Updates

How did the year creep by so quickly? I swear it felt like I was just making my New Year's resolutions about dieting a few months back. The year started out pretty horribly, but I can say it's turned out pretty great so far, mostly due to the change in job.


I'm quite happy to be working in a totally different work environment in which my coworkers and boss are great people. I can't say I'm passionate about my job, but I like it enough. I'm also super stoked about being able to become the merchandise coordinator after just four months of being in the customer service position.


As for the goals and projects, I'm still trying to work on most of them. I'm still trying to work on "The Flat Stomach Project", although, I haven't been exercising consistently lately. At least I've been able to drop a few pounds and maintain it with conscious eating.


I've decided to abort the project that I've been working on when I was hermiting. It's not something that I was really into, and I need to find something that I'm more interesting in working on, instead of forcing myself to work on it.


My decluttering project is still active, although, it's quite a daunting task. Going through all my magazines is taking a lot longer than I had though. I haven't even gone through my other stuff yet. Perhaps I need to do some prioritizing and time management.

Decluttering

It's another one of those sleepless nights because I wasn't feeling well and went to sleep earlier. So, I guess it's time to blog as I find late night/early morning is the best times for me to write. I've been reading a book lately called "Stress-proof Your Life". (It was one of those on sale books that I found at Border's, but it does give some good tips)


It says that one of the reasons people are stressed is because of the place they live in. I think that's absolutely true and believe that's what's happening to me, but I've just never wanted to admit it before. Although, life is going pretty dandy currently, it does bother me that my room is a mess. I'm one of those people that look totally normal and up keep with on the outside that you wouldn't know I had a messy room if you didn't know me. However, I know I have too much stuff in my room, but I've just didn't want to deal with it or convince myself that the stuff is ok to have. There are so many other things that I would rather be doing than de-cluttering and throwing out stuff, but I think it's time to own up to my crap. I want to be able to come home from work and not feel overwhelmed with what I see everyday. Sometimes I feel guilty being out instead of trying to clean out my room, but yet, I don't even know where to start because just thinking about it makes me not want to do it.


Things I need to take care of:
-Go through all my clothes and donate the ones I don't wear anymore. I have a lot of clothes, or so that's what it feels like. I have so much clothes that part of it consumes my bed and I have a hard time keeping up with doing laundry. I'm beginning to notice that some of my clothes still have the tag on them. *sigh*
-Going through magazines and books, and getting rid of some of them. I must say, this one is a hard one, because it's very dear to my heart. Although it's just fashion magazines, I feel like it's a part that represents me. I have parting issues because a part of me still one day wants to use it as inspiration to do something fashion-related again. I still also own most of my college books and projects, as it's something that I think might be useful in the future that I'm not ready to let go yet.
-Organizing my sewing essentials and fabric. This one falls in the category of the previous one. I think I have about five boxes of fabric that I've collected through my college years, bought thinking I would use in the future, and from one of my previous jobs. Although I'm in no way ready to give it up, I think I need to organize it better. Perhaps a few of those plastic drawers.
-Throwing out old bills, statements, pay stubs, etc and organizing my papers. I don't keep a lot of papers, because I don't like having to store them and I also would rather go green and be emailed something. However, the papers I do have aren't really kept in one place. It's scattered in different places around my desk, and I need to find a better way of organizing everything. Maybe investing in a hanging file thing would help.
-Finding a way to organize my knick-knacks. I just have things around in my room that doesn't really belong to any prominent category, so therefore, it's not organized and just laid around the desk where there is space.
-Putting up wall decals. This is actually a project from last year, when our apartment was renovated. I bought some flower wall decals thinking it would be nice for my new room. However, after cutting out a good 50+ flowers, I gave up on the idea after thinking about how time consuming it would be to lay everything out to how I want it and to stick each one on with the sticky paper. This isn't top priority, but still something I'd want to do.


This is definitely not one of those one weekend projects for me, however, I want to at least be done by the holidays. October seems to be a busy month for me: October birthdays, film festival, and Halloween. I hope I can manage my time more wisely and be able to slowly work on it.

Accessory whore

Yes, I'm an accessory whore. I really don't have that many things I give into, but accessories are one of them, and desserts being the other. Since I'm watching my food intake, I have been declining desserts more and that just leaves accessories to tempt me more. I have a lot of accessories from jewerly to scarves to shoes and even accessories for my phone. The only jewerly accessories that I don't have are earrings, belly button rings, etc. and that's because I don't have any piercings. I refuse to get piercings because I know I would go crazy splurging on earrings. Without ear piercings, then that eliminates the temptation.


My favorite accessory would have to be scarves hands-down. Despite living in hot, sunny Hawaii, my collection of scarves is in the 30s, some of which I haven't even had a chance to wear. What's worse though? It still doesn't seem like I have enough scarves. I had an outfit which I wanted to wear a scarf with one night, but couldn't find the right black scarf to match it. The scarves were either too patterned or too fancy--nothing plain or casual enough to go with that outfit.

My next favorite indulgence are phone charms, especially the unique and cute ones. I think my collection is currently at ten or so. I have some just on my bag as accessories. There really is no real purpose to have a phone chain, but some of them are so cute that I simply can't resist them!! (No picture cuz I'd have to take them out from my bags and gather it together)


Then there's all the fashion jewelry I have, which includes necklaces, rings, bracelets/bangles, and brooches. I've bought quite a bit over the years, but don't wear some of them as much now as I work in an environment in which I need to dress business casual and my taste has kind of changed. (No picture either because it's all over the place)
Last but not least, there's bags and shoes. I do have a fairly decent amount of shoes and bags, although I'm not nearly as crazy about them as I am about scarves. However, my collection of shoes is increasing and I'm using work as an excuse to buy more.

(One pair missing that's not in the picture)

                                     (Three more bags not in the picture that's somewhere in all my piles of stuff)



My would-have-been-wishlist

I had copied ThinkTiff and started a post on a wishlist a little while ago since I ran out of ideas on what to blog, but I never finished the post. The wishlist was a list of things I was considering getting myself for Christmas. However, now it's my would-have-been wishlist instead as I don't feel I should be buying anything for myself. I had accidentally scratched my co-worker's car the other week when pulling into the parking. Luckily she had a sense of humor and also her car is kind of old, so wasn't upset over it. It was two lines, which I didn't think was too bad. Yesterday I got her invoice though. I nonchalantly wrote her the $800+ check, although it was killing me inside that I did a stupid thing that cost me so much money. *sigh* My consequence for not being able to park.


Anyways, my would've-been-wishlist that is now out the window:


-A necklace or ring. There's two items from our "estate" aka gold buy back collection that I have my eye on. My excuse is that I work in fine jewelry, so I should have one or two pieces sooner or later. For now, it's the only thing in the store I could afford.

     

-To get a Japanese straight perm. I got a straight perm once when I went to Taiwan and absolutely love it! I miss having flat, smooth, straight hair and not needing to straighten it everyday. A hair straightener is ok, but just not the same.

-Treat myself to a massage. One of my good friends was very generous and treated me to one before and it was awesome!!

-Buy a beginner DSLR camera. One of my hobbies is photography and I've been wanting to upgrade to a DSLR camera for a while (as mine is currently not), but haven't been willing to dish out the money.



The Flat Stomach Project

A month ago, I decided to get myself back into working out. I've decided that "working out" is not enough, and to really get serious about my diet and exercising in order to reach my goal of losing the flabby stomach.

I know that I'm not fat or need to lose a lot of weight. I just want to get into shape and get a flat stomach. People see that I have a small frame, and think I'm "skinny". I am skinny compared a lot of people since more than 25% of the US population is overweight now, but no way am I in shape. Most of the time, my stomach fat hides well under my clothing and people don't notice.

I had always liked physical outdoor activities like hiking and swimming, but I was never consistent in doing it all the time. I think college was when I noticed my stomach fat, but I used school and my part-time job as a "reason" not to be active. After graduating college, I was still never really serious about getting in shape. Being lazy and scared made me not pursue it seriously. I gave myself excuses for not exercising like being busy or that my stomach isn't that bad. Also, I was scared. I loved food too much and I wasn't ready to give up the joy of eating. I didn't want to give up delicious foods, snacks, and of course my favorite, which are desserts. I knew that getting into shape required serious dieting--eating what I use to think as "rabbit food" (blah foods) and consistent exercising.

However, I think I'm finally ready to give it a shot, and slowly incorporate a healthier diet and exercise into myself lifestyle. In a way, I think it's torture not being able to eat foods that I want, but they say no pain, no gain. No one said it would be easy.

Things I'm doing to help with diet & exercise:
-Being aware of the foods I'm eating and their calories
-Eating only three meals a day (sometimes snacks in between), which for me means cutting out my "midnight snack" meal.
-Drinking more water and green tea, and less coffee.
-Eating oatmeal, which I wouldn't have done before, but apple cinnamon flavored oatmeal I can do.
-Eating less rice (which is hard being Chinese)
-Watching the portion control, especially with snacks that I sometimes let myself eat
-Joined Dailymile in order to keep track of my workouts (Joining a group that exercises motivates me to exercise more)
-Working out at least 4 times a week. (My friend says that thinking of exercise as part of a job will force yourself to do it more)
-Watching "Lose It With Jillian" for inspiration.
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Are you a food restricter or permitter quiz.

Night fall

I find night fall being very interesting. It seems that things change so much from day to night. It's lively, yet also quiet, and mysterious.


On one end of the spectrum, night gives a city its livelihood and brings fun into people's lives with activities such as dinner, club, bars, karaoke. Some people can't wait for happy hour where they can relax, relieve some stress, and where the fun happens. Music, dancing, food, and alcohol awaits you. People drop the hustle and bustle mood and let loose. Have you ever noticed that people tend to sit and talk longer during dinner than they would if they had lunch together?


Night also brings tranquility that daytime doesn't. It's when the sky is dark, and the moon and stars are out. Some people may choose to go night fishing, take a stroll on the beach, or driving up the mountain to see the city lights. Others are asleep. Have you ever looked up at the starry night sky..........and just wonder?


For me, night is when my mind is the most clear, and also when I am able to write the best. It's when everyone is asleep and all I can hear is myself typing and the cars passing along the boulevard. All my thoughts seem to come together more as I'm free from distractions and noise.


(Night also seems to be the time when the roaches and geckos in my house come out)

Dear future husband,

The old me would have had this long list for you to fulfill before I actually consider you to be my future husband. However, although I still do keep a mental list in my mind, I've realized that only some of them are the important qualities that you need to be my future husband.


I don't ask that you are tall, handsome, rich, educated, or successful. I do ask though that you are taller than me, decent-looking, have a steady job, and strive to be better in the future. I don't ask that you put me as solely #1 in your life in relation to work, family, etc, but for you to at least make me feel special in your life.

I'm pretty friendly once you get to know me, but I'm not quite the social butterfly in large groups of people I don't know. I'm an introverted person, so I hope that you would be more extroverted than I am and bring me out of my shell. I would love to enjoy and experience life, so I hope you like to travel and try different things in the future. People say I'm strong and independent, but in actuality I want a shoulder to lean on too and I'm a closet hopeless romantic. I love sunsets, walks on the beach, stargazing, and I sometimes get teary in happy endings of chick flicks. I would love to receive flowers to feel special just like any other female, but please don't get me roses. At least, not common color roses. After all, I am supposed to be special in your life, so I would expect the flowers to be special as well. Perhaps blue roses or hydrangeas?

I have a major weakness for desserts and scarves, so I hope that you can deal with that. :) For some odd reason, I seem to think I can never have too many scarves....when really I live in Hawaii and can't possibly use them all. And while I'm sort of on the topic, future husband, you better have some fashion sense--or I guess I will have to teach you. I mean, after all, I was a fashion major in college, so my other half would have to have some fashion knowledge.

What do I have to offer you may think? Hmm... well, I don't know to cook too well, but I can if I want to. Maybe it's the Chinese in me. A little bit of this and little bit of that and the dish seems to turn out well. I am fine with doing dishes and laundry, but you'd need to take out the trash. I'm also a good bookeeper (....like I said, I'm Chinese) and I can give good massages.

I hope not having kids won't be a deal breaker for you. I'm still not sure how I feel about kids yet. They've never seemed to have phased me. Sometimes I wonder if growing up as an only child had anything to do with it.

So that's me in a nutshell for you, future husband. Overall, I think the most important thing is that we have a special connection and that I can feel  like I'm special and important when I'm with you.

Your future wife,
AW

P.S. I would like at least a 1 carat engagement ring. I currently work in a jewelry store, so you can definitely get a discount. Also, it wouldn't be right for me to work in a jewelry store and have people see that I wear less than a 1 carat, right? :)