Shadowing Practice: it's finally warm outside! my summer favorites - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey everyone, it is Lynn again and it's finally summer in the city.
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I was never a big fan of summer
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because I wasn't super into like really hot temperatures but now that I have lived in like DC, now I live in New York,
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I feel like the city just comes to life when the weather's warm, everyone's out and about and the energy is just so different.
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So now it's my second favorite season after fall and there's been
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so many things I've been enjoying that have been prepping me for like winter melting away.
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You know we had a pretty cold winter here on the east coast even though my allergies have like gone full swing.
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If I sound congested in this video it's because I am.
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So here are a few things that I've been enjoying as the weather gets warmer.
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I'm gonna be super rambly in this video.
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I don't have an order or categories that I'm gonna stick to.
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I have everything written down here and we're just gonna jump right on it.
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First off, I got an e-reader.
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This is the Kobo Libra Color.
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I was like anti-e-reader for a while because I was like I have so many unread physical books in my home.
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I don't need an e-reader.
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I read so much on my phone because it was convenient to get books
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that way and especially at night and I realized if I'm gonna be reading on my phone, I would rather have a dedicated device especially since I traveled a lot at the beginning of this year.
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I settled on the Kobo.
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I love it.
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It fits easily into all my bags.
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It's the bigger size with the buttons.
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It lights up.
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It also becomes paper-like when you turn down the brightness.
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I also got my case from Kobo.
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I did not buy the pin that that comes with this.
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It was too expensive for like something I would never use.
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And also my friend Meg has an e-reader
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and she downloads fan fiction from AO3 to read on her e-reader and I'm like I'm influenced.
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I need to go live that life.
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What is more important though are the books I've read recently.
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My relationship with reading has changed a lot since my childhood to now.
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As a kid, I really read books to escape.
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I wasn't looking for things I related to necessarily.
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I feel like when I first experienced having representation
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or relatability in a book because like a character was like me or was like going through the same thing as me, I didn't know that I was missing that until I had it.
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So for a long time it was it felt very aspirational i was stepping into someone else's shoes
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and just experiencing other worldly things especially like in fantasy novels
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and then once i got to college i i still read i read more adult fiction
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but of course i was reading to become more academic bigger
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words to know the right phrases participate in the discussions we were having in school
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and even like casually
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and now i really feel like i'm reading have the vocabulary
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to understand this really transitional time in my life what i'm
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going through what the world is like I mean that's the purpose of media in general right?
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And the first series that I just ate up is the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante.
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Her book My Brilliant Friend was named the best book of the 2000s or like the century or something like that.
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It's a coming-of-age story that starts with two girls who grew up in impoverished Naples after World War II.
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You follow Elena the narrator and her friend Lena as they grow up starting from their childhood to adolescence,
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young adulthood and then into maturity, motherhood.
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And really, My Brilliant Friend gets all of the acclaim but
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that is just the beginning of this beautiful epic of the struggles of womanhood,
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friendships, taking on patriarchy, family dynamics, class.
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And the last book, I recently finished, The Story of the Lost Child.
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It had me like holding my breath to the last sentence.
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The most compelling thing for me was definitely the relationship between Elena
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and Lina and it's interesting because Elena is narrating the story of their entire life.
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And so you kind of question like, is this account that you're giving us accurate or is it just simply biased towards your own emotions?
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Because Ferrante wrote this entire series as one body of work,
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there were details I noticed on in the earlier books that foreshadowed the way a character would act in the future.
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I just think it's so brilliant that Ferrante plants these seeds.
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And what I admire about the series is Ferrante describes all these really ugly,
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unpleasant, uncomfortable emotions that we feel as imperfect human beings, like resentment, jealousy, you know, carnal desire.
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I mean, like, there are some crazy dramatic things that happen in this book.
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It reminds me of Sally Rooney's writing, Fleabag, I mean, Sex and the City kind of beef,
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hideous, shameful truths that we just want to keep hidden away
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but but they eventually come up to the surface right now the fifth season is a trilogy
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that I can't believe took me
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so long to pick up in case you don't know the
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fifth season is based in this afro-futuristic like science fantasy world called the stillness everyday life
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and their history is defined by seasons which are periods of natural disasters that can be like earthquakes,
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or a drought, or torrential rain and flooding.
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And there are humans who have abilities to quell these quakes.
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They harness a power, a form of magic, that's able to move the tectonic plates or prevent earthquakes from happening.
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But the aura genes are considered subordinated, like a lesser part of the human race.
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And as Jemisin switches between first, second, and third perspective, they slowly peel back each layer of social political histories revealing the world
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and origin of seasons and origins
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and how it came to be the colonized the colonizer the enslaved the master the liberated versus the freed
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and she's really good at world building i i think this
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is one of the series where i'm like i need like
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a wiki for this to to understand the full timeline and once again what stuck out to me were women relationships,
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mostly the messiness of being a mother and being a daughter.
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I love speculative fiction and yet I don't remember the last time I read a fantasy
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or sci-fi series and this was a great one to re-spark that flame.
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And the last book is physical!
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A graphic novel called A Frog and Fall and Later On by Lenea Sterte-Pios.
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I apologize for my pronunciation.
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I first found this book in a bookshop in the Philippines.
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It wasn't for sale but I had some time and sat in like the cafe portion and read the entire thing.
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It's a pretty quick read.
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You can do it in like 45 minutes I think.
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I love that everything is hand-drawn and handwritten
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so there's parts in the book where there's a mistake in the dialogue
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and the author just scratches it out and continues writing
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and there's something very charming and honest about that that i enjoyed
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and what stood out to me the most was the form
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of this book you can see it comes with a colored sleeve
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and then exposed binding
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and it's these beautiful blue ink long landscape drawings of a frog experiencing winter for the first time
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and leaving home the frog aka the main character is trying
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to reach a tropical island with these toads who are traveling from the Japanese countryside to the ocean
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and hopefully to this very warm beautiful climate where winter never comes
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and they meet other animals and characters along the way
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but my favorite panels were definitely these two-page landscape drawings where
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you can kind of see just like the expanse of the sky
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or the horizon and seeing this illustrative work inspires me to like do something like this one day
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and I haven't been drawing for myself as much lately but I have been taking art classes which have been super fun.
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I'm learning a lot.
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I'm being challenged.
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My favorite medium however is ink.
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A lot of people ask what fountain pen I use.
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I use this for drawing and for writing.
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It's super versatile and this is the Twisby diamond medium nib.
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I use blue sailor ink and it's my go-to for sketching,
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for doing line work, for you know writing down my to-do lists or notes and this floppy notebook has been my companion.
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I will definitely buy another one when I run out.
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A lot of people are into like traveler's notebooks and stuff
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and I love the look of them but something like this works better for me.
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I like that it's floppy, that it has a lot of pages.
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The paper's thin, but it can still carry the heaviness of my fountain pen and the ink.
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It doesn't bleed.
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And I like how the cover kind of gets worn over time as you use it.
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So you can see that it's kind of like fraying along the edge.
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I don't know the exact brand.
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It's a standard stotology.
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Stotology, they come in different colors, different types of paper.
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They got grid, dot grid, line.
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And to carry all my art supplies to class, I've been using my Piper Blu canvas tote bag.
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She was one of the first people I saw design something with a detachable pouch, which is very useful for class.
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I can just pull out all my drawing materials, plop it on my little side table and get set up.
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Very sturdy multi-pockets that are functional.
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And this clear sleeve right here lets you display like a postcard size drawing
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or illustration and I'm gonna admit like I don't have a lot of vices in life
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but one of them has to be bags like no you don't need
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that many bags in life you probably only need one you know maybe two
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if you need different sizes but I have two handbags
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that I love carrying first one is this Telfar duffel bag
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in denim this is the medium size it's super spacious I love
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that once again it has a ton of pockets it has
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circular side pockets on either side there's a pocket here pocket in the back and then another zipper pocket on the inside.
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I love Tophar.
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They're always posting the funniest stuff on Instagram and like social media and they donate so much of their profits to organizations,
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causes that I care about, that everyone should care about.
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And my second bag is this Loewe X Junior Watanabe collaboration.
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I found this at Tokyo 7.
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If you live in New York, you know what Tokyo 7 is.
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This bag is me in a bag.
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I love the multi-material patchwork.
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It's denim on the front with bits of suede and tartan, polka dot, and on the back it's black leather.
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It has two very spacious main pockets and to match that theme my friend picked me up a Korea exclusive Miffy plushie.
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This is Melanie in overalls and a backward cap.
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I feel like this is me.
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This is me.
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When I saw it I was like, man, am I going to pay an eBay reseller like $60 to get this right now?
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But then I remember my friend was in Korea, so I asked him to pick one up for me.
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Thank you, Ethan.
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You're the best.
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And some things I keep in my bag, my film camera.
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My first film camera was manual, and I think having a point-and-shoot makes me use it a lot more.
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Plus, my manual is broken right now and I need to go get a fix.
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This is the Yashica T4 Zoom.
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You can find it on eBay.
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If you want to get into film, just know it's going to be expensive.
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And the lab that you go to to get your film developed matters.
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So the quality of their scans can really affect how much editing capacity you have.
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Or if you want something more polished and finished, there's just something special about shooting on film because you take the photo, you can't look at it, and then you get it developed,
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and it's like a little present to yourself once you get your scans back.
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And this summer, we are wearing our SBS.
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I keep this sunscreen stick in my bag.
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Before I leave the house, underneath my makeup, I use this newer one.
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I like that it doesn't leave a cast, and it doesn't feel sticky or weird.
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And for the humidity, it gets muggy in New York.
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It got muggy in DC.
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I use this also all over Southeast Asia.
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It's the best.
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This is the all-day type makeup setting fix spray.
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I don't know.
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I don't know what they put into this, but I feel like it's Charlotte Tilbury in one size put into like the perfect combo because it's light,
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it smells good.
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This is my holy grail.
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I don't know why more people don't talk about this.
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I'm pretty sure it's a bestseller in Korea.
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And about makeup that doesn't budge, I get like pimples because, you know, I don't know.
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I get on my period or like I eat a lot of dairy and like I honestly can't sacrifice dairy.
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When I do have a pimple or a breakout or a blemish, I find that this combo,
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Chef's Kiss, this is the NARS creamy pot concealer and then like the liquid stick version.
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It's in the shade medium one.
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I use the liquid one on a daily basis.
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And then the pot one is for when I need extra coverage.
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So I'll let it marinate on my skin, dry a little bit, and then apply additional concealer or skin tint on top.
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Talking about duos.
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Last fall, my friend Vanessa was talking about things that make your hair smell good.
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And I was like, I want my hair to smell good.
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To maintain my very bleached hair, which is quite dry, I don't shower.
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I do shower.
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I don't wash my hair as often.
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And I also like to apply the super milk.
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It makes my ends feel a little softer.
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And I need to buy more soon, but this is the Sticky Dates sugar scrub.
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I think like part of growing up is just enjoying these small luxuries that I can give myself in life.
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That also means burning a candle.
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This candle was gifted to me for my birthday by Paolo.
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Thank you, Paolo.
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It's from Diptyque and it smells like a woodsy campfire and that feels very summery.
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And with that gift, they actually gave me perfume samples and it got me hooked on low papier.
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It's a very nice neutral scent.
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Not too masculine, not too feminine.
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I'm gonna spray some right now actually.
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And this one is a bit out of my comfort zone.
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This is Coco Hinoki by Boy Smells.
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They gifted this to me.
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Thank you, Boy Smells.
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I'm not super into like vanilla or fruit forward scents, but something about this coconut one reminds me of like being moisturized,
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glowing in the sun.
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And often when I smell scents that are adjacent to this, it reminds me of walking by Bath & Body Works in the mall.
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I love scents from Bath & Body Works.
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When you're by the storefront, it's just like all the fragrances mixing together and it can be overwhelming.
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But this one, this one, this one's good.
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This one's good.
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And to wrap up on fragrances, I have this roll on yao san that I carry with me wherever I go.
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I'm actually gonna put some on my nose right now because I'm congested.
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Temporarily relieve you of your sinuses, congestion, and also for mosquito bites if you don't want to like itch on them.
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If you know, you know, fengyou or yao san, I discovered this roll on version at a Vietnamese pharmacy in Chinatown
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and I was amazed it's super travel friendly
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and usually even in the summer especially
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if I'm in the swampier area where there's a lot of mosquitoes
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or bugs I like to be covered up but I love wearing tank tops.
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The one I'm currently wearing is from cotton
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but my favorite ones are these white plain cotton tanks that I got from my mom.
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They're in really good shape really good quality I believe she got them
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when she was in Vietnam or maybe when she first immigrated to California
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and the fact that they've lasted throughout all the years
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and been passed down to me
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and it's a tank top I feel like tank tops are
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most prone to like wear just speaks to the quality of it
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so they're very special to me and
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because I have more arm tattoos now I just like showing them off
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that is the accessory my latest one she's a little crusty
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because it's healing right now it's from Gabby aka Gentle Oriental this is a flash
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that they designed for Halloween last year and it's a black cat being scared.
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I can't believe it took me so long to get a cat tattoo.
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Of course when I go out
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and get sun exposure I have to make sure this is covered up
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but at nighttime or
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when I'm indoors I'm like yay look at my new tattoo did you know I got a new tattoo?
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And I love living in a walkable city okay.
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Imagine me I have my tank top on, my bag on, the sky is blue, it's clear, the weather is 70 degrees,
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it's perfect and I have the best album soundtracking my power walk to the train station.
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I don't know the technology behind it or any terminology,
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but the sound quality of the Technics are so much better than any other wireless earbud I've ever used.
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The standoff feature of these for me is the high fidelity listening experience.
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So it's not the best with noise cancellation, but what I value is being able to hear music clearly without like really driving the volume up,
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which is what I've found I have to do with my AirPods.
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And the design feels very chic, but still a little bit understated.
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I like that the earbud is a matte silver, so it usually matches my ear jewelry.
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And as for the albums I'm power walking to, I have been using this listening app called QO Buzz.
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First up, we got Stage Girl by Eli.
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I love Eli.
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She is making pop music fun and pop again.
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And she embodies 2000s pop star, womanhood, girlhood.
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My favorite songs are Stars, Marianne, I Wish I Was a Girl.
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And we got Kehlani, the self-titled album by Kehlani.
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For a body of work that has so many features on it, I think that Kehlani balances paying homage to the greats in her industry,
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in her genres, while still keeping a piece of herself and her story in every song.
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And last but not least, Midnight Sun Girls Trip by Zara Larsson.
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I mean, if we want to talk about albums that are perfect for summer, this is the one.
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And as much as I'm inspired to be outside, I've also been inside playing on my Switch 2.
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I caved and bought the Switch 2 earlier this year because I really wanted to play Pacopia.
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And there are a lot of releases that are exclusive to the Switch 2.
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And I was like, well, I should buy it now rather than later before the prices go up.
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Now I have like 100 hours in Pacopia.
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I don't think Pacopia fills the Animal Crossing sized hole in my heart.
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It does have similar mechanics and gameplay to Animal Crossing but the storyline is very different.
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I love the environmental restoration
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and preservation aspect of the game rather than like oh you're going onto an island
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and starting your own town and colonizing this island.
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And I love the dialogue and relationships you can build with the Pokemon
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and I believe this game is the perfect change of pays to the Pokemon franchise.
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I'm very excited for Pokemon Win and Waves.
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The last few like traditional Pokemon games have sort of been a letdown for me, at least you know in terms of a storyline.
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I think they're trying to update the gameplay mechanics.
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Also check out the stickers I got on the back.
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As Tiffany's biggest fan, she sent me like one of the last few sticker sheets she had of this
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because if you remember my old Switch is decked out with her stickers
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and I'm like I don't want to let go of this device because it has so much sentimental value.
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Love you Tiff.
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And as you can tell I like being a homebody.
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I like staying inside and playing the damn switch but I also like to cook.
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Nothing beats having a routine of cooking and my favorite thing as of late is tin fish.
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This was gifted to me by my Norwegian family.
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I know there's a huge tin fish craze but tin fish is something I associate with my childhood.
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It's a very humble meal my mom used to make for us.
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So it makes me feel very nostalgic and homey.
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I add Vietnamese herbs into it, like sawtooth coriander, Thai basil, and it kind of lightens up that tin fishy smell.
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And I've been using the same set of Ikea dishware since I moved out at 18.
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And recently people in my life have started helping me invest into unique ceramics and dishware,
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which shout out to you if you've bought me something, you know me so well.
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My friend Faye gave me this Studio Ghibli My Neighbor Totoro mug.
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It's really Totoro built in.
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It's so cute.
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When I travel now, I like to keep an eye out for ceramics.
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Like this one I got from a ceramics studio in DC.
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This was from New Zealand from a friend. So cute.
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Perfect little soup and rice bowls.
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And lastly, I like went on a four movie bender.
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AMC A-lister, AMC A-lister.
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But I saw Obsession, Is God Is, Back Rooms, and Sheep Detectives all within a week.
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Overall, in terms of my personal viewing experience, not like, oh, the cinematography was really good.
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I think my favorite movie to watch was Sheep Detectives.
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And yes, it is a children's movie.
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Yes, you know, the sheep talk.
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Yes, Hugh Jackman is in it and he doesn't sing.
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But something about that movie was so like touching.
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And I like that it's catered towards all audiences.
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It's like a family friendly, G-rated movie.
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But there's also some very clever jokes that if you're an adult, you're gonna get like a laugh or two at.
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I think the other three movies I saw, they all touched me in a different way and made me feel things that were so visceral.
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And since those were all thrillers,
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horror, suspense, I think Sheep Detectives kind of just stood out because it was so light and fun.
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So I highly recommend a Backrooms Sheep Detectives double feature,
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Is God Is Sheep Detectives double feature just to balance out your viewing experience.
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In terms of other media I've watched, that's about being in your 20s or like early 30s in New York City, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty.
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I recently started watching How I Met Your Mother.
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Same thing with 13 Going on 30.
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I can't believe I've never seen that movie.
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It's so wholesome and a lot of the messages and themes are still relevant today.
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And Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner, so cute.
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Anyways, those are my summer favorites.
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I hope you enjoyed watching and just so you know I am trying to make more chill chatty videos like this.
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Please comment other formats you'd like to see from me.
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I love any video where I get to just write out my thoughts and present them to you.
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So yeah I hope you have a warm but not too warm and safe summer.
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Stay healthy and go get some vitamin D.
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I'll see you in the next video.
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Bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “it's finally warm outside! my summer favorites”. This video has 335 sentences and 4123 words to shadow. The speech runs for 21:34. The speaker talks fast, about 191 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| sheep noun | /ˈʃiːp/ | A woolly ruminant of the genus Ovis. |
| scent noun | /sɛnt/ | A distinctive smell. |
| tattoo noun | /tæˈtuː/ | An image made on a body part, usually the skin with ink and a needle. |
| ceramic noun | /səˈɹæmɪk/ | A hard, brittle, inorganic, nonmetallic material, made by firing a material such as clay at a high temperature. |
| concealer noun | Something that, or someone who, conceals. | |
| congest verb | /kənˈd͡ʒɛst/ | To hinder or block the passage of something moving, for example a fluid, mixture, traffic, people, etc. (due to an excess of this or due to a partial or… |
| dishware noun | crockery used for serving or cooking food | |
| earbud noun | /ˈiɹ.bʌd/ | A small earphone designed to be placed in the ear canal for use with portable sound systems. |
| floppy noun | /ˈflɒ.pi/ | A comic book. |
| leister noun | /ˈlistɚ/ | A spear armed with three or more barbed prongs for catching fish, particularly salmon. |
| muggy adjective | /ˈmʌɡi/ | Humid, or hot and humid. |
| spacious adjective | /ˈspeɪʃ.əs/ | Having plenty of space; roomy; capacious. |
| womanhood noun | /ˈwʊmənhʊd/ | The state or condition of being a woman. |
| denim noun | /ˈdɛnɪm/ | A textile often made of cotton with a distinct diagonal pattern. |
| fragrance noun | /ˈfɹeɪɡɹən(t)s/ | A pleasant smell or odour. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| cover up verb | To conceal or disguise. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come up to verb | To approach. |
| eat up verb | To consume completely. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'm gonna be super rambly in this video.
- I don't need an e-reader.
- I wasn't looking for things I related to necessarily.
- I don't know the exact brand.
- I don't wash my hair as often.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been enjoying · haven't been drawing · I've been using |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have lived · there's been · I've read |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was named · is based · is defined |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | seasons which are · classes which have · pouch, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 91 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: earthquake /ˈɝθkweɪk/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sheep /ˈʃiːp/, spacious /ˈspeɪʃ.əs/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, preservation /ˌpɹɛz.əˈveɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, humidity /hjuːˈmɪd.ə.ti/, maturity /məˈtjʊəɹɪti/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, preservation /ˌpɹɛz.əˈveɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like sheep, scent, tattoo.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.