Oh, how's it? How's it guys? Today we are in a very echoey box, which is awful for sound, but great for turning into a home studio on a, hopefully, quite limited budget. The reason that I want to get a studio up here at the house again is that I'm missing taking personal portraits, despite the fact that I've used to take portraits. For a living, I loved being in the studio and painting with the light that came from my strobes. And I thought it'd be a great idea to show you that you don't need fancy setups, you don't need fancy gear, you don't need expensive stuff to create the same looking photographs that you see up here on the screen. Now, I'm not a gear channel, we don't do reviews on this channel, and this video is going to be no exception, right? The name on the side of all these things is kind of immaterial, right? I'm an Ellen Crom fanboy for various reasons, but really, the name on the side doesn't change what the light actually does. What you do with it is what's important. Now, I'll talk you through a couple of options because gear, when it comes to the strobes, can be a little bit confusing. Now, I will give you a couple of suggestions. This particular light here, which is the Ellen Crom Style FX400, I bought in 2009, and it's a workhorse, it's solid, it's all kind of good, it still does its job.  So, you know, don't think that you need to go out and buy fancy equipment, very expensive things, these are probably like 100 quid a head. I don't know what these are because they don't make them anymore. But we'll stick a figure in the corner and find out, right? Now, we can make a whole video talking about modifiers for lights. This has a honeycomb on the front of it, which we're not going to use today. That's just there because I left it on there by accident, right? But you don't need a honeycomb, forget that's there, right? But what we are going to be using is a softbox. Okay, now the reason I use softbox is not umbrellas or something like that is because I prefer the control that I get with the softbox. It keeps the light a little bit more focused than a brawly. And it gives me what I feel nicer shadows. It mimics window light, which is a funny thing to say because, you know, we sort of say, well, you know, you can use ambient. But I want to be in control of the things. That's why I want to be in studio. I want to have full control over the light, whereas ambient can be very hit and miss. This is, yeah, the 1.5 meter rotoluxe by Elecron, which is an octa box. And now you don't need this. I have this because it is my favorite modifier and I just use it. But for a home studio, you really don't need this at all. It can be something a little bit smaller, like the standard softbox that you get with something, right? The only difference between the bigger softboxes and the smaller softboxes is either side of the catchlights in the eye, which is a very minor little thing, but also the quality of the shadows around the person in the image. So we need to trigger the flash heads somehow. And we're going to do that by using this. This is a very cheap radio trigger rather than a cable release. This cost me, I think maybe 10 quid when I bought it years ago. And again, like the flash heads, it just keeps on trucking, right? But if you put a cable release between your camera and the flash head, there is a invitation to Murphy to come along and trip over that and either break your camera or the flash head, neither of which you want to do. And you may recognize the voice of experience in that one. Now that you're triggering those strobes, right? This, this here out of focus is a light meter and you can use this to measure what the light is falling on the subject.  But knowing what the light is going to do, knowing what it is actually falling and how it's falling on the subject is a very good habit to get into. So if you do want to invest in one of these, I would highly recommend it. But making sure though it works with strobes because not the basic flash meters do they just work on ambient light, but this one will work on a strobe. As a photographer and YouTuber, I spend a lot of time sitting down, you know, either editing photographs or, you know, editing videos or talking to your couch, right? So I needed to find something that would at least get me on my feet some part of the day. And it was around about this time when I was thinking about it, that the great people at Maid's site who make this awesome desk reached out to me and they said, look, you know, Alex, do you want to just try out this desk? And I was like, yes, yes, of course. And I have to say, I was a little bit not sure at the beginning because I wasn't sure how natural it would feel to stand up and do work. But I had to, it is, it feels completely natural. It's awesome to actually stand and work. You know, to be able to shift with just the touch of a button because it's all, you know, it's electronic power. I mean, look at this. No effort whatsoever. It's like magic, isn't it, right? To go between down here and standing up. My son thinks it's amazing. Of course, you know, four-year-olds. This is just like, because I pretend like I'm like elevating somebody into magic shows. And you know, it's got space for my coffee because that's always important. And actually, it's a huge improvement over my last desk.  It just does it all at the touch of a button. Plus has a USB charger here so I can just charge my phone, which is, you know, which I love all that sort of stuff. And I have to say, I was extremely impressed and they have a Black Friday cell going on right now. Immediately, depending of course, when you're watching this video and I'll put the link in the description box below for you if you are interested in checking one of them out. Now this is a wall. Of course, right? So this is where I'm going to be photographing against. Now you can, depending on where you live and what your walls look like, photograph the wall as it is. Now a lot of people do this, certainly I did it in the studios as well. And it really, it's a really good looking shot that works quite nicely, especially if you have a corner like this where there's nothing else behind you. But if you don't have a wall like this, you're probably going to want to put up some sort of backdrop. And this is where you have a couple of options. Now ultimately what I'm going to do in here is put some brackets on the wall and hang my custom background off of it. But if you don't want to draw holes in your wall or if it's a very temporary setup that you're going to be having, you can use a background stand. So it's something like this and you have some teleporos, you know, they come up and you just hang the pictures on it. Which is what I'm going to do today to show you one of the drawbacks. If you're working in a small space about putting a background stand up. Hey, and there we go. So already, does this look like the same room? No, it is. But of course it is because you can hear the echo because it's just like this is how we roll here on TV. It's just echoes. So basically this canvas backdrop is not a fancy expense of Olifant backdrop. Of course it isn't. It's simply painted cotton duck that you could buy from any sort of canvas supplies. You can buy it raw. It doesn't need to be folded or anything. It can be rolled or what have you. And you just take it and you just paint it. You put a primer on it and you do a whole job and it's done. These things, that cost me 100 pounds to put together, including the dowel stick. Which is what I usually use to hang it from the roof. One of the benefits of hanging it from the roof is that often the wall is that it hangs flat. You'll have noticed that this is not hanging particularly flat. So if you do get some lights coming across it is going to show a bit of a wonky effect. However, you can use these things to your advantage. Not everything has to be perfect.  Is that the stands pop out from the wall. So you're going to lose, in this case, I've lost a foot and a half of distance. Which for this room is not a problem for me, but it might be for you in whatever room that you are dealing with. Okay. All right. So now I've set up the octabox in the corner here. Nice and simple. And you can see it's lighting me. It's probably a little bit low. That's because I didn't actually set it up properly. It's higher basically. I want the strobe head to be higher than my head. And then pointing down because that's how the sun works, isn't it? Right. If you have the strobe low, then you get these kind of weird catch lights in the bottom of the eyes. Anyway. Right. So now I've got my little radio trigger and it goes like that. Did you hear that? All right. Turn that off. The only reason there's audio things is if you can't see the strobe. So that you know that at least it's fired, right? In a studio where it's just the one strobe, you know it's firing and it gets annoying really quickly. So turn it off. There's a few things that you can add into the studio that aren't going to set you back very much at all. And these are here. You can see this one's been through the walls quite a bit. But these are foam core boards that you can buy from any art supply store. I think they were like eight pounds a sheet. Something like that. There's a price on the back. There's probably eight pounds. There you go. And you can either use these as negative fill. You won't really see the effect here because there's no fill coming from that side, right? Or you can use them as reflectors like that. Hello. Now you don't need to spend tons of money on something like that. Just that. See the difference that has made already if you do like that. Perfect. Eight dollars. Just go with it. He says it's eight dollars, but it probably won't be. It'll be something else when I check it out. But it goes to show again, you don't need to spend a huge amount of money on things in the studio.  Not only to set up a studio, but also to understand that gear does not really play a huge difference in the images that you can create. All of the photographs that I have shown you on this video today have been set up or photographed rather using this setup. This setup is probably one of the most basic things that you can probably do. But I want you to think about it of like setting a stage on which your ideas can dance. That when you tap into the world of the strobe and the things that you can do with it, then you open up the possibilities for a lot of your other images, for creating motion, using motion trails, using painting with light, using so many exciting approaches. And understanding how light works on people, how a simple light like this can just make something look so much more professional. I'm going to put up on screen now the total that this came to and I'm interested to see exactly what it is too. Now to see studio photography in action by a master, would you check out this video here. Thank you ever so much for watching and I'll see you again soon.


Box four medium flat rate envelope for those of you that are new to my channel I bought three hundred and forty four pounds of jewelry off eBay to sell on eBay All right, let's get started and I decided to sort the stuff into sell wearable and crafters and And I'm gonna show you guys what's in each bag. I'm gonna keep the mid video around 15 to 20 minutes I tried to do a video where I sorted everything and it was over an hour long and I just could not I could not share that with everyone. It was just too much. So This is the stuff that I'm thinking I will sell either individually or in small lots or As I go through it a second time I may end up just throwing it into the bags that I'm gonna sell in bulk. I really think this is super cute It's a wood Draft print bracelet and I just for some reason think that somebody is gonna like it So I'm gonna try and sell this separately. It's a bread and butter item I'm probably just gonna throw this in a pin lot This is I can't remember what it says You see if I can zoom in Hong Kong But this looks like a vintage pin. I don't know. It's kind of neat. I might try to sell it separately I just stuck myself or I'll just put it in a pen lot. What do you guys think about this? I'm kind of on the fence. I feel like somebody might buy it like as Just a fun piece to wear.  It's it's just a cheap necklace. I mean, it's definitely not Fancy it would be more Maybe I'll put like Halloween prop or something. I don't know. It's kind of silly, but I was kind of undecided about that piece These are loft outlet again, I'll probably just lot those with some earrings this piece I'm gonna sell separate. I think it's abalone shell It's a stretch bracelet, but I think it's really pretty. Um, I could I don't I guess I don't know for sure If it's shell if anybody knows comment, I always appreciate your comments. I'm gonna put this in a bangle bracelet lot This piece I thought was kind of interesting Throw it over my little mannequin thing here. I don't know. I just think it's kind of neat. I Think it was signed. Let me see not signed like as in Maybe not like Talbott's or you know, like that type of sign to nothing fancy This is kind of a cool-looking bangle, you know, it's got the I don't know So yeah, all these bracelets are more than likely put in a small lot or I will throw them into my Like a bracelet lot a whole bunch of bracelets I Sweater clips and my last video I did I got so many sweat this one's really cute I might sell this one separately just because it's so cute. I've not seen anything like that I'm gonna sit that with this stuff. I might separate this peacocks kind of cool. It's a pen. It's unsigned, but I don't know pins are They're hit and miss I Was gonna try to sell these just because they were still in the packaging But it almost looks like The gold is different colors now that I'm under my My light here So I may just throw that in like a crafter's lot This is just another bangle bracelet, I'll probably check that in a bracelet lot. This is cute. This is Vera Bradley I might try to sell this separate. It looks decent Yeah, I think I'll try to sell that one separate This one's got me curious. I don't know if it's sorry my ring lights making that halo Um, I don't know. It's signed Anybody have any idea what this is? So I need to look that up maybe This is just a pen This is just another gold tone bracelet This is another different Kind of cool sweater clip not what you typically see Just another bracelet again. I'm gonna lock these Some of these bracelets together Here's a snake bracelet. I like the snake bracelets.  I think this is kind of neat throw it This piece is really I I think it's interesting. I like the Variation in the color. I think I may try to list that separate again It'll be a bread and butter item in my posh closet probably to bring people in This is a magnet necklace You can see it's sticking to This is another pin so again, I'm gonna put all the pins together. This is another bracelet Yeah, like I said, I'm getting lazier by the moment thinking I'm just gonna lock this up and let somebody else buy it and sell it separate. I don't know if this is vintage or not I thought it was kind of neat Another ring Here's an Alex and awney. I am sitting these to the side. I have a ton the condition is not Wait, is this Alex and awney? I might be wrong Yeah, it is They're like kind of grimy. They need cleaned up, but I have a whole bunch of them So I think I'm gonna lock those in a lot together. This is a cute little bracelet My dog just got a drink of water now. These are really really cute I Want to say it's Bugs Bunny But the problem is is one of the earrings is You see how that one comes all the way up this one only It's broke It I think it would still work but part of it broke off And I think these are like I don't want to say super special because I didn't look them up But I think they're cool enough that I could sell them, but they're broke. So I need to Need to process that one These I'll probably put with some earrings like just sell them in a lot Just that I don't know if they're pearls or not. I'm not gonna test them This is just a bracelet Sweater clips and again, I'm gonna Small lots most of this stuff pulling out the sweater clips. I'm gonna make a pile and sell those all together I have so many that I might do a couple separate lots This is I don't know why I left this out all of this stuff is Probably because it was just a single chain and I was like, oh, maybe I'll list it for like five bucks ten bucks And I don't know but now I'm like no, maybe I won't these are clip-ons They're kind of fun. I Think everything in here is matching earrings. So I'm gonna add that over to my sets of matching earrings and I'm making like a big set So I'm trying to like kind of Filter things into lots And All right Like I have rings over here This Yeah, this is the broken jewelry so it's either broken Or it's so tangled that I quit Like I I just I got to the point where I was like, okay, I'm done with that. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do any more so there may be some wearable pieces in there and There may not This is what I had to sell as a bulk By like I'm gonna sell it all to one person for one price And I'm going to be adding to it Because I've sort of changed my mind on what I feel like listing individually as I'm going through this video I don't know It's hard to decide what I want to do like I'm gonna add this stuff in I'm gonna show you exactly what's in here Again, these are the items that I'm gonna sell all together to one person I Do have a spot for watches. So I'm gonna put that With my watches and sell the watches all together. I don't remember where I put it Everything's starting to run together. Okay, so this is like a chunky So this will be like a I don't want to say wholesale, but a Craft not a crafters because this is all wearable or resellable stuff It is all It's I've sorted through it. I pulled out the broken stuff and I put the stuff that's decent good or great into this lot and I'm going to sell it as a Lot and then somebody else can Can list it this is kind of pretty I think some of those are glass or ceramic beads. I'm not really sure. There's two of them actually So somebody can probably So, yeah, here's another Alex and Ani I was gonna pull those out and sell those separate So, yeah, this will all go to whoever buys it. I'm gonna put it back in the bag I might add some of these bracelets with it. I might put that necklace in I think I will and And I'll put this probably on Mercari and then cross post it to eBay I will not put this on posh mark because it weighs over five pounds. I Don't know if this is a bracelet or what like I guess you could wear it as a bracelet It's I mean, or maybe it's a kid's necklace. I don't know So, I mean, there's a lot of stuff in here. This is kind of I mean somebody could sell this as It's in The condition is fine. It's just kind of a bread and butter item that I just don't want to I Don't want to do it. I don't want to mess with it So that is what I'm gonna do I'm gonna lock this up and sell it to one person and let them do the work because you guys know how much Inventory I have and I just I I I need to focus on some other stuff like I said I've been going through this for two days and I think I did nine boxes And it takes a long time to sort through jewelry, but I didn't want to Sell the wearable stuff With the crafters stuff I want to sell the crafters with the like people that there's no wearable stuff in the crafters unless it's mixed into This tangled mess, which I'm sure there's some wearable stuff But I just I didn't want to I don't know. I just want to do like separate things if that makes sense. Here's this bracelet. It's still got the tag It says $13, but it's kind of a cute bracelet So some people buy this stuff too. This is the magnet necklace to wear it to resell it To pick out what they want and then they donate the rest I don't know but some people just like to hunt through it and see if they can find stuff they like so thanks for watching and I've got lots of work to do. I'm gonna go on to the next video And I think these are the items that I'm gonna maybe try to list separately I got to think about this big chunky thing I think I might just throw it in here and let somebody else play around with it along with this stuff So all right, you guys I'll see you in the next video and Have a great day. Be sure to check out the description of the video like comment share and subscribe. Thanks for watching


And my... So cute! Yee-haw! Yee-haw! Yee-haw! Hey y'all, what is popping? Welcome back to another video. If you're new here, my name is Cara Dunaver. It's a like coming in. So let's go vibe. As y'all can see, we went to Swat House this morning because I missed my yoga class and I just wanted to get some type of sweating. Also, we are doing psychobars today. It is Wednesday, so you know what that means. Hip hop Wednesday, baby. Okay? I just got home. I'm about to take shower and I'm hungry.  And this is by Colin Broome. If y'all don't know what Colin Broome is, baby, you're asleep. It is going to make you go to the bathroom and help you maintain a healthy gut. What I like about Colin Broome is that it has the highest quality ingredients for your gut and also your microbiome health. What Colin Broome contains is a key ingredient. It's called sodium husk powder, which is going to help treat diarrhea, help with weight loss, ding-ding-ding. 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So do not miss out on this because this is the key to having a healthy gut and also maintain the loading so you can be snatched for the summertime. So you already know what to do. So thank you so much Colin Broome for sponsoring this video. Anyways, I'm about to get in the shower. I'll check with you all once I get out the shower. Baby, I've been wearing my glasses for the last couple days now because I had a reaction. Something was in my eye. I don't know what it was. I think it was an eyelash girl and yeah, I have a little bit of, I wouldn't say, I guess they diagnosed it as pink eye. My eye was very irritated and inflamed and also like sensitive. So, but my skin, baby, my skin, my skin looks good. So y'all, I a drummer playing my face at home and I had a reaction called Contact Dermatitis and I had this for a while now. When I was going to shave my esthetician that works at Mary Mad, love her, love her life. I just recently went to her and oh my God, she did wonders on my skin y'all. She didn't play my skin. She definitely avoided this area but whatever she did, she put extra hydration and also a sensitive skin treatment. I am adjusting my skincare routine. I'm really fading back to my old skincare routine and it is looking so good. I'm getting ready to go to this candlelit concert. So basically it's a candlelit concert where they have violinist and an orchestra playing songs that we know. So it's a hip hop and R&B night. So I'm super excited. It's super different. My friend Kelly invited me so I'm going. But yeah, and I'm whitening my teeth right now and my eyes getting a little better so I was like okay, I can go. But yeah, and also I just got my feet done. Y'all, I got red nails. I don't know why red nails make me look, I don't know, but it's giving sexy. It's giving sexy. Have y'all been watching Love Island? I'm about to do my hair first and then I'm going to do my makeup. I'm really working on a glowy makeup routine. So I'm just going to talk, I'm just going to play music through that because I really don't have a good routine yet for that. But the only thing about, I don't think I have pink eye is because my eye never got crusty. It was just very light sensitive. But I had a Zoom call with the doctor back at home where I lived, where I used to live in Wisconsin.  I don't think it's pink eye. Wait, hold on, hello. Hey, what event are you going to at night? It's called, it's a candlelit choir. I mean concert. Oh, oh my gosh, I didn't want to. Yeah, you just got to buy a ticket here. Let me send you the link and you can come. I swear, I'm tired of going out. Oh, you met her at the bar. I wish I was coming out of business close.  I know, that's so funny. I was like, what? Yes. No, that's not funny because you have so much style, girl. No, it's so funny that they like know who I am, though. Yes. You poppin'.  And Phasia and I were saying, that's how we want you to come to Chicago. We want to take you out.  She just went to Saucy Donut.  No, I had me. How was it? I'll see you tonight. I'm just getting ready. Okay, y'all. So this is my outfit for today. I have my Laueve tank top, these Zara cargo pants, my silver Chanel, because I look very clean. You know, I don't want to lash it on. So Gypsy water and mixed Dior mix. I think I want to spray some. It's nice. And I need a little glow on. So yeah, I'm running late. So I'm going to just, I don't know if y'all going to fit in my bag, but I'm going to bring y'all with me. But I'm probably going to vlog off my phone. So, it's the next day. Y'all, last night got a little too crazy. So yesterday we wasn't even able to go to the candlelit concert because shoot, come on. So last night we wasn't able to go to the candlelit concert because they do not let you in after the start time. So if y'all are looking into like candlelit thing, it's a little ad you'll always see on TikTok or Instagram or something like that. Be on time. So I was so upset. We missed it. Everybody was like, y'all, you know, color people. So, but anyways, we still had a good time. We ended up going to a hotel Burris. I don't know y'all, it's a cute little vibe in here and they have amazing food. I should have took y'all in, but like I said, it was a lot going on. I had to figure out the next move. And then we ended up going to the living room, which is like an African club girl. Yes, it was a vibe. But y'all have what I've seen that in those last clips. But anyways, I'm about to go in the mall. I haven't been to Eurythia in a minute, and they haven't a sale. My homeboy Melvin text me and was like, Hey girl, we having a sale. And I'm really trying to get into more of a trouser every day. Like I love trousers. I feel like they're so comfortable. And I rather wear trousers on an everyday basis rather than sweatpants because I'm a sweatpants girlie. And I'm just trying to, you know, build my capsule wardrobe so I can keep wearing stuff over and over. So yeah, they're having a sale. So we're going to see. And also I need to stop at Sephora and get a new beauty blender puff. So, you know, let's do it. Happy Saturday. And also I'm carrying my Loewe bag. So cute. Hey y'all. So I just wanted to check in with y'all because I've been actually a terrible vlogger. Not going to lie to y'all. My mama's been here. We've just been working on stuff. And then this weekend was very chaotic after the day when I went to the club. The next day, I think I was just working. And then yesterday was Sunday. But on Saturday, we went out to eat. We went to house. It was like a cute little dinner for Kelly's friend that was in town for her birthday. So we celebrated that. And then yesterday, I didn't do nothing. I'm coming on my menstrual. I could feel it. And today I'm really not in a mood. But today I start my breath work today. Just so I can get better when it comes to breathing and releasing, especially when I work out too. I've noticed when I'm in yoga in my lower diaphragm, I just feel like I just can't keep going. Like I need to know how to breathe and work through it. And also if I'm like stressed like right now, I know how to breathe and just... cool sigh. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, I'll let y'all know how that is. I'm not going to vlog because today is like day one. But yeah, so I'll let y'all know how it goes. And anyways, I'll talk to y'all later. I'm out of the shower. And Dr. Dennis Gross sent me there. Hold on. So my LED light is on but I just got out the shower and Dr. Dennis Gross sent me their light collagen mask which I charged it up because I want to start using it. Because y'all have seen I want to go get stuff from my under eyes. So y'all just came to Bita. This is my second treatment for the PRF for my under eyes. So they, she just drew my blood. And we also did the lips. Y'all look the shape. But don't play with her. Make sure y'all come check on my girl. So yeah. And I want to see how it works on me. But I do tell like I can't tell a huge difference when it came to my treatment. But still this is at home treatment. So I might as well and you only have to leave this for three minutes. So this is what it looks like. I just got it off the charger. Leave this on for three minutes. Apply a eye mask immediately after. Yeah, this is supposed to help increase collagen under your eyes so your eyes can be more beautiful. So I'm definitely going to be trying this out. So you leave this on for three minutes. So I'm just going to chill. This is going to be about a five night time routine. And then it comes in this little bag that it comes with. But I would be in my room tomorrow. Bless her heart. So I'm just letting her rest. So I'm in my beauty room now. We're all talking off. And oh my God y'all. Tomorrow I'm going to be trying to install one of these ponytails. And then I have a other slip ponytail coming on the way. Because y'all know I love ponytails. And on TikTok I'm going to see what her TikTok is. She posted a ponytail video. One of y'all tagged me in it. And I was like oh my God I need it. So I ran to Amazon and ordered a whole bunch of ponytails. She didn't use these months. The ones that she did use is going to be here on Friday. I think. But I did get some easy wrapped ponytails that I want to try. Trying to allow me a ponytail. And that's going to be convenient for me. Especially when my hair is like this. Or whatever. But oh my God this is so cool. But anyways.  It looks great. I'm just going to do this for the rest of the night. And I'm going to sleep. Like I said it's like 2.30 in the morning.  That I was just taught. It's called. I have to do one in the morning. One midday. And then a one practice before I go to sleep. So. Yeah. I'm going to do that right before I go to sleep. And once I get better at it. I'll show y'all what I do for my breathing practices. So I just got out of yoga. And that was a good class. I came to this location. This one is in perimeter. I usually go to the one in West Side Village. Under yoga is so good. And y'all got to take the instructor Theo. His playlist is so good. And he blacked so he know the vibes. But yeah I like him. That's why I came out here. Him and then this other girl name. What's her name? Another good one is her name is Robin. But I forgot the other. And look at my hair. Oh my God. I definitely did it to me. So I'm about to go give me an acai bo real quick. And then go home. But it was such a good workout. And I need to reply to comments.  And I got to film a tiktok today. So we're about to have another productive day. And then hopefully I get my hair done tomorrow. For this class. Oh I got to go get my packages too. Okay. And I'll probably check in with y'all once I get to. Do I want to come up here? No I'm on an acai. Granges. I need to show y'all what I got from Sephora. Because I stopped at Sephora. But I ran home, took a shower. So these are the ponytails that I got. So I have one more coming in the mail. So this one is the wrap around style. So basically it widens out. And then just wrap it around like a bun. And then I got it in the body wave. 32 inch yah. And the yakky straight 36 inches. Wow. What was I thinking? That's damn near 40 inches. But anywho. And I got this in a color 1B. Both of these in 1B. Because my hair is fairly brown. But I'm about to make a tiktok video real quick. Like in solanese. But I'll just set y'all in the back. So y'all can see. But yeah. If these turn out cute. I'm gonna be so happy. Because y'all know I love me a good ponytail. And I think I'm just gonna do the yakky straight first. So. And this is good for me because I can save so much money for one. But I don't really know the hair quality yet until we open it. So definitely we could be all updated on that. He likes the juvial room. He feel about that life. So it's the next day. I just got home from my workout. It was so good. I need to clean this room. So don't mind the mess. But I am about to do an unboxing. Because I just got a couple packages that are accumulated. So I'm about to do that right now. And I'm gonna show y'all what I got. And also I have a revolve order. I never showed y'all. So I'm gonna show y'all that too. Because there's so many clothes I need to take to the tailor y'all. It's crazy. But anyways. I'm gonna sit y'all right here. Because my package is alright. I've been getting to the mood. It's so cold in here. Y'all I love going to my workouts. Because I just have so much energy. Like I'm about to film a video. I'm about to get work done. Like yes. Yes yes yes. So if you are lacking on energy girl. Just go to a workout in the morning. So you can be energized throughout the day. But anyways. So mood. This is Debella's line. Y'all should definitely check her out. Because she has some pretty. She has some bomb pieces. And this just dropped. And I was like oh my god. I need that. So I end up getting this jacket. Super cute. Look the color. Such a vibe. Okay. And then I got the matching skirt. Which is so cute. It's given like cargo. But it has that parachute. Feel into it. Super cute. And stretchy. But this is bomb. And then Orissia is having a sale y'all. And my homeboy Melvin. He works at Orissia. If y'all go to Orissia. Make sure y'all mess with him. So I've been into. I don't know. I think I did it earlier in the vlog. When I was here to get trousers. But they wasn't fitting me correctly. So one of them I really liked. So I wanted to order it. And this is the trousers that I got. But I probably have to go get them. Taken in just a little bit. So I sized up. When I tried them on at the store. It was only in the size 8. But this is a size 10. And I didn't really like how the zipper was zipping on me. But look how beautiful this color is. So gorgeous. It's neutral. And I can definitely play around with it when I style this piece. But yeah, these are like cargo trousers. So cute. From Orissia. They were on sale. Cannot pass up the sale. Super soft. And yeah, I can't wait to style these. I'm going to see how they fit. I may or may not have to go get them taken in. I don't know. They seem to be like comfortable. But still snatchy. So then we have another package. Another one. Thank you. Okay. So this. So y'all, I've been obsessed with ordering oil sales off of Amazon. So shout out to Homegirl on a TikTok for putting the girls on. She had the slip one. But I ordered the rat one and the slip one. So this is the slip one. I can't wait to try this one out. I'm actually going to try this one out today.  So it'll camouflage it. So easy. So affordable. And this is only like $25. These ATL prices are crazy. And I already know how to slick my hair down as like a mold base. So I'm like, wait, I can definitely just go ahead and get a ponytail. So I got two of them. So this is the Shake and Go Organique Pony Pro. And I have two because I don't know, like I have the wrap ponytail. The quality is like it's given like two days. But I'm excited to see how the slip ponytail is because it'll probably be a little bit more thinner than the rat one because the rat one has like a thick. I don't know how to explain it. It's like thicker, whatever. And then I got more lashes. So I want to get into back into doing my own lashes because I don't know, like I'm just, I don't know. I'm just trying to do stuff that works for me in my eye shape. Oh my God. Yes. I got this too. Okay. So I ended up ordering the Delina body cream because y'all I wore this all weekend and the Delina I was getting so many compliments. I don't know. Like randomly I have so many perfumes so randomly I'd be like, wait, let me just spread this on today and see how many compliments I get. And I was spreading the Delina perfumes at Marley y'all. Everybody was asking me, what do I have on? I can show you the text. Like literally everybody was like, what perfume was that?  And I was like adding, you know, I do my perfume combos. So, but the main one was the perfume that Marley for the most part mixed with the Miss Dior. So I was like, wait, let me get the body cream too. Oh, this is cute. I'm about to put this in my bathroom. Let me see how it smells. And I was looking at the reviews and say it lasts a long time. I always like to put that extra lotion back in the container because that's like a waste.  And this is a very rosy but yet leachy scent. I smell more leachy than rose. That's why I like it because I'm really not a rosy type of floral scent type of girl. But I don't know y'all. The leachy is doing something to me for the summer time. So, but this packaging is so cute. And then I got these Glamnitic eyelashes. I'm actually going to try these out today as well. So you get a lash kit lucky and on my way. The point of this is to do day to night lashes. And I never tried Glamnitix, but I've heard great things. So I'm going to see what it's giving. And what I like about these is that obviously for strip lashes, if you are to apply them yourself, you will have to cut them. But these ones are already cut so you can just place them on your eyelash. Which I like. So I'll definitely keep y'all updated on how I like these. So then we have another one. I think somebody sent this to me. I've been getting good online. Her body made it. Oh, okay. So homegirl wrote me a note. She said, Cara, we been in clean juice a while back and I wanted to follow up with the dress. I dropped and give you and gift to you as a gift. Check it out, our swim line as well at Shop Blake Diva. Go to Shop Blake Diva. This is her card. I'll put it on the screen as well. I've been getting a zina money. Everybody made it. Send me two of these bandana hair bands. Okay, it's giving bandana theme.  Then we have the dress. Okay, this is a whole get up one, two. Okay, this is so cute. So you get this knit black dress. It's super thick too. The quality is so nice. And then you get this bandana sleeve on it. And then, yeah, this is so playful and fun and so neat. Love this. Thank you so much, Blue, for sending this to me. So make sure y'all check her out. It is a Blake shop. Yeah, Shop Blake Olivia. XOXO. Love you, Blue. XOXO. That's a girl. I'm getting good online. So I really wanted a simple gold stud. And I found these ones on Amazon. Cause I feel like all my gold jewelry that I have are hoops.  I ordered these babies. They were cute.  Super simple, cute. And affordable. I probably wear these today. They're about me. Y'all, these earrings right here, so raw. So they're these dangly earrings. But they're like in this funky shape. So this is what they look like. How cute is this? How absorbs? It's just a simple earring. I have to grab these. Here's my package. I also got these textured gold studs. How fire are they? Like what? Like I said, I just wanted like some simple gold studs. And I got a plain and a textured. So cute. And then I got some black seed oil. My mama ordered these. Made support control of apple cider. So this is supposed to help with body hair and skin. And then also support controlling your apple cider. So I got some cold pressed black seed oil. Alright, so from Revolve, that's all I got from like Amazon in my packages. And from, um, I had ordered these pants originally to wear in London when I went to go see Beyonce. But they don't fit anyway. So I have to go get them tailored. But this is by Revice Los Angeles. When I seen these, I was like, oh yeah, definitely giving club Renaissance. Let me know if y'all want to see her in the States because I'm thinking about it. I probably will. Not gonna lie. But I kind of want to wear these pants. And yeah, might as well. So yeah. And then I got these pants. And these will be LinkedIn. Also, I do have a Revolve favorites. Y'all need to check it out. I need to frequently update it because Revolve is always stocking up their stuff weekly, like daily. So I need to be on top of it. But I got these cute trousers pink. So for summer, such a playful color. And y'all know I love pink. So I had to grab these pants. And I feel like I don't have a lot of colorful pants. So I was like, okay, yeah. So these pants are really, they drew my attention because of the wash. They're a dark wash. And also the waistband on here. I don't know. It was given like cinched in ways. But y'all, these are so big on me. I don't even know what I'm going to ask her to do there by the girlfriend jeans. These are in the extra large. I should have got a large. But I'm probably going to have to have her take in the pants a little bit too. I don't have to reconstruct this whole thing. So we'll see what she comes up with. But I really love the wash on here and also the waistband. So hopefully we can make it work. And then I got some more trousers. I really like these. These are linen material. Super cute by girlfriend on Revolve. And like I said, I'm really just trying to transition over to wearing more trousers on an everyday basis rather than like sweats. Just, you know, and also to build a capsule wardrobe as well. So I really got this. So I got this neutral linen color. So perfect to wear to the beach. I also wear it during the daytime as a regular, you know, sit. I got this skirt. So it's like a little cute cover up skirt. It's by Superdown. I love the colors. I feel like this will look so good with an orange swimsuit. Baby. Yeah. And I need more cover ups to wear to the pool because my booty cannot be out at all times. And then I got this cute dress. Yeah. This cute corset dress by Tula Rosa. Super flattering on. Y'all got to see it on. It looks so good. I'll probably insert a video, but it's so pretty. And I feel like if I was to go on like a trip, I will wear it. Like I'm trying to get more purple so I can wear my purple Dior bag. But it's so cute. And it just has this base in here where it shows a little, you know, skin, but still modest at the same time because we're covered up at the top. So yeah. And then I got this dress. I'm trying to get more into dresses and I love the gathering in the middle of it. Like a ruching effect. It's so cute. Wait, let me spread it out for you so you can see. Y'all see how it is? The detail. And then it flares out at the bottom. So I was thinking I could wear it with like white Hermes slides. Just like a casual daytime fit. Whatever. I feel like I want to, you know, do it, do it big. But yeah, that's it for the unboxing. So I am about to get ready for my day. I have to film a video today. And then yeah, I guess it's a festival maybe later on. But yeah, my focus is getting this room picked up video. And then hopefully I'll have time to go to the event maybe. But yeah, I'll check on with y'all later. And I'll let y'all know how this ponytail looks on me. And also these lash extensions. I just did these lashes in five minutes. I'm shook. I got new lashes. Let's do some eyelash extensions. It's hard for me to find a good lash that really enhances my eye shape. I got their lash extension kit. This is supposed to last up to five days. And also you're supposed to be able to put these on in five minutes. They're lash bond and last seal. Comes with bond remover, which is nice. Okay, come on. So the eyelashes we are going to be trying out are the lucky ones. I'm not really a direction girl, but when it comes to my eyes, it's different. For natural lashes, we're going to make up, excess oil, blah, blah, blah, curl lashes. Okay, that's a little sunscreen. Okay, Curl. And I'm just going to do two coats. I already like how it's lifting my eye already. Drinking my water money, maybe. Oh, she's cute. Y'all see the difference? Okay, come on.  I really was expecting that. I see what y'all did right there, right there. Lifting. Let me do the other eye and I'm going to come back. So when they said five minutes, that was not planned. Do y'all see how my eyes look so lifted? I'm so happy I got extra lashes because I did add a little to both eye on the ends just to add a little bit more volume. These are eating. They look so good and this was so fast to put on. And I'm going to tell y'all this glue is so easy to work with. It doesn't leave a mess. I love that these lashes lift my eye.  These are going to be my new fades and these will be linked in my Amazon storefront in my Liel. Hey y'all, I don't know where I ended last in the vlog, but I think I was telling y'all my toenail came off of my other big toe, of the opposite foot. Anyways, before my camera started being rude, yeah, my big toe came off, girl. I literally picked it all off today so there's like no toenail on my foot. I don't know if y'all want to see, but yeah, it's just going to heal. And y'all know I take vitamins all the time, so it'll grow back. But for now, I'm so sad because now I got to put a bandaid over it when I wear open-toe shoes. But anyway, I got a couple packages today, y'all. And one of them was from Rode Beauty. I got all their whole lip collection. Hailey Bieber sent this to me personally. But no, she sent me a note. It says, hey Kyra, hope you love our complete lip collection featuring our new Rode vanilla peptide lip treatment as an essential set for your delicious belays lips. They already know. They already know the vibes over here. And I did try these on for a Tik Tok already. So I put it back in the package. But I really like her packaging for her lip glosses. I think it's super cute, like the gray with the different colors. But this is their most popular one, which is the vanilla peptide. This smells just like, I don't know if y'all smelled it before, but the Summer Fridays have pink sugar. And that's been sold out in Sephora lately. But look how glossy it makes your lips. I'm so happy that I sent this. I've been itching to try this.  The vanilla one, definitely my favorite. And then they have an unscented one, a caramel, salted caramel one. It has like a little hint of yellow. And what's this other one? Watermelon, a watermelon bite. But this one right here, I can see why it sells out fast. And look how it makes my lips, y'all.  I haven't seen like a lot of people talk about this, so I was really curious about it. But I do know a lot of people do get her lip products. And yeah, I was super excited when I seen that package. And also, y'all, I got to show y'all this other package. Um, Ruslan Babinski sent me. Y'all not ready. Y'all is not ready. Hold on one second, I'm finna do something real quick and I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna do an unboxing. Y'all, y'all, so my house smells so good right now. And if y'all don't have a candle warmer, I put my Diptyque base, well my mama actually did this. This is normally on my coffee table, but I'm doing a little transformation. And y'all, my new rug, it looks so cute. I'm not showing y'all because you got to wait for the actual video. Um, but I do want to put y'all on. Um, I wanted just to put y'all on this because I'm like, dang, it smells good. And she must have just did it because she did some final touches in here. Um, I think she's taking a nap. But, and I was in there working. Yeah, y'all, y'all need one of these. My house smells good. And I was using that candle for decoration. But anyways, y'all can't see my living room yet. It's a surprise. Anyways, so I do want to show y'all this package. Ruslan Babinski sent me. So I'm about to put y'all on a tripod real quick because I want to show y'all before the sun goes down because the lighting is great. Um, okay. There's a mess in here. This is Ruslan Babinski. Y'all have seen this brand all over the internet. So this is the first hat they sent me. This is going to be so cute. I did tell them because the last items they gave me, oh my God, were a little too small. But I said, can y'all up it? Can y'all up it, please? This is so cute. And I can't wait to pair this with something like maybe a little cute corporate looking vest, you know. And then top this off with like a cute little chic look. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they also sent me a blue one. So gorgeous. These hats are made with love and they're made with quality and you can definitely tell with their hats. And they really take their time when designing these beautiful pieces. So make sure y'all check these out. But the last thing they sent me, I'm not ready for this. And I am going to be so excited to get my, put my dream closet together. And this is just going to be like a memory for me just to have it just being there. I'll probably wear it, but it's still going to be like a beautiful piece to look at as decoration. And this is a custom hat. This took a couple, like, like two months to make, I think. Y'all, y'all can already tell what this is leading to. Y'all, obviously my ponytail. What? Beyonce, I'm coming for you. I'm coming for you. Y'all. Oh my God. This is crafted to perfection. Don't play with them. Y'all. No, but I cannot wait to slay this hat. I'm not sure which show I'm going to go to yet. But I'm going to a show. I don't know if I'm going to go to the one here in Atlanta. But if I do. Oh my God. I love this. I never thought I would love a cowboy hat like what? It's so beautiful. I can't. Anyways. So I think that's going to conclude this vlog because the vlog probably gets chaotic. And I have to edit it. So I'm just going to end it off. And I love y'all so freaking much. Thank you so much for 400K. Like, I am so grateful for y'all. I have to put together a giveaway. Don't think I forgot. Because y'all, the appreciation for y'all will never go unnoticed. So let me know down in the comments what I should give away. Like what is something that y'all want. Please tell me. And yeah, so that is it for this vlog. I hope y'all enjoyed whatever goes down because I don't even remember what I blogged. But I do have an exciting weekend coming. I'm fingers crossed. But anyway, I love y'all so much. And I'll see you in the next video. And please do not forget to comment on what you will want for the giveaway. Thank you.


Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're all good and welcome to another episode of Wrapped Up where underwrapping folks decides what I read. So I have had mixed luck with Wrapped Up in the past few months. I'll leave a link to the whole playlist down below. We haven't actually got many books left. Like I feel like we're dwindling down with how many books we started with and how many we've got left. I have had like some of my worst reads of the year from Wrapped Up. I will just say that I sabotage a lot of things in it, yeah. And I have had some five stars. So it's anyone's game basically. The past couple of months, something I have been allowing myself to do is unwrap two and then pick which one I prefer to read. We'll do that again today if we want, but if say I unwrap something I'm really in the mood for, we'll just read that as well. So we'll just see how it goes. So I'm gonna go for this first. If I speak I am in big trouble, in big trouble. So this is Where the Cordads Sing by Delia Owens. I think it's like a murder mystery, but it's not written like that. It's written like literary fiction. This has been a super popular book in kind of like the world. Not necessarily like the book community, but like everyone and their mom has read this. My mom's read this. My boyfriend's mom has read this. Everyone's read this. I don't know if I wanna read this right now. Like I am a bit scared off by it because I think it's a bit serious. It's a bit like not necessarily what I'm kind of reaching for at the moment, but at the same time, I kind of feel like if I don't read it now, I won't read it at all. You know what? We're gonna unwrap something else. Now that I'm back home, I have some of this wrapping paper left and this is wrapping paper is recyclable. By the way, if anyone worries about this, this is recyclable wrapping paper. So if I don't read this, if I don't pick this now, which I might, like the second one might not be something I wanna read, I will rewrap this up so I have the possibility of getting it again. Can I go for this? Okay, I think I'm gonna go for this. Oh my God, I don't think I want to.  Let's go for this one. Oh my God. What's this? Okay, okay, okay. This is The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman. This is a historical fiction. Oh my God, I forgot I owned this book. This is so exciting. I'm gonna read this. Spoiler alert, I'm gonna read this everyone. So this is about a girl who I think is fighting in like Bristol brothel fighting. No, she's born in a brothel and she's like a fighter. It's basically about underground fighting, boxing ring and storming in Victorian, Bristol, England, whatever. But I'm really excited to give this a go. A bit of historical fiction, which I haven't read in a while. Like I haven't read historical fiction in a hot minute. I'm really intrigued. This was one that I was really excited to get to when I bought it. I think, was I right in that? I think I bought this on Riley Marie's recommendation but I could be wrong. We're gonna read this in this video and okay, I'm really excited now. Woo, I'm not reading where the crowd dancing. That is a bit too much for me today if I'm honest. Okay, so hi. I'm at my boyfriend's house now again. A few of you, by the way, someone's doing work in the garden. I hope the mic isn't gonna pick up too much. So I'm at my boyfriend's house now. A few of you have asked like how it's gonna work because a lot of you know that we live together in leads but now we've come back and we're basically just moving between each other's houses. So I'm here for this couple of days. I am about 115 pages into the fair fight and I'm enjoying it but it's like different to what I expected. Firstly, I thought Riley recommended this to me but I asked her in a live the other day, like have you read this? And she was like, I've never read that book. So God knows who I got this recommendation from. I have no idea. I can't remember who recommended this book to me. I don't remember love, I don't remember at all. I really don't, I know for a long time ago. So they obviously sold it to me and maybe wanna read it. I could have sworn it was Riley. I have no idea who it was. So basically it's set at the end of the 18th century. So it's set in like 1799, I think like around that like right at the end. So it's not Victorian. I said it was Victorian, it's not Victorian. I got that wrong. It's different than what I expected because basically we have three perspectives that we're gonna switch between. I've only read from two so far. We're spending like 50 pages in each perspective or maybe even a bit more. So I'm getting older. I don't know if I can, if I want all this drama all the time, if I'm being honest. Some of us, we may know how I feel about like multiple perspective stories. I am not a big fan of it. When they don't follow the same storyline, I do like to keep the pace going to follow a storyline. Do you know what I mean? Like I like to follow like this is our path. So I don't know if I'm currently the biggest fan of that element of it, but I do like the perspectives we've read from so far, but it feels like short stories that way. Do you know what I mean? So one of the girls, Ruth, she was born in like her brothel and her mom was like the head of the brothel that everyone's like afraid of. And she turns to fighting, like in the boxing ring, she turns to fighting. One thing I do like about having these multiple perspectives is there's very clear character voices. So Ruth's perspective was written in I guess more like a common dialect. She comes from poverty. And so that's the way she speaks. But then our next perspective, George, is like privately educated, you know, one of like the upper, upper class. So he speaks in this very like well-to-do way and that's super clear in the way the perspectives have written. And then we're gonna follow Charlotte in the next perspective. And we've seen quite a bit of her in George's perspective. They're very much linked. So I'm excited because she's kind of like seen but not heard in George's perspective. So I'm excited to read from her point of view. This is LGBTQ, which I wasn't expecting going into it. And I do appreciate when historical fiction shows like queer relationships in history because they did exist. So I like that aspect of it. But if you pick it up based on that, be aware that it's not necessarily like, the relationship isn't necessarily like a positive relationship entirely. It's more nuanced than that. So it's not like, oh, here's this great relationship we have that was queer like in this time period. The relationship is messy. Like any relationship could be messy in this book, if that makes sense. And yeah, I'm enjoying it, but I'm not in love with it. Like it's a fun read. I'm enjoying reading historical fiction for the first time in a while. But like, it's not gonna, it's currently not a favorite book. But I am enjoying it. I am enjoying it. I'm a loner. I can't shake the simplest feeling beyond the ghost. We stand on the opposite shore. Hello, Mona. I reach through mysterious ceilings. My only hope. I look for the things I don't know. Quite decent for me to film.   I don't care. So I am about halfway through the fair fight now. And I am just constantly torn between really enjoying it and being really bored. How do I explain it? I can get really into it and then I can get really bored and it's taking me far too long to read it. I need to try and finish it today. I don't know if that mixed perspective thing works for me. I don't. Like we meet Ruth, who is our first perspective, page one, right? She's who we read from first and then we don't get her perspective again until page 200. So I'm like, why did I spend, it's just hard for me to stay connected to the characters. I think that is the number one fault with it at the moment is that I'm not connected to any of the characters. None of the perspectives, none of the minor characters. The stories are all beginning now at the halfway mark to fully interweave and we're seeing all of them in each other's stories. But I'm just not connected to any of them because of the way it's told and we'll get told events three times from each of the characters' perspective, which is interesting. Like, yeah, getting told the story again and again from how each of them are viewing it is interesting, but it can also get a bit repetitive. No, it's true. No, it's true. I think something this one is doing so well is showing the divide between the rich and poor at this time and are you okay? Yeah, okay. And showing how the rich could so easily take advantage of the poor and use them to their own benefit. I do like how, you know, two of the characters on this are very well off and then Ruth as a character and the whole situation she's in is poverty and the contrast between them is something I'm enjoying. I think Ruth is probably my favorite perspective. I just enjoy her relationship with her husband in this. And yeah, so Ruth is the fighter. Ruth is like a boxing gal. Oh, that was one thing. Charlotte was so interesting to read from her perspective. Having seen so much of her and George's perspective, George is the private schoolboy, best friends with Charlotte's brother and Charlotte is so quiet in his perspective. And then in hers, there's this like simmering rage underneath everything at the situation she finds herself in as a well-to-do woman in this time. You know, she has so little freedom. You know, like she almost has less freedom in terms of like autonomy than Ruth, but of course she has like monetary, monetary, monetary. It's almost hurtful to me to watch her be so dumb. She has monetary autonomy, whereas Ruth doesn't. But Ruth has more choice of what she does.  It was so interesting to see her be so quiet in George's perspective. And then in her perspective, be so angry at the world that she is in and her situation. So I am enjoying it, but I'm struggling to read it. And I need to read the whole thing today. I need to finish it today because this video goes up tomorrow. So I need to do it. Rory, you have to help me.  I want the whole boxing thing, like women's boxing to go further. I feel like we haven't really seen much of that because this isn't really a spoiler, but like it's kind of momentarily stopped for Ruth at the point I'm in the story. And obviously we only really had the boxing stuff in the first 70 pages. And then we haven't really had it since because we haven't had Ruth's perspective. So I want more of that. I don't know if the book is actually about what I thought it was about. Where did I find this book recommendation? Who knows? It was a long time ago. 🎵 For all in this high stand alone 🎵 🎵 Show me where the ending goes 🎵 Okay, so mild spoiler, but it's not really a spoiler because we all know it was coming. But the two women have crossed paths and it's made it so much more interesting. I mean, it did take 280 pages for us to get to that point. It's been 84 years. And there was a fair bit just before it. I was like, this could have been cut. There's a few bits. And then it's where I'm like, just another round of editing would have served this so well because there are just some pages. It reminded me of Midnight Sun, not as badly. But where the main character is going on this monologue and you're like, let's get it moving. Should we speed it up a little bit? But it's so much more interesting now that these two women have crossed paths. These two women have such interesting dynamics together. One, this girl, the sheltered girl from high standing in society. And then this other girl who has been exposed to so many horrors in her life. It's such an interesting dynamic and I'm just loving it. Now here's the thing. I don't like the multiple perspective in this. I was not expecting that. I think sometimes multiple POVs can hide a multitude of sins. I think sometimes they can hide issues with the plot because this could have been boiled down a lot more. I think George's perspective, the guy is irrelevant. Like we do not need this dude up in here, get this masculine energy out, get him out. I only care about these two women now.  He's gone missing. He's like ignoring the story. I don't understand why we have this perspective. I only care about Ruth and Charlotte now. That being said, it is very interesting to see it from both Charlotte and Ruth's opposing perspectives, this situation. So like, I think maybe we just don't need George. Maybe we just don't need him. But the perspectives are really long as well which isn't my favorite. I do love the setting. I think if you read like classics, if you love a bit of Jane Austen, this is a bit pre-Jane Austen but it's similar vibes. If you love like reading Jane Austen, those kind of classics, I would recommend this. I think it'll be right up your street. The men are irrelevant to me. I don't even want them to, I don't want any of them to return because currently we don't have any of the men. Apart from the servant Henry, Henry has rights. Other men, not so much. Well, Ruth's husband, they do like as well but all of the rich men, I could care less if we ever saw them again. I hope we don't pay much attention to them now. I'm enjoying it a lot more now. I'm gonna go for a run now. So I will look rough after that. I'm gonna go for a run in the woods and then I will come back and hopefully finish the last like a hundred-ish pages of this tonight. 🎵 Honest, honest they don't 🎵 🎵 I should be the last to know 🎵 🎵 All in this, I stand alone 🎵 🎵 Show me where the ending goes 🎵 🎵 Honest... 🎵 We have two cats here today. I finished it and I think I'm gonna give it, it's like between a 3.5 and a 4. It's like a 3.75. Hang on, I've changed my mind. I'm just gonna give it a 4. I'm just gonna give it a 4. I feel like that's fair. I am so random. I can't believe I just did that. The second half was definitely my preferred half. I really enjoyed the ending, seeing how Ruth and Charlotte's stories ended up. There was some really touching things that happened between them at the end and I loved their relationship throughout the book and the way that they got to know each other. George, my good man, was irrelevant. We could have cut his whole storyline from the book. We didn't need it. We didn't need it. This guy, George, he was like half supposed to be Mr. Nice Guy, half the most scheming, horrible person you've ever met. And I don't feel like we explored those two opposites enough for his character to have any kind of like depth or realism to it. The way that his story ended was not interesting at all, like not imaginative at all. I just didn't thrive with it. We could have cut his whole story. This story only needs to be about the women. Women. Women. This story is not about female boxing necessarily. Like that's how it was sold to me. It's like, what about these women female boxing? But like that plays quite a small role in the book.  And I would say this book is more about all these characters, all the different characters in this story, how they must navigate life due to what society expects of them. How they have to act or to survive, basically. That's what it's about. It's not really about the boxing. So if the boxing is what excites you in this book, like that's not it. Like I feel like that's miss selling the book a bit because that's what I thought it was. And I was like, when are we gonna get to the boxing? And of course it plays a big role, but that's not what the book is about. And yeah, I got much more attached to Ruth and Charlotte as characters and kind of their opposing ways of living towards the end. I actually, maybe even at the end, I maybe even preferred Charlotte. I don't know, I just really liked them both as characters, but I did not attach myself to like any of the men.  You're all the same to me. You are all the same. I would recommend it. If you like historical fiction, I would recommend it. It, maybe it's not quite a four, but listen, I'm feeling generous today, so we're gonna give it a four. I'm feeling kind. I'm feeling kind today, so we're gonna give it a four. Yeah, I hope you've enjoyed another episode of Wrapped Up. I love making these videos because like I said, I kind of even forgot I owned this, like a little bit. I kind of forgot for a moment. And so this series just forces me to read books that I probably wouldn't have read otherwise or wouldn't have read for a long time otherwise. So I really love that aspect of it. So I hope you enjoyed the video. If you've gotten to the end, comment a fist emoji. If you've gotten to the end and me and the cats. Do you wanna say bye? No, but we'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.


Okay, we'll move it in a second. Thank you, thank you so much. You know, as we were walking around, I couldn't help but to reflect on just the next generation and how the conversation on a living is just shifting. I think the pandemic has caused us to shift faster than we thought of my son, the whole concept of being indoors is just not real for him. He believes in shared spaces, he believes in a short period of time of being in this apartment. I was joking, I don't even know if he knows how to turn on the stove. He's out, he enjoys the camaraderie and the cross-pollination of people interacting together. And as we look at some of these drawings, we were on the rooftop of this picture here showing the shared space. This is a shared space mindset of the future generations. And this concept really falls in lines with Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz what we have been talking about.  And that's why last year we declared that New York City will lead the way on housing in America. This is a conversation that I'm hearing from my mayors across the country. How are we dealing with housing? How do we think differently about housing? And you can't do it if you start out from saying no. Dan Garotnik who's over at Planning knows that we must be a city of yes. We have to think differently and we have to lean into how do we have a different approach to housing. So we have to say yes to housing, yes to new zoning, and yes to innovation. They all go together hand in hand. And so today we are here to highlight just how we are moving that agenda in the right direction. The bottom line is we must make it easier to convert office buildings like the one we just tore into housing for New Yorkers. It has been just extremely difficult and just to imagine that there's certain buildings we can't convert just because it's a years that it was built, we need to look at how do we have a different approach to this. And as I indicated in my city, we're going to remain the greatest city in the world by building housing and affordable housing for everyday New Yorkers on several income bands from low income to middle income, to market rate and to luxury. All of those combinations come together to have the city of this magnitude. And we must remain a place where everyday people can find housing. That's why we have made affordable housing a central part of our working people's agenda and the deputy mayor has been clear with the moonshot moment of 500,000 new homes over the next decade. We released our housing, our neighbor's plan to connect more New Yorkers to safe and stable homes. And the most important one is the one I like, Get Stuff Built. To speed up construction of new houses and all five boroughs, it just has been taken too long to put a shovel in the ground and we want to change that mindset and get stuff built in the city. But we said from the beginning that we need to help from the state. During this time, our team, we have been in Albany repeatedly engaging in very fruitful and healthy conversations with the state lawmakers. And I must say that both houses, the leaders in the Senate and the leaders in the assembly, they both understand the urgency of the moment that we need more housing. And the only way we can have more housing is to build more housing. And so we're excited about the possibilities of what is going to come out of Albany. We cannot thank the governor enough. She has been a real partner in this conversation about housing. She has included a number of key investments in policies in her proposed budget that would help us address the housing crisis. And we are here today to say that we need to, these items need to be included in the final budget pass that's going to pass later this month. I know Albany, I've been there. So there's some deep conversations that are taking place, but we think this is a real win. And as I walk around this building, I really wanna thank Van Barton team for showing us around this amazing project and for the vision of moving forward with a project of this magnitude. It makes it clear, it makes it clear what we can do with more of our vacant office building. You know, we're talking about millions of square feet of office space. Even in those companies where people are remaining in their companies, there's a concept of downsizing. And so we have to think differently. And so we can do this together. It's about having partners in the state but also partners in the city council. And I am really pleased to be here with our finance chair, council member Brennan and speaker Adams, the leader of the council who are also aggressively understanding that we must partner together to plan to speed up. These office conversions and for raising their voices to keep the changes we need from the state. Now I also wanna thank just a real leader, the chair of the New York City Planning Commissioner, Commissioner Dan has been a real visionary. Even as a council person and now he's in this important role and job, he comes with every day his A game of how are we going to build more and how are we going to have our city's office adaptive reuse task force that he is in charge of. He's coming up with common sense solutions to the housing crisis and spending time in Albany as well. We've already been talking to the partners and the state legislators. We're excited about the outcome of really leading with our chief housing officer, Jessica Katz and deputy mayor for economic and workforce development, Maria Torres Springer. They have really pushed this agenda forward for our city. Our goal is to get this done, come up with some real victories out of Albany's. And we want to also keep pushing for an incentive to help property owners make much needed repairs in exchange for keeping homes affordable into the future. But we cannot forget, one of the most important things we can do is 421A. It's crucial that we get this done, even if we do a temporary version until we can hammer out the details, but we need an extension of the 428. This would allow construction to be completing an existing pipeline of affordable housing projects. It is crucial that we do so. This is not a giveaway. This is an incentive to get more affordable housing units in place. Without it, we simply will not be able to build affordable housing at the rate we need. We also make the case for more funding for nitro tenants, new regulations for basement and cellar apartments and a number of other important changes in investments. When you think about it and do a real analysis, the housing crisis of the 1920s, we built 750,000 new homes. More than three times the amount we've built in the last 10 years. We did it then and we could do it again. And not only can we do it again, we must do it again if we're going to address the housing crisis. Working with our partners in Albany and the city council, we can take the next major steps towards providing quality housing for all New Yorkers. New York must be a city where working people can live, thrive and generations can continue to aspire to be here from generation to generation. And this administration will lead in a way. And again, I want to bring on my partner in government, a city council member, Justin Brennan, who fully understands how important this moment is. Justin. Thank you, Mayor. When we passed the bill in the city council to create the task force to explore office to residential conversions, basically because I got tired of hearing people talking about can it be done? I went to the mayor and said, let's actually figure it out. Let's sit down, let's get the greatest minds we have and let's figure out if it can be done. And I think what's happening here is really an example of that, of putting a what if into action and a what if and a why not. Right now we're really in the throes of an affordable housing crisis. We're not in the throes of an office space crisis. We have too much unused office space and not enough housing. So it's really a no-brainer. It's one of those moments when everything just lines up and makes sense. Like the mayor said, we need our partners in Albany to incentivize these conversions to make it easier for developers to do this. If they have unused office space and we have such a need for affordable housing, this is the way to make it happen. We're gonna do everything on the city level to make it as easy as possible to go through this process, but we need our partners in Albany to really incentivize this and make it as easy as we can. This is something that almost 75% of New Yorkers support. Turning unused vacant office space into residential units, it has overwhelming support across the city and it's just really a common sense, no-brainer policy, but now we have to do everything we can to incentivize it to make sure that it gets done and makes it easier to get done. You're talking about maybe 40,000. If the blueprint that Dan's task force laid out, we could house about 40,000 families, over 20,000 units in the city just by converting unused office space into residential housing. So let's get it done. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Before we do that, why don't you or your son, why don't you come say a few words about this project, okay? I'll be very brief. Thank you for your time. Thank you, everyone, for your time and support. Creating a livable place for people to both socialize, work 24 hours a day, seven days a week rather than having a part of the city that is quiet a few days a week, active a few other days a week is vital. It creates a better community, a safer community and effectuating a change and enabling office buildings to become residential buildings is paramount. And we've done it at 180 Water Street. We're doing it here and a few other places in New York City and we continue to support the plan to keep that momentum going. So thank you. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Very much, very much. And for those of us who remember, pre-911, this was a 6 p.m. community. It was assigned to District 2, they're covered lower in Manhattan as a transit officer. 6 p.m., people were gone. Now this is a 24-hour, seven-day a week, people walking their dogs enjoying the nightlife and enjoying living down here. And so we've been here before and we cycled out of it. And so we're looking forward to it. Thank you for being a pioneer and forward thinking. As we turn this dream into a reality. Yep. Couple questions. If I wanted to rent a one-bedroom apartment here once it's done, how much would that roughly go for? What are some of the incentives that you're putting out there to get people on board? And what are some of the challenges with turning a space like this into residential? Okay, why don't we turn it over to you, Deputy Mayor, the rent part of it. You could give up the rent part of it, but Deputy Mayor. Thanks for your question. So what we're looking for in Albany is the ability to do a couple of things to make this type of conversion easier across the city. One is a change to what is called the multiple dwellings law to allow the conversion from office to residential. Right now, if you look at the map of where this type of conversion is allowed, it's really a patchwork depending on when a building is built and where it is in the city. So that's one part. The second part to your question though is we're also looking for authority for a tax exemption that would allow the possibility of affordability, affordable units whenever there is a conversion. So those are the two things that have to work hand in hand so that as there is conversion, there's the ability for more affordable units. I'll let Richard talk about this building. This is a market rate building and we're happy that it is converting to residential, but if we are successful with our partners in Albany, then what we'll see is not just the conversion to residential, but also the addition of affordable units because of that, the tax exemption and the incentive that will be made possible. Rents have started at about $3,000 a month and going up from there. How long did it take to convert one unit? How many units will be for floor? And we're talking about affordable housing crisis. How does the $3,000 unit help with an affordable housing crisis? Some people can't even afford to pay $1,000. No, what we have in the city is a housing crisis, a housing crisis. And the goal is to build low income, middle income and market and to sure up NYCHA. So it's not a one size fits all. We have the housing crisis. When I speak with my principal and police officer, they are having a housing crisis. So we don't wanna divide and separate our city. We have a housing crisis. And as the deputy mayor stated, that if we're able to incentivize the affordable units by putting money into it, like we did with other projects in the city, the Bruckner Project, Innovation Queens, the Willis Point Project, we're able to do so. So the game is to make sure we get the zoning to get out of the way so that we can use the creativity to address the housing, the housing crisis. Well, you're going on at a time. We got you, we got you. And so they wanna talk about the floors. All right. Can you see your names? Yeah, Joey, Kalleli. So overall, 588 units. And from start to finish, so we go systematically throughout the building from bottom up. So from the time we started until the time we get our first TCO for that set of units, it'll be 18 months, but overall completion of the project 24 months. So without the incentives, without, yes, Mark, you could answer, without the incentives that they're looking for, how did you decide to convert this? Like what economics were in play for you to do that? I think cost basis of our investment, which we purchased back in 2013, enabled us to be able to do it without incentives, but incentives would of course help with other people. The incentive, you were talking about like a revised 421A or something along those lines. Some critics of it have said it was too much of a giveaway in the passage that, so in Governor Hockel trying to possibly get something like this moving forward, not just the extender part, what advice do you have for her to kind of convince people that this is a good thing, to kind of create consensus? Great question. We should do a real analysis of how many projects are in the pipeline, how many projects have stalled. And as we talk about the housing crisis we're facing, to make sure that we can come up with a good 421 version that we all can live with, do we find 100% agreement on anything? No, you don't, but we can find a compromise that will continue to incentivize development of affordable units and at the same time, make sure that the price point remains affordable for low-income, middle-income New Yorkers as well. So we are excited about the conversations in Albany around our overall housing agenda, but it's crucial that we do need a 421A plan. Jessica, one of you. The, it will depend on what has ultimately passed, right? Because with each of these, with each of the incentive programs, the devil's usually in the details. So our goal is to make sure that it's the type of incentive program that makes sense to get the conversion, to get the affordability so that we are, we're not eroding our own goals. But we can follow up with specific estimates, but we're not trying to force anyone to do a conversion. What we're trying to do, as the mayor mentioned, is to get rid of all of the barriers, and there are many of them that exist today, regulatory, financial, to make these conversions possible because we have to use all of those tools to meet the housing crisis that has been dire and unrelenting over the course of the last several decades. So how many units are we going to have? What we're talking about, the percentage of the, or number of units that are going to be had that are affordable? This unit, this project here is market rate. This project here, our goal is to do the changes that we're talking about so that we can incentivize by putting in city resources to do affordable on low income and middle income, okay? You know, on this agenda, there's the office to residential conversions for 21A. What are some of the other items that the governor maybe didn't put in her budget that you're going to be pushing for where those at in terms of negotiations? Jessica, you wanna talk about some of the housing stuff? Sure, one thing we're looking for is to make sure that NYCHA gets support in the upcoming state budget. So that's something that we're working with Albany on as well, but we're very proud that for those in very large part, our housing agenda is very well aligned with the governor. So that's once in a generation opportunity to take a big swing on housing and we're really looking forward to it. Okay, thanks folks. I have an off topic there. Will you take a few off topics? We gotta go, we're just doing on a topic today. No off topics, no off topics. Thank you guys. Thank you.