guilty pleasures

To celebrate Chinese New Year, I'm spending the weekend at my uncle's house in LA. Going to his house is always a guilty pleasure because I love seeing my family and they love having me here, but they spoil me rotten every time I step through through those mahogany doors with stained glass detailing. The guest bedroom is furnished with a queen-sized memory foam mattress, a squishy down pillow, and a down comforter. I can only compare it to Olympus now that I've gotten used to my dorm bed. And the biggest plus - a clean bathroom!

This morning, my ever-doting aunt persuaded me to sift through the monstrous pile of lotions, shower gels, and body sprays that she had received for Christmas and to take whatever pleased me. It was then that I discovered the most beautifully intoxicating scent - Tropical Nectar, a discontinued fragrance by Victoria's Secret. It smells like a deadly mixture of luscious peaches, a private island getaway, and love. It brings to mind a certain Isle Esme scene from Breaking Dawn.

We had a huge (mom's side) family dinner in celebration of the Lunar New Year. My grandparents, great aunt and uncle, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all in attendance. My grandma did not approve of my lack of red clothing, but she forgave me when she noticed the jade I wore around my neck, and when I told her I got my hair cut per tradition. I didn't bother explaining to her that UCLA students generally frown upon wearing red. My great uncle wore a green, blue, and purple plaid collared shirt under a heather gray vest that gave him a million style points in my book. During dinner, he decided to uncork a bottle of red wine and insisted that everyone at the table drink with him. Half a glass later, I was admiring the reddish glow on my relatives' faces when I found myself silently thanking my father for passing me his family's genes for alcohol tolerance.

It feels so strange to be here in the middle of the academic quarter because I've come to associate this house and this part of LA with vacation as I've only been here while on break from school. It feels unnatural to be doing homework, so I spent most of my day playing with Wii my little cousins, indulging in Midnight Sun (another guilty pleasure of mine...oh, the gluttony), and hemming a thrifted dress. I've made little progress with homework, and thus decided that I'll give it another try in the morning.