All posts in: Yow Yow!

15 Feb 2021

On Our Hiatus

There are very few times in Yow Yow’s! life where we’ve stepped away for a bit. Over the holidays is when I feel the most content charged, but I forget that periods of that can also lead to my own burnout. In January, I left the city for a cabin 90 minutes away. We still had access to wifi and I was still active on most of social, but selective. Instead of sharing immediate stories from my stay, I waited until I returned back to San Francisco. Nothing was preventing me from sharing out, but I needed this for myself.

The two weeks that I chose to go silent were two weeks in which the world chose to be loud. It started out as a slow burn with Bean dad and white women Mahjong before it escalated to our Georgia runoff win, the insurrection and Trump being banned on Twitter and Facebook. Somewhere in the mix, there was a Soho Karen.

I couldn’t break my rule of not posting during this time. The plan was to return home and share my thoughts afterwards. That time never came. It was a combination of the news just not being relevant anymore and myself not feeling the need to comment anymore. It may seem like an obvious lesson here, but news is timely. It’s one of the reasons why we ask our friends whether they are ‘living under a rock?’ when they’re a day late to a story breaking.

When the moment has passed, we should let it. In 2021, we act as if we all need to have commentary on everything. Shouldn’t the focus be on being better listeners? There’s a race to get to the news first and to have our take on it, but more often than not, it’s not our voice that needs to be heard. Stepping back for two weeks made me realize that I could sit back every once in a while. Why not let someone else’s voice be amplified? I thought this challenge for myself would be difficult, but it wasn’t. In fact, it only showed me how easy it could be to step away someday and be completely okay with all of this.

27 Jul 2020

A Goodbye to Wedding Mondays

When I first started Yow Yow! I didn’t want to hone in on one specific theme. I wanted to keep things broad so that I could always continue to write about whatever I wanted. This is something I still want today, but the things that I want to write about are shifting. Earlier this year, we said goodbye to “Sunday Words” our weekly dose of inspirational quotes. And now it’s time to say goodbye to “Wedding Mondays.” Both of these series have been with Yow Yow! since at least 2012 so while it isn’t easy to wind down, it does feel right.

I think it’s perfectly normal to want different things for your blog within an 11-year time span. I’ve done a lot of growing up during this time. It doesn’t mean that I don’t like weddings or that I will stop appreciating the details of a beautiful wedding or discontinue watching wedding videos. I’m grateful that the series has lasted as long as it did, but something that I’m realizing in 2020 is that I don’t want my content to feel like an obligation. Having a regular series is a huge undertaking. Keeping this blog afloat while having a day job at the same time has never been easy for us. Winding down this series means that we can bring the focus back to content that has become more important to me.

I want to sincerely thank those of you who came to Yow Yow! every week for this feature. We’ve seen some incredible weddings over the years and shared videos that were truly pieces of art and a trigger for tears. I had the chance to share the weddings of friends (always with their permission) and spin off the Wedding Wednesdays series with Mandi covering her entire wedding planning process. And lastly, having the chance to experience the Nordstrom Wedding Suite and capturing all of the details from the Seattle flagship will always be a special memory.

07 Jun 2020

Sunday Check In

Every weekend, I have this same routine of catching up on blog readings from the entire week. If I can swing this on a daily basis, I’ll consider it lucky. Despite the busy work schedule from the week, I didn’t mind that I’d be saving all the content for just two days. It meant that I could carve out space for it and be present. I was proud that the subset of blogs I try to read regularly had a strong emphasis on Black Lives Matter. These are blogs I have read for years. It showed me where their focus was and quite frankly, if you think about the last two weeks, it’s challenging to think about anything else other than this.

I wanted a chance to share with you these blogs. Whether you’re looking for content in a different way than you’re used to or other resources to lean on, I feel like there’s something here for everyone. I also find it refreshing to step away from social media and read some pieces that take some more time to digest.

27 Apr 2020

Yow Yow! During Shelter in Place

After making a sandwich for lunch, I sat down in front of my TV anticipating the announcement regarding California’s shelter-in-place. Normally, I wouldn’t even turn on the TV until after the work, but I didn’t want to miss any news. Shelter-in-Place would be extended and continue throughout the month of May. It didn’t come off as a surprise and all weekend I had been wondering when I would know if I was ready to be back out in the world. By the end of May, this will have lasted about two-and-a-half months.

Looking back, my naive self thought that this time would be a gift. For once, I was going to be able to catch up on my to-do-list – maybe even complete it in a month. Everything I had been putting off would get done. The last time I had a dedicated chunk of time to write was over the holidays and I longed for that time again. Yow Yow! would be exploding with content! What I didn’t anticipate was how shelter-in-place might impact me both mentally and emotionally. Days go by as I struggle to think of content or string words together. In addition to Yow Yow! I also still have a day job. Sometimes my focus becomes diverted from that as I struggle to process the news of what’s happening in the world.

As I think about the next month ahead of me, I’m cutting myself some slack. Some days there will be content and some days there won’t be. There will be moments where I need to take a nap in the middle of the day (hopefully not too many!) but more often than not, I need to remember to take care of myself first and foremost. After all, this is still a pandemic. We can’t expect every blogger or writer to operate at the same level as we’re used to.

26 Jan 2020

11 Years of Yow Yow!

How did we almost let January slip by without a post about our anniversary?! I’ve been putting off writing this post not because my feelings have wavered about the blog at all, but because I wanted to be clear and intentional about my thoughts. Over the holidays, we pushed out nearly 70+ posts. Yes, we had three weeks of uninterrupted time and I wasn’t working my day job, but nonetheless, I was proud to feel productive. I hadn’t felt that energized in a long time. The last time I had a stint of time where I could write that much was in between jobs, but back then the focus wasn’t on Yow Yow! It was on myself. It was about getting myself back to a place where I was confident, taking care of my mental and emotional health, and preparing to return to work.

This past holiday was different. This past holiday was different. After working through the evening, I was able to wind down just in time to get some much-needed rest and have some free time and relax my mind by playing some casino games like those at the oxi casino. Having some free time really helped me focus entirely on Yow Yow! I’ve been sitting on an idea for a series for a year. That doesn’t feel good to say. It sounds like we procrastinated for a year and are making excuses. I’ve given this a lot of thought though. In a year, I gave myself time to focus on a purpose for this series and articulate why this was important to me.

Yow Yow! has opened many doors to me. In the past few months, we had some partnerships, but the goal has always been to go beyond that. I think having this platform can be a window to new voices other than just my own. In the next couple of months, I want to prioritize how we do that. I want to express my gratitude to everyone in my life that continues to support Yow Yow big or small. Some of you continue to read it on your own time sometimes telling me or not. Those closest to me are giving me ideas or taking photos for me. And many of you continue to ask me how things are going and generally take in a small interest in what I call my side hustle that does not produce an income or money. Thank you all.

01 Jan 2020

Yow Yow’s Top 10 Posts of 2019

Happy New Year everyone! This is still one of those posts that is such a wild card to me every year. For as long as I’ve had Yow Yow! you would think that I would know better about what types of posts do well and don’t. After 11 years, I still haven’t cracked it and I think that’s because we’ve changed so much over the years.

Here is your top 10 from 2019:

23 Dec 2019

Count Em’ 1, 2…70? 2019

I’m not sure when it was that I started to become weary of reporting when it comes to my own data, but this year’s Spotify Wrapped is heavily skewed. Sure, I definitely did listen to 69 hours of Shawn Mendes. But would you expect a low number for someone you were anticipating on seeing in concert? Of course not. Maybe Spotify’s Wrapped and Top Songs for 2019 is correct, but in true fashion, I manually went through my own playlists and made this list myself.

Even though this is time consuming, I wanted to have a place where all of the songs I’ve ever included on these lists for Yow Yow! could live. So I recently made a new playlist just for “Count Em'” – pushing 600+ songs. Spotify included a new data point that showed my top song for every year that I had an account, but I didn’t want to leave anything out!

This year, we were quite heavy on the mainstream pop, but I’m not embarrassed by it one bit. Shawn Mendes was incredible in concert and I’m pretty sure I shed a tear. Also, we added 10 more songs to the countdown because I make the rules here.

1. Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello – Señorita
2. Maren Morris – RSVP
3. Sam Smith, Normani – Dancing With A Stranger
4. Jonas Brothers – I Believe
5. A R I Z O N A – I Was Wrong
6. Bebe Rexha – (Not) The One
7. Petit Biscuit, JP Cooper  – We Were Young
8. Ariana Grande – needy
9. Mark Ronson, Lykke Li  – Late Night Feelings
10. BURNS, A$AP Rocky, Sabrina Claudio – Energy

11. Hayden James, NAATIONS – Nowhere To Go
12. ayokay, QUINN XCII – Kings of Summer
13. Captain Cuts, Zookëper, Georgia Ku – Do You Think About Me
14. Shy Girls, Seiho – Hallelujah
15. PRETTYMUCH – Phases
16. SG Lewis, Ruel – Flames
17. Riah – Growing Up
18. Lizzo – Good As Hell
19. Alexander Lewis, Brasstracks, Armani White, BXRBER – Pearl Magnolia
20. Troye Sivan, Gryffin – YOUTH (Gryffin Remix)

21. Kehlani – Morning Glory
22. Meek Mill, Ella Mai – 24/7
23. GATTÜSO, Disco Killerz – Million Things
24. Loote – Your Side of the Bed
25. Yuna, G-Eazy – Blank Marquee
26. Austin Millz, Claire Ridgely – Broke Boy
27. The Veronicas – Think of Me
28. Big Wild – Purple Sand (My Home)
29. Vice, Jason Derulo, Ava Max – Make Up
30. Mahalo, DLMT, Lily Denning – So Cold

31. Autograf, John Splithoff – Hold Me Back
32. Charlie Puth  – Cheating On You
33. Audien, Echosmith – Favorite Sound
34. L.A. Rose – Heat
35. WENS – Life
36. ELLIANA – Emotional
37. Johnny Knox – Falling Over You
38. Ralph – For Yourself
39. The Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexha, Asketa, Nathan Chaim – Call You Mine
40. Hayden James, Elderbrook – Remember You

41. Tycho, Saint Sinner – Pink & Blue
42. King Henry – Let You Know
43. Brasstracks, SAYGRACE – Follows
44. Khalid, Disclosure – Talk
45. Camila Cabello – Easy
46. Kygo, Chelsea Cutler – Not Okay
47. The Head and the Heart – Running Through Hell
48. Phantoms, Shaylen – Are You Up
49. Victoria Monet – Love You Better
50. TINI, Alesso – Sad Song (Alesso Remix)

51. Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now
52. Cooper & Gatlin, Tep No – Break (Tep No Remix)
53. Duck House – Flaw
54. Kaskade – Nobody Like You – Sun Soaked Mix
55. Bon Iver – Sh’Diah
56. Jonas Brothers – Sucker
57. Local Natives – Café Amarillo
58. Winston – Peach Crush
59. K. Flay – Blood in the Cut
60. Friendly Fires, MEDUZA – Heaven Let Me In

61. Lil Nas X – Old Town Road
62. BTS, Halsey – Boy With Luv
63. Shawn Mendes – If I Can’t Have You
64. Bonobo – Linked
65. Flume, Vera Blue – Rushing Back
66. BANKS – What About Love
67. My Brothers & I, La Felix – Always Be Loving You
68. Ariana Grande, Social House – boyfriend
69. Little Hurricane – What the Stars Need
70. Normani – Motivation

28 Nov 2019

The Sill – Cow Hollow

One of the most fun parts about having Yow Yow! is writing about something and then having it be something you can experience years later. When [The Sill] first debuted in New York, we wrote about it on [Yow Yow!] back in 2013. I believe back then I may have called them a start-up, but they have a true store front now and they’ve landed in San Francisco. A week into their shop in Cow Hollow, I dragged Brad along with me so that I could see them in real life. The process was seamless. First you pick your pot, then your plant and then they put it all together for you so that you can bring it home without having to do any of the work yourself. Except for, well, keeping it alive. I suppose that’s where the real work comes in!

2181 Union Street

There are no shortage of plants store within the city, but I’m partial to this one for personal reasons. 🙂

15 Feb 2019

Yow Yow! Down

Last week, Yow Yow! was down for a total of four days. I should have known something was wrong when I tried to write back-to-back posts and the second time resulted in an error shortly after. Trying not to think anything of it, I slept it off. When I tried to visit the URL the next day, I received an error message. I later learned from GoDaddy that this is called the “White Screen of Death.” If you’re ever faced with a customer issue from them, you’ll find this on their list of options.

Long story short, I wasn’t able to fix this on my own. After speaking with a customer service rep, I paid the extra fee for “Premium Customer Service.” This service just means that they’ll take care of your issue, but they reach out to you within 72 hours. And boy, did they make me wait because I had to re-contact them again after 72 hours had passed.

The low point of this story is about how helpless I felt. I can’t code so I couldn’t go into the backend of my site and fix it myself. Instead, I had to wrestle with this feeling of throwing money at something to get it fixed. It’s not a pattern I’d like to continue down the line. After the payment though, all I could do was wait. It was completely out of my hands. On a weekend where I had hoped to spend my time writing and catching up on Fashion Week and The Grammys, I couldn’t. I thought to myself – this is what my life would be like without Yow Yow.

I would read content, but instead of keeping them afloat in my tabs, I would consume that information and then it would go into the abyss. My free time would increase 10x. I didn’t have to spend time thinking of new content, but then what would I dream about? This, I remembered, was what life was like before Yow Yow. And someday, it might be like this again. Would I be okay with it? It feels weird to not share information. This isn’t my only way of communication though. I’m a texter, emailer, verbalizer, etc. But, WordPress is home to me in a very strange way.

Any other time I have ever taken a break from Yow Yow! I was busy with work or had a vacation. Those were always my choices. This time, it wasn’t and it was scary to me. A thought flashed before me that there was a chance I might never recover Yow Yow. That also could happen someday and then what we do? Pray that we have backed this up by then.

02 Jan 2019

Celebrating 10 Years

For months, I’ve been anticipating this date and what to write. It is one of the greatest milestones I have ever hit with Yow Yow! and no, I NEVER thought that we would get this far. Did any of you?! Yow Yow! started my freshman year of college, winter break to be exact. Back then we couldn’t afford a domain right off the bat! A part of me just thought it would end when I graduated; instead, we are here. We couldn’t not write a post about this, but we don’t need to throw a party either.

I have so many thoughts and have had many conversations over the week with friends who have seen this from the beginning. The tough part will be tying this up into a pretty bow and getting you to stick with me. Ten years ago I was a freshman completely buzzed on college and excited to be out of my parent’s house for the first time. I was obsessed with pop culture and preferred to talk about that than curriculum like Theology or Econ. Yow Yow! was the place to store my thoughts, but not personal ones. Because college enabled us to have so much free time, I had a LOT of time to write on this blog. When I got my first viral pick-up, I considered skipping classes to spend more time writing. I had my first taste of this and didn’t want to miss other opportunities.

There was so much potential for the blog and I wasn’t jaded yet. I was living on this high of getting my requests answered. That, itself, even startled me. It was also before a time of harassment and weird emails – nicer times.

In the ten years of our existence, we had three phases. The first phase, which I loved, was reaching out to people I found to be interesting and having them on the blog. I wrote up my interviews, had the phone calls and spent hours transcribing them for a post. It was never easy, but it was fun. I was my own boss and had full control of my deadlines. I had a chance to learn from so many different industries and it brought me to amazing individuals – like my idol Suchin Pak!

In the second phase, I found my footing with the blog. The people that came onto the site were, this time, in my life – my classmates and dear friends of mine. Instead of my words, I could share theirs. I gave them full control into writing their own posts. It grew our reach beyond what I imagined, but allowed each of these individuals a safe one-time space that they could use.

The third phase is the one we’re still in. Ten years later, I’m writing about my own experiences. I try to find the balance between being an open book and keeping a space for myself. We flip between the pop culture stuff and what I choose to share about myself. It’s inconsistent, but I think it works! We’ve never had a consistent theme anyways. There’s a saying for this probably – “feeling cute, might delete later.”

The posts I’m writing today are the ones I have spent the most time on in the last 10 years. I admit that I’ve very much missed the boat to become a very successful blogger, influencer that could make a living off of this. That was between 2008-2009 or before. But I made the conscious decision to choose to stay in school and then after that, I chose to have a career. I don’t regret it. This summer, I had a chance to spend a month focusing only on Yow Yow! and while it was one of the most creative times in my life, I know that I wouldn’t have been fulfilled dedicating my life to this, at least not currently. It’s okay to have a side hustle that doesn’t bring you money. If you want a side hustle that will enable you to earn some extra money, then you should consider investing in the stock market instead. You could buy facebook shares uk and watch as your return grows. Or perhaps, you can consider trying your hand at online casinos similar to the Christchurch Casino. Online casinos can actually aid in earning some extra money if the participant is aware of the rules and regulations well. But, it would be a good idea to first check if the casino you are finalizing is authentic and licensed to operate. For instance, putting a search query in a search engine like “is Christchurch Casino licensed?” might reveal that it is. This means that this is an authentic casino. Remember that if you decide to play at a casino, be sure to check out the license first.

However, remember that besides casinos, you can also consider blogging as a good side hustle. The blog continues to be a hobby of mine and that alone brings me enough joy. That said, I have been thinking about starting up another side hustle. I could do with the extra money and after reading a review of Nine University, it’s really motivated me to get started. I’ve always wanted to learn more about Amazon FBA so it seems like the perfect opportunity for me. Side hustles aren’t always about the money but if you play your cards right, they could be! A lot of investments do give people the opportunity to make more money. One of my friends invests in Bitcoin and she’s able to trade it for more money or spend it in a number of different places. People can always visit Zipmex if they want to see some of the places that accept Bitcoin payments. That might make Bitcoin a worthwhile investment!

The other day, Veronica asked why I have continued on for this long. I used to say ‘because I’ve already done it this long so what’s another year or two?’ This time, my answer is different. Ten full years of my life live on Yow Yow! The archives take me back in time to see my interests or the things that I cared about in that moment. It’s a journal of my life moments in all forms and will continue to be that. Over the years, people have asked me why I haven’t considered monetizing. Truth: I have considered it. However, in 2018, I love the way Yow Yow! looks. We are not littered with sponsored posts and my voice is still my own. Not having all those partnerships means I control what I want to write about and when.

The anniversary is still shocking, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t ever faltered. If I didn’t wonder how much more time I’d have without this. I’m growing up. The way I look at Yow Yow! has changed over the last 10 years – understandably so. This summer, I started a new job and for the first time, I didn’t want to share Yow Yow! as my fun fact. I’ve never been ashamed of the blog, but I didn’t want this to be the first thing people knew about me without actually getting to know me. It feels like a little bit of a double life sometimes and it brings me some anxiety.

Yow Yow! brought me amazing opportunities. It allowed me to find my voice when I was too scared to have one. More importantly how to deal with that voice when someone didn’t agree with it and to sit in that discomfort. I don’t have the same energy that I used to and I prioritize things differently. Our traffic is 10% of what it used to be when Yow Yow! was at its peak, but it could be worse. Knowing what I know about the average life span of a blog, I am proud that we’ve gotten here. I’ve matured and hopefully so has my writing. We’ve come so far from very bite-sized pieces. My hope is that future content continues to be something that people will engage with, but that also shows more depth to our stories and mine.