Month: November 2019

Design
24 Nov 2019

Wedding Mondays

I’ve been following [Lucie Fink] and her videos for years ever since she joined Refinery29. In fact, while I have no video talent whatsoever, she’s the one that made reconsider including more video. I’m still at beginner level and the closest I’ve gotten is with Instagram Stories, but she was my original inspiration.

What I have enjoyed about Lucie is that she opens up to her audience quite a bit. Over the years, we’ve learned about her career, her family, her present day life, and more importantly her relationship with Michael. We’ve followed her through her entire journey and it’s that kind of present-ness that I hope to have for Yow Yow! someday too.

I watched her wedding video while on my commute the other day and embarrassingly, found my eyes welling up with tears. Yes, this still happens to us.

Culture
24 Nov 2019

Will Ferrell’s SNL Monologue

It’s a little embarrassing how hard I laughed watching this yesterday evening. I liked it so much that I stopped Kevin and I in the middle of a football game so that I could turn this on for us.

Life
23 Nov 2019

Angel and Katie Take Taipei!

Even though I’ve been back from this trip for six months, I still remember it like it was yesterday. I’ve been working full time for years, but would you believe this was the first vacation I’ve ever taken that was a week+ and that wasn’t related to a wedding? I’m slightly embarrassed that I let this get out of hand. Friends of mine take these sorts of trips once a quarter or twice a year even! It was Angel’s pick to go to Taipei, but I’d only been to Asia once before so spending more time there at all was appealing to me.

There was quite a bit of planning that went into this beforehand – true to our personalities, but the plan wasn’t followed exactly once we got there. Flights, accommodations, and a trip out of the city for a day were our priorities. Everything else could be done on the fly! The planner in me also crafted us a spreadsheet to track our whereabouts every day. I told myself that I would go back after the trip to fill in exactly everything we ended up doing, but that didn’t happen! We were also lucky enough to have our trip overlap with my friend Jac and her husband’s. The two of them have been there plenty of times before so navigating the city with them and going to their favorite spots were the best part of the trip. It felt like we were living like locals when we were with them!

Where we stayed: Da’an District

We honestly could not have picked a better neighborhood. Right outside our front door were three coffee shops – two of which we went to almost every day. There were plenty of restaurants down every street so we were never going to go hungry. Even if we never left Da’an, there was no shortage of things to see, shop, and eat. Since we were out and about frequently, accommodations didn’t need to be lavish. Our Airbnb ended up being $23 a night USD. Aside from killing something resembling a cockroach one night, this was a steal. It’s not like Angel could get me to stay in a hostel anyway!

What we ate: everything

Not only is the food in Taipei fairly simple and inexpensive, it’s also delicious. Our meals were what Angel and I looked forward to the most every day and I’d say we did a good job of remaining balanced. The key was to eat light for every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) so that we could pack in more. We also made it a point to share everything instead of getting our own individual meals. This way we get to try more stuff and we waste less. Just blocks from our apartment was a stand for green onion pancakes. Nearly every guide we read online told us this was the spot. We ate here twice and even made it our breakfast on-the-go one morning. There is always a line for it and you can have add on’s like corn, meat, etc.

Read more “Angel and Katie Take Taipei!”
Life
23 Nov 2019

Talking About Our Bodies

What I love about Instagram is that it has the ability to connect you to those that you may never cross paths with. I can’t remember when or how I decided to follow Leslie on Instagram, but when I saw her stories about seeking people to interview for discussing body health and wellness, I raised my hand. To be honest, I don’t have these conversations often. Even though it’s something that gets brought up, there’s still a stigma to it. I’m not sure what it is and I was hoping that my discussion with Leslie would help me get clarity.

The answers to her questions are ones that I think about frequently. However, she was the first person I ever told them to. It felt crazy to say it aloud for the first time. I may have rambled and it may have been because I’d been holding onto these thoughts for so long.

  • How do you generally feel about your body currently?
  • When you don’t feel good about your body, what do you do?
  • When do you feel great about it?
  • What are your thoughts around body positivity?
  • What are your thoughts on body neutrality?

My immediate takeaway was that I’m glad these aren’t job interview questions because I did a terrible job of answering succinctly! I could’ve spent more than just the 30 minutes speaking about all of this with her because it’s such a huge topic. In the end, I’m glad that I didn’t know the questions ahead of time. It allowed me to answer honestly and brought up some feelings that I didn’t realize were there. Here are were my own takeaways:

  • I think a lot about the things I could be changing in my lifestyle to be happier with my body, but I rarely make those changes ie) cutting alcohol, exercising more regularly.
  • Everyone’s ideas about health, wellness, and their body are so different from each other. Some people like waist training, others like being skinny, and some just don’t care what they look like. I don’t myself discussing this often with my friends or network because I don’t know everyone’s comfort level.
  • Social media and what I post on Yow Yow! sometimes causes me to second guess. I stress about what I’m posting because it may trigger someone else and not knowing other people’s triggers are heavy. I’m not sure where the boundary is and I wish I didn’t have to think about this.
  • I did not know what body neutrality was and need to spend more time enlightening myself.
  • When health, wellness and body topics come up, I am not the one who initiates it.

When we started Yow Yow! this was never a topic that I thought about touching. 19-year old me just wanted to get through college and figure out my career. It’s important now as I watch my parents age and those around me that I figure out the best way to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Yes, I should’ve realized this sooner. Of course, I should have. A healthy lifestyle is paramount to our lives, and if we don’t have it, how will we be able to live a long and fulfilled life? But after taking on this journey, I have also come to the conclusion that I’m not the only one to think this way. Only recently has my friend made the decision to look at health supplements from somewhere like Gold Bee Nutrition to improve her own personal health and wellbeing, and she has seen some great results. But this should’ve been done sooner, which is why I am fully committed to improving my own life going forward.

Taking care of myself goes beyond mental health and now that my metabolism has slowed a bit, physical health should play a larger part.

Style
23 Nov 2019

Cult Gaia Debuts Swim

With a pending trip to Thailand early next year, we’ve naturally got swimsuits on the brain. While I don’t own anything from Cult Gaia (yet!) I’m feeling the new swim collection. The line strikes a nice balance between colorful prints, but muted hues leaving a little something for everyone.

[Source]

Style
22 Nov 2019

Cancelled: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

When I wrote back in May that the [Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Was No More] I was under the impression it was done for good. Now, I’m going to have to retract that a bit because at the time it was still just a rumor that it might be cancelled. My titling is a bit misleading, but now it’s not just a rumor. It was announced this week that the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show would not be happening this year. However, it’s still to be determined on whether it’s gone forever.

The brand has fallen under some major criticism this year. Aside from the fact that sales are down, people pointed out that it seemed like Victoria’s Secret was not only lacking in diversity, but also inclusivity by saying they wouldn’t hire transsexual models. It’s as if they think the only place they can show up is on sites like shemalehd.sex with that kind of exclusion. Growing up, Victoria’s Secret was a go-to brand for teenage girls. Was it because at the time, it was the only brand? The only brand that we could afford with our allowances? These days, I don’t think I know anyone in my circle of girlfriends that is still shopping there, do you?

[Source]

Design
22 Nov 2019

Rent the Heath Ceramics’ Designed Tahoe Cabin

I’ll never forget the first time I was introduced to Heath Ceramics. I was at my former manager’s home for a meal when the dishware caught my eye. How did everything feel so smooth? It was also my first time seeing dishware that was in color. Growing up, everything was white. When I moved into my own homes and purchased dishware for the first time, it still remained white.

From that moment on, Heath became a household name. Literally. As my friends started to marry off, the best piece of advice I could give them? Make sure you register at Heath Ceramics. I wanted to continue to pass this on as I knew no one would regret it knowing about them. My parents even received their first two Heath Ceramics pieces for Christmas for the last two years.

Now, the founders of the company have taken their own Tahoe cabina nd transformed it into one that you can rent on [Airbnb]. Naturally, the photographs and the overall aesthetic are a design lover’s dream. Staying here will cost you about $400 a night, but we think it may be worth it!

[Source]