observations, humor, and nonsense
Beauty hacks come in all shapes and sizes, but budget beauty hacks that reuse materials you already have in the house are the best. I mean, don’t you just hate waste? For example, I’ve always felt a sense of loss after I’ve clipped my nails, especially my toenails because they’re so big! But did you…
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Okay, okay, maybe domestic goddess is too strong a term, but I do enjoy cooking, keeping a clean house, and staying at home. When it’s cold out, I’ve been known to pick up my crochet needles. I can build a fire to warm up a winter home. I love to bake. (I miss baking! Thai…
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It’s been years since I wrote a painful-but-true Valentine’s Day post, so I thought I’d dust off the ‘ol corners of the brain, and pull out the EMBARRASSING MOMENTS file for your stupid holiday pleasure. Enjoy.
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Upon learning that I am half-Thai, folks want to know, “Can you cook Thai food?” When I was younger, the answer was no. As in why on God’s green and blue earth would I want to? My mom can cook wonderfully though, thank you. As I got older, I became annoyed by my mom’s badgering.
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I’m binge watching Season 24 of America’s Next Top Model (don’t laugh). In fact, I’ve watched every season (not every episode though) because I’m a wannabe model. Funnily, I take really bad photos, but counteract this by making goofy faces, and accepting the fact that I’m not photogenic. But what has struck me, as I…
Read More“I exercise so hard every day, but I still look like this.” I looked at her critically and said, “You’re not fat, your fine.”
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There is a blogger I follow on Instagram (I don’t know why, really, I don’t read her blog, but I find her – a curiosity) and she’s posted recently that she LOVES women’s magazines and how she’s obsessed with them. It reminded me of a time when I felt the same way. I used to…
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Ah, the joys of womanhood, eh? Every one of us ladies can remember our first visit from Uncle Payne and Auntie Flo. Or that time, you didn’t know you were going to have it and how you decided to wear light pink pants that day. Or that time in Bangkok, the city of grit and…
Read More![Forever 32....[disclaimer, I'm nowhere near 32]](https://lanivcox.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/pablo.png?w=690)
It started off with shoes, but then it became a bigger question. Does where you live change the way you dress? Yes. A resounding yes.
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Being called crazy is usually considered positive and fun. Rarely is crazy what it really is – insanity. Blame it on slang, youth culture, or pop music – crazy, these days, seems to be crazier than ever. “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”― Albert Einstein I remember…
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In the US, if you call someone fat, it is considered insulting, even if it is true. It’s more polite to say “heavy” or “big”. But in Thailand, the word “fat” does not have the same weight because it’s the height that means the most.
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(And are there free cookies and punch involved?) Feminism is such a LOADED word jammed-packed with wholesome cynicism, abuse, and misunderstanding. But the good girls at The Lady Errant and She is Fierce have started a link-up on feminism, so before I knew it, I was contemplating, “Am I a feminist? What does that word…
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So, I signed this petition (I’ve been signing petitions lately.). This one is by 18 Million Rising because American Girl® doll cancelled their only Asian American doll. 18MR basically wants American Girl® to create another doll that looks like us.
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As an American, not competing seems almost blasphemous, but I feel the world is competitive enough. And fighting against each other under this idea of finite resources is overrated, freezing, and frankly part of the reason why we lack compassion. Blogger Lisa Kramer wrote this thought-provoking article and she asks, Do you ever read things…
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Today is not a good day to confess your love for someone. Actually, no day is really a good day for this kind of thing. I remember when I lived with 3 other very strange people in Eugene Oregon. (I’m deeply scarred from that experience, particularly from catching my landlady pleasuring herself – why did…
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I like American football. I have fond memories from childhood, when the rest of childhood was more complicated and slippery. People are often surprised to hear that I like American football. I suppose because I don’t announce this, I don’t seem like the type (???) and because after college, I’ve never dated a guy who…
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While waiting for take-out, I took out my notebook and wrote SHIFTS, as in shifts in perceptions, rites of passage, ah-ha moments . Maybe it’s the anthropologist in me, but I’m interested in this dying tradition. Not because I like tradition, so much as I like the idea that we have to go through something…
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Thais are obsessed with appearances both physically and socially. As a result, there are some pretty weird beauty products out there. Not all directly from Thailand, but nevertheless, Thailand has adopted them like a plastic surgeon’s knife. But it wasn’t until I was recording Thai Girl Talk’s podcast about the death of Athitiay “Kratae” Eiamyai…
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Wow! Who’s that sexy cute alien on the left? And check out the transformation below 😀 Thank you Eric for all your hard work! You are a PhotoShop guru. *The movie if you are wondering is Gamera vs. Guiron 1969
Read MoreI’m a little angry at myself. I was talking to a friend about my ex-boyfriends. You know, the real gritty gruel ones, the ones you regretted, the ones that made you wonder why you tolerated that shit.
Read MoreI was starting to freak out a bit. You see, for my 39th 29th birthday, I decided to cut my long locks short. Students would give me compliments. I went through a series of perm, straight, bangs, transformations and then students started to cut their hair short. A-lai-wah?
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The day I stopped wanting to be Thai happened in the winter of 2012. I just wanted to go to Sukhothai. I just wanted to go to Sukhothai. I just wanted to go to Sukhothai.
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I didn’t want to ask for man-help because I couldn’t figure out how to put the ink cartridge in my new printer. But that was just the beginning of a day of little disasters, and by disasters I mean doing nothing right, and basically feeling like a stupid fool.
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(Alternative title: Let’s Meet the Rock Stars) To kick off the New Year, the Year of the Snake, 2556, 2013, etc, etc, and to celebrate 3 years in Chiang Mai, I started New Year’s Day, writing. This is meant in jest, as I feel I must explain, because I do adore and love men. And…
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When I first heard Lady Gaga’s Hair, I thought it was brilliant because women strongly identify with their hair. All you have to do is watch any America’s Next Top Model makeover episode and you’ll see terribly attractive ingénues weeping for pity’s sake over their cherished locks being cut.
Read MoreHow to find a public toilet in Thailand is as tricky as finding a rubbish bin. Of course, there are some places where a respectable receptacle can be found easily, like in Chiang Rai, but in Chiang Mai, well, its perplexing business.
Read MoreMy clothes are starting to hold memories, like a stain that won’t come out. The dress I wore when I taught “English” with my friend Jess to 250 students at the Holiday Inn. The dress I got the night I watched the boy I liked flirt with another woman. The special dress that I wore…
Read MoreIt’s the end of the year (again) so you know what that means! Well, I don’t know what it means for you but for me it is a time of introspection. I go back and read my journals and see where I was at and what I was doing when the new year started.
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Can you be friends with an ex?
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Why do white guys like Asian women?
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First of all, be thankful you have a heart because your ex certainly hasn’t… Secondly, do something you’ll really regret like cut off all of your hair, beg him to have you back, or write on your FB wall: My ex’s new girlfriend reads my blog. Is that weird or what? Or on his wall:…
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I used to hate the way I looked. Ug. If I was a guy, I’d be in bliss since there are so many beautiful women in Thailand. Thankfully, I read something a long time ago that comforts me. It’s from Marianne Williamson, “There’s room for all of us to be beautiful.” A Return to Love…
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