28 October 2010

What's been going on

Alo, everyone.  I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I've posted.  I haven't stayed away like that from blogging in a while.  Let's catch up.

It's been a busy few weeks, filled with soul-searching and prayer, as I hit a low with my temp job situation and confronted some necessary challenges in my life.

One of my new bffs moved out of state and I was so sad to see her go.

I started a communications contract job that I'm uber excited about but that means more evenings working after the day job.

Busy, I suppose is better than not busy...especially if you're busy with the things you know you need to be doing to reach your goals.

J. and I got our very own grown up bedroom set and something about that process flung the doors of feng shui and chi and life force or whatever you want to call it wide open and we found ourselves feeling like very different people.  Like more productive.  More organized.  More on it.  Not out of it.  Proactive.  Assertive.  Sharp and clear.  It was amazing.  We still drool about it.

The surprising thing about that whole furniture milestone was that all of the organizing and decluttering it forced us to do in our small one bedroom apartment made me finally ready to  move on.  As in, move to a different place.  I think when we were surrounded by boxes and ugly furniture and too much stuff, it just made me feel weighed down and all I could think about was sorting through all of that--not moving it all to a new place.  But now that we have done it, I'm ready to address how as much as there are some things about the OC that I love, I'm ready to move to a place that gives me more life.  So we are now planning for a move out of Orange County and back to our old city and the whole thing has felt spontaneous, organic and right.  It really goes to show that if we keep working on the small things, the big things really don't feel that big.  Things come together.

Among other good news, I attended a Shakira concert at the Honda Center a few days ago and had an amazing time.  Her joy and exuberance as a performer is a real gift, and it made me want to live a life filled with doing what gives me the most joy.

So today, I wish you joy whereever you are!  May you continue to discover what gives you joy and find ways to live it.

11 October 2010

Dad's Birthday Weekend

Favorite moments of this weekend:

- Sunday breakfast with my parents at Panera (it just opened up by their home and they are so excited)
- A delicious birthday dinner for my dad--filet mignon, seafood stuffed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, and garlic mashed potatos! (Thanks mom!)
- Talking into the wee hours with old friends (felt like high school)
- A two-layer raspberry buttermilk cake with lemon curd whipped cream frosting that almost became a disaster but worked out in the end.
- Cleaning, cleaning, and sorting our apartment--it's really starting to look different!
- Watching "A Barefoot Dream," a Korean film while folding laundry
- A Ms. Bento lunch jar set that I'd been eying for months was left at my mom's house by her homestay kids and walah, it's mine!
- A successful fall shopping spree at the Marshall's by my parents' house (it must be that inland empire folk don't have the same tastes as mine because this Marshall's was rocking with some baller stuff like a $15 Velvet dress on clearance)
- Drinking a $50 bottle of wine with my family and seeing what that did (mainly--more laughing, a guitar serenade by my brother, and a touching story where my mom shared her current favorite song and told us she realized all her youthful dreams have come true....awwww)
- Hugging Gomi the Akita and talking about dogs
- Playing with Mochi the Huskey puppy

What a great weekend filled with wonderful moments.  Hope you had a good one too.  XOXO, Hanna

06 October 2010

Blogging & Life

Do you know Angie?  If not, I hope you do one day.  She's lovely.  Absolutely lovely.  She can make me laugh like no tomorrow.  And then the next minute, we're sobbing together over the most beautiful things.  I do not exaggerate.  She's a fiery Dominican Republican New Jersey hot mama that showed up to my wedding in a bright red cocktail dress that made her look like the hottest shade of lipstick.  Angie recently became a mama to beautiful Olivia whom I have yet to meet and started blogging over here.  Olivia's daddy is Taiwanese and that combination together is so adorable I just cannot keep my jaw up when I see pictures of her.  Angie's birth story is also absolutely amazing.  Read it.  Your eyes will pop in a good way.  Sigh.  I'm getting Olivia pangs.

Where was I?  Oh yes.  So Angie commented on this post and got me thinking about living and blogging and what it's all about.

She said:

"i don't get to read blogs often anymore but reading yours always makes me want to LIVE in capital letters. Love."
It was such a sweet comment and reminded me of why I blog about the things that I do.  When it comes to bloggers that I read, I adore my favorite food bloggers and my artist/design bloggers.  I also like to read my friends' blogs and that's kind of what I've come to accept about my own.  It's a friend blog.  Most of my readers are friends and people that I know and although at one point, I entertained aspirations of specializing in something niche like food or design, I just stopped.  You know why?  Blogging needs to be fun, not work (at least for me) and the only things I wanted to talk about on a regular basis were about living life.  Especially the things that made life more enjoyable and bearable.

You see, I have a melancholy soul.  I have a happy and joyous soul too but it's prone to melancholy.  It's also gone through some horribly traumatic stuff in the last six years, and I've been in the process of recovering it.  This blog has been a place to record my journey, to provide a concrete visible presence in my life so that I don't forget that I'm moving forward rather than just wallowing in a confusing cloud of who knows what.

I blog about the things that give me life because I'm trying to remind myself that life is worth living.  Yes, I do have to try hard at that, some days more than others.  And when I read other people's blogs, I'm reminded of how much fun things there are to try out there and take risks on.  It's a place to go out on a limb a little, to put myself out there and says, ok, here it is, this is a desire!

And lastly, it means so much that in this journey, I'm not alone.  Your comments remind me of that.  And I am so grateful for that.  Thank you for reading.  Thank you for being there.

 xoxo, Hanna