All posts in: New York

22 May 2020

Blog Roundup

Before this year, I didn’t know that May was Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage month. While it has been a slow journey for me to become more acquainted with my culture and history, I know now I can appreciate this much more at my age. I think some of this has to do with the environment I grew up in and not having that kind of community until after graduating college and starting my career. Without even knowing how special this month was, we got into Korean drama all on our own and started to read and watch pieces that were all tied to the celebration of this month. By no means do I think that means I’ve done all the work that there is, but I’m excited to continue educating myself. I’ve really been enjoying this and have shared a majority of them here with you all!

  • Studio Ghibli Producer is Giving Free Drawing Lessons Online [High Snobiety]
  • Trump’s Refusal to cover up actually reveals his greatest fears [The Cut]
  • 11 Phrases People Love to Hear [The Ladders]
  • Forget Productivity: Let ‘Wuliao’ Be Your Quarantine Philosophy [Refinery29]
  • How to Make Pancake Cereal – TikTok’s Latest Food Trend [Hypebae]
  • MSG is a Valuable Kitchen Staple, If You Know How To Use It [The Takeout]
  • Where New Yorkers Moved to Escape Coronavirus [New York Times]
  • It Is Scientifically Proven That Flowers Make You Feel Better [Vogue]
  • The Ultimate Guide to Instant Noodles [Eater]
  • The Childhood Sweethearts Who Eloped to the Mountains [The Cut]
  • What K-Pop’s Beautiful Men Can Teach Us About Masculinity [Refinery29]
  • How Street Culture Shaped Asian-American Identity [High Snobiety]
  • Jay Park on K-Pop and Cultural Appropriation [VICE]

09 May 2020

Blog Roundup

  • Banksy Honors Healthcare Workers With New Artwork [Hypebeast]
  • ESPN Moves Up Release Date of 3 Upcoming Films [Sports Illustrated]
  • 5 Ways to Keep Bacteria Out of Your Beauty Products [Byrdie]
  • How to Structure Your Days When Time is Fake and You Have Endless Chores [VICE]
  • 21 Times TV Shows Killed Off a Character and Ruined the Entire Series For People [BuzzFeed]
  • In Conversation: Hayley Williams [Vulture]
  • Asian Parents Are Starring in the Most Wholesome TikToks [Buzzfeed] I honestly wish I were in quarantine with my dad cause I know we’d make the best dancing TikToks
  • TV Marianne Is Too Hot and Normal [The Cut]
  • 10 Cooking Mistakes Most Home Cooks Make [Cool Material]
  • Cloth Masks to Shop Now [Vogue]
  • Spike Lee’s love letter to New York [Fader]
  • That Isn’t Actually Michael Jordan’s House in ‘The Last Dance’ [High Snobiety]
29 Dec 2019

Favorites of 2019

Favorite Style Icon: Zendaya

What a year it has been for Zendaya! Between Spider Man and Euphoria, she’s had quite a year. And with that, many more opportunities to showcase her looks on the red carpet. We highlighted Zendaya for Snaps for a Snapshot multiple times in 2019 that was a no-brainer she’d be our pick. We can’t wait to see what she serves up for us in 2020.

Runner Up: Brie Larson

Favorite Getaway: Taipei

Okay, when you’re comparing a week long international trip to three domestic weekend trips, there’s an obvious choice here. As much as I enjoy my job and make excuses that it’s hard for me to find time to get away, this trip was worth every minute and penny. Catch my entire recap of the trip [here!]

Runner Up: New York

Favorite Artist: Maren Morris

I got invited to a Maren Morris show earlier this year and it blew me away. I started listening to Maren early on through a referral back when she just had her EP. Those were my five favorite songs for awhile! There was a brief hiatus somewhere in between that made me miss her entire first album. After that concert, I spent months going back through her discography and it was all I listened to.

Runner Up: Hayden James

Favorite Guilty Pleasure: Fleabag

I still can’t go over how sad I am about there not being a third season of this series! Most of the time, I’m watching new shows without ever having much context about them and this was the most pleasantly surprising of all of them. It’s also the show that I continue to share with all my friends who haven’t seen it.

Runner Up: Watchmen (still in the middle of this by the way and loving it!)

Favorite item purchased this year: [Oak + Fort Bag 1913]

When it came to my work bag, I always thought I needed something that could transport my laptop from home to the office easily. It didn’t matter too much to me what that looked like. For years, I’ve basically been using this Madewell [tote.] There isn’t anything wrong with it and it’s completely functional. The downside? It’s a little bit too oversized for what I needed. While it had so much storage space, I felt weighted down by all things that I was bringing with me. It also made it challenging going from the office to evening plans. So while my new bag has less space, it is a great transition bag as well!

Runner Up: Orange Leopard Print Dress

Favorite Albums (in no particular order):

  1. H.E.R. – I Used to Know Her
  2. Anderson .Paak – Ventura
  3. Maren Morris – GIRL
  4. Maggie Rogers – Heard It In A Past Life
  5. Ariana Grande – thank u, next
  6. Kehlani – While We Wait
  7. Khalid – Free Spirit
  8. Hayden James – Between Us
  9. Mark Ronson – Late Night Feelings
  10. Daniel Caesar – CASE STUDY 01
  11. Tycho – Weather
  12. Snoh Aalegra – – Ugh, those feels again
28 Dec 2019

Yow Yow’s New York Minute

Since I had my Taipei vacation earlier in the year, I opted for two weekend trips this summer. While Mandi had moved to New York last year, I actually have a handful of friends that had been living there for some time. It feels like just yesterday I was helping Mandi find an apartment and move up there. In fact, I remember being worried about her safety because she’d never lived in a big city before and she turned around and said “This is safest neighborhoods in New York City, I’ll be fine!” And she was right — she’s done nothing but thrive since she moved. It was fun seeing her again. In my first visit with Mandi years ago, everything felt new to me! The majority of our time was spent seeing and doing all things tourists would do. It was a great experience, but not as crucial for us to follow the same route this time. For this visit, it felt like we had more time. There wasn’t a rush to get in line early anywhere even though we definitely did that waiting for tickets for Shakespeare in the Park! Instead, our time was spent in areas that I knew I loved (SoHo!) and more time with my friends.

Did I mention that my two girlfriends are trying to get me to move to New York? I’m usually the planner for most of my trips, but they did an amazing job making sure that my entire weekend was laid out for me. The first time I was in New York, we were in between winter and spring. This time’s trip was the complete opposite! I’ve never been in humidity like this in my life. How do people survive it? Despite that, I had the best time! It was hard to get on my flight to go back home after that weekend.

And in true vacation tradition, I also managed to squeeze in a haircut at Rudy’s one morning!

Can people live in SoHo? Is this where I would live?

A Mets game!

A quick summary of everywhere we went:

  • [Momofuku Noodle Bar] (food)
  • [Shakespeare in the Park] (activity / entertainment )
  • Tomoe Sushi (food) – 172 Thompson St
  • Levain Bakery (dessert)
  • Stumptown (coffee) – 18 W 29th St @Ace Hotel
  • Grand Banks (food) – Pier 25 Hudson River Park
  • Fifth Hammer Brewing Company (drink) – 10-28 46th Ave, Long Island City
  • Mets game at Citi Field (entertainment)
  • Smorgasburg Prospect Park (food)
  • Gantry Plaza State Park
15 Mar 2019

Snaps for a Snapshot

Who: Annasophia Robb

Wearing: Simone Rocha

Where: Hulu’s “The Act” New York Premiere


Many of you know that red is not a color that I gravitate towards. I generally find it to be a little bit loud and therefore you won’t find it often on the blog or in my closet. For some reason though, Friday has got me feeling all of the red. Here it is in two different ways, but with similar elements like the lace or the sheerness. Which look would you prefer to rock?


Who: Olivia Wilde

Wearing: Peter Dundas

Where: SXSW World Premiere of “Booksmart”

[Source]

30 Jul 2018

Color Factory in NYC

Do I have any New York City readers here?! [The Color Factory,] which originated in San Francisco is landing in New York and I’m letting you know so that you can jump on those tickets!

My friends and I were so lucky to [attend]Color Factory on day 1 and it has been a hit ever since. I know that there a lot of mixed reviews regarding these Instagrammable events or whatever you want to call it, but my best advice is to go in and have the experience you want to have. If you want to take photos, do it. If you want to leave your phone at home and just play, you should also do that! I’m really excited that the team behind [Oh Happy Day!] is taking their baby on the road to another city though! It’s a huge accomplishment and they deserve to have the opportunity to spread their joy to everyone else.

20 Jun 2016

Let’s Talk About New York!

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As much as I love taking the trips and looking forward to writing about them on Yow Yow! When I sit down to actually start writing the post, I find myself dreading it. These are always the meatiest and because of that, I want to make sure that everything is perfect and not leave anything out.

I went to New York for the first time in March with Mandi and I couldn’t have imagined a better travel partner. I’m not just saying that because she writes on Yow Yow! with us. I’m mostly saying this because it just seemed like a no-brainer – we already really enjoy spending time with each other, but we’ve never spent THIS much time together. It could’ve gone either way, however, it was definitely more positive for us. Even though we went as friends, with New York being a city that has so much to offer, I can see why falling in love would be easy to do here! Anyway, Mandi graduated from Columbia a few years back when she was there for grad school so she really knew her way around the city. We all know that I would have had a tough time surviving that if I were on my own.

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Similar to me, Mandi likes to plan things out so there were things she wanted to do/see and things I also wanted to do/see as well. Together, we compiled a list and made up a plan for every single day that we were there. It’s not surprising that we didn’t hit everything, but we did A LOT and I felt like all the walking I did in that trip was enough to last me a year. Another wonderful part about our trip was that we left some pockets open to fill. Not everything was planned to a tee and I really appreciated that because that allowed the both of us to take some time apart and do our own thing or catch up with our own friends without the other person feeling like they were being dragged into it.

When I let people know that I was going on this trip, a lot of people were surprised that this was my first time. To be honest, I didn’t think I would be 26 when I went, but it’s not terrible. When I was younger and in college, I didn’t have any friends that lived there. It was also difficult to make the time to take a trip like this since I was in school and didn’t have as much $$$ back then. Better late than never? I felt like when I left on our last day that I had a greater sense of appreciation for the city and the things that I saw, did, and ate. I’m not sure if I would have had that same feeling had I been younger.

Read more “Let’s Talk About New York!”