Monthly Favs | June 2023

July 3, 2023August 6, 2023by Hazel Vee2 Comments

May was such a horrible month and I’m still trying to recover from all that happened. I’m doing a lot better but I’m still not feeling like myself, at all just yet. I hate it. I hate postpartum and I hate what happened.

June was a little better, I managed to find favorite things or rather found myself ordering repeat foods. Emotionally though… still not better.

| Food

Bubba found these Mahalo Teriyaki 711 Jerky bags and I. AM. HOOKED. Literally, in June I went through like 5 bags of this stuff. Some in sadly one sitting. The downside? These are $10 a bag. But OMFG they’re so good.

In all the years I’ve eaten at Five Guys, I’ve never had their Hot Dogs. If I want a Hot Dog, I’ll take my ass to Costco, ok? Or Ikea. But I was craving and it sounded good so I went for it. Five Guys hot dogs are like… the upscale Costco dog. I got mine with Chili, Cheese and Bacon and I think I’m ruined ya’ll. It’s so good.

I’ve been back on my Salmon Sashimi kick again. I regret nothing. Except for when I forget to add Eel sauce to the order. I recently read a food article about how there’s no actual Eel in Eel sauce… did people think there was? I figured it was just a sauce to compliment the Eel? Idk, I just know that sushi and gyoza dipped in it is next level foodie heaven.

Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Gaming Thoughts 💭 | Cozy Grove

June 29, 2023June 30, 2023by Hazel Vee1 Comment

I recently found myself obsessed with the game Cozy Grove.

It’s been in my backlog for about a year and while I tried it out for a bit, I kind of forgot about it in the midst of Disney Dreamlight and Stardew Valley.

What I thought was going to be a chill cozy game about helping bears on a haunted island move on turned out to be an obsession. I have a habit of completing, collecting and achieving certain goals in games. Basically anything that has to do with gathering or crafting. Not only do you unlock bears once you feed Flamey a certain amount of logs, but you can also catch bugs and fish seasonally. Not just that but there are also Legendary and Mythical.

The yellow critters are legendary and the blue critters are mythical. I’ve been on a rampage trying to collect all the legendary for this season. If I come across a mythical, cool but I’m not banking on them. Of course these are easier to see when the area’s are colored in.

Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Brain Dump | Back On This BS

June 29, 2022June 29, 2022by Hazel VeeLeave a Comment

I had every intention to write an actual blog post the next time I updated but for some reason I just couldn’t finish any of the blog posts I’d start. I kept censoring myself because ironically in 2022 I learned the luxury of privacy and I’m actual kind of… enjoying it.

I’ve always been a transparent open book; you can’t start rumors or shit talk me because everything you could possibly say is already written in a blog somewhere publicly for anyone to read. It doesn’t stop people from trying though. But those who know me, at all, know that if it were really worth something listening to *I* would had already said something before anyone else and anything outside of that is a rumor and a lie.

My first ex husband and I had a rule: don’t ask, don’t tell.

We were entitled to our privacy and our choice if there was something we really didn’t feel like talking about right then and there. And for a good decade, it worked out really well for us. It taught me however to avoid the truth. I don’t like to lie, ever. And I don’t lie about anything significant. I use to lie a lot growing up and do you know how draining it is to remember lies? I can’t be bothered now as an adult to remember shit like that so I just don’t lie. Plus, again, I’m an open book. What do you want to know? I’ll be happy to tell you. Own who you are. Own your mistakes. Your demons. Your trauma. Cause if you do, that’s a power no one can take from you.

There are a lot of things happening in my life right now that I can not wait to talk about when I finally can/want to. I’ve been reminded just how solid and how loyal my support system is. I have been reminded how much my family cares about me despite “not being close”. They are loyal. They are hands down ride or die’s and they would, no matter how long time has passed, always have my back with whatever I need. No questions, no judgment and no record keeping.

I’m reminded of how much my bff loves me. He’s always been really compassionate and protective over me. And it’s crazy that twenty two years later he’s still just as protective. Just as willing to do whatever he can to make sure I’m okay and taken care of. I don’t know what I did to deserve a friendship like this, but I am beyond thankful for it. I’m mid key thankful he saved my life as kids lol; sometimes I wonder why I even listened to his pleas to make me put the pills down. To get me to go to church. To convince me to keep holding on. I’m truly lucky to have so many people care so much about me. That distance doesn’t matter, I’m never alone. To have people blow up my phone just to make sure I took my meds, I ate today, I filled orders.

My whole gaming set up has been upgraded. The whole thing. The downside is I’m realizing my PC doesn’t have USB 3.0 so I can’t get my capture card to register. So no Nintendo streams until I fix that. But I have been streaming again and I actually streamed a new demo game that I’m pretty excited about. I do need to figure something out about the lighting in my office cause with the webcam it’s not the best. It kind of annoys me. And I need to find speakers because despite having a gaming monitor, it does not have speakers. Make it make sense. I’m planning a relaunch for my shop in August by my one year anniversary. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year!

I need to start getting to work! Hope you are all doing well!

Uncategorized

Brain Dump | The Steady Struggle

May 11, 2022May 11, 2022by Hazel VeeLeave a Comment

I’ll be honest, nothing too new has been happening. I’ve settled into a sort of comfortable routine. One that makes it so I get my daughter for a week then her dad gets her for a week and on and on and on. It is strange on the weeks she’s not with me. And the week that she is, I feel like they go by way too fast. But she’s settled into our normal routine from before all of this happened.

I’ve jumped back on FFXIV as I’ve mentioned before. I got my Weaver to 90 and I’m still nowhere near Endwalker. My Fisher is about to hit 90 as well. I just really don’t enjoy doing MSQ. I know I should get it done though if I want to experience the new area’s. I heard Cozy Grove got a DLC update and I don’t even know when was the last time I turned my Switch Lite on. I did get CG for the PS5 too so I could stream. But we’ll see. I also picked up a few cute indie games. Still want Kingdom Hearts though and since my PS5 is digital only, I’ll have to re-buy it (I don’t mind digital only honestly — most of my games on my PSN are digital because I move so much. It wouldn’t make sense to have a ton of physical games).

My BFF is house hunting in my area but he hasn’t decided if he likes or dislikes Texas. He wants to invest in buying a house here because compared to California it’s ridiculously cheap and if he’s able to pay it off quickly he can turn it into an Air B&B or rent it out. And with as many people trying to move to TX as there is, it’s a pretty smart move. If you have the money to do it.

Along with that though, I’ve been reminded of things within the Filipino culture I never really paid much attention to. But the more time I witness my BFF and his own parents interaction, the more I’m being reminded of things I lonnnnng forgot about. And it makes me question why Filipino parents — mom’s mostly — are like this? Of course asking my own mom isn’t helpful since she too was guilty of the same thing (and honestly probably still is) so she like to be “unaware” as she’s tried to reason with me about his parents actions. But I don’t know, maybe it’s just that I left home a long time ago and my mom know’s there really isn’t much she can say to make me do what she wants.

That’s the thing about me: at the end of the day I will always do what I want.

It’s my toxic trait. Or not toxic. I don’t think it’s toxic. But the people who don’t like that you have boundaries will say it’s toxic. Well sip sip mf, drink that poison.

I filed for the divorce and holyyyy crap does it suck. Just sending in the papers to the courthouse was close to $500! Like wtf? When I got divorced without kids the last time I didn’t even have to pay anything until AFTER my court hearing. But I had to pay this upfront and there was no way around it?! And this is just the first part! Like wth Texas?! Why is getting divorced with a child 1) so freakin complicated and 2) so expensive?! Like bro, is it not bad enough that I have to battle for custody? WHY DO PEOPLE GET MARRIED?! This is freakin ridiculous! Next time I say I’m getting married, someone just slap me in the back of the head with a 2×4. K? Thanks. There’s also a 61 day waiting period before we can get a court date. So I feel like the next 2 months are going to be some weird Twilight Zone limbo state.

In the mean time I will be re-enrolling into school to finish my BS in Comm and I’ll be applying to remote Comm jobs mostly in my area. I really need to fix my credit and find financial health. Is there somewhere most adults buy it from? Cause some adult things are way beyond me.

Meanwhile my BFF is dropping $200+ on brunch every time he takes me out to eat in Napa.

To be fair, I’m really really proud of him. When we were kids trying to drop out (or you know, I was trying to kill myself) we made a promise. He would come back to Bethel High senior year and he would be sitting right next to me when we graduated high school. That kept me going to finish high school; because we promised. Senior year however, I got kicked out of Bethel and sent to a Continuation High School and Dru managed to go back to Bethel. I went to see him on campus on days I either got out of school early or didn’t go to school. He ended up dropping out before graduation though because honestly Bethel was crap. He ended up getting his GED, I ended up repeating senior year and didn’t graduate high school until 2004 instead of 2003. And we lost touch for awhile. We’ve done and accomplished a lot since high school. He now works as an oil refinery operator and firefighter making six figures, has a crazy high credit score, owns a timeshare in Cancun and an Rx7. Wasn’t the car we talked about as kids that we would get, but at least one of us got their race car.

Proof you don’t have to be ~perfect~ at high school to make it in life. You just have to be determined and driven to be more. High School isn’t for everyone — it def wasn’t it for us — but we’re far from being nothing just because of it. Except you know, we’re still the black sheep of our families. But it’s cool. Who wants to fit in anyway lol.

I wish I had a story to tell that makes me six figures, but I don’t. Not yet. I just started to crawl out of a deep dark depression and I finally feel like I can breathe again. I guess that’s a success story on its own, right? I’m still adjusting to motherhood because every new phase is a new challenge in itself.

I’ll be alright. I always am. I just gotta focus on my goals. And on coming back here to write so Thiswae can stop saying she’s a blogger, kinda, not really, but she is but she not lol. Eff you bro. I know you say it to piss me off and get me to write. And it’s kinda working.

Watch this though.

Uncategorized

Gaming; PlayStation 5 & Jumping on FFXIV

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022by Hazel Vee1 Comment

After a crap long time of searching, I finally got my hands on a PS5 and I’m so excited!

I called a bunch of Best Buy’s in my city searching for one and my BFF bought me one for my birthday. Well he offered to since he’s trying to get me to get back on FFXIV for some odd reason; so I went searching for one and he literally didn’t even hesitate to get it for me. Along with a purple controller. I’m freaking in love with this console! Everything is so much faster, clearer and runs smoother.

I teleported to Limsa just to see what the lag would be like, there wasn’t any. For the first time ever people weren’t loading in, they were just.. there. It was insane.

There are so many new features to the PS5 that are dope as hell. One being how easy it is to start streaming. Granted, there isn’t a webcam and you’ll need one specific to the PlayStation, but the ease of hitting broadcast and filling out your streaming info is so much easier than it was on the PS4, not just that but it doesn’t lag or get in the way of your game. Taking screenshots is a bit different and there are so many more options including being able to record your game play. But sharing to a profile after taking a screenshot is so much easier and faster! I love it!

Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Cozy Gaming: 5 Games I’m Excited to Try

March 24, 2022March 24, 2022by Hazel Vee2 Comments

I’m so glad cozy gaming is a term these days because that’s what I’ve always been drawn to. The perfect games to just wind down with in bed after work. Animal Crossing: Wild World was that for me in 2006 and I even made a blog to keep track of everything I caught and did. I wish I could remember what that blog was called now.

But that’s what got me into cozy gaming! Before then I was a puzzle, MMORPG, fighting games kind of gamer. I’ve always loved Nintendo but it wasn’t until I got the Nintendo DS that I started playing calming games and I noticed they had a way of relaxing me to the point where I could drift to sleep. Zenses was one of these games and I miss that game so much! Donkey Kong vs Mario: March Of The Mini’s was also a game I loved!

The Nintendo Switch and ironically mobile gaming are now filled with soothing relaxing cozy games and it truly makes me wish I had the free time I use to have to jump into these new games I want to try!

**So here are 5 that are at the top of my to try list;**

| Cozy Grove

I actually saw a friend of mine on my Switch playing this game and thought it sounded cute so I went to check it out. It’s been sitting on my Switch for awhile but I finally gave it a try when Stardew was pissing me off and I was hooked. It’s such a cute game with such a dark story. Literally everything I loved bundled into one. The graphics are so cute and the quests they take you on are interesting enough to keep you engaged. You pretty much have to help these souls remember who they are by doing quests.

Honestly, it’s the skulls on the stakes and the temperamental bonfire for me.

| Stardew Valley

I honestly don’t know how you guys think this game is cozy or relaxing. The only thing relaxed in this game is my lazy ass cat who just plops down randomly. I thought she died at first. This game stresses me out lolol. I don’t know how to make a good amount of money and I don’t know how to explore without passing out. Like why is the map so big if you’re just gonna pass out?! I have so many questions.

My BFF however has a sick ass farm. He downloaded it on Xbox for funsies and hated it. Then the next thing I know he’s fighting slimes and has a whole ass like… farm. It was so organized! I’m like how? when? I’m super jel. But I still can’t figure out how to play this game lol.

| Kingdom Hearts

I already know this game is going to piss me off. But to be fair, I haven’t played this since like… 2004 in its entirety. So here we are, hella years later, about to give this another go/refresher. Only now my ex husband isn’t here to beat Ursula or Sephiroth when I rage quit. To be fair, at the time I hadn’t played FFXI yet so I’d like to think playing FF MMO’s has taught me to rage quit less and enjoy the game more. I love that this version includes both 1.5 and 2.5!

The interweaving storylines of the Kingdom Hearts series is tew much sometimes so I’m excited to start over and relive the magic! And of course, run into my favorite video game character ever: Axel.

| Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

I’ve always tried to get into Harvest Moon but I think because my first farming sim Nintendo game was Animal Crossing, I didn’t give it a fair chance because it wasn’t like AC. I saw they redid the series into Story of Seasons and the promo was so cute. I didn’t get the whole box edition but I did get the game. I haven’t tried it yet but I’m excited to see what this is like.

… as I search up the hashtag on Instagram. Anyone else do this? It’s so satisfying.

| Greak: Memories of Azur

This is a random cute game I came across on the Nintendo shop. You play as 3 siblings. It’s a side scroller and the art looks so cute! I don’t know much else about it besides that.

I’m such a sucker for spending a ton of time just scrolling through the Nintendo shop or the Apple Arcade menus. I also love watching cozy gamer TikTok! If I could only get my streaming stuff to work. I just wiped my desktop so I’m going to try again to get it to work. I love finding chill downtime cozy games to play. If it’s a side scroller, even better!

What are some of your favorite cozy games?

Uncategorized

Gaming | Animal Crossing; Fall Edition

October 15, 2020by Hazel VeeLeave a Comment

I completely missed out n the summer events. I’m not entirely sure why. I just didn’t feel like getting on for some reason. I think I was burned out from trying to make the perfect island and was frustrated with all my results.

I stumbled on a AC Twitter post on my feed a few weeks ago talking about the Fall update and how you can deck your island out with all this cute spooky pumpkin shit. And if there’s anything I’m obsessed with other than Fall it’s pumpkins and scarecrows. So I jumped back on and started planting pumpkins.

Now I want to keep my island in October FOREVER!

And yes, that rotten turnip has been there for months. The ants are my friends! Speaking of, I finally caught a dang house fly. You’d think that one would had been easy but no it took FOREVER to get them and only one showed up!

The Nooklings sell the Spooky Arch as well as the Lanterns with the hay but you can also craft them! So far it’s been a hit or miss with my villagers who are crafting if they’re crafting a Spooky item or another dang Cardboard Bed or some shit. I’m sure you can get them through balloons as well but I keep getting clothing and bells. Go figure.

Made a few changes to my house. Finally found a pathway I’m happy with for one. And I got the Spooky Scarecrow! If there’s one thing I love about Halloween besides the pumpkins and lights it’s definitely scarecrows! Enough that I love dressing up as one! I want to put more stuff that lights up without making the yard look cluttered but I don’t know what else to add!

I’m still waiting for the witchy dress to show up in my shop but I did get the hat! And of course my impatient ass keeps time traveling to find items and DIY’s.

I managed to catch a new Shrimp but I have yet to catch the Lobster and the Mermaid’s Purse. Diving was one of my favorite things about Animal Crossing New Leaf! I just hate how you can’t empty your pockets/let sea creatures go while in the ocean.

If you play ACNH how many pumpkin patches do you have on your island right now?

Uncategorized

Animal Crossing Update (2)

July 1, 2020June 30, 2020by Hazel VeeLeave a Comment

I totally started this as to be a weekly thing and it just didn’t work out that way.

I’ve beat the game and I’ve honestly been time traveling like crazy. I just get so bored staying still. But also I want to design my island a certain way so I keep hopping to Nov in search of the mushroom diy’s. I know this is gonna kill my fun when Nov actually comes, but I’m impatient.

I’ve also cycled through a few villagers recently. I’m trying to get different personality types to get their diy’s before I actually go for my dreamies. But it is nice to stumble on one that ends up being a dreamie; like Chrissy and Peck were mystery island finds and I love them both so much. Filbert was one of my starters and he’s absolutely not going anywhere.

Continue reading “Animal Crossing Update (2)” →

Uncategorized

3 New Animal Crossing New Horizons Features I’m Excited About

May 26, 2020May 24, 2020by Hazel VeeLeave a Comment

I wish I had jumped on the Animal Crossing New Horizons train when I had planned to on its launch day but my husband was so set on getting me a Switch I skipped getting one myself, turns out that didn’t happen so I missed launch day. Turns out I missed the Easter and the Cherry Blossom events. A friend of mine time travel’s and let’s me relive those events though lol.

There are a lot of new and exciting features in Animal Crossing New Horizons that haven’t been included in the previous games. And a ton I’m super excited about!

Crafting

Give me a game where I can fish, gather and craft and I’ll be hooked. And good graphics cause I can’t with Harvest Moon as hard as I try and Stardew Valley.

But the fact that they included crafting in Animal Crossing is like, a dream come true! I’ve been farming DIY cards like crazy! I know you can get two a day from your neighbors, there’s usually one a day on the beach and I even go to mystery island’s hoping to find bottled messages there as well! I haven’t gotten any from balloons lately which sucks. I’m currently looking for the iron stuff to finish my kitchen but I’m missing 2 of the other DIY cards needed to make it, freakin lame.

The cool thing is you can make things like fences, tools, stuff for your house and pretty stuff with the flowers. Not to mention all the pretty seasonal stuff you can craft as well with things like Cherry Blossoms, Acorns and Bamboo!

The only downside is things that are craftable can’t be placed in your purchase catalog for later.

Custom Clothing

I feel like fashion is the true end game here (and in FFXIV, lets be real). Once you unlock The Able Sisters there’s a kiosk in the back of the shop where you can access thousands of customs people created. From clothes to bedsheets to phone cases and even different types of paths! The possibilities for customization is now endless in this game and a lot of us are here for it!

This Cheshire Cat dress + hat was a custom I had found on Instagram; if you’re curious about my sources I have an Outfit Of The Day stories highlight on my Animal Crossing Instagram! I’m having so much fun dressing my character up!

But besides that, The Able Sisters also now have a dressing room where you can view even MORE clothing they offer! There’s some pretty nice pieces. I found a bunch of outfits that closely resemble Disney characters.

2020-05-19 15.53.50 2020-05-21 20.03.44

For example, every piece for these two outfits were bought from The Able Sisters shop. I honestly can’t wait to see what others seasonal outfits they’ll come out with!

Terraforming

We now have the option to create as well as get rid of any cliffs or ponds or lakes we want to! That is seriously ground breaking!

This gives you the ability to COMPLETELY transform your island HOWEVER you want, WHENEVER you want! You can create more waterfalls or take away waterfalls. I’ve seen some pretty awesome terraforming with other peoples islands and though I’m not artsy like that, I’m definitely trying!

You’re also given a handful of different types of grounding and paths. Allowing you to create pathways or even streets if you wanted to! There’s also the option of custom flooring, like the one above.

Honorable Mention

AUTO SAVE.

Anyone else get paranoid about not saving a game because of that damn funky beaver who use to pop up next to your house AND YELL AT YOU FOR NOT SAVING YOUR GAME? Cause yah, same.

But in this game there’s a lot of times it autosaves and not just that but if you’re doing anything regarding going online it saves the game for you. Oh the little luxuries in life!

I’m having so much fun playing Animal Crossing and I’m borderline obsessed (as I always end up getting like over any Animal Crossing game)! My 22 year old heart is bursting with the fact that this installment has a legit community! I started a blog for my Animal Crossing WILD WORLD game back in 2006 to keep track of my progress with catching bugs and fish but there wasn’t a platform for it or for gaming blogs really in general back then! It’s crazy to see how technology changes things in a matter of years!

With that said I have an Animal Crossing Instagram as well as a Twitter. They’re also good places to find a lot of inspo and custom designs!

Are you playing Animal Crossing? What has been your favorite thing so far?

Uncategorized

Weekly Animal Crossing Update (1)

April 30, 2020by Hazel Vee5 Comments

2020-04-14 12.12.18-2

Okay call me obsessed, but! Back when I played Animal Crossing Wild World on the Nintendo DS back in 2006 I had an Animal Crossing blog — I don’t remember what it was called or what the URL is but I really wish I did!

I was so obsessed with the fact that you coulda catch and collect bugs, fossils and fish. Not only that but this owl who runs the museum you donate these things to tells you these really small cute facts about all of them! I played for years, almost daily, okay pretty much daily. And I maxed out my town. I even went out and bought a GameCube to play the first Animal Crossing game. When I say I was obsessed, I was o b s e s s e d.

When Animal Crossing New Leaf came out around 2013, I did the same thing. I think I have ACWW with me here but I’m not sure. I do know FOR SURE that ACNL is in my DS.

I played Animal Crossing City Folk and that feels like it was forever ago. I skipped Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer but I did get Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival which was really just a huge ass board game.

Then I told myself I wasn’t going to get a Nintendo Switch until they announced a new Animal Crossing game and when they did, I gave in and bought one.

Gaming is so different when you’re older and have a kid. I can’t just drop $60 in hopes to like a game like I use to. Now I take SO LONG wondering if I’ll like a game and if I’ll realistically commit the time it takes to play it and a million other things before actually BUYING a game. It sucks. I miss the more carefree days lol.

Continue reading “Weekly Animal Crossing Update (1)” →