Week 169: March 29th - April 4th, 2026 With both NCAA March Madness and the regular season of the NBA, you'd think I'd be all basketball-ed out. However, my boyfriend and I went to a San Diego Sharks basketball game and had a great time. The San Diego Sharks are a "fans-first" and family friendly professional basketball team here in San Diego. Created in 2022 by Tyler Sickmeyer , the Sharks are a founding team in the relaunch of the United States Basketball League (USBL). I'

My great aunt Alice, or "Ace" as most of us know her, is an incredible woman. I've been the beneficiary of her generosity with my beloved red 2016 Honda HRV, "Harvey" as she called it, and recently just inherited her Bernina Artista 180 sewing machine, a heavy duty sewing desk, and a bunch of buttons, thread, and needles. My Aunt Ace was the first person to tell me to never let anyone use my fabric scissors for anything but fabric. She said this was the only thing that would

Week 167: March 15th-21st, 2026 I almost panicked this week because it was already Friday, and I hadn't done Something New. Admittedly, all I've been wanting to do is stay inside and play Pokopia, even though the weather has been weirdly (concerningly) warm for March (80°F+!) and I could be out by the pool. Anyway, my boyfriend came to my rescue when I explained I didn't have an idea for my SNEW and he suggested we check out the Spring Valley Swap Meet. Spring Valley is a par

Week 165: March 8th-14th, 2026 In my ongoing effort to try new things, I agreed to a "Craft and Core" event hosted by @habithauswellness because my friend Daniela invited me. The event was a "45-minute modern sculpt Pilates class — low impact, high burn, and beginner friendly — designed to lengthen, tone, and reset your body," after which we could "stay for a relaxed social hour where you’ll decorate your choice of a custom hair brush or hair clip at our craft bar." I'm gla

Week 165: March 1st-7th, 2026 This week, my sister and I channeled our inner kids and fueled our love for cute video games by attending the Animal Crossing New Horizons Aquarium Tour at Birch Aquarium up by UCSD. This is a really cute partnership Nintendo of America is doing with aquariums in the USA that runs from February 16th to March 26th, 2026 at the Birch Aquarium in San Diego. Back in Week 42 (wow, was 2023 really three years ago?!), I saw the first iteration of this

Week 164: February 22nd-28th, 2026 As many of you know, I am a massive Survivor fan. I've seen all 49 (and counting) seasons, some more than once, and at risk of sounding very para-socially weird, I love Jeff Probst and wish he was my uncle. This week, whether you knew it or not, we all lived through a historical moment: the season 50 premiere. The very first episode of Survivor aired on May 31st, 2000 (I was just over 1 year old!), and I don't think anyone anticipated this

Week 163: February 15th-21st, 2026 This week was full of birthdays! My mom, my friend Jackson, my friend Amanda's boyfriend, and my friend Alicia all celebrated birthdays this week. Alicia planned an unconventional birthday celebration: a private group class at The Yoga Barre in Del Mar. This was the first time I've taken a barre class. In the past, I've taken yoga classes, Pilates classes, etc. but never barre, so I was excited to check it out. I think it was a great idea

Week 162: February 8th-14th, 2026 This week I made hibiscus tea, or what I have been calling a "red drink." There are quite a few health benefits of hibiscus , as it has been used for many years in traditional medicine, but my main motivation was that I just wanted a fun beverage. I saw a few posts online about hibiscus tea and decided I wanted to make some myself. I remembered how much I enjoy "jamaica," or "hibiscus" in Spanish, drinks at Mexican restaurants. Even though my

Week 161: February 1st-7th, 2026 This week, I spent my time in Los Angeles at the ICANN office to participate in some end-to-end (E2E) testing of a system we've been tirelessly working on. It is part of the New gTLD Program: 2026 Round and we are set to launch at the end of April. While I can't give many details about the testing itself or what we did specifically, I am happy to report the work my team and I have been doing is paying off. I am excited for program launch and

Week 160: January 25th-31st, 2026 This week, I channeled my inner child and got to jump on trampolines while attending my boyfriend's little sister's 13th birthday party at Sky Zone . We went to the Sky Zone in Chula Vista (East Lake) and it was about a 30 min drive south of Mission Valley where I live. Sky Zone is one of many trampoline park companies that makes its money from selling tickets to jump for a specified time slot. It is a great idea, and obviously requires many

Week 159: January 18th-24th, 2026 Okay, I thought there would be more time between trying Finjan Coffee last week and trying Tahini, but I actually went to Tahini the next day. While I am a CAVA enthusiast (I achieved CAVA's highest loyalty rewards tier of "Sun" status immediately when they first released the rewards program), I love pretty much any Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food and was intrigued by Tahini after visiting their sister coffee shop, Finjan. Due to havi

Week 158: January 11th-17th, 2026 This week I got to try Finjan Coffee in Mission Valley. It shares a parking lot with Food4Less, so I witnessed its journey from when it was under construction to opening. Each time I would go get cheap groceries, I would see gradual changes to the space that used to be Fig Tree Cafe's Mission Valley location, and soon it became Tahini and Finjan Coffee! From their website, it says that " Finjan, meaning coffee cup in Arabic...is our way of p

Week 157: January 4th-10th, 2026 As many of you know, a good jingle or catchy commercial will stick with me for years. I am a walking regurgitated advertisement. Marketing works on me exactly how the corporate goons want. I parrot a slogan almost as easily as I recite my birthdate or my middle name. Growing up in the Bay Area, specifically in the city of Berkeley, meant I was not subjected to chain restaurants like Applebee's (See Week 118 !), Texas Roadhouse, or Chili's, etc

Week 156: Dec 28th-January 3rd, 2026 Happy 2026, everyone! I hope this year is full of new adventures, fun things, time with loved ones, lots of laughter, and big, fat paychecks. That is what I am hoping for myself at least. This year, I did something I'd never done before which was go out for dinner on New Year's Eve. It was a semi-pre-fix dinner menu at Rusticucina , a nice little Italian spot that I've been to a couple times. I went with my friend Syann because we both did

Week 155: Dec 21st-27th, 2025 I hope everyone's holiday season is going well. I know mine has been pretty good, especially because Santa (my boyfriend) got me a very generous gift for Christmas of a Nintendo Switch 2 ! For a few years, I have commandeered - ahem, I mean, borrowed - my dad's Switch that was gifted to him by my sister. I have been using the Switch a TON, especially recently since Nintendo announced the January 2026 update for Animal Crossing (see Week 150 for

Week 154: December 14th-20th, 2025 FINALLY , after over a year since it opened, I got to go to Leila in North Park. Leila is a very popular Middle Eastern and Persian-inspired restaurant that has taken San Diego by storm. When it first opened, I tried really hard to get reservations but never found a good time. Thankfully, a few friends of mine got lucky with a last minute reservation for a table for 5 at 7:30pm on a Sunday. Since dinner was a little late, especially for the

Week 153: December 7th-13th, 2025 Back in Week 59 , and then again in Week 68 , I wrote about my job at ICANN and a bit about what I do for the organization. Now, about 85 weeks (or 595 days!) later, I'm back again to continue sharing a bit about my job. Please keep in mind that some of what I am working on is actually confidential at the moment, so I am forced to be a bit vague here! I can obviously also provide details on my outfits, food, and other experiences, which I'm

Week 152: November 30th-December 6th, 2025 This week, I participated in some "urban activism" and helped with some community projects as a part of the Hillcrest Cleanup and Cocktails event. My friend, Mel, is very involved in community groups in Hillcrest such as the Kiwanis Club (remember we walked in the Pride parade back in Week 81 !?), so I was happy to be her plus-one. The Volunteer Info banner and last year's group photo Volunteers were asked to gather at the sign-in ar

Week 151: November 23rd-29th, 2025 At the tail end of my half-month stint up in the Bay Area, I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and then my boyfriend flew up for one day before we drove back to San Diego together. Because our time was limited to just one day, I had to wrestle with all the different choices of where to take him, what to show him, and which places were the most important for a brief one-day tour of my hometown. After a nice walk around the neighbor

Week 150: November 16th-22nd, 2025 Many of you probably don't have a BFFSPS like I do in An-Ya. We have been Best Friends Forever Since Pre-School (hence, BFFSPS) and despite going to different schools, different colleges, and now living in different parts of California, I still consider her one of my closest friends. We grew up across the street from each other and I have countless memories of us playing with Barbies, Bratz, and MyScene dolls and drawing for hours. Being bac