What’s been going on lately? Between scorching heat waves and really heavy storms, we’ve experienced some really extreme weather patterns.
pouring rain from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
The rain was coming down so hard that we pulled over to wait it out.
crazy storm from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I’m beyond thrilled that I finally got a package today! Exactly one month ago, I first got into this whole subscription craze and ordered the anniversary special from blissmobox. Unfortunately, that meant that I’d have to wait until early to mid-August to get my first shipment (and I have been waiting rather impatiently). Luckily, a few days ago I came across Yuzen when I was checking up on one of the blogs I follow. Everything about this brand appealed to me – the name, the aesthetics, the eco-friendliness of their choices, even their messaging! I tried really hard to resist, but honestly I couldn’t. When I caved, I decided that I wanted this to be a special gift from my boyfriend (haha :-P). So, I brought it up to him and spent some time convincing him. I’m an extremely persuasive person, so of course I got my way and he put in the order to get this box indefinitely – yippee!
I feel really fortunate that they still had July boxes available and the very next day, my package was sent out! Now it’s a mere three days later and I got a wonderful surprise at my front door. 🙂 It’s a good thing that a thunderstorm came rolling by, since I only discovered the package when I went to bring in the chairs from outside. Either the post lady didn’t ring the doorbell, or all three of us in the house missed it. Anyway, I’ll stop babbling so much and share some pictures, which I was very obsessive about taking. I meticulously documented just about every single move I made. Another day I’ll go into why I instantly loved Yuzen so much. Today it’s all about joy and happiness and fulfillment and excitement and… ok ok, on with it:
They make it so beautiful! The experience of opening the box is worth savoring.
Upon opening the box, a fantastic scent wafted up – I nearly rushed through the opening process to get to it, but I took a deep breath instead. After all, this is all about bringing a little zen (and happiness) to my day, so why not take it slowly and truly appreciate every little thing? The inside card includes a lovely message from founders Jen & Ted about the wonders of summer, which inspired July’s theme of “bringing joy, discovery and a celebration for the senses.” They sure did accomplish that! I also got a wonderful surprise when I saw the note from Panda (the boyfriend): “This is for my Panda Bear: a monthly commitment to a happy relationship.” Yay! <3
I can’t wait to re-purpose the decorations, especially the Yuzen paper (which I will turn into origami jewelry to be sold at Panda Loves)! When you open up the card, there’s information on each of the brands included in the box, as well as why they chose it. I definitely appreciate this information and soaked it all in.
I carefully took the products out item by item until I found them all. There are Lotus Wei flower essence mists to help you connect with your inner beauty, a Primavera facial scrub to renew your skin, some Himala Salt for a pure addition to your meals, Teatulia teas to enjoy an organic & healthy beverage, a People Towels hand towel to save the world from paper towels, and Kopali Organics mulberries as a superfood snack. I absolutely love these products; what a great selection from Yuzen! I’ll reserve my opinions on the products for some other posts before this one gets too long. Excuse me while I go try them all! 🙂
So I’m just visiting DC one day, checking out the White House with Philosopher (who was visiting from the UK). Suddenly, this whole parade of black cars starts driving in front of the White House! I was super curious about what was going on, but unfortunately there was nobody to ask…
black cars white house from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
So recently I went on a vacation to Hawaii and got to go snorkeling. When we got off the boat into the water, there was the option to jump in, so of course I jumped (haha) at the opportunity. Unfortunately, in my quest for that perfect jump shot, I only got a bunch of almosts and a couple of utter fails. I guess not everyone has a knack for awesome timing like me. 😛 If only I could shoot pictures of myself jumping… I guess I could get a tripod, but I was really hoping that Panda could get the shot for me. Oh well, here’s what we ultimately got:
First attempt at the jump shot – got one big splash in the ocean instead.
This is my “so did you get it?” look. And the answer is no. 🙁
I climbed back up after snorkeling for about an hour and we tried again.
After that fail, I came back up under the boat for another try.
Once again, it was “oops I missed it but I got you in the water.”
This time he got me prepping to jump.
Well, this is when I was starting the jump… the closest we’d gotten so far!
Finally, some semblance of me jumping!! While I wish my feet were off the boat, this was good enough. We’d tried half a dozen times already!
Yesterday I came downstairs to find both my cats staring intently up at the living room window that’s near the roof.
It turns out that what I thought was a large moth was actually a hummingbird that one of them had caught. It found refuge on the window ledge.
There’s the guilty party who caught that hummingbird and brought it in.
This is the “crime scene,” where Missy probably wrestled with that hummingbird and it managed to fly away.
Here are two of the feathers so you can see how dainty they are. Unfortunately I had to leave for the day and by the time I came back, I found that the hummingbird must have tried to escape again only to get caught. 🙁
I mean it literally. Panda and I were awoken at 5 AM the second morning in Hawaii to this horrible sound. It was loud, blaring, and sounded vaguely like a dying animal when I first woke up. After awhile, we realized it was coming from outside – waaaay outside. Like who knows how many miles away kind of outside. I was reminded of when I was a kid in Topeka and we’d have tornado drills with an alarm much like this one, so we were able to figure out it was probably some sort of warning system. We then turned on the TV to the local news just in time to catch them talking about the siren and how it was malfunctioning. I was pretty baffled as to how it could be set off half a dozen times before it was fixed, but at least we didn’t have any natural disasters to worry about. I think it finally stopped about 40 minutes later and we were able to get back to sleep. Thank goodness!
tsunami false alarm from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Yesterday was Customer Appreciation Day at the Melting Pot! Panda and I went to enjoy a dinner there and try out the special items available that day.
First we started with a Customer Appreciation exclusive – lump crab fontina fondue!
I got myself one of my favorite drinks: blackberry sage lemonade.
I got the special salad for Customer Appreciation Day, old-style mushroom salad. I would have liked some more dressing, but once I sprinkled on their garlic and wine seasoning, it was awesome.
For the next course, we got a selection of delicious meats that consisted of chicken, shrimp, pork, beef, and then some mushroom wontons to boot.
Also to get cooked as part of the entree were potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms.
First we test out the Bourguignonne cooking style (aka cooking with canola oil) with a shrimp and chicken.
Then I try a mushroom smothered in one of the batters, topped with some teriyaki sauce.
Panda got ambitious with his battering and covered this broccoli a little too well.
Afterwards, the oil was brown and continued to bubble for awhile.
Ultimately, we couldn’t finish everything so we cooked it all to take home.
In the midst of a heat wave, it’s hard to imagine that this very place was so cold just months ago:
blustery snow from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Sunrise is a beautiful time of day. Especially when I haven’t slept all night.
Yup, that’s right – I find the start of a day most pleasing when it’s actually the end of one for me. Why? It’s hard to say. Probably because my energy levels are even-keeled and at a comfortable level. I’m not trying to drag myself up at a time when my body and mind are rebelling against me. Instead, they’ve been relaxed all night as I work away online. While I may be starting to wear down, they’re not overly stressed, so it’s actually a positive experience for me.
On the other hand, trying to get up at the crack of dawn is never an easy or pleasant thing (unless I’m in China, interestingly). I’ve struggled with this all my life, as school and then work demanded that I be up at a certain time. In fact, in college I quickly learned that 8 AM classes were too torturous for me, so I started to schedule nothing earlier than 9. Even then it was a constant struggle to get up when I needed to. Once I got into the work culture, it got a bit easier since I was getting some more sleep each night, but I definitely wasn’t happy to be waking up in the morning.
Now that I don’t necessarily have to get up or sleep at any particular time, I’ve discovered the joy of watching the beginning of a day. I had gotten a sense of this in college when I pulled some all-nighters, but usually I was so delusional by the time the sun rose that I didn’t really get to appreciate it. It’s really pretty cool! I love the freshness that a sunrise brings with it, as the world comes back to life and the energy around me builds up. I don’t know why I’m such a night owl, but it’s what feels good and natural to me. I’ve tried to fix it and be more “normal” but it just doesn’t work very well, so why fight it? I’m much happier and more productive this way.
I’m a strong proponent of business partnerships – not in the legal sense (LLCs seem much safer), but definitely in the collaboration, motivation, teamwork, and synergy sense. I think it was sometime in college, when I was thinking more seriously about a future as an entrepreneur that I got this idea in my head. Was it from articles I read? Companies I looked into? Other media influences? I can’t remember now. All I know is that I soon formed an opinion that the best way for me to find success in business was by pursuing ventures with a partner. Maybe I’d have a different partner for each project, or one who I could do multiple ones with. Maybe it’d be a man or a woman. That much didn’t matter insomuch as 1) we both worked hard toward a common goal, 2) we had similar values, and 3) we had complementary skills.
Once I got this idea in my head, I kept a watchful eye out. At professional events, at social events, and even during chance encounters. I met a lot of interesting, smart, driven people throughout my years in college, but none meshed with me the way I wanted my business partner to. I was always thinking in the back of my head, “Is this person someone I could build a working partnership with?” Sadly, the answer was always no. Usually it was because we didn’t share the same interests – they didn’t want to go into the same industries I did, or they didn’t have the entrepreneurial drive that I did. Sometimes other factors came into play, like clashes in personality. I thought I might have a chance when I went to work in Singapore, but that fell apart before we ever got going.
After years of dreaming, I decided it was time to address the real life issues I had to face. I got a normal job at an established company and settled into an average workweek. Luckily, the company was small, young, and still had a start-up vibe. I had a lot to learn and got plenty of responsibility. Over the next two years, I learned a lot and experienced a lot of change at the company! Things were pretty stable and I was getting antsy. That entrepreneurial bug came back to bite me and it was an itch that I needed to scratch. I had a business idea that I felt was worth pursuing and finally, finally, I had met a business partner! After six long years of searching, it kind of just fell in my lap and I was not about to let it go. Oh, life. 😛 Well, now that I saw the opportunity, I went for it. I felt confident that within a couple of months (ok, maybe a year), we could make it work.
Ultimately, I don’t know if I would have pursued my own venture if I didn’t have a partner to collaborate with. Even in some of my personal side projects, my mom is my proponent and unofficial business partner. Even if I do the majority of the work, I feel so much more confident when there is someone else there, whether as an equal partner or more of a supporting role. I’ve even gotten so much self-belief that I’m looking into pursuing some of my own little side gigs! As they say, nobody succeeds on their own, and I am so grateful to the support network that I have behind me. While partnerships may not be the optimal approach for everyone, it is for me and I think it’s worth considering no matter who you are.
