Long Day!

Left work around 10 o'clock today. Such a long day! Spent half the day on numbers and formulas and half the day on research. Luckily I bought some Asian snacks from a supermarket on the other day. Now only some chocolate and a good sleep can comfort me... 

Snow White

After the snow storm Juno left New York, it was a beautiful play out day for me! At lunch time, I took a break from work and went out to shoot some pictures in my neighborhood -- Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY.

As you can see in the pictures, the snow was so beautiful and it made the neighborhood look like a small town in a fairy tale!

Hope you all had a great day!

Shoveling

Woohoo!! The snow storm finally passed New York! It literally freaked the whole city out! Fortunately, it turned out that it was not bad at all. In effect, it was as good as a gift because most of the working men and women had a chance to not go to the office and stay home with family today. Thank god! :)

I was helping out my uncle shovel the snow. That really gave me a workout! haha.

Snow Storm "Juno"

A big snow storm is on its way to the Big Apple!! They said it's going to have snow accumulation of 20 to 30 inches by tomorrow Tuesday. 

I was one of the few working from office today. I treated myself a nice oatmeal as breakfast. Due to the weather condition, the office closed earlier at 2pm today and will continue to be closed tomorrow. 

On my way home today, the snow looked so beautiful. I hope this snow storm "Juno" will not affect NYC too much and everybody safe and warm. 

Got A Small Cute Back Bag Within Budget

I usually like to buy fashion designer handbags, not only because of the chic designs, but also because the quality of the bags is better so the bags can be used longer. I was using a Cedar Street Maise handbag by Kate Spade earlier this winter. But because having so much clothing on for the cold weather is already a chore, to carry a bag on only one shoulder is not a pleasant thing to do, especially on a snowy day.

Then I decided to buy a backpack! Because I always want to look fashionable and elegant, I did not want those big and boring school bags. And I really do not have that many things to carry anyway. I was searching on Amazon and prayed that I could find something cute and chic. In addition, I did have a limited budget for the backpack so I did not go for the fashion designers this time. Fortunately, I was so lucky that I found this back bag on Amazon!

The sky blue color is one of my favors. The size is perfect - it is not big, but just fit to hold my iPad Mini. And the material is not bad at all. Most importantly, it is totally within my budget! It is under $20 including shipping. I am blessed that I found such a good deal.

This cute back bag really lights up my winter days on the street!

Happy Stay-Home Saturday

It was snowing last night so that the streets today were kind of nasty. I made a decision to stay home and enjoy time alone this Saturday. I was so pleased to spend the day doing what I like to do - drawing! A small butterfly today. 

Life is busy, but just (and we need to) take time to do what makes our soul happy. :) 

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!! 

In our office, people like to work from home on Fridays, so it is a very quiet environment in the office on Friday. I usually like to go to the office on Fridays because I like to be around people - not a lot - where I get the energy from and effectively function at work. And because it is quiet, the work really can be done very efficiently.

I like to read books about personal finance to make sure I will have a healthy financial future. Even better, I might be able to retire myself young and happily. I was reading the book called "Think and Grow Rich" on the train today. What the book impressed me today was that it said that we needed a plan that we would carry on persistently in order to gain great wealth. And to come up with a plan or an idea, or to reach decisions, we might need facts or information from other people. However, we should acquire the fact and secure the information we need quietly, without disclosing the purpose.

Below is a quote from the book that made my day:

"Tell the world what you intent to do, but first show it." 

Above is a small take away from a book I would like to share. Besides the serious business topic, I got something sweet from a coworker today:

They are Korean red ginseng extract powder tea. My coworker brought them from South Korea. It tasted so good - I wanted to say this was so far the best taste ginseng tea I have ever had! 

Such a nice Friday! Wish everyone a happy weekend! 

Embrace the Life

I happened to see this quote on Pinterest today. It was in the Season I of one of my favorite episodes -- Grey's Anatomy. 

Somehow at some point, I do feel like life is a mess. Troubles just keep coming to you no matter how hard you try to avoid them. There is always something that you want the most and you cannot get. There may be someone you fall for and you cannot be with. There are some wishes that can never come true no matter how hard you try. 

But just as Dr. Grey said, life is messy - that's how we are made. Instead of trying to avoid problems, why don't we focus our energy on resolving problems. Instead of constantly getting disappointed by someone or something, why don't we carefully listen to what our hearts say and figure out what we really want. Instead of crying for what we don't have, why don't we just simply accept it. 

All I'm learning now is to embrace whatever life throws to me and make the most of it. And sometimes, because there is a lot going on out there, I do need some personal time to digest and think about what I truly want. 

There is one line behind the above in the same episode which says - if you are willing to take a chance, the view from the other side is spectacular. 

Hot yoga

I went to do hot yoga for the second time today. I'm someone who is a big fan of working out and has experience in the regular yoga. I can be confident enough to say my body is very flexible and I am able to manage the basic and the intermediate yoga poses during the class. 

However, hot yoga to me was totally another thing. I needed to force myself to stay engaged and do as much movement as I could during the class. The instructor said that you could suffer the pain for 90 minutes or you would need to suffer the pains for 90 years - you definitely better off suffering for only 90 minutes. And that 90-minute class was really a suffering to me at some point. 

When I came out of the class, I could barely walk on my feet and had to limp painfully. Especially when it was just 30 degrees outside, I felt so bad. Then I came up with a joke for myslef, turned my chin up with an effort, and forced myself to smile a little bit to whatever on the empty street. At that moment, I was surprised to feel it was actually not that bad - it actually felt so great. Just because I felt the pain, I reached the limit of my body and probably broke my limit, too. In addition, I felt that just because I experienced the pains and felt like almost killing myself in the yoga class, I knew I would appreciate the experience of living without any suffering. Simply living a life is a great treasure. 

I will keep going to the hot yoga class and I know by next time I will reach and possible break a new limit of my body and get my body stronger! 

Complicated love

I was so focus at work today. All of a sudden, the girl sitting next to me was so excited to scream my name at a low voice. I wondered why she looked so happy and asked her what happened. She smiled while filling her eyes with all the excitement and told me that a guy who she met before was instant messaging her again....after about 4 months. 

On one hand, I could tell she was interested in that guy from her excitement right after receiving his instant message. On the other hand, she currently is dating someone and has been dating with the same guy for over five years. She once told us that she felt bored of the relationship and did not know if she was willing to get married. I think while she kind of feels guilty to leave his boyfriend, she is not willing to take a risk of leaving someone she got used to being with. 

Love to me is so complicated. I currently have a guy who is kind of playing the game with me. My friends who know him once told me that they could tell he liked me and I actually felt the same way. However, he never got to the point to make the "love story" progress even though I gave him the signal that I was interested. To be even worse, what I see is every night he is constantly on whatsapp texting someone not me. 

I am sort of tired of this kind of games. However, while I know there are tons of play boys out there, I still believe true love and I believe that someday I will find my love. I will still be playing, whether actively or passively. ;) All I know is that I never lose as long as I never choose to quit on the games.

Love, 

how long do you still want me to wait? I hope you are right there nearby.

Sincerely,

Shirley 

Ballerina in drawing

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the ballerina. They looked so beautiful in the tutu. Unfortunately, however, I never got to be sent to any ballet school by my parents. 

After I finished school and started working, I finally got some personal time that I could use to do whatever I would like to do. One of the first few things I thought of was to learn ballet dance. Then I was taking a few classes at the Joffrey Ballet School in Greenwich Village. The classes were fun although they were very challenging to the absolute beginner like me. 

In addition to the ballet classes, I have been to see a lot of ballet shows performed in the Lincoln Center. Among those are The Nutcraker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and some less famous but great ones. 

Ballet to me is always the most elegant dance in the world. 

I was practicing my drawing on the other night and was just spontaneous to draw a ballerina from her back. 

It was the Martin Luther King holiday today. Going back to work tomorrow. Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday! And have a good week ahead.

Karaoke Sunday

I went to karaoke with my coworkers in Chinatown today. As you see in the pictures, we had so much fun. 

Who are you waiting for?

I literally ran into a burger when I was waiting for a milk shake. Little burger, who are you waiting for? :)

French dinner on Saturday

I was having dinner with a friend in a fresh restaurant at Brooklyn Height. We had mussels with the Thai coconut curry sauce and seared duck breast. The food was great! Will go back definitely! 

Dying roses

Even though they are dying away, roses still look beautiful. Happy Saturday! 

Happiness

I want to apologize to the a-few-day-ago-me. In fact, whatever you do, whoever you love, please do not forget one thing - be yourself and let the pieces fall into place. 

Cold season

It is getting cold in NY. I'm taking the Chinese cold season tea to strengthen my system for the weather. :)

Origami butterfly

Stayed late at work on the other day. Spent 2 minutes making an origami butterfly to comfort myself...

Origami

Origami - butterflies :-)

Stay away from the water

Showed this to someone today and she said that's why she stayed away from the water. 

Got turned down

Today I kinda turned down by a guy, who I was interested in and thought he might be interested in me as well. The feelings of disappointment sucks. I keep debating with myself and told everything that happened between him and me to my friends (both girls and guys) in order to get their opinion on whether he liked me and if I was mistaken that he turned down on me. 

For a few hours of debating and discussion, I kept thinking if he liked me until something more important dawned on me - if I REALLY liked him. 

I grew up in China and in a very traditional Chinese family. Before I graduated from college, all the things my parents and my family cared about was my academic performance. They would try everything to have me focus on my study - and the thing called puppy love was absolutely prohibited. As a result, even though I fell in love in someone in school, I would just pretend nothing happened to avoid myself getting into any trouble or questions coming from parents and teachers. 

However, after I graduated from college, things got to change. I have to say that some culture in China - and even in the whole Asia - is a bit strange, especially for the girls in my opinion. When girls go to college, they will prohibit any puppy love stories. If a girl got I'm a relationship with a boy, people think she is a bad girl and the parents will feel embarrassed for her. However, when the girls start graduating from college at about 23 years old, everyone will try to push the girls to get married and start having kids. And if girls don't get to be married by the age of 30, the society would think the girls were not liked by any guys. They even give them a name out of it - called "sheng nv", meaning leftover women. It may sound funny but it's very harsh. 

And unfortunately same thing happened to me even though I came to the US at the age of 18 and have been living here since then. My parents try to push me to get married. Even though I don't feel this is right, because I don't think that's something that can be pushed, my life and my feelings has gotten affected by it. Now in my subconscious, every time I meet a guy and if I think he's good looking, I would think if he's available. It might sound reasonable. However, I think that's the reason that causes problem. I just focus how he looks and if he's available rather than if I really like him personally. True love needs a good foundation and some of them are personality, if the two parties get along, whether hey have same interests and goals, and so on. But given that I didn't truly understand this at my school ages (even thought I was in 3 relationship before), it is hard for me to think about that when my parents try to push me to get married. 

Who does not want true love? Everybody wants it. But not everyone is the lucky ones. It is a process to understand both others and self. Over the course, it may be a lot of confusing, heartbroken, depressing moments. Some people go down and give up; others may get bolder and keep trying. Which one you want to be, it's really up to you. 

For me, I think I tend to be the latter - someone keeps trying because I believe in true love and I believe someday, and I will sincerely pray that, I will find my true love that makes all the past sacrifice worthy. How to try? Next time when I meet a guy, I won't judge him by his looking and if he's available. Instead, I will be a true self and be friends with him first, get to know each other and let things go from there. 

Monday tomorrow

Ummm.... Monday tomorrow...

If life gives you a sweet potato, make sweet potato soup!

Sometimes life gives you a sweet potato that doesn't look that sweet... (I think it looks unhappy...) but what I did was to make some delicious sweet potato soup! And happily ate it! :) The sweet potato soup is a traditional Chinese dessert sweet soup. It's a perfect thing to cheer yourself up in this gloomy rainy day. 

 

Just because in such a snowy / rainy day, there's no other places like home, I stayed home for the day! And I love the moments relaxing at home doing whatever I want to deal with at the moment. Fortunately, with me I have some dark chocolate that I bought from the East Village yesterday. They say the dark chocolate is very good for health, so does it mean that this so called "super dark" is "super good"?? haha.... Who knows and I don't care.... I just know it tastes so good in my mouth. Hopefully it will do its job for my good health. :)

 

It says it will continue raining tomorrow. So I kind of tend to continue staying home tomorrow. Hopefully I won't get cabin fever. ;)

2015.1.1.

I made my favor breakfast for myself on the first day of 2015. It has protein, vege, and fruits, which means I will have all the good things in the new year! :)