“She saw the world not always as it was, but as perhaps it could be.”
Of Ribbons and Bows 🎀 // A Kamikaze Girls Movie Review
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
This is a post I’m really excited to share with you! This is a review of my favorite movie of all time, Kamikaze Girls! Or, in Japanese, Shimotsuma Monogatari.
How I Romanticize My Mornings || Living Life In My Own Fairytale 🌷
Good Morning, Folk of the Hollow ~ 💚
For the last several months now I have been working on trying to cultivate my own fairytale life. You might have remembered me talking in my 5 Below Jammies Haul about how I have been working on becoming the protagonist of my own life—and that looked, to me, like a fairytale.
So, in order to make that dream into a reality, I have been trying to put more of an effort into romanticizing the little moments in my life. To find the beauty, the whimsy, and the softness in the everyday.
Comfortable at Home 💗
Starsand Island Has Me Held Captive and I Don’t Want to Be Rescued // An Early Access Cozy Game Review
Guys, Starsand Island really has me in a vice grip.
I like to consider myself a connoisseur of cozy games. Maybe it’s an appreciation way the creators are given a premise of “make a cozy game” and so many different games can come from that prompt, maybe it’s a sense of nostalgia since my first favorite games were the Harvest Moon franchise, maybe its the natural crippling anxiety that haunts me from day to day that these games soothe . . . there’s no way to really know, but boy do I love cozy games.
I Got Some New Books! 📚 A Video Game Book-alike Haul
It’s warm in the library today. I opened the windows to let the unseasonably February warmth in (it’s 72 degrees right now, with a nice cool breeze that occasionally comes in through the window) and I made myself a nice cup of chai tea. I’m really happy to have you here with me among the piles of books! You won’t be-leave the new ebooks I got!
🌷📖 It’s Finally Warm! 🌷📖 A Reading and Gaming Day
Hi there, Folk of the Hollow!
It’s finally warm! Normally I’m not a fan of the heat, but it’s the kind of warmth that isn’t too hot, but warm enough that I can open the windows and feel the fresh air after a couple of months of it being too cold (though thanks to climate change, that’s about it in terms of being cold, and it wasn’t even really all that cold).
A Surprise Sick Day
Happy Saturday, Folk of the Hollow!
I had big plans for the day—I was going to sit down at my desk and write some more in Project Flowers. I made myself a coffee, did a little reading, and opened all the windows in the library.
5 Below Jammies Haul! 👚 💤 My New Favorite Pajamas!
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
So let me bring it back a second before we really get into this post.
Over the weekend, Danny and I were watching BARRY (Which, by the way, I absolutely recommend. It’s a fantastic masterpiece of a show) and I made a joke about a background character (invented in my own head, not in the show) passing by a serious scene and doing something funny. Danny looked at me and offhandedly made the joke “How often do you see yourself as the background character?
🎄 How I Made My Charles Dickens Themed Christmas Tree! 🎄 // Bookish Holiday DIY!
An Ode to Slow Afternoons // Reading, Spending the Afternoon with Salem
Cozy Writing Day in the Rain // A Project Flowers Writing Update
WIP Title: Project Flowers
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Adventure
Today’s Word Count: 1,610 Words
Total words: 1,610 words
Pumpkin Carving Day! 🎃
So, dearest Folk of the Hollow, we had a bit of a . . . well . . . a set back with our plans a couple weekends back.
We were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch and an apple orchard—we had everything planned out. I spray-painted my wicker basket so it was nice and cute for the apple pickin’, I spent all morning trying to pick out an outfit (and, by the way, the whole morning was bright and sunny) and do my make-up, only to realize that as the time drew closer to the time for the farm to open the skies had grown darker and it began to rain.
Meaning, there would be no apple picking or pumpkin patch for us.
📚🕷 Decorating The Cottage Library for Halloween! 📚🕷
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
Today I wanted to share with you guys how I decorated my cottage library! Now, we decided to be a little frugal this year when it comes to buying Halloween decorations—we’re saving up for a big home renovation project that, frankly, absolutely takes priority—so this is probably the most we will decorate this year. But that’s okay! You don’t need to buy a ton of decorations and be the biggest house on the block to still have a fun Halloween!
Build-a-Bear Timeless Teddy Bear Review 🧸 Meet Augustus!
Hi there, Folk of the Hollow!
I have always wanted one of those vintage teddy bears—one of the ones that you might find in your grandmother’s (or great-grandmother’s?) attic from her childhood in the Victorian era. One of those toys that you can see the absolute outpouring of love it received in the shabbiness of its fur and the looseness of its eyes. A real Velveteen Rabbit situation. I thought that maybe, because I was born so late for that kind of thing, I might have to just resign myself to not getting quite the doll I was looking for. Like—I would get a teddy bear, but it wouldn’t be the Winnie-the-Pooh, Velveteen Rabbit kind of teddy bear that I would have wanted.
Don’t Let the Forest In 🍄🌲🍂 A Book Review
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
So back in the summer, I had stumbled upon the Instagram page of author C.G. Drews and, after browsing for a bit, found their (I’m not 100% sure on the pronouns that this author goes by, so instead of accidentally using the wrong ones I figure it would be okay to stick with ‘they’. I’m also pretty sure the author goes by ‘they / them’ pronouns anyway but again, not positive)
I read about half the book and decided I couldn’t finish it—because this felt more like an autumn book than a summer book! I knew that if I finished it in the summer, it would be forever locked in my mind as a “summer” book, and I wanted this to be one I reached for in the autumn. So I begrudgingly put this one aside until the leaves started changing and the temperature began to drop. When the time came to finally be able to pick up my autumn reading list , this was the first book I went for.
Rainy Day Studying ☔ Linguistic Notes, Coffee, and a Cozy Night In
Great news, Folk of the Hollow!
🍂 My First Dollar Tree Fall Haul of 2025 🍂
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
Everything about today was a surprise. I hadn’t intended to go out shopping, and I hadn’t intended to write a post about it today—but earlier today I talked myself into venturing out into the village to check out our local dollar tree to see what they’ve got out on this beautiful August 2nd.
🍂 How I’m Romanticizing Autumn in 2025 🍁 Book List, Movie Recommendations, Activities, ect.
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
Listen, I know it’s only August 1st. I know that technically fall doesn’t really start until sometime in September. But what I also know is that this is my blog and I decide when the fall content starts.
The Pocket Guide for Peculiar Living🌷 Being Your True Self
Hello Folk of the Hollow!
I want to start out this post by talking a little bit about this new, like, series that I’m calling The Pocket Guide for Peculiar Living. The idea behind the guide is to provide inspiration to the denizens of the Hollow (that’s you!) to find ways to romanticize life and find the beauty and whimsy in the everyday. I hope that my little guide will help you be able to see the magic that is all around you!
Rainy Days are Meant for Writing 🌧️🖋️ A Little Ivywood Writing Update
WIP Title: Little Ivywood
Genre: Dark Fantasy but inspired by Cozy Fantasy. So like, a Dark Fantasy / Cozy Fantasy hybrid?