eat dessert first

Cherry coke ribs and other assorted deliciousness.

jen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:30:45 +0000

Happy DNA day

jen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:56:15 +0000

Very excited to get the two DNA test kits I ordered on Friday from 23 and me. Must admit that it was mostly the incredible sale ($99 for a test that usually costs $499) that caused me to click buy. Bargain hunting is in my genes.

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Wing is incapacitated.

jen — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:01:20 +0000

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LOST in 8 minutes

jen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:46:12 +0000

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finally

jen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:43:41 +0000

One of the many things I'm looking forward to in 2010.

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t-14 days until v-day

jen — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:45:47 +0000

…and shopping for cards for @wingerz.

this one manages to convey exactly how important he is in an appealingly concrete way (from paperwheel’s etsy shop).

the year of 30

jen — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:43:35 +0000

i keep forgetting what year it is.

pre-adulthood is all about looking ahead: to the next big trip, the next graduation, to when life officially begins. now here i am, smack dab in the middle of my official real life and there's no longer a set schedule to remind me that days are passing. it's a bit like living in a casino…especially in california where even the seasons don't change much.

that said, 2009 was a nice year, even if it was far less action-packed than 2008 and despite the fact that we spent most of it house-hunting, which in the bay area is always a completely demoralizing experience. we took a lovely trip back to the east coast, saw many good friends and adorable children, and also enjoyed celebrating the weddings of many of our closest friends and family.

Memorable consumption

favorite books of 2009: the hunger games & catching fire, by suzanne collins; the help, by kathryn stockett; power of one, by bryce courtenay
fave sytycd routine: mollee & jakob do the viennese waltz
stuff i did with @wingerz: played through the new super mario bros (the irony: although wing is a much better player, he accidentally jumped into a pit right before we finally defeated bowser, so the entire end credits rolled with just me ;))

wow, i must really be getting old (or boring) because nothing else is coming to mind.

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right now

jen — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:59:52 +0000

wing is hard at work in the kitchen shelling crab to make crabcakes while i catch up on my book club reading. i love lazy sundays.

currently reading: i'm a stranger here myself, bill bryson

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the pensieve

jen — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:00:03 +0000

As I get older, it’s harder for me to distinguish one calendar year from the next. Unless, of course, it’s bad; 2004 sucked, for instance. On the other hand, 2008 was such an amazing year that I felt sad counting down its last seconds, as though saying goodbye to a friend who had been particularly kind to me. It felt wrong to let it pass without commemorating it in some way. So here goes:

Highlights

Stuff I will tell my kids about 20 years from now: Obama’s historic election & Michael Phelps 8-gold-medal run in Beijing. I’ll always remember where I was when these happened, and how hopeful and inspired I felt.
The official end to my formal education and living on the east coast: Graduated from business school, sold our first condo in Somerville, moved 3X in 3 months (including a 2-month stint living with my parents), before finally getting settled in the South Bay.
Watched many of my favorite people get married, including my sister, Kerry, Grant and Feng, Brian, and others.
Saw the world: Spent the first month of ‘08 in South America, two weeks in Africa in April, one week in May in BVI and two weeks in Europe in July.
Still pretended to be outdoorsy: Climbed Villarrica and ziplined in Pucon, Chile, white-water rafted in Brazil, hiked the Cinque Terre trail, went on safari in Tanzania, sailed through the British Virgin Islands, participated in several Yung family holiday “death marches.”
Took three whole months off. I’ve never had an entire summer off before. Ah laziness, how it becomes me.
Started a new job.
Memorable consumption: Carnival 2008 in Rio, Gossip Girl, David Archuleta performing Imagine; Chelsie & Mark dancing to Bleeding Love on SYTYCD, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga; Harry Potter books on audio tape (perfect for long drives to Los Angeles); and new discoveries Paper Raincoat and Jon McLaughlin.

Lowlights:

The US and then global financial markets imploded, resulting in the destruction of trillions of dollars of wealth. I avoid opening my 401(k) statements now.
Shattered a glass shower door in my hotel room in Sao Paulo, resulting in stitches (& an upgrade to a VIP suite). Being surrounded by shards of glass without contacts or clothes makes one feel extremely vulnerable.
Got three fillings.

farewell, first home

jen — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:53:30 +0000

I wrote this in August after I arrived in California. Wing was still living in our condo at the time. The new owners moved in three days later.

Buying the first house we saw on our first house-hunting trip ever may seem rash. It was only days before that we’d thought that it “might possibly be time to buy something”—but sometimes you just know.

Wing’s already explained a few of the reasons why we love our house: the natural lighting, hardwood floors, and the tall trees that offer shade and privacy (and a whole host of bird droppings to any unlucky car parked underneath). There were our upstairs neighbors, who we met as an unmarried couple but moved out as a family of three, and Henry, the friendly gray cat that came around whenever he sensed some action. And of course, there is all the food we ate in our disproportionately large kitchen with our friends who became like family.

This place only got better with every happy event, every home improvement, every piece of furniture schlepped in. Even when we passed the honeymoon stage and realized that the toilet seat never stood up and the closet space was non-existent, we stayed enamored. It’s true we would have needed something bigger at some point, but we left before we outgrew it.

I know it’s silly to have such a strong emotional attachment to a condo, but our “home” was the first thing that Wing and I built together. It’s the setting of some of my happiest memories.

The same can be said for Boston. College and grad school come with very clear endpoints after which people scatter in all directions; this changes the very character of the city. But over the course of the six years I lived there, Boston became more than just the sum of my school experiences. Every memory became so woven into the backdrop they became impossible to separate.