missing maui

today with the wind, philly was 4 degrees. yup. 4. single digits. today i walked 45 minutes one way to meet a friend for lunch. yes, i am the sucker who said, "sure, no problem i can walk there in sub zero weather!" bundled up, i tried to walk briskly.

i love cold weather, i do. it goes against my tropical blood, but i love how the air feels cleaner, crisper. people don't dawdle in the cold. the homeless people aren't out begging as much. not as many creepy dudes are coming up to me with bad pick up lines. everybody has a destination and goes on their way.

as i sat and waited for my friend to show up for lunch, i was warming my poor hanfs around a cup of cocoa. i was about to put some raw sugar in it and it was that instant i was transported back to maui. the raw sugar smell reminds me of maui. the smell of sugar cane and the ocean. salty sweet.

holding the cup, i closed my eyes for a second. i thought of maui. sigh.

then some goober opened the door and left it open and i got hit in the face with cold air.

i miss maui.

my dollhouse

growing up, money was tight. both my parents worked. we never went on vacations because my parents needed to work. my summers consisted of me going to the public library and borrowing tons of books and renting old classic movies. i used to get jealous of my friends who would go to camp. they always had such adventures. since everyone was gone for the summer, it would be my sister and i keeping each other company. we would play voltron. i know, not the typical girl game. we didn't even have the voltron figures! we used our stuff animals and would just imagine that our teddy bear was the head of voltron.

while my friends were water skiing or taking ballet lessons, my sister and i were trying to catch monsters or playing detective or even making up our own language. we were never bored. i didn't even realized how strange it was that we never went on any vacations until a classmate pointed it out. "you've never been to the shore! you're weird!" mind you, i wouldn't have traded any of my summers for some lame overnight camp. my parents are awesome and we would sit around and watch kung fu theater. my memories of my childhood are nothing short of awesome.

being the creative kid, i remember i wanted a dollhouse. my friends had huge dollhouses filled with lavish furniture and beautiful dolls. i remember thinking how pretty. my parents couldn't afford to give me such a luxury. there was left over plywood my dad had not used upon our basement remodel. can't dis the plywood paneling! he helped me put together a shoddy bare bone dollhouse. it was two floors. a box really and the roof was two more pieces of plywood. no door. about 2 windows that my dad cut out with an exacto knife. no porch. no fancy light fixtures. but, it was all mine. an empty dollhouse for me to design and decorate. my little eyes grew wide with excitement. i painted the plywood with my poster paints. i painted it white with yellow shutters. i even painted trees and bushes on the side of the house to give it the cozy suburbia feel. i couldn't afford to buy all the fancy furniture to fill the dollhouse, so i used empty gift boxes, thread stools, anything really. i used clay and molded individual meals to place on the cardboard dining room table. i would spend hours upon hours designing a room. i made books for my dolls to read. i wrote and illustrated mini books. i made yarn rugs for the rooms. my dolls were made from wooden clothespin. i gave them all long hair made from yarn and used markers to paint on their faces. the whole summer i worked on this house and my sister and i would play for hours in the attic with my shabby dollhouse. we did this every summer for about 3 years.

then one day, we were moving. my dollhouse's roof collapsed and my furniture was all bent and worn. my parents told me that it was old and we had to throw it away. i cried. i spent all that time building this perfect home. i never even showed the dollhouse to friends. i guess i was embarassed by it. they all had such fancy shiny things. as my dad put the dollhouse into the trashcan, i stopped crying. my precious house in a pile. i was about to cry again when my mama told me to go inside. my sister and i went inside. my mama put in one of my favorite shaw brothers kung fu movies, the five deadly venoms. my dad cut some mangos and we all sat eating mangos and watching shaolin kung fu. i guess i didn't need to create the perfect home. i was already in a perfect home. at least for me.

au revoir montreal, bonjour philly

(before going on my trip to montreal, i got my hair trimmed. see above photo. it was all super cute and then i went to montreal and wore my big furry cosack hat, so no more cute hair. oh well. hat head or not, my bangs were super cute).

i love montreal. i love how it combines old european with a thriving dynamic city. everywhere there are people speaking french and snipets of english.

my trip was short, but very sweet.

i didn't take any pictures, because it was cold and i wear fingerless gloves.

here are the highlights:

1) poutine. this dish is pretty much a heart attack on a plate. fries with gravy and cheese. i wanted the smoked meat, but my friends insist on going traditional first. thank you cameron and athena. after a night of drinking, this hot meal hit the tummy. yum. i wish they delivered poutine to philly. sigh.

2)the weather. icey. grey. snowy. sooo pretty. i got to wear my furry hat like a good comrade. :) also, for all you people who told me i was gonna freeze my butt up there. i didn't and i didn't even have a down coat or any of that northface crap on. so there! everybody looks adorable in winter gear. scarves. mittens. hats. boots. it's like i tell my friends. wearing all those layers and coming inside is like unwrapping a gift.

3) new zealanders: meeting my friend max who is from new zealand up in montreal was insane. he is a riot and made fun of the french incessantly. he also did every shot that was put in front of him. props. mad props to the commonwealth. i also realized that dudes that were straight edged

4) athena: meeting up with my best friend from law school was wicked awesome. there are some people who you adore and even distance and time can't change that.

5) fangirl: meeting cameron m. stewart and getting my seaguy signed. girls, this dude is total sweetheart. total pitter patter material. it is amazing to me, how someone so talented can be so humble and down to earth charming. why does montreal have all the cool people? philly has all the grit and thugs.

despite having to spend tons of time at the aeroports due to new security measures, sleeping a total of 5 hours all weekend, being freezing cold (yeah my hotel had no heat. but, upon departure, athena checked the closet and saw there was a space heater. dude, why didn' t they tell us! i almost freaking spooned my friend athena for body heat. soo cold), being a dork and dragging my worn copy of seaguy to canada, getting picked no by montreal jocks (i know. jocks are international. they are everywhere!), i had an amazing time and came back, not so much refreshed, but excited for next visit. just no more u.s. airways. worse airline ever. ever.

xo

siberia

for the past week, it has been siberia cold here in philly. although i adore cold weather, this weather was brutally bitingly cold. i would have worn a face mask, but people here would have thought i had SARS and freak out.

last weekend was my birthday and my friends took me for drinks and merriment. i posted a shot of me and my best friend jonathan. we are bundled and even with layers, it was cold out.

soon, i will be going to our friend to the north. it seems insane of me to venture somewhere colder, but this way, i can maintain my mongolian/eskimo elfish look. :)

so my fellow bloggers and readers, i will be on a short venture up north. i will try to videotape my adventures and quests and post them later.

as it stands, i have not packed anything and the only thing i have in my carry on so far is my trkfld bag and my furry white boots. i think i may need more things. i also have about 3 books with me.

is it possible to still look cute with all my layers and furry hats? i hope so. i may just have to crawl into a carcass of a bear to keep warm if need be.

i hope to come back a newly refreshed pearl.

i am also starting to plan my next trip. moscow and st. petersburg. :)