boston mtgs

... mean that i get to hang out with my sis, jess !!! :) here we are sharing a slice of paul's delicious rhubarb custard tart, a hot chocolate, and a cafe creme!

tgif

TGIF ... our first week back was a little startling each morning as the alarm sounded. pretty busy at work this week, given it's my new analyst's second to last week before moving to the west coast, so we didn't skip a beat at work and i worked till past 6pm today. yuck.

cats and dogs were raining sideways when i was walking out of the office, but luckily i was walking just 50 meters to the nearest ootoya where kevin had saved us two seats at the bar. it's been a while since we've been here - thinking back, not since august for yuan's birthday! for dinner, we shared a beautiful grilled sanma mackerel and the buta kimchi nabe. it was perfect on the cold, windy, wet night!

 

ALMOST THERE :D

with the lazy summer days coming to an end, the last few weeks have been long and tiring at the office. most of my day is spent training my new analyst, cooper, which is exhausting, but hopefully will pay off in the coming months as he gets more proficient with the day-to-day responsibilities. yay.

just gotta stay focused -- in just over 24 hours, we will be on our flight air NZ on our way to auckland via san fran! i wish our plane were the one below tho :p

 i hope we will see all these sheep ... bahhh ...

rip lehman brothers

today marks the 7th anniversary of the lehman brother holdings chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. i can't believe it's already been seven years! it was a pretty tumultuous time for me and many people i knew, and a day that would change my life forever (and empty out my 401k as well).

thinking back ...

• 7 years ago (2008), i was living and working for lehman brothers in tokyo. my friend, carrie, was staying with me for the week and i felt extremely lucky to have a close friend with me during those tumultuous times. it was also right around the time i met billy and emily, two of my closest friends in japan!
• 6 years ago (2009), i was back in new york city working for nomura securities and getting ready to launch the us index product. our offices were down in the world financial center, which is nowhere as nice as brookfield place is now, but i had a corner seat on the 22nd floor and views of the water. it was a bit distracting to say the least :)
• 5 years ago (2010), rose and i were planning our trip to colombia (october 2010)! as recent friends who did yoga together 2-3 times a week (i miss it ...), we decided to take a weeklong trip together to bogota and cartagena.
• 4 years ago (2011), jordan, forest, and i biked the new york century bike tour. that's +100 miles on the bike through almost all the boroughs (less staten island). it was brutal .. for jordan and forest especially because i was out-of-shape and riding a hybrid. somehow we are still pretty good friends :)
• 3 years ago (2012), kevin and i completed the new jersey gran fondo! well, we biked the first half together, and separated when i opted to do the piccolo fondo (42.6 miles) and kev opted for the medio fondo (62.7 miles). the following weekend, liz and tom, close friends from tokyo, came to visit and stayed with me for a weekend. the following weekend, kevin's younger brother, eric, came to visit and i met him for the first time. i remember it was like +100F all weekend (aka nasty). it was a busy month!
• 2 years ago (2013), we were in chicago celebrating the marriage of our friends, doshi and bijal. it was both of our first times attending an indian wedding (farm animal included, of course) and my first time wearing a sari! it was just a few weeks before our own wedding at the central park boathouse.
• 1 year ago (2014), we were preparing to move out of our union square apartment around this time. i was busy checking up on the renovation at the loft and attending weekly meetings with the architect and contractor. on top of back to back meetings that day, we had dinner at bobby flay's then recently-opened gato with friends. over the weekend, kevin did his second 70.3 half ironman down in princeton, nj. it was a pretty hot and humid day, and the bike and run course was really nothing to brag about, and he did really well :)

busy as a bee

so i haven't mentioned it yet, but i finally hired an analyst to join my team so i've been pretty busy training him up the past few weeks (hence the delayed posts). not to mention, i've also been spending my free time planning our upcoming trip to NZ.

it's going to be a little quiet ... but will be back soon :)

happy friday!

it's been a long week, possibly the first full five day week that I've worked in a while. in addition, it's been tiring training my new analyst, but it should pay off ... i hope!

i saw these guys on my way home. it's closing time for everyone! happy friday and labor day weekend!

outdoor yoga: p2

there are so many amazing things to do in nyc, and some of them are good for you and free! you just have to watch out for them :)

tonight the weather cooled down a bit and by 6pm, it was quite nice out with a slight breeze. i changed at the office and walked across the street for my second outdoor yoga class at bryant park (my office is the green building in the background). our instructor this evening, dan nevins, was a former seargeant in the us army and deployed to balad, iraq in 2004. nine months into his deployment, an explosive detonated beneath the vehicle he was riding in and he suffered traumatic brain injuries, as well as the ultimate amputation of both legs following +30 surgeries. he now serves as the director at the wounded warrior project, a yoga instructor, and a living inspiration for all of us.

and btw, it was one of the most vigorous yoga classes i have ever taken! looking forward to the next class and another fun instructor.

delayed indefinitely

lots of system failures and technical "glitches" today, and i got royally screwed. 

it started our 7am flight out of o'hare to laguardia. we got through security by 5:50am and boarded the plan around 6:35am, though due to some sort of unexplainable technical or mechanical failure, were asked to deplane after 45 minutes, and told that there was no expected time frame for departure again. turns out that there was some sort of nationwide system failure for all of united airlines, so we were stuck at the gate and didn't end up taking off until 10:45am.

when we landed at laguardia around 1:30pm local time, we learned that the nyse also experienced a technical glitch and all nyse trading went down at 11:51am. we later learned that wsj.com also went down for a little while. not sure if any of these are related, but it caused work to be a mess with lots of client inquiries and confusion around closing market mechanisms and prices to be used by the indices tonight.

garrett's popcorn was the little highlight of my long long day :)

take me out to the ballgame

quick trip to chicago for a day of client meetings and our company's annual cubs game client outing! the weather was 30 degrees colder this year than the last few, hitting lows of 55F tonight. brrr ...

also, the stadium recently installed three massive jumbotrons that were in discussions just last summer. they block the views from many of the houses and rooftops across the street, but we managed to secure one in the left outfield which still have a really amazing view!

best of all, cubs beat the cardinals in a pretty fun game, 5-2!

month-, quarter-, half-end

being month-, quarter-, and half-end (june 30th), today was a ridiculously busy day at work. i couldn't catch a break anywhere, and 7 large cap companies were issuing spin-off distributions while another handful of deals were all closing simultaneously. 

kevin took the train down to DC this afternoon for dinner with friends and to work out of the VA office tomorrow, so i heated up leftovers which have been marinating since sunday night (!!!) and feasted in the company of prison women in my living room.

here is a photo of our second niece, who is almost three months old now! hello, mini-eric :p

my sunshine

the sunshine to my day!

spring in boston

due to a highly-anticipated client meeting today, i spent the morning in boston and the city was truly magnificent. temperatures were in the 60s and the sun was shining brightly without a cloud to be seen (poor me). i only wish jess and ben were around to enjoy the gorgeous early days of spring here today, and for my  own selfish reason: to meet me for lunch :D

although i've been to hundreds of client meetings in my twelve years in the business, i still get a little stressed out when preparing for these meetings and feel a little nervous in the days leading up to them. as a research analyst, it's imperative that i have several relevant themes and talking points for each of my meetings. miraculously, clients have generally been happy and satisfied with the preparation and materials, and today was no different. and it's usually after the meeting that i breathe a huge sigh of relief. 

so if this is the case, almost every single time, why it is that i still feel the overwhelming sense of stress and nervousness each time? sigh.

here are a couple sites i passed on my way back to the airport: the boston fed reserve bank building and south station.

i finished off my three hours in boston with a cup of new england clam chowder at legal seafood! so tasty that it can't be good for you :)

in the evening, my first run for the week, a short 3.5 mile shake n bake with kev on the WSH before this weekend's brooklyn half!

a most important meal

maybe it's a nice welcoming distraction from work, but on weekdays, breakfast is my most important meal of the day. it has to be hardy enough to get me through the workday and a potential weeknight run, and if it's after a morning run, it has to be enough to refill the tank and keep me going until noon.

on most weekday mornings, my breakfast consists of a large cup of pourover coffee, thanks to the hubby (swoon), and a siggi's or fage greek yogurt with our homemade granola and hamptons honey. in the winter, i'll alternate with quaker's instant oatmeal. and on occasions, most notably in the summer and fall months when we are getting decent runs in, i'll add a donut on top of it.

below is the DOUGH dulce de leche yeast donut which kept this donut happy all morning long!

humiliation

my company hosted its second annual spa event for clients on the top floor of the nomura holdings new york headquarters this evening. for this event, the top floor is elegantly transformed into an spa-like oasis with white leather seating, diffused lighting, manicure-pedicure stations, massage chairs, and bobbi brown makeover stations, flanked by the infamous nomura sushi chef, a fully stocked bar, charcuterie, and more.

when my client, jacqueline, arrived, we were lucky enough to slide into two massage chairs and release the tensino . then jacque did a bobbi brown makeover while i made rounds around the room. when a pedicure seat finally opened up, i walked towards it, only to be stopped by a client who blatantly and loudly mistook me for a beautician and asked if i was ready for her.

!!!! :( talk about humiliation. even though i had already turned many shades of pink and purple, i didn't want to make her feel bad, but her salesperson explained to her that i worked at instinet and was not here to do her pedicure.

on a happier note, when i got back to the apartment, i saw that our new fiddle leaf fig tree that we picked up two weekends ago had sprouted its first new leaf! it's a light shade of green and so soft, healthy, and shiny! there's another one peeping out as well - how exciting!

it's a nice feeling to take care of something and watch it grow, and after a couple months, i think we've finally found the right spots for these finicky guys where they receive the right amount of indirect light in the apartment.

countdown

work has been stressful and almost tear-inducing the last two days. sadface.

therefore, today i started counting down the days until we head out for seattle (3 more days)! and a quick peek at the weather forecasts shows 42-59F, with "brilliant sunshine" on saturday and "plenty of sunshine" on sunday!

hoping to get in a couple runs around south lake union and green lake, check out some properties, and pig out on some tasty taiwanese food. just three more days to make it through this week of never-ending useless requests from new hires ..

best: it's a snowglobe outside again today :)

worst: need a junior analyst now.

smile: yabba dabba doooo !!!!!!!!!!!

security blanket

minutes after leaving the apartment building and upon entering the subway station on 23rd street this morning, i realized that i left my cell phone at home! 

as we walked along the subway platform, a look of desperation shadowed my face as the realization sunk in: no phone for a day? how will i reach people? what if i need to access something from my gmail account? kevin saw how crestfallen i was and suggested i go back to retrieve it, but the train was arriving in 3 minutes and i decided it's my own punishment for not being more careful packing my purse in the morning. off to work we went!

at the office, i had a long list of things to get done (mondays ahhh!!) and worked slowly to get through the list and check off each item as it was completed. it actually didn't really occur to me that i was missing my phone again until i was trying to send an email to our homepolish designer, which i eventually just sent from my work email. my greatest concern, however, was that people might be trying to reach me and i didn't want to inadvertently ignore any friends.

oh there was one other time i was pining for my phone and that was while i was waiting for the train on the way home. but other than that, leaving it at home really didn't make much of a difference and i actually felt much more focused at the office.

when i arrived home, i changed out of my work clothes into my "home clothes" and started preparing dinner. it wasn't until much later when i actually checked my phone and saw: 0 messages! haha .. i had been worrying for nothing.

it might not be a terrible idea to leave the security blanket, i mean, cell phone at home a little more in the future.

office holiday party

woohoo! we had our office holiday party this evening at the ainsworth park ave, a sports bar that opened a few years ago in gramercy. the venue was great, drinks were flowing, and i was done after 3 glasses of piniot grigio.

though i dread going to company holiday parties, im usually pleasantly surprised because i end up having a pretty good time. i got to chat with a lot of people i don't usually interact with on the floor, and that's where you end up hearing all the juicy work gossip anyways :)

afterwards pumped the jjlin station in the apartment and forced kevin to do a slow dance with me in the kitchen :) time to pack for seattle! the last red-eye for 2014 ...

work and more work

it was pitch black out, but we ventured out for a quick run. this time it was much warmer, low 40s i think. kevin wanted to step it up so we did some fartleks. these running patterns are pretty boring though!

after work, i went home and started cleaning out the guestroom and hallway closets, and removing the existing shelves and rods. it was pretty tiring (i'm not used to manual labor!), but i had to get it done since the cali closet guys are coming on monday morning and i have my company holiday party tomorrow and we are off to seattle for the wkd!

dinner was tasty, but pretty pathetic. since it was late and i was feeling tired after laboring in the closets, i heated up leftover white rice and paired it with fish floss:)

superman came home around 8 and started working on the second half of the closets while i caught up on gilmore girls & tea.

ps, i forgot to mention that eagle-eyed-kevin locked in a refi rate for us today and we will start to save millions starting in 2015!!! woohoo ~ that brain of his never stops working.

sorbet friday

yes it was another glorious r1 fleece + jeans friday :) it was very very cold out, so kevin and i both donned our down jackets today. clearly we didn't think through the attire carefully as we looked like a bowl of sorbet with our bright shades of rose and orange. kevin is not a happy camper in this photo at 23rd street upon the realization that we looked like doofuses today. oops :p

the head us agency trader, larry, brought in a box of munchkins today and decided to leave them on my desk. people i haven't spoken to in ages were stopping by all morning making small talk. haha ..

oh yes, and i rocked out with beyonce ALL DAY listening to her 2014 vma awards performance. can i purchase this anywhere please?

finally, my friends ceasar, tom, and mary are launching their PHUMPLINGS at the shwick market this sunday! go out and support :)

hubby is back!

today was a long long day.

checked out of the sheraton toronto at 6am and boarded an 8:15am flight back to nyc. nyc was gloomy, cold, and rainy! ride to the apartment took as long as the flight (1.5 hrs) and i wasn't feeling well - tired and with a headache. stepping into the apartment felt pretty amazing ... mike and one of his subs were there, working away quietly on installing the bathroom vanities and working on punchlist items. i'm going to miss seeing and interacting with these guys! they have been my right arm and leg for the last three months.

napped for 15 min before heading into the office before noon, fully aware of the fact that i would have to work late into the evening for a big msci index rebalance announcement. worked till 7, trained back, but kevin wasn't back from drinks yet. met at 7:30 for a quick bite at chipotle up the street. not the most romantic reunion, but sometimes that's how we have to roll.

not a terrible day, but a lone one. good to have my husband back :)

best: uber from laguardia rocks! no waiting, clean car, professional driver.

worst: work for two! i need an analyst ... quick. hopefully the search is winding down.

smile: for the past +3 months, i've spent so much time interacting with our contractors, it feels like mike, our foreman, is a part of the family, or at least a fixture in the apartment. since we moved in, he has been extremely respectful of our space and personal belongings, and making sure he leaves no tracks when he works each day. there's almost no evidence of him coming through the apartment, except for improvements and new fixtures being added on a daily basis! i guess what i'm trying to say is that he's earned our trust and i hope he will stick around as a friend of the family even after our project is over.

ps. bathroom vanities have been installed :)