[tiffy trying] to find silver linings in snowy, grey clouds

The following story below is a comedy of errors that happened to me and K earlier today. Everything somehow went laughably wrong, but we still had a lovely day despite it all. 

K and I decided last night to do a Sunday daytrip to Belleayre to get in some snowboarding fun. We were supposed to have done a full weekend trip for President's day weekend, but K ended up having a football game on Saturday. So, we ended up cancelling the snowboarding trip so he could play. I guess we should've just stuck to our guns and just not forced the issue because this snowboarding trip was clearly not meant to be. 

1. Booking issues with the rental car

We wanted to rent an SUV for the trip because we thought it would be safer to drive in one. On Hertz and Avis, they were all sold out. Eventually, we decided to rent a regular sedan and just drive extra carefully, but we found out the Hertz in our neighborhood had closed permanently. So, we ended up booking a car with the Hertz further uptown, but K's membership/coupon code wouldn't work. 

2. Rental car issues

We got to the rental car place bright and early so that we could pick up the car and make sure the membership code got logged in properly. The car was available, but there were issues with it: the door lock wasn't working properly, and for some reason, it kept saying that a door was open even though it wasn't. 

3. Breakfast issues

In an effort to save time, we decided to run over to Dunkin Donuts to grab breakfast and coffee to go. The lady somehow screwed up K's coffee, and it was practically undrinkable. 

4. Parking issues

When we arrived at Belleayre, we couldn't find parking AT ALL because the lots were so packed. So, we decided to take a chance and park on the side of the road, quite a walk away from the lodge.

5. Mud issues

Then, K dropped his beanie on a patch of wet, slushy mud. 

6. Belleayre

We were able to catch a shuttle bus which brought us to the lodge, and we were surprised to see such long lines to get to the rental area. When we got to the desk, we found out that all the rental boards were sold out for the day. I told K that he should go snowboard since he already has a board and didn't need to rent one. I could wait for him at the cafeteria, but he really didn't want to leave me by myself. Plus, the lifts were apparently super crowded because of President's Day weekend. It would also have been a pain to snowboard down because so many kids were on the slopes, and it would be hard to avoid all of them. 

7. Restaurant 

There's a restaurant near Belleayre that we've always wanted to try called Peekamoose! We really like the name, and we also read up on the reviews once and saw that they had really delicious food. So, we decided to just ditch snowboarding and have a nice, leisurely lunch instead. As luck would have it, Peekamoose was closed. 

** Somehow, at this point, we were still in a great mood and were laughing the whole thing off ** 

8. Spontaneous sledding

We ended up having lunch at a restaurant near Peekamoose, then decided to do some grocery shopping at Mitsuwa Asian Market, which is basically this Asian grocery wonderland in NJ. On the way to Mitsuwa, we drove by a huge park where a bunch of children were sledding. It looked so fun that we decided to park and sled along with them. We found a discarded plastic "sled" and had a few minutes of fun sledding down the hill. It was super fun and the surprise highlight of our day. The snow was super deep. It was hard to walk, but it was powdery soft. Unfortunately, on the walk back to the car, I fell into a hole that was too deep and twisted my weak knee. 

** At this point we were still super, duper happy! ** 

9. Mitsuwa Asian Market

When we got to Mitsuwa, there was no parking to be found because EVERYONE was at Mitsuwa for some reason. I have no idea how everyone coincidentally had the brilliant idea ski/snowboard and shop for Asian groceries on the same day! It was a struggle to even drive in and out of the parking lot because everyone was just scrambling for a parking slot. While trying to escape this outdoor labyrinth, K ended up backing into a snow bank (really, it was like an ICE bank) and CRACKED the bumper of the rental car. 

** Happy feelings disappeared ** 

10. End of the night

Eventually, we managed to find a parking slot and decided to have dinner there. We shared a really yummy pork cutlet curry dish. We each got delicious green tea matcha milk, and we managed to do our grocery shopping. This totally salvaged our evening. We're so exhausted, but it was still a really fun (and memorable) day despite all the crazy things that went wrong. 

Moral of the story: As cheesy as it sounds, even when things go wrong, things can still go right. :) At various points of the day, K and I could have easily turned on each other and just taken out our frustrations at one another. Finding a way to laugh about the craziness and embracing little surprises helped us turn a potential "worst-day-ever" to a "funniest-day-ever." 

Now, time for "best sleep ever." LOL

<3,

Tiffy

[tiffy trying] life in NY

In the past few months, I:

(1) graduated and become a master of something (MA Communication)

[ right before my final project Prezi at my summer fellowship ]

(2) moved to the big apple

[ skyline, street lamp & silhouettes at sunset ]

(3) watched a bunch of concerts (Goldfrapp, The XX, Sara Bareilles, The Neighbourhood)

[ amazebuckets ]

(4) ate a ton of delicious, decadent things

[ one of many food collages I have made & eaten ]

[ outstanding in the field - epic epicurean feast ]

(5) got inspired and cooked a bunch of (almost) amazing things

[ baked scones for tea time & styled the table like a boss ]

[ made truffle butter pasta w/ mushrooms & chicken ]

(6) saw a bunch of cool art (Paola Pivi, James Turrell, Sheep Station, Yayoi Kusama)

[ I was a little rebel and snapped some photos ]

[ baa! ]

(7) got engaged to my wonderful man of 6 years

[ a postcard I made of us months ago ]

(8) embarked on new adventures by trying and learning new things (Kangoo class, Gelato making class, experimenting with nail art)

[ my cousin and I rocked those cutesy nails like 9 year olds ]

(9) turned another year older/awesomer(?)

[ not me, but it could totally pass for me ] 

(10) got hitched

[ our wedding garland & my new, blue wedding shoes ]

Stories and details to follow soon. :)

<3,
Tiffy

[tiffy trying] out day 1 of grad school

Today was quite the eventful day.

My day started at 4am. The fire alarm in my building decided to have a full-on meltdown blaring for about an hour triggered by something that did not even happen in the building! It had something to do with the pizza smoke from the 7-11 next door. To make matters worse, the building super and the firemen who were called to the scene could not seem to find the kill switch. So the building residents and I stood in the lobby (since the threat wasn't from our building and it was just so ridiculously cold at -9°C outside) for a long while before the ear-splitting wailing finally stopped and we could return to our apartments.

Silver lining though- I managed to capture a pretty sweet night shot of my neighborhood and I found out that my neighborhood has a super cute corgi. Corgis bring me inordinate amounts of joy with their fluffy, stumpy legs and happy smiles. So adorable!

[corgi butt and fire truck picture taken by me on instagram]

[top: view from my apartment window

bottom: view from the lobby]

I managed to get a few hours of shut eye before I woke up and did errands- cleaned, washed dishes, organized stuff, retrieved mail, and prepared breakfast and lunch. I headed to the library before class to check out the amenities (I need internet in case my connection in the apartment goes down), then went off to attend my first class of the semester.

[breakfast of cheap, sleep-deprived champions: 

peach yogurt w/ granola and raisins]

Class was pretty great. There are 16 of us in my Organizational Communication course. The professor seems like the kind of lady who walks the talk and really emphasizes mixing theory with actual, real world application which I think is awesome. She facilitated healthy discussion in the class and tried to get students to voice their opinions and respond to other people's observations and contributions. My 15 other classmates come from diverse backgrounds- healthcare, politics, and education. I seem to be in the minority coming from a business background. Embarrassingly, I had a little bout with "stage fright" earlier in class today which has never happened to me before. I tried to contribute to the discussion but I flushed bright red and felt hot and completely uncomfortable. I'm just glad I didn't stutter or say anything silly (or get tourettes because that would suck).

After class I walked over to the grocery store to get some food for the weekend. The walk over was really cold because the sun was gone by then and the wind was really painful. Juggling my book bag, my handbag, and 3 grocery bags while wrestling with my keys and the weather was not the most ideal way to end the day. But as I'm sitting here on my couch, wrapped up in a blanket, watching Big Bang Theory reruns on TBS, and typing on my laptop, I'm struck by how quickly and how much things have changed, and how much I am strangely enjoying it. I'm attending class, doing homework, and preparing my own dinners (I'm giving myself some points for not having succumbed to take out/ delivery yet). It's somewhat surreal and yet really cool at the same time and for the first time in a really long time, I feel very mature and very grown up.

I also feel very, very cold. But I'll take my little victories wherever I can get them! :)

[little victory case in point: my sweet phone case w/c just came in the mail. 

I love it because it reminds me of storm troopers!]

<3,
Tiffy