This might be a little excessive, but there’s something so gratifying about seeing ALL the things that have made me happy in 2016. Yes, there have been many setbacks, but there is also so, so much to be happy about.
- My first lush product
- Reliving my childhood at Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen-Gardena
- 4:00 dinner buffet at the Bellagio
- Suuuper soft Tara M. knee-high socks from The Walking Company
- New Years morning offline with a good book
- Reception to my Hello 2016! blog post
- Bought three pairs of Sock It to Me socks at the airport
- Another one of my photos got onto Tumblr’s Staff Picks
- 4.0 GPA
- Food bet with Courtney, Jolie, and Anny
- Winter break externship
- Safe travels from Austin to Philly
- Bought a copy of Life Magazine: Downton Abbey Commemorative Edition
- Bubble tea surprise from Grace
- Blogger Christmas cards from Dagmar, Mei, and Dani, Juno, & Damaris
- Reblogged by Luxlit on Tumblr
- Didn’t need to recharge camera batteries for the entirety of winter break
- First snow of the season
- KC’s pastries in Chinatown
- My college Nalgene bottle
- Water bottle filler in dorm
- Familiar faces in new computer science classes
- Didn’t need to buy any textbooks
- Warm laundry on cold days
- “Sledding” during Winter Storm Jonas
- Oh Wonder concert with Kathleen
- Tuesday Lunch Table
- Postponed due dates
- Zumba for PE
- “Get your shit together” pouch from Georgina
- Switching up study environments
- Finding new music with Shazam
- Japanese food
- Skyping with high school friends
- Selected for Women in Tech Summit
- Photo on Tumblr Radar and Staff Picks
- Spoke up in class and got the answer wrong
- Friday morning walk
- Patient guidance of my classmates
- Photo compliant friends
- Sunday morning swims
- Cinnamon sticks in the Free Pantry
- Assistant dean and a professor remembered me from last year
- Passing notes in class
- Cancelled class
- Green Engine Coffee
- How to Get Away with Murder watching crew
- Philips Wing in Magill Library
- Bloopers during our Phonetics & Phonology recordings
- Chinatown
- Helped organise Tri-Co Battle of the Bands
- Free coffee at meetings
- Spoke up in class and got the answer right
- Having clothes to wear after doing laundry
- Celebrating the end of Hell Week with my Hell Family
- Curved quizzes
- Stereotypical blogger outfit
- Care package of assorted Japanese snacks
- Sent snail mail
- Boeing tour
- Crashed badminton party for bubble tea
- 15oC weather
- Taking out my camera after leaving it for a long time
- Camaraderie in the computer lab
- Done with midterms
- SEPTA Weekly TrailPass
- 10 cafes in 7 days
- Graders who make happy comments
- Hojoon got my postcard
- Opened salsa jar that nobody else in the room could
- Google tour
- Running into Sarah at Grace Street
- Chaverover
- Freshly squeezed orange juice
- Poonie came to visit
- Sound of hot water pouring
- Spa night on a school night
- Class outdoors
- Our own a cappella concert
- Obtained my beloved Ikea chair
- Walking from Haverford to Bryn Mawr
- Andrea Gibson at Bryn Mawr College
- A well-stocked fridge
- Jamming on uke and guitar with Julia, Victoria, and Georgina
- Chocolate milk
- Sleeping at a reasonable time
- Having leftovers to keep for later
- Green seedless grapes
- Releasing hysteria
- Took the Blue Bus straight back to my dorm
- Being productive on Fridays at coffee shops
- Attended the Women in Tech Summit
- Three hours of live music at Tri-Co Battle of the Bands
- Being creatively pumped
- Got approved for off-campus housing
- 5 cups of bubble tea in one week
- Singing at Swarthmore’s bell tower
- Celebrated Friend’s 21st with karaoke
- Solidifying summer plans
- Saxby’s Coffee
- Pinwheel Day
- Girl talk
- Continuing Athena’s Guide project
- Mason jars filled with flowers
- Clover Market
- Productive weekend of blog stuff
- Done is Good lists
- Big hoods
- Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered marshmallows
- Funny videos
- Bubble tea secret mission
- Done with classes
- Photographed and designed poster for class of 2018
- May Day vlog has 1000+ views (now 2000+)
- Listening to thesis talks
- Terakawa Ramen
- Flowers hanging out the front of my tote
- Friends helping me sell stuff
- Finishing a group paper
- Watched Rhythm & Motion dance concert
- Sleeping in until noon
- Singing to myself on Snapchat
- Discovered upper level of Bryn Mawr’s Writing Center
- Not wearing a backpack
- Self-scheduled exams
- Friends gave me their extra cardboard boxes for my summer storage
- United by Blue warehouse sale
- Summer break
- Launched Brunch at Audrey’s 2.0
- Waking up early in the morning and not having appointments to rush to
- Having time to waste
- Finding shortcuts
- Free samples at Starbucks
- Hot beverages
- Relatable Tumblr posts
- Rereading a childhood favourite book
- Physical books
- Not getting ticketed on the train
- Seeing people on segways
- Summer mornings
- Warm weather + cool breeze + trees
- Microwavable food
- First week of work
- Independent reading
- Being caught up with my Bloglovin’ feed
- Hanging out with friends
- Staycationing at Jennifer’s for Memorial Weekend
- Swarthmore’s commencement
- Clean kitchen
- Ddeokbokki
- Tokyo banana
- That the word “loaf” is also a verb
- Free lunches
- Having the afternoon off from work
- Community dinner at Jennifer’s
- Cooking rice successfully
- Getting back in the reading grind
- Visiting King of Prussia for the first time
- Surprising friends with birthday cakes
- Parents’ support for my blog
- Watched X-Men: Apocalypse
- Downton Abbey
- Free food
- Eggs
- Window shopping
- Podcasts
- Front-end development
- Reconnecting with colleagues on LinkedIn
- Free McDouble
- Finding pandan cake in Chinatown
- Bubble tea and pancake brunch with friends at the apartment
- Walking during the pockets of the day that aren’t raining
- Walking home in the sunset
- Pepperidge Farm strawberry thumbprint cookies
- Colourful meals
- Toffee with walnuts and pecans dark chocolate bar
- When the work place provides free food
- Glass jars
- Scheduling posts on WordPress
- Being assigned design work
- Chaverdinner
- Finding a seat on a crowded train
- Accidentally making bibimbap
- Watched Finding Dory
- Staycationing at Jennifer’s for Independence Day Weekend
- Regrammed by @igersbeijing
- Puppy guarding
- Longcoat Akitas
- Compliments from strangers
- Friday morning
- Finding and settling into an empty cafe corner
- Watched Silicon Valley
- Trader Joe’s employees
- Dropped a book I wasn’t feeling
- Updated About page
- Mom and Danny came to visit
- Clean shower
- Island salsa
- Sharing chips
- Holding a warm cuppa tea in my hands
- Scheduling tweets
- NYC with Mom and Danny
- Free cold brew from Saxby’s
- Adorable children
- Mom made me bolognese sauce
- Timothy’s fruit teas
- Picnic
- Cannolis
- Free Kind bars
- Sorted out utilities and wifi
- Discounts
- Girl’s night
- Sleepovers
- Watched The Secret Life of Pets
- Introducing a k-pop song to a k-pop-loving friend
- Italy
- Germany
- Moved into my apartment
- Had Ikea’s Swedish meatballs for the first time
- Pototoes
- Automatically connecting to wifi
- Getting somewhere without needing to rely on Google Maps
- Older women doing shenanigans
- Strangers offering rides (in the least creepy way)
- Happily Ever After cafe
- Cooked Brussels sprouts for the first time
- Explored UPenn for the first time
- United by Blue
- Eduroam
- First Shake Shack experience
- Free laundry
- Surprising friends (the mature version of playing “boo!”)
- Crashing Customs Week
- Free meals/saving meal swipes
- Birthday surprises
- Birthday rewards
- Free venti coconut milk mocha macchiato
- Nice ticketers
- Serendipitous run-ins with friends
- A whole take-out box of mac and cheese
- Morning runs
- Getting into all the classes I wanted to get into
- Getting extensions
- Friends feeding me
- Having pants after doing laundry
- Asking professors questions
- Helping people with CS labs
- Apartment updates
- Cute lil old couple
- Happy baristas
- Gold stars
- Not getting homework for the weekend
- Maintenance took care of our wasp problem
- Krüger Früchtezauber pfirsich teegetränk
- Coasters
- Discovered the observatory
- Sani-bags
- Autumn
- Baubax jacket
- New Chaverim recruits
- Helped CS TA with directions
- Long coats and pants
- Hot chocolate chile mocha
- Doing surprisingly well on problem sets
- Starting homework early
- Ping pong
- Take-home midterms
- Class-wide extensions
- Being in a classroom that’s big enough
- Free doughnuts
- Grocery shopping
- Hoddeok
- When people like my taste in music
- Seeing my Bryn Mawr friends
- Amanda Bynes movie marathon
- Spending the morning reading
- Free venti green tea latte
- Got my iPhone fixed for free
- Dyed my hair black
- Trader Joe’s chicken tikka samosas
- Citron honey tea
- Cooked asparagus and eggs from cookbook
- My Daniel Wellington watch
- Autumnal photos
- Candles
- Tie-dye bagels
- Kungfu Tea
- Blogging days
- Lovely comments
- New laptop accessories
- Clean screens
- Made freakshakes
- When things you order online arrive in the mail
- Nothing due in the week
- No CS-talk times
- Linguistics professor
- Ran twice in a week (after not having run in a long time)
- Drizzle
- Having a friend with a car who likes to go out
- Blanket scarves
- Bryn Mawr parents
- Mazel hazelnut coffee
- Banana gift
- Fried cheese
- Free Oreo McFlurry
- Heart-to-hearts
- Sleeping almost all day
- Waking up early
- Having extra hours in the day
- Climbing
- Healthy self and family
- Butternut squash
- Sweet potatoes
- Tampons and chocolate
- Reese’s Pieces
- When the professor thinks I usually do have an idea of what’s going on and am going in the right direction
- Buy one get one free at Poké Ono
- Daylight savings
- Hugs
- Women of colour
- Finishing a weekly assignment on Sunday
- Applesauce
- Starbucks holiday drinks
- Jam sessions
- James Vincent McMorrow concert
- Pocky
- Maido
- Finished Algorithms group project
- Maintaining friendships after group project
- Trip into the city
- Lovely roomie
- New linens
- Catching up with friends
- Christian House Thanksgiving dinner
- New box of cereal
- Cosy apartment
- Long weekends
- NYC with Kathleen and Kevin
- My mattress
- Short-grain rice
- Staying inside on a rainy Tuesday
- Old people who use : – )
- Working towards something
- When a package arrives early
- Netflix
- Impromptu trip to HMart
- Went to all my classes on a day I wanted to skip them all
- Finding something once lost
- Finding my CD
- Getting around to drafting long-overdue blog posts
- Hot chocolate with real chocolate
- Website I redesigned went up
- Secret Santa party
- Professors who reply to emails in a timely manner
- IHOP’s dark chocolate peppermint pancakes
- Trader Joe’s dark chocolate mini stars
- Christmas sweater
- Smoked salmon with honey mustard dill sauce and brie
- Full/new bottle of conditioner
- Watched You’re Not You
- Finding a forgotten postcard
- Making a friend on the plane
- Taiwan
- Flat brimmed hat
- New socks
- Brothers
- Finding new music from TV shows
It’s interesting to see how much the items on this list vary. Some are big things, some are small. Some are general, some are weirdly specific. Some are things, some are feelings, some are experiences.
Tomorrow I’ll be posting a more organised list of 2016 highlights (so don’t forget to tune in!), but today I wanted to throw this list out there, as much of a mess as it is. I will be the first to say that today’s list is more about its length than about its contents. It’s a data set, if you will, to show myself that there are hundreds of things worth being happy about.
PS: hello 2017, hello 2016, highlights of 2015, 2015 blogging goals, 2015 personal mantras