It's been a hard day's night...

...and I've been working like a dog.

I don't know how the Beatle's had the nerve to come up with lyrics like that when all the band did was tour, play and fool around with groupies. I, on the other hand have really been feeling these lyrics. Hard. It's been so bad, I'm suffering from ALL the dreaded office job syndromes:

Deteriorating eyesight. Check.
Hunched shoulders. Check.
Irregular meal times. Check.
Weight gain. Check.
Inexplainable levels of angst. Check.

Arrrgh!!! And for what I ask? Career growth I suppose. Can't complain. You can only imagine how relieved I am every night to come home to a guitar-strumming boyfriend and a good book (I'm reading Harry Potter again. Yes, it's embarrassing but no less stylish than my Chanel table top book with the same level of adrenaline rush).

There'll be limited blogging during these grueling times - FYI.

These ads...

depict exactly how I've been feeling this past week.

Ad 1
Ad 2

5.6

Last night's 5.6 Bay Area earthquake rattled our apartment a little.

Home alone and totally unaware, I cursed the neighbors softly under my breath only to be told by Shawna via IM that it was an earthquake. Oops!

Japan town. Always the charm

With every painful discussion comes comfort food. This time, brand new seats and bottled sodas were all it took to feel cheery. Despite the dreadfully long morning, the bf and I kissed and made up at the newly renovated Sundance Kabuki over Lars and The Real Girl.

Nice and empty (for the first few minutes anyway) with walls lined in cork and fresh turquoise paint


Dinner in boxes from Nijiya


Every bite was comforting. All except that little tofu package on the right - it was filled with mochi. How weird is that?


Individually-wrapped pineapple ice for dessert


Couldn't resist these scarves from Kinokuniya

I love you hon. Sorry I can be a pain sometimes.

Committed

I was talking to a coworker the other day when she told me she lived in France for a few years. Intrigued because that has always been a dream of mine, I asked her why she did it. Her response although not unusual, struck me as to how foreign it is to my life:

"It was right after I graduated from college. I had no commitments, no strings attached, and wanted to be a paralegal. So I researched the French visa, and headed straight to France."

As simple as that.

When I think back on my twenty-something years, I can't help but realize how everything was pretty much planned out. In high school, I knew the goal was to get good grades and be an all-rounder to get into college, and so I did. In college, it was pretty much the same thing in addition to spending off-school hours networking with the right people for the right things. Post graduation, getting a job in relation to your major, which you've worked so hard to streamline and clarify seemed the most sensible thing to do. And so, here I am.

With relationships, things weren't so much as planned but they followed a similar path. I went to college accepting the fact that I was to have a long-distance relationship. Even in my freshman and sophomore years, Suen quoted me as being the one "who walked around with a sandwich board saying F*** off, I'm not available!" And she was right. Sure there were times in between, when we strayed. But even so, the commitment was always there. I always said, "I'm sorry, I have a bf" despite the fact that he was miles away and unreachable. 3 years into college, we broke it off questioning, "How much have we grown without the other being around to witness anything?" and that was 1 of the smartest moves we ever made.

Mere months after that breakup, I fell into another relationship and was committed, once again.

A few full years followed: years of blissful and sometimes painful moments of being together, learning about each other, accepting faults, making compromises and developing plans for the future. All these seem part of "the plan." But you know you're doing something wrong when the time spent with someone becomes unbearable. When the both of you can't stand each other's company and yet feel the need to be "together."

What do you do when you're committed?

The Darjeeling Limited, and what came with it

No surprise, I loved The Darjeeling Limited. More so, I looooved the wardrobe and luggage featured in the movie. Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton - I mean come on!

1 day I'm going to get my hands on these. Sure it hasn't happened with Steve Zissou's powder blue and yellow adidas sneakers. This however, is going to happen

Boo!

Last year, the bf and I got into Munchiefood - the food blog that didn't last. Funny how it's been a full year since those ghostly lollipops. I'm 1 year older, and none the wiser.

A girly Jack-o-lantern


The must-have smiley


Message for the kids
It's dark chocolate after all


Some angry frowns to add to the mix


And sad frowns too


These were great fun to make