Category: scary thing(s) of the week

2008 in Review

December 27th, 2008 · · Austin, Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America, Birthdays, holidays, Houston, love, memory, new thing(s) of the week, on the nightstand, Personal Finance, pursuit of happiness, resolutions 2008, savory, scary thing(s) of the week, still-frames, the grind, the not so single life, the single life, wanderlust 4 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January
- Kim came up for New Years. We celebrated downtown with Alan’s couple of friends and Jon and the boys.
- Kim and I wrote on two balloons on New Year’s Day. One balloon of our regrets and things we’re letting go. The other balloon our desires for 2009. Then we ever so poetically, released them on my balcony.
-I went to San Diego for the fourth time. I made it to the zoo and stayed at the same hotel as Jon and Kate plus Eight when they went to San Diego on their way to Hawaii.
- Made Jambalaya for the first time.
-Ate a lot of food with Jon while he was visiting Texas.



At Paradise Pointe Resort in San Diego.

February
- Spent my favorite holiday with Jamie.
- Did my own taxes for the first time
- Found a new hair stylist of of Sixth Street after asking her for a kiss for Bing for his birthday.
- Sent out Valentine cards and packages.



Celebrated Bing’s birthday on Sixth Street. The night I met my hair dresser.

March
- Watched a lot of movies and cooked a lot of dinners with Alan.
- Cindy came up to visit. Introduced her finally to Flip Happy Crepes.
- I got about 3 hours of sleep a night.
- I go to San Diego for work yet again and stay at a hotel that had sex toys in their mini bar available to purchase.
- I search for a Madam Mam’s replacement. (Never found it)
- I celebrated Brandi’s birthday with Jessica. This is the 2nd time in 2008 we managed to spend some time together. We went downtown for her birthday and ate at Hula Hut.



With my girls, celebrating Brandi’s birthday. I wish this year we saw each other more. There was a time a year or two ago we saw each other once a week at least.

April
- I go to Second Chance Prom with Neville. Sweet since I didn’t have a date to my highs school prom. Well.. Liz was my date :)
- I meet my little and take her to celebrate Earth Day at Republic Square.
- I take a fabulous vacation to NYC (originally suppose to include Boston too and visit Mary Ellen but her paper got accepted into a conference). I got to see the Jennifers and Jon. Jon was my lovely host. (entry, entry, entry, entry)
- Had my first Brazilian Wax. Yikes.
- The father of two of the kids I’ve babysat since both of them were born, died.



Jon and I in NY.

May
- My brother graduates college! My parents came up to see him walk.
- Alan and I didn’t renew our lease and I started to mourn the apartment. I was in love with our location and view.
- Continue to babysit for the boys who lost their father. Started with the night of the memorial service and then the funeral.
- Selina asked me to be her bridesmaid.
- My brother turned 23. Making me feel old.



Our view.

June
- Go to funnest book signing I’ve been to with Si Nae and her boyfriend. We went to see Chuck Palahniuk promote Snuff. He threw out blow up dolls.
- I worked a lot.
- I saw a lot of movies with Alan.



Si Nae, her boy, and Chuck Palahniuk!

July
- Alan and I moved out and stopped being roommates :( But it was a good move for us :).
- Went to Florida for the first time to get Mary Ellen married. Flew in a few days early and I joined her clan in cooking, building, bitching, bonding, all in the name of love and the most beautiful wedding I’ve been to yet. It was pretty much a DIY wedding and you can see the labor of love in everything. The baby food jars around the garden sheltering tea light candles, the fireworks/crackers, the dance floor her uncles and aunts built, the cascading fruit basket one of her uncle fashioned at 3 in the morning the night before the wedding, etc. SO many details that were not only beautiful on its own, but also in the labor and thought and love that it represented.
- I take a Thursday off of work and Brandi and Jessica and I hang out for the third time this year. They treated me to a trip to Schiltterbahn for my birthday. Last year it was Sea World.
- Turned 25. Jen T who normally only comes once or twice a year happened to be in town for my birthday :). Si Nae dropped by flowers. I had a pretty birthday cake in the shape of a snow globe. I celebrated with friends. Felt special. Alan took me out to a romantic dinner and bought me a cell phone. It was a good birthday. Though I hate that I’m now 25.



Birthday celebration.

August
- Lily teaches us to make sushi.
- Alan introduces me to Mikados. I mention this because now we go here fairly often for sushi. I’ve yet to take him to Musashinos.
- Cindy comes and stays with me for almost 2 months for her pharmacy school rotation.
- I take my little to her first play. Jack and the Beanstalk.
- Nisreen and Nino get engaged and Nisreen asks me to be one of her bridesmaids.



Sushi making night

September
- I take my certification test and am now certified in clinical research.
- I go to the Domain with Nisreen to study for that test. We go just looking around for her wedding dress and we actually FIND it at St. Thomas.
- I fly to Orlando for work, wishing Alan had gone.
- I take my little to her first UT football game.
- Cindy and I try to learn about football.



So it wouldn’t just be for me why I wanted Alan in Orlando with me. Lookit the golf course!

October
- To my surprise, I’m taken by UT football. Really taken after watching OU game. I thought I had burnt out on football forever, but it’s really quite addicting.
- Alan takes me to see UT/Missouri game.
- Alan had a birthday.
- I dress up as a Hula girl for Halloween.



Kissing Meatwad.

November
- Ran my first 5k with Nisreen, Katambra, and Melissa.
- Jessica has a birthday, so the three of us (Brandi, Jessica, and I) reunite for the fourth time this year. FOUR times. That’s so sad. We go to Pete’s Dueling Pianos with plans to go to ren fest again but Brandi got struck with hives.
- I practically live at work.
- My brother breaks in his apartment by hosting a Thanksgiving meal. He makes his first turkey. Delicious!
- I take my little to the Paramount theatre for the first time. We see The Hungry Caterpillar. Then I have a mini high school reunion.
- I take Thanksgiving week off from work and spend a week in Houston.
- I see fireworks with Kim and kind of Chris.



Nisreen pours everyone a double shot of bourbon at my brother’s Thanksgiving dinner.

December
- I finish paying off my car :) One of my New Year’s Resolutions. I bought in July 2007. Not bad, if I do say so myself.
- I spend Christmas in Houston.
- On the 26th of December, Kim and I for the 2nd time release balloons for New Years. We’re stunned that this time around, we do not have any regrets to write on that regret balloon. Instead, we write what we want to stay away from. Good times with Ms. Kim.
- I get to see my best friend, Mary Ellen. Second time this year. First time being for her wedding in July.
- I go back on Saturday (today) to get some work done and to spend NYE in Austin. With friends and beau.



Our balloons. Purple = wishes. Pink = what we’ll stay away from. Since we didn’t have regrets this year.

It’s been a good year. I read 10 books, ate a lot of Pho, and laughed a lot.

Brazilian Wax

April 17th, 2008 · · Austin, new thing(s) of the week, scary thing(s) of the week 13 comments

I have this list of things I want to experience at least once in life… On this list you can find skydiving (check), shoot different types of guns (check), travel travel travel (in progress), try escargot (check) and try out a brazilian wax (check!)

Today after work, I bit the bullet finally. A friend of mine just recently had hers done for the first time a few weeks ago and she swears she won’t ever do it again. Something about the pain not being worth it. She said the lady did not use gloves and she didn’t let them go after her strays with tweezers. Determined to still try, I emailed all my girl friends to see if they had any Brazilian waxer they would swear by. None of them ever had their little girl part professionally waxed cept one. This soul told me she’s gets a regular bikini wax and wouldn’t ever do a Brazilian. She gave me the name (Sharon) and location (The Beauty Store and Salon - in the Central Market shopping center). I had this name for a week now but between New York and being sick (today was my first day back at work this week) I didn’t have the time. Emboldened by the cabin fever I was developing from being couped up in the apartment, I made my appointment for today yesterday.

Walked into the store and the salon is in the back. I told the cute blond in the front that I had an appointment. Took deep breaths as I wandered the store mindlessly. I actually purchased something called a Miracle Stone but I think it fell out of my purse? Can’t seem to find it. It’s suppose to help prevent ingrown hairs after bikini waxes.

Five minutes passed and Sharon finally got me. Breathing deep. I tried to conjure up all these personal painful memories to brace myself. Getting the wind knocked out of me from my airbag going off last summer. Spinal surgery as an adolescent. Eyebrow waxing. Indian burns. I thought if little Eva Longoria could do it, I can do it. If I could jump out of a plane and shoot a rifle… what’s a little hair? RIGHT?

Sharon tells me I should keep my underwear off if I want to make it easier for her. Do people really leave it on?

“You’d be surprised how many shy girls insist on keeping on their underwear.”

Huh.

So I’m on the table and she’s spreading the hot wax. I do some deep Lamaze type breaths. She rubs on the cloth strip and I noticed no gloves as well. Maybe since my friend and I are both in the healthcare profession, we’re sticklers for gloves? Do waxers not use gloves?!

She counts down for me. “5, 4, 3, 2″ Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppppppppppp.

Motherfu…..!!!!!

Immense unbelievable amount of pain for 2 seconds and it starts to wear off.

Then, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. Riiiiiiiiiiippppppppp. Riiiiiippp.

At first I thought there was a rhyme and reason to what part hurt the most. But thinking back it felt arbitary. Pain ranged from 8.5 to 13 on a scale from 1 to 10.

She tried to have a conversation wtih me and I did my best to hold up my end.

“Kids?”

“No mam”

“Husband?”

“Nope.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Bullshit. Why are you here?”

I laughed, “Maybe I’m a hooker.” (I’m not. Though it felt strangely liberating to say “hooker” to a stranger just as I’m sure it felt liberating to say “Bullshit” to a customer.)

I explained to her that damn list.

“Well… ” riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. “You’ll enjoy how it looks.” riiiiiiiiiiippp “Go ahead, look.”

If you were to videotape my reaction up til this point like the youtube above, you’d see me covering my eyes like I’m watching a scary movie. Uncovering my face, I looked. It looked… bald. And angry. I mean, I’d be angry at me too.

Thankfully, It didn’t last as long as I thought. It was over before I knew it. Well, almost. As expected from other blog entries I found and my one friend who’s had it done said, Sharon came at me with tweezers. This part isn’t as bad the waxing. It felt like tiny needles pricking you.

I think total it lasted 30 minutes. I cleaned off and paid her 65 dollars (a ten dollar tip included… I mean.. she saw my lil girl.)

Will I go through this again 4 to 6 weeks from now? I guess I’ll figure that out once I’m done icing myself.

I wish I could find that Miracle Stone.

Day 1 in NYC

April 16th, 2008 · · new thing(s) of the week, savory, scary thing(s) of the week, still-frames, wanderlust 3 comments

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90 percent of my relationship with Jon consist of eating. The first thing we did after he picked me up was go to Tuang Thong, his favorite Thai restaurant he’s found so far. Located in Queens. Good stuff. I had the Kee Prow, which is basically Kee Mao but with rice instead of noodles. He got the Pad Thai. We ate half of our own and then exchanged. One of the many reasons why I love us. We share food.

Next series of photos are from my solo trip to the MET. First time I made it to this museum. I only had 3 hours here. Must schedule a return visit next time. I guess this trip could count as one of my scary things of the week, as I only navigated NYC’s subway system for about 30 minutes on my own during my last trip and this was for a good 6 hours. I had help from Jon and Kim via text messaging. Ha!

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I think this was translated to something to the like of, “I dream in color?” Or “My dreams of are in color”? Anyone, anyone?

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I remember walking up to this one thinking, this looks like a Dali. I’ve never seen this one before but sho enuff! It is a Dali.

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After the Met closed, I walked outside and found myself an audience member of a dance show. These two guys just randomly started to perform. They were given one ticket and were approached by NYPD twice. I love New York.

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After the show, I took the train to Bloomingdales with the assistance of Kim’s text messages on what train to take and when to get off. I wandered around and shopped and waited til dinner time with Jen T. We had Patsy’s which is across the street from Dylan’s Candybar behind Bloomingdales. Yum. We ordered a pizza with olives, mushrooms, and sausage. Delish.

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