Blogging and Privacy

{Drawing by Tu Gribouilles}

I am torn. I love blogging. I love to share snippets of my life, and products that I like and hope could be beneficial to you. I like telling stories and hope that people can relate. That is all fine and dandy for my food blog. I keep people anonymous when they want to be. But when it comes to my unborn child I am torn. I know everything she does is going to be adorable, and I will have a million pictures of her. But do I want to share them? Do I want digital copies of my kid’s face floating on the internet?

For the most part the internet has been good to me. I haven’t run into anything detrimental. I try to keep tabs of what I share and consider those in my lives when sharing. However, there are still times where I come across people stealing my pictures and using it as theirs, or even have my face as their face! I do not want that for my mini bun. I don’t even want to use her name in a public space. But can I really be an effective mommy blogger (MamaMiemo.com), if I won’t even share pictures of my kid? I honestly don’t even wanna put stuff up on my personal facebook!

I love looking at the cute kids when I’m reading through parental blogs. But the internet is a big scary place, for a tiny baby. How do you guys feel about it?

Ramblings: Social Media Lives

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Can I let you in on a secret? I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I love the easy access to keeping up with the daily lives of friends and family far away. I love discovering new things and making new blog/twitter/instagram friends. It builds a great sense of community, and there are people that can relate and I can pick their brains about topics of my interests. These are the things I love, and these are the reasons why I probably won’t give it up.

matrix
(Source)
I don’t have a personal facebook. My dog has one. I use his account to play games. And post pictures of him. I share lots of my life on instagram (things I want to share, not everything) and I have random commentary on twitter. But I don’t live on social media. I hang out with my friends, eat food, talk, cook, read etc. What I noticed with our society lately is people LIVING on social media… and a lot of the times they live fake lives.

There are different types of people. People who use social media for branding, people who use it for an online interests community (like I mentioned before), people who use social media to share only with people that care about them and vice versa (usually have everything on private), people who use social media to garner attention to feed their narcissistic behavior, and people who use social media to prove to other people that they are living fabulous lives when really they are trying to make themselves feel better about their own life. I read about this somewhere, I believe it’s called “Fakebooking”.

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(source unknown via pinterest)

I think this is the hate reason in my love/hate relationship. I’ve decided to cut out quite a few excess people in my life, due to their need to always one up everyone. I feel like this is fueled by such easy access to anyone’s lives via instagram/twitter/facebook. You start comparing yourself, and your life to someone else and it turns you into a monster!

That being said, I’m not going to give up on twitter or instagram. Who know’s I will probably get facebook sometime down the line to share pictures of my kids or something…but somehow I still feel like I won’t. I want to send more handwritten cards/letters/notes this year. Old school. Use up my stamps and paper supplies. Our life is so digital that sometimes I miss tangible things. I want to organize my things and be paper free and declutter. But I still love being in the real world as opposed to the digital world.

What about you? Are you living in the real world? And no, not the MTV show.

 

Life with Bawse

You can scroll and look at the cute pictures. The below is just me ranting about the injustice that pitbulls get for looking the way that they do.

This puppy. So much has happened. He is finally potty trained, did I mention that? THANK GOODNESS. He is now almost 11 months, and almost 70lbs. He still seems like a little guy, but he just all muscle. His face is still the sweetest face and his temperament goes to match. He goes to a daycare where he hangs out with 2 little boys ages 3 and 4.

Despite being a friendly and submissive pitbull, he still gets discriminated against? What, I should probably stop writing about it, because it still happens and really nothing I can do about other people's ignorance. Aside from proving them wrong after and having them be scared to make eye contact with me after.

Yep. I'm talking about at the dog park when some jerk yelled at us because Bawse was playing with his dog. He wasn't even watching his stupid dog, who repeatedly came up to Bawse who was playing with his German Shepard puppy friend Nalu and tried to start stuff. This husky was clearly a jerk. He kept coming through biting at Bawse's jowls and then running off, taunting Bawse to chase him. None of the times Bawse ran after him did he catch the husky, because Nalu, being the great shepherd that he is would always distract Bawse before he caught up to the husky.

The owner, who has been evil eyeing Bawse since he came into the park (we were there first), was so busy chit chatting to even see what his dog was doing. And the one time he looked up and saw my pitbull chasing his jerk husky he has the audacity, to tell us to take our dog and leave. Wow. Are you racist too you ignoramus? He yells at us about our dog bullying his, and how our dog is aggressive. Are you fucking kidding me? Have you SEEN how my dog plays? He's getting humped by every dog, and not fighting it, and he is constantly on his back letting all the other dogs sniff and dominate him. After awhile (because we weren't going leave on principle) he saw that he was wrong. And ignorant.

I can guarantee that I am more vicious than my dog. You can make fun of me, judge me, call me names all you want. It doesn't bother me. I know who I am and I am happy with myself as a person. BUT DON'T YOU DARE openly judge my dog, and cast your ignorant opinions out loud to me in public. My pup would love you regardless, he will lick you, greet you and love you, and he doesn't even know you. Because that is how dogs are. Why couldn't he give my dog the same chance to make an opinion instead of coming in with this idea of what Bawse would be like. It gets me upset, because like with people you can't just judge them by race, you formulate your opinions on your individual interaction with that person.

This makes me not want to go to dog parks. Puppy play dates anyone?

So, Bawse is also on some kind of separation anxiety/destruction mode. Might I add, they he was in his crate before we left. And this happened when we got back. I no longer have a couch. I am hoping he grows out of this stage.

 

Ramblings: Don’t Fear Failing

That is a great quote. Easier said than done. I’ve been wanting to write this cookbook for awhile now. I’ve talked about it a couple times to my family and friends. Took some pictures of foods on instagram. Selected which recipes of my mom’s I want in it. Now the hard part comes.

Maybe I just was over ambitious in trying to make 3 Lao dishes from my cookbook in one day, but I am tired. Unmotivated…and really in need of a sous chef. This is not my day job. I am in no way a chef. I like to call myself a ninja cook in training. I’m fearless, and I like a challenge in the kitchen, but I’ve never cooked in a restaurant. Everything I’ve done is more along the lines of cooking for people in their homes as a gift, or creating menus and catering small events for my friends.

That being said, of course I have my doubts. This cookbook has grown into something more than just a small keepsake for myself and my future kids. People noticed there was a void in the world of Lao cooking, when I mentioned I was working on a cookbook, they wanted in. But “in” meaning they wanted a copy. Putting more pressure on me to make sure my measurements, timing, methods and writing were correct, and easy enough for someone else to pick up and make themselves. If you can read, you can cook. That is not always true. People can read, but can they REALLY read? Think about that one.

Time is of the essence. I have a full time career. It’s not a job, it’s a career. Meaning I am in an office somewhere during prime natural light for photographing, and I come home tired. A lot of the time I just want to come home, kick off my shoes, shower and go to bed. But nope, there’s a puppy that needs attention and some tummies to be fed. Lao food can be pretty time consuming. Mom’s are usually home all day cooking and preparing this food for their husbands and children. So that means, I can only do this on weekends. Along with my household chores, and anything else I need to get done.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cooking. I usually have weekday meals planned to cook, maybe twice a week! Basically I am writing this because I feel like I failed. I failed to measure my ingredients, so that I could write it into my cookbook for you to cook. I cook with my eyes, and my tongue and my nose. I cook with heart, and it’s so hard to tell you exact measurements of my food. I cook until its delicious. I am going to be making and tweaking and testing and writing these recipes over and over…I’m already sick of pho, nam, beef jerky and sausages. Somebody come eat this stuff!

I always have so much going on, because I like it, but sometimes I wonder what projects are worth continuing. Currently I’ve got, cookbook, miemonster chronicles, and organizing and decluttering my home so I could host more food events. I might not sound like a lot, but mix that in with all the cooking, photographing (that I really need to get on), designing, writing, and training a puppy that is constantly terrorizing my shoes, but is so darn cute its hard to punish him, oh and working 40+ hrs week…*shakes head* oh and contributing content to other blogs…yeah its a lot. But I’m happy and I love it. Wait was this a venting post?

I used to write this blog for Cece, now I’m writing it for Kristina too. My sorority little sister, who says I need to write longer posts (how’s this one for ya kid?) She’s made me rethink about the direction of my blog. Perfect timing too, since Miemonster Chronicles will be turning 2 in a couple weeks! How will we celebrate?!

Bye Bye Coupe

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Well this is a little bittersweet. Let’s take a trip down memory lane. I just graduated college. It was time to get a big girl car, on my own. I decided on a brand new 2008 altima coupe. First of it’s kind in 2007. I had to have it ordered and delivered to the dealership because I wanted a 6 speed manual.

It was my first loan. My literal freedom. No using parent’s car or insurance, I was solo. Accompanied by my first apartment with NO roommates. I was kind of kicking butt at life after college. At least I thought so. Now that I’m older, I am ready to ditch the couple life and open up to the comfort of 4 doors, or 5 doors since my new car will be a hatch, otherwise known as a wagon.

WHAT. I ditch a sporty coupe…for a wagon?! It’s not as lame as you think, trust me. The new car is going to be fast, yet super safe and dependable. I LOVE IT and I can’t wait until it gets here. I had to order this one too, because I wanted a 6 speed hatchback and there are none around here that I could find already on the lot.  I won’t go into detail about it though.

So why is it bittersweet? Well basically the car was around when my mom was around. She went with me to get it blessed. She worked at the dealership that I bought it from. And I just guess I feel like I am losing another piece of her, as I slowly move forward with my life. No longer in the apartment that she’s been to. No long have the hair that she’s touched (I chopped it all off and donated it to women who need hair after losing it to cancer). Soon, not the car that she once road in, and had adventures with me in.

Why Do You Blog?

Blogging 101
That’s a really good question. I am one among, if not the only, friend in my real life group of friends that blogs regularly. Yes I can say that I am regular. I have 3 posts a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I don’t even know how it turned into this, that you are reading, but you know what, I am pretty proud of it.

Friends!

This space started out as a spot for me to post pictures and tell stories of my life to my cousin, who lives in France. Being a graphic designer, I was naturally inclined to lay it out, instead of just email her. That and if anyone of my other out of town cousins wanted to see what I was up to, I could just be like, “oh read my blog!” I am not here to make money, or have the sole purpose of selling something. I just was making a searchable online journal with pictures. I still search every once in awhile and read about stuff I’ve done. Or remember how to do something that I’ve already done.
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Then I realized the things that I love to do. Eat, cook and travel. What if someone else wanted to know how to make something, from my trials and tribulations? Or what if someone else needed some tips on a town they are visiting. Maybe they will google, and stumble upon my blog and learn from my experience. Thus the chronicles began. In addition to that, instagram came about, and people wanted to know how to make the things I post there, and just more content was added to the blog.

I'm BLOGGING this! - MOO Sticker Design

I don’t know if anyone else is reading. But that’s okay. I am happy with my little space on the web. I know that through my blog, I’ve made some blog friends which is super cool. Someone else out there can relate to the things I ramble about and I’ve made connections. I’ve talked to local people to, and have gotten suggestions and tips for my own area.

Social media and the internet doesn’t have to be a scary space if you are smart about it. I don’t write too many personal things on here, and I try to get permission before sharing too much information about other people. I love blogging. I realized that I love writing, and sharing stories.

Remember the xanga and livejournal days? I’m sure we all had it, now we are just smarter about it. I am building my brand, networking and I love it. Many opportunities have presented itself through my blog, and I am able to use my experience in helping small companies build their brand too!

I love to read blogs, and I am always on the look out for new blogs to read, whether it be food, fashion, life or art. I especially love it when people I KNOW, write blogs. I don’t know why, because most of the time I am living it up with them, haha. Especially when one of my friends has multiple blogs. Ha ha ha. I only have one though.

I currently make NO money off this blog. I do have an amazon affiliates link on the side if you wanna send some money my way with your usual purchases, but I’m definitely not trying to make a living off of you! The items in the amazon shop are things that I actually use at home, and like. So you can always ask me questions about it too if you want an opinion before purchasing. There’s also a link to my closet items for sale in case you want to snag some of my dresses that don’t fit anymore (that’s what happens when you cook/bake and don’t hit the gym regularly).

Why do you blog?

 

Life with Bawse: Breed Discrimination

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Bawse is an American Pitbull Terrier. At 16 weeks old, he’s 24 lbs of solid muscle and excess wrinkly skin. He loves his mama and his papa. He knows our pack. He follows our pack. Sometimes he gets distracted, like all small children, but he can behave, is smart, sweet and stubborn. He’s a puppy. He didn’t choose to be born, he didn’t choose to be born a pitbull, but we CHOSE to give him a good home, love, and training.

Bawse goes to puppy school. He goes to puppy day care. He goes to the dog park. He’s socialized with other dogs, small animals, small people, and big people. He knows when to play rough and when to be gentle. Yet despite all this. People judge him by his looks.

“Is that a pitbull?” says a woman rudely, as she hogs two tables outside a local froyo place. “Yes.” I say. She scoffs, and returns to stuffing her face with her large bowl of froyo. I was going to ask if I could sit at her table with her, but I decide against it since she gave off such a stank attitude. I walk Bawse over to the side. Ask him to sit, and wait patiently while daddy gets us froyo.

The stank faced lady’s kids asked her if they could go pet my puppy, and she promptly responds,” NO. It’s a pitbull”. The kids, having no idea what different breeds were, and just saw a small puppy asked, “WHAT’S A PIG BULL?”. The lady just says no, and tells her kids something along the lines of bad dog, or bite you. I only half listened because I was so frustrated and holding back anger.

HOW DARE SHE ASSUME my puppy was bad, or vicious? Does she also assume that I am a no good hoodlum because I am covered in tattoos? I get it. People will always judge. Be the bigger person. Blah Blah, I understand. She doesn’t know how sweet my little guy is. She doesn’t know him. Fear of the unknown is understandable. But why did I get so mad? I see breed discrimination, the same as racism. Small dogs can be vicious, and aggressive (AND they pick fights with Bawse at the dog park) yet no one gives a shit because they are small and people aren’t intimidated. If a rumble goes down at the dog park, and Bawse is anywhere near it, close minded, snotty owners will automatically assume its him. I prefer him to play with his great dane buddies who actually rescue him from the wanna be badasses like the westies that wanna dominate him because he’s young.

Pitbulls get a bad rep. I know this. I didn’t actually think I would face it in my lifetime with Bawse. My friends, and family, all have pitbulls or love pitbulls and I surround myself with open minded people. This lady is not my friend, nor do I know her personally. But she’s raising her kids to be judgmental and presumptuous. Good luck to them, and their future with a mom like that.

I hope that I am making the right choices in training and socializing him. Maybe people will meet him, and realize, that just like human children, it’s all about how you raise them.

Ramblings: If We Met Now, Would We Be Friends?

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So hopefully you have all seen this episode by now. If not, spoiler alert, sort of.

I love New Girl, like all of us girls who are a little bit awkward at some points in our life. When I was watching this, it made me think of my friendships through the years. I still have one friend, who’ve I’ve been friends with…wait for it…SINCE KINDERGARTEN.

We had a lot of ups and downs as we grew into the person we are today, but in the end, we came back around and realized we can still be friends. Time has a lot to do with relationship. You know how people always say when it comes to finding “the one” with a significant other, it is always the timing? I figured it is the same way with friends.

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I’ve changed a lot since those school age years. I  would not have imagined myself the way I am now, back then. Not saying its a bad thing. As for the friendships, the friends that I met AFTER college are the ones that are my day to day. Or, the friendships from my childhood that has rekindled as adults too. These will be the friends that will be “aunts” to my kids. It makes me sad though, to think of the friends I lost touch with or don’t have anything to relate to anymore.

But I think you don’t need as many friends as adults, because you’ve already been well-socialized 😉

So Wait, You’re Telling Me They’re Aliens?

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug No. No. No. No. Michael Bay, what are you doing? Ok, I know, he told us to take a chill pill and wait, but I am so tired of all these remakes… (even though I thought 21 Jump Street and A-Team were effing hilarious) and changing stuff up. In case you are too lazy to read the article, Mr.Transformers himself is redoing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was super excited, right? Because I’ve worn out all my live action movie dvds. Until I found out that they will no longer be mutants…but aliens? *Insert Tears* Obviously this isn’t going to stop me from watching it. But I will be extremely upset if they are the same turtles we all know and love.

I will get Raphael on your ass.

“Michael Bay is a fuck up. You can quote me on that.” my best friend Goose.

***Love the picture?  Vitya found it in a bathroom in brooklyn.