Shanghai, and a few friends.

i'm behind, obviously.

i haven't posted pictures from december or january, or february, and now it's march!

i have to admit, i've been counting down to march.

to june, actually. march is just one step closer.

only 8 more weeks of formal grad school courses.

spring is almost here.

june -- meaning family, freedom, paris... all within reach.

but i don't want to forget about these last few months either.

i've wished for the days to go by faster, but i still want to remember them.

having my college roommates come visit...

it's like i didn't know what i was missing until they came.

it was a vacation with friends who know you.

who you can spend hours drinking with by a fireplace while it snows outside.

who don't mind stopping in a random cafe or having italian food in a chinese city.

and it was strange, too, in a cool way, like parallel universes colliding.

i loved it.

and i'm working to get caught up, i really am.

p.s. that makeshift jewelry tree is made of coral I snagged from the beaches of the Philippines. way cooler than anything I could have bought.

and the painting of Winston? my (dave's) momma painted it from a picture. she's so talented... captured him perfectly. her etsy shop is in the works, but she does custom paintings, so contact me if interested!

Our little Valentine.

I'm a little blue now that my friends have returned home, and I'm no longer on vacation. But I can't help  from smiling when I look at virtual valentine that Dave made for me on his Nexus. 
That face! Those eyes! 
Makes me nostalgic for this little guy's puppy days... and for home. 
Hurry up and get here, June!

Chinese New Year.


Happy Chinese New Year from Shanghai!
My college roommates are visiting, and we celebrated the holiday with fireworks and sparklers. The Chinese here love their fireworks... we've seen (and heard) amazing explosions go off all over the city, including our own neighborhood every night this week. 
Even though we're still in the dead of winter (and it definitely feels that way), I'm excited about the Spring Festival celebrations that have me looking forward to warmer weather.

Have you ever taken pictures with sparklers? We started with this tutorial from Nicole's Classes and played around from there.

the new year.


Twenty-twelve was the year of China, of change, of soaking in the California sun, knowing that we would be leaving it for a while. Twenty-twelve was a trial run for 2013. Many of my goals and intentions took root last year, with January 1 just making it official. As this month rolls on, I'm learning even more about my productivity and how I'm spending my time... like how the key to a productive day for me is starting work at 7:45 a.m., having exactly two cups of coffee,  going from task to task without stopping for anything other than bathroom and lunch/snack breaks and then ending the day with a workout, dinner, a tiny bit more work and then an early bed time. Stopping means letting my body realize how tired it is, so better "breaks" are moving from an intensive task to a chore-checker task like putting away the laundry. And yes, at the end of the day, there's usually a thing or two still left on the to-do list, but I'm ok with that. This year is about enough