First Year in Love

Uh uh uhm so uh…and so began a beautiful bond that is so not Hollywood worthy, but in my mind much better. A wasn’t at all what I expected – in fact, I tell him that if it had been any other time in my life, I wouldn’t have given him a second glance. But dating A has been every bit as wonderful as I wanted a relationship to be, and more. He’s so kind, funny, values similar things, and is so so so good to me. God definitely had a better idea of what would be best for me. He always does.

Disclaimer – please do not mistake this romantic relationship for a fellow food critic partnership. That being said, this is basically just a gallery of food pics 🤣 

2019.05.04 // sometimes, clumsiness can be a blessing. A forgot to lock his car so while I was waiting for him to come back from helping someone move, I got to chill in his car

               

2019.05.04 // A likes to brag that his desirability peaked in college when a girl gave him her number while he was playing guitar. I reluctantly have to agree that he is definitely the most attractive when he is in his musical element

2019.05.11 // We had to part ways for three weeks less than a month into our relationship. Cue evenings in the bathroom texting when everyone else in the cabin was already sleeping (in all fairness toward me it was like 8PM haha)

2019.05.30 // coming back after three weeks out of town to a surprise in my room! This was such a first experience in my life, and I have to say that I like it. The funniest part of this is that my roommate has a huge version of this same plushie, and when A came into the room to drop off the present, he got super confused when encountering giant avocado, which evolved into embarrassment of how small his own offering was keke

2019.07.15 // teaching A to be friends with his neighborhood cats

2019.07.20 // Coordinating outfits for the first time at a wedding! Can you tell I’m excited? And then I was devastated because he left the tie at a friend’s house before the reception -.-

2019.08.04 // Triple date with a huge, delicious homemade dinner and a choral session

2019.08.08 // A lovessss mangoes. So naturally I took him to Scoopzilla for the mango sticky rice ice cream yummmm~

2019.08.10 // Meeting Daisy is one of the joys of my life since A and I started dating. A understandably gets jealous haha

2019.08.15 // Wicked with the siblings and A. This show remains fabulous.

2019.08.17 // Lunch with the family and A. 

2019.08.19 // Trying to cook more together with cheap new customer Hellofresh boxes. Finding out that the so-called “crema” was just sour cream plus water and making it for everything just to make life fancier

2019.08.23 // A likes fancy recipes like panna cotta with his two favorite things in the world – mangoes and raspberries – on top

2019.09.03 // Greedy greedy A with his benedict PLUS a waffle all for himself. I think he had to fast that day because of a physical exam so he was understandably starving

2019.09.13 // A seeing me off with Panera (was supposed to be my beloved Rubio’s but they were closed!!!!) and froyo before my drive to Sacramento for the weekend.

2019.09.19 // fellowship scavenger hunt and we got to be on the same team! of course A somehow managed to find cookies to munch on during the game

2019.09.23 // Musical A expanding his repertoire of instruments with an electric (edit: a bass) guitar

2019.10.02 // Wednesday evenings during busy season mean dates at Caffe Latte with, well, lattes. A bear to match my bear~

             

2019.10.05 // Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch with a humongous hay maze!

              

2019.10.07 // Celebrating A’s birthday. I gave him this homemade Loch Ness plushie that he named “Ness”. Other birthday elements included his favorite sushi and finally going to Colormemine to paint each other mugs.

2019.10.31 // halloween at church! A in classic fashion got his costume on that day. The best part was probably getting eggrolls from King Eggroll

2019.11.15 // our personalities came out when a friend gave us a free burger coupon from the Counter. A was getting extremely confused by all of items I was topping onto our burger (for value’s sake of course), and I told him to just take the weird items out and eat them separately ahahaha. I definitely think we got our $14’s worth out of this meal.

2019.12.20 // A laughed at me when I came to Sizzling Lunch for the second time and tried to order something on the menu that they don’t make anymore AGAIN. I couldn’t tell you why but I may be the only person in the world who finds Italian style pasta on a sizzling plate super appealing.

2019.12.30 // a special video call with A while he was in Japan with family

2020.01.11 // Sometimes A just wants to be fancy, so we randomly decided to dress up nicely and eat yummy fish at Pacific Catch (ughhh, that citrus miso salmon is my jam)

2020.01.26 // A fell in love with Sweet Honey’s mango pomelo sago so we come here multiple times a month. sadly, he does not enjoy tofu pudding which has been the singular most tragic loss in our relationship thus far (I’m not complaining)

2020.02.03 // A is having a cathartic moment after finishing Bojack Horseman. This is an extremely accurate depiction of him.

2020.02.05 // Leadership team building over pottery and lunch and I snuck A as my plus one

2020.02.14 // A puts his best foot forward for our first Valentine’s Day with homemade chocolate strawberries and flowers. 

2020.02.20 // Cute cousin perks!! A’s mom was hosting a cooking lesson with T so they were making sushi and homemade fruit roll-ups and chocolate popcorn balls. This family is so sweet!

2020.02.22 // Triple bowling date where A dragged me down after bragging about our bowling prowess lol. We placed second with a total score of 170 – I got 120 of those points.

2020.02.22 // Going to a bougy cooking class where we didn’t even really cook…plus it was SO expensive. But I’m not complaining here haha. And we did an encore for A’s parents to make the investment worth it. Minus the flambé steak… 

2020.03.07 // One area that we fall on the opposite ends of the spectrum is in creativity. I’m always so amazed to see A at work creating new things or making his own spin on things, like this rap/beat he created by clicking random things for less than ten minutes. It stands out to me particularly because I am so lost and so fearful when it comes to making something out of nothing.

2020.03.20 // shelter in place begins, and so do the silly Facebook video calls

2020.04.17 // I went crazy during shelter in place and made a whole tribe of loch ness plushies. Here’s the whole family

thank you for one year, A ❤️

with some patience, diligence, and understanding, here’s to many more

The Happiest Trip on Earth

I’ve lived life long enough to know that it is a gift to find a good friend, to end up with a good roommate, and to have a good travel buddy. But to have all three in one? That is an absolutely miracle of nature. But that’s just the kind of treasure E is. The happiest trip doesn’t happen because you go the happiest place on earth – it happens because you go with the best people. But the location does help. 

people kept on asking me what the numbers on my cap meant and it was hilarious because i had no clue, i just stole it from A’s closet to wear on the trip – for your information, i have since discovered that it is the zip code for aspen, colorado

there were so many crazy things about the trip to florida. instead of landing in the evening of sunday like we were supposed to, delays led us to an extra flight leg, and an overnight stay in the airport. this unfortunately meant that we would miss out on getting passes to the elusive new star wars ride (yes, we were going to be those crazy people outside waiting in line hours before the park opened), but this is us changed into our duffy/shellie mae costumes, still excited for day one disneyworld!

because we arrived so late that morning, we decided to save time by going straight to the park from the airport. i was met by an extremely crabby security guard who kept making very sarcastic and aggressive comments about having to check through every piece of my baggage. it was so hard because there was so little empathy for my situation, but i wished i could’ve done a better job of stepping into her shoes as well and responding with compassion and grace. instead i was super sassy right back. sigh, still so much to grow.

also, right after we got into the park, we almost couldn’t figure out the locker situation with our bags and that was probably the most stressful part of the trip where we almost just gave up on everything. thank goodness for not giving up and asking staff questions.

star wars land – wow. the replicas of all the ships and characters and locations, spot on!

i love how this guy accidentally photobombed us haha

edna mode was so fabulous. whoever played her character did a fabulous job of conveying her character with movement only.

one final meeting with buzz in the evening – to infinity and beyond!

day 2 – animal kingdom really took us surprise. first off, pandora was so out of this world, and they managed to make a ride that was worth an over two hour long wait, aka flights of passage. dude. so good.

they had an eight month old hippo baby in their exhibit!! watching this sweet, stumbling little guy figure out how to walk under water was so precious

but hands down, the achievement of the day was running around from one place to the next trying to collect all of our wilderness explorer badges before they closed shop at 5pm. we somehow managed to collect all 31 badges with the help of a ton of helpful guides (one even gave us one of the stickers we were missing because we were short on time!), and we are now officially senior wilderness explorers!

so thankful for disney employees who for the most part seem to really genuinely love their jobs and make the experience all the more fuller with their enthusiasm and dedication to their work. 

can you guess who we are today? the cat ears and missing third kitten might give a hint as to this classic disney film we picked our characters from.

i just wanted to post this photo even though it’s basically the same as the one before, because we asked a random girl to take some photos for us and she nailed it with the lighting and everything. i love it when you pick the perfect person to take a photo for you

day 3 – fantasyland. it’s so interesting to see how different parks have their rides differently arranged. it’s a small world was definitely tucked into a small corner at fantasyland instead of having the entire backside of the la park

so much 💕 for this one

ingenious addition to fantasyland – they added different activities in the wait lines like a replica of eeyore’s home, interactive screens, and a playground area simulating rabbit’s garden. WELL DONE! 

when the sweetest employee ever makes your day by taking photos in the best angles for you even though he’s been working all day without a chance to eat yet. thank you, michael!

day three was disney princess day for us, but if you ask A, i was dressed up as the fairy godmother (this boy does not know his disney princesses)

day 4 – disney outdid themselves with epcot! so much attention to detail in their depiction of different nations in the world showcase, and all the educational rides were phenomenal. it is decided that i will never be an astronaut though because mission space advanced level was extremely nauseating and we both died.

many of the stations had native artisans working on their craft, like this individual painting alebrijes in the Mexico showcase. just that final touch of disney detail to make each place come to life

norwegian school bread is THE BEST! cardamom bread with light and creamy pudding topped with toasted coconut flakes – why didn’t i get this in school?

china – how much time must it have taken to put this together??

getting my caramel fix in the rustic and beautiful Germany showcase (i don’t know how they got all these things to be the perfect proportions so they were delicious without being overwhelmingly sweet)

we’re missing the annual festival of the arts by a day, but took advantage of these fun “pose as a painting” frames. while waiting in line, we asked what the right one was, and the couple ahead of us said, “Mona Lisa”. we were flabbergasted that we couldn’t recognize it, but really, who ever looked at the background of the painting anyway? 

beautiful italia with its graceful arched bridges

you really cannot pick favorites here. each showcase was created with so much care and attention to detail that you just have to appreciate each one for its own distinctness

classic British telephone booths~

side note – can you tell who i’m disneybounding as?

morocco was insanely beautiful with these intricate tiles and designs. definitely going to add this stunning location to list of places to visit 

when every night ends with fireworks, it can’t be so bad, right?

day 5 – last morning at fantasyland to finish as many rides as we can. this is me going to ride the carousel by myself while E and i took turns waiting in line at the broken snow white & 7 dwarves train ride. 

getting most things done means more time waiting in lines to meet characters and get their signatures. buying an autograph book each time i go to a new park is probably the most extravagant purchase i make all year long

we forgot to take castle photos during day 3, so here is our make up session!

also, i was very vaguely going for the casual belle look, not expecting anyone to realize, but one of the workers noticed and complimented my outfit! disney, as expected.

tomorrowland had some of my favorite rides – the peoplemover, the carousel of progress, the monsters inc stand up comedy show. my choices of favorites seem to indicate that i’m quite the old fogey these days

disney travel tip – prepare your outfits beforehand! i got my minnie ears from mercari at a fraction of the cost, and they were lightly used so they’re friendly to the earth too!

my one qualm about this trip is the fact that disneyworld was pretty lazy about the quality of their foods. the churro was ridiculously stale, and the turkey leg was oversalted and stringy from being roasted too long. 😦

always ready for an adventure

thank you, E, for making this trip happen, and making it the best time ever!

i love this snap with the adorable two girls dressed up in the perfect elsa & anna costumes, lollygagging and having the time of their lives

it would’ve been nice to do some other things outside of disney world in orlando, but our days were so full that we were always too exhausted to do anything other than eat at mcdonald’s right outside the hotel (which was also glorious). on our last night, we did get a chance to stop by the world food trucks a few blocks down from the hotel and it was amazing! wish we could’ve had the energy to check it out earlier, but thankful that we did get to try this delicious food truck paella

until next time~

Solo in LA

I’ve always been extremely insecure about being alone in public places since a young age, and while time and circumstances forced me out of my comfort zone, the innate fear driving my actions hadn’t ever been addressed. Until now.

Growth is the motto of my life. Key checkpoints of growth – moments where you think to yourself: I can’t believe I’m doing this because yesterday, I would not have and I could not have done this. And that’s exactly how I felt about going to LA on my own to go to a wedding I wasn’t sure I would know anyone at.

I still remember when I went to Europe with one other female friend and we were constantly bombarded with the comment – “Have you seen Taken before??” It still irks me and I still think those girls were literally just being dumb, but at the same time, the reality is that I am more vulnerable, not because of anything I can control, but simply because of who I am. So arriving at Union Station before the crack of dawn, I did take precautions to not walk out on the street until it was light outside. Fortunately, the inside of this place is gorgeous.

What’s LA without some imported palm trees?

I love walking through downtown LA, and it helped to connect the dots of many locations that I thought of as separate entities. It’s like when you’re playing a video game and as you walk through new territory, the map of the space gets revealed.

Urth Caffe – my first stop. This is one of my favorite places in LA and the perfect spot for some avocado toast and matcha latte to energize tired me who was not able to sleep much on the bus.

More walking from Urth Caffe back to the Union Station area. Across the street is the historic Chinatown district and apparently the oldest fire station in LA – Old Plaza Firehouse!

Olvera Street – Makes me think of Coco. I’ve always loved the colorful stalls and cut paper art strung up in rows and rows. Churros and taquitos galore that I wish I had another five stomaches for.

Philippe’s – I always want to try something new each time I go back to LA and it’s French dip sandwiches this time! But here are some familiar faces – my Flow boys and they’re all grown up. So thankful to be able to pick up from where we left off.

So beautiful!! I didn’t realize until way later that this is actually the church they attend (or at least the church rents this space), which makes it not only beautiful but meaningful! Only downside is that the police sirens that went off more than once during the ceremony really echo. Poor builders probably didn’t think about that one.

M – the lovely bride! I always tell people that she was the one who showed me not to depend on a man to define my identity – that God has His timing, but in the meanwhile, I need to value and care for myself as He created me. So encouraged to be a witness of God’s timing in allowing her to meet A and for them to begin a new journey together.

Korean food served at the wedding!!! – kalbi jjim and multiple types of rice cake YUM

I’m so thankful for the big family of God that comes around and supports one another. Even though it’s been a long time, and there was awkwardness mixed in, I was touched by everyone’s taking time to welcome me, catch up, and even do things like give me a ride back to Union Station so that I wouldn’t have to take public transportation at night. All acts that give me courage to respond in the same way and reach out of my comfort zone again next time.

And the clock struck midnight, and I was back on a bus to go home. I was probably so tired that I instantly fell asleep soundly until I got home. LA, until next time~

 

A Year in Summary

Like many others in the digital era, I seem to take more photos than I could possibly keep track of. I don’t have a place to put them, or even if I do, it’s a rare day when I get the chance to air out those dusty picture folders in my file explorer. And then when I “clean up” my photos, I can’t seem to part with the good memories, even if I wasn’t going to take time to look back at them anyway. These things are all about the dreamed potential rather than the actual value, you know. So I figured, why not make sure at least a couple of them make their way into a pictorial collage of the last revolution around the Sun? At last, a fitting place of glory for some of those small, but defining moments of the year. 

2019.01.26 // new year, new home – from the vantage of my favorite nook filled with books, and a super comfy sofa to snuggle into

             

2019.04. // sister date in sf at the onedome which was a pretty borderline zany experience (the displays were pretty fun, but also they were selling new age tonics which is so sf hippie and out of my comfort zone haha), boba and spanish tapas for lunch afterward!

2019.05.04 // sweet serenades ~

2019.05.04 // fun days in the sun, snacks included! N was so funny – after finding out that I was dating, she asked us to kiss in a secret place and let her be the only spectator. This girl haha, she’s going to be lovestruck soon

2019.05.05 // so thankful for this ministry team that has always been super hardworking, persevering, and encouraging each step of the way

2019.05.06 // mama is always up to impressive projects, and this year she converted two rooms to wood floor

2019.05.07 // more cheeseboards to come

2019.05.08 // birthday bash with all my favorite things – paris baguette chocolate cake, happy lemon, persian ice cream, unicorns, and just dance!

2019.05.09 // birthday lunch at jsj street kitchen with family (i literally went here 6 times in the first two weeks they opened)

2019.06.05 // meeting new friends and seeing old friends

2019.06.20 // building up relationships with church coworkers through lunches – “make it a habit”

2019.06.23 // our dream team getting vbs together

2019.06.25 // first year doing a day long VBS camp which was simultaneously awesome and dead exhausting

2019.08.14 // sous vide steak attempt one was GLORIOUS. searing with butter is game changing.

2019.07.13 // color me mine day: look at this dude recreating the famous Japanese wave painting

2019.08.28 // lots of Google visits and lunches (the katsu curry rice bowl is TO DIE FOR)

2019.09.07 // Bob Ross painting party! Fro’s included.

2019.09.14 // visited D in Sacramento and went to a fish hatchery which was so well put together! definitely an experience that was enjoyed better because of the company it was experienced with

2019.09.19 // after a grueling three months, we finished our training!

             

2019.09.19 // I was so excited to put together a comprehensive cheeseboard for our training celebration, and as I was prepping the ingredients in the kitchen, all the ladies in the kitchen were totally judging me for making this dish that by Chinese standards requires zero skills. And then, when the celebration happened, my board was essentially untouched because, well, Chinese people just don’t like cheese or cured meats that much. That teaches me to do a better job prepping food based on my audience. Sigh. It was beautiful though. I loved it.

2019.09.23 // I love chill days spent with Mama discussing Chinese poetry and doing math problems

2019.09.25 // karaage burger was so glorious and everything I could’ve ever wanted it to be

2019.09.25 // day 6 concert – “i broke him mental”

2019.09.26 // round two of the cheeseboard since it was not all consumed the first time around…I got so sick of cheeseboards after this. going to take a break haha

2019.09.27 // went through a ten-year late overnight oats phase

 

2019.09.28 // Visiting the Alcatraz which was such a surreal glance into a part of a history and a sector of society that is so out of my normal scope of life, and it was so fascinating! I definitely recommend a visit here to anyone who is in the area

             

2019.10.05 // Made a trip to the Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch!

2019.10.08 // personal projects involve this regretful handknit blanket – a nearly $100 mistake -.-

2019.10.08 // I haven’t remembered to look up in awhile. I’ve missed out.

2019.10.14 // church staff retreat in marina was so fun and relaxing involving grabbing lots of complimentary chupa chups from the front desk and ending with a glorious meal at Phil’s Fish Market

2019.10.17 // we like to procrastinate at work by doing things like making a pretty picnic area and scaling church buildings

             

2019.10.18 // In Berkeley for brazilian sandwiches & Mamma Mia with W

2019.10.19 // I am so in love with 1, 2, Switch, the game

2019.10.31 // gifted these super sweet iced cookies by my student’s mom!

 

2019.10.31 // I was so excited for this themed halloween I organized with everyone dressing up as Mario characters. Didn’t we do a fabulous job???

2019.11.09 // double date at oakland zoo. feeding time with the otters.

2019.11.16 // the first ever HOC5 english congregation retreat!

2019.11.19 // W makes an amazing pork chop roast

             

2019.12.10 // after 10+ years, I have finally gotten my dream pair of overalls! cue selfies everywhere because I’m just so happy with them.

2019.12.11 // cute D & S couple moment during our church leadership thanksgiving evening

             

2019.12.13 // christmas brunch for dinner plus gingerbread house making plus chronicles of narnia watching. both my stomach and my heart are so full!

2019.12.16 // I had to take a photo of this. This is A’s parent’s living room. Everything about the holiday season with his family was a cultural shock in that they live their lives like the normal families I had always wanted growing up. 

2019.12.19 // yaf white elephant! 

2019.12.20 // spending time with dad during christmas season by watching a movie in the theaters together. It was a Chinese film called Only Cloud Knows that coincidentally set in New Zealand – we like to joke that Mama and H spent money going all the way there but we got to see the same things on screen

2019.12.21 // christmas in the park with the roomies

2019.12.21 // waitress – probably up there as one of my favorites with a stellar cast!

butter, sugar, flour~

2019.12.25 // after an extremely emotionally draining christmas, picking up mommy and H from the airport to have dinner at a traditional beijing cuisine restaurant was everything i needed and more (thank you chinese restauranteurs for keeping your doors open for us for the holidays). surprisingly, our parents have not really educated us about beijing-specific dishes, so this was one of our first times to experience it and hear stories of mommy’s childhood memories with some of these foods. it was so delicious and filling and heartwarming and just perfect! also, look at those pea sprouts we splurged on!!

2019.12.27 // free flowerpot bread with hand whipped butter from terrarium cafe (anthropologie’s cafe in downtown palo alto) is BOMB. shout out to the waitress who shamelessly let me ask for a second portion AND even initiated asking if we wanted an extra one packed to go. ummm, YES PLEASE. unfortunately everything else was too bougy tasting for us, so next time we’re just going to order fries and get like 50 free breads.

2019.12.27 // pride & prejudice at the lucie stern theater! i will not stop going to watch these different productions, but it’s very difficult to love new adaptations of works i already have favorites for (focus films, 2005, ANYBODY?).

2019.12.28 // M geniusly hosted a holiday edition of nailed it and the results! *drumroll*…

from left to right plates: animals, animals, joseph/baby Jesus/mary, three wise kings

aka LOL

i took time to make one animal which was cute, but I burnt the chocolate so it tasted terrible! does one get more points for having a beautiful creation, or a tasty one?

2019.12.31 // restaurants – please do citizens a favor and update your holiday schedule! we were super looking forward to afternoon tea at lisa’s tea treasures only to find it was closed. no complaints about pho and banh mi at pho cabin though!

2019.12.31 // welcomed the new year with many games including fake artist goes to new york…i think i would make a great fake artist with my super horrifying but ridiculously accurate depiction of popo