International Women's Day

March 8, 2019

I posted this last year on my IG but it will always ring true each year so it deserves a repost and it's own blog post.

I love @jamiejchung's post about her mom so here's my own for #internationalwomensday!

FOR REAL, the props go to "all the immigrant women and mothers that came to America so that their children could have better lives. You are the dreamers, the risk takers and the unconditional lovers."

My mom is one of the hardest working women I know. She somehow raised 5 kids on churchmice income with my dad and somehow we always had food on the table and clean clothes. I don't know how we weren't on the side of the road in a cardboard box, honestly. She was always the last to eat at dinner because she wanted to make sure we all were well fed first. She protected us as best she could against all the evils of the world while trying to still allow us some freedoms so we could be somewhat normal like our American friends in school. She made all my clothes growing up and saved up every penny for me when I wanted the newest BSB or Spice Girls CD. I know it was hard for her but she persevered to learn English, to drive, get her citizenship and a job to provide my family with healthcare since my dad's job didn't provide it.

And even when I went away to college, she still made entire banquets for me every time I came home so I would have something to eat. She raced home 2 hours from the city when she was with visiting friends and family showing them around, because I was on the floor crying 2 nights before my wedding because my dresses didn't fit and performed gown surgery for me at 2am and into the night. She's selfless and loving and the strongest person I know even if she drives me crazy sometimes.

Home Away From Home

March 7, 2019

“Welcome home, princess,” they said.

Magic Kingdom is my home away from home. It’s my favorite park because there’s so much to do and something for everyone, I believe. There’s so many great rides, food, and iconic photo spots compared to the other parks. There’s so many “lands,” you have Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, Main Street USA and Liberty Square. It all comes together as the Magic Kingdom. It’s essentially the most magical and the best bang for your buck when it comes to the value of the park tickets. There’s always something to explore and see.

If you’ve never been but interested in going, I’d definitely recommend going sometime in your lifetime. What is holding you back? If it’s costs, Disney is more affordable than you think. There’s plenty of ways to cut corners and still have a great time and full Disney experience. If it’s because you have no one to go with, (i.e. schedules don’t align with friends, other friends aren’t Disney fans, etc) fret not because I still think you’d have a great time even if you go it alone. If anything, you might have a better time because hello? Single rider line bypasses all the wait times, haha! There are actually a lot of people who go to the parks by themselves and have an amazing time. But yes, it is nice to be able to share it with someone. My husband is not a big Disney fan but he still goes with me when the stars align and while he doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do, he still has a good time and is a gentleman holding all my bags for me when I ride rides he doesn’t care for, and is patient with me taking all my photos for me.

In this post, I’m going to go over some basics for commonly asked questions I always get when I visit the parks. If there’s anything I don’t touch upon that you’re interested in, feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll provide whatever insight I have on it.

Affordability

Price-point wise, I’ve discussed this before but I’ll go over it again since it’s a common question I keep getting about my trips to Disney. A lot of people think they can’t afford Disney, but if you plan it just right and go at the right times, it’s definitely affordable, and you can definitely do a whole park in a day. Some people even park hop because they’re able to get so much done, but personally for me, I prefer to do one park a day and enjoy everything I can in it.

Even if you’re on a budget, Disney is definitely still doable. I went all out for my birthday last fall, but this trip was a budget trip since I have to scale back to get my finances in order(I know, why are you even going on vacation then? But I already know I have bad priorities so let’s get that shit out of the way before you idiot MFs wanna call me out. We all have our vices, so don’t start with me if you're “broke af” but still out partying buying $15 drinks in the club).

Disney has hotels for all different budgets. I’ve stayed at one of each of the 3 tiers; value, moderate and deluxe, as well as a few off-site hotels as well. There are pros and cons to each and it all depends on your preference and budget but regardless, any of them are great choices, honestly. When staying onsite at any of the resorts, you have the luxury of free Disney transportation to and from the parks and resorts, Disney Springs, and the airport (the complimentary airport shuttle alone will knock a $60 Uber bill off your tab). Some hotels offsite also provide complimentary transportation to the parks, albeit on a less frequent schedule than Disney would provide so you have to be aware of when to board their buses.

RunDisney Princess Half Marathon

March 4, 2019

It’s been a minute! I’m back from the half marathon weekend and I have so much to discuss. Where to start?!

I’ll cut to the chase of the race results first. I completed it! (Obviously.) I finished the race in about 2 hours and 47 minutes, according to my official RunDisney results, although if you’ve ever ran these races, you’ll learn it’s not that exact, give or take 5-10 minutes due to a variety of factors, which I’ll go over. But this isn’t too far off since when I trained, the farthest I ran was 20 km in about 2 hours and 30 minutes time. The half is 13.1 miles, which is about 21 km, roughly. I placed 6115 out of 20100 total finishers, and 4818 in the gender place out of 17106 women who finished.

I can’t begin to tell you all the emotions I went through that day. From the start to the finish, every thing felt like a whirlwind. In retrospect though, I’d have to say it was quite the experience of a lifetime. It really does move you to see what you can do, what you are capable of and everyone around you motivating you as you push forward. It’s an amazing feeling.

Morning of the Race

I woke up feeling so anxious. Actually, that’s a lie. I didn’t really get any sleep that night at all, maybe an hour if I was lucky but I felt like I was up the whole night trying to fall asleep and then gave up at a certain point and just got up to get ready and warm up with my resistance bands for glute activation. So I didn’t wake up, per se, more like I got up at 1am since I had to be on the buses by 3am. The race doesn’t officially start til 5:30am so it was a long morning. I had a banana and a protein bar for breakfast on the bus although I wasn’t feeling very hungry but I knew I was going to need it as race fuel later on. You don’t want to run on empty. I was also racing with one of my best friends, which helped a lot to keep each other company during the long wait, since the beginning of the race took forever. It officially started at 5:30 but they launch in corrals and I was corral F so I didn’t get to start until nearly 6am.

My poor sisters also woke up in the dead of the night to make the mecca with us to the start line. Looking back, they didn’t need to be up so early, but now we know for next time they can just meet us at the Magic Kingdom checkpoint instead. I feel bad making them get up so early but I really appreciate the dedication to being my cheerleaders for this weekend. They were a big part of my trip and helping me push through it and I had such a great time because they were with me in body as well as spirit. They even made posters and held them up proudly. Just them being there and running to each checkpoint, screaming my name out, saying “YEAHHHH THAT’S MY SISTER!,” texting me throughout the race to check in with me and how I was doing, taking all my photos, well, it really did mean A LOT to me. It takes a lot of love to do something like that and it really meant something to me that they took the time out of their lives to come out for me.

Products I Used (for the makeup enthusiasts)

I read a few blogs regarding makeup specifically for races because I knew that regardless of how people warned against wearing makeup during races, I was going to do it anyway so I wanted notes from other racers who had done it. I’m vain, we know that, so let’s get that out of the way. I did my makeup, locking it in with primers before applying anything and then setting the finished look with Urban Decay’s All Nighter Spray, which is why everything still looked intact despite the humidity and my face feeling like it wanted to melt off, for those asking how I was able to cross the finish line still looking like a princess, hahaha. Using both primers to start and a setting spray to finish was double insurance.

I looked into a lighter coverage foundation than my usual full coverage to lessen the damage that might incur from the combination of foundation and sweat clogging up your pores and causing breakouts. I bought Dior’s Dreamskin cushion, which I ended up loving. It’s light and feels great on. It still covers up my freckles, albeit lightly, and I love that it just looks like an enhanced version of my natural skin, similar to a BB cream finish. I used a more natural looking color blush as well, as opposed to my traditional bright pinks. I tried to stay in neutral tones closer to my natural complexion, so that if I did sweat and my makeup started to melt off, it wouldn’t look a complete hot mess. I did choose a nice bright Barbie pink liquid lipstick though with a layer of glitter on top for my lip color. I wanted a punch of color to match my race outfit. Liquid lipstick I highly recommend for long wearing color. A lot of blogs also highly recommended waterproof mascara which I definitely can attest to its recommendation since regular mascara will definitely give you some raccoon eyes after a few miles. I opted out of false lashes for the race though to avoid the lash glue melting if mixed with sweat and getting in my eyes.