HELLO! can you believe winter is over? it’s been a while since the last seasonal recap and guess what?! all the bloggers at Twirling Pages are here to tell you about the wonders of our winter, not just me (alexandra). so, mind the length of this post and let’s just get right to it.

farewell, winter

THINGS HAPPENED

alexandra:

winter is my favorite season ever. probably because 1) CHRISTMAS AHHHHH, 2) the new year actually makes me want to be productive, 3) it’s cold! except, living in california, winter only lasted about a week in terms of weather. *sigh* but anyway, things happened!! i posted some videos on youtube, read a lot of good books, and did a lot of dancing.

in december, i was planning on doing vlogmas, but failed horribly after not vlogging for two days and just gave up completely. maybe in 2018? i’m definitely hoping to create more videos, but we’ll see. a big chunk of my winter was preparing for audition videos. i’m hoping to compete in this ballet competition in june, but i had to submit audition materials first which was overly stressful and taxing.

i got to meet some of my friends over the winter break which was so! great!! i never see them anymore because of college/school/life, so every time we hang out it’s the best. one of my closest friends, tiffany, actually started her own book blog this past season and i’m so so proud. we ventured to the last bookstore in LA and also some good food (more on that later). i was also able to go to a special screening of a certain movie (more on that later!!) thanks to one of my friends and that was definitely one of the highlights of my year. *CRIES*

kaitlin:

whistler, canada; playa del carmen on the way to cozumel; huntington beach kaitlin

winter was an interesting season for me! it’s one of my favorite seasons because i do love the cold and winter fashion. i traveled a bit during this winter, hitting cozumel for thanksgiving and spending most of my december in seattle (snowed on christmas day y’all it was amazing and i went to the pop funko hq, helllaaaa cool) and a few days in canada (whistler, skiiing, yay!). it was honestly just a nice break, to be away from school, spending more time with my family, and sleeeeeeping for once hehe.

then the new year hit and i restarted my bullet journal and also have been setting more goals for myself to be better at sleeping, exercising, and also striving to become a more productive person. it’s february, i don’t know if it’s still working but i think it’s an interesting way to start the new year.

my sports season has also happened, so i am sooo much busier now (rip to my off season) but i kind of love being out more and getting home later. that sucks when i have a pile of homework but i like to be busy sometimes, it keeps me occupied and prevents me from eating all the girl scout cookies at home hehe

finally, i went to socal for chinese new year. it’s been about a year and half since i have seen my family in socal so it was great to be with them again (and get them red envelopes hehe). i didn’t have much time in socal, as it was more of a weekend trip, but nevertheless, it was a great trip. i used to actually really not like being down in socal (because its always so hot) but going back again made me realize it’s not as bad as former me made it out to be.

so yes, that was my very interesting winter. it’s still dummy cold here in the bay so i don’t expect the winter feeling to be leaving soon hah.

madeline:

wellll, this winter was mostly filled with school & homework.

i did run indoor track amidst all this, WHICH WAS AMAZING. i was running about 40 miles a week most of the time, and that felt so great. i got to compete at harvard a couple weeks ago for our final meet and it was so fun! i miiight have developed a little stress fracture in my leg though which is slightly concerning.

i experienced Real SnowTM for the first time living in New Hampshire. it was V BEAUTIFUL but also pretty cold. you know what’s weird though? it’s now in the 60s F in february, in New Hampshire. sooo weird and warm.

chelsea:

listen, i love winter as much as the next canadian gal, but this winter sucked major balls. i mean like, school wise it was pretty okay–i finished my semester one classes and passed all my finals. i alllllmost failed my chemistry class but its a thing of the past ok? ok. i had a couple of essays, a couple school projects, a couple of days where i slept in and did nothing. the usual!

after school finally finished for the year, aka christmas break, i still did a whole lot of nothing tbh. i was recovering from a semi-major surgery, so it was a lot of sleeping, a lot of netflix, and a lot of pita bread. that is possibly my favourite combonation of things lol. also, i try to hang out with my friends who go to different high schools a couple times a month and we went out to dinner a few times so that was really nice!! i played a lot of sims, didn’t read much, and planned my course outline for second semester.

as you can tell, i’m a pretty boring person, which like, ok, that’s not a BAD thing, but i definitely want to get out of my shell more this year. my new years was boring as usual but my plans for the actual new year–twenty gayteen y’all–is to be the best version of myself i’ve ever been!

OMG i almost forgot–ok the most productive thing i did this winter is write!!! for all of y’all that don’t know (all of you?? have i ever talked about this?? who knows) i’m working on a project called ~project stars~ about a group of all female sapphic space pirates who are morally gray and badass!! anyways, i wrote up the entire outline and started doing some work on my setting sooooooooo i should be starting my first draft pretty quick!!

I DOUBLE ALMOST FORGOT! i started my own book blog!!!! there is literally nothing on it yet but i’m starting spring off right and i’m going to start reading more, writing more, and posting here and on my own blog, paper novels!!!

haley:

sooo this winter was filled with TONS of homework, projects, extracurriculars, stress, and taking photos of my cat. my school runs on a semester system, so we were all wrapping up our first semester courses AKA a time for teachers to cram as many marks as possible into our grades because they want to prove we accomplished a lot in the semester. so it was definitely a relief when winter break came around and i was able to hang out with my friends and family basically every day. there were movies! secret santa! food! and a whole bunch of fun activities in vancouver.

i’m also in a playwright program sponsored by the vancouver arts club and they give us free tickets to some of their shows which are AMAZING! i saw a canadian musical called “onegin” based off of alexander pushkin’s poetry and that was by far my favorite show because w o w. also my dad got us tickets to goh ballet’s the nutcracker and i’m not a dancer or anything but everything about the production was just soo incredibly beautiful the costumes the dancing the music omfg i’m in love. 

i’ve honestly been slacking incredibly on my writing and did not produce any new fiction during the winter break which was very 🙁 but i think i just needed the recharge. during the school year, i’m so caught up with extracurriculars and schoolwork that i always feel like i need to be doing something but it’s just good to relax? be with friends and family? and enjoy a book — not just thought-provoking literature that i believe helps me grow as a person and writer, but also light-hearted teen fiction — while sitting in the bath.

priscilla: 

winter for me has been suuuuuch a wild ride. applying to colleges is definitely one of the most difficult things i’ve ever done, but it’s FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY done! i’m still waiting on replies from most of the colleges i applied to, but i’m really excited. i actually got rejected from my top choice, but i’m more or less okay with it, and i think i’d be happy no matter which school i end up going to. i honestly canNOT wait for college, i’m so ready to graduate!

there’s also been so much drama (ugh) in my friend group over the past few months, but that’s also been pretty much resolved, so things have been a lot better recently! anyway, at this point i’m just trying to enjoy being a second semester senior and just chill out haha

MEDIA CONSUMED

alexandra:

oh MAN. i read SO MANY BOOKS in januaray and february (not so much december but eh), i’m shocked. i’m five books ahead of my goodreads reading challenge. i’ve been reading a lot of books featuring asian-americans or by asian-americans and it’s been so!! wonderful!! some of my faves include American Panda, The Way You Make Me Feel, Emergency Contact, and so much more. i feel like the crying emoji every time i think of them.

in terms of music, i’ve been using Spotify a lot more and discovering lots new artists! i’ve been obsessed with The Bleachers and scream at all their good music.

i’ve been trying to watch more films and keep track of what i’m watching. i just finished Lady Bird a few days ago and it was so beautiful and simplistic I’M EMOTIONAL. aside from that, i’ve been obsessed with the winter olympics (as is everyone else) and have 0 regrets.

me, usually: why would u dance on solid water

me, during winter olympics: NATHAN CHEN AND ADAM RIPPON ARE MY KIDS™ PROTECT THEM i love chloe kim, shibsibs, & mirai sO MUCH winter and ice are sNoW AMAZING GO USA 😭😭🙌🏻✨❤🏅🏅⛸🎿🌨🌬❄🌈❄

— love, alexandra (@twirlingpages) February 17, 2018

kaitlin:

books: i read like, two books this winter. books have been slow for me these past few months so i’ve kind of given up and have decided to just let my mood take me wherever it wants to go. so the first book was the midnight star, the final book in the young elites trilogy. this trilogy first came out when i was in like, 7th grade so it’s kind of weird for me because i have finally finished it.

and then i read a book for school, a biography about queen elizabeth. it was actually pretty interesting, a little hard to read because it was lightweight boring at times but elizabeth lived a really interesting life so it was fun to read more about it.

chinese dramas: I’M ACTUALLY SO SAD. ever since school started i haven’t been watching a lot of dramas. i’ve seen probably one since school started and it took me about 2 weeks to finish 24 episodes. anyway, yes, a few good dramas were watched during the winter. dramas include: ten miles of peach blossoms, across the ocean to see you, and where the lost ones go (left). all three great dramas and threw me into feels.

music: okay this winter the music has kind of been it’s usual jumble of different genres. it’s honestly the same old shuffle between my chinese drama ost (original soundtrack) playlist, lot’s of k-indie pop, as well some r&b (the daniel caeser spotify radio??).

madeline:

i’ve managed to read about twelve books already in 2018 and I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF. i didn’t think i would able to read this much with school and stuff but i’ve made time for it.

i’ve also been watching so much Winter Olympics lately, especially figure skating and snowboarding.

i haven’t been watching that much tv lately, but I HAVE been watching all kinds of old Disney movies, so who’s really winning, huh? i’m talking Princess Protection Program, Radio Rebel, HSM, allll the good ones.

chelsea:

i’m not going to lie, all i did over the holidays was watch the x-files (would i die for fox mulder? yes) and cheesy romantic christmas movies. and it was good!! i’m a junior so school is kind of stupid ridiculous re: pressure about university so yeah. it was nice to unwind. i also read like, 3 whole books which, for a reading slump is pretty darn good.

music wise, i listened to the greatest showman soundtrack, sam smith, and the new taylor swift because i’m Basic. oh i was just reading madeline’s media update and i too watched a lot of olympics!!! i’m not usually a Sports Fan™️but the olympics??? ohhhhh mannnnn i would give up ANYTHING for scott and tessa ok like its insane?? i loved them so muchhh and the snowboarding blew me the HECK away those kids are so talented holy crap

haley:

books-wise: i finished 2017 with 19 books read! it’s not as much as i used to read but i’m pretty content with it considering i spent most of the year either a) going out or b) studying or c) all of the above there was literally no in between. as for 2018, i’ve read 3 books so far which i was pretty happy with until i saw how many madeline has read holy shit good job.

tv-wise: mostly catching up on new episodes of brooklyn nine nine, superstore, fresh off the boat, and kim’s convenience. also! re-runs of modern family. it’s such a wholesome show and i love it and it just makes me appreciate my family so much? as for movies, i watched lady bird, coco, the last jedi, black panther, pitch perfect 3, the foreigner, mother!, wonder . . . all good, in varying degrees.

aaaand youtube wise i started to binge wongfu productions as well as jenn im’s makeup videos (something about makeup routines is just soooo incredibly soothing???) and i’ve recently discovered the shibutani siblings’ channel so i’m definitely gonna be binging that in the next few days.

(side note: i know i’m supposed to support canada n tessa/scott in the winter olympics but i just love the shibutanis so!! much!!)

and lastly, music: sooo much lorde because i’m going to her concert in a few weeks I LOVE MELODRAMA EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS PERFECT! aaand other misc songs like mitski’s liquid smooth and charlie puth’s how long (for some reason idk it’s so catchy). 

priscilla:

i haven’t been reading too much recently, oops. i’m currently reading the power of habit and really enjoying it! for some reason, it takes me a lot longer to finish books now, but i still enjoy reading! i have a toooon of books on my tbr, so hopefully i’ll get to some of those soon!

i don’t usually watch movies, but i do watch some tv shows (mostly k-drama, haha). during winter, i FINALLY finished goblin, which took me about an entire year for some reason?? i have to say, this drama is so so so painful – i cried my eyes out. i also watched my love from another star, which was good, and i recently started empress ki. i’ve also been watching the unit, which is kinda like a competition show for k-pop idols (somewhat similar to produce 101).

as for music, i’ve been listening to k-pop, as usual. seventeen recently released the director’s cut of their album teen age (SOOO good), and i’ve also been listening to day6! i really love their songs blood and be lazy. seriously, go listen right now!! highly highly recommend 🙂

FAVORITE FOODS

alexandra:

clockwise: by chloe, pressed juicery, FAVE korean food, the BEST blueberry muffins – made by my sister, and cafe bora in los angeles

there was SO MUCH GOOD FOOD in winter. as mentioned earlier, i went on an adventure with Tiffany to The Last Bookstore and afterwards we got Pressed Juicery freeze and By Chloe (aka my favorite vegan place!!). oh, By Chloe, how i’ve missed you. on most days, i’ve been trying to make my own food (it’s one of my new year’s resolutions) and not eat out too much. buuuut when i do eat out, i’ve also been going to the local Korean restaurant – a lot. i can’t help that it’s literally across the street from my ballet studio and their kimchi pancakes are SO GREAT.

my sister also came back to surprise my mom for her birthday!! we went to LA to get ~all the food things~ for 1) my sister to try since she finished culinary school and wants to open her own store and 2) my mom wanted cake so GET HER CAKE. although she was only around for 48 hours, she managed to bake her amazeballz muffins and go to this uber cute dessert shop with me. Cafe Bora (the one with the purple food) is known for its sweet potato flavored desserts and they were all SO DELICIOUS.

kaitlin:

uji time, night market, beignets

food was pretty good this winter, here’s a short itemized list:

• the night market (san francisco, ca): i went to this place with my friends and it was bombbbbb. it’s a hong kong style restaurant, they actually had some pretty good food (the desserrttttsss), and had the cutest interior. a bit expensive, but still left me satisfied. i loved their hong kong style milk tea and they had some good ass desserts.
• phoenix food boutique (monterey park, ca): uh these cafes are all over socal and it’s honestly sooo bomb. like, they have only like, 3 desserts that i actually like but those three desserts are hellaaaaa good. i also got their hong kong style milk tea and that was bomb as well. if they had these in norcal i would be all over phoenix hahaha
• uji time (san francisco, ca) & trove (seattle, wa): okay both these places i have been to before but i thought i would talk about them real quick because both places are bomb (and i need to make this list longer). uji time is kind of a dessert shop with soft serve and good ass fish cones. trove is kind of like a restaurant but i only really go for their parfaits, which are bomb as well. i don’t get trove very often because it isn’t in my area but i do always try to get trove whenever i’m in seattle.
• beignets (anaheim, ca): i haven’t had beignets in a HOt minute. me and my cousins used to get them all time while we were in downtown disney but it’s been awhile since i was in socal so it’s been a minute since i’ve had beignets. HOWEVER COMMA the beignets kiiiiinda weren’t as good as they used to be so the whole thing was kind of a let down but that’s oKAy because i got cute pics from it hehe.
• hot milk tea: okay so i made this discovery a few weeks ago. my throat was bad but my friends and i got milk tea and i knew that if i got cold milk tea, it wouldn’t help my throat, so i got it hot and I AM TURNED AND I WILL NEVER GO BACK AGAIN. hot milk tea is actually sooooo good and i love hot drinks. before i wasn’t very sure about drinking milk tea hot because that’s just kind of weird but now, i am all for the hot milk tea.

madeline:

not gonna lie, my winter has been filled with food from school d-hall and not much else, but i’ve had a couple good foods this winter

• a beautifulll mocha the other day from D Squared Java in my town. the cafe is so cute!!

• a berry+banana smoothie!
• Ben and Jerry’s chocolate therapy ice cream after my Harvard track meet 🙂

chelsea:

ok this update is going to be SHORT because i don’t eat out that much??? not in the winter usually, mostly because i have no money lol. but the shrimp tacos at boston pizza deserve a Grade A Mention and alsoooooooooooooooooo the pad thai i order from skip the dishes???? a godsend

haley:

okok sooo going through my camera roll made me realize that i literally eat out so much?? wtf?? maybe i could be a foodie but i have terrible photography skills . . . first world problems. anyways. i usually take videos of my food so here are the few that i took photos of!! some of my fav foods i had this winter that deserve shoutouts:

p.s. don’t ask me why the first letter of every word is capitalized idk how to use wordpress sorryzz!!!!!!

priscilla:

as always, boba!! i get boba 1-3 times a week tbh, it’s honestly such an unhealthy habit. but guess what? i’m…giving up boba. until april 1. i actually haven’t gone a week without boba in about a year, so this is pretty crazy for me, but i decided to give up boba for lent. i’m also trying to be healthier, though, so not getting boba for over a month will definitely help. but anyway, my favorite boba places are boba guys (strawberry matcha latte!!) and itea (rose green tea)! i’m looking back through my camera roll and wow i went to boba guys (and boba places in general) soo much oops this is actually very bad…

okay, but i still love food so, so, so much. if you haven’t had it, you should definitely try talenti ice cream/gelato!! their caramel cookie crunch is literally to die for, and i also really like the mint cookiecrunch! if you want a somewhat healthier option, chloe’s fruit pops (mango) are really good too.

i love trying new restaurants and cafes – basically anything related to food, haha. i had so much good food in the past few months, so i’ll just include a few college!

foresights of spring

alexandra:

spring!!!! even though winter was pretty much nonexistent, i’m actually looking forward to the warmer weather. i may be traveling to new york, china, and london in the coming months which is EXCITING and also a little stressful. stressful because the traveling is for ballet/audition/work purposes, not vacation, but EXCITING because traveling!! i’ll also be hardcore working on my pieces for upcoming ballet competitions. *exhales* in the meantime, i’ll try to stay afloat. reading, creating, eating, exercising, and living.

kaitlin:

the next few months will probably consist of me trying my very hardest to make it through these last few months of school without compLETELY BREAKING DOWN. it’s okay, everything will be. okay. spring is a very nice season though so i look forward to less heavy outfits and for things to start flowering on the nature. spring break is coming soon (god bless.) and i honestly don’t think my family has any plans so i am looking forward to kind of chilling for a week because it’s honestly been awhile where i just *chilled* and did nothing and actually had time to watch my chinese dramas. spring will be a kind of busy time period too, as many things are coming (birthdays, days off, weddings ;)) so i am looking forward to it! i hope to hit sf more now that the weather is going to get better and i am excited for the next few months. i can’t belive spring is already here!

madeline:

ahh i can’t believe spring is here!!! I REALLY WANNA KEEP UP WITH MY GOODREADS CHALLENGE lmao. i can already tell that this spring is gonna be tough in terms of schoolwork (latin + history + physics = the death of me), but i’m hoping that i can stay caught up with my blogging and reading obligations also. 
 
spring also means it’s time for OUTDOOR TRACK WHOOP. i’m planning on trying to run about 40 miles a week and training super hard to improve my 800m time by several seconds (hopefully below 2:30!). and through all of my schoolwork, reading, and running, i’m gonna try my best to STAY POSITIVE THIS SPRING.

chelsea:

I AM GOING TO READ MORE!!!! i am promising myself that and i’m promising myself to write more of my novel and more for the blogs!!! i want to eat more plants, do better in school, hang out with my friends more, tell my family i love them more often, come out to my family (:o), furnish my room with plants, eat some more good food with friends, drink more coffee, take more pictures, laugh more. like i said before, i want to be the best me i can be, and i am mcfreaking determined to make that happen this spring!! also hats off to me for that enormous run-on sentence!!

haley:

• read more. i’m going to hit 25 books this year on goodreads no matter what it takes!!
• write more. or write SOMETHING. a short story, or a revision of my manuscript or idk ANYTHING JUST SOMETHING that isn’t for school or someone else.
• maan eat healthier. eat more fruits. i need to just do it.
• i did good on blogging this past month but i could write more posts. so do it! 
• keep up with everything and stay happy on top of all of that. 🙂 

priscilla:

hopefully, spring will be better in terms of, well, essentially everything. my main goal right now is to lose weight and become healthier. i’ve been trying to exercise/walk to school more and also eat healthier, and things are going pretty well so far! i also want to be more productive. even though it’s second semester senior year, i still have quite a lot of schoolwork, so i want to stay on top of all my assignments and assessments and hopefully not procrastinate too much haha. i definitely want to get back into blogging, so you’ll probably see a lot more of me during spring and in the future! i’ll also try to be more active on my instagram, which is kinda dead right now (oops). hopefully spring will be much better than winter has been!

WHEW. that was a lot. hope you had a wonderful winter! let us know what you did and what you’re planning on doing in the comments below!