"I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing; kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles."- Audrey Hepburn

Jul 31, 2013

How's that blog going?

I have gotten the above question from some of my friends (who actually know how often I change my interests) about the status of my blog. Well, in case you're wondering, nope, I have not given up on the idea of starting my own not-very-personal blog. I have been spending the past several days doing research on how to start a blog, everything from concept to design. I took most of the advice from my most favorite bloggers: Gala Darling (she started Blogcademy!) and A Beautiful Mess (these two are just simply beyond awesome). It is actually interesting to learn about how to start a blog and all the processes that involved in maintaining one. No wonder why these people have to be full-time! It is tons of work and most of the time, these bloggers do everything by themselves (amazing!)

I am still working on the concept and the name of the blog, which I believe is the most important items that will set me apart from thousands of blogs out there. Yes, it is about catchy-ness and its appeal to the readers, but it also expresses who I am and what my blog will be about. You know, for every projects, the starting point is the hardest. I do have some ideas in mind and have been playing around with them but so far none stood out as that "special one" yet. Choosing a font for my banner, not surprising, takes a whole lot of time since I am very picky about fonts. Nonetheless, I do have a very good idea of what I want to write about and what topics I would be cover. I will proceed to make a list of those things soon

I am usually a very impatient person. When I think of an idea I have to start working on it right away, otherwise I'd just forget about it and move on. However, I really want to take this slow and spend lots of prep time for it. So I'm giving myself a deadline of Sep 1st before I launch my baby. September is the month for fashion after all, it's perfect.

In the mean time, these are the things I sleep on every night and will continue to do so for the next few weeks:

Tips for Bloggers
Blog Love E-Course: her class schedule serves as a check-list for me
Naming Your Blog: Gala did say it is not that important but I feel like it signifies a start so I want a good one regardless
Here's Gala's advice on starting a blog
More realistic view on Professional Blogging: At this stage, I don't think I want anything close to a full time professional blogging career. I just want to push/motivate myself toward learning about the things that I am interested in (Fitness, Fashion and maybe, food). Reading this article confirms my goal, actually.
After answering these questions, and actually write the answers down in my journal, I have a better sense of what I want to accomplish.

Point is, I still have a lot to learn and continue to learn it is.

Jul 26, 2013

The We-Dont-Give-A-Damn Midnight Skype Session

Last night, I went on Skype for the first time in 6 months (or more) to talk to my best gay friend. Yes, I am not afraid to broadcast to the entire world that I have the best best gay friend and I am sure he's proud to get that title too. Life has been busy for both of us. Me: summer road trips, settle down for work, figure what to do with my life, graduate schools, learn how to drive, and the list goes on. Him: music. That sums up our personality pretty well. I always want to do everything, always move on from one obsession to another. He is passionate about the one and only thing and does everything, including knocking down countless obstacles and b*tches on the way to pursue his dream. He is more of a dreamer and I am more of the realist. He's the vintage boy, I'm the edgy girl. Strange enough, we are best friends and will always be, even though we talk to each other no more than 5 hours per year. Half of the earth and 12 hour time difference put more strain on relationships than you think.

We talked about life, about relationships, about how we change and how f*cked up our ways of looking at life are. We commented on each other dry hair, pimpled face, fat thighs, skinny arms, drug-addict-look-like face and whatever-the-eff we are into. I told him all about my Sex-and-the-City relationship life. He told me about the b*tches of the showbiz world that he is in. He gave me advice on how to stop being so selfish and I gave him advice on what to eat for breakfasts and dinners. We talked about being in London, in Paris, in New York in 5 years. I listened to his practice-using-YouTube English accent, and he sat through my half-English-half-broken Vietnamese. 

One thing that will never change between us: we don't judge each other. I have heard from various friends who stopped hanging out with me, or him, simply because we have changed so much. True, I changed. He changed. Why does it matter? I told him that our personalities don't really change. The only thing that is different is that, with times, after being slapped in the face repeatedly by reality, our experience taught us a new way to look at life and to express ourselves according to that perspective. So what if I shaved half of my head and got seven piercings? So what if he got tattoos and started smoking? Everyone has their own way to express themselves and to announce to the world in a "B*tches, I'm here. Brace yourself" kind of way. We don't have to be intimidated by those judgmental looks, or get weak in the knees by those verbal attacks. We know within ourselves what we want to represent and what we are capable of. And we know, within ourselves, that out there, there will always be someone who appreciate us for who we really are. For me, he is the one that even if I show up with sharp-studded leather jacket and shorts, he would still give me the tightest hug then throw punches at me for hurting him with all them stupid spikes. 

It is always a good thing to be assured that there is always someone in the world who understands you, who doesn't judge you, who you can rely on to tell you the ugly truth yet gives you the best advice ever. It is someone whom after you talk to, you believe so much in yourself that you feel like you can conquer the world, in heels of course. 

Miss you so much babe. Can't wait until the next time we talk (which probably will be in 9999999 years). Let's keep working on our I-don't-give-a-f*ck attitude. 

Gotta be stylish to be my friend, eh?

I'm going to wander on another journey!

After graduating from college, I have had lots of free time on my hands and I've been struggling to fill up those empty time slots to make myself feel busy. There are many things I want to do, and there are many things I am interested in yet my main excuse when I was still in school was "I don't have time for that", "I have to focus on my study", "I have three exams next week", blah blah blah ... You know how that goes. Now I work only 5 hours a day, even studying for GRE, applying for graduate schools and spending 2 hours at the gym every day don't fill up all my free time. So what could be a better time for me to start doing something I've always wanted to do? I want to start blogging more seriously.

I've started my own blog since high school. However, it was more of a online diary type of thing where I write about relationships, trips, special occasions, feelings, etc. Reading blogs is a part of my daily life. I have a list of favorite blogs that I religiously go on every day and religiously swallow every single word and image that they post, hoping that maybe I will learn things from these successful, and amazing human beings. I secretly admire their courage to start something that most people nowadays still don't consider as "real profession". I want to be like them, I think to myself all the time. You know, these people have to start from somewhere and work their way up to where they are now. They don't just wake up and boom, there are 1 million plus subscribers to their blogs. So I decided for myself that I will start from some where too. Fashion is my passion. I've been told that my eyes sparkle when I talk about fashion. With my recent job, I discover that I am super fascinated by fitness and nutrition. I actually find lots of my friends come to me for fashion and fitness advice. I've gotten people interested in things that they never thought they would be interested in before.

This inspires me to start sharing what I am interested in and spread the words about all these amazing things that make me happy. I am not at the level of being able to write my own fashion or fitness advice articles, but I hope that by committing myself to start blogging seriously about these things, I will eventually accumulate enough knowledge and experience of my own to share. Practice, after all, makes perfect.

I'm sure that my writing and English is nowhere close to professional level yet, but I'm sure I can work on it. After all, writing is kind of your personal style too. Each blogger, I realized, have their own "writing" voice that I actually think that is how they talk normally in real life. I want to establish my own voice and my own writing style so that when people read my pieces, they will recognize me.

Cheers to myself for finally getting started on something I've always wanted to do. Let's see where this journey will take me.

[Az]
July 26, 2013

Jul 22, 2013

Daily Note


It's been a while since I've watched anything Vietnamese. The fact that I couldn't go home this summer and possibly for another year does make me a little bit sad. I actually miss Vietnam more than I think. It's like a comfort zone for me. You know that feeling when you have a rough day at work then you get home to your mom's cooking and it feels like everything will be alright? That's how I feel about going home every year. It is like returning to safe zone after a glorious and tough battle. 

Anyway, about this video, it makes me miss the time of middle school when everything was so innocent. I miss that feeling of having a crush on someone and trying your best to get their attention, but at the same time afraid that your classmates would find about it and laugh at you. It wasn't about fancy dinner dates, parties with alcohol or vacation trips to the beach and such. I'm not saying that those things aren't nice. But back then it was purely just feelings, and how to let the other person know those feelings. So even the smallest gestures count. It was the time of no texting (or minimal texting anyway), no facebook, or anything of that sort. It was the time of calling and hanging up (I must have done that at least once) or trying to find excuses to go to each other's classes. 

Sometimes I wish my dating life can be like those days .... 

Jul 2, 2013

This summer (to be cont.)




This summer, I want to wear short skirts and high heels, to pack a picnic basket and spend Sundays in the sun. I want to lie in the grass and take photos of the clouds. I want to wear bright nail polishes and excessive amount of jewerly. I want to read novels, dance in public, and carry my camera everywhere.
I want to celebrate Midsummer in a park. I want to grow flowers and herbs and keep freshly-made iced tea in the fridge. I want to make avocado smoothies and get a tan. I want to play in the surf, have salt-kissed hair, and wear sunglasses all the time.
I want to move into a new apartment with big windows. I want to light candles, get intoxicated with the smell and with a bottle of wine. I want to listen to songs that give me goosebumps all over my entire body. I want to work my way through a huge stack of books, sleep deeply, and write down my dreams …