Farewell Akiyo! Carribbean Jerk Fish Friday!

GOOD BYE GOOD FRIEND

The first friend I made in Chicago is off on new adventures as she heads on a road trip west to Seattle. Since, it's my third favorite city, I wish them all the best and hope to visit her some day when I am bound for the West coast. We got together with Ashbey and had dinner together up in Devon. The food was okay, but it was always more about the people. Goodbyes are tough, and it makes you realize just how many people you meet are temporary. The ones who move around from city to city since college, will probably keep moving from city to city throughout their life until something is really worth staying for.

On the way home from Devon, Ashbey and I talked about the people we were meeting these days. That a lot of them are just okay to be around with for fun, but not much more. He said it was because they aren't in the same stage of life as you, and I agree that people truly connect when they are around the same place in life or have a lot of core beliefs that are similar to their way of living.

Akiyo and Sushil moving to Seattle!

FRIDAY NIGHTS ARE JUST RIGHT WITH COOKING

I love cooking and sharing the meal experience with friends. It's a fun, laid back, de-stressor for me after work. I especially love having a nice kitchen to work in with the AC on! This meal was a pretty simple one and didn't require a lot of prep or pans. It's been great hanging out with people lately just because I ended something that I figure was the right thing to do for myself and it left me feeling sad. Asking people if it's normal to feel that way, and hearing it is actually made me feel a lot better. I suppose it is just being hopeful of the possibility was it.

Pineapple banana salsa!

Carribbean Jerk Tillapia with Pineapple Banana Salsa and Coconut Infused Rice~!

I did my best to plate it as elegant as I could.

Ping Jing always likes my cooking :)

Felix wanted a belly rub... but I refused to give him one.

COW APPRECIATION DAY!!!

Chik-Fil-A- a fast food chain that hasn't hit the West coast! The first time I heard about Cow Appreciation Day, I decided that I would try to get people to come out and dress as cows for free food. I was only able to get two people to do it last year, but this year I decided that I wanted a HERD!

The best part about the whole thing was that I got my boss to come out and dress like a cow too! Here are my cute cows!

DOUBLE JEOPARDY WITH PING JING SOPHIE AND IVAN

Since it's terribly hot, I haven't really been cooking unless I do it in someone else's air conditioned space. I met Ping Jing's new friends Sophie and Ivan. She made a delicious cauliflower curry and I made Mohinga and stir-fried Ping Jing's pea shoots. It was a lot of food followed by an interesting movie.

Living In The Present

It's Independence Day week and I have spent most of my free time re-energizing since my mind has released me from living in my past. It's crazy that all I did the last two years was replay historical events in my life to try and find answers to things I had absolutely no control over. The good news was that it wasn't all a waste of time. Perhaps that is why I feel free from it. Now I am living in the present and it's a foreign feeling.  I guess this is what moving on feels like.

I am now connecting with two of my siblings, my brother is connecting with my mom, and my sister is connecting with my dad. Maybe it is the idea that they all have more people to rely on that gives me a sense of relief. Reuniting my family members was one of the things I dreamed about. It used to make me sad all the time thinking about them, but now I feel pretty happy. A couple of things might change from here since there has been plenty of progress over the last couple of months. My role as a mediator coming to an end, people making an effort to understand each other, letting things go and focusing on what's left of the present and future. Mending broken relationships are tough but not impossible. It just takes a lot of time and energy.

PAINT NITE WITH LILYAN

Lilyan got me hooked on these paint nite classes in the city. So far we've painted a beach and the aurora borealis. It's a good time to catch up and just have fun making something!

Our teacher!

Wish my paintings came out more like the teacher's...

STAR BOOM!

The next Monet is a female!

Love the energy in this piece!

Lilyan's painting to the left...

...my painting to the right. It is very interesting seeing how we interpret the same subject differently.

SISTER IS A BEAST!

Ahhhh now I remember why I was terrible at winning fights against my siblings....

This girl can benchpress YOU!

I was never meant to be strong, fast, durable. But I did learn how to adapt to my situations and defend myself by recognizing that I would never overpower them with physical strength and force.