One year since.

Death Cab for Cutie – The New Year

I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I started this blog and to be honest, I’m a little disappointed in myself. January 2012, I thought “At last! I will pull forward my ambition to be a better writer and to progress my social media knowledge.” But abruptly, I focused too much on the content and went for documentation of my travels rather than what this blog was mainly for: all things me. So with a drum roll, I present to you: my New Year Resolutions.

  • Be awesome. Ha, that’s a given. That comes all along with being me.
  • Write more; my ambition for perfect use of language still lives.
  • Do more photography. (God, Connie! D5000 is collecting dust. Been 3 years since you’ve had that thing!)
  • Take better care of your skin (I want to not wear foundation anymore; that’s my goal.)
  • Whatever life throws at you.. be positive, be happy.

Can you feel the love tonight?

Aug. 17-19 – I am queen of publicizing photos after a month, two months or even a year. Heck. These are even all the photos I took but I’m a lazy son of a gun… more photos will be added. I promise.

Anyways… during this very weekend getaway, I was blessed. I was apart of one of my best friends’ engagements and she didn’t even know it. Our friend, Julie, wanted a “famree” getaway before school started for some and we’d be too busy after the summer ended but instead, this trip was turned into a surprise engagement due to George and Lisa’s careful planning. We scoured places for the future bride to be asked while still maintaining a level of secrecy and contentment. Those two things are so hard for our group, ha.

On a foggy Saturday morning under a magnificent waterfall in the Smokey Mountains, Miss Julie Chen became the future Mrs.George Soung. It’s now three months later and more than excited as Julie plans her summer wedding. Besides being blessed to be apart of the engagement, I am even more blessed to be a bridesmaid at her wedding :)

Oh, and as for our cabin?

Well, that is definitely a video for Facebook friends only….

And then, there were none.

Oh, my dear blog has a cricket noise attached to it. Finding the time to settle down and write has been hard. What’s even harder is editing photos on my dying MacBook Pro (Really though. I haven’t taken care of it in the last 3-4 years is slowly dying.. “Service Battery” pops up from time to time.)

This is what commuter corporate life is, huh? Waking up at the crack of dawn to get ready, then sit in 40- to an hour traffic surge, downing at least one cup of coffee (I’m been trying to minimize) to get through the day then try to leave 15 minutes before to get a better chance at the wheel of 5-o-clock-traffic. I get home and all I want to do is just lay on my carpet floor and eat oreos… that thought is replaced by a gym routine instead.

I really do enjoy my job though. I love working better than school; it’s only been three months, I’m the youngest one in my department and people come to me asking me a billion questions because I’m computer/solution savvy. Score for the youngster! It might change, however… I know the “omg, adult life suckz. i want to go back to schooooool” thought will inject itself randomly.

Okay, the point of this mindless jabber is that I, Connie Ang, will put in effort to continue for others to creep into my life through my WordPress updates whilst keeping this blog as a venting solution and timeline of important events.

Next up: the Tennessee vacation.. which was two months ago.

Spoiler alert: I’m going to New York City this weekend.

“You know your birthday’s going in my blog, right?”











I write this in complete creeper mode… since the birthday boy is literally three feet away from me.

In summary, this past weekend’s been a good one. His cousins came down from the DMV and the troops gathered at Thai Bangkok (A GIVEN!) Saturday night. The whole table kept me rollin’ in giggles with the different side conversations everyone had going on and the “That’s what she said” jokes. When everyone was done their meal, I made Lisa “come to the bathroom with me” so she could light up the custom cake I ordered for him.. [Shoutout to Maxie B's Bakery off Battleground for creating the San Francisco 49ers cake for him! The signature fresh strawberry buttercream was delicious!] and we acted like clumsy, giddy ninjas trying to surprise Danny. I really can’t hold in any laughter; especially during surprises. First, the cake was awkwardly heavy. The dining table was awkwardly positioned. And well, I’m awkward but I’m glad it surprised him. A simple smile from this kid seriously means everything since he is a man of few words.

After, everyone came back to his house as the ladies got ready for the night on the town. Greensboro is definitely different from Charlotte. More of a low-key feel but we knew it would be a good night regardless since it was all close people. OH INFERNO, how you amuse me every time I’m up here. Dead crowd, cheap drinks, amazing peeps = good time.

So with that.. happy birthday, Vannasack. I still remember sitting at Lisa’s apartment playing Taboo and being like, “Ohhhh, this boy is cute!” when we first met at her birthday more than a year ago. Now look at us. Through the good, the bad and the ugly, we made it through this quintessential crazy storyline. But photoshop still can’t hide your red Asian glow… XOXO.

Aries, through & through.

For those who don’t know me, I have an inquisitive sense that things were destined in the stars.. quite literally. My known obsession has grown over a number of years. I take into account my strengths and weaknesses regarding what the stars say (personality wise, I don’t follow horoscopes that much). Although most don’t believe in the zodiac, I believe the zodiac shows us things that we tend to overlook in ourselves and in others.

According to my birthdate, I’m quite the Aries. I can point out some things to be very true but I’ll leave the rest for you guys to decide.

What’s your zodiac personality like? http://alabe.com/freechart/

April 5 1989
05:00 AM Time Zone is EDT
Lowell, MA 

Rising Sign is in 22 Degrees Cancer
Very sensitive by nature, you prefer to be in your own familiar surroundings. Cautious and conservative, you make changes in your life only very slowly, if at all. You do not open up easily to strangers. Friendships are made for life, however — once given, your trust is forever. Your mother, your home as a child and your early family life in general are very important to you. You are also very sentimental. When you feel self- confident, you are gentle, giving and protective of the needs of others. But when you feel insecure or threatened, you become overly sensitive to criticism, shy, withdrawn and moody. You have a strong need for security — in the sense that you are being loved, nourished and protected.

Sun is in 15 Degrees Aries.
By nature, you are very energetic and high-spirited. You are fiercely independent — you must be first in everything you do, and you enjoy taking risks. You are the one who will rush in where angels fear to tread. Quite brilliant at initiating new projects, you are terrible at following them through to completion. You are an enthusiastic leader but you tend to be a reluctant follower. Often you are quick to anger, but you usually recover just as fast, regretting later things you said when you were upset. One of your best traits is that you are simple and direct, blunt and honest — just be careful you do not hurt others’ feelings. Your need to be competitive at all costs may provoke resistance from others, but, as long as you maintain your usual Sunny good humor, this should not prove to be a major problem for you. 

Moon is in 08 Degrees Aries.
High-spirited and courageous, you are a fighter when your emotions are aroused. The degree of force and drive that you can bring to any effort sometimes surprises others. You have hair-trigger reactions to specific stimuli and tend to “let it all hang out.” You sometimes act before you think and do things on the spur of the moment, and that sometimes gets you into trouble. Your moods change quickly — you have quite a temper, but you don’t hold grudges. Very independent, with an extremely strong and forceful personality, you are known for being impulsive, careless, reckless, foolhardy, rash and daring. 

Mercury is in 17 Degrees Aries.
Very quick-witted, you are known for being an independent thinker. You love to debate and argue, and are excellent at repartee and battles of wits. At times, however, you act too fast on hastily formed opinions and thus waste a lot of energy defending your rash and sometimes incorrect conclusions. It is perfectly acceptable for you to defend your beliefs with your usual vigor, but try not to take the opinions of others as personal insults. 

Venus is in 16 Degrees Aries.
You are a very affectionate person but you hate to be tied down. You are more than willing to be the aggressor in initiating new relationships. Indeed, once you have set your sights on someone, you tend to pursue him or her ardently and passionately. But you do demand your own way in a relationship. Try to give in to your partner’s needs and desires once in a while.

Mars is in 15 Degrees Gemini.
Your energies get turned on quickly whenever anything interests you. But you have a very short attention span and it is difficult for you to complete tasks because something else more interesting always seems to be beckoning. You love to debate and argue, usually in a spirit of friendly disagreement. But watch out that you do not get too overly aggressive or antagonistic or others will be quick to take offense where none may have really been intended. You need to be in constant physical motion — sports or daily exercise is a must for you if you are to feel fit and healthy. 

Jupiter is in 04 Degrees Gemini.
You have a logical, detached, objective view of most things. Your interests are wide-ranging and you are an avid student, with expertise in many different areas. You love to work things out in your mind — everything you do is reduced to an exercise in logic and reason. You have the ability to grasp abstractions and to deal successfully with the larger issues of life. Your overemphasis on developing your powerful intellect can cause your emotional and intuitive abilities to atrophy unless you consciously choose to exercise them.

Saturn is in 13 Degrees Capricorn.
Very serious-minded and mature, you have the ability to take on responsibilities and to carry out important duties. You can also be trusted to be extremely practical and thrifty. A good organizer, you are the ideal one to be counted on to take a clearly defined project through to its logical conclusion. An achiever, you pride yourself on your ability to focus your attention totally on some worthy goal and then attain it. 

Uranus is in 05 Degrees Capricorn.
You, and your peer group as well, seek out practical solutions to a changing society’s attitudes to customs, traditions and authority structures. Your logical and orderly manner of dealing with these matters will result in permanent and carefully planned, but sweeping, reforms. 

Neptune is in 12 Degrees Capricorn.
You, and your entire generation, will idealize work, practicality and the ability to attain reasonable goals. But, because you will also stress the need to be selfless and giving, you may find it difficult to attain your goals unless you have lowered your expectations on all fronts. 

Pluto is in 14 Degrees Scorpio.
For your entire generation, this is a period of intense research and discovery in areas that were heretofore considered mysterious, remote or taboo. The root causes for many complex occurrences will be unearthed due to the intensity and thoroughness of the search. 

N. Node is in 04 Degrees Pisces.
You’re attracted to others who need your assistance. You seem to go out of your way to form relationships with those who are weak, sick, injured, addicted or troubled in some way or other. At your best you can indeed provide the relief that others need. But at times you can be victimized by those who would prey on your good nature and take advantage of you. This can lead to all sorts of negative situations — make sure that those you assist are truly worthy of your time, energy and commitment. A little enlightened self-protectiveness on your part can make your life work much, much smoother!

My hands smell like crawfish.

For the longest time, I would never touch this form of sea crustacean. They freaked me the freak out. Since moving here in 2007, I’ve slowly progressed in my Southern cuisine though. The first was Bojangles, a staple of North Carolina. My suitemates brought back some to the dorm one night and couldn’t finish it at all. I don’t know what it was (probably the spice) but I proclaimed “I hate Bojangles! Never eating it again!’.. didn’t last. Look at me now. I have gigantic cravings for it like no other, especially their breakfast.

Onto “crawdaddies,” the fact that it resembled an insect was the first warning in my head not to touch it. Additionally, I was the ignorant Northerner that was like “There’s no meat in it.. why would you even bother eating?” I realize that crawfish are more of an experience rather than logical thinking. Satisfying your hunger doesn’t come from the actuality of eating it (although it does taste good). You’re satisfied because you’re the one picking at the exterior shell, getting down and dirty to get your prize: a lump of delicious chewy lobster-like meat.

How you cook it is a very important thing as well. My encounter with crawfish was actually at an Asian buffet in Virginia Beach. I grabbed a plate but the flavor was SUPER bland. They probably did a quick boil and put it out there. Yuck. My next would be the one. The Final Four was on and the group I was with bought about 40+ pounds. They cooked it with a special spice mixture, corn, potatoes and sausages. THIS WAS AMAZING! We cut up a black trash bag to throw over the table and went to town on these bad boys. The spice level increased with each additional crawfish.. if crawfish was always cooked that well, I’d feel blessed to feel the pain every time.

I passed my stage. I can talk with my friends and say “Omg, I’m so craving crawfish right now.” With that, I have some of the bestest friends ever! One saved me a good ole portion and boy, my friend’s spice mixture was on point. I devoured the entire tray by myself with How I Met Your Mother on the television screen.

Next step: Conquering grits.

I left my heart in San Francisco.






Tony Bennett, you were right. I left my heart in San Francisco. It’s a unique city that I definitely want to visit again; next time with a plan of action and a tourist mindset. Random (and irrelevant to this blog entry), I really wanted to buy a wallet from SF’s Chinatown then leave it in El Segundo… so I can “leave my wallet in El Segundo!” if you know what I mean. Ha, so many California jokes in my head. Oh jeez.

Beauty haul: California edition.

In the voice of the Weeknd, I ordered plane tickets and Cali was the mission. I recently came back from a one-week stint from Northern California to Southern California. My, oh my, was I in beauty heaven. My mother probably thought I was crazy buying about 50+ eyelashes.


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I pahked my cah hahvahd yahd.

I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I take pride in it. I’m the arrogant Masshole that will yell out “Rondo” at any glance of a Celtics game. Or tell them, “Oh right. That’s because this isn’t the city of champions..” Or I tell them weird facts that most Lowellians aren’t proud of; ex. The Fighter took place in Lowell; why YES, it’s ghetto and we have hookers on Appleton Street… :D

You think growing up somewhere your whole life, you’d know a good amount about it, right? WRONG. I find myself discovering new things every time I come back home. On a weekend trip home on April 27th, I was given a chance to show a family friend around and well, I showed myself around too.

Boston is a beautiful city full of history and little quirks that make it unique. It isn’t the typical run-of-the-grade places. I mean, look at our streets! They are curvy, hilly, uneven and full of potholes.. but walking through my favorite city, you’ll notive the small things. The resting place of Mother Goose, the first of many (libraries, public parks, etc), 250000 people in Boston are college students, most of Boston’s land is manmade, the place where John F. Kennedy lived.. there are so many more facts. All of which should be discovered when visiting whether it be walking or by the famous Boston Duck Tours.



Every one should really take a “tourist” day once in a while..

And your little dog too.


What a tradition we have started. This is the third time of caking. This time for Tim and Holly’s joint birthday celebration last Wednesday. Because of the duo, Bry and Dung had a special surprise: WATER GUNS. By the end of the night, the garage turned into a full-on slip-n-slide. Good times, good times. I enjoy the fact that my friends are both spontaneous (who brings out water guns and starts shooting people.. INSIDE the townhome?!) and ruthless (they will get even if you are wearing the prettiest of dresses).

Ah, yet another successful birthday(s).