Day 31: the kid who doesn't know me

Poopoo, babies can be so fickle. This little guy only smiles/stops crying when mama is holding him. :(



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Day 30: clean desk! Yay!

And the rearranging continues!!!





Too bad my bed still looks like a disaster zone... :(

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Day 29: say what! Overlock stitch!!!

My day's work:



Man, I love sewing! It's my indoor snowboarding!

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Day 28: another nyu staple bites the dust...

Gonzales Y Gonzales was one of the very first restaurants I ever ate at in NY when I first moved here...and now it's closing...probably to open a chipotle, which, while delicious, did not need another location in the city...

We tried to get in tonight to have one last huzzah, but it was too cold and the line was too long for us to stay much longer. So a picture is all we got...



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Day 27: Snow way!

As in, "we had another late start because of heavy snow? Snow way!!!! Yes way!!!" hahah

Gosh I love snow. It's just so pretty!!!! I'd love it even more if I actually got to play in it...




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Day 26: "...but baby it's gross outside..."

For some strange and unknown reason, I keep singing that song, "baby it's cold outside," (the one Brandon calls the cutest song about being creepy) but replacing "cold" with "gross."

Funnily enough, even a crappy day like today can turn out to look kind of awesome...




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Day 25: shelves! Yay!

I got a new lamp (courtesy of Brandon!) and instead of eating or working out, I redid my shelves! :)




Of course...now the rest of my room looks like more of a war zone...hahah...but it has to get worse before it gets better!!! :)

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Day 24: under cover lover...

..as in, I love to be under the covers! Too cold out!




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Day 23: the tiger is asleep...

Finally got some time to spend with the fambam for the first time since thanksgiving! Gave the kids their animal hats from my sister and love that Daj has no issue wearing it!





I wish it were a lion hat so I could start singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight..." nevertheless, the song is still stuck in my head. Lol

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Day 22: my first lockstitch!!

I started sewing school today and made a pillow case!!! Yayyyyyy!!!




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Day 21: a snow day

Well sort of. Not enough to give us a full day off but I'll take an 11 am opening...



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Day 20: last dinner

Gosh we've been eating good because it's brandon's last week here!

Today we went to Don Peppe's with Rich's family... While it was our (mine and B's) first time there, we were not unfamiliar with the food. Sooo good.



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Day 19: And the lunch crew disperses...

Our lunch time crew (me, B, Rich and Vincenzo) had dinner together tonight for Brandon since we didn't get to have a last lunch together. So sad. :(

No pictures of the four of us because I forgot my regular camera so instead I took some artsy fartsy shots of stuff in the restaurant we went to. So pretty inside! I love twinkle lights!




I don't love Brandon leaving. :(

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Day 18: train on a shitty day

When is winter over????


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Day 17: cold but pretty...

Taking public transportation sucks! I was waiting for the bus for at least 20 minutes!



You can't tell but it's really cold!!

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Day 16: Cabride home...

It's a little expensive to be taking a cab home from Brooklyn every night, but definitely worth the time I get to spend with Brandon...



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Day 15: Saturday Night Football...

I'm gonna miss sitting around with Brandon...:(



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Day 14: brandon's last day :(

...no more lunches or drives in to and out of work. :(

I got gypped out of lunch today but they called everyone into the lunchroom to serve cake and stuff...he was VERY surprised. And red. :)




...it's going to be weird at work without him. :(




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Day 13: just dirty

...the window, I mean!




Rich's car needs a wash. I love the light though!


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Day 12: P-p-poker

Felt so heavy in my hand!! Lol







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Day 11: stairway to...?

I need to start doing things again. Lol


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Day 10: reflection in the twinkle lights...

Twinkle lights are sooo pretty... :)




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Day 9: New day, new hair...

Got home late last night (basically this morning, so it counts for today!) and snapped a shot of my new hair while it still had the "someone-blowdried-my-hair-for-me-and-made-it-look-awesome" look about it...



It will take some getting used to (I feel a bit naked without all my hair!), but so, looks like there are no complaints! Plus, I won't have to comb my hair and worry about getting tangles! Bonus!!! :)

Day 8: goodbye hair!!

Decided to lop off 12 inches of hair to give me a new look and donate some hair to locks of love...I hate spending money on small haircuts, and I do like to be charitable, so I figured this would kill two birds with one stone...



It was a little rough saying goodbye to my hair, but within minutes, it was gone and it was only a little painful for the few minutes before and during...not so bad!





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Day 7: leaving work early...

...is what needs to occur in order to appease me when you deprive me of food by inadvertently making me wait for lunch that never ends up happening.




I was super hungry!!!! Grrrrr... But I got to leave before it got dark and the trees were pretty...angry, cranky, hungry Joyce has been appeased. :)

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Day 6: Missing my hair already...

The appointment has been made, which means my fate is set... I'm chopping off my hair to donate! In accordance with Murphy's Law, my hair has chosen this week to be nice to me, and is now making me miss it very very much. Sigh.



Let me just keep reminding myself that (however slowly!) hair grows back...!

Day 5: After hours fun at the office...

After about 5 pm, mostly everyone checks out which means that anyone left can blast music if they want to...unfortunately for us, my coworker Dorka listens to the most annoying music. Today, I got a sample of the stuff she plays that makes Paul nuts...and found it thoroughly amusing...




And while thoroughly amusing, Paul had a point...I think I'll keep my headphones on, thankyouverymuch. :)

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Day 4: Winter cleaning

I've cleared out my closet!!! Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a hoarder so this is a total accomplishment! :) Woooooo 2011!!!




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Day 3: Self-reflection

Instead of merely trying to unpack, I've decided to make life much more difficult for myself and have slowly been working on my room. It's a crazy process, because before I can put any new clothes away, I have to clear out my closet and make room for it. I never switched out from my summer wardrobe, and now that I've lost some of my sentimentality (at least in the practical sense, as most of it is still in tact), I've been throwing stuff out and putting things in bags to give away... I'm a little excited. First I'm going to work on my closet and slowly work my way out. It will look like a disaster zone for a long while, but it will get better eventually...

Anyway, I had trouble with my closet doors, so I pulled them out and laid them across my room and thought it was time to revisit the idea of reflections...





I spend a lot of time with reflections... And I don't just mean my appearance, but you know, reflecting about life in general; the past and how I miss it; the present and how I try to live for it but sometimes slog through it; and the future and how it scares and excites me....

After I snapped this shot and reviewed it (first to make sure I didn't look too disgusting, I'm soooo vain sometimes! lol), it made me think about how for all the time I've spent with myself, there is still so much to discover... I wonder if anyone ever really sees in their reflection what other people see...and I mean this both literally and figuratively...Literally in the sense that sometimes, we are never fully aware of our own physical beauties or imperfections (depending on self-esteem, I suppose), and figuratively in that we never fully understand what people may admire or loathe about ourselves....

...It's not like I don't know who I am or what makes the core parts of me, but more like... there's so many things people see in me that sometimes I fail to see in myself. I've slowly been getting better at that, and goodness knows that I am quite self-aware, but I still have a long way to go...
but aside from who I am inside (now I've got that "Reflection" song stuck in my head; and what's worse, it alternated between the movie version and the Christina Aguilera version... lol...Who is that girl I seeeeeee, staring straight, back at me? When will my reflection show, who I am insiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide?.... haha), I wonder if someday, far off into the future, I will wake up and not realize the old lady staring me in the face is myself...

...some very randomly interesting thoughts for a very jetlagged girl...

Day 2: I hate unpacking

Especially since I left a huge mess in my room before I left and have now decided I want to rectify it by doing some clearing out.... Soooo much work to do!!!




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Day 1: And so it begins again...

2010 is over and a new year has begun... for better or worse, I've gotten used to taking a picture every day and I think I'd feel soooo weird if I didn't try for a daily photoblog again this year. Especially since, as much as I've learned and grown in the past year, I did not really keep to my rules. I gave up on documenting my meetings with strangers (for the most part), forgot to do weekly self portraits, and I missed a day! (oh Day 283, I'm so sorry!!!) Haha I mean, the purpose of this was to learn to see beauty and live life and figure out how to be happy on my own and I think that while I have achieved a measure of that, there is still so much to learn and do. So I'm trying again this year. I do have a small list of resolutions on the side (dance more, stay healthy, learn to sew, save moneys), but much like I figured about this blog last year, committing to posting will enable more growth and activity and life and will encompass all my other resolutions anyway...my only rule this year is that I post every day...

And soo we begin again. Day one! :)

My new year's day lasted about 40 hours, so I thought that because I had to endure what is probably the longest day ever (well, maybe it could have been even longer if I stayed on the West Coast) I could post TWO pictures. One from my new year in Australia, and one from my new year here in New York. No one said I couldn't make up my own rules... :)

Midnight struck in Melbourne, and I got to be one of the first in the world to ring in 2011 with my family. We all rushed out 30 seconds to midnight to yell and bang drums and light sparklers to celebrate the new year.... It's been years since I got to spend the New Year with my family, and though it was all a flurry of activity in which I only recall hugging and kissing my parents and a few aunts and uncles, it was nice to be surrounded by family... Though I started 2010 with such hope, I was not without sorrow when I ended 2009, and it was such bliss to end 2010 and begin 2011 with such joy.



A few short hours later, I had to quietly say goodbye to my family and start my trip back to NYC... :( It's difficult to separate yourself from family when your lives have always been so intertwined that getting together even after long periods of time is effortless. I hate that I'm in a different hemisphere from my whole family and long for days when it didn't take so much time and money and energy just to spend some time together...

It was a rough trip home, first reconfiguring my luggage to fit in some of my parents' excess baggage, and then killing some time on my own at the Melbourne Airport before passing out entirely on the flight to Brisbane then sitting uncomfortably in the last row of the plane for my flight to LA and then FINALLY getting through customs, baggage claim and every other obstacle imaginable trying to catch my flight to JFK... On the bright side, the man sitting next to me was very nice and he let me know that Hugh Jackman was on my flight...!! (Taller than I thought, and super jacked!!!)

At least I got to end my very long day with Luca, who I have not seen in a few months since he moved to Vancouver for Film School. It was so good to chill and have some Chinese-Hispanic food (what is better than being able to have Maduros--sweet plantains, so good-- with your green pepper steak with onion and pork fried rice??) then come back and watch Kindergarten Cop just because we can! He's now peacefully (though congestedly) asleep on my couch outside amidst all my luggages.

After our dinner, the waitress gave us fortune cookies and we thought this "fortune" (really just a nice bit of advice) was quite fitting for the new year:


It summed up 2010 for me quite well, and is the sort of positive perspective I hope to keep continuing this year... There is a certain amount of luck brought into our lives to make it good, but we are the catalysts for making life amazing.

I know 2011 will be a good year, because I plan on making it so!

Happy New Year! Fill your life with love, laughter, learning and lots of chaos!

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