(179/365) ~ (205/365) Mostly May Malarkey

Admittedly, keeping this 365 thing has been rather hard (in case you were wondering, my goal is to take a photo every day for a year.... I'm pretty deep into it!). I have worked myself into a habit of a. carrying my camera every where I go, b. taking a photo every day. My problem is c. the daily posting of the photo. If you dare to click back a few months, you'll see where the process starts to collapse....... I've come to realize that I really need to just do what I can, then be happy with the rest.

(179/365) New Day, Another New Planner

I wrote a small article a while ago about how I endlessly plan. This is a manifest of that truth. In case you were wondering... the book is from Liberty of London.

(180/365) Body Wow.

I blame this vice entirely on Audrey. In October of last year, I visited her and she introduced me to Sabon via her bath scrub. I purchased the body butter immediately after arriving back in DC, and now I've finally succumbed into buying the scrub. I took advantage of the free shipping. How the hell am I going to bring this to China?

(181/365) Hair of the Dog

I know this date was technically Cinco de Mayo, but it's amazing what you find amusing after tequila. Behold puppy zombies.

(182/365) Park Tavern Twenties

Yes, we've entered our mid-twenties. My GOD. This post is so belated now.... but Happy Birthday.

(183/365) Chinese, Illustrated.

or more importantly, why not? Chinese, as seen by my co-worker.

(184/365) Mother, have Hermes.

'Twas the night before Mother's Day and all through the house, a creature was stirring, she wasn't a mouse. A mother she was, she just couldn't wait. So I gave her the present, before the set date. Who wouldn't love it?

(185/365) Dim Sum Mum

Yum dim sum.

(186/365) Sleepiest cutest puppy


I love when living things resemble stuffed animals!

Hello Chester (the molester!)

(187/365) Hot inside

O how unassuming this burrito is. Little do you know of the hot heat of the chile relleno burrito a la Taco Veloz. Yes please. I will miss you.

(188/365) The writing process

Before I blog, sometimes I write.

(189/365) Rock me sexy Asia!

Another photo of Asian American Appreciation month at the VA. Love it. I still can't believe this is real.


(190/365) Sweating

That's how you know it's hot outside.

(191/365) Wrap it up

Twice? When in doubt, wrap it! Another thing I will be missing in China. Ah, the elusive icedream. Lactose free too!

(192/365) Hello, jello

Why Asia wins on the cute market.

(193/365) Sweet Southern Heat

Come down to Georgia for some sweet Southern heat, and I'm NOT talking about this hot sauce!

(194/365) Kitty pops

It's always a Hello Kitty hunt on the dailies by me, these were at Walgreens and I find them disgusting.

(195/365) Monkey Business

I saw these at work all the time. If you're asking, this may be an improper use of government property.

(196/365) Eyes on the Road!

I think this might have been  all kinds of dangerous. I never want to forgot driving in Atlanta on a rainy day after a long day of work.

(197/365) RED Friday

Hi schnicks! Post work sushi Friday night hang out session. BTW, those blue shoes with legs attached? Hers.

(198/365)  Where everyone knows your name

Don't you love when you go out with people, then... you happen to see all your friends all out at the same bar?

(199/365) Sunday Supper

I'm going to miss this.

(200/365) Playing with FILES

Monday, back to work blues. All I did was work with Files.

...then I came home and filed my nails. Filing files forces me to file nails.... and no, I don't do nails. (Another question asked by a co-worker at the VA)

(201/365) Ren DANG

Per the recommendations of my friend in London, I ordered the Beef Rendang at Top Spice and was pleasantly pleased. Can curry ever photograph well?

(202/365) Purse views

Inside my purse resides another purse and trash from the day before.

(203/365) Correction

On occasion, I do do nails. My own, with these cute nail polish colors I just bought!

(204/365) Straight from the Kitchen

@ Antico

*You may have noticed an increase influx of people showing up on these 365s, obvi it's because I'm going to miss my friends that I take for granted :(

(205/365) I seriously love this dress.

So pretty la! I know it's not practical to bring this China, but it wasn't practical buying it either. I'm just going to go ahead and say that perhaps I'm not the most practical person when it comes to giving up luxuries.

Listen here!

In case you were curious, Youtube is blocked in China, so I'm enjoying my time in the USA by sharing what I've been watching.



Florence and the Machine with the XX in You've Got the Love remix.

Sadly, I think the first time I heard this song was maybe on the Sex and the City movie, part un, two years ago. But I love it even more now!

I'm downloading a ton of music right now. Please give me suggestions if you're obsessed with anything. I'll probably love it.

HERE

Specifically, this province.

Yunnan, with it's capital at Kunming. Kunming, a small city with a reasonable amount of people...5.7 million people. No big. Yunnan, whose name literally means "South of the Clouds" or South of Heaven...

I'm moving here for two years. It's happening! I've put in my two weeks at my job and I've actually planned on packing. 

I'm obsessed with revenge.

Ha! Just kidding.

Actually I'm obsessed with this dress.

 Like... I really want it but it's nice and I would like it but I can't legitimize buying this thing because.. well..

Let's just have a look at the back, shall we?

Oh sigh, oh my. I love love love it. But NO, I can't buy this dress.. well, because I'm MOVING TO CHINA.

Glee kick!

You think I'm doing this for you, but really this is for me. This way I can stop clicking on YouTube and concentrate my clicks here.





Hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have.

Duet or Duel

I had to do it. I'm riding high on my love for NPH right now.

Sorry if you don't live in America. It's the Glee clip of Dream On.

ILY NPH

Everything Neil Patrick Harris touches turns to gold. Glee was amazing the past week... and so is this clip.

Jason Segal and NPH sing the confrontation song from Les Miz.

The Psuper Pseudo Intellectual

Dear Mr. Super Pseudo Intellectual,

I'm writing you this letter to tell you that I'm onto you. You think that just by sheer fact that you're both in school and at work that you're a hot shot? Sorry, son. Think again. Sadly, I think you may have the social skills of a high functioning Asbys. At first, I was impressed by the image that you projected, until I realized that it was just that, an image. Beneath that thin intellectual facade resides an ignoramus of monumental proportions. People who possess intelligence do not read while standing outdoors under an overhang of high traffic, when it's raining outside.

Sometimes when you think people aren't watching you, you exhibit the slackjaw. Or, in more simpler terms, the dumb jaw combined with the empty eye. It's a combination that can't be beat and when observed, rather telling. A combination of lack of comprehension and the acknowledgment that you know you should be able to understand this very simple concept with the added resolve to be better than all of your cohorts, I'd like to say I know what this feels like, but I don't.

To prove yourself smarter than others, you intellectual man, you, you've determined that the only way is to ask questions of which you already know the answers. Yeeeeeees. That'll show them. But it doesn't. Sadly, it just makes me loathe you even more. Look Mr. Pseudo Intellectual, I'm not expecting you to quote Shakespeare and disseminate the theories of Nietzsche. Just don't tell a four minute lead-in to a question so broad that it's impossible to answer.

Do you realize that using big words isn't the end-all be-all of exhibiting intelligence? Especially when you're using them incorrectly. That's rather embarrassing, isn't it? You know what isn't? The arrogance that you possessed while using the term

ANECDOTAL

instead of

HYPOTHETICAL, three times in five minutes in a room of fifteen people. You really didn't think that people would catch on?

All I got from that egregious misuse of words was that you don't understand word usage, which is a basic function of communication. So, Mr. Pseudo Intellectual, I'm onto you. I know what sort of role you're trying to portray yourself as, and sadly this is official notification of FAIL.

Loosen up and enjoy life. Slow down because it looks like you're gonna be staying awhile.

Nice try, VA.

As some of you may know (and if you work at a government job, you would) this month is National Asian/Pacific Islander American Heritage Month and it's being celebrated in the work place! February was African American heritage and March was Women's, this month is for the Asians slash Pacific Islanders! Yay! That's great right? I'm Chinese and the big boss of the VA is Japanese.......... Yeaaaaah. I was SO WRONG. In a memo written on the Secretary of Veterans of Affairs, Secretary Shinseki was described as "Japanese American- or more generally, Asian American."

I laughed out loud. First of all, who wrote this article and who MORE GENERALLY labels someone? Oh right. I work for the VA where diversity is pretty limited, as I've come to find. Look my friends, just because I'm Chinese doesn't mean I know what sort of vegetables "Chinese vegetables" on a take out menu means. It also doesn't mean that I know how a dish is cooked. A guy hitting on me asked me if I owned a kimono. Good one, buddy. It boggles the mind that these are questions that have come out of the mouths of adults that have somehow managed to live for more than 2+ decades.

Well, back to celebrating Asian Month at the workplace. I don't know what I expected... I guess, well... here's my baseline. For African American month, there was a huge display of African tribal arts, photos of influential African Americans, and even a daily intercom message of the bio an important African American that we, as VA employees were FORCED TO LISTEN. For Asian Heritage Month, I guess I just expected about about 50% of that. Maybe a nice display in the front hall? No one likes reading and having to listen to bios anyway.

To my dismay, I saw this placed in the elevator banks last week.

I have a high tolerance for things, but even I began to feel a bit insulted. Let's go over this poster corner by corner, shall we? I've circled a few things that I wanted you to focus on.

TOP LEFT:

CENTER:

BOTTOM LEFT:The pixels that I'm talking about are on the actual poster itself. My camera is awesome.

Nice try. I don't feel honored at all. I feel disgusted, but why stop on the 1st floor when there are three more to observe?

Ding! You've just come upon the second floor and what do you see?

Oh, just a Japanese sun painted by someone from Diversitystore.com, that's where they got these posters from.

Third floor, right in front of the Manager's Office.

NICE TRY, VA.  WOW. Things just keep getting better. I guess, I would have to say, thanks VA, for perpetuating that Asian Pacific Americans are hard working, slanty eyed nerds who carry lunch boxes, who are all mustard yellow skinned, chemists, astronauts and other various hardworking white collar workers. It must be the style of the art, but I could have SWORN THAT ASIAN PEOPLE HAD EYES. How is that police officer supposed to protect American when he can't see?

Ding! Fourth floor, right in front of the Director's office.

Is this honoring the Silk Road? BACK WHEN AMERICA DIDN'T EXIST? I'm not sure I understand what this is? Tons of Asians hang out together and trade? Some of them are doctors, others congregate tightly while making transactions, and let's not forget the favorite of the soldiers in the Vietnam, front and center, the prostitute. AWESOME. This, too, is from Diversitystore.com. 

Hey, HR, I think you would have had better luck if you had just posted pictures of Hello Kitty everywhere. All FOUR of the Asians in the office of 300+ might have liked it more, I know I would have.. and I'm 25% of those being appreciated.

Thanks for perpetuating stereotypes and showing just how much you don't care.

... oh and I had to read a mini-bio on Bruce Lee yesterday. I can't wait for what's in store on Monday. 

The Too Sexy Girl

You have to love the Too Sexy Girl. Thanks to my time in the sorority and just enjoying the art of people watching, I’ve come to meet many a Too Sexy Girl. She’s the girl that isn’t bad looking but more than anything she wants to be sexy. She has to try really hard, and finally, when you see her, she’s Too Sexy.

That extra exposed shoulder, the dress with the V so deep that we also have photos of the tops of her bra cups, tube tops combined tragically with even shorter shorts and very tall heels? Too much, she just has too much showing.

The Too Sexy Girl is always posing with one finger on her lips, lips pursed, or hip cocked with body posed contrapposto. Frankly, it’s overkill.

The Too Sexy Girl isn’t without friends. Actually, she may have many a worshipper, usually of the mousy brown hair sidekick who is fine without the Too Sexy girl but just doesn’t know it. Sadly, it’s friends like these that keep the Too Sexy Girl revved and always ready for some self-perceived “crazy” exploits. In reality, her activities are exactly like the rest of American society.

You know you’re talking to someone who is Too Sexy, when she wants to leave a perfectly comfortable seat so she can take full body photos by herself. The Too Sexy Girl may be a fan of the self photo.

The final kicker of the Too Sexy Girl is that she isn't actually fun. Frankly, she may look a hot mess, but under that carefully smudged eye makeup resides a girl that is very critical of her image. Hot mess on the outside, hot mess on the inside. So, what, you may ask, is the next sexy step, Too Sexy Girl? She doesn't know!

Be careful with a Too Sexy Girl, clueless worshippers, you may find that your Too Sexy friend will leave you for any little ego boost that talks to her!

 The Too Sexiest of them all.

Chuck Norris is still funny!

Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because Chuck Norris only recognizes the element of surprise.

Mud Pie Cupcakes!

Crushed oreos + icing + Devil's food cupcakes = The second day in a row that I had to bring cupcakes to work. I was exhausted, so I knew I wasn't going to have a repeat of the cakes from the day before! Ta-Da.

Cupcake Crazy

Last week I had multiple events where I needed to bring in food. One of those days was our team's Spring Fling. Now, I know when I said Spring Fling, you thought dance. In a way, it's a dance but with food, which mainly involved ribs, chicken, and tons of barbecue and butter based side dishes. I love the South. Of course, I wanted to impress the team, so I baked some cupcakes and really put some time into it this time.

First, I couldn't decide what colors to mix with the icing... so I made a lot of them. I mixed the icing in cups, so they're easy to sort and cool as I'm working with them.

While I was sorting through my icing tips, I realized that I had one that makes petals!

 Gorgeous right? I added a bits of green, then placed the petals just so.. and Voila!

Here's a random sampling of some of the prettier mini-cupcakes!

(click to enlarge)

Shopping Spree for Mom and Me!

Happy Mom's Day! In deference to this glorious holiday, I've been doing a lot of what my mother and I do best, shopping.

What is Mom's Day but not a giant shopping holiday? What does my mother want more in the world more than my happiness?

I obliged.

After I stopped at Hermes, which is located in Atlanta next to Fados (to my surprise), I dropped by Lenox and found a few things that were pleasing to mine eye.

Starting with this at Anthropologie:

Castle Lake Dress

Then, these at J.Crew!

Lilac Shower Shift Dress

Poplin Wednesday Skirt

Combined with this found at RueLala (yes, I actually have bought these on there):

daniblack "Illusion" Lace-Up Flat Oxford

I can proudly say that with all my presents combined, I did not spend as much as I did on #1, which today, is my mother. I can feel guilty, perhaps tomorrow. Yay summer! Yay Mom's Day!