The Time I was Attacked, Shot At & Dad Rescued Me from Mexico

The year was 1992 and I was 21 years old. I was living near the beach in southern California with one of my best friends from Redlands, working part time and attending the University of California Irvine. There was a great deal on a seven day trip to Puerto Vallarta so I decided to head out on my first international solo trip!

Mexico is a beautiful country that I had safely travelled to a few times already (well, dozens if you count Tijuana on the SoCal border because in the U.S. the legal drinking age is 21 but … not in Mexico, so imagine how popular it is for U.S. teens!). The very first day I made friends with a really sweet and fun group of locals who took me under their wing and showed me the side of Puerto Vallarta that tourists never see. They took me to small clubs where a singer playing acoustic guitar belted out beautiful love songs, to a massive underground club far away from the touristy bars where I was the only foreigner, and to swim in beautiful lagoons … introduced me to real local food and taught me how to drink tequila like a Mexican (not the salt, shot, lime way we westerners do it). (more…)

Memories of a First Kiss

I was just reminded about my first kiss and no matter how many years — well, let me be honest … DECADES! — pass, the thought of it still brings a smile to my face. It was the 80s in Southern California and he was my very first boyfriend. He had blonde hair that he’d swish out from in front of his eyes with a sideways head flick and I thought he was simply dreamy. When he made the move from holding hands to a kiss let me tell you that it was nothing like the sweet kisses you see in movies though. (more…)

Back to Blogging Again — YeeHaw!

It’s 10pm and the first raindrops of the monsoon season are falling in Hong Kong. My speakers are belting out Steely Dan and I can’t seem to keep my toes from wigglin’ because tonight is the first time since the beginning of November that I’ve opened up my blog and wanted to type my little heart out again in ages. And although I know this isn’t going to be a long epic post and it probably won’t be very interesting to anyone, for me it’s a milestone because tonight officially marks the end to six months of blogger’s block! (more…)

Angela’s Asia Just Launched! My New Home for Luxury Travel Reviews for Asia

Man have I missed food blogging and writing travel reviews since leaving India back in 2013 {oh my gawd, like totally a lot!}. So it is with a heart full of GLEE and LOVE that I introduce you to my new baby Angela’s Asia, which has just launched now that I’m all settled into life in my new home Hong Kong. (more…)

Confession From a Single Mom: Being Selfish Made My Dreams Come True

If you know me or have followed along with my adventures then you know that the past four years have been hard. Not ‘cutting corners’ or ‘changing jobs’ hard but ‘we ate plain rice for a week’ and ‘I didn’t have a job for almost a year – a COUPLE of times’ – hard. The struggles were real and scary and caused a burden on my family and friends that was never there before…and cast doubts on the future for my daughter in terms of her education. (more…)

Interior Design DORK! The Secret to Decorating a Tiny Hong Kong Flat Like a Pro @ IKEA

Today is my birthday and what’s a girl to do when she’s fresh off the boat and doesn’t have friends yet in Hong Kong? Shop, darling…SHOP! And since I just signed the lease on the ‘tiny but fabulous’ flat I will be calling home in three days, well…this birthday handbags and shoes are being swapped for a water filter and furniture thanks in large part to a man named Ramesh and IKEA Hong Kong at Causeway Bay.

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Starting Life Over Again in Hong Kong – Day 1

It seems blissfully fitting that today is now officially the first day of the rest of my life because today is the day that the greatest joy in my life arrived 19 years ago when my daughter was born. While she has been enjoying her very first house party in her own apartment in the UK tonight, I relocated to Hong Kong! She is simply the best thing that ever happened to me and I’ve really missed her since she went off to uni a year ago, leaving me empty nested. So it feels ‘right’ for lack of a better term that this new chapter of my life should begin on the same day that the best part of my life began back in 1995. (more…)

43 and Single. Is it Time to Settle Down?

My birthday is coming up on the 18^th and that’s always cause for reflection by anyone. We reflect on what we’ve accomplished over the past 12 months, on where we are with our career and often on what’s going on with our romantic life. So here I am, sat on a flight from NYC to SFO watching the film Moulin Rouge, which is pulling at my romantic heartstrings and making me wonder…is ENOUGH enough? Should I end the lifestyle I’ve been leading and start to think about the future and settling down? (more…)

Wine, Mama’s Cookin’ or Organic? What Makes Lunch Special in Spain, India and America!

I’ve learned the fun way (through extensive stays in each city) that culinary distinctions are just the tip of the business lunch iceberg that you need to look out for when it comes to the basics of dining with work mates in Barcelona, Bangalore and San Francisco. It turns out that to truly navigate this area like a native and fit in it’s pretty easy…if you are up for changing your habits almost 100% at times and goin’ with the flow! (more…)

Reverse Culture Shock in America: Fake Boobs and Street Food

Good thing I’m headed to Hong Kong for the new job in October because it turns out that I really am not meant to live in the USA any longer. Not because I don’t love and adore my friends and family. Not because I don’t find the landscape of both natural and urban jungles absolutely fabulous. And CERTAINLY not because I don’t gobble up the food and wine, happily and always looking forward to the next gobble-fest! Nope! I’ve gotta get the hell out of dodge because I can turn into an American-basher apparently at the drop of a hat – or shall we say more easily after a few drops of vino!?!? (more…)

26 Days ‘til the First Day of the Rest of My Life? No Way!

I’m sat on a plane, reminiscing. To say the least, the past year has been a crazy roller coaster of a ride. A little bit I’ve shared here and there, much of it I’m still not ready to blog about…but what I do know with 100% certainty is that the past 14 months have been filled with too many ups and downs. One definite and unexpected victim of the past year has been my life as a personal blogger, almost entirely. (more…)

Recruiters: Stop Torturing Job Seekers & Messing with Your Brand

{Originally published via LinkedIn this week where it was a top 10 article for 2 days}

I’m unemployed and actively searching for a challenging and stable new job – hopefully one that I will enjoy for the next five or so years until my daughter is out of uni and completes her masters (fingers crossed!). As fate would have it, working almost exclusively with start-ups and in contract roles has meant that I look for work more frequently than the average Joe, so I’m certainly no spring chicken to the game. But this time around it feels different to me, in both very positive and very negative ways. (more…)

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