https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards daily 0.75 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards/postcards-leaking-belly monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards/postcards-hunting-games monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards/postcards-push-the-broken-edges-straight-into monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards/blog-post-title-four-lr658-tcthp-wf5mw-7dyek monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards/blog-post-title-three-y3peb-4lwnz-5pkhf-2yjdh monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/postcards/the-river-crossing-soldier monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/gritty-city daily 0.75 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/gritty-city/Blog Post Title One-3zaa9-zlxng-67tfc-6rnlc monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/gritty-city/a-manhattan-couple monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/gritty-city/blog-post-title-three-y3peb-4lwnz-5xrlp-2cz7s monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/gritty-city/Blog Post Title One-3zaa9-zlxng-xbkmm-e9ebj monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/secret-island daily 0.75 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/secret-island/Blog Post Title One-3zaa9-zlxng-xbkmm-54sdt monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/secret-island/blog-post-title-two-t5my5-k4xmd-47fwc-ycza5 monthly 0.5 2026-05-08 https://www.birdiefalling.com/making-a-tax-deductible-donation-to-a-public-school daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051280747-0X9XE6F91CAVKS62ED60/IMG_3693.jpg Making a Tax Deductible Donation to a Public School - Thanks for bringing me home! The humorously large tree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051280756-YEGGPXE1EGS7RRSYV1Z6/IMG_3683.jpeg Making a Tax Deductible Donation to a Public School - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.birdiefalling.com/plants-and-plant-lights daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051283245-5HRIDGUQD506VVISUIBP/IMG_4095.jpeg Plants and Plant Lights - Plants and Plant Lights for Dark Corners https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051283254-QLNW1Q85IPU87LSZZFUN/1-1.jpg Plants and Plant Lights - So, if you feel like sprucing up your dark corners and if plants bring you joy, give this simple setup a try. Here’s what you’ll need: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051283263-MRVLGL2C85LKSKID4G90/unnamed-2.jpg Plants and Plant Lights - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051283271-UTMBXMQYZK4BT7H4HZQV/IMG_4097.jpg Plants and Plant Lights - Even without natural light, this ZZ with its thick, green leaves doubled in size in a matter of months! I had to move it to this corner to give it more space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051283280-IGU1A7CZDIENGJYWUTHT/IMG_1904.jpeg Plants and Plant Lights - In the middle of winter I found there was, in my apartment, a small army of Prayer Plant flowers. https://www.birdiefalling.com/under-construction daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://www.birdiefalling.com/evening-in-nyc daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051286909-DF3SW8AVM2P42AV02ARR/IMG_0984-2.jpg Evening in NYC - Favorite Evening in NYC Fellow New Yorker here, sharing the short and sweet about things to do in town. One of my favorite evening itineraries is (1) a dinner and (2) a show at Times Square followed by (3) a piano bar where you can sing Broadway tunes with people who know every lyric to every Broadway song. If you’re visiting town and could use an evening itinerary, here are the details: 1. Dinner in Hell’s Kitchen Some of my favorite NYC evening vibes are in Hell’s Kitchen, especially on Fridays. Here, people are coming straight from their Midtown offices to meet their friends and everyone is excited for the weekend. For those who don’t know, Hell’s Kitchen is a neighborhood in New York City. It’s famous as a hub for actors and artists, and it is one of the best places to eat in town. You’ll find a wide variety of cuisine from various ethnicities, including Chinese, Greek, Italian, Irish, Mexican, Thai, and many more. Totto Ramen has lately been my go-to. Friday/weekend evenings can be bit busy, so unless you’re fine strolling around for an open table I suggest making a reservation at your Hell’s Kitchen restaurant. 2. Some Live Entertainment Option A: Broadway Show Hell’s Kitchen is just a short walk to Times Square where visitors can bask in the electricity of evening Broadway. Just to say it, Broadway has some of the best live entertainment that the world has to offer. People will be standing in lines at the various Broadway theaters, and they will be dressed up or dressed down as they please—this is a chance to show your authentic self. There are many shows to choose from, but if you’re new to the scene consider catching a fun classic like The Lion King. Option B: Drunk Shakespeare Broadway tickets a little too expensive at the moment? No problem at all. There are other forms of live entertainment that are just as fun and quintessentially New York. I love catching a strong drink and a show at Drunk Shakespeare. In this intimate theater, you are feet away from intoxicated cast members who will fumble their way through one of several of Shakespeare’s famous plays. I’ve learned through these shows that Hamlet is best when performed with a drunk cast. It is riotously fun and I’m planning to visit again soon. As with any show, you’ll want to book your tickets in advance. 3. A Night Cap At Marie’s Crisis Café My last stop would be Marie’s Crisis Café, a popular local piano bar where many Broadway aficionados go after the shows. They offer late-night snacks and drinks, and the entire bar belts their hearts out to Broadway tunes until the early hours of the morning. Most people stand and surround the piano and sing and lose their voices in the process. Imagine singing tunes from Phantom of the Opera and Wicked with an entire bar of people who know all the lyrics—I get goose bumps. If there is a line outside the door and you can’t stand the wait, the plus side is that there are other great bars in the very near vicinity. Still, I recommend waiting. Enjoy! https://www.birdiefalling.com/balayage-on-dark-brown-hair daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051287716-GA3P787MYNWDC5PDPROB/EF89A432-A03B-4958-86E4-84989695C7D7.jpg Balayage on Dark Brown Hair - Balayage on dark brown hair. I gave hair lightening through balayage highlights a shot, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. If you aren’t sure what balayage is, it’s a specific technique where color is painted on the hair for a more graduated effect. I was a busy grad student, and the stylist advised that this method would keep me from having to visit the salon every time my roots started to show because they would mostly blend into the layer of colors. Since I have dark brown hair, we had to bleach it fairly heavily to eventually paint in the copper tones. With bleach, my hair wanted to become the color of Big Bird, but the stylist was diligent and I think in the end my hair passed. Check out the picture on this page and let me know if you disagree. Ultimately, balayage wasn’t a lifestyle I wanted to upkeep. But, if you’re bored with dark brown hair and wondering if balayage highlights are for you, consider the following: 1. Balayage on dark brown hair can be a gamble. You’ll want to find a trusted hair stylist in your area who understands how bleach might react to your hair and who is willing to put in the hours to paint your color layers. Mine had experience working with Asian hair and dark brown hair using this technique, and that was comforting. 2. Cost of upkeep. Unlike dyeing your hair and coming in for touchups when the roots show, balayage doesn’t require as much upkeep. However, each trip to the salon can be costly and do remember to tip your stylist. I waited about three months before a touch-up, which in New York was about $250 including tip. https://www.birdiefalling.com/diving-in-malapascua daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051289261-B783KLLXJ8Y6BWWCJJGS/Dive+Card.JPG Diving in Malapascua - Diving with Thresher Sharks in Malapascua. I was that middle schooler who drew Naruto characters in class and so becoming a diver chick, let alone a diver chick actively looking for sharks, was not something I or anyone else would have imagined I’d do. No one I knew was a diver. I always imagined it was one of those activities wealthy people did on exotic vacations (i.e., not me, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks). Then I stumbled on Thresher Shark Divers who welcomed me into the diving world. Here is the email I sent to my future diving school to show exactly how clueless (and still bad at grammar) I was: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051289271-CK88WASDST046JUQET5L/to+use.png Diving in Malapascua Sigh. Oh that brave, sweet summer child. The point is if I could do it with little money, research, or planning, you can become an advanced diver searching for the kittens of the sea with a modicum of money, research and planning: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051289279-MM2VPPEZZI752MAEZ7LI/Island+Pic.jpg Diving in Malapascua - 1. Make your way to Malapascua Island. Go to the Philippines. Just do it—it’s fun. Malapascua Island is a relatively short trip from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, which is also a great place to start your Philippines adventure given its access to numerous other Philippine islands. From the airport, I suggest splurging on a private transport, but you can also board a bus to Maya Harbor where you will take a ferry to the island. Once you arrive on the island, your transportation choices may be limited to the motorcycle drivers who hang out at the port, so you’ll want to consider packing lightly to avoid my situation (riding on a motorbike balancing a hard suitcase through dirt roads). Thresher Shark Divers gives a helpful breakdown of transportation options here. For those staying with them, they also offer a reasonably priced private transport. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051289289-B9Y0JK9FPUK3KSB26W1B/Scuba+Cat.jpg Diving in Malapascua - 2. Find your way to Thresher Shark Divers. There may be other good diving schools that offer trips to see the thresher sharks, but everyone I’ve sent to Thresher Shark Divers to learn diving and to swim with sharks enjoyed their stay. Definitely check with Thresher Shark Divers prior to your trip to book a room and to book your diving experience. They will tell you what your class options are, and they will likely give you materials prior to your trip so you can save instruction time by doing some of the readings on the airplane. As is standard, we were required to decompress after a dive, so I spent the time after diving lessons napping on the resort’s beach, meeting the other tourists at the resort’s restaurant, and catching up on my diving lessons with a very friendly cat. Of course, there was also the island to tour! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051289298-Z3HJOGA5ESEN389SLO47/Whale+shark.jpg Diving in Malapascua - I wasn’t able to snap a picture of the thresher sharks, but here is a whale shark from a separate Philippines diving trip! Awww, pretty baby. https://www.birdiefalling.com/the-perfect-white-bag daily 0.75 2026-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051290310-T0SMFEFB6BCB54PMI8K0/IMG_4099-2.jpg The Perfect White Bag - Finally, the Perfect White Bag https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051290319-FN2O2GU1NDPF2CDKXTLV/IMG_1859.jpg The Perfect White Bag - (Crop of random picture with the bag here you go.) https://www.birdiefalling.com/home daily 1.0 2026-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511387030-5LI1E5QMVTQ2RY9S00A4/20140228_Trade+151_0046+1.jpg Home I Writing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511467879-K5J9BYNACHJVDV3BNSFU/Aro+Ha_0387+1.jpg Home I Writing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1618511743693-J3A8OYH6X8C7RXNU5K0J/20140301_Trade+151_0124+1.jpg Home I Writing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/93f088ed-cbec-401f-ab49-31fe5f777a3e/aritra-roy-G9b4i6BxyVY-unsplash.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/12534709-8359-40e5-ad62-42d37ac23e97/ad55ccdb-7feb-41da-acdb-1f48cdcbb27c_1170x680.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/d20fe087-e982-4b2d-a559-42225e18eb2a/435abf0e-1e8c-4460-b4a3-1a0044dce84c_1170x977.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/b4423eb2-35f7-48a7-9be1-c6e495e786d4/2143d759-3b65-465b-b531-b1d7cce943eb_1170x614.jpg https://www.birdiefalling.com/about daily 0.75 2026-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1774051288513-8FM95RA3AOKHT6O61N8T/Grandma.JPG About https://www.birdiefalling.com/books daily 0.75 2026-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bddfcd9e395712f46c78b5/1c495088-2441-4167-aadc-f37eba6797cd/61fxMfF5aHL._SL1500_.jpg