Two Thousand Seventeen

Sitting here thinking how I'm already writing "2018" on all my papers and filing documents away under this new year is unbelievable. 2017 went by in a flash and was filled with major milestones for me. From living my childhood dream of graduating college and finding a big kid job in the city (Manhattan), to moving out to my own place and even removing my braces (finally!).Perhaps it's the old saying that once you reach 21, the years will fly. Your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life right? Or is it your thirties? People need to make up their minds. For my sake, let's agree that every year holds something special, thus making it the best in its own special way.

Two thousand seventeen was a year of personal growth for me. I took a step back from the world of social media for a bit, minus the occasional Instagram updates. Hey, a girl has to find some creative outlet. I even took a step back from a lot of my older relationships to focus on newer and more recent ones. Kind of a detox. Now a lot of people might look at this as me cutting them out of my life because they're not worth my time, but are those really the types of friends and relationships that you want to invest in? Now I'm no relationship expert but I think the relationships that are worth investing in are those who don't look at the negatives to create drama in their life, but who will be understanding. And at the end of 2017 I was grateful to know which individuals in my life didn't merely look at me as simply a character in their story to give them attention.

Every type of relationship is important. From the ones you build with your family, friends, co-workers and your significant other. As clichè as it is, time is precious. You saw how fast 2017 flew by. Make sure every bit of it counts. Because you, too, need to set aside some time to focus on the relationship you build with yourself. 

One reason why I've decided to pick up blogging again after a hiatus of about a year and a half is to actually improve my writing and communication skills. For all of my life starting from Kindergarten to the end of college, I've always had some kind of writing class. Whether writing was the focus of it or not, I still had to take the time to spill my thoughts onto paper. If you've been keeping up with me or have done an "A+" job at stalking me within the last hour, you'll know that one of the only times that I've done some type of writing--outside of work--is writing Yelp reviews.

As I've grown up, I realized there was no administered rule that on January 1st of every year, I had to have list of new year's resolutions ready to go otherwise I would be a screw-up for the rest of the year. I used to write a checklist and post it on my bedroom wall to constantly remind myself  of the goals I was expected to accomplish by the end of the year. Any boxes left unchecked got carried over to next year's list and so forth. 2017 was the first year I retired the list myth and decided to give each year, going forward, a theme or concept to aim for like taking better care of myself or being more available for my family, friends and loved ones.

Entering 2017 I didn't know what to expect. I just graduated college the past December, didn't have a signed job offer and my family relationship was at its all-time lowest. All I knew was that I wanted to make the people around me proud and that started with me picking myself up.

Surround yourself with people who love and support you! It's a simple lesson to tell someone but it's one that I've come to learn the power of this past year. I won't get into the nitty-gritty details because my goal for this post was not to have your eyes glued to the screen for hours on end. Let's just say that I'm forever grateful for the individuals who have stuck by my side through the whole year and not just for the best parts. Thank you and I look forward to taking on 2018 and all it has to offer.

Weekend Trip

Friday, August 05, 2016

If you guys aren't already aware, I have been insanely obsessed with smoothie bowls. The whole idea of being meticulous with how I arrange each topping and all the colors and flavors there are for me to play around with is just all too cool and fun for me. So now that you are either double aware or just recently aware of this, it should be of no surprise that breakfast was a crafted smoothie bowl and so was lunch for me (heh heh). On a side note, I also made eggs and bacon! Can never go wrong with that combo.

Almost immediately after finishing breakfast, me and my sister and her boyfriend went to check out the newly released movie, Suicide Squad, in theaters. The movie wasn't amazingly amazing but a whole lot better than the 27-percent rating that it got on Rotten Tomatoes. Overall I thought it was a good movie.

After the movie, we got straight home, whipped up a quick lunchie and headed on the road where I found myself immersed in Sudoku puzzles and distasteful tracks one after the other for nearly three hours.Finally arrived around 6:00 p.m. and promptly made our way to the pool.

And dinner time! Attempt at Italian by Asians and me running back and forth between checking out what's cooking in the kitchen and the current status in the Olympics.

Saturday, August 06, 2016

Yay for team coffee! Which apparently only consisted of me and Mr Kim. Much better than having no one on my side because the last time that happened I had to rummage the house for chocolate as a source of energy booster for my mornings. Breakfast was a good o'classic. Scrambled eggs, diced potatoes and turkey bacon. Okay maybe not so classic but lets pretend the diced potatoes were hashed potatoes and the turkey bacon was pork bacon for just a moment. There's nothing against dreaming a bit right folks? Oh yeah and nothing against a little dessert after breakfast right? Just a small tasting of my friend's green tea frappe.

Got in some Pokémon hunting. Checked out the local H-Mart. Grabbed some much coveted soup dumplings for lunch. Got in some more Pokémon hunting. Grabbed bingsoo (Korean shaved ice) for post lunch dessert. Some more Pokémon hunting. To another local H-Mart we go with mega loads of samples to go around. And finally back to the house! Whew!

Tried to get in as much tanning as I could before the sun set but that sort of failed. Note: not a good idea to tan with folks who are scared of the sun and of getting tan. Then dinner it was which probably took a good two hours or so to grill.

Sunday, August 07, 2016

This was our last day so not much was going on. Breakfast was a duplicate of Saturday's (scrambled eggs, diced potatoes, and turkey bacon). Checked out the mall, grabbed lunch at a Taiwanese joint that my sister wanted to introduce her boyfriend to, checked out another mall, and back on the road we were.

Kissemoji Ceramic Digital Flat Iron

Finding and investing in the right hair products is always a trial-and-error for me. Lucky you if your hair is always cooperative and easy to manage because the type of product you trust your hair with can be a huge game changer. In terms of hair products, I don't necessarily go all out with the fancy products like investing in hair gels, moisturizer, and whatnot (though sometimes I do wonder if I should). Usually I just use whatever is conveniently in the bathroom which is only really hair oil to repair damaged hair with all the hair dye chemicals and heat I have put into my hair in past years.

Likewise, I'm pretty picky when it comes to the flat iron I use because the texture of my hair can be somewhat difficult to work with since it's not exactly the most luscious hair for flat irons to glide through.

Two things that I do keep in mind when looking for the right hair flat iron are: (1) it is a digital flat iron and (2) it is a ceramic flat iron. A digital flat iron makes it easier for me to control the heat temperature that is being used on my hair which is important because too much heat can potentially burn it off yo. A ceramic flat iron usually gives my hair a smoother feel because it glides along my hair more easily than other materials.

Now that the background informative stuff is done and over with, onto the review. I recently got my hand on this (http://amzn.to/1WbUSb8) hair straightener from Kissemoji and here is a breakdown from my personal experience with it.

This isn't a bad flat iron but it did take me longer to straighten all my hair than the one I currently own. At first I thought it was because the temperature only reached up to 220 degrees until I realized that it was 220 degrees Celsius not Fahrenheit.

Also, the outer part feels like rubber which might make it a little tough for you to use this flat iron to wave or curl your hair. But overall, I do like the outer rubber feel of it and how light weight it is.

Personally I would recommend this flat iron if you have thin hair or little hair because I have both thick and a lot of hair. So unless I'm not rushing to get ready, I would opt out of this one and grab my current flat iron. Otherwise, on a daily basis if you aren't in any major rush then this flat iron wouldn't be so bad. Plus the cord can turn 360 making it less of a hassle for when you're curling your hair.