All posts in: Life

07 Jan 2021

January 6, 2021

Didn’t yesterday just feel like the longest day ever? For my friends and colleagues, that emotional weight has carried into today and probably will until Inauguration Day. I’ll save some of my own commentary because what I would have to say isn’t suitable for the internet.

In some ways, I woke up this morning relieved. I have heart eyes for Georgia and the work that has been done. Time and time again, they continue to show that your vote matters and those two wins will make a huge impact for Americans in the years to come. What we all witnessed happening at the State Capitol yesterday was appalling. I don’t think anyone (regardless of party) will disagree with me on that. There is an image I will unfortunately have when I look back on the 2020 election year and unfortunately, it has to be that. Selfies, climbing up walls, tasteless fur wearing and terror.

I would be remiss to make no mention of what happened yesterday. We spend so much time on Yow Yow! talking about other topics, but as much as I hated yesterday I also don’t want to forget that this happened. I still stand by my comment about remaining hopeful for 2021. This has to end. And instead my own comments, I am using the rest of this post to share the voices of people I really looked to in college or rather – the type of people I turned to at the end of the day for a recap – late night television hosts. We basically have the same sentiment.

04 Jan 2021

How To Come Back From A Vacation

Chances are if you asked anyone today if they were ready to come back to work, the answer would be no. And luckily for us, the universe was on our side because Slack had a major outage this morning. Additionally, a system that I use to do 85% of my work was also down. I used this extra time to grab myself a latte this morning before settling down into my work.

I also did something differently this year that I’ve never done before. After coming back from a 2 week vacation, I decided to give myself even more buffer time. I gave myself 0 meetings and 0 phone calls and instead marked my calendar for the day as “do not schedule.” This time was fully dedicated to getting through my inbox, organizing myself, and prioritizing what I needed to tackle first and who I needed to speak with. Any other year, I look forward to the first day of coming back and tackling everything. If the last year taught me anything though, it’s to embrace the slow. You don’t want to burn out too quickly after returning back to work and instead you want to settle for easing back into it.

So give yourself a break. You have the entire rest of the week, why not spread it out?

04 Jan 2021

Bay Area Eats: Dad’s Luncheonette

When the pandemic first hit, I was a little scared to travel farther distances. Luckily for us, I’ll likely never hit my cap of Bay Area spots to see. One of my favorite spots is a place less than an hour away and it has some of the best views. I’ve been known to flee to Half Moon Bay when I’m looking for some quiet, peace, and space when I feel stuffed up in the city. There also happens to be an amazing spot for sandwiches that I heard people raving about for years, but never tried myself until the pandemic.

[Dad’s Luncheonette] doesn’t boast a large menu, but what they have won’t disappoint you. Our first time there, Kevin and I got really excited and practically tried one of everything. If you have to make some choices though, get the Hamburger Sandwich, Mac & Cheese and always ask about the soup of the week and sweet of the week!

Currently, they’re on their winter closure, but will re-open later on this month!

04 Jan 2021

Blog Roundup

  • The Astonishing Duality of BTS [The Atlantic]
  • How the Pandemic is Forcing Women Out of the Workforce [Vox]
  • The 10 Most Popular Recipes of 2020 [Bon Appetit]
  • 5 Small Changes to Make for a Happier New Year [The Every Girl]
  • Remembering the Startups We Lost in 2020 [TechCrunch]
  • Money Lessons From A Truly Terrible Year [The Cut]
03 Jan 2021

Bay Area Eats: ju-ni

Chirashi Bowl with rice

This is a [ju-ni] appreciation post! I owe so much gratitude to the team here for keeping me full and giving me the sushi fix I needed during the pandemic. With their demand pre-pandemic, I never had a chance to eat at their restaurant in person. Their new set-up, however has allowed me to eat there so many times that I’ve lost count. They were able to quickly pivot and accommodate customers with their signature Chirashi bowl and a number of other varied bowls during this time. As you can see below, we’ve tried most of them! Other sushi restaurants in the city tried a similar model; we tried those too. Overall, ju-ni was the place that I kept coming back to because they nailed it in quality, variety, and price.

Ikura, Salmon, Crab, and Uni over rice
Salmon over rice
Cherrywood Smoked Aburi King Salmon with Ikura over rice
Toro, Ikura, and Uni over rice
02 Jan 2021

2020, in 7 minutes

These recaps are making me a little emotional. It has been such a grueling and devastating year. I really hope that 2021 can be much brighter for all of us.

02 Jan 2021

2020 Best Nine

The moment of me waiting for these results to calculate every year is exhilarating for me. Somehow, every year, I’m shocked by the results. An up close shot of flowers? That’s the thing that gets the likes? I think it’s because every year, I have an idea of what shots will end up being the most important to me. I hope they align with people, but it’s a toss up every time which may just tell me that I don’t know my audience as well as I think I do.

This year’s mix tells an interesting story. There are two photos that I clearly took myself to represent life in quarantine. However, the majority of photos are of me without a mask, out and about that depict a normal life that wasn’t accurately represented during this time. I also have one shot from my trip to Thailand – both a highlight and low light, but that I’m glad made it to this because it does tell my 2020 story.

As we take steps in 2021, I wonder what the future holds for us. Will things improve or will they be much of the same? Does this mean I have to improve my self-timer game if we continue on with this? Photos are so crucial to storytelling, but they are tell part of it. Again, I wish you all a safe and happy New Year!

01 Jan 2021

Pre-Weekend Thoughts

Sometimes we are unaware of what it is that we need. Every year, I look forward to these two weeks of holiday vacation likely for the wrong reasons. It’s the time that I have away from my day job to fully dedicate towards Yow Yow! What I’m doing is putting aside one type of work for another. There’s some enjoyment that I get out of it, but it’s not restful by any means.

I woke up this morning with dread realizing that I only have three more days until I return to work. As I lay in bed, I tried to ask myself what I accomplished during this time. Anything? I didn’t spend nearly as much time writing as I hoped I would. Once again, I put off a project that I’ve been procrastinating on. I thought that I didn’t need the rest, thought I didn’t need the extra sleep, but I did. The weight of not having work on my shoulders – that’s what these two weeks gave to me. I wish I didn’t have to be this old or this far into my own vacation to realize something like this.

TBD on whether or not we’re making New Year’s resolutions. As we step into Day 1 of 2021, I’d rather not make any plans. 2020 has taught me to appreciate these slower days and I’d like to continue on that path for a little while longer. Happy New Year!

29 Dec 2020

Favorites of 2020

Favorite Style Icon (s): BTS

Before I even started writing this post, I knew I was in for a challenge. I’ve never had an issue deciding who was the most iconic in fashion for that year because we could always go back and look at who we shared the most for “Snaps for a Snapshot.” In a year where we had fewer red carpet experiences, that made this choice harder. And yet, it was easier. BTS truly shined in their “Dynamite” era and we were served impeccable looks for every editorial, appearance, and performance. Each one continued to top the last. Over the years, the guy have come into their own on highlighting the style that they are most comfortable with. Even though they show up as an ensemble, you can tell that they make it their own.

Runner Up: Margot Robbie

We somehow managed to get one award show season before the pandemic hit and Margot Robbie continued to stun on every red carpet.

Favorite Getaway: Los Angeles

I only had two places to choose from for this category this year and honestly, I loved Los Angeles and Phuket for two very different reasons. I think what pushed me towards LA is that I had the chance to celebrate the bachelorette of one of my best friends in a city that I love. No matter how many times I visit, I’m always being introduced to something new. Celebrating moments were few and far between, but this one was so memorable.

Favorite Artist: Dua Lipa

In 2020, I listened to an unhealthy amount of Dua Lipa. “Future Nostalgia” is a superb album and with the year that we’ve had, it was just what we needed. Full of pop tracks and dance hits, it’s actually quite difficult to be upset at any part of this album. It was the soundtrack to my summer and an album I know I’ll listen to even further into 2021.

Runner Up: Griff

Griff is just starting to come into her own, but we’re so excited for what she’ll achieve in the next year.

Favorite Guilty Pleasure: Selling Sunset

It’s not easy for me to add a new reality television series into the mix, but Selling Sunset had all the right components. The series was catty, smart, and somewhat educational? I learned so much about homes and real estate just from watching the show alone without all of the drama. The episodes are short so it feels easily digestible and it is great background noise in case you don’t want to pay attention too closely.

Runner Up: Emily in Paris

How could we forget the show that we thought we’d end up hating, but actually loved?

Favorite Item Purchased This Year: [Amazon Brand – Terry Cotton & Modal Oversized-Fit Quarter-Zip Sweatshirt] – $29.50

If you had told me that lounge wear would be my aesthetic this year (pre-pandemic) I would have thought you were lying. Contrary to what some may believe, lounge wear can be stylish as well. However, this year taught us that comfort is key. That denim jeans may be a thing of the past (for now at least) and that half zips are the ultimate basic piece to own. We’ve talked about this Amazon half zip so many times now across all of our platforms, but I could live in this for a week.

Runner Up: [BLANKNYC Good Vibes Faux Leather Moto Jacket] – $98

The girl who thought she could never pull off a leather jacket finally did!

Favorite Albums (in no particular order):

  • Justin Bieber – Changes
  • The Weeknd – After Hours
  • Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
  • Kiana Ledé – KIKI
  • Tom Misch – What Kinda Music
  • JoJo – good to know
  • Kehlani – It Was Good Until It Wasn’t
  • Kygo – Golden Hour
  • Teyana Taylor – The Album
  • Jhené Aiko – Chilombo
  • Henry Green – Half Light
  • BLACKPINK – THE ALBUM
  • TWICE – Eyes Wide Open
  • BTS – BE
  • KATIE – Our Time Is Blue
28 Dec 2020

Why People on the Internet Can’t Be Nice

I spend quite a bit of time thinking about this. 2020 as a year especially has caused people to have even more of a love / hate relationship with social media than ever before. If you love it, you likely turned towards it during the pandemic by creating a second account and leaning into the possibility of being an influencer. In a time where people were forced to be more alone than ever, online validation filled that void. If you hate it, you deactivated your account or stayed off entirely. Your feed and your stories became overwhelming and you chose not to participate. In my case, nothing drastically changed. I added another platform so maybe there was just more volume. If anything felt different, it was that I started to look at the behaviors of people I follow in a new light. I paid attention to posting habits and what engagement looked like.

On my own, I love my social media when things are good. However, when things take a turn for the worse, it can crush your spirit. I don’t know why users leave comments that spread negativity or wish harm on someone. After months of observation, I’m convinced that no one can truly be strong enough to overcome this entirely. This is the part that I can’t control about social and it’s undoubtedly the worst. As a content creator there are two things I care about: I want you to like what I put out and I want to make sure I don’t offend anyone ever. Shortly after trying out some new content, I was met with criticism from random users. “STOP.” “She ruined this.” “This is terrible.” Sometimes I forget that my content gets distributed to people that a) don’t follow me to begin with b) don’t ask for it.

You would think that criticism from people I know would sting more, but criticism at all can make an impact. I shared June’s post above because it resonated with me and this post that I’ve been wanting to share for some time. June and her husband are expecting twins at the moment. They are sharing their journey on their own platform and while this is a new adventure for them, surprisingly it’s not always being embraced from their followers as seen from her caption. It begs the question, why continue following if you don’t like what you see? We all can make these choices and decisions on our own, but instead people choose to pass judgement (and not silently if I may add)

Tonight, as I was doing a live workout with Revolve, I watched the comments roll in from users. Men, who were clearly not there for the workout, instead, left sexualized comments about the instructor. It was unwanted, disgusting, and I wished in that moment that it could have been monitored better. I was glad that the instructor was occupied with teaching the class that she didn’t have to see these comments. However, she may afterwards. I don’t have a great way to wrap up this post other than that I’m heading into my 12th year of doing this and while I feel energized at certain moments, other times, I feel exhausted and discouraged by the way others behave on the internet. There is so much good that can come out of being online; why people choose otherwise I won’t understand ever.