Some things I want for my future home

Huge windows

Colorful walls

A brick wall somewhere

Big world map

Beaded curtains for doorways

A fridge like this one from SMEG

Childhood favorites

In general, I loved reading all Louis Sachar books. But his Sideways Stories From Wayside School series... Looooved it! Really really loved it.

Other books I loved to read as a kid are:

-The Bailey School Kids series by Marcia T. Jones and Debbie Dadey

-What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything? by Avi

-How To Drive Your Family Crazy On Halloween by Dean Marney

-Help! I'm Trapped in My Principal's Body, and also Don t Get Caught Driving The School Bus by Todd Strasser

-Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate

Listing all these books make me want to go back to my childhood. I really should write thank you letters to all these authors for making my days after coming home from elementary and middle school so interesting and enjoyable.

When I become a mom, I am definitely buying these books for my child. This post was just a reminder to do that in case I forget.

Night in Chelsea

My friend came to visit New York yesterday. She was only here for one night so we grabbed dinner at Shake Shack at Madison Square Park and then walked to Chelsea afterwards. Ever since I discovered Chelsea Market last year, I take every opportunity I have to go again and again. It might just be my favorite place to go in the city! I love markets and lines of stores selling things from cupcakes and chocolates to bread and books. I remember back at CMU one of my favorite memories is going to the Strip District on a Saturday afternoon to visit the long string of sidewalk markets selling Steelers shirts, Pirates gear, and the like. Love just looking around from station to station to see what they have.

It was a really fun night. One thing that I loved was visiting the bookstore and seeing this.

What a unique way of advertising books! Readers from everywhere wrote a short memo based on their experience with a particular book they loved reading. I liked seeing what people thought and added a handful to my “to read” list. Yay! How exciting.

When we were walking out, a guy who had just bought 3-4 bags of grocery overheard us talking about taking a picture by the exit. He had already passed us but asked if we wanted him to take a picture for us. I was caught by surprise because he was genuinely friendly and wanted to help. Even with the heavy grocery bags he managed to take 2 pictures and waited for our confirmation (haha I guess all guys know to do this for girls) then proceeded to leave telling us to have a good night. Kindness in strangers is one thing I really treasure because there isn’t enough in this world. It made me smile!

Lent

Wow I feel totally out of the loop. Now that I’m out of college and not interacting with people from church on a daily basis, I completely forgot tomorrow is Ash Wednesday! The beginning of Lenten season…and just as fast as that hit me, God put in my heart what I should try giving up for the 40 days. It’s pretty settled and whether I like it or not, I will go for it. It will definitely be a challenge but when you give up something, what isn’t? Hopefully it will shape me into a better person who is more dependent on God!

A bit late but celebrating the new year

I feel a lot of changes happening this year. It’s scary but at the same time exciting! Starting off with a job offer that came out of nowhere (life really catches you off guard when you least expect it) to getting a new study bible, doing QTs regularly, and joining a small group.

Since recently, I’ve really been trying to get back on track with my spiritual life because I feel like the things I have to overcome in the future might be tough without being fully connected to God. I want to be stronger in my faith so that I can face anything without being easily discouraged!

I feel happy to go to a small group again. It starts this Thursday! Joining a small group was one of my goals for 2012 and it feels good to check it off my list :) Before finally deciding to go, I was filled with worries, like how I’d get back home if I took a bus there after work and if it’d end too late and if it’d be worth it….of course it’s worth it!!!! If you’re contemplating between something that gets you closer to God and something that doesn’t, you know it’s the enemy trying to lure you away from the right thing for you. With renewed promises and new goals, I feel encouraged and motivated! I know it’s been a month and a half since the new year, but I am really feeling it…this refreshed start of 2012! Weeee

Happy Wednesday

I just got off a chat talking to a 1800contacts representative who was incredibly nice. I thought I’d be talking to a system robot with automated responses but it was a real person! I had no idea what I was doing because I myself don’t wear contacts and since both my younger brother and sister needed to order them but didn’t have time to call, I told them I’d do it…when in actuality I had no idea what I was doing. Powers, axis, prescription, astigmatism all different for right and left…ahhhhh…the representative was nice enough to call the eye doctors for me and get all the info. All I had to do was get the direct link to order and input the info. So helpful!!! He signed off with saying “have a fantastic day!” You too Mr. 1800 contacts representative, you too!

Anyway, that was a mini highlight of my day. Another one I’d like to share is that Yuri and I decided to get dad a new tv for his birthday!!!! This is a big deal because we never buy big presents for our parents. My dad goes by the lunar calendar so the date changes every time. This year, it falls on Valentine’s day so we have to buy it soon. I’m looking on bestbuy and since the tv will be replacing the one in the bedroom, it is not too big. I’m looking at a Samsung 32” tv. We also want to buy a cable that can link the tv with his laptop, since my dad watches movies religiously on his laptop and even more so after I subscribed him to Netflix. And I am serious. He even watches a movie while he gets ready for work. I love movies too but I am not sure if I would be up for that! Anyway, researching cables was another whole new different world, kind of like the contacts world that I visited earlier today. HDMI, VGA, RCA, different audio cables….whaa? Today made me realize that I need to learn and be familiar with a lot more things than I imagined.

No. 1 Without a Pen

My first blog since xanga! Blogspot asked for a header so I titled it “Without a Pen” because I usually write down everything on the nearest post-it but this time, since I’ll probably update while I’m at work (hehe), typing is easier. I’m excited to start a blog again because I love writing about things! I have a really bad memory so I use my journals to read about a time in the past. It’s actually really sad. Last night I tried to remember what I did when my friend from Korea came to visit me in the US for her first time last Thanksgiving but I couldn’t recall anything. Thank God for photos and my diary entries! I need something physical that could remind me of how I spent my days in the past. I used to be nervous about writing my thoughts online because it’s not something you can hang onto and I don’t want it to get lost. If the site shuts down, you lose everything. But since we are in the 21st century I guess it’s okay to rely on it just a little bit.