Twin Towers

I remember the first time I came to New York, in awe of the city and all the crazy experiences she gave me. I remember my final look at the New York City skyline and there they were, the twin towers (World Trade Center Towers) standing prominently there along with the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Ms. Liberty, and so on. That was my final memory of those buildings, but I am glad to have seen them in person.  

Today is the 10 year memorial of the September 11th attacks. Back in 2001, I don't think I ever imagined myself to be living in New York City at this time, attending one of the most prestigious schools in my field. I remember it was around 6am pacific time, my dad called the house frantically telling my mom to turn on the TV to watch the news. There it was... a city that I held dearly and close to my heart in massive chaos after the first tower was hit. I went to school and half of the students in my grade didn't know what was going on because they were on the bus when the news hit, but once 1st period started, everyone knew what was happening.

I remember sitting in my 8th grade history class, taught by Ms. Castro talking about history and how this event will forever change the lives of all Americans. I went home that day, and even though it wasn't recommended, I watched the news all day for hours, even after my mom fell asleep. All I could think was why would someone do that? How is America and NYC going to recover? What happens now? 

Flash forward to today. Yesterday I spent all day close to campus, away from all the busyness of midtown and downtown. I had heard news reports say if something were to happen then public transportation would most likely be a major target. I read reports of all bridges and tunnels being checked  and large amounts of police officers on patrol. I observed there were more police officers in the subway starting from Thursday, possibly even before that, I don't know. I just know that we, as Americans, need to stay strong and remember the 2,977 lives that were lost during this unforgettable day, 10 years ago.

God Bless.
My prayers will always go out to the families that were affected 10 years ago by these attacks. I also am praying that no other city ever has to go through an event like this ever again.

Scary?

I know, I know, it's been 8 months since I've updated this blog. During that time, I have had some positive life changing experiences. I spent a good 3 weeks traveling all over India, experienced one week of an east coast winter, "snowpocalypse", been accepted to my first choice grad school program, and have had plenty of time to reflect and relax.

I saw this picture today and my first initial thought was not how cool these contraptions are, but empty nest syndrome...

My family will now be spread out on both coasts, LA, San Francisco, and now New York. I always wonder what my parents are going to do without us (me and my brother) at home. My mom gave me a hug the other day because I told her that my brother has a little over two weeks left and I have around 3.5 weeks left at home. Time is seriously going to FLY, it's going to be like when you want water to stay in your hands but it inevitably slips out between your fingers with no struggle.

I'm a whole bunch of nerves - excited, nervous, anxious, and scared all at once, but this move will without a doubt be a good change that will significantly impact my future. I'm so that He had this all planned for me and my brother. It maybe a challenge for both my brother and me to be in completely different environments and communities, but I always think stepping out of your comfort zone can only make you stronger. I just hope I don't come back from NY a jaded cold hearted beezy.

Let's do this.
I'm brining it, NY!
Y'all better be ready.

Recap, shall we?

Happy New Year!

I have a good feeling that 2011 is going to be a great year for many people, including myself. I'm excited! Even the first day of 2011 starts of with plenty of (happy) firsts for me:

- Not counting down while making Korean dumplings with my family 

- Went to my first NYE party - hosted by Jo and D.

- Entering the new year not completely in the forgiving mood

I'm not sure about you, but for the past few years I haven't been big on setting new year's resolutions, but I thought I'd give setting resolutions another try.

- Be healthy - reach the goal!
- Be positive - moderating my bluntness and criticisms of myself
- Remember - bullet point your everyday experiences
- Finish - 101 things in 1001 days
- Forward motion - move to NYC
- Responsibilities - get a job/go to grad school
- Have a heart - wish people luck and good fortune

... and most importantly - HAVE FUN! Carpe diem!!!

I'm definitely look forward to the next 364 days.

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I also wanted to take a final moment to recap some of my adventures of 2010. Every time I read other people's lists or their year in pictures, I always think - how do they do that?! But, it's my turn to try, here we go...

January - June 2010
- Continued my senior year at UCI
- Went through semi-nervous/panic modes trying to find a job
   (Turns out that's not what God totally had in store for me)
- Spring Break 10: Wine tasting!
- Received a job and turned down the job
- Threw some fun themed parties - T party/Southern Belles and Gents
- "LA Perfect Date 3" - Angel's Knoll 
- Had a mad 2am "Goodbye" photo shoot at UCI with Jo and Mel
- GRADUATED and received 2 bachelors degrees

 June - September 2010
- Disneyland/World of Color with Ken, Jo, Mel, Alyssa
- Camping and drunken arguments in Sequoia
- 2 weeks in NYC/DC with Mel and Jo
- Road tripping to Norcal, Portland, and Seattle (North West)
- First time at OC Fair
- Turned 22 years old

September - December 2010
- Said "see you later" to a lot of friends as they travel the world 
- Hitched with Jo
- SF Part 2 with Jo, John, Eric, and Andy
- Got convinced to apply to Grad School - Thanks Ash
- LA Artwalk with Avi, Jamie, Paul
- Started del's inspiration
- Chopped off 10+ inches of hair  
- Reunited with some people from vnhs :O
- RA Winter Reunion


Not a bad year at all. Thanks for all the memories 2010. :)

Breaking status quo

Dang! I never realized how many dads (including "celebrity" dads) actually put the baby wearing gear on, it's truly endearing. These pictures just gave them extra brownie points from me. You have to check them out because they're utterly adorable.

I hope everyone is starting off the week strong! I feel as if everyone, at least most people in my life who are still in school are now done, and looking forward to an great holiday season. This year was so different because I wasn't coming back home from a tiring finals week, yet I still didn't finish all my Christmas shopping, I still have a few left. Oh the irony... But, this is totally my style, I am a deadline driven person, meaning I procrastinate but get the job done - adrenaline junkie.

Happy holidays everyone!

Little Bear

I am very proud of my younger brother, and I am so thankful to be his older sister. I'm his biggest supporter, cheering him on to a glorious and most successful future. Get ready world because I know my brother is going to create huge changes. He has all the potential, and it will be 6 months until it's unleashed when he enters college.

God Bless.

Going against the grain

Marvelous and damn right truthful speech by a high school valedictorian on the perils of our current education system.

http://blog.swiftkickonline.com/2010/07/valedictorian-speaks-out-against-schooling-in-graduation-speech.html

A dedication

I wanted to wish one of my girls abroad a very happy happy birthday. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN! 

You're 22, welcome to the club! :) 

<3

 

Sarah P.

Oh Sarah Palin... what on earth are you thinking?!

Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I hope that you are all enjoying some wonderful times with your loved ones, as I feel that Thanksgiving is the kick off to the holiday season. To all my loved ones abroad, I hope you're taking care of yourselves and staying warm! <3

Some things I'm always thankful for... (I sometimes I even take for granted...) 
I am thankful for the family I was born into - they are my rock foundation and that will ALWAYS be the one constant in my life, it was all just meant to be. :) I am thankful for those who I love and surround me with their love, and am happy to hear of their wonderful achievements and good health. These are my top two thanks. I am also thankful that you (yes.. YOU!) have read this blog. haha. Happy turkey day.

So, I know recently Black Friday has really no longer been the "Black Friday" I knew even 5 years ago. Most of the internet articles I read state that all the stores are promoting their online deals the entire week of thanksgiving, and can at times be cheaper than shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. BUT, fear not, I love the tradition of waking up early and trying to snag some deals, so I will be one of the thousands of people in SFV braving the Santa Ana winds standing in line somewhere to get things I want. haha.

Toodle Loo Darlings.

Save the trees!

Do you celebrate the holidays with a real Christmas tree? If so, I think you need to check THIS out.

Future of our Nation

I watched an hour long online town hall meeting about the importance of math and science in our education systems hosted by former Vice President Al Gore. The town hall emphasis tried to further articulate what everyone in educational reform is trying to accomplish, how to change our school systems to have higher graduation rates and keeping students interested and passionate about the topics they are learning in school. I kept thinking how much has changed within students' study habits and teachers' methods of teaching even since the time I was in middle and high school. Technology and social media combined are playing a significant role in shaping our society today, and I could even confidently say that a majority of people are dependent on facebook, twitter, etc. to know what is happening within society. Due to the dependency of these sources, many students have other "bigger concerns" i.e. what's going on in Hollywood.

Americans are competitive and strive to be on top, as we have been doing for the past 100 years or so as the international hegemon. However, we are losing our luster and making other minute topics in life more important. I personally believe that media is at fault with swaying the interest of Americans; within any hourly news, all the stories are dramatic 15 minutes of fame type stories. The stories are usually dedicated to - Did you hear about that big accident? Did you know that the Hollywood "it" couple got a divorce? How many times has Lindsey Lohan gone to rehab?. REALLY?!  During the town hall, people got to see a very short version of John F. Kennedy's going to the moon speech, and I posted a video of clips of his speech at Rice University on del's inspiration. His speech is motivational and full of inspiration, letting Americans know that anything is possible in the future. Americans need to believe in JFK's message of great optimism and hope, and apply it to today's scenarios of overcoming the economic recession, faulty education system, and other debatable issues. We need to know our priorities.

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth." - John F. Kennedy

Inspiration

I just launched Inspiration via tumblr. I've decided to keep two separate blogs, this one dedicated to my personal ramblings and inspiration dedicated to the things that make me happy. Inspiration is my world of happiness, it's seriously a whole lot of happy. haha.
 

Go check it out! Enjoy.

www.delsinspiration.tumblr.com

Frustration towards ignorance

Today, my mom and I went to the to purchase some makeup and nail polish at Macy's. I usually don't need to buy make up too often, but it's always fun seeing what new products are on the market and whatnot. For the most part when I'm shopping, I like to be left alone - if I needed assistance I'll ask. I know that employees are just doing their job, trying to be sincere and maybe get some commission when they do approach customers, and I politely either respond "No, we're just looking around" or proceed to actually ask them a question. When shopping with my mom, there are times when my mom's English gets jumbled, so it's easier for her when I just ask the questions that need to be answered.

As we are shopping and looking around, this one lady consistently approaches us asking if there is anything she can do to help. Every time I respond, "No, we're just looking around". Well it becomes time to ask the questions and start buying the specific products we wanted. We needed two things - a lip stick and nail polish. This lady spends 10 minutes searching for the lip stick and looking like she really didn't know what she was doing, ends up telling us that they ran out of the color we wanted. Fine. I ask her about the nail polish, and finally begins to ring our bill at the cash register. As any other Macy's employee, she asks if we would like to open a Macy's credit card and get whatever percent interest/discount. My mom and I both politely respond, "No, thank you." Of course, this employee asks again, "Are you sure? You can get whatever discount." We both again say no and my mom adds that we are not interested.

THEN, this lady has the audacity to ask, "Does [your mom] not have social security?" WTF. Why are people so ignorant?! Just because a person has an accent and are not interested in your damn credit card definitely does NOT equate to being an illegal immigrant. I'm pretty sure I first gave her the shocked face, then proceeded with a huge stank eye. My mom and I both walked away looking at each other baffled.

Fantasy Land

I'm not sure if you all know, I've been quite obsessed with reading wedding/design/things that just make me happy and inspired type blogs. I'm sure I've mentioned it before numerous times, so y'all are sick of me telling you. haha. Lately, I've been backlogged in trying to keep up with these hundreds of posts. So, I'm sitting here trying to read/skim as many posts as I can about other people's weddings to find more inspirations. (note: I don't look through all these wedding blogs to plan my wedding, but it doesn't hurt to look...)

Anways, to the point... As I read/look at more and more of these posts, I feel as if I'm in a fantasy land of weddings. Obviously there are going to be ideas that I relate to more than others, but I feel like all these wedding really do portray the "perfect" day/couple. To me, a wedding just became THAT much more important. hahah.

VolunteerLA

Just spent the first half of my day painting at Los Angeles Elemetary School, and met some cool volunteers as well, Jenna and Katy. Ended up painting the mural with Jackie Robinson of the LA DODGERSSSS.

YAY! I thought we got a lot done, and the school looked significantly different with the splashes of color from the many murals painted on the bungalows.  After a long successful morning, mama and I decided to head to Burbank. Lo and behold, there was a Krispy Kreme - I haven't had one of their perfectly soft original glazed donuts in years. I actually was super excited when I saw the HOT DONUTS NOW sign. Yum.

Pasedenaaaa..

Been fairly busy this week, compared to others.

Tonight, I got to spend good quality time with one of my pals, Jamie. Finally set up a date, time, and place and decided to meet up for some awesome Greek food at Zankou's Chicken in Old Town. Old Town is always so much fun, and always feels like you're not in LA anymore. It was the first time for both of us to go to Zankou's, and I think we both really enjoyed the food. I'm always happy to be able to catch up with good friends. Thanks for the wonderful hangout/catch up session love! I'm glad we found some good, not overused inspirational quotes! :)

P.S. If you ever want some powerful sleep inducing tea, check out Intellegensia in Old Town. The setting and decor of this cafe was so awesome, it's my type of scene.

I LOVE NY

The last time I was in New York, this past summer with Jo and Mel, while chilling at an Anthropolgie, I read through some of the stories that these actors, artists, and other "famous" people shared about their first experience/adventure in the big apple. Let me tell you, some of these stories were hilarious! Adam Sandberg's story still sticks with me, I literally laughed out loud as other women looked at me strangely and continued to shop around. This book reminds me of my first adventure in NYC, which somehow converted into my love for the city. The rest is history.

The first time I went to New York was when I was about 9 years old, it was the summer before I entered the 4th grade. My aunt, me, and my two cousins went on an east coast road trip from NY to DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Canada, and back to NY. Our trip was great, and like any other vacation it would have been memorable no matter what. The icing on top for this entire trip was when we "lost" our rental car, which had our passports and all our luggage the day before our flight back to LA.

It all went something like this...

We were watching Les Miserables on Broadway, so we parked our car in some sketchy alley looking street, Park Place. My aunt got Park Place and Park Ave. mixed up, so after the show all four of us spent 9 hours walking around NYC, sightseeing/shopping/looking for our car. We eventually got so desperate that we sought the help of New York's finest, NYPD. No luck there. We took one last attempt to try to find the car while in a taxi, and voila FOUND IT! Since it was too late to check into a hotel and our flight was in a the next 8 hours or so, we ended up sleeping in the car. hahah. As the youngest of our group I naturally was the whiniest and crankiest person by the end of the night. 9 hours walking around NYC + summer humidity + no bed = whiny and cranky 9 year old Delia.

After all that, NY has become one of my favorite cities in the world (even if I haven't been to every city in the world). I hope I get to live there sometime, even for a little bit during my life time. I'm trying to even half jokingly/seriously convince my parents that we should relocate our family to the east coast once my brother is done with college and my parents start thinking about retiring. My parents are old school, and my dad always jokes that he and my mom are going to my a super sporty 2 seat convertible and live in the countryside. I think this cabin on the rooftop in NYC will do.

via cabbage rose

Getting there...

I used to love Halloween because it of course meant candy, carnivals, and trick or treating! As I grew older, I fell out of the whole hulubaloo spirit of Halloween; I didn't go trick or treating, and our house finally stopped handing out treats sometime in the middle of when I was in high school. I read of a lot of decor, wedding, and baking blogs, all of which have definitely started posting their Halloween decorating ideas (minus the wedding blogs), but I was definitely stunned by this picture... Kudos to this lady! Happy almost Halloween y'all!

Via Bakerella

Hello hello

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Fall has finally (really) arrived in Southern California! YAYAYAY!!! No more random hot weather, spontaneous rainy days ... no moreeeeeee! It's filled instead with gloom/fog and the Santa Ana winds!

<3

I was wearing my "vintage" UC Irvine sweater while donating clothes to the Salvation Army, I ended up having a small chat with the guy taking my stuff...

Guy: I don't want it.
Me: What? I'm doing this out the kindness of my heart (I know... cheesy! But that was the first thing that came to my head haha -_-)
Guy: You go to UC Irvine?
Me: I went there
Guy: What did you study?
Me: International Studies and Political Science
Guy: Cool. I got my PhD.
Me: Oh really... where?
Guy: Pretty Heavy Drinking hahah....

-___-!

I hadn't heard that one before.

Selfish?

We all have read those amazing 'self-less acts of kindness' stories that creates a dramatic change and gives a fresh breath to society...do you know what I'm talking about? You know, the stories that are written about what one person is doing whether it be raising a ton of money to support a cause, experiencing a totally different lifestyle to help support someone/something, etc. You have to know what I'm talking about now right?

I've read so many of those stories about how this one person can make such a powerful impact to those around them, and at the end of reading these articles I always think "Wow... what can I do to create that impact? How can change start with me?" I also think, "Am I being selfish right now, in order to achieve a 'successful' life?" because I'm not necessarily doing the great things that other people are doing...? I don't know. I definitely know there are times when I take a lot of things I have in my life for granted; I sometimes forget how thankful I should be to be born into my family and to have the support of my parents and aunt for this wonderful life.  I recently read a story about a guy, Ron Zaleski who walks around barefoot and helps veterans from committing suicide. He has an interesting story, it's definitely unique. I'm  not sure if I would use his method to support our veterans, but this is his way of creating change.

I want to be able to inspire others. Some people would say being a teacher would be good because I do want to work with students and allow them to see the potential in themselves, but I don't want to become a teacher. I really want to get to the source of the problem with our education system, how can I help change the policy, the core of our country's education system? I'm not interested in becoming a bureaucrat who pushes papers and just hands out orders left and right, someone who I would consider is not truly invested in really helping students. What can I do?! Think Delia, think!