Wow! It's been a long time. I know I say this every damn time but I am horrible with keeping my blog up to date. It's been a wild year, good and bad. Where do I even start? I figured I would compile a list of all the happy, sad, ugly, beautiful, and memorable moments as well as some of my goals for the year. Do you make resolutions? If you do, what are some of yours? Also, as you can tell, I love to-do lists. They keep me organized and on track to reaching my daily, monthly, and yearly goals. There's a sense of satisfaction when I get to mark something off of my list. I know I'm not the only person who would agree. You can't go after what you want in life if you don't even know what it is. Jot them down.
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| Hat & Jeans - Fashion Nova / Sweater - Ooh La Luxe / Boots - Ross |
1. Going in to the new year, I am always trying to better myself. You know, it's the usual trying to eat healthier, work out more, go on walks, travel, be a better business woman, hang out with my dogs, family, etc., It's still the same as it has been for the past several years. That has not changed. I strive to be better than the person I was the previous day. Life's a never ending journey and there's always something to gain from each experience. I've lived with this motto most of my life on a personal and business level. This year is no different.
2. I celebrated Chinese Vietnamese New Years with my family in San Jose. I can't wait to celebrate this year. It's the Year of The Dog! Only this year I will be handing out red envelopes to all the kiddos now. That's different!
2. I celebrated Chinese Vietnamese New Years with my family in San Jose. I can't wait to celebrate this year. It's the Year of The Dog! Only this year I will be handing out red envelopes to all the kiddos now. That's different!
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| Santa hat by XOXO Love Mai |
3. In March, my niece Angel gave birth to Aria. I had the incredible honor of witnessing her come in to this world. It was one of the most magical moments of my life when my god daughter was born. I have been taking, pretty much monthly photos of her and she's just the cutest if I do say so myself. I can't believe she's almost a year old already!? Where has the time gone? I can't wait to see how much her personality grows.
3. I was thrown a surprise bridal shower which was seriously one of the sweetest surprises ever. Angel, my maid of honor is the best. That day I hung out with one of my good friends, Jenna and we had some delicious breakfast in Petaluma. She also did a great job at keeping me surprised as I had no idea she knew too! I seriously have the best people in my life.
3. I was thrown a surprise bridal shower which was seriously one of the sweetest surprises ever. Angel, my maid of honor is the best. That day I hung out with one of my good friends, Jenna and we had some delicious breakfast in Petaluma. She also did a great job at keeping me surprised as I had no idea she knew too! I seriously have the best people in my life.
4. I had a ton of fun spending my Bachelorette party with some of my closest gal pals and family members in Napa. We went in June and it was relaxing getting massages (it was my first time ever!), having some wine, playing silly games, and eating some Italian food. Mm, I wouldn't have it any other way. So grateful for my best friends and all that they have done for me over the years.
5. This was also the year I would be getting married to the love of my life, Adam. All the planning was driving me insane, especially the last two months leading up to our August wedding. I just want to put it out there that I totally recommend a wedding planner. Oh my goodness, please get yourself a planner. Life would be so much easier, I promise. Other than that, the day was incredible, crazy, stressful, lovely, and pretty much all of the emotions in the world you could think of. Yep, I'm glad I am married now and that's that.
6. It was also the year of loss. Putting down Adam's mom's beautiful cat, Allie and the sudden passing of my lovebird, Zaro. His death could have been avoided too so it's sad thinking about it. All I can say is their time on earth was wonderful. How lucky I was to have been loved by them. Right now, I acquired my uncle's African Grey, Asa. She's a crazy one but I love the relationship I have been able to build with her over the years. She now sits on my shoulder and I won't lie, I want to pee my pants sometimes because she can totally puncture a hole in my face if she wanted to. Let's hope not. I just want to be a good mama bird to her.
7. I had the opportunity to have my photography work published on two book covers and be a part of The Faerie Handbook. This was a huge accomplishment as I love anything to do with books and reading. To be able to be a part of some awesome literature was a dream come true. In 2018, I want to focus even more on creating content that speaks and inspires my soul. For this, I shall make a list of all the concepts I want to shoot. Yep, there goes my list again. I didn't feel like I created as much as I wanted to on a personal level in 2017 and that needs to change.
8. Some other favorite memories was going to Japantown in San Francisco and exploring around with Adam. I need to venture out of only eating ramen and eat some more soba. That will be next on my to do in general, to try new dishes and also to cook/bake more.
9. I met some really awesome people who I now call my friends. I've been on plenty of adventures but I want to go on many more. I guess you can say this year is the year for "more" in what makes my soul happy.
10. Also, I don't know if you have this problem but I need to drink much more water every day. Who's with me? I should also eat way less sweets because for some reason, this year was the year of milk tea, donuts, and dark chocolate. I need to lay off on that a bit. I believe in moderation but I had a little too much.
11. I know a lot of you knew about the October fires that happened and how frightening it was. It was around 12:00 -1:00AM when Adam came out of the bathroom and told me he smelled a lot of smoke. I thought that was odd so I looked online to see if there was any news as to why. I read about how there was a report of a fire behind AutoZone, which immediately had me freaked me out because we lived not too far away. As I read some more, there were reports of several areas that were being evacuated and one was Adam's mom's home. I told him we should check in on her to make sure she knew and that she was okay. He didn't think it was that serious until he started to do his own research. He then went outside and said out loud "Oh my god, there's ash everywhere" and quickly grabbed his coat and said he was going to go drive to his mom's. At this point, I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep and I didn't want to be left at home alone so I said I would go with him. I started texting all my family members about the fires and to start packing. This felt serious. My heart was pounding so hard and I could feel my anxiety increase. I went outside to check out the ash and noticed the sky was filled with smoke and the sky was on fire. I could see in the near distance how red and orange it was and could hear transformers exploding. It felt like I was in Mordor and surreal. Luckily all my family home's were okay but so many of my friend's homes perished and it still breaks my heart. Anyways, I could go on and on but I didn't want this to take over the post. This catastrophic event taught me that I wasn't prepared for a fire of this magnitude but I'm sure many of us weren't ready.
12. Anyways, to end this I want to be more active with my blog and transparent about what's going on in my life. At least as much as I feel comfortable with sharing. I feel like some things are meant to be private but I don't think too many people actually read my blog so I feel more at ease typing away my thoughts. I'm hoping this year comes with less stress, more happiness, success, more creative work, traveling, and trying new things. I hope it's a wonderful year for you guys as well. You deserve it! Welcome 2018!
XOXO,
Anny
6. It was also the year of loss. Putting down Adam's mom's beautiful cat, Allie and the sudden passing of my lovebird, Zaro. His death could have been avoided too so it's sad thinking about it. All I can say is their time on earth was wonderful. How lucky I was to have been loved by them. Right now, I acquired my uncle's African Grey, Asa. She's a crazy one but I love the relationship I have been able to build with her over the years. She now sits on my shoulder and I won't lie, I want to pee my pants sometimes because she can totally puncture a hole in my face if she wanted to. Let's hope not. I just want to be a good mama bird to her.
7. I had the opportunity to have my photography work published on two book covers and be a part of The Faerie Handbook. This was a huge accomplishment as I love anything to do with books and reading. To be able to be a part of some awesome literature was a dream come true. In 2018, I want to focus even more on creating content that speaks and inspires my soul. For this, I shall make a list of all the concepts I want to shoot. Yep, there goes my list again. I didn't feel like I created as much as I wanted to on a personal level in 2017 and that needs to change.
8. Some other favorite memories was going to Japantown in San Francisco and exploring around with Adam. I need to venture out of only eating ramen and eat some more soba. That will be next on my to do in general, to try new dishes and also to cook/bake more.
9. I met some really awesome people who I now call my friends. I've been on plenty of adventures but I want to go on many more. I guess you can say this year is the year for "more" in what makes my soul happy.
10. Also, I don't know if you have this problem but I need to drink much more water every day. Who's with me? I should also eat way less sweets because for some reason, this year was the year of milk tea, donuts, and dark chocolate. I need to lay off on that a bit. I believe in moderation but I had a little too much.
11. I know a lot of you knew about the October fires that happened and how frightening it was. It was around 12:00 -1:00AM when Adam came out of the bathroom and told me he smelled a lot of smoke. I thought that was odd so I looked online to see if there was any news as to why. I read about how there was a report of a fire behind AutoZone, which immediately had me freaked me out because we lived not too far away. As I read some more, there were reports of several areas that were being evacuated and one was Adam's mom's home. I told him we should check in on her to make sure she knew and that she was okay. He didn't think it was that serious until he started to do his own research. He then went outside and said out loud "Oh my god, there's ash everywhere" and quickly grabbed his coat and said he was going to go drive to his mom's. At this point, I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep and I didn't want to be left at home alone so I said I would go with him. I started texting all my family members about the fires and to start packing. This felt serious. My heart was pounding so hard and I could feel my anxiety increase. I went outside to check out the ash and noticed the sky was filled with smoke and the sky was on fire. I could see in the near distance how red and orange it was and could hear transformers exploding. It felt like I was in Mordor and surreal. Luckily all my family home's were okay but so many of my friend's homes perished and it still breaks my heart. Anyways, I could go on and on but I didn't want this to take over the post. This catastrophic event taught me that I wasn't prepared for a fire of this magnitude but I'm sure many of us weren't ready.
12. Anyways, to end this I want to be more active with my blog and transparent about what's going on in my life. At least as much as I feel comfortable with sharing. I feel like some things are meant to be private but I don't think too many people actually read my blog so I feel more at ease typing away my thoughts. I'm hoping this year comes with less stress, more happiness, success, more creative work, traveling, and trying new things. I hope it's a wonderful year for you guys as well. You deserve it! Welcome 2018!
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| Sweater & Beanie - Culk / Boots & Jeans - Ross / Boba - Bambu in Oakland |
XOXO,
Anny
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