Colorado Trip

I went to Colorado a few weeks ago with Jessica and Ebony for a mini trip.

Why did we go? Because I was on the phone with Jessica one day, and I got to talking about how I always wanted to go with her and Cam since he last talked about going there and because I wanted to go hiking, so she was like, why not? So we booked flights that night and I texted Ebony about it, since she was also going through her own problems, and she was like, "I'm down. Let me book my flight."

Sometimes you need to surround yourself with ride or die friends who are always down for adventure.

Friday, February 7th:

• Left after work and met up with Jessica at the airport gate. She didn't have time to dry her clothes, so she didn't have much warm clothes lol
• Landed and boarded the bus to get to Boulder
• Walked around in the snow to our Airbnb
• Explored and loved our Airbnb since it was so pretty and had Bluetooth enabled surround sound on both floors
• Walked to Pearl Street at 11:30pm to find food
• Ate some tasty Mexican food
• Went back and slept

Saturday, February 8th:

• Lined up for brunch at Snooze an AM Eatery
• Since there was an hour long wait, we walked down and explored Pearl Street
• Bought chocolate dipped potato chips and bear claws at a chocolate store
• Found a cool tea place called Ku Cha House of Tea
• Bought some (we later realized it was too much) stuff from a dispensary
• Finally ate brunch where our waiter gave us free pancakes since it was our first time there, and I realized ginger turmeric lattes are so warm and soothing
• Ate a gummy during brunch, and it hit us towards the end. I giggled so much my abs hurt lol
• Went back to the Airbnb to chill for a few hours because we were way too high
• Napped it off
• Went to Target to buy snacks and grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup ingredients
• Ate more edibles and didn't feel anything
• Explored Central Park
• 
• Tried to go to Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, but it was reserved for the night
• Chilled at Ku Cha while trying two different pots of tea and really feeling the cookie and waffle we ate earlier lol
• Walked uphill to order food to go at The Sinkhole where we signed our names on the ceiling and them promptly couldn't find them anymore. The whole walk back felt like a dream lol
• Walked back to the Airbnb, ate our food, and eventually slept

Sunday, February 9th:

• It snowed all day! :D
• Waited under the porch of a rainbow house next door for our seat at Lucile's Creole Cafe for breakfast
• Had beignets and homemade hot chocolate and spiced tea for our appetitizer
• Ate a delicious crayfish pasta
• Went back to the Airbnb to change and get ready to go hiking
• Watched Ebony create a snow angel in front of our house lol
• 
• Died every 5 minutes hiking up the Flatirons. We only hiked a mile total lol, but the walk down was fun!
• Drank golden milk tea (it has turmeric in it) afterwards at a cafe we kept on seeing every block
• Then walked next door and got ice cream and really felt the edibles that we ate going up the mountain lol
• Went back to the Airbnb and chilled for a while
• Baked the pizza rolls we bought at Target and demolished those
• Learned from my lesson, and only ate half of a gummy
• Made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup later
• Took a nap until midnight lol
• We had to leave for the airport around 4:30am anyway, so I stayed up and read and still felt the gummy
• Went to the airport and went home

I was still feeling the gummy's effects the next day lol.

This was a fun trip. Boulder, Colorado is so pretty. I definitely want to go back, but in the summer next time since there's a lot of stuff to do around then. :D

Weekly Haul 122

I received one of the books that I booked that I backed on Kickstarter. I chose the reward tier that came with some of the other books already published by the publisher and am glad that I did. I've had a great time reading Manspression lol.

Fuck Happiness: How Women Are Ditching the Cult of Positivity and Choosing Radical Joy by Ariel Gore

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick: A Book of Postcards by Cristy C. Road

Manspressions: Decoding Men's Behavior by  Joe Biel, Elly Blue, Meggyn Pomerleau

I mean, look at these pages!

Book Unhaul 20

Some more books from my parent's house that I'm planning on selling.

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Dirty Little Secrets b C.J. Omololu

She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott (signed to me)

Nothing by Janne Teller

Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

The Next Door Boys by Jolene B. Perry (signed to me)

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

Warped by Maurissa Guibord (signed to me)

Rose See Red ARC by Cecil Castellucci

Flawless ARC by Lara Chapman

The Berlin Boxing Club ARC by Robert Sharenow

12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn ARC by James Promos

happyface ARC by Stephen Emond

The Melancholy of Harui Suzumiya ARC by Nagaru Tanigawa

The Prince of Mist ARC by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Midnight Palace ARC by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

True (...sort of) ARC by Katherine Hannigan

The House of Dead Maids ARC by Clare B. Dunkle

Books I Want to Read This Month

I didn't read anything from this list last month. I'm a little disappointed, but not really since I managed to read a bunch of Chinese translated novels lol. Still, I would like to read some of my physical books since I've accumulated so many at my house.

1. Manspressions: Decoding Men's Behavior by Joe Biel & Elly Blue
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling & Illustrated by Jim Kay
3. Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
4. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon? vol. 12 by Fujino Omori & Suzuhito Yasuda
5. The Rising of the Shield Hero vol. 1 by Aneko Yusagi
6. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
7. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
8. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
9. becoming. by Renaada Williams
10. Poems That Make Grown Men Cry by Anthony Holden & Ben Holden
11. Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
12. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
13. Love Looks Pretty on You by Lang Leav
14. On Love by Alain de Botton
15. The Consumption of Magic by T.J. Klune

January in Retrospect

I read a lot of Chinese translated novels this month lol. I also watched a lot of movies while I was with my cousins in California, too.

Now, I'm in the middle of watching The Prince of Tennis drama on Netflix, so we'll see how productive I'll be this next month while I get sucked into this drama lol. I've stayed up late every night watching a couple of episodes, so I'm sleep deprived and tired and really feeling it.

I read:

• Doomed to be Cannon Fodder by Whistling Night Wind
• Come and Eat, Shan Shan! by Gu Man
• Black-Bellied Dad by Yin Su
• Just Blame Me For Being Blind in the Beginning by Ban Li Zi
• To Be a Virtuous Wife by Yue Xia Die Ying
• Our Glamorous Time by Ding Mo
• Quick, Hubby, All Aboard by Dong Wu
• Stop Bothering Me, Emperor by Lu He Qian Ye

I watched:

• Ronny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America! (2019)
• The Mandalorian (2019)
• Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
• The Martian (2015)
• Avatar (2009)
• Polar (2019)

Cruise, Christmas Parties, Pokemon Go Community Days, Christmas Sweater Parties, New Orleans, Moving & Unpacking

A lot happened the last couple of weeks, so I haven't really felt like blogging about recent events for a while. I had a couple of revelations and made a lot of plans recently. I'm just tired. I thought I'd have a weekend to myself this past weekend, but we had to go visit the parents. I just want a day for myself.

Anyway, back to the post. December was very fun but very busy.

My family and I went on a cruise at the end of November til the beginning of December to Cozumel, Mexico. This is probably our third time going there, but my parents just wanted us to go on a cruise as a whole family this time since Kyle joined the family a few years ago.

It was fun since it's been a while since I've been on a cruise. I watched a lot more shows and trivia games this time and appreciated the cruise director a lot more now that I had time to pay attention to stuff like that compared to every other time I was on a cruise.

My company had a Christmas party at the same location as last year, with the same dress code of cocktail attire. Since I didn't want to drive home to get ready and then have to drive downtown to the location, Ebony and I decided to crash at Jack's place and get ready with him there.

The party was really fun. We got drinks beforehand to celebrate Anita's promotion, so we were already a little buzzed going there. There was unlimited food and drinks, so a bunch of people were lit lol. Jack got so drunk that we had to leave his car at the office, and I had to drop him off at his house lol.

Pokemon Go had Community for both Saturday and Sunday where you could catch all of the Community Day Pokemon available throughout the year, so we planned on going together as a group for both days. On Saturday, everyone fell through, so it was just David and me lol. It was fine since we went to Piedmont Park and got a bunch of Shiny Pokemon lol. We then went to Sublime Donuts afterwards because I was craving it lol. We had originally planned on going there after the Christmas party, but we were so full that we didn't go.

Ebony and Jack joined us the next day to walk around Marietta Square. We caught a lot of Shiny Pokemon again, and tried this Australian cafe that one of our coworkers from Australia recommended. It was good! I really liked the hashbrowns lol.

Last year, I organized an ugly Christmas sweater lunch at work that a lot of us attended. However, since no one had ugly Christmas sweaters, only Tijen and I dressed up lol. This year, I just made it a Christmas sweater party, so there was a lot more participation. There was also a lot more people invited this time. I think it was around 15 people who came out, and our VP actually paid for lunch! It was a nice time lol.

That Friday, David and I went flew out to New Orleans for the weekend. What spurred on this trip was the fact that I was only $70 away from being a Silver Medallion member at Delta, so Anita told me to just do a day trip somewhere. This ended up being a weekend trip to New Orleans lol.

We tried the famous beignets at Cafe Du Monde, walked around the markets and downtown, ate Creole food, ate beignets at Cafe Beignets, ate fresh oysters, and ate ice cream in the shape of a rose. We basically spent the whole weekend wandering around and eating lol. All in all, a good trip!

Since Christmas was on Wednesday, we stayed home that day and went down that weekend to visit the family for a week. The parents had moved almost everything from the old house to the new house; it was mainly my room that was left over at the house. In addition to moving my stuff, we also had to help them unpack, set up and move furniture, and call the internet provider, electricians, and garbage people, so it was a busy week since we were technically working from home for two days.

Weekly haul 121

A bit late, but here are all of the books I bought and got from friends and family for Christmas.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki & ROsemary Valero-o'Connell

Sweat Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

Tamiko and the Two Janitors by Forthright 

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

New Anime and Movies This Winter That I'm Excited For!

I actually haven't been in the mood to watch anime or movies for the past few months. However, I am still interested in watching them eventually, especially Ip Man and Mulan! :D

Anime:

• Somali and the Forest Spirit
• Uchitama?! Have You Seen My Tama?
• Kyokou Suiri
• Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
• I Don't Want to Get Hurt, So I'll Max Out My Defense

Movies:

• Ip Man 4: The Finale (Dec 27)
• Just Mercy (Jan 10)
• Mulan (Mar 27)