Tag: Friends

“P.S. If you get fat, no one will love you.”

February 10th, 2011 · · love, misadventures, pursuit of happiness 19 comments - Tags: , ,

This week was kind of hard for me. My bestie was having a hard week and when she hurts, I hurt. My best dudie friend left for his hometown of NYC after a too short couple of days. My boyfriend’s sleep cycle has been completely opposite of mine with no overlap. He too is having a hard week, and when he hurts, I hurt. For the first time in my life, I kind of want to skip Valentine’s day. Normally I’d have wrapped gifts by now to send out to my gals around the country and something for my parents, but I still don’t have anything and I’m babysitting tonight. The joke about me is that you know something is seriously wrong, if I, Food Fanatic, skip a meal. Well something’s gotta be terribly wrong if I, Obnoxious Valentine’s Day Cheerleader, want to skip Valentine’s.

So, last night, these thoughts and bad moodifers were pulling me down when I grasped onto the idea of making chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I had all the ingredients sitting around, including Ghirardelli’s chocolate chips. Great quality chocolate chips! Off I went, measuring ingredients and cracking eggs and being completely present in the glory of making cookies. I felt at peace. Things were going to be okay. I was about to have my favorite, chocolate chip cookies. I got my hand mixer and turned it on, within seconds, it. died. on. me. It’s 20 something degrees outside and I really didn’t want to leave my toasty apartment but, these cookies had now become the holy grail of fixing piss poor moods. Grudgingly, I sent my best dudie friend who happened to be online, a bitchy rant. “I NEED COOKIES. MY MIXER BROKE. I’M NOW GOING TO PUT ON EIGHT LAYERS OF CLOTHING SO I CAN GO OUTSIDE IN TWENTY DEGREE WEATHER TO BUY A NEW MIXER. BYE.”

I made the dreaded trek. While parking at the grocery store, Boyfriend called and we got into an argument! He caught me at such a grouchy time. I snarled at him. Why do we do that? Snap at those we miss? My need for homemade cookies was all consuming now. I bought my mixer and went home.

Determined, I resumed cookie making. I didn’t feel completely defeated, just defeated enough to be pathetically crying into the cookie dough. I mixed the dough, dolloped two dozen sizable morsels of dough on my pans, stuck the pans in oven, and waited the instructed 10 minutes.

10 minutes later they came out burnt.

Burnt.

I went to bed.

After screaming.

The screaming maybe didn’t help.

This morning, feeling deflated and defeated, I updated best dudie friend’s facebook wall. “Cookies came out burnt. :(”

Less than an hour later I get a phone call while at work from a beloved and famed Austin cookie delivery bakery telling me they’re in the hallway outside my office with a package.

2 dozen cookies ranging from my beloved chocolate chip, to butter scotch, snickerdoodles, and oatmeal chocolate in a happy birthday box, 2 containers of ice cold milk, and happy birthday balloon.

The card contained a postscript: “P.S. If you get fat, no one will love you.”

I know who gave me the cookies.

A postscript of my own: My birthday is in July.

Moments

December 3rd, 2010 · · lists, love, memory, pursuit of happiness, Reverb10, the not so single life 6 comments - Tags: , ,

I’ve signed up for #Reverb10, a project where bloggers are sent a daily prompt in December aimed towards nurturing a reflection of 2010 and positive manifestations for 2011. Curious and want to join? Click on the badge below.

December 3: Moment

Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).


photo credit

It’s not very hard to feel alive. All you need to do is be present. Don’t focus on your never ending to do lists, don’t wish that you’re anywhere else or speaking to anyone else, and revel in the present. To concentrate on solely what’s in your line of vision, what your finger tips are touching, what your taste buds is tasting, and what sounds are vibrating on your eardrums. This is the secret to feeling alive, to be completely present. This could be why today’s prompt is so hard for me. How to choose when these moments are infinite? They remind me of snowflakes. All unique and beautiful in their own right but impossible to count.

So instead, and in no certain order, these are just some of the moments I felt alive and that my heart was swollen in 2010.

♥ Holding hands with Alan as we stroll downtown and hop restaurants on a date night. First crisp cold night of the winter season. We had just giggled and laughed at the first date happening less than a foot away at Kenichi. The guy looked like Fabio and could not stop talking about himself.

♥ Sharing a booth at Chocolate Bar with Sarah. Juicy girl talk, drinking the best hot chocolate of my life, and topping it with a delicious white and chocolate layered cake. Of course, drizzled with syrup. The hot chocolate is practically pure melted rich chocolate. It took its time down my throat. The fluffy whipped cream and half melted marshmallows danced on the tip of my tongue. The fun purple walls of Chocolate Bar. Purple is my favorite color.

♥ Crisp weather on November 7th. It’s 7:30am on a Sunday morning. So unnatural to be up this early on a weekend, yet there we were, Brittany and me, immersed with thousands of people as we walk in solidarity, raising money and awareness for breast cancer.

♥ Camping out in my living room with Hillary and Alex the weekend before my birthday and talking to the wee hours of the moment. It felt like our life has circled around again. We’ve slept on floors before 10 years prior and talked into the wee hours of the morning.

♥ The handful of times with Thomas and various company where we just stuffed ourselves silly with good food, trying out a new restaurant. And then deviously decide to run over to another eatery to try some other famed dish or dessert despite being stuffed silly. It felt like we were literally gorging ourselves on the good stuff life offers. The pain we always felt afterwards was exquisite.

♥ Holding a co worker’s four month baby and making funny faces at him. His body was heavy and cozy. He still had new baby smell.

♥ Late night chat conversation with Kim as we listened to a This American Life episode together and than passed on sad break-up songs to each other. Neither of us going through break ups but both of us wallowing. I felt so drunk and buzzed and not a drop of alcohol was consumed.

♥ All those times I silently rest my head on Alan’s shoulder and can feel the the weight of his head on mine. It’s as if I’m silently saying, “hi” by resting myself on him and he’s saying “hi” back when he rests his head on mine.


Question: When was the last time you laughed so hard you almost peed yourself?

Happy Birthday, MEF!

November 27th, 2010 · · Birthdays, love, memory, National Blog Posting Month '10 5 comments - Tags: , ,


photo credit

It’s my best friend’s birthday today. 13 years of friendship. 10 years of it a best friendship. She’s lived in Boston for quite some time now. Now that she’s bought a grown up house, it looks like there’s a likely chance that we won’t ever live in the same state again. Except maybe when we are little old ladies moving into the same nursing home. In the meantime, we make due by sharing everything mentally (I like to call her, my brain) and seeing each other at Christmas and occasional visits. We’ve agreed to visit each other once a year, alternating our states. I start next year so I can see her new house.

I like to marvel at the scope of our shared experiences. She’s literally been my refuge after major break ups, offering up her miles and and East Coast home. I’ve seen her meet, date, and marry her boo. I have a random memory of her as a 1st grader with boogers in her nose from when we crossed paths as munchkins. I’ve grown to fiercely love her family and her husband. We’ve walked each other through familial falling outs. We bumped heads repeatedly as teenagers. We’ve traveled to Europe together. Hell, we once invited a strange man into our hotel room as high school students just to hang out and managed to not get sexually assaulted or killed. It’s just been quite a ride with this girl and I cannot wait to see where our lives take us. I always know we’re going to be okay because we have each other.

I love her and am wishing her the best birthday. :)

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 29)

November 26th, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), holidays, lists, National Blog Posting Month '10, resolutions 2010, savory, the not so single life, wanderlust 4 comments - Tags: , , ,


1.

Create your own visited map of the United States here.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to visit a new state. Well, we’re entering December and I haven’t done one lick of traveling this year. Abysmal since I vacationed twice in 2009 despite being unemployed for 5 months (Bestie gifted me her miles to visit her for one of those trips, but still!). One thing that impedes traveling by car in Texas is that you can drive a full day and still be in Texas. When Cindy emailed me about possibly helping her spend some vacation days, I immediately recruited her as a road trip buddy. We mulled over New Mexico or Oklahoma. Oklahoma won out because the two of us have horrendous sense of direction and it’s just a straight shot to Oklahoma from Interstate 35. Also, it’s a 6 hour drive as opposed to 9 hours. We’ll be road-tripping to Oklahoma on December 10- 13. Can’t wait!


2.

It’s also decided we’re going to eat and drink at Pops. Located on Route 66 and has 500 soda pop flavors. I am EXCITED!


3.

I told you in last week’s 7 quick takes, how I was late in the game in discovering This American Life. Well, my last night in Austin, Kim sent me a TAL episode about break ups and we listened to it simultaneously while online. It morphed into this virtual date of listening to sad break up songs just because. It felt very much like that Celine Dion’s All By Myself scene from Bridget Jone’s Diary. Except better because it was with a friend and was more funny than sad.

Me:
Seriously, where’s the wine?

Kim:
Oooh girl, it’s not even a wine song. It’s a tequila song.


4.

Tomorrow, I’m meeting up with the Kim for food and movie. I’m not sure where we’re eating yet but we’re watching Love & Other Drugs. Kim sent me a teaser interview that I surprisingly enjoyed. Anne Hathaway is adorable and my notion that Jake’s gay is wearing off.

Also, Kim told me that in another interview, they asked Jake what his favorite love song is. His answer: Willow’s Whip My Hair. A crush seed has been planted from that answer alone.


5.

I was under the impression that Texas trees do not do that pretty orange autumn thing and typically, they don’t. But this pretty tree stands outside my apartment. It’s kind of orangey right? I’m counting it.

Anyway, it’s a pretty view that greets me when I walk out of my apartment.


6.

Because I do not have internet access in Houston, I totally wrote yesterday’s blog post, today’s blog post, and tomorrow’s blog post ahead on Wednesday and scheduled them out. Magic!


7.

I met up with Alan on Wednesday before the work day to do our see you after the holidays hugs and kisses when he surprised me with an early Christmas gift. :) He upgraded my camera.


Question: What is on your Christmas wish list?

What says home to you?

November 24th, 2010 · · holidays, Houston, love, National Blog Posting Month '10 8 comments - Tags: , , ,


Hillary, Alex, and me last Thanksgiving

I’ve been so homesick I could cry. I’ve been craving my friends in Houston. I’ve been wanting to check in my friend who lost her brother last month. I haven’t seen Ms. Kimmy in a while. I can’t wait for our girly date. I can’t wait for tonight, and having a cup of the best hot chocolate of my life (Chocolate Bar in Houston, trust me) with Hillary and Alex. And then again on Friday with Sarah. I can’t wait to see my parents and eat momma food. I’m excited about dim sum with my family on Sunday. I’m looking forward to listening to my dad talk over glasses of Scotch. I’m crawling out of my skin excited!

There’s something magical about picking up where you left things with your oldest friends. Friends who know where you came from and are coming from. We’ve all cultivated separate grown-up lives and reunions kind of bring us back to the roots of ourselves. At least for me they do.

Back in college, my roommate of three years and I had a running inside joke at her expense. She had this cheesy writing class and the last line in one of her essays she wrote, “It says home to me.” And her teacher ate it up despite how cheesy we thought it was. So even now, when something makes us feel so at home and at peace, we’ll half jokingly and half seriously say, “It says home to me.” Then we follow it with giggles, or if it was me who said it, she’ll curse at me for making fun of her. I tell you this because all the things I’m looking forward to about going to Houston, “say home to me.”

Houston, I’ll see you tonight! Insallah. (God willing in Arabic. I say “Insallah” a lot in real life.)


Question: What says home to you?

A letter from a friend

November 21st, 2010 · · letters, memory, National Blog Posting Month '10, pursuit of happiness, the grind 10 comments - Tags: , ,

I was organizing my box of letters today and I stumbled upon a letter from my friend, Cindy. It wasn’t dated so I couldn’t really cross-reference any of my running records to see why she was so encouraging. Regardless, it was such a sweet letter. Recently, I’ve been soul-searching to see if I give back as much as I receive. I was worried that maybe I’m a crummy friend. Re-reading this letter was reassurance that I have done some stuff right. Which means, I just need to keep an eye on who I want to be and continue to reach. Here’s the letter. Shared with permission.

Dearest Linda,

Another year has passed, meaning a full year tacked on to our friendship. In the past year:

- You’ve shown the meaning of a true friendship. Not necessarily with your actions directed towards me, but also with the way you treat your other friends. I know very few people who are as loyal, caring, or genuine as you are. A true gem amongst friends.

- You’ve shown more strength than you will ever know. I know you feel like you’ve regressed, but I’ve never seen someone fight as much as you have for emotional peace of mind. You’re stronger than you think, and I know you’ll make it through. It’ll take time, but I know you’ll make it.

- You’ve shown me how to appreciate the little things in life. You have no idea how much this has changed the way I carry myself in my own little cynical world. In this way, you’ve literally changed my life.

- You’ve taught me to love the people around me, and most of all, to love life itself and all that it can offer for me. For that, there’s no amount of words that I could say to thank you.

Here’s to another year my dear.

Ti voglio bene,
Cindy

My heart was thoroughly warmed today when I read this letter. Sometimes it’s hard to not let the bad things people say about you outweigh the good things people say about you. Having tangible rave reviews around for those days is good for the spirit.


Question: How do you take criticism?
Do you fixate on them? Ignore them?

Cross-Reference Joy

November 15th, 2010 · · memory, National Blog Posting Month '10, silver screen 10 comments - Tags: , , ,


Movie Stub Journal vol 1

Last night I was doing my weekly hour of cleaning when I decided to throw out an old wallet. I poked, prodded. and peeked into all the pockets and slots and inside one I found a movie stub! I get really excited about movie stubs because I like tacking them in my movie stub journal and then jotting down a few memories. Namely, names. Names of the people I went to the movie with. So this movie stub was dated April, 15 2006! All it said was Lucky so I was guessing that it was for Lucky Number Slevin. I happened to be gchatting with my friend Davey, and I relayed the news to him.

Happy coincidence! Dave remembers watching the movie with me and with his friend, Asad. This conjured a few vague swirls of memories but I knew I watched it at least twice in theaters. It donned on me that I’m an avid journal keeper. Maybe I mentioned this movie in a journal! To the journal book shelf I went and I’m proud to say I only picked up 1 wrong journal before guessing the correct journal (Can’t wait to gift myself that label maker!).

Sure enough, I wrote in my journal that same night (early morning of April 16, 2006 to be exact) and the movie got a mention. I did indeed watch it with Dave and Asad!


I tacked the stub in my movie stub journal (vol 2).


A snippet in my journal, dated 4/16/2006.

I realize this is kind of geeky that such a simple thing gave me so much joy. But I told you, I really like dates.

P.S. Monday Writing Prompt is going on winter break :)


Question: What do you keep record of?

Why I Dislike Christmas

November 14th, 2010 · · holidays, Houston, love, memory, National Blog Posting Month '10 10 comments - Tags: , ,

Growing up, I’ve always hated Christmas. As long as I can remember, my parents worked Christmas Day and they still do. As I matured, I’ve come to really love and appreciate them for working every day of the year. I understand they did it for us and for the family. However, it makes the actual day of Christmas quite lonely. Last Christmas wasn’t so bad because I met up with Bestie (who visits from New England for the holidays) for some hot pot. This year, it looks like we’re doing it again, which is wonderful. It makes the holiday less lonely.


Bestie and Me, Christmas Day 2009

Generally, I love October through February. October, marks the beginning of the holidays. Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday because I really love celebrating gratitude. Also pumpkin makes an appearance in comfort cuisine in the fall. Mmm pumpkin. Mostly, what really makes October through December so wonderful is the people. Most of my closest friends have moved out of state or are in Houston. The out of towners come to Houston for the holidays since their parents are still rooted. I come home to Houston more to see the parents and it feels wonderful to be physically surrounded by your friends. As we grow older and start popping out babies, I know these friends will fly home to Houston less. :(

Finally, the euphoria lasts through February because February houses my favorite holiday. Valentine’s day!

P.S. This blog post was inspired by Stephany’s 11th confession on her latest blog entry.


Question: What is your favorite family Christmas tradition?

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 26)

November 5th, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays), holidays, in passing, letters, lists, National Blog Posting Month '10, pursuit of happiness, the not so single life 8 comments - Tags: , , , ,


1.


Today is day 5 of National Blog Posting Month. To participate, alls you gotta do is post a blog post every day in November. I totally underestimated how challenging NaBloPoMo is going to be. I thought if I managed alright posting a video blog every day in August for VEDA, I can manage blogging every day in November. I totally forgot that VEDA came with an editorial calendar. It’s only the first week and I’m already struggling! No idea what I’m going to blog tomorrow!


2.


I sent 9 of these note cards out this week. I stumbled on these note cards at a dollar store a while back. I bought 3 packs of 8 and kind of wish I just emptied out the stock. I sent them all as thank you notes. Pink for the ladies and not pictured is the cream colored identical set for the dudes. I finally grew up and converted from expressing gratitude through phone calls and emails to paper note cards. My friend Hillary is my inspiration behind sending out paper thank yous. She’s amazingly diligent in sending out postal notes of gratitude and has been for years.


3.



I started Christmas shopping. This one is for my mom. Regarding the paper: I have a longstanding love affair with penguins and snow globes.


4.

I’m running/walking Race for the Cure with Brittany this Sunday. Still a little shy from my goal. Please consider helping fund research and supplies to breast cancer patients by donating as little as 5 dollars. You can do so by clicking on the link.


5.


Click for bigger image

I was walking on campus when I stumbled on this water bottle. The bottle had a message. I only had my cellphone on me, hence the crummy photo quality. The tag reads:

“66% of the world drinks this water. Go and help: http://adventures.org/reallife.”


6.

A stalker’s worst fear is being found out. I think I gave myself away yesterday morning. There is an old lady who works out at a gym on campus. I’ve come to look for her car at around 8 – 8:30am in the morning when I’m desperately circling for a parking spot. Yesterday, I saw her car is still there and I was still sans parking space. So I started my usual creepy routine of circling the lot with an eye out for her and the other on her car. It took a while and I had just driven past her car to see her coming out of the gym. I totally reversed, planted myself with turn signal on, and waited for her to reach her car. Could the stalking get more obvious?


7.


This week’s moments of bliss: ♥ Being able to lend a helping hand for once to my saint of a friend Dave. He’s usually the helper and not the helpee ♥ Walking hand in hand with Alan downtown in between noshing at a couple of restaurants. Something about strolling hand in hand during one of the first chilly nights of the season got me. Weird, but I’ll go with it. ♥ An email from Jessica. She used to be my neighbor for over 3 years and moved out of town just 3 months ago. I miss her dearly. ♥ Two long online chats with my Solemate, after months without. Click on the link. Her new blog (as with all her blogs) is a treat for the eyes and soul. See! We do know the difference between soul and sole.


Question: What were your moments of bliss this week?

Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 24)

October 22nd, 2010 · · 7 Quick Takes (Fridays) 10 comments - Tags: , , ,


1.

Do you ever look up? Sometimes you’ll find a mirror.


Me and BFF’s family last weekend in an elevator. Am I cross-eyed?


2.

Occasionally I reflect on old skills that I no longer have. For instance, I took formal piano lessons from age 5 to 17. That’s 12 years! Ask me now if I can read music? Ask me now if I still remember all my scales and which key has which flats or sharps? Nope and nope. I have no one else to blame but me. I don’t practice. I didn’t invest in a keyboard to keep me fresh when I went away to college and lived on my own.

Another skill I had that is no longer is Flash. In high school I took an independent study class where all I had to do was learn Flash. My project was an entire site in Flash. I dropped it completely when I entered college and forgot about it. I discovered the software recently on a community computer and the movie below is all I managed to do. So sad yes? Maybe I’ll read some tutorials and freshen up. Hope the movie isn’t giving you a twitch. Quick! Scroll down to take 3!



3.

I mentioned last weekend that I went to visit a close friend and her family in Houston. They are suffering the loss of her older brother. I spent most of my weekend with her family. All we did was sit and talk. Sit and talk on the sidewalk. Sit and talk on the freshly cut grass of her front yard. Sit and talk in a bathroom. On a staircase, in the living room, at the side of the house. Though my heart ached for her family, I am grateful they have each other and it was nice to be in their company. I’m selfishly happy that I was able to give hugs and see their faces. I’m happy they still have a sense of humor, though a little muted. I pray for their healing hearts. If you have a prayer left in you, please say one for them.


4.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a couple of casting directors for a reality TV show. How random is that? It’s from the same producers of The Amazing Race. They found me through this blog and she said I looked cute with a good personality. (Hey, I’ll take it!) Anyway, I’m fuzzy on all the details about the show. It’s a month sometime next year and I don’t know how that would work with my job. I will say though, even if it doesn’t work, it’s super neat to be approached!


5.


You know what’s awesome? I met my goal of raising 300 dollars for Race for the Cure and have since raised it twice. My friends are charitable! I’m also digging their pseudoymns they’re using. Who knew Brock Lesnar is charitable? If you have five dollars to spare for breast cancer research, please consider donating by clicking onto my race page.

6.


Halloween 2008

Halloween is next weekend! I’m craving a good scary movie. I’m a bad scary movie buddy. I gasp during innocuous moments which have been known to cause a chain reaction in theaters. Sometimes I’ll grab you suddenly out of fright and consequently make you pee your pants. I’ve made Deesh squeal/yelp/yell. All this still doesn’t change the fact that I’m craving a scary movie. May have to organize something. Anyone want to rent Candyman with me?


7.


Martin wrote a post about living smaller and not multitasking. He talks about reducing online and real life commitments and bringing focus to your life. Though you won’t see me disconnecting my Facebook, (My long lost sister found me on Facebook!) I have been taking baby steps towards living smaller. Mostly by watering and giving sunshine to my meaningful relationships. I want to cultivate closer relationships with fewer people. See no. 7 in this list of 100 Ways to Uncomplicate your Life.


Question: Do you have any lost skills or talents? Ever think about reviving your relationship with them?