Welcome to my site!
Hi, I am Pooja, a lover of all sweet things and a curious individual with very diverse interests. I like to do a lot of things and spend a lot of time in my head. This website combines both of those traits as I document what I have been doing, making, reading, or even watching and what my thoughts were about them a long the way. Feel free to have a look around and I hope at least something catches your eye!
Latest Posts
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April June Books Roundup
8th June 2026Look, I know there are a lot of books on here, and I should have split the list. But I wanted to have even month pairs, like the next post would be (July-August), not (June-July). Besides, it is my blog. I think the books I read in this quarter are going to be some of the best ones I read this ye...
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My Gripe with Grimace
8th June 2026Back in 2024, McDonald’s released the Grimace Shake in New Zealand and used its mascot to advertise it. I thought Grimace would make a cute plushie, but I couldn’t find any cute ones online. Then I had an idea, “Why don’t I make one?” I had purple yarn and a crochet set from ages ago that I could...
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Moving through Melbourne
20th May 2026Back in December 2024, I had an outing with one of my university friends who had relocated to Melbourne and was telling me to come visit. I was keen to take that offer, but then I ended up going to other places, so it fell by the wayside. Early in the year when I saw that Australia tickets were o...
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I graduated, now what?
14th May 2026Last week, I finally graduated with my Master of Engineering degree. I completed my thesis in July 2024, received corrections in December 2024, and submitted them in January. I was eligible to graduate last year in May. But I received the email on the last day of application, when I had just gott...
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Is it a Matcha made in heaven?
31st March 2026Sometimes you see a good deal and can’t help yourself. Like when I found a 2kg Vanilla casein protein powder on clearance because the bottle was damaged. The problem is that having vanilla protein powder on its own is a little boring. To combat this problem, I have been mixing it with other thing...
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January to March Book Roundup
30th March 2026In 2026, I decided that I was only going to read 10 books this year, and most of them would be from my over 500-page list. A lot of them are actually political memoirs, and with the current political climate, I guess I will go read them. I mean, I haven’t cleared them out of my TBR for some reaso...
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My night with a Lorde…
13th February 2026If you were my age in NZ, you would constantly hear about three girls: Malala Yousafzai, Lydia Ko, and Ella Yelich-O’Connor (aka Lorde). Lorde, our very own pop sensation, was inescapable in 2012-2014, especially with her breakout hit Royals. Lorde and I are the same age, and we also share the st...
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Silk, Sequins, and Saris: My experience shopping in India (well, part of)
31st January 2026I was in India for the last two months, I was there for one wedding but ended up going to at least five. This time, I didn’t do much sightseeing; I just went shopping and went to weddings. So, to commemorate my time there, I thought a fun topic to cover would be my experience shopping for wedding...
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November-December Book Roundup
30th December 2025For November and December, the books I chose had been on my list for a while, and finally, I had the time to read them. I was really busy with my birthday, baking, and packing for my trip to India, but I still managed to find some time to read. My Goodreads goal this year was to read 40 books, an...
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It's time and I am here for it all!
8th December 2025It’s time! and now that Spotify Wrapped came out to the surprise of no one, Mariah Carey was my top artist. This is the third time in a row, but she has always been in my Top 5 since I started using Spotify. I was in her top 0.02% of listeners, and she may be the Queen of Christmas, but she rules...
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Keeping it 100s and 1000s
21st November 2025There seems to be a gap between this post and my last one. It just took me so long to get the website done, and I refused to add more posts until it was live. But I have been doing things apart from reading. One of those things is baking! I made a jelly island cake and have been practising my lat...
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Revisiting the Hunger Games
1st November 2025With the new Hunger Games book coming out, I decided it would be a good time to reread the entire series. I first came across the Hunger Games in 2012 after the movie. I didn’t really get the film, but I was going through a not like other girls phase, so I hated everything popular. But I like to ...
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September-October Book Roundup
31st October 2025This year is kind of zooming by for me. But to be honest I had kind of given up on the year in July. I remember coming back to NZ and being like wait a minute I still have five months left. There are still so many goals I could achieve. Granted I didn’t make much progress on them. But there were ...
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July-August Book Roundup
31st August 2025The months of July and August feel like they went by quickly all I really did was unpack and try and get into my new home routine. I also began working on the website and all the hunger games books apart from the last one came all at once so I read less than I would like. Here are some of the boo...
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All the books I read in Europe
2nd July 2025I read a mix of different books while I was in Europe. I hoped to read books set in the places I was going to and books I could find on Libby, which were also on my to-read list. Many of the books I chose were taken from Jack Edward’s YouTube video of Books that he would give six stars if he coul...
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Loitering through London
25th June 2025I always wanted to go to England and thought I would eventually make my way here. I didn’t put England, specifically London, on a pedestal, but many books I read as a child, and even now, were written by British authors or set there. When I learned that the moon looks different in the Northern he...
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Beyonce, I saw Beyonce!
16th June 2025I think I first became a fan of Beyoncé in 2013. A little late, I know! But 2013 was the year I started caring about music. I don’t think I knew that Halo, Run the World, and Crazy in Love were by Beyoncé before that. Back then, I knew more of the rumours about famous people than what made them f...
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Zooming through Zurich
4th June 2025My sister told me Switzerland is like the South Island in NZ, but more expensive. She is not wrong. I was blown away by the prices. I didn’t even bother to look at the bubble tea prices, God knows how much francs it would’ve been! We arrived at the Zurich train station early in the morning and ro...
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Frank apologies to Frankfurt
3rd June 2025Frankfurt was a city added on because it was between Amsterdam and Italy. We didn’t have any concrete plans for the city. First, we checked our bags at the hotel, and one thing I noticed about Germans is that they are very nonchalant. On the train the conductor just took our word when we said we ...
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Aimless in Amsterdam
2nd June 2025From Brussels we took a train to Amsterdam. I remember seeing many wind turbines on the train and wondering, “Why are there so many wind turbines?” Then I remembered how famous Dutch windmills were, so they had obviously replaced those with wind turbines. Such a doh moment. We arrived at our trai...
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Bustling in Brussels
30th May 2025We wanted to go to Belgium for the waffles, the chocolates, and the fries. So, we decided to go to Brussels. Brussels is not only the capital of Belgium but also the de facto capital of the European Union. There is a lot to see and do. Unfortunately, when we were booking hotels, we only booked on...
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Being Picky in Paris
29th May 2025I am just warning you, this will be a mean and unfair take on Paris. I doubt the French would expect anything less. Now, before you dismiss my musings from the perspective of someone who had a romanticised view of the city from films and TV, I assure you that’s not the case. I know the Paris synd...
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Basking in Barcelona
27th May 2025Barcelona is a very popular city for tourists and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. I feel it’s where the British go for the sun! Barcelona is known for its football team and the works of the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. We took the train from Barcelona to Madrid but were still hesitant about b...
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Moving through Madrid
24th May 2025For Spain, I oversaw researching what to do there. I did my research and also what to be aware of as a tourist. There were many warnings about pickpocketing, and people are out to scam you, be careful about your belongings and safety, etc. So, we were a bit concerned, but it was fine when we went...
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Navigating through Naples
20th May 2025We took a train from Rome to Naples; it was scenic as you can see parts of the coastline. We were lucky it was a lovely day. It was a cultural shock when we got off the train at the station. Naples was different after Rome, Venice, and Florence; those cities are bright, open, and relatively clean...
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Roaming through Rome
18th May 2025After Pisa, we took the train to Rome, my sister, Janki’s favourite city. She loves Greek and Roman history, and with how much there is to see, I can see why. Rome is like the bedrock of ancient Western civilisation, with the Roman Empire still influencing our modern-day political structures. Eve...
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Flying in Florence and Pisa
15th May 2025From Vicenza, we started our journey through Italy, leading to Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and finishing in Italy again. This would be around three weeks of travel. We (my sister, Janki, and I) had booked most of the places we wanted to visit, our flights, and h...
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Visiting Venice and Verona
12th May 2025My sister wanted to go to Europe with me because we were both unemployed simultaneously, and she said If not now, then when? I was hesitant because I felt I should be trying to get back into job hunting. But I guess I wouldn’t have much holiday leave later on in life and would probably have more ...
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So I made a website
26th April 2025One of my goals last year was to create a website so that I can showcase all the projects I have in mind. As with most of my goals last year, it rolled on to this year. So, this year I decided to bite the bullet and decided my first project would be to create a website.