A month of celebrating | Stephanie's May 2026

Lifestyle, Lessons, Lows

Hello good people and happy June! May was a month full of celebrations - family, friends, and relationships. I can’t believe we’re starting summer already, let’s take a moment and recap — Stephanie 

Professionally, I followed through with role I was talking about during the last entry and made it to the panel round. Unfortunately while I did not get the role, and all the emotions that came with rejection - it still wasn’t a waste as I truly genuinely enjoyed the people I met with. In particular one woman on my panel, I instantly felt familiarity with. Even if this experience was to show me what’s out there and what could be - I am thankful for it as it showed me what could be for my next role, and also what I enjoy in my current role that I should be thankful for and would not want to trade off in my next play. It also led me to hammer in on AI even more, and to see it in a different light. Work has been an interesting relationship the past months more than ever for sure. Part of me has been upset and trying to quite-quit with the busyness, part of me has been finding joy in deepening relationships with coworkers who feel similarly, and part of me has been fueling on inspo to remain hopeful of what could be next. With all that being said, I definitely am thankful to have my career during this time. 

Relationships wise, this was a month of never-ending celebrations. It was my partner’s birthday and I genuinely enjoyed planning surprises! Especially since he’s always treating me out, it was nice to plan and treat him out too. From drawing a hamtaro card which gave me an excuse to exercise my hobby of drawing, to a midnight cake surprise, to finally giving him the gift I picked up with Jin (we know him so well), to a surprise omakase - he felt over the moon special :’) . Beyond my plans with him, I was also able to celebrate him alongside different circles of his life - from his friends, to a family dinner. It was nice seeing him in different settings and seeing how the different circles of his life showed up for him. We truly are lucky to be surrounded by family, friends, and a romantic partner. Given this is my first time having a partner, it was also interesting to see how much I would be willing to and genuinely excited to surprise my partner too. The remainder of the month was honestly quite tumultuous and I am thankful for the ways my partner showed up for me - in particular during our short 1 day off, planning a day full of experiences from palette tea garden, shopping, and a short hike - to get my mind off things. More on that later. 

Friendships wise, honestly I have not been the best in this area, since a month hiatus in April to all the celebrations in May as well as keeping up with my job. Being self aware here I have areas to improve for sure, in particular when I’m upset or busy, I tend to not tell anyone or reach out but then I end up not seeing my friends in ages lol. However in times of sadness or busyness, seeing friends is much needed to get out of a funk. In particular I am thankful for the ones that I did get to see. From another therapeutic and much needed catch up with Christina W where we yapped about anything and everything - it’s funny because she and I got tickets to coachella way in advanced but we never even thought to talk about it because each of our catch ups are jampacked with other deep topics lol that we didn’t find out we both went to coachella until the weekend of due to social postings. What’s more - she actually drove me home, its funny because at the start of our therapeutic catch ups ~3 years ago, I was the one driving and I was able to witness her driving journey and getting licensed. Super thankful for this friendship! To my unexpected work friendships, this month I also ended up going to a 2010s rave (honestly more just like a club lol) with my ex coworkers now turned friends. I definitely did not expect this group to come out the way it did, and as my other friends flaked on this outing - I wanted to too, but I am glad I did not because I didn’t expect this social event would lead to getting closer to my coworker friends. From pregamming at her place to trying something for the first time~ to post event shenanigans making tiktoks and eating tacos - I felt young again (and I’m sure everyone else did too haha). We have the age gap which I was worried about, as well as how we’d never gone out together, but honestly the night ended up being so much fun and its not even because of the event itself. Last honarable mention (of something I was going to back out on too lol but tried really hard to pull through and I am glad I did).I had an almost 2 month  (wow) reunion with Pearl and Sadie over warm weather and picnic at dolores. That morning I woke up with food poisioning and also was about to embark on a one week work offsite in San Jose, but it has been so long since I saw my friends and I am so glad I pulled through! We spent the day sunbathing, food, and yaps. I thank all my friends for reaching out this past month because frankly I have not been the best at it, especially when times are tough I tend to want to deal with them first and then spend time afterwards - but that is no way to live and I found spending time with friends the best break. 

Family wise, continues to hold near and dear. This month, I had the privilege of celebrating Mother’s day to so many amazing women. From my family - we were able to spend another mother’s day with my grandma, alongside my mom, and my aunts who raised me. Each year and day we have with my grandma is a win. This year I was also able to celebrate with my partner’s mom, grandma, and aunt - we had a family dinner and my partner and I brought out our polaroid camera and it was so cute seeing these ladies get ready and cute and have fun with taking photos. Lots of laughs were had and while I’ve had dinner with my partner’s family numerous times, this was a first seeing the ladies get to have their moment too.

Beyond the Mothers Day fun, I also tried to make each weekend more adventurous with my parents - as they had for me growing up. I spontaneously took my parents to watch the Michael movie (surprisingly both my parents really enjoyed and it reminded them of their 20s-30s when his songs came out!) , as well as taking my parents a walk down memory lane to some East Bay memories that we haven’t revisited since my grandma on my dads side passed away (she lived in East Bay). Family continues to be a bittersweet topic as I try my best to make each moment count, but its the truth we have to accept that my grandma likely won’t be getting better and that each day we have with her is a win. It’s also tough seeing my father battle his sickness too. I pray for a hopeful June and that things can miraculously turn for the better. 

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My pick of the month: Mothers day

As I mentioned previously, this year I had the privilege of celebrating so many amazing women - from my mom, grandma, and aunt to my partner’s mom, grandma, an aunt. Cheers to these women who gave us the life we have today.

These days I feel like life is moving so fast I barely have time to process. Career wise - beyond the work itself and trying to job search, I’ve also been spending a lot of time in San Jose. Followed by trying to keep up with my partner and friends, as well as my grandparents and parents - it feels like each week is hyper optimized and I know I need to take a pause but it is hard to give up each of these pillars of life that matter to me. June as its going has been equally full, as I am writing this I just had the most hyper optimized sunday unfinished blogging at the cafe, family time, to concert with friends. 

I am thankful for this life I get to live so full but I am hoping the next time I write to you - I can provide more moments of pause and serenity. I hope everyone has a wonderful June!

— Stephanie