder why British people are obsessed with the weather… I cannot stop talking about it! This late May, I’ve also been swept up in a blissful bubble remembering how my fiancé and I got engaged around this time last year. By the next, we’ll be married!
There’s a lot to be said for appreciating the smaller, not necessarily finer, details of the everyday mundane. Here’s to another list of open-hearted joys, the moments that’ve woven poetry to my days, this week.
一. A sun-soaked bank holiday weekend. Not much beats sunshine hitting on a British long weekend and joining the entire country in exactly the same formula for three days.
二. We hosted a quiet family barbecue on Monday, and it was glorious!
三. Shenanigans with my colleagues.
四. Feeling a cool breeze through the windows, late at night after it reached 33°C in our corner of England on Tuesday. 33°C in the UK is not the same as 33°C elsewhere, truly.
五. Reading Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan and it becoming one of my favourite books of the year so far. Review coming this weekend!
六. A final cup of tea when it’s finally a decent enough temperature to properly enjoy one. I’ve been taking a cup of M&S shortbread tea and a book out to our garden, which has been the loveliest wind-down ritual.
七. Late-night gardening, for all the same reasons I’ve been harping on about above. There’s something so lovely and serene about tending to our plants while the moon hovers above the trees.
八. Getting all our wedding vendor mood boards finalised ahead of our first set of appointments! Pinterest hates to see me coming 😉 My brain is now 99% floristry arrangements and reciting our budget.
九. Evening walkies with my dog. Stretching our walks out a little later lends a twilight magic and I’ve loved the quietness of them all.
十. Anticipation for our belated engagement anniversary trip. I already can’t wait to share postcards with you all, and we haven’t even left yet!
