Monday, April 21, 2008






Could life out here get any better? Each day there is something to discover, someone new to meet and all the good food you can possibly afford! Pheebs and I are wondering how we will be able to board the plane back to Colorado.

Yesterday we took a break from the madness and had a stay-in day. I worked on my senior essay and Pheobe just relaxed. We did take Sylvia out for Korean food in the evening. It was amazing, and I am now in love with Kimchi! We ended the evening at a Coldstone off the USC campus, people watching and waiting for the bus.

Last night was a long haul, I'll not lie. I stayed up well into the wee hours editing my paper. Words cannot describe the joy/pain/nervous excitement I felt when I pressed the send button and shipped my labor of love off to my dear advisor. And now that the Albatross is off my neck...I feel like a free woman!

This morning when we arrived at CAM, Sheryl informed us that we were taking a field trip to a warehouse storage facility on Whitesides, just a little ways down the freeway. We loaded the white gloves, camera and other accession accessories into the car and made our way down to Whitesides. The warehouse itself houses a great deal of El Pueblo Historical Monument's artifacts, CAM's collections have been relegated to a small room in the back. It was cozy, and by cozy I of course mean dusty, dank and cramped.

Despite the surroundings, we had a blast going through boxes of old photographs, books, newspapers and correspondences. Above I have posted some pictures of a few of the more interesting finds we made. We were sorting through items donated to the museum from the estate of Mabel and Y.C. Hong.

Y.C. was the first Chinese lawyer in Los Angeles, American-born and self-made he was a powerful leader of the Los Angeles Chinese American community. Mabel Hong, besides being a clothes horse, was also an extremely well educated woman and important community leader. Their books and correspondences were fascinating, and we unearthed some surprisingly valuable documents. Museum work so far has been a blast!

This evening the lovely Miss Jiang and I decided, on a whim, to go explore Pasadena. We hopped on the metro and found our way to Colorado Boulevard. A visit to our beloved yogurt shop, Pinkberry, the Gap, Forever 21 and J. Crew ensued. Ahhh retail therapy...sort of a self reward for finally finishing the essay.

My new sweater looks smart and sassy but is not extremely functional...kind of like me.