When my parents and I were in Cancun, my dad and I went parasailing. It was so amazing to be up in the air like that, floating above the ocean with insane views of the gorgeous waters and coastline. It was very serene, since there wasn’t much to hear except the rustle of the gentle breeze. I hardly felt like we were moving at all and it really just seemed like we were sitting in midair. Everything was so picturesque and perfect that I wouldn’t have wanted to come down were it not for the fact that my feet were getting cold after being still for so long in that harness. It was a lovely experience to share with my dad, whose love of adventure and fun like this shone on his face. I must have gotten that from him, because we were both grinning ear to ear during and after the ride. Not only was it fantastic to try that activity, it was great to share it with my dad.
365great Day 250: parasailing
Alone in a crowd
I got a chance to enjoy a meal by myself today, actually sitting down at a restaurant instead of taking it back to the office. It’s been some time since I’ve done that and I enjoyed sunbathing from my table as I slowly ate my meal. It’s pretty relaxing and a great way to unwind. I had nothing to do but sit there and enjoy my food. It was also a chance to people watch – that couple in the corner by the fake flowers that touched them on their way out to see if they were real, the other girl eating alone nearby, the family across from me that didn’t seem to speak much to each other and sat around for awhile after there was no more food on the table, the colleagues or friends next to me talking about work and personality types…
Take some time to notice the beauty around you!
I also took the time to observe the little things – the heat of the sun’s rays on my face, the coziness of the restaurant, the wind blowing the decorations outside, the clatter of workers putting away dishes, the softness of my pasta, and the way that time kind of melted away. I love noticing these random details and taking the time to appreciate them. Perhaps I should go out to lunch on my own a bit more frequently. When you can just get lost among a crowd, it’s not lonely and it’s quite peaceful (at least to me). I like letting the world around me hum along at its pace as I take a step back. People tend to get caught up in their hectic lives and I don’t want to be that way, so moments to myself in the midst of a work week is really nice. I’m also looking forward to a yoga class I’m going to later this week that includes a meditation portion. I’m sure that will be rejuvenating too!
365great Day 249: praying mantis
I love it whenever I catch a praying mantis. They’re tough cookies, but have an elegance about them in the way they move. Once, I kept one indoors for so long that its eyes went black. It literally went blind on me. I’d put my finger up to its face and get no reaction. I felt horrible, so I took it outside into the grassy area and watched it wander around for awhile. Somehow, miraculously, its eyes recovered and it flinched when I tried to get too near. Soon enough, it scampered away to its natural habitat. Ever since then, I’ve been careful to only play with them for a few minutes before releasing them. They’re surprisingly interested in people and I’ve had more than a few come to me. It’s pretty cool to get that sort of interaction with an insect. I’ve always enjoyed playing with them, so that’s great for me!
SEO Surprise
I’m totally geeking out after finding out that one of my pictures is showing up on the Google Image search for “UCLA” at a pretty good position! You may not find it above the fold like I do, but more than likely you’ll find it’s the very first image that isn’t one of Royce Hall, campus, or the various UCLA logos. It’s totally random since it’s the picture of Panda proposing to me at UCLA… where you don’t really see much of the campus at all. Then it links out to my blog posts that are tagged “UCLA” so you don’t even see this picture without a ton of scrolling. However it managed to make its way up the image searches is a mystery to me, but I love it!
Here’s how it went down: my manager and I were sitting talking when the conversation led to the architecture at UCLA. He decided to search for images of UCLA and as he was scrolling through them, I was shocked to find something so familiar – that picture of our proposal! I could hardly believe my eyes and I had to go check another coworker’s computer to ensure it wasn’t just showing up because Google tracks your searches. Amazing how I didn’t do a thing and it managed to creep up to that spot. Who knows what other photos are out there in those searches!
It’s the little wins in life that bring joy to your everyday. 🙂
365great Day 248: random acts of kindness
My fourth year of college, for Valentine’s Day, I was super surprised when I got a delivery. My fraternity was doing one of those fundraisers where you can send a flower and bear in a cute little package to anyone on campus. When one of them came to me, I was sooo confused. Who in the world would have gotten me something for Valentine’s? I didn’t have a boyfriend or even anyone I was seeing. Baffled, I took to the web and eventually got a message from a random friend who just thought it’d be nice to send me something, so he bought one for me to support the fundraiser. How sweet is that? Then when I was in the UK, I joined LoveSoc, a club that some students put together where they’d prompt you to do random acts of kindness, like giving hugs or leaving change. It’s those little surprises that can be so wonderful, especially when they’re completely out of the blue. I really should do more of those. As a kid I was very generous – probably even too generous – and I miss those days of bringing a smile to people’s faces. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
Return to New York: Walk Down Memory Lane
I thought I could summarize all of our long weekend activities from last weekend into one post, but as it turns out, there are 77 pictures I want to share, so I’m splitting them up into two posts. First off will be the day we spent revisiting my old stomping grounds and faded memories in the areas of Westchester and Brewster. The rest will come in another post! Now, join me as I go down memory lane…
A perfect start to our trip!
This reminds me of the time my friend yelled HEY while driving… what she meant was HAY (on a truck), lol.
I’d like a side of gas station with my tobacco outlet please.
Crossing over…
A quick pit stop at a ginormous Whole Foods leads us to these yummy apple samples.
We totally pigged out on the chips and guac alongside some employees. It had quite a kick!
I was sooo excted when I saw marinated mushrooms, but after buying them and trying them, I found they weren’t the taste I was looking for.
I *almost* bought one of these, but I’m holding off til we move.
What a fun basket cart you can wheel around!!
Such pretty colors. I’d love to hop in one and explore a river.
I’d forgotten what it was like to drive on roads like these.
The first memory we revisited: Westchester Community College, where I had Chinese school on Sundays. I still remember the parking lot area!
And that’s the building where I learned many years of Chinese and took a cartooning class, a paper cutting class, an oil pastel class, and more…
Whoa, check out that super modern Wendy’s!
IT’S MY TOWN!!!
Good old train station where we’d pick up my dad after work.
Aww, my old house! We were the first tenants; I wonder how many have lived there since.
I took a quick peek at the house where I used to babysit a family of 5 kids. The only family I’ve ever babysat for!
Our neighborhood is up on a STEEP hill. I don’t know if you can tell but take a look at the person walking up. Great views from here!
Hello, middle school. This is where I learned how to make tweeties, played full-contact basketball with the guys, and went to some awkward dances.
Across the street from the middle school is the deli that I remember so fondly.
They still have my fav sandwich, the Pesature, which I liked mostly because I knew the people it was named after.
I love this place because of the deviled eggs. I’ve never been able to find ones that I like better.
So of course, I had to stock up on those eggs! The nice lady threw in two for free when I got half a dozen. NOMMMMM
Such a pretty sunset out here.
My old high school, which did not have the left half when I moved away. Too bad I couldn’t see the old part, where I knew everyone in my graduating class (and many in other grade levels too), took way too many classes at once, learned of 9/11 (and got sent home), and always had snacks to share with friends.
I watched Fiddler on the Roof when I was a sophomore and it was cool to find the poster up, albeit at the far end of the hall where it might get phased out in a few years. I still recognize many people in the pictures!
If only I’d stayed to graduate from this school, I might just have made it on this poster.
It was a brief visit, but good to see my old school. Go Bears!
Tuned in to my radio station from back in the day. Over a decade later and I still like what they play.
I only vaguely remembered Stew Leonard’s and I really wanted to show Panda the singing cows.
It’s massive inside and like an IKEA, where you follow a single path winding through the store. Tons of electronic animals will sing to you as you pass by or press a button.
It’s such a homey feel in here.
As we were leaving, I caught a glimpse of Christmas trees that were hidden away in a tent. I just had to investigate!
There were so many memories that came back to me, like that pizza place we JROTC kids used to walk to and the trek from the middle school to the high school for track practice and the peacock farm near the high school and the hidden trail that we’d run on for gym sometimes and the few driving lessons I took (including the awful mistakes I made) and riding my bike into town and volunteering at the library that was practically smaller than my house and hanging out with the guys from the group home and all my crazy nicknames (like China White, which I’d completely forgotten) and so much more… coming back after getting a better sense of where things are on a map really helped me with my scattered memories. I was able to piece a lot back together and I had a ton of random stories to share. It was a fabulous time!
365great Day 247: Dinners for 12 Strangers
This is a fun UCLA tradition that I have participated in both as a student and alumna. You basically get alumni to volunteer to host a bunch of students for dinner. Usually this is at an alum’s home, but sometimes it could be at other venues that they have reserved, like one time when I had a meal at one of the restaurants at the Anderson School of Management. On average, it will be two alumni to about ten students, but of course the number will vary depending on how many Bruins sign up. As a student, it was an opportunity to meet some fellow students, enjoy a free meal, and learn from alum. It was nice to see what some of them had been doing since graduating and getting any advice from them regarding school and/or work. On the flip side, as a host, I enjoyed working with co-hosts to put together the meal, learning about what’s been going on at UCLA since graduating, and sharing my apartment for a night of chatting. For hosting, we were given these cute little cutting boards as a thank you. 🙂 It’s a great way to connect with more Bruins over the years!
Influenster Rose VoxBox
For a long time, I’d been waiting to receive this Influenster VoxBox. Day after day I’d be disappointed when it wasn’t in the mail. Finally, I decided to check my old emails and found that there was a tracking link I’d totally missed back when they sent it out. According to that, my package had been delivered on Nov. 1st! Yet here I was two weeks later with no sign of it… I called the rental office since they receive packages that won’t fit in the mailbox and thankfully, my package was there with them. All this time of waiting when I could have been enjoying it! I miss the days when the post lady left a slip so I’d know there was a package to go pick up. Usually we get a notification slip from the office if we haven’t picked up the package in a few days, but that somehow slipped me by as well. Sooo let’s dig right in!
The Rose VoxBox. These Influenster boxes keep getting better!
I’m pretty excited about this box. Just like the Sunkissed VoxBox, I’m interested in every single item here! I love the variety of products to explore and some of these products are quite novel to me.
Vitabath Spa Day Cucumber & White Tea hydrating lotion – Anything with white tea and I’m in. I love the light refreshing scent of this lotion and its nice rich texture. Perfect for keeping the whole body nourished during the winter months. This is a large bottle that will last for quite awhile! It really does give me a great relaxing spa feel and I can’t stop smelling my skin. 😛 It’s wonderful!
Dr. Scholl’s For Her Cozy Cushions – Omg when I saw this I was so amused! I had no idea Dr. Scholl’s makes insoles like this (or that something like this existed at all). They’re the best thing you could ask for in boots and other winter wear. When I get my boots from home this Thanksgiving, I’m totally putting these in. This is amazing! I can’t wait to try them out and make boot-wearing so much more comfortable.
Rimmel Retro Glam mascara – I’ve never tried Rimmel products before and I’m looking forward to trying out this fun mascara. I have some others I want to work through first, but I might still open it before those are used up. I don’t use mascara nearly enough to get to it anytime soon, so maybe I should start wearing it daily.
Kiss Gradation polishes – Ah so cool!! I have done a two-tone gradation myself before but nothing quite as fancy as this three-tone one. The colors are a bit bold for my normal wear, but I’ll try them out on my toes and for a holiday party or other special event. Very starry night or wintery sort of feel with this look!
Lindt Lindor milk chocolate truffles – Classic chocolate treat. Always a win in my book! I enjoy Lindor truffles, so I wish they’d included more. That cute little container only includes one ball! Certainly not enough for my sweet tooth.
belVita blueberry breakfast biscuits – I’ve had these in previous boxes and I enjoy them! I should probably actually buy some to snack on. I love that they’re sweet and crunchy for a satisfying burst of flavor when you munch on them. Probably a better way to start the day than with cereal (or, in my case, nothing).
What do you think of the #RoseVoxBox?
365great Day 246: Influenster
I finally got my hands on my Rose VoxBox from Influenster and I’m thrilled! It’s been a few months since I received a box from them (all of which are FREE) and I’m excited to dig in. I love the stuff that Influenster gives out and I find it amusing that my entire supply of Dr. Scholl’s has been from them (as of this box I have 3 different insoles). Influenster offers free boxes like these to people who are active on social media, maybe have a blog or vlog, and enjoy sharing great products. You earn a score based on your interaction with their site and what you post online. There are a variety of tasks you can do to boost your score, like write reviews, take surveys, and share on social media. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll send an invite. It’s a great way to discover cool products just by leveraging your social influence online.
Scaling back
I’ve been working on a blog post for “today” (even though technically it’s already tomorrow) but I just don’t feel like finishing it quite yet. It’s been a long time since I skipped a day blogging even though it’s well past the one year goal I’d set for myself way back when. I just checked and the last skipped day was back in February. Sometimes I get carried away with goals like that, but it’s been chipping away at my time and energy. I think I went a little crazy deciding to blog daily on top of my 365great posts, so I’m giving myself a break. It’s hard for me to let go and not post something every day, but I think it’ll be better for me. I mean, for awhile I was doing an every other day thing and that felt comfortable.
Some nights you just want to curl up in the warmth of the bed and relax. Tonight I did that after a soothing bath and it felt wonderful! I totally put aside the looming blog post stuff and napped for a few hours as Panda watched our Bruins beat the Washington Huskies (woot!). Still, I woke up in the middle of the night as I am apt to do, and promptly got on the computer to blog. It’ll be nice to not do that and sleep through the night instead next time I’m exhausted. Now excuse me while I go work on the 365great post. 😛
