Houston Farewells

Up until March 21, I was fortunate enough to have the most amazing family and friends to share my last few weeks with. My parents were awesome enough to put together a family and friends farewell party for me at the house. It was amazing to see my family and friends in a relaxed environment just sharing food and having a good time. If anyone knows me, they know family means alot to me so being able to have one last family party before I left was perfect. 

Along with my family, I also go to invite some of my closest friends. I’m not the type to have friends that all come from the same group. All my close friends kind of come from different walks of life. So out of the approximately 15 friends who came, the group was kind of split in two of who knew who. But, being that my friends are awesome, everyone got along in the end and it was a night filled of drinking, King’s Cup, Taboo and Heads Up. The amount of laughing, yelling, jokes and good vibes were unreal that night. IT was amazing! Its rare that my peers would have parties or get togethers like this anymore being that we usually go out to a bar or club, but this change of drunken game night in was really refreshing and memorable. 

With my family and friends party at home, I also had an event for all of my friends to come out and karaoke me off at one of our favorite karaoke spots, Genji’s. How fitting that this was a Japanese spot! So on Sunday the 16th of March, some of my favorite people gathered to eat, drink, and sing me with. I am so thankful for everyone who came, friend or acquaintance, it was such a pleasure and joy to see people coming out to see me. Their familiar faces will definitely be missed! (yes that’s you!)

With big gatherings also came small ones. Lunch dates and dinner dates filled the rest of my time in Houston as well as mad preparation for the big move date. Being a super plan oriented person, my mind was becoming stressed with everything I had to do. It took an extra effort to really slow down and be mindful. 

Another huge change I took upon myself was cutting off my hair. Many of you may think, it’s just hair what’s the big deal, but my hair is a great deal to me. It is my sense of security, something I hide behind when insecure. But I just thought, my life is about to be turned upside down into something different and awesome, why not make a physical change as well. So I went to see my favorite hair stylist, Chris Do and had him work his magic. Thankfully, I’ve known Chris for years so I trusted what he was about to do. Also my hair was long enough to donate so because chopping it off, he tied it up and asked me, “you ready?” Ready as I’ll ever be! Snipping off parts that use to be me were so surreal. It was like I wasn’t even looking at myself! After the detailed oriented hair cut, an hour and a half later I came out looking super fresh and ready for Japan! My best friend, Bao came with me and was totally diggin the new do. So was I! It was alot to get use to at first being that my new hair didn’t even touch my shoulders, but it was exciting and I felt very Japanese. After a few days of settling into the hair, I really enjoyed it and loved it more and more and am grateful Chris did what he did because the new short do gave me a confident and spunk I felt was hiding before with my long hair. Also this way, I use way less shampoo and time on my hair is nearly cut in half!! :)