It’s the last week of January on Totes Awesome Channel, which means free vlog week!

I’m sick and I tell you how I got sick. I also explain a few Asian Wedding traditions, tell you what I’m reading, and show you my breakfast.

Yesterday while at work, I received this creepy prank call.

No idea who it was. Probably a friend messing with me. I suspect I was extra spooked because I had just seen this picture and am reading a book about psychopaths.

I’m sure you’ve heard about Susan G. Komen pulling funding from Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings, but have you signed the petition?

I won’t be “running” their race again this year.

Update: I love the power of social media and how it has changed the range of activism. http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/02/komen-apologizes-for-recent-de.html

I can’t wait til enough time has passed and there’s a reason to wear it again. (I admit I don’t like repeat outfits in my Facebook albums unless enough time has passed.)

Anyway, I’m excited. I haven’t seen Ashley since July!

I think about Bob a lot when I’m at work. Is that normal? Alan and I left Bob with Deesh and Bing and their dog, Rogue over the weekend. You should have seen us laying in bed in the hotel room and flipping through pictures of Bob. We were THOSE kind of dog parents.

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ BFF coming to a close on her Masters ♥ making chicken and rice porridge for our sick selves ♥ submitting a grant at work without any drama ♥ February is here! ♥ Girls’ Night with Anita and Ashley tonight ♥ authentic Chinese food date with Bing and Deesh ♥ a mellow dog ♥ completing my Sketchbook Project on time ♥ online chat with an old friend ♥ John Coltrone ♥ chocolate croissant ♥ going down memory lane both horrified and tickled by inappropriate wall postings after getting Timeline on Facebook ♥ date night

Committed, written by author of Eat, Pray, Love, takes off where Eat, Pray, Love ended. Elizabeth Gilbert is in a committed relationship with that sexy Brazilian she met in Bali. Homeland Security deported her sexy Brazilian and for them to live in the states together, they had to consider marriage. This book is Gilbert considering marriage, in the context of her own personal life. She drops in a few historical anecdotes here and there, but mostly she pulls from her own journey. Memories from her parents’ marriage, her friends’ marriage, her first marriage, and interviews with Southeast Asian people on their take. (Southeast Asia is where she and Felipe spent most of their time as they waited for his visa.)

After about 50 pages in, I stopped reading for months. It was a slow start. I just wasn’t interested in her story. In between books, I picked it up again and I’m glad I did.

I really enjoyed two things in particular. One was an analogy she stumbled on by psychologist, Shirley Glass regarding infidelity. She touches on friendships cultivated with people with whom one is attracted. Usually these friendships house innocent intentions. However, when marriages go through strife, as it inevitably will, it’s tempting to divulge intimate secrets in the spirit of venting. However, when one does this, he or she is not only allowing someone an intimate glimpse into his or her marriage, but is also shutting out the spouse in the process. There’s now a window where a wall should have been and a wall between husband and wife (or husband/husband, wife/wife). This may not lead to infidelity, but a house is being built for it. I loved this analogy.

The second thing I enjoyed was her open resentment against impossible societal pressures on women. My best friend has turned me into a budding feminist. As a budding feminist, my relationship with feminism consist of a lot of unsorted raw feelings. Eloquence escapes me when I try to give my thoughts and feelings a voice. I find myself leaning for the time being on what I read to help sort myself out.

All in all, I’m so glad I didn’t fully abandon this book.

Favorite Excerpts from Committed

… Nothing is wrong with a married person launching a friendship outside of matrimony – so long as the “walls and windows” of the relationship remain in the correct places. It was Glass’s theory that every healthy marriage is composed of walls and windows. The windows are the aspects of your relationships that are open to the world – that is, the necessary gaps through which you interact with family and friends; the walls are the barriers of trust behind which you guard the most intimate secrets of your marriage.

And this is my beef, by the way, with social conservatives who are always harping about how the most nourishing home for a child is a two-parent household with a mother in the kitchen. If I – as a beneficiary of that exact formula – will concede that my own life was indeed enriched by that precise familial structure, will the social conservatives please (for once!) concede that this arrangement has always put a disproportionately cumbersome burden on women? Such a system demands that mothers become selfless to the point of near invisibility in order to construct these exemplary environments for their families. And might those same social conservatives – instead of just praising mothers as “sacred” and “noble”- be willing to someday join a larger conversation about how we might work together as a society to construct a world where healthy children can be raised and healthy families can prosper without women having to scape bare the walls of their own souls to do it?

P.S. Please consider using the book links to purchase books from Amazon. Not only is Amazon usually cheaper but I earn a measly referral fee. ;)

This week on Totes Awesome Channel, we discuss our superstitions.

I talk about some weird ones I inherited from my mom. Like not gifting drinking glasses, cups, or mugs. It’s supposed to mean the friendship would end. So if I were to give you cups or mugs, I’d ask for a quarter or something to simulate selling instead of gifting. I also talk about two Arabic phrases I picked up as superstitions. Comment below and let me know what your superstitions are. I’d love to know!

Happy Lunar New Year! It’s the year of the Dragon. I meant to mention some Lunar New Year superstitions. A lot of these might just be Vietnamese but here are the ones passed on to me from my mom. We are to eat vegetarian for good luck the first day of the holiday (It’s a two week holiday.) The first day of the year, you’re supposed to have a fairly clean house but you’re not supposed to clean. Also, no taking out the trash! It symbolizes throwing out money. I also read from another Vietnamese blogger that you’re supposed to not wash your hair for that same reason and wear red for prosperity.

I wore red but my hair needs to be washed everyday.

I’ve had these kids I babysit for since they were both born. They’re the only kids I babysit. I truly love them. Really. I will always babysit them til they no longer need it or I’m no longer in the same city. Anyway, I’m digging their conversations lately.

One of my goals is to have my mom meet Bob. She’s terrified of dogs. My parents live close to where they run their store. She once walked to the store carrying my dad’s dinner that she had just cooked when a neighborhood dog approached her. What did she do? She threw my dad’s dinner at it!

Recently she cooked me a huge batch of bone marrow. I love bone marrow. (Refer to my Totes Awesome Channel vlog about ideal meals.) I posted the picture of mom’s bone marrow on Facebook and my crass Best Dudie Friend commented, “Oh No! I’m going to miss you, Bob!” I thought it was hilarious and told my mom that BDF thinks she cooked up Bob.

“Tell him how can I cook Bob when I don’t even want to TOUCH Bob?”

The Sketchbook Project needs to be postmarked by Tuesday and I have 13 more pages to complete! Panic!! I’ll be out of town this weekend and busy too so it’ll leave me Sunday night and Monday night. Last year by the first of the year, I had all the pages planned and mostly done! Anyway, want to see two pages of what I have done?

Hee.

I took today off of work because we’re going to Dallas for the weekend for a wedding. Sadly, there won’t be any time for us to stop by In ‘N Out. I guess I will just wait til when I go to Vegas!

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ a close friend to laugh with and make cleaning dog poop out of my car bearable ♥ a well-timed hug ♥ a supreme burger along side chili cheese fries and a decadent nutella milkshake with chocolate covered pretzel crumbles ♥ new music from Treavor and Peter ♥ planning Valentines with a few girlfriends ♥ authentic Chinese food date with Brandi ♥ cuddles ♥ vote of confidence from Cindy ♥ Deesh and Bing taking in Bob for the weekend ♥ blueberries and strawberries in my cereal ♥ BDF helping my friends draft professional correspondences ♥ BFF helping me come up with 7 quick takes ♥ one of my favorite months drawing near

I have been in a funk for a couple of long months now. It has affected my blog posting frequency. When I’m down and out I hate blogging about it. It feels repetitive, unproductive, burdensome, and negative. When I’m down and out, I like attacking things with action or I ruminate over it until it compels me into action.

It feels so contradictory to feel both extremely happy and discontent at the same time. I’m happy with my social life and relationships. I’m in a wonderful place with Alan. It’s been 5 months since moving in with him and we’ve found that comfortable pace. I see my friends when I can, call the long distance ones semi-regularly, and have tried over 50 recipes in the last 5 months. I feel fulfilled outside of work. So these things make me very happy. It’s the lack of direction and calling that makes me feel restless.

A little over two weeks ago, as part of the 30 Day Reinvention, I was prompted to evaluate these pieces of my life: Confidence, Education, Career, Finances, Heath, Physical Activity, Home Cooking, Relationships, Social Life, Creativity, Spirituality, Home Environment. I gave myself grades and the only A’s and B’s I granted myself were in Creativity, Education, Home Cooking, Relationships, and Social Life. This leaves me a lot of areas to improve.

After a while of self-pity and stewing, I’m finally compelled to action. Baby steps. I’m baby stepping out of my rut. I’ve made time for the elliptical machine and for long walks on Town Lake almost every night the last two weeks. I’ve been writing in my journal most mornings. I’ve reinstated my 15 minutes a day of decluttering and an hour a week of cleaning on top of that. Hell, I’ve even flossed for three nights straight! I got my parking ticket waived and sent off payment for my speeding ticket. I’ve finally logged into LinkedIn and updated my connections. All these are incremental tiny steps. One foot after the other. Just like Bill Murray in one of my favorite movies.

What I know about baby steps is that it may feel like nothing is happening, but a year later when you look up, the scenery will have changed. Here’s hoping for better scenery!

This week on Totes Awesome Channel, we discuss our Myers-Briggs personality types.

I’m an ENFJ. What are you?

I mentioned the trips I hope to take this year (Pittsburgh, Marfa, Vegas, Seattle, and somewhere in Kansas) and my more abstract journey is to find that dang calling.

I’ve been spackling up my life. Made that dreaded dentist appointment. Scheduled more walking time in hopes to flirt with a more active life. Morning pages are written more often than not. Finally logged into my LinkedIn account and uploaded a profile picture and accepted all my invites. I love baby steps and breaking down big goals into tiny actions. I want this year to be a great year and that’s going to require a lot of due diligence.

I cut my finger yesterday. I did not respect the knife or the lemongrass stalk and the knife rolled. Thank goodness my nail was in the way because I think I would have cut off my fingertip had the nail not slow it down. My oldest half brother actually cut off his fingertip. If I do it too, it might mean something. Anyway, I never made that lemongrass chicken but plan to try again tomorrow? I’m a little skittish now. Hope it heals quickly! Putting pressure on it is unbearable. I couldn’t buckle my jeans this morning!

Speaking of jean buckles, my jean button fell off during work this week. I borrowed a graduate student’s belt to keep my pants up. Oh and I got a parking ticket. My life is in shambles!

This quotation is why I have a standing Take 7.

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ puppy snores ♥ Madam Mams with Cindy ♥ Madam Mams again to help me eat my feelings after I cut my finger ♥ date night ♥ registering for Bloggers in Sin City ♥ one particularly well-timed hug ♥ having a belt available to borrow after the button to my jeans fell off ♥ our president signing Al Green ♥ Rick Perry withdrawing from the race ♥ reading time ♥ cookie butter ♥ 4 day work week ♥ green tea ice cream parfait and tonpei yaki at Kome

Saturday afternoon, I was walking my dog along side the lake when I decided to check my timer on my phone. I usually ignore emails while I’m on the trail but I didn’t resist the temptation this time. It was Ashley emailing the rest of the Totes Awesome Channel with, “So, um, BISC? I kind of want to go.” Nicole and Other Ashley were already going and then Ashley quickly jumped on board, so I took all but two minutes and committed as well. It’s a big commitment as I have four more trips in 2012 I’ve already started planning and Vegas was not going to be one of them. Oh and registration is $499. That’s a big commitment too.

Yesterday as soon as registration was open, I made it official. I’m going to Bloggers in Sin City this May! I emailed Kim to share my news and lament a little about the dough I just spent on registration when she reframed it for me. “It’s not for registration. It’s for a ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE. It will be worth it. Think of all the new friends and memories you’ll make! Excited for you.” And with that, I let go most of my financial apprehension and basked in some excitement. I’M GOING TO BLOGGERS IN SIN CITY! Last year, I told myself I’d go next year. It’s next year, baby!

I’ve been to Vegas before and I didn’t get lucky because I gambled all but a quarter. This year, I’m still not much of a gambler but maybe I’ll still get lucky and win the Bloggers in Sin City and Paper’d giveaway. BISC and Paper’d partnered up and are giving away one free spot to this ultimate unConference to one lucky registrant. Maybe it’ll be me! How phenomenal would that be?

Almost as phenomenal as going!

This week on Totes Awesome Channel, we talk about our favorite childhood movies.

What were some of yours? As listed in my video, mine were Mrs. Doubtfire, Princess Bride, and Beethoven.

I’m posting the trailer but wait! Before you watch it, maybe don’t spoil the movie and just trust me. I think part of the joy for me was not knowing anything about the movie before seeing it.

The journal loot and cookie butter as aforementioned:

Sketchbook Project 2012 needs to be postmarked by January 31st. Last year when I did Sketchbook 2011, I had all the pages started on and most of them completed by the first day of the year. It’s now January 12th and I have over twenty blank pages! PANIC! This weekend I strive to start ten pages. Wish me luck. I need it.

A couple of the sparse pages I have done

I taught Bob how to roll over in less than 30 minutes this week! It’s still touch and go though. The next day he rolled over for “sit,” “lay” and “shake.” We’re still reinforcing it every night. Here he is last night.

This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ being treated to a home cooked Korean lunch ♥ a full journal loot from Danielle ♥ warm chocolate cookies while watching a movie ♥ date night ♥ Vietnamese coffee and licking the condensed milk spoon ♥ planning Valentine surprises with girl friends ♥ reading 1984 makes me grateful for my thoughts and books ♥ three day weekend ♥ morning pages ♥ pizza night (no cooking and cleaning!) ♥ using up Groupons before they expire ♥ monthly credit card cycle starting over ♥ getting to know my sister slowly through emails

Want to read more on this tradition?
4th Year Photos and Quotes
3rd Year Photos and Explanation of Tradition

For more Wordless Wednesdays from others, click here.

Rebecca from Receccamendations partnered up with Eat Out In and held a contest on her blog. Eat Out In is a Texan company that offers delivery from a slew of restaurants they have as partners. The contest was to pitch a dinner party idea and describe what kind of food you would serve with a 250 dollar budget from one of the restaurants that is serviced by Eat Out In. As I glanced over the list, I saw a dim sum restaurant and in a flash I had a party idea.

I pitched my idea to host a “Never Have We Ever Party” and only invite ladies who haven’t had dim sum. The menu would be dim sum and the purpose of the party is to inspire people to tackle their bucket lists or draft one up. I was ecstatic to learn that my party idea was chosen and I won 250 dollars to spend on food! The original restaurant I chose in my pitch was moving so I went with Indian food, which was less novel than dim sum but there’s no complaining about delicious Indian food.

I recruited my former roommate as my co-host because I know that she enjoys themed dinners as much as I do. Hello, let me remind you that we threw a couple of Alphabet Potlucks when we were roomies. What ultimately transpired after we combined powers was a magical night of female bonding with old and new friends.

How’s about a tour of our night?

We provided checklists to our guests of things they were able to do at our party. Please note that no one chose to streak or skinny dip, but we just wanted to let everyone know she had options!

We also had a station set up to write your own bucket lists. Brandi and I framed ours to provide inspiration and we also had a couple of books laid out for ideas. We suggested to our guests to frame the list when they return home and place it where they can see it daily.

The snack table was a fun focus point of our party.

Mochi desserts, dried squid, shrimp chips, and meal worm cookies

Yes, I said meal worms.

I’m so proud of this group of ladies! Of the eight attendees, six ventured to try eating toasted meal worms! Here’s a reaction video of most of them.

We provided a ramshackle photo booth. I basically threw in my old Halloween costumes for props.

We had a cigar smoking station with different flavors. Chocolate was the favorite!

Rooh Afza

My dear friend Brittany came bearing gifts. One of which was a rose flavoring from India called, Rooh Afza. She used to flavor our water with this while we watched True Blood. More delicious than those bottles of blood they serve at Merlots!

Of the things not pictured, we also had a hookah with watermelon flavoring, grass jelly drinks (everyone tried and liked except for one person), chocolate wine, aloe vera juice (a favorite), and a karaoke machine.

Oh, and the food. The food was so good and plentiful. A few guests took some home for lunch the next day and Brandi and I both saved plenty for our boyfriends.

When I sent out my invites, I asked that each friend bring a guest. Consequently I didn’t know half the girls there, but by the end of the night I know they have chiseled a space in my heart! We have since stayed in contact via Facebook and there’s already talk about making this party a biannual event. Our first “Never have We Ever” Party won’t be our last!

Thank you again to Rebecca and Eat Out In for making this night possible.