Monday, August 24, 2009

also, here's a quote

i don't necessarily buy into the whole self help realm but i do like a good quote:

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.

dennis waitley

i am grateful that there are loads of people that dance better than me

for those of you that know me, you'll know i love dance movies and tv shows that involve competitive dancing. i'm that person that picks a favorite crew during the first episode of america's best dance crew and takes it personally when people say bad things about them. i watch SYTYCD on jet blue flights. i do not change the channel if "Step Up/You Got Served/Center Stage" comes on. yea i even love the ballerina movies.

of course this does not mean i'm a good dancer personally. i've taken a total of maybe 5 dance classes in my entire life: 2 hip hop, 1 afro brazilian, 1 tragico salsa class, maybe 1 in elementary school where we learned the hokey pokey and at some point i know i learned the macarena.

i watched a fascinating documentary this weekend called "planet b-boy" which follows in the same vein as all the stuff i love to watch except that it is more interesting than say, step up, because it was a) real life, b) a fascinating perspective on bboys and global hiphop culture as a whole and c) exciting to see so many people that were passionate about breakdancing as a form of self expression regardless of where they were from. it was more than just rooting for the underdog dancer trying to make their way. i felt almost-olympic level pride in watching certain teams battle their way to the top of the breakdancing world.

ok well - maybe you should see for yourself:




yea, see? so cool. hey maybe everyone will see my moves! for day 8 of le projet i'm supposed to post a video for project gratitude about - you guessed it - gratitude. except maybe i should spare you of a video of me doing the macarena. you'd prob be pretty grateful.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Gratitude Challenge - Day 3 on Day... 7?

Despite the fact that I'm way way way behind on Project Gratitude posts, I'm making an effort to stay afloat! For Day 3, I'm supposed to write a blog post about something I feel grateful for in my life today.

Well, that's easy. It is Friday and I'm grateful for weekends.

I love weekends. It sounds dumb because they happen regularly (duh) but no one weekend is ever the same and I'm in a position where I can do whatever I like with that time. In a way it is totally selfish because I don't have a family I have to take care of on the weekends, but I am taking advantage of that for now. I love waking up with no agenda and having the ability to see friends or not, read or not, run or not, shop or not.

Back in the day I had one of those jobs in New York where I worked 6 if not 7 days a week. Weekends were just the time where I got to wear jeans to work instead of wool pants and collared shirts, though the rest of the drill - ordering dinner from Seamless Web, standing by fax machines late into the night - wasn't any different.

This week has been strangely stressful for me so I'm counting down the minutes until I can zip home and do whatever I want for an uninterrupted 2 days, even if that means doing work or errands. Either way it is on my own time and for that freedom, I'm grateful.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

ABCs of Gratitude

As part of Le Projet de Gratitude, I wanted to pull together my list of ABCs of things I am grateful for. Here it is!

Art. I love design, cartoons, drawings and the idea that artists create something from nothing and share it with everyone.
Books. Cookbooks, short stories, literature, graphic novels, memoirs. I am a fiend on Amazon Primo.
Convenience.
I freaking loooooove convenience. That's why I have to live near a grocery store and preferably more than one. And a coffee place. And any place to buy magazines.
Dogs. I have two names for my two hypothetical dogs - Gemma and Ozzie. I came up with this recently upon having an impulsive dog moment until I realized (again) that the responsibility associated with dogs is not possible in my current life. And also dogs are like furry children and need lots of attention and caring.
Emily. Duh! This is my sister or as I call her, sees. She gets her own letter because we are twins.
Family and Friends. My rocks, my strength, my happiness. I can imagine my life without a lot of things but friends and fam aren't on that list. Like my bro and my mom. Hi guys!
Gifts. I save loads of things I spy online for gift ideas. I love giving gifts. Which is ironic because I am really terrible at remembering birthdays.
Hammer. I just like saying that because it is my old nickname.
Iphone. Who cares about email when you can read the internet (and gossip. and news. and friend updates) on your phone ALL THE TIME. PLUS MUSIC. Life without my iphone is like living in the ice age.
Jobs. I actually love what I do. I know, I know. Vom, I'm one of those people. And when I was at the 'hoo I loved it. Even when I was working for the Man (Uncle JP) in NYC, I still loved what i did. My career is a big part of what drives my overall motivation. I'm so lucky to have had such good experiences with all my past jobs - travel, skills, amazing colleagues, everything.
Karma. It totally exists.
Lists. CAN YOU TELL. I LOVE LISTS. LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Lists of lists. I make lists of things I love too. And things I want to buy, places to go, people to write to, books I want to read.
Markets. Geek out: I really love grocery stores, farmers markets and other places where there are tons of things to look at and touch and as a bonus, if there's stuff to eat. Some dork out there is also probably saying oh there are lots of other types of markets. Fine, you nerd - I like capital markets too.
New York. My first love! Living there was my first dream come true, since I was little. Also it is the only place where you can get real pizza.
Ocean. Sand, water, waves, peace. No better place for a glass of wine and a nap then right by the ocean. The beach is like a little slice of heaven.
Passport. I love to travel and my passport (even the one with my nasty photo from college) is evidence of where I've been. I'm not a big souvenir buyer but my passport always has captures memories of my trips.
Quiet. I look forward to my Sundays where I spend my quiet time doing whatever I want to do and relaxing and trying not to plan too many other things to do. Perfect me time.
Running. I am not good at running or sports in general. I was raised playing the violin, drawing and studying math and science - all of which point to asian nerd and not to all american athlete. But having moved to the 'burbs I've found that running has been my saving grace escape - perfect for zoning out, thinking deep thoughts. And the endorphins don't suck either. (that is a quote from a movie)
Shopping. Bitch, please. I love shopping. Not that it is my life dream to shop all the time and have unlimited funds for lots of nice material things. But you better believe I am totally proud of those pillows I found for $20 at anthropologie. Hell yeah!
Tiny Prints. Paid placement. Kidding! See "J."
Up. My favorite movie of this year- a beautifully drawn/animated, heartwarming story. I was hiding under your porch - because I love you. I adore Pixar films and I cry during all of them.
Virginia. Shout out to my peeps. Couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else, attending my nerd high school and eating VA ham like it was normal meat.
Wine. Even despite the occasional allergic reaction, I love having a glass with great friends. There is no better therapy or way to unwind.
XOXO. Because who doesn't love that.
Yummy stuff. I love to eat and just realized with all these letters I barely have mentioned food. My list of fave foods is huge but currently I love dumplings, snap peas, nectarines, eggplant, anything baked that has a lot of cinnamon in it and miso glazed meat.
Zoos. Ok so some people don't like zoos because they cage up animals in artificial habitats. But you know what? The real habitats are disappearing and zoos are educational. Plus are you going to go out into the snowy mountains of China to find a panda? I think not.

i am grateful that pandas are funny




Friday, August 14, 2009

it's on!

guys, the gratitude challenge is totally on. for the next few weeks, i'm going to be posting on life's little and big things that bring me happiness, inspiration, gratitude; taking note for all the experiences and memories i have and giving thanks to the people i keep in my life.

i learned a long time ago that life works in really funny ways, both good and bad, and whatever you keep with you along for the ride helps you get the most out of any journey regardless of what it might be. you know, it is like the opposite of hansel and gretel - instead of dropping crumbs, you're picking them up.

i'm a total collector - i collect cute things for my bookshelves, articles i find online, clippings and pictures from magazines, random memories from great meals with friends, adventures with my family and frequent flyer miles to places all over. like what it feels like to stand next to the iguazu falls in argentina or the reasons why i will never look at chicken tikka the same way ever again after one fateful trip to india... good, bad, whatever! so - challenge away. game on!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Details

I sorta of like it when you can find little bits of extraordinary in things that seem really ordinary.



Double click on the pic and take a closer look!
Picture from here

Thursday, August 6, 2009

this moi

consider this a mini warm up lap around the track, the one where the coach says "oh just run the straights and walk the curves." oh yeah? i can do that!

i'm getting prepared for the big debut of project gratitude. it is about happiness, thankfulness, sad/happy/big/small moments and recognizing how important it is to share these things. doesn't that sound so serious? yeah well. it probably is supposed to be that way, especially since this is a work project and work is supposed to be serious (i think?). so you know, insert: huge arc of emotion and overwrought declarative statement here. insert another statement thanking family, here. finally insert list of reasons i had a good/bad day and results from good/bad day with statement of tomorrow being a new day.

instead, i will use this post to politely welcome you into my world. hi! and then i will throw in a quote from 30rock, because anyone who is anyone loves tina fey. declarative statement of the day: Hey, nerds! Who's got two thumbs, speaks limited French, and hasn't cried once today? This moi.