Welcome to the beginning of a beautiful relationship!
It all started with my friend Jing asking me to lunch on a weekday. Work was busy (as usual), and it suddenly hit me that I had not had lunch out of the office in more than a month! Then I realized that I had a problem. I thought back to the Folsom days where I at least took time once a quarter or so to plan a "Ladies Lunch" on a Friday. So I thought about doing it the coming Friday, but then realized that a lot of girls have the same problem as me (well, at least Tracy does)...they can't get out of their offices during the weekdays. And then I thought about all the girls dispersed throughout the bay that I wanted to have lunch with but worked or lived too far to come down to San Jose just for lunch on a weekday.
So then Ladies Who Brunch was born! I decided to make it on a weekend day, the first of which would happen the following Sunday.
Then I started thinking about why something like this is so important to me. And then who I would invite. So this is what I came up with:
Goal of Ladies Who Brunch: to provide my girls a place to relax and share ideas with other ladies [and to try cool brunch places!]
Why I picked You: I respect you. You were picked because most importantly, you are true to yourself and your ideas. You are also a very driven individual with good intentions. We have a lot to learn from you!
Then came the Ground Rules for Participation:
1. No Negativity allowed
2. Bring 1 piece of advice to share with others
3. Be Yourself
The initial invitee list comprised of:
Amy Chang
It all started with my friend Jing asking me to lunch on a weekday. Work was busy (as usual), and it suddenly hit me that I had not had lunch out of the office in more than a month! Then I realized that I had a problem. I thought back to the Folsom days where I at least took time once a quarter or so to plan a "Ladies Lunch" on a Friday. So I thought about doing it the coming Friday, but then realized that a lot of girls have the same problem as me (well, at least Tracy does)...they can't get out of their offices during the weekdays. And then I thought about all the girls dispersed throughout the bay that I wanted to have lunch with but worked or lived too far to come down to San Jose just for lunch on a weekday.
So then Ladies Who Brunch was born! I decided to make it on a weekend day, the first of which would happen the following Sunday.
Then I started thinking about why something like this is so important to me. And then who I would invite. So this is what I came up with:
Goal of Ladies Who Brunch: to provide my girls a place to relax and share ideas with other ladies [and to try cool brunch places!]
Why I picked You: I respect you. You were picked because most importantly, you are true to yourself and your ideas. You are also a very driven individual with good intentions. We have a lot to learn from you!
Then came the Ground Rules for Participation:
1. No Negativity allowed
2. Bring 1 piece of advice to share with others
3. Be Yourself
The initial invitee list comprised of:
Amy Chang
Amy Lek
Anna Chung
Arlene Hadi
Ching-Pei Hu
Diana Lie
Ellie Chou
Emily Wu
Irene Lai
Jane Liaw
Jing Zhang
Manisha Sharma
Sophia Tseng
Sophia Tseng
Stephanie Chiang
Tracy Lin
Yeelo Ng
...and here comes the events of Ladies Who Brunch #1:
We met at the Prolific Oven in Rivermark Plaza. Sophie called last minute and had to bail (and she was farther). Ching-Pei was first and on time (I guessed right!). Then Manisha. Then Irene. Then Jing. Then Arlene. Emily and Ellie were last. 1/2 the girls showed up in pretty dresses. Why didn't I think of wearing a dress? Took awhile for all of us to get our food. Being gracious guests, no one wanted to start eating. Light chatting and asking each other how they knew me. I felt bad for Manisha since I realized every person could relate to some other person they knew that knew me except for her. Manisha held her own, though (as always). Arlene showed up with flower petals for all the girls. Not sure what plant she picked it off of, but it smelled nice!
And then came time for sharing ideas. I broke out the pen and paper to jot notes. They made fun of me. :) I thought I'd have to pull teeth to get advice out of them, but as soon as someone kicked it off (Irene), it just kept coming!
Here's the list. I really hope I didn't miss anything! Let me know if I did.
1. To get deodorant off a black shirt, instead of washing with water, rub area where there is deodorant together and it eventually comes off
2. For yellow sweat stains, wash with lemon OR Shout!
3. Oxy clean also helps stains on clothes. Not only that, it removes stains on carpet!
4. The 1st week of January, shop at Banana Republic. During the 2nd week of January, go back with your receipt - there's a huge markdown sale, so everything you got the week prior will be discounted. You get a bunch of money back.
5. During the Nieman Marcus "Last Call" sale is good (August timeframe). Get a credit card and you get 3% off the Outlet store.
6. Nordstrom and REI - you can return anything at anytime (even worn)
7. Shop on REI online, ship to store for free
8. Shopt at Piperlime.com (pachi's fav online shoe store). You get free shipping and free returns. They also sell purses.
9. Endless.com, owned by Amazon, also sells shoes. They have a 110% price guarantee. Slightly more expensive, but you get overnight shipping and free returns, as well as no tax.
10. When you call customer service to try to reverse your card fees and they grant it to you, ask for their supervisor and tell them you want to put in a good word for them.
11. If you want to get something from any merchant, tell them you want to cancel --> they'll send you to the retention department and then those people will help you. (be careful, sometimes they don't care - just call back)
12. Add "Extended Care" option to your medical insurance so you can go see doctors off hours (aka Urgent Care)
13. Ariel Dance Production (Campbell) has hip hop dance classes once a week on Monday at 7:30.
14. If you have open access insurance, go to this chiropractor: Grace Chiropractic. 500 # Calaveas Blvd, Suite 104. Milpitas, CA 95035. 408-262-6620. They give 1/2 hour massages free. 1 hr massage is only $15. You can get a massage without seeing the doctor. Check that it is covered by your insurance first.
Ideas for next meetings:
1. Dim sum and chinese dresses
2. Fondue party
3. Karaoke
4. Baji Mtn View (eat)
5. Bill's Cafe Willow Glen (eat)
6. Whole Foods Willow Glen (eat)
It was a blast! Thank you all for feeding food to my soul!
Next meeting: in July sometime. Dim sum with chinese dresses. Each girl brings a recommendation for a good book.
