It’s my dad’s birthday today. My parents rarely let me take photos of them but I managed to get this one right before heading back up to Austin. I asked them to hug each other after this shot and they huffed and went back inside. Then I decided I actually love this shot with the crossed arms and matching amused close-lipped smiles.
I had a lovely weekend galavanting around Austin during SXSW. I spent most of the weekend with VEDA alums and it felt like a mini vacation!
Friday night, I had a date with Treavor who was in town from Seattle. We gorged ourselves on fried foods and chatted about our usual topics, life and love.
Saturday, we met up with Anita and Patrick at the 4th Annual Bacon Takedown. I am very proud of the fact that I haven’t missed out on a Bacon Takedown yet! It was also the first time I met Patrick, yet I kind of felt like we were old friends. That’s the beauty of having Youtube/Twitter friends. They start to blend into your everyday reality so much that when you meet them, it doesn’t feel like it’s for the first time.
Sunday, Anita and I went to Chris Guillebeau’s meetup and book signing. There was a point before the talk where Chris stood beside me and caught me stalking him on my phone. That was slightly embarrassing. I managed to feign having my wits about me enough to meet him before his talk and then once again to get my book signed. I bought his $100 Startup which was kind of a big deal to me. I haven’t purchased a book for myself in a long while and when I do, I use Amazon to get the best deal. I paid 25 dollars for the copy on site! It was worth it though to have him sign and acknowledge my future attendance of World Domination Summit with “See you in July!”.
We followed the book signing with a lunch date at a vegan restaurant. (We were in the neighborhood and up for adventure.) We were solely disappointed with our food mostly because we had just been spoiled by a full day of bacon. But also, what was I thinking ordering a raw vegan Pad Thai? Don’t ever do that to yourself.
After our disappointing but healthy lunch, Anita and I went to peruse the sketchbooks at the Austin stop of the Sketchbook Project tour. I was shortly reunited with mine and was able to check out Suki’s before their internet system went down. Below, you’ll find a collage with 3 snaps of my favorite random sketchbook. The artist had a thing for dinosaurs and created a fun and holey book centered around the extinct reptiles. I love that shot with Anita peeking from the other side of the sketchbook.
Oh, I also high-fived Mario. Winning weekend indeed!
2012 was the best year I’ve had. I climbed out of my rut, maintained my dearest friendships, explored more bits of North America, and incorporated more sparkles into my wardrobe. It has been a beautiful year and I can’t believe it’s over. Below is my annual bullet recap.
Previous years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Note: All links open in a new window.
So that was my 2012. It was fantastic! Hope you have a great end of year tonight!
Photos taken by Thomas L Chen.
          Read more about the day here. |
In first grade, there was a curly-haired girl who always had the sniffles. We played group games during recess but always on opposite teams. I didn’t know her name because although she was in the same grade, she was not in the same first grade class. She left our school after first grade and I quickly forgot about her.
In sixth grade, I was still in the same school. My friend and I were both at a Catholic high school competing in an academic contest. I think I was in a math competition. Before the test was passed out, my friend turned to a curly-haired girl and asked, “Did you go to St. Jeromes’s?” The girl surprised, blinked and confirmed. It was then that I recognized her as the sniffling girl from first grade.
I forgot about her again. Three years later, our paths crossed again as freshmen in a new high school. It took us a couple of years there but we grew to be each other’s best friend. I like to call her my brain. Whatever thought I have, it’s almost instinctual to share with her. Alan knows that when he swears me to secrecy, she is an exception. Luck was on my side when our paths cross three times before we got it right.
Happiest 30th to my BFF! I cannot wait to see her this Christmas!
Related: Last year’s post
Last year during Thanksgiving weekend, I had a Magical Day with Thomas and Kim and a few others. It consisted of good food, sparkly tattoos, and learning how to make paper cranes. Exactly a year later, we reunited for Magical Day 2.
This time around, we met up for brunch, sipped on cinnamon coffee, and finished our meals with buttery croissants filled with chocolate and almond cream.
We then convened at a playground where we blew up dozens of pink balloons, after we monkeyed around on swings of course. (Kim and I have had a long standing affair with balloons.) We then took the balloons to one of the two red telephone booths we knew of in Houston. The other one was locked and occupied by a mannequin.
This one though, happily, was open and empty! We filled up the booth with balloons and then had a mini photo shoot. I’ll show you the official photos on Wednesday. We left the balloons there for passersby to enjoy.
It was so much fun. We took turns gingerly getting into the booth and shrieked in surprise when a balloon popped. I loved how well we played together. One person would squeeze herself or himself into the booth, while the remaining three stuck their hands into the booth and fluffed up the balloons.
It was a beautiful and joyful start of our Magical Day 2. We followed up the Balloon Renegade Street Art with a craft show, board games, and a fancy dinner. I’ll post the photographs from Thomas on Wednesday for Wordless Wednesday. In case you missed these two from my last post and Twitter, here are two sneak peeks.
I spent the bulk of today enjoying and working Austin Food & Wine Alliance’s Wine and Swine, an event that benefited their culinary grant program. I showed up early and happily ate all the swine I could stomach, all the while enjoying the company of Michelle, a friend I met through food blogging. Working the event was pretty enjoyable as well since I worked registration with Christy, another food blogging friend. So my Sunday was spent in the sun, eating pork prepared by notable chefs, and socializing with some of my favorite people.
On my drive home, I was feeling grateful. This event would have been a little out of my price range but food blogging has afforded me opportunities where I can volunteer my time and then enjoy the event outside my shift. I reflected on how else blogging has changed my life. Some of my closest confidants are friends I’ve met through blogging. I often forget that Kim and I, though we went to college together, we actually originally met through online journaling over ten years ago! If I hadn’t kept a blog, I wouldn’t have started vlogging, which I’ve already said changed my life as well.
I try not to make my blog the place I’m excessively negative and mopey. I can hardly stand myself when I’m stuck in a rut, but man the few times I blogged it out, the comments really comforted me. Through blogging I found a network of support I wasn’t looking for but has become something I cherish.
I started sharing my life online while I was in high school mostly because I have a deep urge to document everything I can. I had no idea that a hobby could be one of the happiest decisions I’ve made in my lifetime. Last year I wrote a thank you letter and posted it on my blog for anyone reading. And everything I wrote is still true for me. If you’re reading, thank you so much!
We missed out on a lot in each other’s lives. I didn’t get to see her get married or meet my niece and nephew when they were babies. She didn’t get to see me graduate college or even high school for that matter. We never got to talk about boys or share clothes. (She’s tiny; the window to share clothes was a slim one!) I didn’t get to meet any of her boyfriends and she hasn’t met any of mine. We hardly have shared memories of growing up and being raised by the same people like many siblings do. We didn’t even really have a chance to bicker like siblings do!
What made this week with her and her family so profound was that we got to be late bloomers together. When she took me to the nearest H&M, she said out loud what I was thinking. “Wow, I get to shop with my sister! I’ve always wanted to shop with a sister.” We also cooked together, drank together, “danced” together (does “Just Dance” on Wii count?), and we even bickered! (She wouldn’t let me pay for anything!) As for the things that already happened that we missed out on? We told countless stories. All the stories, even the funny and happy ones, made my heart hurt because I wasn’t there for them. It really hurt to hear how much I missed, but as sad as I was, I was also so incredibly grateful that I was finally hearing about her life from her.
Most of all, I’m so grateful that she’s no longer a nebulous memory but someone who is very present in my life. I love my sis.
I’m back home from an awesome time in Vegas for Bloggers in Sin City.
I will recap soon. For now, I wanted to show you the only video footage we managed to get. I just saw this for the first time and it just made me want to invent a time machine. Miss these girls already.
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