My Mission

I have decided to take you on a ride. As I spend the last year of my 30s, I will take you with me. That’s right. This year, I am 39. 3---9. Hard for me to say it without choking up. I hate admitting it, and I’d rather not think about it. But hey, isn’t it the new 29? Yeah right.

Mortified and in deep denial, I realized the best way for me to deal with this crisis is to face it head on. That if I were to grow older gracefully like many of the classy ladies I so admire (Lauren Hutton, Diane Lane, Diane Keaton), I better accept it. And I better hustle.

So I want to relish my 39th year by celebrating it as best as I could every day. I want to make each day purpose-driven. Of course deep down I will be horrified, fearful and depressed from time to time, but I really do want my 39th year to matter. Really matter. I am not discounting that I did manage to improve the last 2 decades. But somehow there was no urgency. I guess the saying, "Youth is wasted on the young" finally makes sense to me. I always thought I'd be that cool older lady...the one that doesn't sweat her age. But now that the big 4-0 is around the corner, I do feel some dampness on my forehead. WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING THE PAST 39 years?!!

Major or minor changes, they are all stuff that I’ve been carrying around with me for a long time. I just don't want that weight on me anymore. Because it's not about growing up and becoming oh so mature for me. What it is, is "me" growing better.

So at least every week, I will candidly share with you my adventures in attempting to become a better version of me. And as my birthday is November 5, I only have 9 months and 4 days left. By the time I am blowing 40 candles, I sure hope that aside from the fire extinguisher, I carry with me that confidence that I am yet to reach my prime.

Wish me luck.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Hello My Name Is Vanessa...

And I have been an addict for 17 years. A coffee addict.
“Naku, you are an adik”, my mom would badger me with a very thick Filipino accent.

For awhile now I knew I had to lessen my intake sooner than later because of genetic high blood pressure.
This depresses me so much because I looove my coffee. In fact I drink it for the yumminess and not so much for the perkiness.

See one day last week I woke up and realized that not only was it bad for my blood pressure, it was also bad for my skin. I have developed “dermatitis” in the past 2 years. Apparently, aside from gray hairs and this impending high blood pressure, my skin also has to start falling apart. And believe me, “dermatitis” in LA weather is hell. I walk around with blotchy red skin, looking like I was beaten up.
I saw pictures of myself from a few years ago. And cold turkey, I had to stop. I surely CANNOT sacrifice my skin for any cup of Joe, no matter how great-tasting.
Coffee Addict
So from now on I will only drink one mug in the morning and the rest will be green tea. I will be walking around in a bad mood, but I will have great skin. I will be the bitchy neighbor with great skin. Talk about vanity winning over again.

Mind you, I also just upgraded my sunscreen to SPF 45. My mom will be proud.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

1 comment:

  1. ah zhou 亞周February 5, 2010 at 4:50 PM

    Miss you dude, Glad to see you have a new blog! The blog title is interesting! Let us aging gracefully:-) Shirley

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)