Welcome to my tiny internet home. I write notes, jot small thoughts, and save clippings.
Everything is everywhere. And we have 17 houseplants now. This morning E dropped by the mom’s to borrow a spatula, and she confessed, “I’m planting more plants. I can’t stop.” This is the day after she spent the afternoon washing and styling our balcony: we have outdoor mats that perfectly match the colors of our building’s exterior, fairy lights lining our rails, wooden patio chairs from her own…
There's a story my mom likes to tell about when she first sent me to day care, how I thought she was giving me away. When she later brought me home, I bounced around the whole house tapping things. I was very young, so I didn't have the words then, but she understood my inner thoughts: "This is mine, and this is mine, and this is mine..." We signed the last of the documents this morning. After…
It’s 12:20 p.m. At the office today. I’m enjoying my lunch break outside, sipping a chai latte in the courtyard. My fingers are sticky with pistachio bun goo. I’m eyeing a few bun chunks covered in dirt, wondering if they can still be eaten — because this is how I roll, always spilling drinks on myself and dropping my food on the ground. “It’s hard to be a Sylvia,” E would say. I needed some air.…
The best piece of advice I've ever received is: Just ask. 90% of the time, people will say yes. The worst that can happen is they say no, and that 10% will be devastating. My mortgage advisor was on summer vacation, and when I followed up with the backup mortgage advisor on the closing date, she insisted the process would take 21 days, that we wouldn't be able to complete the purchase until…
"It smells like poop in here," I messaged E. "Is it because they're working on the pipes?" "Might be," he responded. "Shaking loose the poop dust dried from the dripping." I typed back, "Kill me." And this is the situation I so desperately wished to escape from, what I didn't want to memorialize with words, why I made the very-emotional-and-not-financially-sound decision to empty all our savings…
So close to having a permanent place to live and a permanent place to work. Happenings Colleagues are trickling back from their summer breaks, so "How was your vacation?" is coming up often. My script: "I had no plans, but it turned out everyone else had plans, so my vacation ended up being much more social than I expected. How was yours?" Our landlord found a tenant (!!!). If all goes well with…
Our new apartment is a whole lot of white. The prior owner made bland design choices: white walls, white cabinets, white tiles, white counters, white knobs, white everything. Like a sterile hospital room. E says it'll look better once it's filled with our things, but I can't imagine it. Interior design is not my forte, 1 so I'm happy my MIL is so enthusiastic about helping put our new home…
It's 9 a.m., partly cloudy, chillier than I'm used to this time of year. 1 I thought to go to the office, but slept an extra hour; I'll work from home instead. I've been waking up nauseous with a headache for two weeks now. I think I need more sleep. Or water. I'm sipping a cup of coffee, lovingly brewed by E. 2 He informed me that I have four cups of water sitting around the home, that there are…
Today my MIL said to E, "I'm impressed with Sylvia. She really gets things done, doesn't she?" Best compliment ever, IMO. But in truth, I've been feeling unworthy for months now, a feeling both familiar and foreign. Familiar because I was plagued with it when I was younger, foreign because I haven't felt like this in more than a decade. Who knew my confidence was so brittle? Yes, I'm talking about…
I'm munching on shrimp chips as I write this. Both sushi restaurants I've been to serve these, while none of the ones I went to in LA did. This puffy variant doesn't read as Japanese to me, but I suppose when the menu lists pho and panang curry alongside its sushi and sashimi, there really aren't any boundaries. Swedes like to ask me what I think of the Asian food here, and I'm never sure what to…