Well, guys. This is it. Two weekends ago, I decided on my Dallas apartment and really had to face the fact that I’m starting something new. Moving to a new city and the beginning of building my career is super exciting, but I’m going to miss the only city I’ve lived in here in Texas. I’m also obviously going to miss my boyfriend and my family. My dad already told me my mom is getting sad even before I’ve left Austin. And Jane. I’ll miss seeing her furry little kit cat face on the daily. New beginnings are scary, guys. Even if that new beginning comes with a well-paying full-time job in a great career field. At least I have a few friends in or around the DFW area where I’ll be moving to. But I told myself that for the next few weeks I’m still a resident of Austin, I’m going to make some more memories. Of course I’m going to drive back and visit (pro of being only three hours away from the good ol’ capital), especially due to the fact that important people are still in Austin. Being honest, I’m very much a creature of habit but I enjoy trying new things sometimes too so a good balance of old and new would be fantastic for the remaining time I have here. Some things I’ve done since graduation… Grab drinks (and eats) at Irene’s Irene’s is famous for its Instagram-friendly wall and neon sign outside as well as their avocado toast. I love myself some avo-toast, but I actually didn’t get that. My food wasn’t all that pretty to be honest so I didn’t take a picture. I also didn’t take a picture of my drink (some kind of berry sangria), which was actually nice looking. However, I got what I was aiming for that day: a picture in front of the neon sign outside! Worth it. Chill out at Zilker Park for Blues on the Greens This is definitely one of those classic Austin-y things to do during the summer. You’d think that after living here for so long, I’d have been to this during the summer before. Well, you’re wrong in guessing that because this was my first time sweating it out at Blues. I’ve thought about going, almost gone, skipped out on going to Blues numerous times, but this time I had to go. There’s no way I’m going to be able to come back to do this while I’m working in Dallas since the event is in the middle of the week. Was it worth it? In a sense, I think it was! The fun part is relaxing with friends and enjoying the presence of so many dogs. You’re probably not going to be able to hear the band playing very well and it is hot outside obviously. It’s crowded and crazy trying to get there. Parking is annoying. But for the friendship and memories, it’s worth it to go at least once with your pals. We parked about half an hour by foot away from Zilker, which meant that we walked for a total of an hour to just get to the park. That’s good exercise. Went to Juiceland with Avi He’s never been there before and was thinking about trying it out. There was no way I’d say no to Juiceland! I love this place despite the price tag that comes with their drinks. We both also signed up for their rewards program. It’s a good deal when they send you texts telling you there’s a buy one get one free deal going on, so do it. Plus, this isn’t a Texas-wide company so you gotta get it in ATX. Ordered pad thai from Thai Kitchen We LOVE Thai Kitchen. That place has some good food for a good price, and we haven’t found a single place in Austin with the same delicious flavor for that amount of food and the price. Unfortunately, Thai Kitchen has some pretty bad inspection results so we stopped going for quite a while. Also unfortunately, all the Thai places besides TK has “meh” food in comparison. So, after a good three to four month absence, we ordered from there again. Avi thought it was hilarious when I messaged him one day asking if we could just risk it and get Thai Kitchen for dinner, but look at that… We didn’t regret it. Or at least I didn’t regret it. Tried Velvet Taco at The Domain The food was not bad. The food was okay. The food was pricey. I’d honestly much rather get tacos from the food trucks you can find around Austin that give you some mad good tacos at a third of the price. The Domain is somewhere I’ve always gone to for shopping excursions once I could fully make decisions on my own because Lakeline Mall is not the cool place to be, kids. The restaurant-filled part of it wasn’t as booming and busy until relatively recently though, but there are some pretty good places open there now. Outside of Velvet Taco, there are some good sushi places, fancy-ish Italian restaurants, and quirky looking franchises like Velvet Taco to visit. I’d say it’s not a bad place to go for brunch (The Domain… not Velvet Taco) and there’s probably a place to fit anyone’s taste around the area. I still stand by my opinion that there are better places to get tacos though. This isn’t everything I’ve done in Austin since graduation, but these are some of the things I want to document and remember once I leave for Dallas. That’s coming up… very soon. It freaks me out to think about it, but life goes on! Dallas is going to be super different so I’m expecting some shock in the beginning, but hey it’ll become my home eventually. Can’t wait for the new experiences I’ll have in Dallas though! Check in a few weeks for thaaaaat… and also check back for some other cute experiences in Austin soon-ish. Hopefully. Let’s see if I keep that promise up.
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When Starbucks announced their special, on-trend, and limited supply beverage, I knew this was one trendy drink I’d have to try. The Unicorn Frappuccino rides the wave of cute and sparkly foods that call themselves “unicorn” this or “rainbow” that, and is suppose to be super Instagram friendly. Plus, the flavor was said to be sweet and sour like candy. My ears pricked up with that. I love sweet and sour candies so if Starbucks could pull this off, that would be amazing. Before I pop into a store to grab mine, I checked out some reviews from other people. Most people said it was either too sour or too sweet for them. They didn’t like that the sour blue sauce thing wasn’t more abundant or the “Warheads”-like powder was too much for them. But it looked pretty, so people still bought and photographed them. A few people did love theirs and wanted more. So when I got mine, I expected it to be at either extremes with a small chance of perfect balance. Well, whomp whomp. Not today, Jenny. In terms of appearance, mine didn’t match the ones I saw posted by other people or Starbucks. As soon as I walked in, I saw that mine had already been all blended together because the drink was already purple. That was a little disappointing. Someone I know who works at Starbucks pointed out that because of this drink, employees are busier than usual and the drink is annoying to make so of course the barista was like “oh f*ck this” and blended it all. And I get that, which is why I usually don’t try the hyped stuff BUT for this one I threw that personal rule out. Even though I understand the plight of the Starbucks barista, I was still a bit sad I wouldn’t get the crazy bright pink and blue. On top of that, I didn’t get much of the sour glitter sprinkles on top of the whipped cream either. All in all, it looked more like a Lumpy Space Princess frappe than a Unicorn frappe. But all of that could have been a whatever if the taste was on point or veered towards either ends of the spectrum to me. With one sip, it was more disappointment. It just… didn’t taste like much of anything. There was a slight mango-y taste and smell. The drink wasn’t really sour at all. I attempted to mix it up more because I thought maybe some of the sour sauce got stuck in one area, but that only minimally raised the flavor. I felt like I was just drinking some milky ice. Overall, it was just super “meh.” This frappuccino was not cheap. Therefore, I had some regrets but it was kind of cool to try it out. I seriously wouldn’t recommend it though. It’s a waste of your money and taste buds. But on the OTHER side of things, there is delicious food that is full of flavor to bring you absolute joy in each bite. I think there isn’t a single person in Austin who doesn’t know what Michi Ramen is. Well, it’s about time for the Texas heat to slowly kick in which signals the time for the Michi Summer Menu! My boyfriend was pretty sick the last week or so but felt a lot better yesterday. He finally got his appetite back so we went to Michi Ramen. I do not hate ramen, but I’ve never been a huge fan of noodles in any broth. I like it sometimes, but it’s not usually something I would crave. He tells me that I am just plain wrong. But I didn’t object to when he brought up going to Michi yesterday. I was also quite hungry and by that point didn’t want to prep dinner anymore. We got there to a nearly packed house (as usual) and to find that the summer menu was out again! That means cold ramen and cool side dishes that are here for a limited time only. I quickly decided that I wanted to try one of the cold ramen dishes (chose the Japanese) and a side. He took some time to consider whether or not he should get a hot ramen bowl since it would probably serve his body well to ingest warmer foods. He ended up choosing another one of the cold ramens but asked for a bowl of the Texas broth on the side. Did you know you could do that? We didn’t, but the waiter let us know it was a possibility. I didn’t try his ramen, but let me tell you. Mine was so good. I loved how refreshing it was as well as pretty so look at. There are cucumbers, bean sprouts, egg (the sushi kind that is a little sweet), char siu, and pickled ginger on top of the cold noodle mix. You also get a side of spicy mustard that tasted like wasabi. A nice kick for a light dish.
But I’d say the best part was the side I ordered. Okonomi dogs. About six bucks for two franks in buns topped with deliciousness. I can’t exactly remember what was on it, but I think there was bbq sauce, Japanese mayo, nori, and fish flakes. Those two in itself could be a meal. Honestly, I would go back just to order those Okonomi dogs. Super glad they didn’t run out before we got there. Definitely recommending it to anyone heading to Michi while the summer menu is around! The next few months, I hope to try new foods around Austin and be a tourist in my own city before I have to move away. So, I’m hoping I’ll keep blogging and recording the scenes around me. I really love this city, not only because this area has been my home for so long now and that there’s so much to do, but also because of the people. I’m really going to miss my people. There is no time to be sad and dwell though! Graduation is coming up and then in less than two months, it’ll be time to head to my next big adventure. P.S. I’ll still be visiting though of course. Just sad I won’t be living here. And sad that my start date got moved up basically a whole two months haha The easiest way to spend money in college is probably eating out. I’ll admit that since my senior year started, I’ve been pretty bad about eating at home instead of buying something. My boyfriend and I have a few staple places (one of which we no longer go to due to continuous failed health inspections so…), which has heavily influenced my lack of cooking this year. But that’s not to say I dislike cooking or that I never ever cook. And of course, whenever I go home, cooking is definitely a part of life. The last year and the first half of this year I’ve returned to eating meat. However, the years of college before and starting my junior year in high school, I was vegetarian/pescatarian. I never bothered to look up recipes that required me to cook any form of meat and would only eat fish when I was out with people, so I pretty much no clue what I’m doing with food that involve meat. You won’t catch me buying pork chops or chicken at H-E-B, lemme tell you. It’s all cool though, because vegetarian cooking is pretty yummy! I am not lying to you. Tofu is not awful and neither are chickpeas. Plus, it’s healthy and good for you to get in those vegetables and cut down on the red meats. Many of the recipes I’ve used before are from vegetarian only or completely vegan food bloggers. Each of those recipes turn out absolutely wonderful! 10/10 would recommend to everyone. My favorite food blogs are Minimalist Baker and Oh She Glows. Particularly love Minimalist Baker! From entrees to desserts, she makes sure that the recipe are simple and delicious. Same with Oh She Glows, but there is something about Minimalist Baker that makes me smile. I don’t even mind reading all the stuff before the recipe appears. Favorite recipes from her site? Vegan shakshouka (seriously too good…)
All it requires is plenty of tomato stuff, spices, and chickpeas. Not spicy so it’s suitable for all spice-levels. It’s great with some hearty bread or over rice! I prefer some toasty garlic bread. It’s even better once you add in some cilantro and squeeze lemon juice in. Her recipe also serves a small family for dinner so it is just the best. Leftovers taste amazing, too. Vegan cinnamon rolls! I used to not really like cinnamon rolls back in high school, but would have the occasional random craving. These cinnamon rolls though were on point. There’s a recipe for dairy-free frosting that looks pretty good, too. When I make these, I use an alternate recipe that is just slightly different. If you don’t want to use faux butter or just don’t have it in your fridge, there are plenty of alternatives available with a quick google search. The only problem with many of her recipes is that they often aren’t nut-free. Therefore, people with nut allergies should watch out for that. But there are usually ways to get around that. So, your girl is about to enter into real adult life. That means I’ll actually have to start thinking more about “getting my life together” since… that’s the adult thing to do, right? It’s about time I get back into thinking more about what I eat. Having a full-time job also means that I’ll have a much more standard schedule day-to-day instead of the ever-changing days we experience in college. It’ll also be time to think more about saving and the future. I’m simultaneously looking forward to it all and dreading it. Onward and upwards, friends. Hello again, friends! Hope everyone had a restful spring break and are surviving the first week back in classes. I told myself I would write this before spring break ended, but oops. Since I’m procrastinating right now, I figured that I could make use of the time I’m not spending on things I need to be doing. The week of spring break, I invested approximately $60 into some skincare products. In a personal post, I talked about when I had bad skin and my experience dealing with acne issues. These days, I don’t get breakouts too often and my skin is also less oily, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that I would like to either improve or prevent. That no longer means using harsh face washes or finding methods to get rid of all the oil I find on my face after some skincare education. It has also become more important to me that I use more natural products or at least less abrasive products on my skin. One of the brands that have really taken off in the last few years is Lush. The company is known for their bath bombs, shampoo bars, and face masks made with mostly all-natural products that not only benefit your skin or hair but also smells/looks great. Lush also produces some unique items such as toothpaste tabs and shower jellies. Plus, the company is all about cruelty-free products, recycling, and ethical supply chain. All in all, if you’re looking into laying down some dough for quality products, Lush is generally a pretty trustworthy brand for that. Plenty of people think so, which is why going into Lush is basically transporting yourself into what a department store looks like at a post-Christmas sale. Walking into Lush, I had a list in mind of what items I wanted to check out and potentially purchase. My intent was to try out Brazened Honey (fresh face mask) and Mint Julip (sugar lip scrub) as my first purchases. Sad part was that I wasn’t aware of how popular Brazened Honey is. They were completely out at the Lush store I visited. So, I grabbed the Mask of Magnaminty instead. I did get the lip scrub so at least that part went as planned. By the way, the reason I didn’t get all the things on my list was because there was no way I was going to spend $50+ at once on products I wasn’t sure I’d like. Mask of Magnaminty This mask is made for all skin types according to Lush. As the name suggests, the face mask uses peppermint (so if you’re allergic to peppermint don’t use this one) and is supposed to have a fresh, minty feel on your skin. It also has talc, honey, aduki beans, kaolin clay, and other natural as well as “safe synthetic” ingredients inside. Lush claims that it will clean and tighten your pores without leaving your skin feeling dry. I bought a 4.4 ounce jar of it for $14.95. Let’s be honest. When you first open up the jar and inspect the mask, it looks super gross. The color of the mask is not the cutest and there are little specks of stuff in it that does not make it better. The smell is also quite unique. I can’t really put a finger on it, to be honest. It’s probably because I have never smelled the things that go into the handmade mask before. Although it smells a little bit funny, it’s not bad. Once you put it on, the scent of it seems to get better, which was strange to me. That part might just be me.
Mint Julip
This product is a lip scrub so it’s meant to remove dead skin from your lips and make them feel nice and smooth. Lush’s lip scrubs are safe for consumption and made to taste good. There is jojoba oil, castor sugar, and peppermint in this scrub and is reminiscent of a sweet cocktail. I tasted a little bit of it before using the scrub and it tastes pretty good! Don’t eat all the scrub though. It cost a pretty penny for a tiny jar of the stuff. By the way, even though I set out to look for this scrub, I did check out the other ones in store. The popcorn one I just wasn’t that interested in because I didn’t want a salty scrub. I took a whiff of the bubblegum one and… wow. No. If you like cherry cough medicine then go for that one. Otherwise, I’d suggest taking a pass on that one. The texture of the product is as you expect. It’s grainy but fine so it can get that dead skin off your lips. The lip scrub smells okay. It actually tastes better than it smells in my opinion. Using it can be a bit of a mess just like the mask because of how packed the sugar scrub is in the small jar and how fine it is. When I tried scooping out a little from the jar, some of it did fall out. I ended up just dabbing my finger on the Mint Julip to get some out and onto my lips. The lips part isn’t easy either, to be very honest. It’ll fall off your lips a bit and get around your mouth. The second time around, I did better and managed to lose less of the product to gravity. So, what’s the verdict? Meh. If your lips are really dry or you have some dead skin hanging on your lips, it won’t help much with clearing that off. Slightly dry lips? This stuff might be helpful. I imagine if you have really cracked lips then this is not the product for you either. But what the scrub did do for my lips is make them appear temporarily plumper and the rubbing made them naturally pinker. Mint Julip did manage to scrub the less dry parts of my lips decently so that lipstick application felt smooth in those areas. Was it worth the money? Another meh. The small 0.8 ounce jar is $10.95. You don’t need a lot so it’ll last a while, but just from my experience I think you could find better or similar for cheaper. Final Thoughts I don’t feel like I totally wasted my time and money going to Lush to purchase two small containers of stuff. The Mask of Magnaminty has been used more than twice so far which is a good sign that it won’t be forgotten in the back of a drawer in my room. The lip scrub I tried twice and haven’t touched since… so, maybe no more Mint Julip for me. Lush is really popular and was super hyped for a while so I was definitely one of those people that were curious. I’d say that I would not be opposed to buying more products from them in the future but it will probably be very limited. That’s partially due to the price tag. It costs a good amount to try different Lush products to figure out what works and what doesn’t aka not wallet friendly. I still have my list of items I’d like to try, including Brazened Honey (a product the associate I talked to told me I should call in advance to make sure is available because it sells out quickly). Oh. Also, the lip scrub might bring ants into your bathroom. I left my lip scrub sitting capped in the bathroom I use in my parent’s house and I came back a few days later to a line of ants trying to steal sugar crystals. Keep that in mind. It was gross to see, but no ants got into the lip scrub thankfully. I just had to get rid of the ants and quickly wash the outside of the jar. Quick rant here tonight because I feel like it and some girls really need to take a minute. So, my boyfriend and I just had to run across the street to grab some stuff from the 7-Eleven. West Campus is a bit of a ratchet-looking mess right now thanks to the annual post-spring break "fundraising" weekend called Round Up. When you look around, you'll find plenty of girls and boys dressed in their neon and athletic wear best waiting to bring out their best behavior. As I get to the other side of the street, three girls are coming from the other direction in their over-sized shirts, brightly colored fanny packs, war paint, braids, neon shorts, and whatever else is part of the Round Up uniform. When the girls are about to pass us, I hear mocking laughter and one of the girls loudly saying something about how stupid some girls are. As she passes by me, she decides to suddenly talk really loudly and basically is screaming "... like stupid girls who run across the street in high heels..." with her friends cackling next to her. I see them from the corner of my eye kind of turn and glance at me, a girl in a dress and heeled ankle boots. Okay. Look... if you are wearing a fanny pack, crap on your face that you probably can't wash off for the next few days, and neon all over you, you are not in a position to judge me for wearing heels. Yes, I am running across the street in heels because I am wearing ankle boots with heels included. I have been wearing this all day. This is a typical outfit for a typical day when I don't have class and I don't have anything that involves a lot of athleticism to do. These are shoes that I wouldn't run in but can still lightly jog across a street in to beat the timer of cars starting to drive towards me. I am not the one that looks semi-ridiculous and like a walking highlighter. C'mon, now. Check the mirror. And maybe don't passive aggressively comment on someone's choice of footwear while walking down the street. Am I voicing my disdain towards your school supply like clothing choices and fake tan in person despite not knowing you? No. So chill. Just keep walking to your next sweaty and crowded party. Bad skin is one of those things that can make any person feel extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable with themselves. Acne, the bane of teens and some adults everywhere, was a constant in my life for a long time. While most girls and boys started to get those annoying bumps on their faces when they entered their teenage years and began experiencing the chaos that is puberty, I got the great luck of sprouting spots on my face starting around late fifth grade when I had just turned ten years old. As time went on, the pimples got worse and popped up more often. Thankfully, in terms of severity of the acne itself, I was pretty lucky that I didn’t have cystic acne and pustules. After some at-home research, my acne was probably in the mild to moderate zone. They often were your typical whiteheads with the occasional more ouchy, big ones or smaller yet painful, gross-looking spots. Breakouts happened often and the acne was hard to get rid of. Bad skin as a teen is looked at as a very typical part of growing up. But to a kid, that doesn’t really matter. The feeling of shame at your appearance and frustration was made worse by parents who did not understand what was happening to their daughter’s face. Neither my dad nor my mom experienced skin problems growing up. I was told I wasn’t drinking enough water or exercising enough. It was because I stayed up late at night too often and didn’t consume all my vegetables. I went outside in the hot sun too much and didn’t wash my face enough. Or perhaps I was too “chubby” and that was why I had zits. None of the possible reasons why my face (usually my nose, cheeks, and forehead) broke out was ever just because you’re at that time in your life when this might just be happening no matter what. So every time a mass of spots would reappear on my face, I would suddenly up the number of times I would wash my face when I’m home, drink way more water than usual, and feel anxious about practice where I’d be sweating in the sun. During those days, I switched through numerous face washes and cleansers. I even tried the oh-so-famous Proactive treatment. None of those facial solutions really did anything to help. That includes Proactive, which seemed to be helping for about a month before my skin began to hate my use of it. In my experience, if you want dried out feeling skin that gets red and irritated when you go through the steps then Proactive is your go-to acne treatment. And so the years rolled on. By the time I got to college, my skin actually started to get a bit better. I think much of that had to do with some changes in the way I viewed my diet and exercise as well as educating myself on skin types. Learning about how harsh and ultimately damaging it could be to constantly use those chemical-filled cleansers and scrubs might also have been part of that. Largely, it was around the time I hopped into the college scene that a lot of things about those teenage crazy years would start to calm down, including skin problems. I’m pretty sure that I still had pimples come and go my freshman year and sophomore year. Actually, I think I remember some junior year freak outs over a zit that placed itself square at the center of my nose a few days before an interview. Recently, I realized that I really haven’t had any breakouts in a while. Like… quite a while. And the only time I had a few small pimples appear was during the past summer when I was visiting clients in their dusty stores in 90+ degree weather with makeup on. And that brings me to makeup. I love me some cute eye shadow and get goosebumps when I find foundation that is a near perfect match. Winged eyeliner gave me feelings of joy as if the wings on that liner could make me fly. I wasn’t a lipstick gal until after I turned twenty, but to this day I love lipstick. Matte, not glossy. Preferably in a nude or red. But let me tell you, my oily combination skin that is pretty sensitive to anything foreign on or in it, hated it all. Wearing makeup often was a gamble on how long before my skin would react, no matter how well I washed off everything at the end of the day. A total love-hate deal. Then I met my boyfriend. The love of my life. The hater of the beauty industry. When we met, I was at the peak of my makeup obsession. He certainly let me do my thing but was open about voicing his opinions. I naturally started to wear less makeup after I stopped going to career events, started getting busier with my semester, and felt more comfortable the longer him and I dated. Plus, he doesn’t like makeup so I’d hear about it sometimes and we had conversations about makeup’s effects on skin a few times. After my internship started, I really started wearing less and less makeup. The Texas heat does not mix well with sweat,business casual, makeup, and stores. It took me a while to notice how I almost completely stopped wearing any makeup at all AND it dawned on me that my skin stopped being rude! I’ve also had pretty oily skin for most of my life, but my skin has stopped producing an incredible excess of oil as well. An additional pro is that my morning routine is a lot shorter now. It used to take me between fifteen minutes and half an hour to get my face on. Do I think that makeup is evil? Absolutely, not. And I’m aware that everyone’s skin is different as are people’s sensitivity. What makes my skin breakout won’t make other people’s skin breakout. Not wearing so much makeup won’t make breakouts happen less often either for some. But it may be something that helps some others, like me! Of course, clean your makeup brushes, always wash your face, and remember to treat your skin with hydrating masks and all that jazz on and off if you wear makeup often. But if you feel like ditching cosmetics for a time or even for the long haul may do you some good, then why not? There is no reason why women should feel bad about not wearing makeup. There are no rules that state you MUST have cosmetics on. Just do what is best for you! It is now halfway through spring break and I have done… basically nothing. Honestly, I usually don’t do much during the breaks if I’m home. Afterall, what is there to do. I can say all I want that I’ll do homework or study, but I think every single college student knows that doesn’t happen in reality. Typically, I end up hanging out with a few friends, watching Netflix, working out, and doing stuff like this.
The strange part is that since I got back into town, I really have done nothing except sleep and watch Terrace House: Aloha State on Netflix until I ran out of episodes to watch. Sunday night was pretty much a struggle to sleep, resulting in a total of approximately four hours of rest before the sound of paper woke me up. Yes. Paper. The last few days have had me face planting on my bed without much energy to do anything. But you can’t stay inside the entire week. That’s just an easy way to go stir-crazy when half the people you know are out of town or downtown. So, yesterday I forced myself to actually drive out, run some errands, and grab a friend to go out with me. I almost changed my mind more than a few times and it took a power nap plus pump up music to get my mind focused enough to think about driving anywhere. Despite the fact that I was ready to turn around and crawl back into bed even as I was starting up my car, I did not regret finally pushing myself out the door. Socializing is a good thing! No longer felt like a zombie after wandering around for a while and grabbing Starbucks with a friend. Plus, I got some nice shtuff from the oh-so-popular and Instagram popular Lush. I’ve never purchased anything from the brand before, but have been interested in their skincare products for a while now. This has probably been one of the most boring spring breaks I’ve had a while in the sense that there wasn’t much activity. At the same time, I guess it’s nice to just do absolutely nothing sometimes and just enjoy the comforting warmth of your comforter burrito-ing you. My boyfriend is coming back into town today so that’s exciting! If you’ve read this far, wow! Really? Well, thanks. Just felt like rambling for a bit and putting a little positive spin on the week so far. And I’ve been super inactive here for the last few months with the last blog post being from November. It might be nice to start up again. Hope everyone has a lovely rest of the week and enjoy some time off from classes! Last Thanksgiving, the roommate of a friend of mine added me on Facebook while I was home for a few days. Earlier in the day, I had texted a "Happy Thanksgiving!" to a group chat with my friend and his roommate, a chat that was made because all three of us started to go to a 24 hour cafe together quite often in the last month or so prior. During dinner with my family and their church friends, I was pretty bored watching the younger kids and a few of the older kids play Mario Kart and the sound of little ones screeching while they zoomed through different rooms made me want to crawl under a rock. When the message notification popped up, I was surprised and tickled. I was about to go back home because I just couldn't take it anymore. He asked me to listen to a track he made (one that I later guessed correctly who it was made for and may have influenced a little of my bad impression of certain people I've never even met but that's not the point of this post) and asked for my thoughts. So it began.
We talked all night and into the wee hours of the morning, and continued that cycle through the rest of the time I was at home. I was eager to get back to campus on Sunday because he asked me if I needed (wanted?) to go to the cafe after I got back to do work. It was the first time him and I had spent time with just the two of us. We stayed there till past 3am. My eyes could barely stay open, but I loved his company so much that I forced myself to. He really liked a cat pen that one of my littles gave me and liked to boop his own nose with the cat figure on the pen. Just prior to Thanksgiving break was when him and I first exchanged a few words. He also never sat next to me, always placing our friend between him and I. I didn't think too much of it at the time. One day, he sat next to me on the couch at the cafe. It felt weird. Before that, we also basically never said a word to one another except "hi" and when I would reply to a question he'd politely ask in the car on our way to the cafe. It appeared that he was purposefully ignoring me. He once left for at least an hour while we were all at a cafe. Turns out he was getting food for his ex girlfriend, who complained about the food having a hair in it. That night we (or maybe it was just me) made awkward small talk and he mentioned something about feelings for people you aren't with anymore. I was pretty sure he was still attached to his ex and thought to myself that it's never worth being interested in someone who is emotionally invested in another person. I recall being a little put off that I even thought something like that. But life moved on. My roommate laughed at how strangely I acted after coming back from Thanksgiving break. I thought I was going crazy. He started sitting next to me whenever we hung out in a group. We talked more in person. We also constantly messaged one another. I was giddy and unsure. Awkward turtle. I turned 20 last year on December 2nd and my pseudo-big bought me some bomb-a$$ cupcakes. People on Facebook did the usual flood of happy birthday posts on my wall. I got a coffee mug from one of my favorite places to go in West Campus and an overabundance of chocolate from one friend. My littles gave me a unicorn shirt and a Pusheen keychain... and more chocolate. So much chocolate. Earlier that day, he messaged me asking if I wanted to grab food with him and our friend at a Thai place nearby. I'm always down for food. He called me before leaving his place to drive over to mine. It was a Facebook call because he didn't have my phone number yet. My roommate quietly whispered that he has a sexy voice and I turned so red. She thought it was hilarious. When his car pulled up in front of my apartment complex, it was just him in the driver's seat. My stomach flipped and flopped. I gripped the box of cupcakes that my pseudo-big got me in my hands tightly. We went to dinner. It was nice. As usual, I barely touched my food at the restaurant and he ate some of my food, which felt so funny and comforting at the same time. Then we headed off to his place. I told him he could have a cupcake and then he claimed them all. It made me laugh, especially when our friend came back and asked for one which prompted a quick "no" from my cupcake-claimer. We all hung out together. I don't remember what they were doing that night. All the roommates plus one quiet Asian girl (me) sat in a living room probably watching something on TV. Then two roommates plus one quiet Asian girl. Then just the one roommate plus one quiet Asian girl. It wasn't the first time him and I had sat in the living room just talking to each other until 5am. We had started doing that ever since coming back from Thanksgiving. This time just felt a little different. That's because it was. I returned home at 5 in the morning giddy as a little girl. My roommate had left a note on my desk wishing me a happy birthday and a box with elephant earrings in them. I love elephants. It was so sweet and I was already in a state of such joy, I broke into tears. Ever since last Thanksgiving, I've had the pleasure of being able to spend my time with him by my side, either physically or metaphorically (aka via phone). Did I expect any of this to happen? Hell no. None of it. But I am certainly one happy girl because of it. This year for Thanksgiving, I want to be thankful for my friends, my family, almost graduating from college, being able to recruit at one of the best business schools in the US, for food, for my health, and for my adoring boyfriend who has blessed my life in so many ways that I can't count them all. Because our story was a bit confusing or just not exactly the most clear cut in terms of when we became officially a couple, we decided December 26th to be our anniversary date. I just realized today that it's one month after Thanksgiving 2015. A month can sure do quite a lot. Thank you for giving me a wonderful and laughter-filled year of smol pupper gifs, tickles, french fries from P. Terry's that I steal, and you and Weston screaming at a TV. I love you for almost year and here's to lifetime more. One. More. Month.
Counting down the days. More Memories To Come Tiny Playlist: (1) Song 1 - "... makes me think of you" (2) Song 2 - "In that moment, I fell in love with you all over again" (3) Song 3 - "Those are my words to you" I really honestly thought I would be writing more this summer and being a bit more creative. Unfortunately, my attention span jumps here and there whenever I feel like I have time to do stuff. Also, if you ever hang out with me in person you'll see this very clearly (I'm sorry but also kind of not sorry for this), my attention for other things drop like an anchor to the ground whenever I get to talk to my boyfriend. I'm not saying he's my world because that's cliche as hell and because there are other things that make up the list of important things in my life. But he sure is a huge part of it. Then there's work. I do have time to do other things besides work, but work takes up the majority of my day and sometimes my evenings involve me staring at a module or messing around with PowerPoint for my internship. I really don't mind having work to do, to be honest. It does, however, take away time from other things that are less "important." But that's not to say that I haven't had some good times while home, away from work and messaging/facetiming/calling my S.O. I think one of the great things about blogging is that it gives me a place to reflect (yes, I can do that in my head as well but writing breaks down thoughts better, at least for me) as well as keep a pretty decent log of my thoughts and feelings over time.
Most of my friends also dig sushi and are game for some quality fish in/on rice. So, I called up a friend and we made plans to check out Daichi when it was just opened. We picked a bad day. We picked a Monday, aka the day of the week the place is closed. It was a major disappointment to get somewhere to see that it's not even open. Good thing is, not too far away, there's another sushi place so we just went there for lunch. I learned my lesson and have checked times and such for restaurants and other places ever since. A few weeks back, I finally got to see what this place is about. I don't have many friends in town right now and, due to differing work schedules and distance, we tend to not hang out as much these days. But fortunately, one friend was down for some sushi dinner so I suggested going to Daichi. It was a Thursday night so I knew the place was going to be open this time I went. I was excited. AND WE WERE NOT DISAPPOINTED BY THE QUALITY. First of all, it was a super cute little place. Not a lot of space so there are few tables, but it wasn't crazy cramped either. The wait staff were polite. The lady that owns the place was sweet, even though it was odd that I had to wait outside when there was a table for two open. The food is the main point of interest, of course. Nigiri was on point. We ordered two types of nigiri: salmon and yellowtail (both pictured above). It. Was. So. Fresh.
Overall, it was a satisfying and yummy experience at Daichi. I would probably go back, because I can't refuse good sushi. The biggest part of being home is probably getting the time to go eat at different places, as illustrated above. During the semester, I feel oddly rushed (is it really that odd though?) so I tend to just eat at home or eat somewhere familiar and quick. Not so much the case during the summer. I've reached that age where my parents feel okay with bringing me out with them to places like breweries and wineries. Actually, they really want me to go with them. Partially because I'm their only kid and I'm barely home when classes are going on. Partially because we are Chinese and drinking plays a big part of our culture. That's right, people. Asian flush may be a thing, but alcohol is heavily a part of Asian cultures. There's some strong alcohol to be found in Asian countries, by the way. You guys aren't the only ones with liquor. The way scotch whiskey is made actually has roots in a Chinese method of making alcohol. For Fourth of July weekend, my parents dragged me out to Wimberley and Dripping Springs with them to go to a winery and a brewery. I was not into it at first. Drinking with my parents? Pass. But it was actually a good experience. Surprise, surprise. Duchman Family Winery was super pretty. It was a hot summer day, but totally worth walking around and looking at the pretty view. Wine wasn't bad either, you know. We tasted six different wines (2 red and 4 white), and ended up purchasing a bottle of the Canto Felice. We also tasted the 2015 dry rose (how do you put the accent mark there?), 2015 Vermentino, 2012 Aglianico, 2012 Tempranillo, and Progression. The wine pictured above is the 2012 Aglianico, which was the wine of the month. It is apparently quite popular, but we weren't the biggest fans. Overall, the 8/10 would recommend for a day outing or couple date. There's a restaurant right next door to the tasting room's building, too! On the same day, we also drove down the road (miles away) to a brewery in Dripping Springs as well. I really really REALLY enjoyed that place! Let me tell you.. I would gobble those fish tacos and twisted fries with a glass of Later Days. This post is getting way too long though and I'm losing interest in writing down these memories right now (haha). Toodles. |
Photos used under Creative Commons from emilygoodstein, SandraHintzman, Gonmi, [Alan], mripp, BazzaDaRambler, Infomastern, tedeytan, Biker Jun, Jason M Parrish, garycycles8, jdrephotography, paulius.malinovskis, SanFranAnnie, *ErinBrierley*, Tony Webster, craigmdennis, AngieSix, CallMeWhatEver, nan palmero, lanceeaton01, LisaW123, nan palmero