“What’s making us happy” is our weekly list of things we are drooling over or things we bought by impulse or purposefully as of late—anything to distract us from this gloomy quarantine and maddening real world, all the while helping local brands regain footing amid the economic disruption.

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One of the things I realized during quarantine was the importance of relaxation. With my mind always on edge because of all the things happening in the world, peace and quiet felt so, so different and, in a way, extremely beautiful. Thus, I made it a pledge to put “finding ways to stay calm and feel at ease” as one of the top priorities on my list.

Reading, baking and watching Korean dramas are some of the activities that have been giving me comfort currently. Aside from these, several tangible items have been helping me achieve peace of mind with the small joys that they give.

Meet my comfort drink: Banana milk

You’ve heard about comfort food, so now let’s talk about comfort drinks. Mine is banana milk, a popular Korean beverage—and it serves as my dose of happiness in a glass. Aside from being delicious, this drink is also nutritious as it also comes with the health benefits from banana itself. While I often go for store-bought banana milk (thank you, Korean mart near my village), it’s pretty easy to make this drink yourself, too.

My skin said SOS, so here we go

The last time I did proper skincare was during my second year in college. Come late nights spent staying up for theology and philosophy papers plus thesis season, all my skincare products have been tossed to the side simply because I was “too busy to even bother” slathering on at least moisturizer.

A few months into quarantine, I realized that this might be the perfect time to try and revive my skin’s old glow. After all, the reduced exposure to the sun and not having to wear makeup (as some of these products could clog the pores) during the daytime could work to my skin’s favor.

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Some of the local skincare products I picked up again were my witch hazel facial mist from The Beauty Bakery, vitaminizing face mask from Zero Basics and rose gel cleanser from In Her Element.

Catch me in my silk pajama #OOTDs

I’m not saying it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to be one of those people who work from home while dressed in pretty silk pajamas all day, but that’s how it seems to be. And truth be told, this home #OOTD is actually very comfy.

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I used to buy my silk pajama pairs from weekend bazaars and popup stores, but since it might be a long time before we get to have those types of shops again, I’ve resorted to checking out Instagram shops lately.

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Some of the pajama sets I’ve added to my “saved collection” on the app for my next shopping day are these light pink and dusty blue sets from Studio Lucine, panda-printed set from Feminism and berry-printed set from Pillowtalk Sleepwear.

Bedtime stories? Nah, let’s go for mythology podcasts

You can blame my penchant for mythology on the Percy Jackson series. Ever since I got my hands on a copy of “The Lightning Thief” in fourth grade during a Scholastic book fair, I’ve never stopped collecting mythology books for my own mini home library.

Recently, I stumbled upon the Mythology podcast by Parcast Network on Spotify. Amazingly enough, it features a wide variety of folklore from all over the world. Aside from popular ones like Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythologies, it also has stories from Chinese, South African, Polynesian, Vietnamese and Korean folklore.

This rich collection of tales had me hooked from the moment I browsed the podcast’s collection and before I knew it, I’ve been watching out for new episodes released every Tuesday.

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What’s making me happy: Plants, ceramic wares, katsu daster and making concrete pots

What’s making me happy: an Aeropress, scented candles and a murder mystery musical