hop, skip and jump across the pond

it's been a while since i did some long distance traveling. the majority of my trips this year have been home which don't count as vacations!

this weekend meeka and i were fortunate enough to head to london for a few days. i've never had much of a desire to go but when meeka suggested it, i thought i should keep an open mind and just head there.

although we were not there for long, i think we hit up most of the hot spots in london and had a memorable experience! some high level take aways i have are that in general i did not the british people were nice. everything is overpriced and the weather was boo boo. the food wasn't even as bad as everyone said it would be....one of my favorite meals was in the pub!

the high of my trip was walking around notting hill. the streets varied from a main street with tons of chain stores to smaller streets with REALLY cute shops and restaurants to residential (and very bourgie) streets which reminded me a lot of pacific heights in sf.

the low of my trip was dining at an indian restaurant and getting gyped.

while on our trip, it was so funny because we were already planning our next trip to dublin. i joked that we should write a book about short trips and mastering them but we will see once we hit up dublin and hopefully paris.

speech

it's so hard for me to put into words how i feel. meeka and young's wedding is in three days and i still haven't been able to write my speech. why is it that speeches are always so generically annoying? i hated listening to graduation speeches, and am afraid my speech will become one of those wedding speeches that just try to be funny.

im so frustrated!

poll: do you know what a pedometer is?

im on my way back from my fourth weekend in a row in california. yes, fourth. im very much looking forward to staying in new york for the next few weeks. its crazy how much i miss my bed. i dont think im cut out for this coast to coast lifestyle.

another one bites the dust

if anything my clothes experiment has taught me is that...im still a starter. its june already and i think i gave up on my experiment months ago. how sad am i? i seem to always blame my inability to complete tasks on some stupid excuse or several stupid excuses.

#1 fan

i am virgin america's #1 fan. these are most of the boarding passes i have accumulated since 8/8/09.

a new home

i have settled into a new home. after 15 months of living in a very bad place, im thankful that ive been able to find a place where i feel comfortable. its been a month since i moved, but here is to new beginnings and a house full of love and laughter!

my tet

i am back from another trip to california. this time, i was only able to go for 24 hours (yes, im nuts). it was probably the best 24 hours ever. i didn't leave on saturday until the evening so i was able to hang out friday night and saturday during the day with my visitors. then, i got to fly main cabin select with all free movies, food and booze! i also had a nice conversation with the lady sitting next to me. because of the short length of my stay, monica came and visited me and meeka's place (im very spoiled).

sunday i went to my grandma's house and helped her prepare the altar for tet. she made an awesome cheesecake and my favorite shrimp dish! i didnt get much lixi but its not about that at all anymore! it was just really really nice to be able to hang out with my family and watch old videos, look at old pictures, and just chill.

btw tet is the vietnamese name for lunar new year. chinese people are not the only ones who celebrate it and it should NOT be called chinese new year. stop calling it that people. vietnamese and koreans also celebrate (sorry other asians if i have left you out).

now let me tell the story of once upon a time when i used to live in sf and drove to concord everyday to work. this was around 2006 when i commuted 45 min everyday to work at my first job. this one morning i was going to work and turned on my regular morning show "sarah and no name" on 97.3. i listened to this show EVERY morning religiously. it was lunar new year that day and they mentioned it (of course they called it chinese new year) and were curious about what people do on that day. they asked for callers to call in and talk about the customs from their family. so genius me decided to call in and inform them that it wasnt just chinese people who celebrated it and in fact it is a huge celebration for other asians. here is kinda how the call went:

*ring ring*

hello this is the sarah and no name show

hi, i was calling to talk about chinese new year

are you chinese?

no, but other..............

sorry youre not chinese. bye

*dial tone*

ugh i was so mad at those ignorant jerks i vowed to never listen to them again....and i still have not tuned in to them since...

clothing update

my im convo with norm today spurred an update on my clothing experiment. since i obviously do not have pictures of myself each day because well, i dont think i have that much to write about in my life, i decided that i will combine them all in one so it'll be a modelish montage. yes...get ready for petite model madness!

i think that i've become much more aware of the amount of things i own and have been busting out articles of clothing that i haven't worn in quite some time. i'm very proud of myself! i also think that because i have so little closet space here, i feel super guilty for having so much stuff. maybe when i move and get a larger apartment i will feel like i don't have enough clothing because i will have more space and buy more? for some reason i thought about that children's story about the little kid (i think it was thumbelina) who was really small and wouldn't grow and her parents were really worried about her. so they took her to a doctor and the doctor said she wouldn't grow because she had no room to grow in her bed (she slept in a little shoe box). so the parents bought her a regular kid's bed and she grew to be a normal child size.

wow that was a total tangent but i think it makes sense. what if i buy more stuff to fit my new large closet?!?!

ok not going to count my chickens before they hatch. i'll have to rant about my apartment search situation sometime soon. but for now let me let out a disgusted UGH!!!

i am an addict

i started season 5 of lost last tuesday. it is now 6 days later and i just started season 6. man, i have issues.

suzy homemaker

today i tried my hand (again) at embroidering. for some reason i think ill miraculously get better, but it never happens. i think the first thing i tried to make was back in the day during kdphi times when i got into making pillows. i think i made a pillow for mon and embroidered it for her when she crossed. that was 8 years ago and i still havent gotten better. is there a class for these things? or should i just get a machine like the ones meeks has??

you cant see the yellow, but i wanted to make the threading blue-ish and gold colored. btw these are burp towels and i made them for my boss' baby. his initials are GRB and his dad went to cal, so i thought ooh since i went to cal, i could embroider cal colors! yeah...fail. epic.

ode to la

this past weekend was hopefully one of my last to la. im not sure what it is about that city that makes me hate it so much. wait, im not sure what there is about it that i would like....sorry im a hater.

anyways, james and i had a nice weekend together eating and chillin in places in la that we haven't before. i also got to take some good shots with my camera, and him with his new fisheye.

we started off the weekend on saturday by going to claremont to see jma and eat lunch with james' college roommate, aren. we thought it was funny because jan was my longtime roommate in college, and aren was james'. jan was awesome enough to give us a tour of her 'hood.

on sunday, james and i hit up his local bruncherie, auntie em's where we got the biscuits and gravy, and also an open faced turkey and egg sandwich. while waiting to get seated, i also took some shots of my hot date....asian fabio.

then we hit up this soda pop shop in eagle rock. this place had aisles and aisles of obscure sodas. james and i spent almost an hour in there taking pictures and trying to decide on which soda to try. i finally settled on a rootbeer and a flavored pellegrino and he got a fruit punch and a double cola....yumm!

we also hit up the farmer's market, melrose and then finally the long awaited sprinkles. we had been meaning to go there for the past few months but never made the trek out to beverly hills. i have to say that im becoming a new york elitist and think that everything here is just better. for cupcakes, new york cupcakes are DEFINITELY better than sprinkles. and i had to wait in line for these cupcakes...nonono.

girl, obsessed

lately i have been obsessed with talking to people about my apartment drama. it's like word vomit and i dont necessarily want to talk about it, but i always end up doing it. last night, i wrote up a blog documenting all of the issues with this place. today i sought free legal aid. i need to move NOW.

i am not talking to someone about my apartment drama in this picture...but i really am on the phone at 8 am when i took this.

going going back back

this weekend i went back to california to do some bridesmaid dress shopping. i feel like this post is going to sound like a yelp review, but my two experiences bridesmaid dress shopping have been at priscilla of boston in sf with melissa and i never thought that it would be so painless. its one of those things that everyone says will be horrible, and on saturday, knowing there would be 10 bridesmaids, i was a little anxious. luckily we were only there for less than two hours.

i also got to hang out at the wuk house, and do some of my favorite things with my favorite people: cook, and present the food! we made

delicious tonkatsu, cabbage, curry and rice!

the redeye home and work monday were brutal. i didnt even get a chance to go home and change before work....but it was worth it! no picture from yesterday since

i looked like death, but i was delirious that i didnt think about taking a body only picture.

i think this is my favorite sweater of all time. AND i got the cami this weekend at t-t-t-t-t-t-t-T-J-MAXX!!!! mon, meeks and i spent 2 hours there the other night. best store EVER.

damned if i do, damned if i dont

i usually have a pretty sunny outlook on life, but some days i get into these moods where i think im screwed no matter what i do. i was talking to mon today about how nothing in life is ever perfect. it's either your job, relationship, or some other type of drama that always seems to make life imperfect.

my mood today makes me think of alanis morisette's song, "isnt it ironic?" and especially the line about that guy who never went on a plane and when he did, it crashed. well maybe not exactly...im thinking more along the lines of someone never ever smoking a cigarette in their life for fear of lung cancer, and then getting it. ok that sounds messed up, but you get my drift.

ive been wearing less eyeliner because im scared of pulling my skin too much and getting more wrinkles. instead, ive been wearing mascara everyday. unfortunately, two days ago i noticed that when i am opening my eyes to apply the mascara, im wrinkling my forehead and now im trying to debate with myself whether or not eye wrinkles or forehead wrinkles are worse.

my parents always used to tell me to eat my carrots to make my eyes better, and to not read under the covers with a flashlight. i said fuck it and never ate carrots and probably read all of fear street and sweet valley high series under the covers and i have 20/20 vision. maybe it would be best to fuck being afraid of what could happen and just live.

my picture today is from my outfit on friday. i actually havent worn any of the stuff this year so im proud of myself that i busted the ensemble out!

what i do

yesterday jan (i know youre reading this too! yay!) asked me to read an article she was editing for the zine she works for because it was about health insurance. basically it was written from a graduate student's point of view and she was comparing the options they have at the school. while she definitely did her research, i can also totally see how people learn to hate insurance because sometimes, it may seem more practical and cost efficient to not have it.

it got me thinking that 1) maybe if people knew more about it, they would know that it's really trying to help you and 2) on the opposite side of the spectrum, maybe only in theory it really does work.

let me elaborate first on thought number 1. there are many stories of origin of health insurance (ppos, hmos, etc) but i think they were all based on one concept. "i pay a little bit every month into a pool of money with a bunch of other people and w

hen anyone of us has to go to the doctor, we can somehow afford it. the chances of all of us getting incredibly sick is really low."

make sense? then it grew to this group of people going to certain hospital and saying "hey we promise that we are all going to go to this hospital and your doctors when we get sick and in return, you guys will give us a cheaper rate than other people who are not in your group."

seems like a good idea right? right. it statistically, and financially makes sense. yes, it was created to HELP people financially!!

now somehow in those many years since the health insurance industry started, we are here in the present where health costs are too high, insurance companies are perceived as the devil, and people think its just not worth it to purchase health insurance. i admit that as a patient myself, it is frustrating to go to the doctor and see them

for 20 min but still have to fork out that 20 copayment. but, i also know that those office visits cost SO much more than your 20 and you are in fact, getting a major deal.

the problem is, is that outpatient doctors arent even the ones that are driving the high cost of health care. it's the hospitals and the inpatient services that get you. do you think that when you go the ER and pay that 50 copay or so, that service was only 50? think about how many people work with you: nurses, doctors etc. those people make a lot of bank! that equipment is worth a lot of bank! if anything, i think doctors and nur

ses should make MORE. they put in hours and hours into the hospital and only make max a few hundred k.

and this is why i said statement number 2. maybe it should only work in theory because it is expensive since i believe doctors and nurses should make more money.

maybe this post didnt make a lot of sense to people. ill probably read it again tomorrow and think it makes no sense as well. i think ill probably write a few more on some basic concepts, terms, and other things. i offered to help my friends during open enrollment season, but no one seemed to need my help. maybe someone will read this and want me!

i dont have a pic today of myself, but i do have this pic of the ny subway....my fav and cleanest place ever.

necessary goods

is there anything that i could not possibly live without? i thought about the routine that i go through everyday just taking for granted that everything is so easily accessible to me. do i really need all this stuff? like my face lotion, my electric face washer, my computer? i guess life would be much less comfortable. i think the only thing i could not possibly do without is my chapstick. or maybe i only say that because ive misplaced my favorite one which can only be bought online. ive been using this same kind for over 5 years and nothing else seems to do the trick!

not to be vain, but i had to post both of these pictures...

runner's high....i want it now!

its crazy how much i am fiending to run. when i am able to run i feel like its a chore and drag my self out to do it. it isnt until im halfway done with the run and finishing up that i feel damn good. it actually depressed me to go to central park the other day because i saw so many runners. i remember running that damn 7 mile route every other day. i would do anything to be able to do it now even though i know i am slowly on the road to recovery. today i walked on the treadmill and was in NO pain. whoo!!

i really havent worn this vest in a looong time. this may be tmi, but i wore just this and a jacket to work yesterday. my jacket was sooo warm that when i took it off, my arms were sticky and wet from the sweat. sexy huh?

being a tourist

my only female cousin alex (short for alexandra) is here visiting from the oc. i think this was my first full three day weekend in ny thanks to her and i got to experience some badass touristy things! first off...there was LION KING!!! which ive been dying to see since i moved here. i have been seriously deprived from the musical scene and havent seen one in probably 7 months. and this is the same person who saw jersey boys four times in that same time period!!

i also got to go "shooting" as she calls it in central park, brooklyn bridge, and the top of the rock. its crazy how new york looks even better through the lens of an slr. she also introduced me to the lomo fisheye. i am jockin that like crazy and cannot wait until mine comes!!

family

i know ive written about this before, but im so thankful for my family. i had a situation where i really needed my mom (yes, 26 years old and needing my mother) and im lucky enough to not only have her, but also my extended family to fall back on. my mom and step dad are lucky enough to be on sabbatical right now so they arent in the country. i felt happy that they were gone so my mom wouldnt be calling me every few days asking about my safety in this big ol city. but on saturday i actually felt the void of my mom not being around! it was a weird revelation but a good one nonetheless.

anyways, its also from my family that i get this damn pointy chin!

bourgie bourgie

friday jan 15-why are there so many bourgie bourgie places in nyc? i swear, i went to this lounge place and not only did they charge 15 a head for entrance, they charged 20 for drinks. isnt that ridiculous?? when we first got there, there was a group of girls who literally spent over an hour takings pics of their ugly asses.

from now on i vow to no longer go to bourgie ass places. only bars and non pretentious places!!!

ok i didnt wear this to that lounge/club. maybe if i nixed the pants it would be appropriate! some of those girls in there were wearing shit so short it showed their you know whats!!

job hierarchy

d and i are on the hunt for an apartment. unfortunately the ads on craigslist are never put up by the landlords. instead they are put up by shady agents. agents have to be just about the lowest lowest scum of the earth. like seriously? i went to see one today who even though i gave them our budget, he pushed us to look at an apartment over 200 over our budget. and then when we didnt want it, he didnt give us the time of day.

why are people in new york such assholes?!!?!??!

paranoia

when i was in japan i read the screenplays for before sunrise and before sunset. they come highly recommended by two good friends of mine. when i read books i usually like to write notes on the side that help me to remember what i thought when i read it. the weird thing is, i didnt write anything down when i read the screenplays.

before sunrise the movie just came to me on netflix and im now finally remembering a lot from the screenplays. i remember that i liked before sunrise a lot more because of the innocence and purity of their relationship. it gets all messed up in before sunset.

in one of the first scenes celine talks about her paranoia about death. it was amazing how well i could relate to her when she was describing it. she talks about how she is constantly thinking about death-not that she is afraid of it, but the few seconds right before when you know for sure you are going to die.

i dont mean to feel morbid, but dude im like that all the time. on the subways in ny i am always terrified that there is going to be a bomber. but somehow i still get on the subway. on my many flights, i think about what would happen if someone were to get up and announce they were going to blow up the plane. on my flight back from japan (this was after the nigerian tried to blow up the flight to detroit) i couldnt sleep because i was suspicious of all these people on the flight. but i somehow get on planes. i once walked off a bus because i was paranoid.

i wonder what it is that makes me feel like this. do i watch too many movies? and what is it that makes me still get back on the bus, plane, subway even though im terrified?

eh

i just got back from watching avatar. am i whack to say that i was just eh? why do you people have to hype it up so much and say its the best movie EVER? the effects were cool, and the plot was ok, but 3 hours? and.....9 ft avatar stroking the face of a 6 ft human? to me, it wasnt touching....it was eh

biggest loser part III

starting yesterday, steven and i are competing once again to see who can lose the most weight in 3 months. i know it sounds like i was cheating, but last week i ate so much food! i managed to gain 3 pounds when my trip to japan did not make me gain anything!

now that i got into the nyc half marathon, im more motivated than ever to run and lose weight. i just need to get through physical therapy and make my leg better so i can actually train.

this is the break-even competition since steven won once and i won the second. this time i am going to perfect my two pronged approach: 1) diet and workout

like no other and 2) bake fatty food and send it to california

in other news, i am baking my first banana bread. problem is, i am only really using one ripe banana.

its freaking cold outside. i walked around wearing 5 layers and i was still freezing!

slr + jdc

the beginning of 2010 has me super excited. i am doing physical therapy, i got into the new york half marathon, i finally got myself an slr, and most of all, i have some awesome cookbooks to try out! it's friday night and im not at all sad that im sitting at home and reading about momofuku and the d5000. all im thinking about is going to buy ingredients tomorrow to make some food, and learn how to take pictures of it. dont worry...i wont make this a food blog. that is not what im into. im just excited to see what my slr and my julia child/david chang combination can do!

this picture is not to repp delta chapter lambdas btw. i was trying to find inspiration for my model pose today and remembered my trip to taiwan with sandy. we had met some random japanese fobs at a club when linkin park came on. they proceeded to get into this pose and moved it back and forth as the song played. yes...it was an awesome dance move. try it at the club next time!

people who surprise you

yesterday i went into b&h for the first time. that place is amazing! no wonder it is a world-famous store! its so organized and everyone is super knowledgeable about the products. i went up to slr section and expected to get a hacidic jew, but i instead was helped by an african american man. he seemed kinda thug and blegh...even mean at one point that i didnt wanna talk to him anymore. but then something changed in the conversation and man he was SO helpful. i love it when people are just not what they seem at first and i end up really liking them. not only did he help me research cameras, he taught me about camera terms and printed out reviews for me. wow b&h is awesome!!! i really recommend everyone get their stuff there!

anyways, ive been experimenting lately and not wearing eyeliner. it looks a little weird, but i think its better for my skin. im not getting any younger and if i keep stretching that skin everyday, i know im gonna get mad wrinkles!!

if this outfit looks familiar...it is! i told you i wear the same shit all the time! but man, i was having a good hair day!

dmv

i was lucky enough to go to the dmv over winter break and spend an entire hour there! i stupidly lost my id sometime during halloween and have been lugging my passport around since! i did try to go to the new york dmv and get a replacement license, but i had complications, so i just decided to go to california and get a license. i got back on monday, and my appointment was on wednesday and my mom would not let me drive until i got my license. soooo i decided to lug my ass to the dmv on tuesday so i could drive. it really wasn't that bad, but i kept getting flashbacks of my time there 10 years ago when i was taking permit tests and doing those darn behind the wheel exams. at 16, the privilege to drive seemed like it was everything huh? well, at 26 it is still is. anyways, i got a license AND a new picture taken and today i also wore exactly what i wore to the dmv.....hopefully i still dont look 16?

catch up

silly me forgetting to post clothing from before my trip!

im obviously trying to practice my fob pose for japan here!

nippon, aishiteru

im on the way back to nyc after a two week long vacation. in my visit in sf, we couldn't help but reminisce about japan. once again, it was an amazing trip! so i decided to include some of my fav pics! (these are in no way in order...sorry)

we ended up spending christmas in kyoto. young got us a room in a baller hotel inside kyoto station and this shot is of the inside of the station. it was multi-leveled and HUGE. in japan, christmas is apparently a couple's day where everyone eats...KFC! behind this ginormous xmas tree are tons of steps where on christmas day, couples just sat and cuddled and watched the twinkling tree.

christmas eve day we rented bikes in kyoto and rode around to look at all the temples. we made it to two.

december 23 (the emperors bday) is one out of two days of the year that the imperial palace in tokyo is open. we got up too late to be able to tour the inside, but were able to take a picture outside!

i dont remember what day this was, but this was taken outside of the uniqlo t-shirt store called UT. it was also taken in the middle of an impromptu bunny bunny game.

i have tons of other pics, but they're mostly model pics....ill post in the next one since im on the plane and uploading on virgin wifi isnt the fastest