305/365
11012014
Claimed Bryan's room for the night. Woke up and bummed in bed until bottomless brunch at LES! Weather was gross and rainy and cold and I was definitely not dressed for this weather. But brunch at Tre was good, mimosas was delicious. Then watched TV at Mui's, but I just napped haha. The dog napped next to me and it was so nice and warm! We got Pho for dinner and split up for a bit since we had an hour before pregaming. I met up with Alice and Vincent it was so nice seeing them! Great to see people after so long and it's like nothing's changed. Caught up real quick before heading to Steve's. Had Jagerbombs before venturing to the west side to Bryan's apartment. The party wasn't as crowded as I expected, but it's fine since the apartment is small. Played a few rounds of pong, and flip cup with Red Label omg... Then a bunch of random stuff. Then all the 305 Eddy people left and I stayed since I'm staying there, and we played King's and drank soo much from King's. Chris ended up making pasta for everyone and it was delicious, probably because it was late and we were drunk. At like 2am we decided to go to Ktown for food.... I just wanted to sleep D: Don't even remember where we went but the food was delicious.
306/365
11022014
Woke up at like 8 and couldn't fall back asleep because the futon wasn't comfortable.. So rolled around in bed still so tired, before finally getting up at like 10:30. Met up with Alice to get Ippudo Westside, but the wait was an hour and half! We were starving so went to a nearby ramen place, Nipoori? It was just okay. But lots of catching up and updating each other on our lives. Then walked around the city and wandered to the finish line of the NYC marathon! So many people cheering on the runners and saw this lady with the sign. It was freeezing, so we took shelter at the Apple Store and the FAO toy store. We go there every time haha, and this time took a picture with the two guards in the front. Made our way to Rockefeller and then down to Soho. We were going to find Central Perks, but apparently closed down, so found another random cafe to stay warm. So many cafes in Soho area. And that's when I realized I bought the wrong bus ticket... Had to scramble to see if I could reschedule it and then went to Chinatown to ask in person, but nope, so ended up getting another ticket :/ Womp. But super nice weekend spent in NYC. :)
307/365
11032014
New apartment! Moved almost everything into the new apartment in the sunroom. It's actually really cool, but kinda chilly. Right now only have a futon because the bed was too big to bring over. But it's a different atmosphere with just a futon haha. Work was meh. Haven't been in the mood to work lately and just do a bunch of random stuff in the office. Played with those pressurized air duster thing at work for like half an hour today... Made frost, froze a puddle of water, and just a bunch of experimental stuff. Highlight of my day. Left work super early to come home to pack and clean, and then Katy came to help me move everything. Such a struggle but we did it! Then got dinner at this self-serve Viet place and caught up. Spent the rest of the night unpacking and settling in.
308/365
11042014
Woke up at 6:30 freeeeezing because the sunroom has no heat. Didn't think it would get this cold, but gonna take out my space heater from now on. The view was so nice though. Woke up to a pinkish sky from the 20th floor. Drove down to Richmond in the morning and the morning drive was pretty refreshing actually. Today was essentially only a half day because we had a team celebration from 3-6 at this restaurant by the river in downtown. Met a bunch of people from other teams that I've talked to via email but never met. Good to match a face to the name. It was just snacks there, no fancy meal, but drank a few beers and hung out with people. By the time I left I wasn't even hungry, so decided to skip out on dinner. But then got so bored at the hotel so went to Whole Foods to walk around and get some drinks. Got this Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir excited to try tomorrow! Then had a major dilemma where I was hungry but didn't want to go downstairs to the bar to get food.... solved it by ordering room service...
309/365
11052014
My routine pit stop at Panera to get dinner coming up from Richmond. Busy day today at work today I got so dizzy from looking at like 100+ graphs. Things started to look all the same.. The day went by pretttty slowly and the drive back was so dark. Didn't leave till like 5 and by that time the sun was already down. This is how it's gonna be for the entire winter :( Had to find street parking today near the new apartment and I realized how bad I am at parallel parking now.I shall brush up my skills since I'll be doing lots of street parking now. After the gym, I took a stroll around the apartment just to get some fresh air and it's still not that cold to be walking outside.
310/365
11062014
Such a struggle to wake up in the morning when it's so cold out and so comfortable under the covers. But the futon is not comfortable... Got out of the apartment before 8 because street parking starts at 8, so had to leave by then. Work was the usual. Made lots of progress and surprised my manager with the amount of data I put together haha. All the tedious work paid off! Just found out John's rotating off the team in the next month or two, which means I need to be even better at what I'm doing! Since the team will be smaller and I'll be taking on more projects :O. It was so dark when I left at 5 today, I hate this. It's so sad to leave the building when it's already black outside. But anyway, I went to the old apartment to pack a few more stuff and disassemble my bed. Can't wait to sleep on an actual mattress. Then the rest of the night just bummed in the sunroom. I like to take nightly strolls around the block after the gym. Shall make this a habit.
311/365
11072014
Work was the usual, pretty quiet Friday at the office. I left early to go to an event with candidates who've got offers and we're trying to get them to accept. Met at the Ritz Carlton and right when I walked in the receptionist offered me champagne... First time being offered champagne in a hotel haha, but why not? Then went to the International Spy Museum in D.C. and learned that statistically we're within 200 ft of a spy anywhere in D.C. Pretty crazy. Dinner was at this super fancy Wolfgang Puck restaurant called The Source. It was deeelicious. I got the salmon and it was so good. After dinner, the head recruiters left and had us take the candidates out for drinks. So the entire group bar hopped around Chinatown area and everything was on Capital One's tab haha. Had a good time, but maybe had a few too many drinks.. Ended up getting home at like 4, did some pretty stupid stuff so never again!
312/365
11082014
Recovery day! Except had to wake up at like 9am when Sang came over to help me move my bed. Now my room actually looks like a room and I'm no longer sleeping on a futon! Spent a portion of my afternoon unpacking and reorganizing, and then went out for a stroll! I drove to Barnes & Noble by Seven Corners and sat there on my laptop just doing random things. Good to be out of the apartment, change of scenery. Then went grocery shopping since I won't be going to Richmond this week I can actually groceries. Rest of the night was just a bum night..
313/365
11092014
Slept in today felt sooo good. At like 11ish drove to American University to throw a football around with Alice and two of her friends. Haven't played in so long it was fun throwing it around. Morning exercise! Then we came back to Ballston to get Chick fil-A and Chiptole, but Chick Fil-A is closed on Sundays! Bummers, no waffles fries. Alice trying to play with my camera on the drive back. After Chiptole, my apartment was right across the street so we played pool for a bit before they left to go back to D.C. I went on this longg jog that went through the woods, and then ended up right next to the highway... I was trying to explore but got kinda lost haha. And the park I went to wasn't even that great, thought I'd get a nice view of Georgetown but nope. So struggled to jog back because I jogged like 3 miles out. But anyway, went to the library to get a few books and actually reading them!
314/365
11102014
Mondays... At least I get tomorrow off so the week is slightly shorter. The usual at work, making progress with my projects. The highlight of my day was when my manager told me I'm getting a pay bump at the end of the year! Capital One is bumping my year's salary up to matching the incoming class. It's more than a 10% increase and is essentially like getting promoted and paying more, but without the promotion. So pretty excited about that! Stayed till past 5 in the office doing some work and it sucks how it gets so dark now. Not a good feeling driving home in the dark :/ Spent the night reading Mitch Albom's The Time Keeper it's so good, and watched a bit of TV.
"Sometimes, when you are not getting the love you want, giving makes you think you will." - Mitch Albom
315/365
11112014
Veteran's Day off today! So went to Baltimore for a day trip to explore the city. It was kind of a let down since there wasn't a whole lot to do there besides eating, but the food was good. Got there right around lunch and got Crabcake Benedict at Miss Shirley's Cafe it was yummy. Spent a few hours walking around Inner Harbor - saw all the historic ships and went to Federal Hills park where we got a good view of the harbor. Then... that's about all there is to do. The museum's seem alright and we didn't have enough time for the National Aquarium, so went to Barnes & Noble for an hour or so and I finished reading the book I've been reading - The Time Keeper. Really good ending, so relatable. Spent another hour or so wandering around the harbor before getting dinner at Thames Street Oyster House! Got the lobster mac & cheese and grapefruit crush as Sally suggested and they were delicious. Major food coma afterwards and the drive back was such a struggle. Pretty productive day of exploring and full of eating!
316/365
11122014
Came home to this view. Pretttty niiiice. Today was a super slow day at work. Not many people came in and I wasn't super busy, so spent a good portion of the day reading different things online and just killing time. But better than working from home at least I had some human interaction. After work, officially turned in my keys for my old apartment! Don't have to worry about that anymore now wooh. And since I'm going to NYC tomorrow and I have so much food in the fridge, I cooked food to bring as lunch tomorrow. It's nice to have so much time to cook food and not having to rush it. But while eating dinner, I watched Transformers Age of Extinction. I feel like all Transformer movies are just very action-y and cool, and this one was no different. The movie was so long though, so that took up most of my night. Then started reading No Easy Day, shall continue it on the bus ride to NYC tomorrow!
317/365
11132014
Work today was full of meetings and finishing up my projects. Not a whole lot going on and I left around 4:30 to catch the Megabus to NY at 6. D.C. Metro from McLean to Union Station was so expensive! Almost $5 wth. On the Megabus I passed out within like 5 minutes so tired for some reason. Then after our stop in Baltimore I was so awake and the rest of the ride seemed like fooorever. Along the way it rained/snowed the whole time too. Kinda miss the snow actually, so kinda excited for winter to come. Got to NYC and got halal food before coming over to Bryan's. Getting ready for a fun-filled weekend in the city!
318/365
11142014
Woke up at like 7 because all of Bryan's roommate get up so early. So went to Union Square Starbucks by 8 and started working then. So much work to do this morning and was on the phone with people all morning. Migrated over to Barnes & Noble because was getting tired of Starbucks and had a pretty nice view of Union Square from Barnes & Noble. Then around 1, got a sandwich and met up with Carmen! Haven't hung out in so long it was good catching up. We went to the Lego Store by 23rd St and ended up at Union Square again. Wandered around the streets of Soho for a bit just to get some fresh air, but it was so cold today! Eventually met up with Mui to drop my stuff off at his place before heading to Hot Pot with everyone! So much beef haha. We ordered at least 10 plates of beef and were all so full by the end of dinner. Before coming back, we met up with Bryan briefly at a bar/club. Too much like frat houses haha. Didn't stay long and then came back. So ready for bed zzz.
319/365
11152014
Happy birthday Mui! Woke up at like 10 and just rolled around on the air mattress till 11ish to get out of bed. No idea what I did till like 2pm, but Mui and I got dumplings then and then met up with Sally and Steve later to get more food. I just got hot and sour soup to satisfying my cravings it was so delicious. After lunch, or whatever meal it was, it was 5pm haha, so we chilled at Mui's for a bit before heading back up to Steve's to hang out before going out. Played pong there for a bit and Tekken, lol we all button mashed and it involved no skills at all. We went to Local 138 bar for a tiny booth, and not as many people showed up as we expected. So right before happy hour ended, we ordered a bunch of drinks. Like 30 drinks for 7 people and it was waaaaay too much. Ended up playing roulette to finish the drinks until Mui came to help out. LOL got kicked out because we were lighting the menu's on fire from the candle, but it wasn't even our fault! Whatever, ended up bar hopping around LES and bumped into Wes at one point. Then started drinking much more haha. Then Mui and I decided to go back, but went the wrong way and ended up at Soho area.... Had a nice conversation about everything and bumped into Wes on the way back, and got dragged out again to have a few drinks. All we wanted to do was get water and sleep! But anyway, finally left the bar and so ready to pass out. Cheated a little since I didn't have my camera all day, but that's only a tiny portion of the amount we drank that night...
320/365
11162014
Ugh. Woke up super thirsty and not well-rested at all. Mui and I talked for like an hour about... life and people and everything. It was a really nice conversation and literally just said everything on my mind. After talking with him about what's going on between everyone, it made me realize people do/think about a lot of things that you may not think they do/think about. Kinda like a warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing that. But anyway, slept past 5, and the entire morning I was in and out of sleep because I was so thirsty. Finally got up and ended up passing out on the chair again haha. We finally got up and got lunch at like 4pm... Not even lunch anymore, but the pho was soooo good. Cured my headache before going on the bus back to D.C. It was such a nice weekend I'm glad I decided to go back. The bus ride back wasn't as bad since I knocked out most of the ride. Then just kept reading the book I've been reading for the past few days.
321/365
11172014
Mondays. A little over one week of work until I go back home for Thanksgiving! Work was pretty quiet today as we wrote feedback for other people and wrote our self-feedback. Ran some errands after work and then did a bunch of random stuff in the apartment, don't really remember what. But it was nice being back and having some free time. But it also got soo cold at night, and I had to use my space heater to keep warm. Not gonna be a pleasant winter in the sunroom..
322/365
11182014
Decided to wake up early to drive to Richmond to make a meeting in person, so woke up at 6:30 and then sun wasn't even up yet. It was freeeeeezing in the sunroom, my nose and ears were so cold when I woke. Had a really productive day, did analysis and made a few slides too. The second half of the day was so busy with meetings and ended up leaving at 5:45. By then it was pitch black outside already :( And since all the hotels were booked I stayed at the Marriott this time, and it's the same one I stayed at for my interview!! Still like the Hilton better though.. Got dinner at Hondos steakhouse, and the steak wasn't as good as I had hoped. Meh. There's a lounge at the Marriott with free drinks - wine, beer, hard liquor, and snacks too! Got a few glasses of wine as I finished up some work at night.
323/365
11192014
Sooooo freaking cold this morning. 23 degrees, and in Richmond too! Not used to this freezing weather yet. Woke up and got breakfast at the Marriott lounge. Free breakfast means more money to spend on food later on in the day. The day was busy with a bunch of small things popping up here and there. But I was pretty distracted throughout the day with Snapchat. Oh well, I still got my work done. Left work a little early and actually got our before the sun went down! Ran a few errands around Short Pump, it's so convenient because everything's all in the same area haha. And came back to the Hilton. Still much prefer this over other hotels because I know the receptionists. A bunch of us got sushi at Hanami and it satisfied a craving I had since lunch, And the rest of the night I just read and watched TV.
324/365
11202014
Fairly happy day I suppose. Got to work so early, and worked while ate my omelette by the cafeteria. Had several things here and there in the morning, and then met up with my "buddy" from Cornell who's interviewing today! Then later on, Manita and I tagged along the candidate lunches and turned out there were 3 Cornellians interviewing today, so it worked out very well. Hopefully they did well and get offers! After lunch, I left work to go to a Branded Card celebration at a bowling alley. It was so good driving in the mid-afternoon sun. At the event we bowled, played arcade games, ate finger food and just chatted with different people. Pretty relaxing and fun hanging out. I got a caricature drawn of me, and it doesn't quite look like me.. On the drive back I found a Wegman's 30 minutes out from DC! Stopped by for some subs and dinner, and it felt so homey being in Wegman's. Aah missed that place.
325/365
11212014
Fridays... My timer didn't work so my space heater didn't turn on, and I was freezing waking up this morning. Work was pretty slow. We had a larger team lunch meeting and got catering from Chiptole! Best part of the day. I was also put on the spot to talk about my team, which I did not expect at all. The rest of the afternoon I finished up some projects and just chatted in the team room haha. Caught the sunset when I got home cause I left earlier! Had dinner real quick before heading out to DC to someone's birthday at Recessions. It's a karaoke bar and pretty interesting hearing people sing. Got a bit lame so we left and played pong at Jay's place. Need to brush up on those skills. At like midnight we went to get Z Burger and it was pretty delicious given we were buzz and hungry haha. Good to be relatively sober on a Friday night..
326/365
11222014
Literally did nothing all day. Watched 2 movies, a lot Awkward, exercised and went for a jog, and ate. That's my whole day. And finished up the bottle of wine at night.
327/365
11232014
Productive Sunday. Explored D.C. and went to two museums today. I took an Uber into D.C. since I had a free ride and had a pretty nice conversation with the driver. Talked about our Thanksgiving plans and what not, always nice having conversations with complete strangers - there are still friendly people in this world. Started at the Capitol and made my way down to Washington Monument then the White House. Soo much walking, but it was a nice day today. Not too much at the monuments, just taking pictures. Then we went to the Natural History museum and the American History museum. Kinda breezed by both of those, they weren't as big as I thought anyway, and by then I was so exhausted. At night a few of us got hot pot at Mala Tang, very subpar hot pot. Only 3 types of variables and the sauce was funky, wouldn't go back. At night I watched If I Stay and it's such a sad movie. :(
328/365
11242014
There are good days and bad days, and today was one of the latter. Went on a much-needed jog and exhausted myself on the track field. It's becoming my new favorite place. Besides that, took my car to the car wash at Capital one and it was pretttty cool. Can't wait to go home tomorrow ugh.
329/365
11252014
Work was super empty today and I ended up just reading a bunch of articles online because I couldn't do anything since everyone was on vacation. Left around 3 and headed up to NYC. Traffic on the 95 was horrible - traveled 50 miles in 2 hours before it cleared up, but finally made it back home! And played with Chloe for quite a while, she's so fun to play with now and so interactive!
330/365
11262014
Bed at home is so comfortable. Woke up at 9 and worked from my bed for till around noon. Pretty productive morning and spent and hour and half on the phone. Today's weather was so gross - rain/hail/snow. Got lunch with Ranice at Panera and we went to pick up Evelyn from school! She didn't know I was picking her up hehe, so it was a surprise. Then Ranice and I got bubble tea, which was pretty bad today, and met up with Ronnie at his house. Bummed there and just killed time for like another hour before we all headed home. Can't wait till I see everyone tomorrow!
331/365
11272014
Happy Thanksgiving! Woke up nice and early at 8 to run some errands with my brother. We parked the car to buy something, and then when we were leaving the engine wouldn't start.... So had to wait for my sister-in-law to drive the other car to jump start it. We planned on leaving for Long Island at 10, but ended up leaving at like 1... The drive took quite a while because of traffic, rain, and just pit stops here and there. When we were heading back it was already 5 so I just headed to Jeffrey's to meet up with everyone! So nice to see everybody, all the kids and the parents as well. The food was delicious as usual because all the moms are so good at cooking. Just chilled the whole night until we dispersed at like 12:30. I love how everything feels the same within the group no matter how long we haven't seen each other.
332/365
11282014
Today's not actually a holiday, but I signed on to work this morning and no one was on, and I couldn't do any work anyway so I just called it a half day. In the afternoon I played football for a bit at St. John's field. We threw it around and ran around the track field. It was so cold today too, but nice being active since we've been eating so much lately. At night everyone went to Tim's house in Long Island for another get together. Not as exciting today, but we just watched TV and played Wii the whole night. Called it a night at like 11:30 so we didn't stay all that long. Picture is of Chloe eating her cereal breakfast.
333/365
11292014
Such a long day. Woke up early to get a Christmas tree from Home Depot and now the house is festive! Then met up with Ranice and Suzanne to get lunch at House of Small Wonders in Williamsburg. Pretty cool little restaurant I like, and the food was decent too so it was a pretty good lunch. Then we walked around that area and went by the water, it was freeeezing. Ended up at Odd Fellows and I got the caramel/white chocolate/almonds ice cream it was soo good. Kinda disappointed they didn't have Thai Iced Cream but the one I got was pretty good anyway. We drove to Bushwick Collectives to see grafitti art, it was like 5 Pointz in Brooklyn. Since it was so cold we found a cafe and sat there for a while. So many people doing work and reading there it's so nice. Then made our way to LIC Piers and met up with Jeffrey. Didn't stay long cause it was too cold, and we had dinner at my house with the two little minions too. Chatted for quite a bit about a bunch of random stuff before heading to Jonathan's to watch Chopped. Such a long day but t'was a fun day.
334/365
11302014
Lots of driving today... Woke up and played with Evelyn and Chloe one last time before I came back to DC. I drove out to get Pho take out and there was so much traffic. But the pork chops were delicious, and they were also the only thing I ate all day :( Then off I go to DC! I left Queens at 2:30 and got to my apartment at 11 ._. The traffic getting out of NYC was pretty horrible, and then on the 95 it was standstill traffic because of this big truck accident. Literally sat in the car for 2 hours and only traveled like 1 mile. Such a struggle. And by the time I got home it was too late to eat anything, so just skipped dinner oh wells.
