Well, I don’t work there for the 50% discount 🤣

On Fridays, we eat Korean BBQ (@ Hanu KBBQ)

I took my sister out for dinner, partly because my short-term disability (or STD LOL) was finally approved (EDD is so old school with actual paperwork and snail mail) and the payments are retro to when I applied for my claim in January, but mostly because I checked my ADP app to make sure they took my bennies out of my last paycheck and saw they gave me an unexpected raise and bonus (even though I technically haven’t worked since the incident).

Good thing I was max’d out on sick time and vacation, because that’s how I’ve been getting paid since January. I’ll be lucky if I get my first disability check before I’m back at work!

…or my work sending out a departmental email letting us know that we’ll only be getting the day after christmas off instead of the entire week (like we have for the previous 7 years).

Excuse me while I open this box of fruit-by-the-foot I bought for my nephew and eat my feelings.

Our project manager put in his notice yesterday, the other senior web designer has been out sick since last week, and my boss just went on vacation today. Everything’s fine 😅

Welp, it’s officially been two years since I started working from home for what was supposed to be a two-week stint! Since then, I’ve put in countless hours of overtime and started taking serotonin supplements if that’s any indication of how life is going so far 😅

Too bad I’m a Rams fan now 😜

Oh, look… another glorious morning… makes me sick!

When spooky season coincides with conference season 🎃🤓

I feel seen.

BRB charging my crystals ✨

IDK if it’s my graphic design skillz or dat crystal energy helping me through this brutal conference season at work, but I’ll recharge these babies tonight under the full moon just in case!

(via @ketnipz)

It’s been tough working from home this past year, but I don’t miss my windowless office. The view from my studio is pretty uninteresting (though today I captured some rare LA rain!). When I get bored of the view, I just visit WindowSwap and pretend I’m working from somewhere else in the world… I’ve been in Georgetown watching this dog fetch a frisbee for hours now!

…or what I tell myself when I have to work on the weekend and they forget the organic goji berries on the $20 acai bowl I just postmated.

I’ve been working from home for four months now with no distractions (besides my neighbor’s car alarm that goes off, without fail, at least twice a day every time a leaf falls on it). With news this week that California is rolling back reopenings and kids won’t be returning to classrooms in the fall, this quarantine seems far from over. Hang in there, mamas!

Stoked that I don’t have an STD don’t have to work this weekend!

This lockdown has only made my department busier than ever, and I’ve been losing my mind working 12-hour days and being cooped up in my studio for nearly two months now. I’ve been in such a mood lately, and yet, my sister postmated me coffee bean and breakfast to make my life easier, my dear friend sent me cookies from across the country, and on the drive home from grocery shopping in Long Beach today, I witnessed this pink ass sunset. I really needed these little reminders that I have a good life and this shit is just temporary. Sorry for everything I said while in quarantine! XOXO

I had a lot of random jobs in my twenties, and for a brief window in 2004, I was a barista at Starbucks. It was a second job I picked up during the holidays for extra cash, and not one I stayed at very long. That was probably the last time I made my own coffee, and definitely the last time I woke up at four in the morning on purpose! Ha.

I mostly caffeinate with canned cold brew these days, but sometimes I’ll indulge in my most favorite iced coffee ever—Blue Bottle New Orleans. At $4 a pop, it’s not something I have on my everyday shopping list (a girl’s gotta pay her rent, after all). But they sell their cold brew kit online and are offering free shipping right now, so I thought why the hell not? What else do I have going on six weeks deep into this quarantine???

This homemade cold brew turned out way better than any coffee I ever made at Starbucks, and I didn’t even have to wake up before the sun to enjoy it. Win-win.

I’m one revision away from breaking some muthafuckin’ knees! Just kidding (please don’t furlough me).

Finally an office with a window! I could get used to working from home…

Now if I only had a bidet, a lifetime subscription to Freshly, and a peloton bike, I’d never have to leave my apartment! Just kidding (like I would ever use a peloton bike).

See you clowns on Zoom!

My coworker Luis came up to me this morning with his cup of grapes and was all like, “Is that your breakfast???”

In unrelated news, I had a salad for lunch today.

I’m just gonna watch this tube dude for the rest of the day.

BRB postmates is outside with my seafood risotto.

Earlier this week, my coworker Ben walked in on me eating a pb&j uncrustable in my office (yes, I bought the multipack in the ‘kids meals’ aisle at Target, and yes, I have no kids). He told me that he makes pb & honey ones for his daughter who hates jelly, and I said I’ve never had that combo before. This morning, he made an extra sandwich for me when he packed his kid’s lunch! He even cut the crust off lol!

(I’ve also never had wagyu beef, white albino caviar, or fourchu lobster if anyone reading this wants to bring me something, too.)

We survived another conference season (and work party!) (@ Manhattan Beach Studios)

Conference season at work is so draining. I wish I was back at the beach with these clowns! I promise we did more than just lay in bed last weekend (we also ate pizza).

What, you don’t have a fireplace in your office??? (@ SKX Advertising)

I need one of these in my apartment! It snowed in LA today, and I’m in bed under a korean blanket wearing two pairs of pants (that’s two more than I usually wear!).

Even Rocky is bummed I have to go back to work tomorrow.

I know so many people who are going through tough times right now (the death of a parent, the loss of their family home, and trouble conceiving, to name a few)… Besides LA traffic, my only other gripe is that I’ve been working long hours, and my postmates driver (that my work pays for) forgot to include utensils with my order last night, so I had to eat my calamari in my office with my bare hands like an animal. I feel like an asshole even mentioning it. All things considered, I have so much to be thankful for.

Luckily, I already used the restroom before getting into the elevator at work this morning (@ SKX Advertising)

Late night catalog season essentials (@ SKX Advertising)

S/O to my postmates driver, Jeff, who delivered my israeli couscous along with this handwritten note! Five stars. Highly recommend.

NOTE TO SELF: Don’t check your group e-mail about Shi’s bachelorette party on your work computer.

I learned the hard way. Like so, so hard.

My parents ziplined through the jungles of Puerto Vallarta while I put in 12 hours at the office today! Seriously tempted to use those five weeks of vacation time I’ve been hoarding…

Hardly working (@ SKX)

Finding a file on my coworker’s insane desktop is just too much to ask of me on a Friday.

It was straight up Ghost Hunters status at both work and home today. If you’re reading this, please send food. I can’t microwave my burrito.

Prohibition is over and so is conference season!!! 🎉🎉🎉 (@ Manhattan Beach Studios)

It wouldn’t be a luau without legit hawaiian shirts from Forever 21.

Yes, please.

Those two days I went to the gym this month really paid off! Ha. Sorry, Amber…

One bloody knuckle, two mai tais, and three rounds later!

Kansas got killed today, but Michigan’s win still put me in first place! Their chance of beating Villanova is like one in a million, so I’ll just enjoy being on top while I can…

Currently #2 out of 75, but my bracket automatically wins first place if Kansas beats Villanova tomorrow! 🏀🏆🎉

I’m just as surprised as the boys at work who had to explain to me what a seed is.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In the event that this isn’t anything like that Survivor pool I joined and won without ever watching a single episode, I have a few questions, like how do you know if it’s a 12 seed team or a 5 seed team, and also what is a seed???

I need to make a change.

The guac is extra, and so is my boss (@ SKX Advertising Dept)

Catching up with my coworkers (@ The Rockefeller Manhattan Beach)

All the ladies have been complaining about how cold it is in the advertising department, so our boss surprised us with these jackets to keep warm.

Wouldn’t it have been more cost-effective to just turn down the A/C?

Also, does this come in black???

I love it when Weird Science is playing in the break room at work, and I get to stare at Chet’s sweet ass while I’m eating.

Actual footage of me waking up for work today after being on vacation for two weeks. Yikes!

Christmas gift from my boss… I think she’s onto me.

SKX Global Sales Conference (@ Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center)

Hearing Schwarzenegger tell us “it’s not a tumor” was clearly the highlight of our conference.

I worked 16 hours straight yesterday and haven’t slept much these past few weeks 😩

I always need something good to look forward to during conference season, so I bought tickets to two LA shows (Sylvan Esso and Blind Pilot), an OC show (Young the Giant), and music festivals in LA (Arroyo Seco) and NYC (Panorama).

I may or may not have been delirious at one in the morning.

My boss texted me this picture of my car when she went out for lunch today. This is why she gives me USB cables and portable battery chargers for Christmas. She’s also the one who bought me a fire extinguisher after I almost burned down my apartment!

Yeah, I have no idea why she hired me.

Unlike that one time I won the dirty diaper baby shower game by identifying 10 out of 10 melted candy bars (some without even having to smell them), my intimate relationship with candy did not give me the edge in this puzzle competition at work today.

We placed #9 out of 10 (but still #1 in your hearts!). Who needs a $2K grand prize when you get to go home with this guy???

Workmode Squad (@ Universal Studios Hollywood)

NOTE TO SELF: Don’t get blitzed on bottomless mimosas on the bus before you ride every 3-D ride at Universal Studios.

Hardly working (@ Skechers Corporate)

Hardly working (@ The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas)

Our advertising department was in Vegas for less than 48 hours, and it took me longer than that to recover.

File under: Questions I ask myself on the regular

There’s this tall drink of water at my work, and every time I run into him, I’m either wearing no makeup or holding a loaf of bread.

I woke up late one Monday, rolled right out of bed and into an elevator with him inside. I’ve never looked uglier than I did that morning, and he’s in there asking me how my weekend was, and all I kept thinking was PLEASE AVERT YOUR EYES. Another time, I was changing the iPads at work when I look over and see him looking at me, so I froze and dropped my screwdriver. Today, I was in the elevator with him on my way to get coffee, and I just had to be holding that freaking loaf of bread that I keep in my desk drawer. Ugh!

He doesn’t even know how cool I am.

Happy birthday and an even happier retirement to my pops! (@ Bonita USPS)

Unfortunate circumstances kept me in town this week, but I’m glad I was able to be there on my dad’s last day at work where no fucks were given and retirement cake was served.

I don’t know what’s sadder—is it that part of my job as a web designer at Skechers involves creating e-blasts for the cafe inside our office building (how else would you know that tomorrow’s special is chicken tikka masala?!), or that while googling BBQ photos to use for their 4th of July special, I immediately recognized this spread from Smoke City Market???

If you’re looking for the key to my heart, a platter of smoked BBQ beef ribs will unlock all the mysteries.