It’s already been 15 days into February and I have not written a single 365. So, I think it’s time to close that project and go back to what this blog was originally about – exploring.

So hiatus 365. Sorry and see you again one day.

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

On Friday, James and I went to see the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle workshop at the Ohio Theatre in SoHo. Combined with elements of theatre, cinema, puppetry, it was a very good production. I was pleasantly surprised in how engaged I was in the story since the book is not the easiest one to read. It’s denser than most of his other novels and quite long.

Portions of the book were cut out so that it could be well adapted for the play itself, including my favorite characters – Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Creta, but otherwise, the play did a good job of getting the point across.

Murakami is a current obsession of mine and I hope that others will revel in his spellbinding stories.

The Wolf Moon - Night of January 29-30th

The night of the 29th to the 30th was the night of the Wolf Moon – it will appear about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than the typical full moon. It was really beautiful looking at the moon while walking through SoHo. I wish I had a rooftop to look at it from.

Sunday was uneventful, I woke up a little bit late only to find out that I’d forgotten about going to Tea Time at the Crosby hotel with Jiye and Christine (I’ll post a photo up later). We enjoyed finger sandwiches, scones and tea and there was a great ambiance to just chat about life.

Later that night I went over to Christine’s to find a shaved Ellie (she looks like a different dog!) and to watch the Grammy’s.

I know, I’m bad. It’s too easy to not write on the blog. Inspiration doesn’t come easy when you don’t make many plans to do anything.

No photos this time, except one. I’ll post that last.

Well, I returned to New York on the 26th. It was relatively uneventful. The best part was landing in Newark and seeing the Manhattan skyline from a distance. I love being reminded that I live in such a beautiful city (from afar!).

Wednesday I had Lisa over for dinner. I made my usual fare – curried coconut chicken and rosemary parmesan potatoes. Lisa made stir-fried spinach.

Today wasn’t much, Jiye came over to pick up my gsm phone, we ate at Baoguette and I got my eyebrows threaded.

I’m most excited about seeing the Wind-Up Bird Chronicles play tomorrow. It looks really excellent from what I can tell. I’m lucky to have a ticket!

I leave you with this photo:

Ukiyo-e

This is a wood block print known as Ukiyo-E (pictures from the Floating World). I’ve always been fascinated by these prints. I’ll post some more information about them in the future.

I tried to get into fashion...

Sunday was just a silly day. I went to the mall with 2 of my best friends and we ended up at the Forever 21 accessory store… here Stacy found this tiny little hat you could clip onto your hair. This is me posing with it.

Suburban life is quite interesting. You drive everywhere, eat fast food, and hang out with your friends whenever.

I spent the rest of the evening in Ann Arbor. When I got out of the parking lot and was walking toward Espresso Royale… lo and behold… I ran into RJ Q!! I thought RJ was in California, but he had moved back and was randomly walking down the street! So we went to Espresso and hung out for a bit and Alan stopped by, as did Ngoc, Dave and later Chris Q. It was definitely a great time seeing everyone.

This is Hanna!

The next day was just a “take it easy” day for me. Went to Ann Arbor, hung out with Ngoc and co then later Chris Q stopped by. Had dinner with Nikki which I just now remembered that I was supposed to treat her… BUT I TOTALLY FORGOT!!! Oops… I will have to treat her in June!

Anyway, it was a wonderful trip to Michigan and I’m looking forward to returning in June and again in August!

The writing on the toilet stall

I’m back in my home state! The moment I got back, we headed to Michigan’s campus and had Pita Kabob Grill, walked through the diag, where we stopped in at Angell Hall’s bathroom and there was graffiti all over the wall. This one particularly caught my eye. Although the line is so simple, it’s quite beautiful.

Besides PKG, we headed to Bubble Island. I was one of the few Asians there (which scared me…). Had a Thai tea then headed to Stacy’s apartment in Bloomfield Hills.

The next day we went to Panera for breakfast and then to see the location for Stacy’s wedding. After that we drove to Elizabeth’s Bridal Manor in Plymouth where we tried on dresses. Luckily we all found a dress that we could agree on.

I may not be smiling, but I like this dress!

You can barely see the dress in the above photo, but you can also find it on the website for the designer. We’re getting the dress in plum.

After getting the dresses, we decided to go to Grand Traverse Pie Company to have a slice of pie. After that, my cousin picked me up and we went to Potbelly’s for dinner and then I got back to my cousin’s place where I just cleaned their ENTIRE apartment… my goodness…

L'Artusi Salad Prep - Credit to Zagat Buzz

Again, I’ve become delayed on the 365. That’s what happens when you’re working late hours. Last night I happened to go to L’Artusi in the West Village. I would’ve loved to take some photos, but the place was a little too classy for me to pull out my camera and take any photos. Anyway, I went to take my friend Chris out for his birthday. We ordered scallops (raw!) with uni (yummm!), potato gnocchi with braised chicken and wild boar with cranberry over bruschetta.

Ok, so we felt just about right after eating all of that, but we still went to Magnolia to get their amazing banana pudding. If you go to Magnolia for their cupcakes, you’re definitely going for the wrong thing. Their banana pudding is where it’s at!

For today, the inspiration is a little less. I walked to the gym and some random guy decided to say/mutter “MICHIGAN!” as I was walking by… apparently he can read my pants.

A Wild Sheep Chase (photo credit to justonlysteve)

I just started to read “A Wild Sheep Chase” by Haruki Murakami. I’m actually quite enjoying it even though I am confused as to what’s going on. It reminds me that I need to re-read some of my Murakami’s. Anyway, the photo is a reminder as what I want to do this summer – READ AND DRINK COFFEE OUTDOORS!

Do you believe in fate? Things that happen for a reason?

No photo. I dedicate today to S.B.D.

Today I got off the subway at 49th street as usual, but I caught a glimpse of someone I did not expect to see and it completely made my head spin. I could feel my chest tighten and my whole body go rigid.

It was almost like seeing a ghost. It was S.B.D’s sister. As she was heading into the station, I was exactly exiting. What is the likelihood of running into someone from your past that happens to be a mom living in Michigan at 9:15am at the same subway you get off of in New York City?

Sometimes I wonder what the grand scheme of things is… but it was just a very strange out of body experience.

New York Harbour

So after another 3 day hiatus, I’m back with 3 different 365′s. This past week, 3 of my college friends (and a new friend) came to the city to visit. 3 of them had been to NY before and 1 was a NYC virgin, but no matter, we had an amazing time!!!

The first thing we did was have dim sum in Chinatown. We were seated with another family! (The other family must’ve been horrified to see us eating like starving monsters). After that we walked around a bit and the headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. This is where the photo is shot from. We walked around Brooklyn a bit and went to Jacques Torres. Afterwards we headed up to Central Park and took some more shots before we went to Ktown to eat and then back to my apt to pre-game before we headed out for the night.

That night we went to Pegu Club for drinks/lounge experience, then over to The Park for the clubbing experience. After all of that we went to the 53rd and 6th Ave Halal Cart for a 3am snack…

Family Style Chicken and Rice!

So ridiculous. We were so hungry even though we had eaten food at The Park… but they wanted more! Chicken and Rice is just amazing in the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday was much less productive. Ngoc and I went to Clinton Street Baking Co. early to get a table and went across the street to Cafe Pedlar for some coffee. The latte was not as good as it normally is (sob). We got a table 2 hours later and had a feast of pancakes and french toast.

After that we went to SoHo, but went our seperate ways. Ngoc and Gio went to Times Square to get tickets for a Broadway Show (we ended up seeing Chicago) and Linda and Chia went shopping. We met up at 7 for Chicago (starring Ashley Simpson-Wentz).

After that we went to Times Square to walk around a bit before heading over to Otto for a 10:30pm dinner with Chris Choi, CC Song and Denny Chan.

The left around 2 am to go back to Michigan (they wanted to just drive instead of leaving at 6am).

That leads me to today. Due to it being such a nice day, I walked around my area. First Union Square, then up 5th Avenue. I stopped in at a new chocolate shop – L.A. Burdick.

Harvard Square cake from L.A. Burdick

I ordered the Harvard Square cake to go. It was rich, dense and delicious. It was very small, but I’m not sure if I could eat more than that!

What a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday Joey!

It’s my little brother’s birthday! Ok, so he’s not really my little brother, I adopted him… because I tend to adopt people. I met Joey in Taiwan 4 years ago. It was such a great summer that I often refer to it as a benchmark for the best summers of my life! Suffering through 110* days, hiking up a mountain everyday, and running around Taipei was such an amazing experience.

Joey and I grew close due to our fear of a certain person I will not mention. Let’s just say he had over 76 missed calls from her.

Although I’ve only seen Joey a few times since Taiwan, I still think of him as a really adorable little brother to pick on. Although he may be your typical “guy,” he’s also very sweet and loves Doraemon! (Uhhh I have given him waaaayyy too many Doraemon items).

Oh People.

I missed the 13th because my day was spent in the office until 8:30pm, so there wasn’t any inspiration to be found in my Excel sheets. This weekend a bunch of Michigan friends will be hopping into town so I’ll have plenty of photos to take and things to write about.

So don’t laugh, but today’s post is about the new People cover. Working for Time Inc, the brightest spot in our week is when People Magazine comes out. Today’s issue is on Heidi Montag’s plastic surgery addiction. Here’s some quips from people on our floor:

“She’s starting to look like a tranny!”

“Wow, this is shocking”

“I think her face looks really manly”

“She’s 23, why does she even need these surgeries?”

I know, I know. It’s such a trivial thing to be the big discussion topic on our floor, but it’s really the bright stop (which goes to show what we’re working on every day). It’s true though, she’s 23, she’s not unattractive, and now she looks kind of worse than before. Actually I think she looks A LOT worse than before. Why would you do that to yourself? (*cough* low self esteem *cough*).

Well more interesting 365′s to look forward to as soon as I get out to take some nice shots!