Category: quotations

Ten Reasons Why I Feel Out of Sorts

June 28th, 2011 · · lists, pursuit of happiness, quotations, the grind, the not so single life, wanderlust 39 comments

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves,
like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke


 

 

  1. I’ve been sick since Saturday. Complete with fever and three days of the sweats and shivers. It not only has ruined my weekend but I can’t stop hacking.

  2. I haven’t kissed Alan in about three weeks. First he was sick, and now I’m sick.

  3. I don’t know where I’m living come August. In a week it’ll be a month from move-out date. I’m moving in with Alan. We only started looking last weekend. We can look again this weekend for places, but next weekend I won’t even be in town.

  4. I turn 28 in exactly a month.

  5. I don’t know how much my new bumper will cost me. I’m taking it to a body shop in Houston next weekend.

  6. I haven’t had coffee in 4 days.

  7. A trip to Canada is suddenly a strong possibility and real soon. Not knowing when and when to ask off is throwing me off.

  8. There’s a lot going on in the upcoming weekends that are inherently fun. Hello? A mini girl’s trip to Dallas? Meeting some Totes Awesome Channel vloggers? Going to Canada? Turning 28? Celebrating mom’s birthday? Moving in with a boyfriend for the first time? It’s just the back to back weekends that are overwhelming me. I have to constantly remind myself that the anxiety comes from juggling very good things.

  9. Not having a spending plan in place for the second half of the year. Without knowing what my rent will look like or how much a dog will cost us, I have no idea what the paycheck breakdown will look like. Oh yes, we’re looking at dogs too.

  10. I haven’t been saving for at least 3 months. I’m such an automatic saver but with car troubles this year and a fun trip to Boston, I haven’t been putting anything in the savings account. This makes me feel a little wonky.


Question: What helps you when you feel wonky?

2010 in Review

December 30th, 2010 · · Austin, Birthdays, holidays, Houston, letters, lists, love, memory, misadventures, pursuit of happiness, quotations, resolutions 2010, the grind, the not so single life, wanderlust 13 comments - Tags: , , , ,

It’s that time of year again! I share with you my personal recap of 2010. This year was much better than 2009 (which was much worse than my 2008). It was a year of recovery and regaining balance. I feel very fondly of 2010 but I’m ready to embrace 2011. Bring it!

Note: All links open in a new window.

January 2010


Celebrating New Year’s Eve

February 2010

Progressive Meal in Houston

March 2010


Crawfish Boil

April 2009


May 2010


The back of Conan

June 2010

If a June night could talk,
it would probably boast
it invented romance.
– Bern Williams

I touched Anthony Bourdain's tricep.

July 2010


Jon and Me at my Birthday Dinner

August 2010


Aishah’s 27th Birthday

September 2010


Me & Joe Rogan

October 2010

  • I planned and organized a regional conference for work.
  • My dude turned 26! We celebrated for over a week.
  • Tried my first absinthe.
  • My half sister whom I haven’t seen in over ten years found me on Facebook.
  • Dressed up as a cop for Halloween.
  • Auditioned for a travel reality TV show after receiving an email from a casting director. I took Neville as possible partner and he totally outshone me.
  • A close friend’s brother died unexpectedly. Being with her has been a top priority whenever I’m in Houston. I’ve grown deeper in love for and with her.
  • Tried out Breakfast Klub, a culinary highlight in 2010.

November 2010


Brittany & Me at Race for the Cure

December 2010

  • Participated in Reverb10.
  • Road trip to Oklahoma! Why Oklahoma? To cross off another state.
  • Attended annual Christmas Party for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America with my little and her cousin. This is our third year in attendance!
  • Had hot pot on Christmas day twice. Lunch with Mary Ellen and her mom and her brother, and dinner with my own family. I did exactly this last year for Christmas!
  • Tomorrow’s plan is to party on a rooftop downtown in celebration of a new and fresh year. A stretch Hummer may have been rented.


Annual Christmas Party with my Little

That was my year! I’m happy to have shared it with you and have your support, comments, and readership. It means an awful lot to me. Thank you!


Question: What are five highlights from your 2010?

4th Annual New Year’s Balloon Release

December 24th, 2010 · · holidays, quotations, still-frames 2 comments - Tags: ,

A couple of days ago I took part in the 4th year of my absolute favorite holiday tradition. Kim and I have been releasing balloons in honor of New Years for four years now. (Read about the tradition here.) One balloon with a quotation about letting go and a list of things we’re letting go from the current year and avoiding in the upcoming year (Liars and cheaters always make the “avoiding” list). Another balloon listing all our hopes and desires (meeting Oprah always makes this one) for the upcoming year with corresponding quotation.

This year we did two quotations per balloon. For our releasing 2010 balloon, we chose:

“Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life.”

- Mary Manin Morrissey

“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for & attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.”

- Dalai Lama

And for our embracing the new year balloon, we chose:

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”

- Neil Gaiman

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

- Oprah


Cheers to magic and dreams and good madness!


Question: How do you plan on ringing in the New Year?

100 Things I’m Thankful For – (Part 3: 51-75)

November 18th, 2010 · · holidays, lists, love, National Blog Posting Month '10, pursuit of happiness, quotations 6 comments - Tags: ,


photo credit


We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
— Thornton Wilder

Part 1: 1-25 (people related)
Part 2: 26-50 (things)

    I’m thankful for the feelings that these actions evoke:

  1. Confiding
  2. Listening
  3. Cuddling
  4. Kissing
  5. Hugging
  6. Reading
  7. Dancing
  8. Writing
  9. Cooking
  10. Scheming
  11. Learning
  12. Teaching
  13. Playing
  14. Cleaning
  15. Organizing
  16. Laughing
  17. Clicking / Connecting / Visiting
  18. Commiserating
  19. Traveling
  20. Leisure shopping
  21. Winning
  22. Volunteering
  23. Eating a delicious meal
  24. Celebrating
  25. Relaxing


Question: What do you love doing?

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 18)

September 10th, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), Personal Finance, quotations, still-frames, the grind, the not so single life 7 comments - Tags: , , ,


1.


I relate to this:

“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited.”-Sylvia Plath


2.

Lily, Jamie, and I try to see each other at least once a month for dinner. A while back, I bought a Groupon for a restaurant none of us have been to, which allowed me to join them for dinner without shelling out additional bucks! I say I have about a month more before I’m comfortable financially again without dipping into savings. What’s a little significant for us and this blog is that I think Lily gets to finally make a debut on one of my blogs. I often food blog our dinners but Lily is always the missing face. For the first time in 4 years, she’s allowed me to take ONE picture of her. I thought I’d get more mileage from this photo if I double blog it. Here and whenever I get to writing up the restaurant review.


Lily, Jamie, Me


Jamie is never camera shy with me.


3.

I try to start everyday with 3 stream of consciousness pages written in my journal as per The Artist Way (affiliate link). I’m on my 5th week and I did very poorly this week. I kept going to bed too late and last night I stayed up to canoodle with the boyfriend and watch Jersey Shore. Alan’s in the middle of a move into a house with four new roommates so I’ve been giving him some space to take care of stuff and get to know his roomies. I’ve missed him! So spending time with him trumped going to bed early which trumped writing my pages.


4.

This week’s writing prompt was “punishment.” Kind of timely because before we drew it, I had just have a conversation with coworkers about the kinds of punishments we endured as children from our parents. My parents spanked my younger brother and me. Younger brother got spanked pretty often whereas I rarely got the wooden spoon from mom. The only memorable spanking I had was on my open palms with a metal ruler and it was 20 licks. I missed every single word on my first spelling test. I almost spelled “delayed” right but I spelled it like so, “de-layed.” The next year, I won the spelling bee.

Aside from spankings, Asian parents can be pretty brutally creative with their punishments. Alan said his parents made him stand with his arms raised. This reminded me that on occasion I had to do the same thing! Another popular one is kneeling. Not lazy kneeling where you have your legs tucked comfortably underneath your butt, but as if you’re praying on a kneeler in a Catholic church. They’ve also had us stand with our noses pressed against the wall.


5.

Next time I’m in Houston I want to borrow (or steal?) my mom’s sewing machine and jump into sewing and thrifting. This blog is my inspiration. Momma has stopped sewing anyway unless I bring her home clothes to alter or straps to reattach.


6.

I’m always engaged in some kind of self improvement project or dabbling in a new skill. On my horizon right now is to educate myself and gain experience in investing. I’ve already saved up my year’s worth of expenses in an emergency fund, I have no consumer debt. So my new goal is to pay off my $24,000 student loan in 5 years and instead of padding up my emergency fund, I will start an investing fund. I realize this has been one of Neville’s advice to me for a while but I was overwhelmed with my lack of knowledge and kept putting it off. I will dedicate 5 hours a week to read and learn. I got my 5 hours out of the way this week when I read and finished Rich Dad’s Cash Flow Quadrant (affiliate link).


7.


Let me share a helpful link: How to disable Places on Facebook.

See, my phone is pretty simple. I get a lot of compliments on it because it’s skinny and tiny and sleek looking. I picked it out as my first birthday gift from Alan because it was purple and because it was simple. I just wanted a telephone number pad. Dinky camera is nice. It also has a radio and mp3 player I never use. It is not a smart phone and it does not do geotagging. So when Facebook released Places where you can geotag your locations, I almost didn’t bother disabling it. I disabled it on the off chance that a friend would tag my location and an apartment burglar would know I’m not home. Unlikely, but that’s why I took the time to disable Places.

Last week, it actually ended up being unexpected blessing. I lost a coin flip with a group mostly guy friends and I found myself in a strip club. Not really a big deal but unbeknownst to me, a friend attempted to tag me. My facebook friends and work friends would have had a chance to see on their newsfeed that on a work night at 2am, I was at strip club. Not very kosher, yes? I recommend disabling.


Questions: How were you disciplined as a child?

Friday 7 Quick Little Takes (vol 11)

July 9th, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), Houston, lists, pursuit of happiness, quotations 10 comments - Tags:

Brenda if you’re reading this and haven’t yet received my letter, don’t read take No. 7.


1.

I’ve been getting a little soft around my belly. I’m not complaining. I know if I get big, it’s A. my own doing and B. been a long time coming. I hate working out. I used to have a 3-5 times a week work out buddy that made working out tolerable. If you throw in socializing and someone to share the misery with, I’m all about it! Yesterday, I stuffed my face at a churrascaria and a few hours later, had a midnight phone date with my college roommate while I ate warm chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies at midnight.

I need to put on my big girl pants and start working out regularly again. Even if I have to do it without a buddy. (The horror!)


2.

That midnight phone date was wonderful. With the majority of my closest friends being long distance, I try to schedule at least quarterly phone dates with them. It rejuvenates me to catch up with a friend who lives in a different city. Grounds me. I love that we’re off busy in our own life and daily routines, and yet they can recognize that I’m still essentially the same person they met 10 years ago and I can see they too are essentially the same. So comforting to know that despite time, growing pains, life’s dramas, we are basically still who we are. That’s some good shit.


3.

Facebook has been suggesting friends I might know on the sidebar when I log in. Under the name of suggested possible friend is a tally of how many mutual friends we have. It tickles me when they suggest people with greater than 10 mutual acquaintances/friends. Right now I have Erica and Stephanie suggested to me and we have 23 and 20 mutual acquaintances. 23 and 20! I wonder if I ever rubbed elbows with some of these people and not know it. I love stumbling /finding these kind of coincidences on my own without the help of Facebook.

For instance, I once had a class buddy in college in my Medical Terminology class. We sat next to each other for almost a full semester before somehow figuring out that we literally sat by each other at a dinner party 2 years prior. Then there’s the story of Cindy. We didn’t meet til 2005. It wasn’t til maybe a year or two ago when it clicked that she was the lucky bitch who sat way on the other side of the auditorium of a class who got flowers delivered to her on Valentine’s day in 2002 while class was going on. Within in the last couple of years, I had a flashback to a time when we hadn’t even met, of her surprised face and flowers being delivered to her. Oi. Crazy!

Doesn’t it make you wonder how many times the people in your life have crossed paths with you before establishing significant presences? Do you have any relevant stories to share?

Blows my mind.


4.

Another thing that blows my mind is this flower about to bloom in Houston. It’s called a corpse flower and only 28 have been known to bloom in the United States. Houston is about to give way to the 29th bloom. From my understanding, it stands at 10 ft tall, is in bloom for 12 hours? and finally, it smells like rotting flesh! If I didn’t have plans in Austin, I’d totally make a drive down to Houston and drag a Houston friend to go see it with me. Cindy? Kim? Go anyway? Here’s the link.


5.


I love me some cheesy jokes. I have about 20 jokes I cycle through for years now. All stolen from friends (Thanks Cindy! Thanks Kim!). Well, I’ve run out of new people to share the same tired jokes and my amigos literally want to crawl into a hole when they see that I’m about to share a joke they’ve heard from me at least 10 times already. This means, I need more material to share. Will you tell me a joke? You can leave it as a voicemail. I’ve recorded one of my favorite jokes to greet you when you call in. It’s a trade! My friends will appreciate the new material. Use the widget below to leave a voicemail.

You need a phone. Google gives you an option to be anonymous. So go ahead. It’s safe. Tell me a joke.

Also, if you’re reading in a reader you won’t see the widget. :)


6.

Life is good. I am happy.


7.

I sent a letter out to France this week. Brenda‘ s off traveling Europe and I’m in Texas envious. It’s been over ten years since I’ve been overseas. Here’s a cellphone picture of the quote I scribbled on the back of the envelope.

quotation on Travel

Enjoying the wildflowers….

April 4th, 2010 · · in passing, pursuit of happiness, quotations 4 comments

I had a wonderful weekend in Houston. On my way back to Austin, I was stuck in traffic on 71 due to a car accident. By the time I passed the accident, all the cars were gone and all that was left was a gigantic overturn boat. How did that happen? During the slow traffic, I took the time to admire the wildflowers on the side of the road. I decided to snap some pictures to share :) Tacked on some quotations for you too.

P.S. I saw at least 4 families pull over on the shoulder to take photos with the bluebonnets. It was touching to witness.

wildflowers

wildflowers

wildflowers

wildflowers

wildflowers

wildflowers

Memo to Boys from Bob Marley & Other places you can find me

February 25th, 2010 · · in passing, love, quotations 7 comments

From Bob Marley to Boys/Men

“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before, she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect- you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together, but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break- her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there”

And other places you can find me: (all links open new windows)

You can ask me anything here and even do it anonymously.

My new food blog

Follow me at new food twitter

Sending out Valentine Cards and Packages

February 9th, 2010 · · holidays, love, quotations 6 comments - Tags:


Cell phone photo of the batch of cards I sent out today.

I just sent out a batch of Valentine’s Day cards and packages. Every year I pick a handful of single friends and send a little festive note. When I send out any letters or cards I always pick out quotations that are apt to write on the back of the envelopes. I’ve been doing that for years and cannot remember when I started.

I want to share some of the quotations I transcribed this year onto the envelopes.

(It’s all I can do not to inundate this blog entry and all blog entries I’ve written about Valentine’s day with exclamation marks. To do so would sincerely reflect my GLEE!!! The glee that I experience every year around this time.)

Some Valentine Quotations


Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age.
- Jeanne Moreau

If I am not worth the wooing, I am surely not worth the winning.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.
- Elie Wiesel

Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.
- Edgar Allen Poe

I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever.
- Amy Tan

Befriending Your Enemies

January 18th, 2010 · · holidays, love, quotations 3 comments - Tags: ,
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I was surfing around reading MLK quotations to honor his day. I figured reflecting about what he’s done for us was the least I could do out of gratitude for my day off. (I still have my night time job though, so bugger that.) I found this quotation that struck me on a more personal note. The quote suggests that love is the power to transform your enemies into friends. I’m willing to wager that everyone has heard the biblical adage, “Love thy enemies.” I’m also willing to bet that most of us let it go through one ear and the other. I’ve never myself, reflected on the idea of loving my enemies.

Then I read, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

I could count the number of people I have beef with on one hand. As I think about them individually, I cannot say I ever want to be friends with any of them. I have eventually in all cases let go of my desire for retaliation or aggression. I’ve even managed friendly waves from afar. But friendship? I just cannot imagine sitting down for coffee or sharing a donut. At best, I may donate a pint of blood or two if they’re dying but only as a last resort.

For now, due to feasibility and lack of desire, I think I’ll carry on carrying on without them in my corner. But the thought of being a friend to those I’m not fond of did strike a chord.

I’m curious. If you stretch your mind a little, can you imagine yourself being friends with your enemies?