My Favorite Things: November Edition
My Favorite Things” is a monthly segment where I share my personal and current favorites in seasonal products, health & beauty, food, decor, movies, TV, and more. Hope you enjoy these personal picks!
TV
A Witch’s Romance
Synopsis: Ban Ji-yeon is a 39-year-old investigative news reporter at Trouble Maker. Ji-yeon focuses all her energy on work because she stopped believing in love after her last boyfriend, 41-year-old war photographer Noh Shi-hoon disappeared prior to their wedding day. Yoon Dong-ha is a 25-year-old guy who runs a small errand center with his friend. Dong-ha seems happy-go-lucky, but he hides a secret sorrow, having lost his girlfriend to a fatal heart problem. Since her death, he’s lost all his ambition and drive, with his career plans sidelined.Sparks fly when Ji-yeon and Dong-ha meet, and despite the age difference, they find a lot in common with each other, including their scarred hearts.
Woo boy! I am loving this drama so far! Six episodes in and I am hooked. The writing seems pretty solid and I like the characters two. The two lead actors are doing a terrific job turning up the on-screen chemistry. I also love that this is rom-com drama that is infused with suspense too! It keeps things exciting. This is the first time I’ve watched a drama with a couple that has a large age difference so I’m wondering how the writers will tackle this.
Ashi Girl (Foot Girl)
Synopsis: Yui Hayakawa is a 16-year-old high school student. The one area that she has talent is that she can run fast. One day, Yui Hayakawa travels through time and finds herself in the Sengoku period. To protect young lord Tadakiyo Hagi, Yui Hayakawa runs on the battlefield.
I’m only two episodes into this J-Drama, but it’s good so far. It will be a while before I can finished it since it’s still being subbed and currently airing in Japan. It’s a mixture of a time-travel and historical drama, which I adore. The story-line is simplistic and fun, and the acting is pretty good. The main character Yui gives the audience a lot of laughs and is engaging to watch. I can’t wait to see how this shows unfolds. I’ve never read the manga that it’s based off, but now I’m intrigued to read it.
Drunk History
Synopsis: This series is based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. In each episode, an inebriated narrator, who is played by a comedian joined by host Waters, struggles to recount an event from history, while actors enact the narrator’s anecdotes and also lip sync the dialogue.
I’ve seen clips of this show on the internet, but I’ve never taken the time to watch it until now. What have I been missing all this time? This show is hilarious and it mixes two of my favorite things: comedy and history! Recently, I binged watched the first two seasons and it was so great! I learned a lot about historical figures/landmarks/events that I was unfamiliar with while laughing the entire time.
Beauty
Ari by Ariana Grande
I love this perfume! It’s a very light and fun fragrance with fruits, florals, musks, and marshmallow. I like that it’s not too expensive like some celebrity fragrances and that you can wear it in the daytime and night. Plus the bottle design is so cute!
Movies
The Big Sick
Synopsis: Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family’s expectations, and his true feelings.
Kumail Nanjiani is one of my newer favorite comedians and once I saw the trailer for the movie I was intrigued. The movie was funny, entertaining, and heartbreaking at times. It was a very sweet rom-com and I liked how it was based on Kumail’s life which made it authentic. I also like how the movie discussed topics surrounding love, culture clash, familial expectations. Definitely one of my favorite movies of this year, I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it.
Music
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Wendy
Wendy is favorite member of the K-Pop group Red Velvet and I love her vocals in this cover Christmas classic. I love how jazzy this rendition is and the melody of the instruments. I will definitely replaying this throughout the Holiday season.
Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna, Bryson Tiller
I’m super late when it comes to discovering the newest music since I really don’t listen to the radio. I’ve heard this song a couple of times and I just now finally listened to it. I love the sleek guitar melody and the overall beat. This song always makes me want to dance.
#SorryNotSorry by Banana Lemon
Banana Lemon is a fantastic upcoming group in the Japanese music world. Their vocals are strong and their choreography is always on point. They are more on the edgy side of J-Pop, but I like that their music is a fusion of R&B and Hip-Hop. They haven’t officially debuted, but #SorryNotSorry is my favorite track they’ve released so far!
*This post is in no way sponsored
What are some of your favorite things in November? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. 🙂
I just watched The Big Sick! So sweet, heartfelt, and funny. Great post Rachel!
Thanks Lindsey! It was such a good film!
November was a strange month for me, but a favourite read was a reread of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a coming-of-age story which still holds up with rereading as an adult, and a favourite show was “Masters of S*x” which I think should have been as popular as MadMen but focussed so much more on the women’s characters that perhaps it just wasn’t as widely appealing. I enjoyed reading about your November choices and I hope you’re finding some new favourite things already in December – almost a week in now!
Thanks! I love “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. It’s one of my favorites! I was able to catch “Kim’s Convenience” on CBC and thanks for the recommendation. I enjoyed it so much! I never could get into Mad Men, but I never watched Masters of S*x either. I hope you’re also finding fun things in December too!
What surprises me whenever I’ve reread Tree/Brooklyn as an adult is just how much of it was rather mature (the attack, Johnny’s addiction, deaths and tragedies in the family and the neighbourhood, Sissy’s pregnancy, etc.) and I never thought anything of it as a girl – it was just part of the story. Oh, I’m so glad you found and enjoyed “Kim’s Convenience”; it’s light but not lightweight. A hard balance to find!