Day 328: My First Thanksgiving Dinner

I had my first Thanksgiving dinner with an American family for the first time yesterday. My friend's parents hosted it. We started with veggie snack (you have to try pickled brussels sprouts and half-cut celery filled with peanut butter!) then we had the turkey, mashed potato, stuffing with sliced apple and sweeten dried cranberries, baked bean, squash (which I thought it's a mashed sweet potato at first), bread and butter, cranberry sauce and the best was a dessert, vanilla ice cream on a baked apple sprinkled with nuts. We also had cider and ice tea. :)

Yummmm. (and thank you!)

Day 327: A Thank You Fruit Basket

An early post for Day 327 since I am not sure I will have time to do this tomorrow.

I've got invited to go to a Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's parents' house. (The dinner will be at...well...2 pm because there is a football game at 6 pm.) This will be my very first formal Thanksgiving dinner with an American family. So here I am trying to find the best way to say thank you to the host.

Even though my friend told me not to worry and it's the thought that counts I decide that a small fruit basket is the way to go. I got this cute little basket from Michael's, a craft store, and several types of fruit and a bouquet of filler flowers from WholeFoods. Ordering a fruit basket from a retail store here is very pricey. I am not a millionaire and I always like to arrange or make a gift myself. I hope it will turn out well. 

Oh shoot...I still need to make a thank you card.

Day 326: Mission Accomplished

I promised you to talk about our "Hugs" mission last week. When you greet someone with a simple question like "How are you ?" and s/he is suddenly in tears, you know that something has gone wrong. And we should do whatever we can big or small to make them feel better.

Since last Friday we have been giving Karen one or two small little (cute, naughty, funny) gifts everyday along with a brown-paper tag with our own decoration and our favorite quote to go with the gifts. The goal is just to make her smile, to tell her not to worry about work so she can spend as much time as she needs taking care of her family.

Today is the last day of our mission and we gave her a book called "Everything is going to be OK" which Danielle and I found at Paper Source store. Today tag doesn't contain a quote but we ask "Would you like to have lunch with the hugging crew?" (Hey, we haven't heard the answer!)

The best part for us is her smile and our own feeling after giving.

Day 236: ...and we sent her off.

Here is my own message I put together real quick this morning for her. It's in the scrapbook we gave her now. Wish I had time to do a nice little painting. (So you have to come back and get it, Rebecca!)

So everyone, I'll promise a watercolor painting for Day 237!

Day 235: The party day is here...

...and also the farewell.

Day 234: Timeline

It is going to be a lengthy post today. Ready ?

Going through each day is hard enough especially folks living in the city. Don't you think ? The speed of the daily life is amazingly fast that everything seems very blurry.

Let's look at a big picture today. The first quarter of our life is pretty much in other people's hands such parents, guardians, teachers, friends, etc. But we need them at that age.

But do they know how you want to live your life ? And do you know ?

Suddenly we're out of high school, feeling rushed for the first time and most of us have to choose a career path. (And if you're from Thailand like me, we have to choose our major even before entering a college. And we can't change it without going through crazy requirement.) Often I think this is totally insane. It's like asking a baby what they want to do for the rest of their life. But I don't really have a better solution to offer. 

Then we study so hard and try to get a job to pay off loans and bills. Suddenly we're half way of our life. We feel we have gone so far down the road and so deep into the career we chose (or being told to choose) that we think it's wasting time to start new.

Is it really wasting ? Or keep going is more wasting ?

What's your goal now ? Is it what you want or what others want you to be ? Do you want to be at the top of your career or simply want to enjoy working ? Have tons of savings or tons of experience ? Do you want explore the world or you want to settle ? Focus on your career or your family ? Do you decide to have a family because you find the one you can't live without  or because of the fear to be alone ? 

There is no right or wrong answer. Many can do all of it. Some has more obligations than others. Just make sure we are after what we want. Don't get dragged and drown by the flow. This is like creating a design concept of our own life. And we can't just have a grand idea. We need to execute it as well.

Otherwise, suddenly, we will be right at the end of our life and realize that it is really too late. And the annoying part is that we don't know if it will end late or soon.

Have you heard of Steve Jobs' speech "Connecting the Dots" ? A must read. It is very encouraging. 

Oh and about Rebecca ? She's totally my role model in this case. I was listening to what she has done in her life and just in awe.  Actually I should ask her to tell me about it again. It's been a while and I am sure I miss a bunch of things. She's out of the house and on her own at the age of 18, joined the marine, worked as a flight attendant, got her degree, learning accounting through her job, studied to be in a law school, be a business manager and a cooking master. She plays flute (and attempted to play Ukulele). She paints. She makes jewelry. She knows how to skate, canoe and bind the books.

Nutty.

But I always admire people who make a change in their life.

So you can be so many things you want to be and do so many things you want to do. Write your list down and just do it because life is really really short.

Day 233: The Breaking Point

I am honestly not sure how to draw or write about this, the breaking point.

Everyone is different. Each is good at different things and wants to be treated different ways. When one quits the job, the reason is, of course, different. The reason could be a long commute, too much work, too much responsibility, nothing he or she has done is ever good enough, boring task, low salary, no raise, no promotion etc.  Or all of them.

Keep in mind that not everyone always wants money or promotion on the top of their list. Some people simply want an appreciation. 

And that's all that keep them coming to work everyday. Who says less-than-a-star-work is less important ? We need different type of people to make a company survive.

So don't let one reach his or her breaking point or you lose that person for real.

Day 232: The Busy Person

You probably notice I have a hard time posting my 365 in time there days. :P Usually the reasons would be 1) I fell asleep or 2) I was lazy. 

If it's Rebecca, those would never be a reason. She can't sit still. At work she will have proposals to write (sometimes 10 of them lining up), billing to do, collections, trouble shooting the problems for her babies (aka us), putting interview material together, bugging us to get timesheet done (oh shoot I haven't done mine!), decoding our messy timesheet input, taking garbage and recycle bags out to the dumpster (because our cleaning lady is small), buying milk, buying office supply, getting Friday breakfast, watering plants in the office, cleaning glass door at office entry and conference rooms when it gets dirty during the day and picking up phones call or greeting people when our receptionist is not available. On special occasions she will get birthday cards, making birthday cakes for us (in my case buying ice cream), organizing office outing and office's annual party which the work includes sending out invitations after checking the party list, budgeting, coordinating with caterer, sometimes cooking the food herself, decorating the office. Don't let me start on her task outside the office such as cooking for 200 people at her church or babysitting, making jewelry, cleaning house (doesn't sound like she gets much help at home), making wedding cakes when someone asks her. 

I am sure I forget a lot of things she does. 

And on top of these she commutes 100 miles per day and she's not the healthiest person I know.

So if you have this type of person in your office or at your house, tie him or her to the chair or just simply say "thank you", will you ?

Day 231: A Great Gift

In 2004 I got my driver's license and bought a little Volkswagen Golf, my very first car. Rebecca gave me this fancy emergency car kit. Out of the blue and out of nowhere. Isn't it a great gift for a new driver ? So I gave her one of my favorite paintings as a thank you. The kit is always in my car. :) She always gives me (and others) gifts on Christmas, birthday and when I feel down. Thank you~

Day 230: No Nut!

Rebecca can't eat nuts but secretly has them from time to time. So I love sneaking around to see if she has any. (I usually get help from people on the other side of the wall too.) So if she has one, I often spank her or send a message "No Nut!" to her all the time. : P

Day 229: A Cup of Coco

Almost a decade ago (OMG! it's that long.) I had a second interview with this company. I had been looking for a job since graduation in May. It was pretty stressful because I wanted to gain some experience working in US before going home at the time. I wasn't here just for a degree. Experience is far more important than that. My dad already sent me a note at that point that I needed to go home and get a job there instead.

The interview was set in December. Pretty cold for a girl from Thailand and studied in Arizona. And I probably broke all the rule the job recruiters had such as dress professionally. I think I had something like a ski jacket on instead of a wool coat. I didn't speak English that well. And let's not talk about my listening skill at that time (or even now!) I didn't know how to drive so I took a bus to go for an interview. (You must know about the bus mass transit here.) 

I don't remember much what I said or what I heard. But I remember pretty clearly that I was asked if I would like a cup of chocolate before an interview and if I needed a ride to a metro (train) station afterward by our Rebecca. 

Do you know any business manager who would drive an interviewee to a metro ?!

Amazingly I got a job and am writing about her on my blog.

Day 228: Let's talk about my neighbor

Some of you probably wonder what on earth I was drawing yesterday. The reason is that our greatest business manager of 19 years is leaving the company. Her last day will be next Thursday.

So let's start talking about her! She doesn't like a surprise so let's prep her a bit, shall we ? :D

Since we moved to the new office my manager has become my office neighbor. We have only a tall low wall separate us. So you know there can be a lot going on. 

Have you seen my post about the rubber band war ? 

Day 180: Reston

A little bit sketchy today but it's only because I want to write about what I heard at a history lecture about Reston and Lake Anne Plaza earlier this evening. The lecture was hosted by Reston Museum and today they had Mr. Simon, Reston Founder, two original engineers and a house salesperson. And it was a great opportunity to listen to them telling what they went through when they built Reston.

Here are some info I learnt.

- Lake Anne was originally located toward east and closer to Lake Fairfax but there was a gas line running in the northeast- southwest direction.

- Lake Anne dam was finished in about 6 months in 1963.

- Reston was designed to have 7 villages accommodating 10,000 people with one grocery store at each location.

- The name of the residential tower is Heron House

- The 2-story mix-use building as you see on my sketch is called "J" building because of the shape of its floor plan.

- The original stores/offices at "J" building were dry cleaner, Safeway, barber, hardware, library and community center. (And a couple more I forgot.)

- Reston is considered historical because of its many "first" not because its age.

- The design started by determining the function, program, building types the town needed. The planners decided what the town should look like and go back to the zoning later. (Almost like it has its own zoning.) It was designed to be a self-contain town.

- Mr. Simon started this project in his 50s and didn't feel the town missed anything especially when the master plan was approved in 14 months.

- The town was designed to be an open community meaning it accommodates people at any ages, races, income levels. Many architects, builders were involved in order to produce various types of housing.

- Everything was built at the same time from houses, amenities, nature trails, etc.

- South Reston was designed for traditional housing which was requested by banks.

- In the beginning of the house sales many people thought the town was for the retired citizen as the name could be read "Rest-on."

- The selling point was you're not buying a house but you're buying a community with amenities. Swimming pools, golf course, courts were included in the original design.

- The early residents received a welcome package including direction, brochure and also a welcome letter signed by Mr. Simon.

- The cooling system was very unique at the time. The A/C pipes were buried at the bottom of Lake Anne to avoid using the individual A/C compressors which would be noisy. However the water in the lake is always too warm to cool anything down.

You can look at photos of Reston through time by clicking here. Or google to read more about it.

Day 172: The opening night of the SCAR Project at the Dune, DC

I was at the opening night of the SCAR Project, a portrait project of the breast cancer survivors, at the Dune in DC earlier this evening. 

Honestly I am still overwhelmed by the event. I decided to just draw the plan and the location of this venue today. There is really no word or drawing could express what I experienced. 

These ladies are so brave to come out, to post in front of a camera to tell everyone about living with the breast cancer. One of them was diagnosed while finishing her master's degree...and she was just 22. A beautiful girl. Her mom was at the event with her tonight. One was a soldier who just got deployed. One was a disabled...

I had a chance to talk to one of the survivors, Sharon. She is in her late 40's and a mom with 2 kids. She was diagnosed at Stage 3 and the cancer had already spread to the lymph nodes. She kindly told me what she went through and answered all my questions. I also told her that I lost both of my parents to cancer. We agreed to keep in touch. 

I also did a quick chat with the photographer of the project, David Jay. I even asked for his autograph which was so not me but I couldn't help it this time. His next project will be about the wounded soldiers. I look forward to it.

If you are in DC area, the exhibition will be from October 1-7. The gallery to be announced. The 47-minute documentary of this project, "Bare It All," just won the Daytime Emmy award under Outstanding Special Class Special. 

Viewer discretion is advised.

Or simply read stories from their blog.

Day 159: A Thank You Breakfast

My supervisor bought me the baked egg souffle from Panera as a thank you breakfast this morning after I worked long hour yesterday (and another 12 hours today...and probably this Sunday too, ugh!). 

But isn't it nice when your hardworking is appreciated ?

(Okay. The souffle was really good too. Try it!)

Day 155: Thank you, Noah Scalin.

Today I would like to say thank you to Noah Scalin, the artist of the award winning project "Skull-A-Day" (yep, skull) and the author of "Unstuck", for mentioning my 365 project on his blog. No wonder I got over 400 pageviews that day (which is very very abnormal if you must know.)

And thanks for inspiring us.

Day 152: Working Process

Good morning, everyone! Yesterday was such a long busy day (so I fell asleep again) but there was a small little email my project manager forwarded to me that brightened up my day. 

The client loved one of the schematic design I proposed. The design was almost axed during the in-house review because "we thought" that it's not for this client.

I bet you have heard a comment like this from your boss or others before.

First don't get upset about it. Listen to them. Their comments are most likely based on their experience (or it might be purely just an opinion sometimes). But be sure that your idea is based on good observation and an analysis that makes sense and can be understood by others. Then work your _ _ _ _ off  to make it happen (wow, I curse a lot this week.). Finally, express your idea confidently (and strategically because you need to make them listen).

In my opinion the observation is the most important part of the design process no matter how good you are as a designer. This raw data is a great resource that I can grab, process and tailor my idea for any particular problems with a custom design approach. It is dangerous to just design based on what you like without an observation or listening to your client's requests and critiques because you will end up with a generic work instead of the custom one.

The schematic design I proposed was purely based on my site survey. The building we are renovating is in the metro area where art is appreciated. You can find huge sculptures along the streets. So why not bring art onto the site if we want people to come here ? Architecture is not only about designing a building it is about accommodating people.

I found that an observation is also a great tool to live through this chaotic world and stay true to yourself especially when there are so many people out there express themselves so loudly that sometimes you hardly hear your own voice.

Have a great day! Gotta head to work now!

Day 149: Memorial Day

I never understand why there is still a war these days.

Today drawing is based on MSNBC Photoblog.

Day 147: A Wish

There are times that I wish my parents were still here and told me what to do next.

Day 142: Haagen Dazs Anthem

Day 142 Haagen Dazs Anthem

A close-up shot of the ice cream

There was a very old Haagen Dazs advertisement on TV last night. And the music was so pretty that I couldn't help searching for the info.

It's called Haagen Dazs Anthem. (You can watch their advertisement by clicking here.)

So to honor the tasty ice cream and the beautiful music I decide to give my Day 142 to them.

By drawing Haagen Dazs ice cream I learnt that

- To date Haagen Dazs has 34 flavors for their ice cream. 6 of them are limited edition flavors.
- It's amazing how most of the flavor has brown color.
- All flavor is written with small font only.
- Their "pralines and cream" flavor is available only at Walgreen.
- Most of their limited edition flavors are not available in January except "blueberry crumble."

Did I tell you that I love ice cream ?