[TBT] My Sneakers

This will be the last post from the Monkey Whimsy archives for Throwback Thursday.

It's been wonderful sharing these old posts with you, I hope you've enjoyed them!

The entry below is one of my absolute favorites.

Because it's about my One True Love.

Shoes.

Sneakers, to be precise.

They're my spirit animal.

If sneakers were animals.

Recently, I had to throw out the pair that inspired this post.

That was heartbreaking.

I wore those babies until they were holey on the bottom.

That seems to be a trend with me.

Good thing I still have the opposite pair left.

I hope they last forever and that we live happily ever after.

A girl can dream, right?

Monday, September 16, 2013
My Sneakers

These are my shoes.

I bought two pairs of Adidas last year and switched the right foot.

Or, was it the left foot?

I was hoping to get a purple and yellow combination going but no such luck.

People often stop me and ask if my sneakers came like that or if I made them that way.

Now you know.

I often get stared at on the subway.

I'm never sure if it's my sneakers or something else.

Which is why I always make sure to have a piece of vegetable lodged between my teeth.

Sometimes, I'll match my socks to my sneakers instead of to each other.

Who says you have to wear matching socks?

Or match anything at all?

Shopping vs Exercising. Or, Hate vs Laziness

My natural state of being.

A few weeks ago, I started a new job where I have to wear conservative suits to work every day.

Since I didn't have any, I came up with the brilliant idea of going shopping with my mom.

Because I hate shopping.

My mama hates it, too. On opposite day.

This meant I could be lazy and just stand in the dressing room while my mama handed me things to try.

It was like having my own personal shopping assistant except it was my mom so we're going to call it mother-daughter bonding time.

After trying on a couple of ill-fitting suits, my mom mentions that she has a couple of suits she doesn't wear anymore and that I could have them.

And I said: Why didn't you tell me this sooner?

She then followed it up with: It might be a tad small on you. But, you could just go to the gym some more!

You might have noticed that Asians have no filter when it comes to family.

I pondered that thought for a moment:

Because as you all know:

I can be quite lazy.

But, the choices were:

Continue shopping.

And trying on clothes for who knows how long.

Or, exercising.

It was a hard decision.

My lazy side really wanted to win the internal debate.

And do neither.

But, alas.

Guess which side won?

Exercise did.

Because that's how much I hate shopping.

This might be one of the few times my extreme laziness did not win.

How about you? Which side would've won for you?

[TBT] Trip to Taiwan & Vietnam

I have such nostalgia for Asia right now.

The desire to travel is STRONG.

Good thing today is Throwback Thursday and we can take another trip down memory lane!

Warning: Today's post from the Monkey Whimsy archives contains explicit pictures so please stop here if you would prefer not seeing any graphic images.

Thursday, August 23, 2012
Trip to Taiwan & Vietnam

I was looking through pictures I took last December of my trip to Asia and realized I never shared some of the more interesting sights I saw while there.

Let me share with you some of these gems.

While in a temple in Vietnam, my sister and I were browsing through the gift shop when I spotted this book:

We, being awesomely mature late-20-year-olds, couldn't stop giggling.

Remember this photo?

My sister was yelling at me.

She said she needed to show me something.

I thought it was going to be something profound.
Something life-changing.
Or both.

This is what my sister had to show me:

Is this something profoundly life-changing?

Or life-changingly profound?

We were at Thanh Chuong Viet Palace near Hanoi.

This statue was located in an area of the grounds that most people would probably never venture to. My sister found it because she has this tendency to keep going and going until she can't anymore. I have this annoying habit of trying every single door in sight until I'm blocked by a locked one. We make great houseguests.

I have to say though, nothing beats what I found in Taiwan.

My aunt and uncle and two cousins took me to Jiǔfèn where there's lots of yummy food and cute little shops.

While browsing through one of the gift shops stocked with children's toys, I picked up this keychain thinking it was a metal puzzle for children:

It was not a puzzle piece.

It was also not a children's toy.

However, these keychains could come in handy for those conversations about the birds and the bees. That must be why it was stocked in a children's toy store. Nothing beats visual aids.

I regret not getting one.

A very different reaction to being sick

This is the third time that I've been sick in three months.

I didn't even try to deny it when I first started coughing.

I was resigned at this point.

Instead, I had a very different reaction to being sick.

Uh oh. Sick again.

But, that means I'll lose weight.

Which means I can eat ALL THE THINGS to make up for it.

And that's how you make a sick person happy.

I also recognize that my reaction to being sick might be a little demented.

Because eating ramen and ice cream and desserts is probably NOT the best way to recovery.

How about you? How do you cope with being sick?

(And sorry to the people who will hate me for saying I lose weight when I get sick. But I do.)

[TBT] My Mama Hearts Chipotle. Hardcore.

This throwback post would be more appropriate if it was in March but my heart smiled inside when I read it again so I'm sharing it with you all today.

I love my mama.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012
My Mama Hearts Chipotle. Hardcore.

Today is my mama's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

We celebrated it over the weekend.

But first, let me tell you how we celebrated it last year:

Me: Where do you want to go for your birthday dinner, Mom?
Mom: Chipotle.
Me: Mom, that's like going to McDonald's, we can't do that for your birthday. Don't you want to go somewhere fancy?
Mom: But I really like Chipotle.

And so we went to Chipotle to celebrate. And my mama was happy.

This year, we celebrated it like this:

Me: Mom, what do you want to do?
Mom: Let's go to Ikea.
Me: Um, why?
Mom: I want to buy a mirror.
Me: You want to go all the way to Ikea for that?

(Ikea is a 40 minute drive from my mom's house. Target and Home Depot are both less than 10 minutes away and I'm sure both of those places have mirrors.)

Mom: How much was the mirror you wanted at Ikea the last time we were there?
Me: Mom, that was months and months ago, I don't remember.
Mom: You want to come over so we can go to Ikea?
Me: Okay, fine.

So we head to Ikea and after we're done mirror-buying at Ikea, this is what happens:

Mom: So, what do you want to eat for dinner?
Me: Anything you want, it's your birthday.
Mom: Want to go to that place across the street from Ikea?
Me: You mean Chipotle, don't you? You want to go to Chipotle, don't you?

And my mom smiles sheepishly in response.

Oh, Chipotle, you have stolen my mom's foodie heart.

When my mama says "Let's go to Ikea," it's really code for "I want to eat Chipotle."

Dad and Crashed Cars

My papa. An old drawing from the days of Monkey Whimsy.

My first (and only) car was a black Honda Civic that I shared with my sister.

After we graduated college and my sister moved across the country, the Honda became solely mine.

And I loved it.

That little car gave me a sense of freedom like no other.

But, after racking up about a thousand dollars worth of speeding tickets in the span of a month, I decided that my speeding car habit was getting kind of expensive so I gave the Honda to my dad.

Recently, my dad called me frantically to give me some news.

Dad: Janice, your car is gone.

Janice: What do you mean?

Dad: I was leaving work, I was tired and there was a lot of traffic on the highway. The car in front of me braked suddenly and I couldn't stop in time. I crashed into the car in front of me and ruined your car.

Janice: WHAT!! DAD, are you okay?!!

Dad: Yeah, but your car is not.

Janice: Dad, I don't care about my car, are you okay?

Dad: I'm sorry about your car.

Janice: Dad, did you go to the hospital?

Dad: No, I'm fine. Your car couldn't be saved though.

Janice: DAD, when it comes to YOU or my car, I couldn't care less about the damn car. Are you sure you're okay, no injuries? 100% OKAY?

Dad: Oh yeah yeah, I'm fine. The entire front half of your car was destroyed and unsalvageable.

Janice (giving up on steering the conversation back to my papa): That's okay, Dad.

Dad: Just wanted to tell you that the Honda is no more.

DAD, JUST GLAD YOU GOT OUT OF THE ACCIDENT UNSCATHED.

My dad clearly thought my Honda was a member of the family the way he broke the news to me.

Oh, Dad.

I do miss my bat mobile though.

It was good while it lasted.

[TBT] December Vacation

This time of year always makes me want to travel.

There's something about the waning daylight and the dreariness of the weather that makes me want to get away to the other side of the world.

Sadly, I don't think travelling will be on my horizon anytime soon.

Sigh.

So, for Throwback Thursday, here's a post from the Monkey Whimsy archives about my last trip to Asia.

Almost four years ago.

YIKES.

I need to go back soon.

How about you? Where would you like to travel to? Or, what do you dislike about this time of the year?

Friday, January 13, 2012
December Vacation

I spent a huge chunk of December in Asia.

I wasn't ready to go.

Because I felt like I was leaving behind things undone.

But I needed to go.

So I went.

And when I got there.

I didn't want to leave.

There was this:

versus this:

And this:

Making me feel like this:

(That's not me. That's my sister. But you get the idea.)

I did a lot of this:

And it looks like my sister did too:

But there was also a feeling of this:

Again, a feeling of this:

Which made all the difference.

I'm glad we had this conversation.

Sunny Day vs Rainy Day

I've always loved cool weather over warm weather.

I just didn't know how much until this past weekend.

With warnings about Hurricane Joaquin blowing through the east coast of the U.S., I realized how contrary I am when it comes to the weather.

When it's sunny and beautiful out:

I'm like this:

But, when the weather's more like this:

All of a sudden, I'm like:

And then, I realize how ridiculous I am:

Ugh, walking in the rain is not fun.
Why can't I be normal and go out when it's sunny?

Guess who was out walking around for hours when it was raining and storming like crazy on Friday?

How about you? What kind of weather do you like?