september favorites
When I was younger, I loved watching my favorite YouTubers share their monthly favorites. At the time, those videos were mostly about products – things I suddenly felt like I needed to own.
I wanted to borrow the format for this blog but make it about things I discovered and that I want to pass on: meals, movies, books, albums, new skills, activities. Just a space to find new obsessions, exchange favorites in the comments to connect with other people. That´s the idea behind this section of the blog.
When I went to London in the beginning of September, I bought this acoustic live album by Band of Horses in a secondhand record store. I´ve been listening to it repeatedly all month long (and won´t stop listening to it anytime soon).
My favorite Band of Horses song is no ones gonna love you, which was also on that album, and the reason for me to buy it (and it was only 2£ and the money went to charity).
For me, it’s the perfect album to listen to in my room cuddled up on my couch with cozy lighting, maybe even candles, having dinner or reading a book. The nights slowly get longer and longer, it does get dark way earlier so spending comfy evenings at home has been my top activity this month - the album was the perfect soundtrack for that.
This month, I rediscovered Ecstatic Dance, a hobby I started in the beginning of the year, and for some reason stopped doing.
Ecstatic Dance is using dance as a form of personal expression and emotional release. That means you can dance and move the way it feels right to you and your body while dancing in community. As someone who loves dancing and struggles with dance in its classical form and sticking to a choreography, this is a true blessing.
To me it feels like such a safe space, it´s a great sport to go to alone, and I literally feel the positive impact on my body and life the following days.
Dancing it out (like Cristina and Meredith in Greys Anatomy always did) works wonders to getting everything out of my system - if there´s one thing I could recommend, it´s Ecstatic Dance.
I´m also not the biggest sports person, and to me, Ecstatic dance doesn´t even feel like a workout because it´s just so much fun. I can tune in with my body and move accordingly to the level of energy I´m at that day. It feels more like a party than a sports class, and since I love a good party, I love Ecstatic Dance.
I love love love music documentaries, it´s one of my favorite genres of film, and this one follows the Band Buena Vista Social Club. Obviously, the soundtrack was a 10/10, I have the record at home and listen to it from time to time.
When thinking about my favorite movie this month, I knew it had to be Buena Vista Social Club, even though I´ve noticed later when looking at the movie ticket I actually watched it in late August.
The documentary just gave such a lovely insight into the band, every band member got their own section to share their story and personality, and I just couldn´t help but love them and their wholesome silliness. My favorite part was the ending when the whole band went to New York City to play a concert and explored the city together.
The whole time I was in the cinema I just had to smile, the bandmates and their personalities really carried the movie - my partner that I watched the movie with felt the same way, and we even talked about it weeks later.
This month I started brewing Kombucha, which is a fermented beverage made from tea, sugar, and a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Basically, it tastes like soda but is healthy, full of probiotic bacteria that are good for gut health.
In summer I started obsessing over store bought Kombucha which one of my hometown friends Viki introduced me to when she visited me in Berlin.
Since the store bought one is quite expensive, I fell into a rabbit hole watching many many videos on how to brew Kombucha at home, and all the science behind it.
I got said friend who introduced me to Kombucha equally obsessed about the idea of brewing Kombucha at home, so we started this little project, giving each other updates on the brewing and fermenting process over the phone due to our long-distance friendship.
The whole project took over two weeks since the drink had to ferment for 10-14 days. It was lots of fun, a lot of trial and error, and since I´ll continue brewing Kombucha, I´m curious to see how my second batch of Kombucha will turn out.
My friend Maja and I have a little book club, where we recommend each other books we read and talk about them, that´s where she introduced me to You exist too much.
It felt captivating from the beginning, the reading flow felt very natural and I kept on looking forward to picking it up again. To me, the book is a 9/10 and definitely the best book I´ve read in a while.
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These were a few of my favorites this month - do you wanna share anything you obsessed over this month?