Welcome to year 19 of this survey! I actually finished it the day before the wedding and had planned on publishing it on the 1st but…yeah, that was optimistic. Especially after the epic party our wedding was.
I still don’t quite feel like I have enough words to describe just how truly perfect the night was. The whole schedule went so smoothly. Our vendors were incredible. And there were just so many highlights. Our outfits (y’all, wearing a chain veil is maybe one of the most ridiculous and coolest fashion decisions I’ve ever made), our vows, the toasts/speeches, the choreographed group dance with my college friends, cutting the cakes my mother-in-law made from scratch (including an ube one that the Filipinos flipped their shit over), my sister DJ’ing the NYE party, the 10-min countdown/slideshow the Best Man made for us, and doing the traditional Scottish auld lang syne dance after midnight. This fails to even mention all of the family and friends who helped by contributing their talents - cooking, dancing, shooting video, etc. - and who came to celebrate and share their love with us. Everyone had a good time! I can’t wait to continue debriefing with friends about it as we see each other again this year.
I’ve spent the last few days watching and re-watching all of the clips from our wedding on repeat, and now that we’re on our honeymoon, I’m having to remind myself that this too is part of the moment. That this too deserves all of my attention and savoring. So I’m going to try to take a mini detox from social media while we’re here so I can fully enjoy and soak up the time with my new husband (swoon). Btw, can I just say that seeing a ring on Liam’s finger brings me surprisingly more joy than I expected it would? It’s the small things.
Thanks to all of our friends, family, and loved ones for making our wedding a truly unforgettable night. I feel so loved and so grateful. 🥰
Past years for reference:
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
1. What did you do in 2022 that you’d never done before?
PLANNED A WHOLE ASS WEDDING (which was everything I could have asked for and more)
Went horseback riding - in Colombia!
Had to use crutches because of a foot injury (and by extension, used disability assistance at the airport which actually made for a very dope airport experience)
Taught in-studio yoga classes! For money!
Tried pole doubles
Was interviewed in a training on compassionate leadership with over 400+ attendees - the largest group I’ve spoken in front of!
Was interviewed on a podcast
Went to Puerto Escondido for a solo vacay
Joined a professional network (Chief)
Got officially certified to be an Executive Coach through the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute (which ironically happened shortly after I decided to not pursue executive coaching 🤷🏻♀️)
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
My 2022 goals:
Throw the dopest wedding party ever without going over budget or overstressing. Lol, definitely did not do this (RIP our “budget” lol), BUT, we felt so much calm and ease the week before the wedding and the wedding itself was such a huge success, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Start an S Corp (while staying at my current job). Didn’t do this either, BUT I did start teaching yoga at a studio! Not the side hustle I expected, but the confidence I’ve gained from teaching yoga has been life-changing. It’s dramatically reduced my anxiety and fear around public speaking, and it’s inadvertently helped me stop second-guessing the value of my contributions. Counting this as a win.
Seriously revisit my diet and get out of the pre-diabetic zone. As of my last checkup I’m unfortunately still in the pre-diabetic zone, BUT I did get pretty serious about my diet in the last 5 weeks before the wedding and noticed a significant difference in my mood, energy levels, skin, etc. (thanks, Sakara). So hopefully I can pull this experience into the new year.
Publish new writing weekly. Lol, also definitely did not do this, but tbh, it was overambitious for this year. Between starting a much larger role at work, finishing my Exec Coaching certification, and planning the wedding, I needed to let go of something.
Invest in another personal development training. Kind of - I signed up for Chief this year and took advantage of a lot of their free trainings and events, but it wasn’t as impactful as I originally envisioned for this goal. A half win.
My 2023 goals:
Replenish my Savings and save ideally $50k. Not gonna lie - the wedding was A LOT. Definitely more than we anticipated (story of every couple ever) and we paid for the majority of it ourselves. But Liam and I have dreams of buying a place in Altadena to be closer to nature (and maybe start a family?! 😳), so we really need to buckle down next year.
Publish my daily intentions. Almost every year I have a goal to write more and almost every year I fall short of that goal. But here’s the thing - I’ve actually already been writing my intentions daily for 150+ consecutive days (thanks, Atomic Habits!). So it’s just a little extra push to move them from my Notes app to the internet. Will probably talk more about this later, but setting the goal here to encourage future me to follow through.
Cook at least 1x/week and get out of the pre-diabetic zone. SERIOUSLY, ME. DO YOU WANT DIABETES? BECAUSE THE WAY YOU EAT YOU’RE GONNA GET DIABETES. 😤
Set up new recurring donations. Liam and I are really fortunate to make a decent living, but we both also have a decent amount of guilt, and we’ve talked a lot about wanting to calculate a certain % of our income to donate. I dunno, I also kind of feel like this is a weird thing to share (old Catholic guilt around not drawing attention to your deeds), but it is genuinely something we care about and want to follow through on next year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No one close close.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully.
5. What countries did you visit?
Colombia (since technically our trip covered 2021 and 2022) and Mexico! The latter twice.
6. What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?
Writing discipline.
7. What date from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 31 - THE DAY WE GOT MARRIED, OBVIOUSLY. Tbh, I’m not sure I’ll ever top it - best party I’ve ever thrown and ever been to (I’m biased but whatevz).
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I’m really proud of how I’ve expanded my leadership skills and put them into practice in my new role at work, leading a 100+ global team. I love learning and integrating new tools to inspire and motivate the teams that I lead, and I find it to be incredibly rewarding work (that I’m also pretty good at, if I can be so bold as to toot my own horn). It’s also helped instill confidence that I will always be employable in some way, because leadership is a tough, nuanced skill to cultivate and I genuinely love it.
And also, OUR WEDDING. Fuck man, it was such an enormous project but it went so smoothly, it certainly was an achievement.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Wedding budget, what wedding budget?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Omg I got the stupidest fucking foot injury after a cockroach landed on my shoulder and I jumped and fell on my foot the wrong way. It took MONTHS to recover and it’s ironic if you think about it - between yoga and pole and dancing in 8-inch heels regularly, you would think my foot injury would have come from one of my activities, but no. It was a cockroach. Fucking pathetic.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Everything for our wedding. :)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Me and Liam. Between the wedding and finishing the backyard renovation, on top of growing in our respective careers, we did A FUCKING LOT this year, so yeah, I’m going to celebrate. We also had a few really tough moments in our relationship a few months before the wedding that we successfully moved through with a lot of communication and outside help, and our relationship has felt all the stronger for it. So yeah, I’m proud of us.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Honestly, I’ve been getting back into Buddhist philosophy this year so I’ve been trying to practice non-judgment (not always successfully, but I try). I’ve also been trying to limit my news diet, and as a result, I’m not as incensed as I’ve been the past couple of years, so no one really comes to mind here.
14. Where did most of your money go?
THE WEDDING. And our backyard renovation. ADULTING IS VERY EXPENSIVE $$$
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
THE WEDDING. OBVIOUSLY. THIS ENTIRE SURVEY IS GOING TO BE ABOUT THE WEDDING, LET’S JUST BE REAL.
16. What song will always remind you of 2022?
Thor Rixon, Kyson - After The Rain, RY X - Howling, Madonna - Vogue (our wedding group dance song) and the entire ODESZA - The Last Goodbye album.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
Happier. Impossibly happier.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Mmm, I’m probably marginally thinner/fitter, but only because I’ve been pretty serious about cardio/my diet the last few weeks before the wedding.
iii. richer or poorer?
LOL, POORER, RIP OUR BANK ACCOUNTS
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Cooking at home, for the second year in a row. And publishing my writing.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing about the wedding (but you know, c’est la vie). Also, eating sugar.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Liam and I originally planned to spend Christmas with our respective families, but our to-do lists were out of control, so instead we drove to my parents’ on Christmas Eve, spent Christmas Day with my immediate family - opening presents but mostly chilling as usual, and then we played Parents Are Human after dinner, which was really sweet. I discovered my Grand Uncle who was responsible for sponsoring my dad’s entire side of the family for American citizenship was only able to do so because he was a survivor of the Bataan Death March! It’s crazy to me that I’ve only now discovered that one of my relatives, who I’ve met!, was a survivor of one of the most significant moments in American / Filipino shared history, something I’ve heard about my whole life but never knew I had a connection to. I also discovered my grandpa on my dad’s side spoke fluent Japanese and was a translator for the Americans in WWII! Moral of the story: play Parents Are Human with your parents, lol.
22. Did you fall in love in 2022?
Deeper in it, if that’s possible. Getting married is WILD.
23. How many one-night stands?
Still none! I’m an honest woman now. 😇
24. What was your favorite TV program?
LOVED the Sex Lives of College Girls, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and the second season of The White Lotus (lol, apparently I’m a ho for HBOMAX). I also enjoyed Wednesday (for obvious reasons), Minx, the second season of Bridgerton, and the latest seasons of Great British Baking Show and Junior Baking Show.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope, super zen these days.
26. What was the best book you read?
So many! I actually read a ton this year, but my favs were Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo (though I haven’t finished it yet). I also thought Know My Name by Chanel Miller was heartbreakingly beautiful, as was There, There by Tommy Orange.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Thor Rixon! Spent the first half of the year absorbing his entire catalog.
28. What did you want and get?
A MOTHER FUCKING WEDDING. That literally looked like my essence had vomited all over it. It was perfect.
29. What did you want and not get?
Nothing. I’m really really grateful for everything I have.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
LOVED The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Vengeance (so smart!), and The Menu. Also enjoyed Glass Onion and Everything Everywhere All at Once.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I had a whole birthday weekend! On Friday I went to Tomoko Spa and had an absolute “treat yo’self” kind of day and in the evening Liam and I went to see ODESZA at the Forum (SICK). On Saturday I went to Cinespia to see Romeo + Juliet with a bunch of our friends, and on Sunday, which was my actual birthday, Liam planned out a whole day for us - we went to see some free art, threw axes, and capped off the day with a DELICIOUS Filipino meal at Abernathy’s. It was a really sweet weekend. I turned 34.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Honestly, nothing. It’ll be pretty hard to top this year TBH.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2022?
The same, but somehow with more chains (lol).
34. What kept you sane?
Same as last year - writing, gratitude, meditation, savoring, acts of service (or in other words, all the scientifically proven activities that create happiness). Also, healthy habit formation and the support of my friends during a particularly tough moment I had in the Fall.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you want the most?
Ok this year I actually have an answer other than Liam because Theo James was in two of my favorite shows this year (The Time Traveler’s Wife and The White Lotus), and, like. 🙊
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
You know, I can’t actually think of anything. I’m sure there were things that bothered me this year, but overall it was such a busy year, I really tried not to get sucked into news doomscrolling and be more present in my own life. That’s not to say I don’t care about politics, but ultimately I’ve made more of an effort over the years to care more about what’s in my immediate sphere of influence and ability to change and shed any feelings of guilt or responsibility for issues that fall outside of that sphere. It’s worked well for my mental health.
37. Who did you miss?
No one really, because I got to see everyone that’s important to me at our wedding. And honestly, that experience alone was worth the money we paid. Because being able to be in the company of everyone who loves you in the same place at the same time for such a significant life moment is truly priceless.
38. Who are cool new people you met?
God, I feel like I met over 100+ people this year between my new role at work, networking through Chief, etc. Next year I want to focus more on my more immediate circles, because while I love meeting people, I did kind of burn myself out on networking this year.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022?
Habit stacking courtesy of Atomic Habits. There are sooo many habits I’ve tried and failed to implement over the years, but stacking habits has helped me transform my morning and night routines - something I previously thought was impossible (highly recommend!).
I also have a BUNCH of wedding lessons - but the one I found most helpful for myself was clearing your to-do list several days before the wedding to give you space to enjoy the small moments and minimize stress before the big day. Liam and I both felt really calm in the days leading up to the wedding and I’m really grateful for that.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
All you need is your own imagination
So use it that's what it's for (that's what it's for)
Go inside, for your finest inspiration
Your dreams will open the door (open up the door)
Madonna - Vogue