Wendyness.com :: Journal

Leaving an impression

// August 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos

The new pink wall in my office

Two weeks ago, I went to see Birth of Impressionism exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Seeing Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus in nearly life-sized proportions was a sight to behold.

My beloved little red car got totaled by a careless driver shortly after leaving the museum; my head was concussed. All it took was a jolt and a bump to make the past two weeks of my life seem like an impressionist blur in my memory. I’m having a trouble with “typical” after effects of a concussion and it’s very frustrating whenever these symptoms pop up. My doctor says these are “normal” symptoms and may last up to a few months. Every time they occur, they slam into my head and it feels like all my thought and logic has gone out the window.

On the bright side, I have an excellent insurance policy and company that has taken care of the car details. I have a new little red car that I’m driving around carefully and cautiously. My family is concerned and has come to visit me and take care of me, which was great. I’m learning to take things slow, which after 26 years, is an achievement for me.

I’ve also felt like a changed person since my return from London and Paris, which is part of the reason I haven’t posted in 2 whole months. I just purged my public posts of almost all my old entries, so let’s start from here. Each post from now on will have a photo I took as a theme to bring it all together. And I’ll try to post once a week about something of value to me. I suspect that I’ll be posting stories of my memories as I have a slight fear of forgetting them.

On the streets where you live

// May 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos

No video today because I did nothing interesting (read: I was busy shopping Oxford Circus), but here are some photos!

Arsenal stadium!

At Beach Blanket Babylon in Nottinghill Gate

One of the necklaces I bought today.

London, day 1

// May 16th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Photos, Video Blogs

Discovered I have an amazing ability to stay up for almost 36 hours with very little sleep. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that I woke up at 6am on Saturday morning and arrived in London on Sunday at 7am, so my head is operating like it’s Saturday and I’m trying hard to stay up until a “normal” bedtime so I don’t have jetlag. I slept a little during my flight, but that was while Twilight: New Moon was playing. Every time I’d come to again, it’d be DRAMA! Werewolf! Vampire! Expressionless girl! Zzzz.

Had a fantastic and busy first day where I fit in brunch with my gracious co-worker Jill, Tate Modern, walking some bridges and checking out St. Paul’s Cathedral. A few photos I like from today.. And yes, it is that grey and dreary here. Really similar to San Francisco, in my opinion. Not colder.

Some time in the sun

// May 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos, Video Blogs

Back in San Diego for a few days to see my family and celebrate Mother’s Day. It’s nice to be back in sunny, warm weather that isn’t full of lies (yes, Bay Area sun is a lie) ;)

Some ultra-compressed footage from La Jolla Cove today:

I’m enjoying the miniature effect on my new camera!

Seals at La Jolla Cove

Sillyness in the park

I went hiking!

// April 27th, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos

If you know me well, then the following recap of my weekend will make you laugh and wonder if I’ve finally gone crazy: I woke up at 7:30am on Sunday to go on a 2 hour hike in Muir Woods. Hahaha. I’m serious though. It’s a fairly impressive feat to convince me to wake up that early, much less to go hiking, but it was really enjoyable and with very pleasant company. The still silence of nature and the chill of mid-Spring were refreshing. The day was long and we also went through Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Marin Headlands and a beach in Marin Headlands.

Been a little tired and uninspired lately, but my inspiration came back in a spark today and I churned out some UI work pretty quickly. I think I’ve found a muse..

It’s everywhere

// April 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Creations, Everyday, Photos

There have been things making me smile everywhere. Beauty has been everywhere these past few days.

A heart in Union Square, given more texture from the rain

Lucite cube earrings I made today. I loved wearing them!

I was wearing a shirt with a large sequined heart on it and in the afternoon sun, it made everything facing me shimmer :)

Life is art

// March 28th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Everyday, Photos, Relationships, Stuff I Like

Lately I have been very much inspired by Amber Rae. I have been quoting or re-blogging her Tumblr posts almost daily! Today’s post inspired me to not give a damn about who is reading my blog or tweets and just let it go. I honestly haven’t been blogging that much text lately because I don’t want to share how I am feeling with you, my anonymous reader. Mostly because I don’t really know who you are, since my Google Analytics show that I have regular readers, but I only have two regular commenters. I was worried about things like, what if my emotions are boring? What if my thoughts are inane? And I also have a hard time sharing my feelings about other people because I know those feelings are apt to change at any given moment.. I feel like putting them down on the internet will forever etch them into history and possibly haunt me in the future. So I’m going to let go of this fear and blog like no one’s reading. I have this confession I have been holding in the last few days and I want to tell wendyness.com.

I became very emotionally burnt out recently. A combination of high job stress, life stress and relationship stress. I noticed immediately when I started building up walls around myself again and I didn’t like it. I wanted something that felt free again, no matter how ephemeral. Then I found it.

I made a new friend who came with a one week expiration date. I proposed we just live like the world is going to end and it has been fucking fantastic. He is sarcastic, dry, blunt, doesn’t give a shit about most things and secretly nice. In other words, a facet of me. We’ve been having fun. This was exactly what I wanted and could handle. Everything is absolutely peachy.

So why? What? Huh? This is so not like Wendy! Yeah, it’s not. I’m so completely obsessed with the long term details of things that I sometimes forget to enjoy things for the moment. It took my mum telling me to stop worrying about long term everything and enjoy things while they happen to stop worrying myself sick and just enjoy the last two awesome weeks of visiting friends. I think her words were life changing for me. I feel like a good balance of compulsive, indulgent Wendy and responsible, rational Wendy. And I feel alive. I feel interesting. I feel creative. I feel beautiful.

So here’s to you, J. If the last two weeks helped me regain my peace of mind, then the last week with you helped me regain my self – my Wendyness – and you probably won’t ever know. At least I told Amber Rae! :)

“I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.” – (via)

Yatta!

// March 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos

I regained my peace of mind this weekend. Just needed the sun, fresh air, adventures and good friends to help me out.

I don’t often have a lot to say when I am happy, that’s why I haven’t posted a lot lately.. So I hope these my favorite photos from this weekend were enough to express what I can’t put in words :)

Also? I’m getting better at getting over people.

A place where your mind can escape

// March 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos

I know I touched a little bit of my personal life lately, but I’m completely uncomfortable with sharing any more than that. So back to the ambiguous thoughts and awesome photos of things I did over the weekend :)

With sunny weather gracing the Bay Area, I decided to take my two other visiting French friends – Bastien and Victor – to Santa Cruz today. A mind-clearing, scenic drive down Highway 1, strolling along the pier and Boardwalk, then a curvy, zippy drive back up the 17. Today was the day I needed to keep my mind off things.

No words in the vernacular

// March 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Everyday, Photos

I can’t go to bed without posting because I feel bad.

By all accounts, I am having a spectacular weekend – the weekend I needed to have to brush off all the work and stress from recent weekdays. My friend Tim from Paris is visiting, as well as Jen and Nora from San Diego. They’re all staying at my apartment and it’s a full house. We had a great Friday starting off with dinner and cocktails at my favorite restaurant, Absinthe, then turned a local bar into our personal dance party by dominating the jukebox with our favorite music. At one point, we were singing along to Jimmy Eat World’s Work at the top of our lungs :)

Doing the Lady Gaga claw at the bar

Today, we celebrated Jen’s birthday with a wine tasting trip to Sonoma. I thought wine tasting would be fun since Tim’s from Paris and he can compare and contrast Northern California wines with French wines (turns out he doesn’t drink that much wine, so he doesn’t have an opinion!). Since Jen and Nora missed a wine tasting trip with me over Christmas, the Sonoma trip made up for it. The weather was beautiful! About 65*F, sunny with some clouds, not very crowded at the wineries.. I kept myself sober as the designated driver, but still had a lot of fun. On our way back about an hour before sunset, I decided to take everyone on a short detour through the Marin Headlands since it’s my favorite “hidden” spot to show out of town friends. We ended our day with sushi and watching Superbad (I think we might have shocked Tim with this movie). And the weekend is only half over!

At Domaine Carneros winery

So why do I feel bad despite all this? Sometime earlier this week, someone reaffirmed something I have been trying to change. I’m a very easy going person with most situations, but I need to assert myself at some point before I – my morals, my ideals, me – get compromised. I got put in a situation where I could let someone act like a complete dick to me, or I could assert myself and tell that person they’re out of my life. I did the latter in a mild manner and I felt bad about it all day. I wondered if I was too harsh. A little part of me also wondered if I read the situation wrong and maybe the other person wasn’t being a jerk. Sigh. I suppose with more practice, I will get better at this.

My favorite photo from today – looks like a band photo