I had planned to write about how the miserable of the past week, but instead I’m writing about the beautiful. I’m writing about the beautiful, because life in Shanghai has reached peak levels of the exhausting and the absurd, and when things…
The beautifully-curated life
Things I’ve thought about this past week: D and I celebrated our second anniversary. To be honest, I’ve spent the past month dreading the day – and for absolutely no good reason. There’s something about being with a person whom…
Freedom
“Foreign girls are so brave. Your parents cut you off at 18 and then you’re left on your own. I wish people in China did something similar.” I nod, silently wishing that I could still spend the rest of my manicure finishing…
Cherry-Apple Crisp
Making a dessert for a potluck should be considered cheating. My kitchen scale sighs under the weight of the brown sugar, the gluten-free flour, and the butter. It heaves as I upturn 1/4 of a cup of rolled oats into the bowl, kneading…
A Series of Unfortunate Events
If my life were a Nora Ephron movie, this would have been that part where the hunky account executive sweeps me out of the pool, with an afghan conveniently in his arms, leads me to his nearby penthouse, and we have chlorine-scented sex on his couch. But, alas, life is not a rom-com.
"Business" dinners in Shanghai
It’s November 5th and I’m wearing a sleeveless dress. The weather is a balmy 75ºF in Shanghai. To be honest though, I feel accomplished to have been able put on a dress, let alone a weather-appropriate one, this morning, because last night…
The first signs of Autumn
I’ve been keeping a pot of soon-to-be apple cider company for the past two and a half hours. I’m trying to pretend that it’s fall in Shanghai, even though it’s already October and I wore a tank top outside today. So…
Biking the wrong way down West Nanjing Road
There’s a typhoon landing in Shanghai tomorrow evening. I know this is the sort of thing that should leave me trembling, but I’m not. In fact, this is kind of exhilarating (ask me again when I’m clinging to a raft in…