Archive: April, 2011

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 40)

April 29th, 2011 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), resolutions 2011, wanderlust 20 comments - Tags: , ,


1.


Yesterday’s VEDA submission is a blooper and deleted scenes reel. I’m a little sad about this because I mindlessly deleted a lot of unused footage, completely forgetting about the obligatory blooper reel.


Youtube Link


2.


During today’s VEDA submission, I talked about how Alan and I bought lottery tickets and how I haven’t checked the numbers yet.


Youtube Link

For those of you without video capabilities, I listed off things I’d do if we won the jackpot. Namely, pay off my student loans, pay off my brother’s student loans, buy my parents a nice place and sell their current home and business, pay of bestie’s mortage, go to grad school, travel, invest, and save. Whew.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

P.S. I just checked, no millions for Alan and me. How crushing.


3.

13 more days to Boston to visit bestie :).
14 more days to lunching in Rhode Island with bestie.
15 more days to road trip to New Hampshire and Vermont with bestie.

After all that, I’ll be crossing off three more states in my fifty state endeavor. Wut wut!


4.


I passionately love Houston. I always find myself defending my hometown because it’s not very popular. People complain about the traffic, about how it takes 20-30 minutes to get anywhere, and the weather. I like to say, the 20-30 minute drives are so very worth it when you reach your destinations. The food scene in Houston is fantastic. The medical scene in Houston has always been world renown. Houston is awesome dangit. Just let me introduce it properly to you!


5.


Jumping off of number 4, I came across this passage of All My Friends Are Going to be Strangers. It felt so nice to read loving words about my hometown.

Houston was my companion on the walk. She had been my mistress, but after a thousand nights together, just the two of us, we were calling it off. It was a warm, moist, mushy, smelly night, the way her best nights were. The things most people hated about her were the things I loved: her heat, her dampness, her sumpy smells. She wasn’t beautiful, but neither was I. I liked her heat and her looseness and her smells. Those things were her substance, and if she had been cool and dry and odorless I wouldn’t’ have cared to live with her for three years. We were calling it off, but I could still love her. She still reached me, when I went walking with her. Her mists were always a little sexy. I felt, in leaving her, the kind of gentleness I never got to feel with Sally. Its expression might be stroking a shoulder, or something. I had had such good in Houston, and stroked her shoulder for an hour or two, in the night. Then, when she was really sleeping, I went home. I wanted to be gone when she woke up.


6.


Tonight, I’m finally crossing something I’ve had on my life list since 2001. I’m going to see a movie at a drive-in theater! I’ll be watching Back to the Future with my dude tonight at a mini drive-in. I’ve always wanted to do something like this and thought I’d have to drive to Nowhere, Texas to get this crossed off, but nope! The drive-in is just in Austin’s backyard. What a joyous opportunity!


7.

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ Stumbling on a pretty Vietnamese cook book at the library, thus reminding me of my new year’s resolution of learning 10 Vietnamese dishes ♥ fresh seafood ♥ eating 5 delicious Pao de Queijos in one sitting ♥ the last two books I’ve read having Austin and Houston as backdrops (complete surprises) ♥ funny arguments with Alan ♥ scheming adventures with girlfriends that involve a huge hill and mini road-trip ♥ dark chocolate orange almond bar ♥ a delightful warm chocolate chip cookie


Question: How would you spend 5 million dollars?

VEDA – Sick :(

April 27th, 2011 · · VEDA, videos 12 comments - Tags:

Today’s VEDA (Vlog Every Day in April) submission is a bit of a downer. I’m sick.


Youtube Link

For those of you who can’t see the video, I talked about what I do when I’m sick. Sleep (hello, 4.5 hour nap), take vitamins, and drink OJ.


Question: What do you do when you’re sick to get better?

VEDA – Being Prepared

April 26th, 2011 · · pursuit of happiness, VEDA, videos 23 comments - Tags:

Today’s VEDA (Vlog Every Day in April) vlog is me listing off ways I am prepared for catastrophes.


Youtube Link

If you do not have video capabilities, here’s the list of random ways I’m prepared:

  • Umbrella in the car
  • Umbrella at the apartment
  • Generic black heels in the car
  • Generic black flip flops in the car
  • Emergency fund to last about a year
  • Always keep a book on me
  • GPS system
  • Clean pair of socks in the car (just in case I get a random invite to bowling)
  • Extensive first aid kit in the car that includes disposable blanket and flares


Question: In what ways are you prepared?

VEDA – Why We Food Blog

April 24th, 2011 · · savory, VEDA, videos 13 comments - Tags:

For today’s VEDA, I managed to rope two food blogging friends into telling me why they food blog on camera. Today was the first time I’ve met Foodie is The New Forty in person and I’ve been tweeting at her and following her food blog for over a year. I have to admit I was a tad starstruck by her. Miss Julieboolietran is a new food blogger with an infectiously happy disposition and a deep love for Chilantro’s (a post from my food blog).



Youtube Link

VEDA – No Kidding: Straight Talk from Teen Parents

April 23rd, 2011 · · Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America, VEDA, videos 9 comments

Today’s VEDA (Vlog Every Day in April) submission centered around a presentation by a very neat nonprofit. I saw No Kidding: Straight Talk from Teen Parents today with my little from Big Brothers & Big Sisters. At 11 years old, I would think that she’s too young to sit through a 2 hour presentation of very heavy and very real talk from teen parents. However, she had made a comment about wanting to be a single mother that I felt it was appropriate to “torture” (to quote her).


Youtube Link

Here’s a vlog from the organization:


Youtube Link

Here is No Kidding’s facebook page. Go like! :)

Hope you guys are having a safe Easter weekend. I’m off to dinner.

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 39)

April 22nd, 2011 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America, VEDA 9 comments - Tags: ,


1.


For yesterday’s VEDA submission, I talk about how I may becoming less cool to my little from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America.


Youtube Link


2.


During today’s VEDA submission, I speculated that it was Earth Day (and it is Earth Day!) and confessed that I’ve been bad.


Youtube Link


3.


What I ate for dinner on Monday with Alan.


4.


What I ate for dinner on Tuesday with Brittany.


5.

If you’re reading from a reader or email, I have a new layout. New layout is simple and white and makes me feel lighter!


6.

This weekend I’m breaking bread with my friends, Shane and Nam. I haven’t seen Shane since November in 2009. And Nam is always traveling for work (His job is 100 percent travel!). I have a lot of friends who go off and do their own thing in different cities, states, and countries. Both Nam and Shane are two of them. I really appreciate those friendships where there’s room to go off and not check in for months and almost years, but when we’re finally in the same city and country, we can just call and have dinner. I know a few people who can only have those close knit friendships that don’t allow the flexibility needed for growing up and moving on.


7.

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ Alan’s bowling league team winning their championship ♥ eating asparagus and loving it ♥ Austin Restaurant Week ♥ dressy dinner date with Brittany ♥ pork belly in my belly two nights in a row ♥ decadent chocolate cakes ♥ using Alan as a recliner while watching TV, a recliner that hugs ♥ Watching Lincoln Lawyer at Alamo Drafthouse while eating warm chocolate chip cookies with icecream


Questions: Do you celebrate Easter? If so what are your Easter traditions?

VEDA – Facing Fears

April 21st, 2011 · · pursuit of happiness, VEDA, videos 12 comments

My VEDA (Vlog Every Day in April) vlog for April 20 didn’t quite make the midnight target but here it is, less than an hour late. I talk about facing fears.



Youtube Link

For those of you who can’t see the video, I touched on how the most significant fear I’ve faced was quitting a career job 2 years ago. The lesson I continue to take away when confronting scary things is that scary things usually aren’t so scary in hindsight.


Question: When was the last time you faced a fear?

VEDA – Ten On Tuesday (vol 5): Books

April 19th, 2011 · · on the nightstand, Ten on Tuesday, VEDA, videos 17 comments - Tags: ,

I’m running out the door as I type up this blog post. Today’s VEDA is my answering the Ten On Tuesday questions for today.


Youtube Link


Question: What are you reading?

VEDA – 50 Random Fears

April 18th, 2011 · · VEDA, videos 23 comments - Tags: ,

I failed this weekend in regards to VEDA (Vlogging Every Day in April). But I’m back and I made it for today with 30 minutes to spare! Today’s vlog is me listing out 50 random fears I have.


Youtube Link

In case you can’t watch, here are some notable fears listed: loved one dying, amoebas crawling into my ear and laying eggs in my brain, cancer, and roaches.


Question: What are you afraid of and how does it affect your life?

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 38)

April 15th, 2011 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), VEDA 12 comments - Tags: ,


1.


For yesterday’s VEDA submission, I showed you my current journals that are in progress.


Youtube Link

Here’s a link to a post I did a couple of years ago regarding the kinds of journals I keep and how I keep them.


2.


During today’s VEDA submission, I talked turn ons and turn offs.


Youtube Link


3.


My social calendar this year has been stressing me out. Last year I worked on pulling away from a lot of my relationships to tend to a very tired and confused soul. Now that I’ve recuperated, I can feel the dangers of burning out again as I try to maintain friendships. I sometimes wish I could consolidate all my friends so that I can meet them all at once, catch up all at once, and then have 3 nights a week I can just be on my own. I’ve always been a flaming extrovert, but 2010 has cultivated a small introverted side to me. I get overstimulated easily now.


4.


After much thought on how to deal with the stresses of my calendar, I’m now trying to book lunches, dinners, and outings 3 weeks out, and leaving 2-3 nights a week free for spontaneous events, date nights with the boy, and nights to myself. Hell, that girls’ weekend trip I took last week was actually planned out months ago. I have a lunch next week that was planned 3 weeks ago. I hope this new approach brings more peace in my life.


5.


I started doing Morning Pages again last weekend and today is the first day I haven’t and it feels weird. Morning Pages is when you wake up in the morning and before you do anything else, write three pages. I think it’s first credited to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, which is an awesome guide to unearthing your creativity. Anyway, I’ve grown to love writing and dumping out my feelings and extraneous thoughts first thing in the morning. I feel it kind of cleanses me of a lot of mind chatter and I get to approach the day with a clean(er) emotional and mental slate. You should try it out!


6.


Leo at Zen Habits is putting together a course on habits and I was one of the lucky souls who secured a spot in his beta version. It’s due to start next week and the habit I picked is to eat vegetables every day. I just suddenly came to the conclusion that my lack of healthy habits is a flag of immaturity. I’m pushing 28. An unhealthy diet, lack of sleep, and drinking more coffee than I do water are unacceptable at my age and I am embarrassed.

So uh… Veggie Power?!


7.

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ laid back nights at Thursday karaoke ♥ late night eats at Chilantro’s ♥ catch up phone call with Kimmy ♥ catch up phone call with Jamie ♥ catch up couch time with Brandi ♥ great parking spots


Question: What areas in your life need improvement?