Welcome back to Hayley Lately. Each month, this is where I chat about my life and what I’ve been up to in Melbourne. Keep reading to discover the book I couldn’t put down, my new favourite show and the best Melbourne eats.

LIFE LATELY

May was a good month around here. It included some monumental moments, which I will be talking about in a future blog post. But besides that, May began with me returning home from Townsville and heading straight back to work. I also hung out with one of my close work friends on more than one occasion. I’ll talk about where we ate below, but mid-week dates are the perfect way to break up the mundane working week in my opinion.

I also spent a couple of days taking photos all around Melbourne for the travel app I’m working on. We got graced with some perfect weather during the month (not so much now), so being paid to walk around in the sunshine and take photos was pretty damn sweet. One day I went from home – Fitzroy – the city – Albert Park Lake – St Kilda – Chapel Street – home. Phew!

EATING LATELY

We did a lot of eating out this month and it was ALL delicious! First stop was Shanghai Street Dumpling, which I’d heard made the best dumplings in Melbourne. There’s always a line, but we got there at 12 on a weekday and didn’t have to wait too long for a seat. We shared a spring onion pancake, as well as fried chicken and prawn dumplings, and xiaolongbao (steamed dumplings). I have to admit, I prefer fried dumplings and these were better than Shandong MaMa. They were also very reasonably priced – we paid $40 total for this and two drinks. We then decided we (naturally) needed to follow this with dessert, so we headed to the Godiva store in Emporium. I’d never been, but their soft serve ice cream is so creamy and dreamy. It’s also expensive.

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The next week we headed to Lygon Street, because I hadn’t actually visited in years. I did some Googling and discovered Papa Gino’s. Good choice, Hayley. We also enjoyed a bottle of wine for $20 – bargain! We followed this with a visit to Johnny’s Green Room, which is a rooftop bar. With skyline views, I can just imagine the summertime atmosphere here. But on the cool night we visited, we just had our drinks next to the heater.

But wait, there’s more. We also enjoyed brunch at ST ALi, which has to be one of Melbourne’s most popular cafes. My friend says the coffee is worth the hype and I did like my dish, but I thought it was a tad expensive. I finished the month with a morning meeting in the CBD. We headed to Brioche by Philip – yep, another place I’d never visited. It was a hot chocolate kind of morning, but I paired mine with a cinnamon bronut. O.M.G. It was better than a donut and now I need to return to try another of their delicious pastries.

READING LATELY

I read a casual six books this month and they were all basically romance novels (oops). Three of them were advanced reader copies thanks to NetGalley: Summer Under the Stars, A Summer to Remember and A Perfect Cornish Summer. I just realised they all have summer in the title 🤦. A Summer to Remember was definitely my favourite, followed closely by A Perfect Cornish Summer. 

Other books I read include More Than Words, which is set in New York City and follows a speechwriter dealing with the death of her father, a famous hotelier. Then there was You’d Be Mine, a YA book that was like the TV show, Nashville in book form. A very easy read. Finally, I’ve become a big fan of Taylor Jenkins Read lately, so I’m on a quest to read all of her books. This month I finished After I Do, which was an interesting novel about marriage and family. It wasn’t as good as her later books, but I still enjoyed it.

BLOGGING LATELY

Yay for getting some blog posts published this month! I also have others already scheduled for June – go me ;). Anyway, in case you missed them, in May I shared all the things to do in Auckland, as well as the best day trips from Auckland. I also finally wrote a guide to Chicago, just a few years after my visit. If you have any blog post recommendations, please let me know on social media or via the comments below.

WATCHING LATELY

Last week I actually started two new TV shows, because I needed something to fill the void after all of my favourite shows finished for the summer. I’m currently binge-watching S.W.A.T and Lucifer on Netflix, because I love a good cop show.

June is going to be a big month! Watch this space for news.

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