Hello! I’m Shelly, and on special occasions you can find me enjoying a bag of hot cheetos with a glass of champagne. I think it lends well to my life philosophy: Spicy, but keep it classy.
This blog is called “Shelly in Real Life” because I like to keep it real with you. I’m a no-BS kind of person, so you can trust that if I’m raving about something here, that I’ve tried it myself, I’m actually super into it and am not getting paid to say positive things (but I really do appreciate you clicking on those affiliate links 😉).
I started this blog more than 10 years ago as a creative outlet to talk about whatever I found interesting… kind of like my personal LiveJournal (haha, remember those?). For a while, I focused a lot on food and travel. Nowadays, I’m just figuring out how to keep it together and function as a full time adult.
Here’s 5 reasons why you might like this blog:
1. You’re food obsessed.
Hubs and I got married in the foodie capital of the world, San Sebastian, Spain, because we love food so much. If you love food too, you should check out this blog post: Top 10 Pintxo Bars in San Sebastian + How to Eat Like a Local
2. You have a “workout to eat” type of mentality.
Unfortunately I don’t have the genes of a skinny asian girl that will allow me to eat whatever I want and not become morbidly obsese, so I often have to try new ways of staying fit while not killing my soul with a boring diet. This means that I’m a serial fad diet-tryer. I recently wrote a free 63-page e-book about my two favorite food cleanses: the Clean Cleanse and Whole30.
3. You like detailed itineraries for international travel.
In my college days, I studied abroad three different semesters (Hong Kong, Sydney and Semester at Sea). My love for travel is strong, so people often ask me for vacation ideas. Here’s my write-up on 14 days in Italy. And another on How to Plan a Trip across South America and My 2 Week Itinerary.
4. You want to know where to eat good food.
You know how some people get hangry? Well, I get super pissed when I eat a bad meal when I travel. I can best describe this feeling as Food FOMO: because you’re missing out on the better food you could have had. Also, there’s nothing worse than wasted calories (mainly because of #2: I have to work out so hard to eat!)
My restaurant recs are here to help you live your best foodie life and maximize your time, money, and stomach space. Since I lived in NYC for 5 years, people like to ask me for recs. Here’s a good place to start: NYC Eats: What I ate in my last 30 days as a New Yorker
5. You like to learn new things and want a confidence boost from a fellow beginner.
Ever looked up how to do something on the internet and find that everyone who’s showing you what to do is too much of an expert? Like their perfection is making you not even want to start? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Wouldn’t it be nice to just see people fuck up once in a while and tell you about their mistakes?
As I pick up new hobbies or try new things, I like to document things that I tried and messed up on so you can hear from someone who also has no idea what they’re doing so you can learn from the mistakes of a beginner.
Here’s my tips on Learning Calligraphy: 5 Things You Need to Know as a Beginner.
