How is January already halfway through? I’m running behind on my year-end/new year blog posts, but let’s have a look at what 2017 looked like for me:
Fun fact: I began and ended 2017 in China!
- Dyed my hair red – for real this time
January 1 from the glass bridge at Zhangjiajie - Walked across the tallest and longest glass-bottomed bridge in the world in Zhangjiajie
- Flew alone on an international flight for the first time
- Which included my first ever visit – via layover – to the Middle East
- Signed up for ClassPass
- Attended my first-ever Washington Capitals game (and my first NHL game in well over a decade, if not my first NHL game ever)
- Dined at a DC Michelin star restaurant for the first time – Rose’s Luxury
- Sent off our panda cub Bao Bao before she goes to China
- Presented to a class of new hires who are me from one year ago
- Slept with a zillion wires for my first sleep study
- Visited San Francisco to see friends and support Ben presenting at a conference while:
- Visiting the California Academy of Sciences
- Visiting the Exploratorium After Dark
- Visiting the Walt Disney Family Museum
- Eating cioppino in the city where it was invented
- Visiting the California Academy of Sciences
- Asked Danny Boyle about how his movies are interpreted by audiences at home and abroad
- Sipped on drinks out of a lucky cat cup at a cherry blossom + Super Mario-themed pop-up bar
- Watched The Little Mermaid ballet on my own
- Met Representative Maxine Waters at the US Botanic Garden
- Experienced the repetitive patterns of profound genius at Infinite Kusama, the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the Hirshhorn
- Attended my first-ever Washington Wizards game (and my first NBA game ever)
- Saw Chicago! at the Kennedy Center, starring Brandy (!!!)
- Tried acro-yoga and a bit of aerial yoga
- Danced the Charleston and put aside my aversion to flapper style for a Gatsby party
- Met Tim Gunn before hearing him speak about disco fashion at the Library of Congress
- Toured downtown DC while learning about the assassination of President Lincoln through an awesome immersive walking tour with the Ford’s Theatre
- Danced and sweated at 7AM on the Kennedy Center terrace
- Down-dogged at cat yoga
- Learned loads at RevolutionConf during my first visit to Virginia Beach
- Tasted samples prepared by 3 of the top Asian cuisine chefs in DC
- Asked Edgar Wright about the hidden details of his work
- (Finally) Cosplayed at AwesomeCon, my first ever convention
- Attended the opening day preview of Ai Wei Wei’s new exhibit at the Hirshhorn
- Showered my friend Gretchen with love and gifts for her soon-to-arrive baby
- Danced at 7AM beneath the new National Building Museum’s summer installation, Hiv
- Namaste’d beneath The Hive, too
- Visited my brother while he was interning in Delaware
- Cooked 9 Blue Apron meals
- Slept through another sleep study, through the night and the day
- Floated down the river during my first river-tubing trip
- Witnessed the Great American Solar Eclipse in person with my family
- Returned to my home city of New York for Labor Day
- Revisited Paris with Ben
- Visited the Louvre
- Visited Versailles
- Visited the Louvre
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- *~*~Got engaged~*~*
- Posed for 2 engagement shoots
- Frolicked at Disneyland Paris
- *~*~Got engaged~*~*
- Pondered color and interactivity at Artechouse
- Laughed watching Whoopi Goldberg do standup at the Kennedy Center
- Felt so many feelings watching Death of a Salesman at Ford’s Theatre
- Cheered on knights at the Maryland Renaissance Festival
- Nearly won a Disney trivia night with a 2nd place finish
- Experienced my first omakase dinner at Sushi Hachi
- Wore a week of Sailor Senshi-themed blazer-centric outfits
- Channeled Rey for Halloween as part of a Star Wars group at work
- Saw Christopher Nolan speak at the Library of Congress
- Partied at the National Air and Space Museum’s Found in Space
- Visited New Orleans for the first time!
- Delivered a lightning talk about karaoke because it’s me
- Received a chipped tooth courtesy of a drunk coworker (seriously)
- Walked with locals at my first ever WalkWithLocals instameet
- Watched another Washington Capitals game
- Traveled to Buffalo for a business trip
- Saw Chad Michael Murray standing about 3 feet in front of me in the hotel lobby
- Celebrated my birthday with hot pot and karaoke and friends
- Flew to China to celebrate the holidays with my family
- Rang in the new year with about a million people in the streets of Hong Kong
December 31 from Victoria Peak
For better or worse, it has been a really eventful year. I feel super motivated to go into 2018 and achieve so many things. Stay tuned for my resolutions post to see what specific things I hope to achieve and how I plan to achieve them!
Sip of Starrshine 