XXVII

4 AM on New Year’s Eve. Needless to say, I can’t sleep. It’s been quite a year. I guess we’ll begin with months in a glance: January- celebrated NY with just Hien at the Gaylord, promising myself never to go to a big event like that with just ourselves. Charlottesville winery tour. Dumbass Trump is inaugurated. Chelsea is born. February- Super Bowl party at the Reeds. Planning for LA. Lulu moved. Beyoncé announces pregnancy.Valentine’s Day Dinner at Mosaic. Charlotte, NC March- LA girls trip with Katrina, Jerry, Sharmaine, and Denise. Ran into people from Are You The One at the airport. Planning Hien’s birthday. Trump continues pushing travel ban. April- Hien’s Birthday in RVA- The Veil, dinner, and going out. Him pissed hungover the next day. Wine expo. Yayoi Kusama at the Hirschorn. Jesse’s Dad. Me moving to LP2. Alden and Stephanie’s new apartment. Working Out with M.a. and weekly body progress pics. May- closed 10 loans. Mom’s knee surgery. Mom acting insufferable and a bitter old woman. Alden’s Accident. June- Alden wakes up. Alden’s surgery. Recovery. Discharged from rehab and hospital. Alden’s birthday. July- Alyssa’s Birthday. Girls staycation with Maria, CJ, and Ma. Myrtle Beach. Got my Loan Officer License. August- Nanay & Tatay’s 60th Anniversary. Getting wasted with cousins for the first time at Morgan’s Pier, Hien meeting them. Hurricane Harvey. Solar Eclipse. September- Made in America with Ashley and Morgan. Maria’s birthday trip in New York. Hurricane Irma. October- Toronto. Vegas shooting. The beginning of an “impatient, bitter, unengaged girlfriend of 5 years” eruption... the beginning of Hollywood sex scandals. November- continuation of the eruption. Chicago for my birthday. Kehlani. The Weeknd. First time making a decent video. Thanksgiving in DC. Ghost December- FACT people reunion-ish. Christmas at mom’s=boring. Side Street Cantina. Chloe’s Birthday 5 habits I’m keeping in 2017 1. Listening to podcasts. To better myself, specifically podcast about business and marketing 2. Limiting my carb intake, especially rice. 3. Taking pictures of each meal so I can take into account everything that I’m putting in my body. Sending these pictures to a friend willing to keep me accountable and returning the favor 4. Not drinking as much 5. $aving Goals/Resolutions 1. Stop being negative 2. Continue to save $1k a month 3. Continue eating veggies for every meal, taking a pic of your meal, and logging it on myfitnesspal 4. Read one book a month 5. Don’t get pregnant 6. Implement LO marketing 7. Join a networking group 8. Visit Joshua Tree 9. Plan a birthday trip with Maria and M.a. in October 10. Say yes to more things 11. Contact people more often 12. Do abs more often 13. Plan Hien’s birthday early 14. Go to Art Basel 15. Plan March trip?

4 AM on New Year’s Eve. Needless to say, I can’t sleep. It’s been quite a year. I guess we’ll begin with months in a glance: January- celebrated NY with just Hien at the Gaylord, promising myself never to go to a big event like that with just ourselves. Charlottesville winery tour. Dumbass Trump is inaugurated. Chelsea is born. February- Super Bowl party at the Reeds. Planning for LA. Lulu moved. Beyoncé announces pregnancy.Valentine’s Day Dinner at Mosaic. Charlotte, NC March- LA girls trip with Katrina, Jerry, Sharmaine, and Denise. Ran into people from Are You The One at the airport. Planning Hien’s birthday. Trump continues pushing travel ban. April- Hien’s Birthday in RVA- The Veil, dinner, and going out. Him pissed hungover the next day. Wine expo. Yayoi Kusama at the Hirschorn. Jesse’s Dad <\3. Me moving to LP2. Alden and Stephanie’s new apartment. Working Out with M.a. and weekly body progress pics. May- closed 10 loans. Mom’s knee surgery. Mom acting insufferable and a bitter old woman. Alden’s Accident. June- Alden wakes up. Alden’s surgery. Recovery. Discharged from rehab and hospital. Alden’s birthday. July- Alyssa’s Birthday. Girls staycation with Maria, CJ, and Ma. Myrtle Beach. Got my Loan Officer License. August- Nanay & Tatay’s 60th Anniversary. Getting wasted with cousins for the first time at Morgan’s Pier, Hien meeting them. Hurricane Harvey. Solar Eclipse. September- Made in America with Ashley and Morgan. Maria’s birthday trip in New York. Hurricane Irma. October- Toronto. Vegas shooting 3. The beginning of an “impatient, bitter, unengaged girlfriend of 5 years” eruption... the beginning of Hollywood sex scandals. November- continuation of the eruption. Chicago for my birthday. Kehlani. The Weeknd. First time making a decent video. Thanksgiving in DC. Ghost <3 December- FACT people reunion-ish. Christmas at mom’s=boring. Side Street Cantina. Chloe’s Birthday Q 5 habits I’m keeping in 2017 1. Listening to podcasts. To better myself, specifically podcast about business and marketing 2. Limiting my carb intake, especially rice. 3. Taking pictures of each meal so I can take into account everything that I’m putting in my body. Sending these pictures to a friend willing to keep me accountable and returning the favor 4. Not drinking as much 5. $aving Goals/Resolutions 1. Stop being negative 2. Continue to save $1k a month 3. Continue eating veggies for every meal, taking a pic of your meal, and logging it on myfitnesspal 4. Read one book a month 5. Don’t get pregnant 6. Implement LO marketing 7. Join a networking group 8. Visit Joshua Tree 9. Plan a birthday trip with Maria and M.a. in October 10. Say yes more often 11. Contact people more often 12. Do abs more often 13. Visit my parents and brother more often

I am thankful for life. I am thankful for my mom and dad bringing Alden to the world. I am thankful for the power of healing, medicine, miracles, and prayer. 

I am not ok. I need help. I need my brother. 

January- still in Maryland, hating life. Trip to New York and stayed at Ace Hotel. Went for my cousin’s son’s baptism and found out how crappy family can be sometimes.  February- still going up and down to RVA and MD. Hating life.  March- moved to Tysons Corner. Chauvinistic, cheating husband, arrogant, cocky, boss. Hated my job even more. Met Morgan. Hung out with Nova people.  April- Hien’s birthday in Cancun. Met cool people from Boston. Started interviewing for new jobs. May- Cinco de Mayo. Spontaneous trip to Philly to visit my cousins who think I’m “long lost.” Felt like they think I’m bougie. Kabana opens in Richmond.  June- preparing to get the fuck out of Nordstrom. Got the job in Richmond. Moved back HOME, Richmond. The biggest ‘fuck you’ to my shitty boss at Tysons. My brother turned 21. Cousins visited me in DC and Baltim July- started new job. Off the Hookah closed.  September- Made in America with Morgan.  October- Charlottesville with brother and mom. Halloween as Ursula and Hades November- very low key birthday. Vietnam.  December- low key Christmas. mom started working out again. CJ is pregnant with another girl. Dad’s surprise birthday. CJ is still a cunt. My dad will father a newborn at 50 years old.. that’s nasty.

reach 200 yelp reviews

Slight preview to hair + Quirk Hotel (at Quirk Hotel)

smile more

Soooo this year I am going to: - move to another city (CHECK. need to move to another one in 2016) - get another promotion or a new job in a field I love (CHECK. Still in search of marketing agency. HELP! In the meantime, being a manager at Nordstrom will do.) - either grow out of this “bitch face” OR stop giving a shit about whenever people comment about it (CHECK to the latter. The bitch face IS my face. Yeah, bosses have told me I need to be more approachable if I want to be a manager. But...I look 12. How can you get shit done if people don’t take you seriously? The bitch face is here to stay.) - graduate with at least Cum Laude (CHECK. I HAVE A MASTER’S DEGREE Y’ALL. AND I WENT TO GRAD SCHOOL FOR FREE. SOMEONE HIRE ME NOW.) - surround myself with more successful people (...working on that. Got rid of the “weights” though.) - get rid of the rest of my debt (CHECK. I got rid of $12,000 in less that one year, the reason why I haven’t bought shit for myself LOL.  I don’t buy clothes anymore, and I work as a Shoe Manager in a luxe retail giant, which is weird. But I’d rather spend on experiences. Learning how to invest in 2016.) - complete a 28 day challenge (!!!!!!! needs to be done) - go to the West Coast more often (San Fran trip in 2016? Seattle?) - be nicer to my loved ones (I don’t see them anymore :( ) - be more active with my eBay business. 200 stars this year? (40. LOL.) - maybe start vlogging. May require learning how to video edit (!!!!) - not get pregnant HA (CHECK) - do something with my hair and learn more about make-up (kinda?) - learn more Vietnamese HA (dep wa?!)

Of course, the road was not smooth and I’ve met plenty of assholes along the way, but as long as I kept getting paid and succeeding in life, they never mattered. Thank you for motivating me to be better. I want more. I need more. I deserve more. I will continue to work my hardest to get more.

An awesomely bad picture. (at VIP ROOM)

This was a post I wrote in my private blog back in the beginning of 2014, reevaluating 2013. I can't say I had a Jordan year in 2013, but 24 (who's number is that?) was on an upward trend. Overall I am happier than I was a year ago. I can only hope it gets better from here. Here is that year old post: A tweet that's too heavy & too long for Twitter In 2013 I temporarily lost a friend, I worked too much, I played less, I became comfortable and complacent in my relationship, I reevaluated my relationship with alcohol, I slowly managed my debt, I applied to positions and never followed up because I thought I was too good for it, I cried more this year than I ever had…ever, & I struggled with keeping in touch. Aubs, this year, smile more, be happy with what and who you have in your life, explore new music, travel, live frugally, get promoted, stop participating in self-loathing, and if this relationship is not working out, move out and become the one to make yourself happy. ... Since that post I am happy to say I have: -smiled more -traveled more, around the middle of the year mostly - gained a healthy relationship with my finances. It's always a learning process with budgeting and fighting off impulse purchases. It's such a huge relief to finally just be stable and not living that broke college student, living paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. The greatest thing to have come out of this was my mini eBay business. Out with the old, in with the new. With new, mostly just new money. Otherwise, spending it on more crap I don't need defeats the purpose! -GET PROMOTED! In a time I was a full time student and full time working, I'm so happy people saw potential in me and my motivation to grow. Everyday at work is a learning experience. I'm safe to say that, for now, I like what I do. - learned to stop trying to be a size 0. It helps a lot that I have someone that loves me for who and what I am, which is chubby. HAHAHA. Soooo this year I am going to: - move to another city - get another promotion or a new job in a field I love - either grow out of this "bitch face" OR stop giving a shit about whenever people comment about it - graduate with at least Cum Laude - surroundmyself with more successful people - get rid of the rest of my debt - complete a 28 day challenge - go to the West Coast more often - be nicer to my loved ones - be more active with my eBay business. 200 stars this year? - maybe start vlogging. May require learning how to video edit - not get pregnant HA - do something with my hair and learn more about make-up - learn more Vietnamese HA

Yesterday, my grandparents celebrated their 67th year anniversary. Love knows no boundaries.

Girls love sweets | Kitchen Sink Pie + Fruit Cake (at Shyndigz)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @eugenieinabotto. Boomerang Gang. Do you wanna build a snowman? #boomerang #laddernotincluded #paul (at Sunshine Court)