Oh Cindy, So many firsts. We first met at SXSW 2005. What a magical year. SX was still small enough that we could run into each other in the halls…but large enough that it was easy to feel lost in the crowd. You helped create our home away from home at the Austin Downtown Hampton Inn. The lounge area on the second floor became our “living room”. We’d gather together there just like family.

Met Cindy back when I joined Flickr about 8 years ago. One of our first projects together was to revamp the Flickr app. I would say this picture was a pivotal one. A memorable moment with Cindy back at Flickr.

One of my favorite memories is meeting her and thinking oh man if I had 1⁄10 of her energy I could be sooooo much better!!! She is Holly 2.0!!! 😛 My aspiring next version. When I met Cindy in her cube, I knew I had found my East coast tribe! I always had a friend when I went to Dulles who would always take me in no matter how old of a version of Holly I was 😉

I met Cindy ages ago, in a galaxy far, far, away (Jacksonville, where we grew up). I don’t remember how we met either (I assume it was school? My memory isn’t the best), but we spent a lot of time together growing up. We spent a lot of time together on the bus and phone and living in fear of our Asian moms, as only teenagers can. 😄 We probably never would have guessed then that we would both be off living in major cities.

I love how Apollo is looking at mommy in this picture!

I remember eating steaks of destiny at the Hoffbrau in Austin with Cindy, Norm and a bunch of other lovely folks. I particularly remember Cindy’s incredibly loud cab-summoning whistle on the way back.

Impromptu foodfest… Cindy: “Hey Chris, what are you doing?” Me: “Nothing.” Cindy: “Wanna grab an Ike’s sandwich?” Me: “Hells yes! Let’s go.” Sandwiches in the park (and blowing bubbles too, cause that’s just how Cindy rolled)

My adventures with Cindy Li began in the hills of northern Virginia back in a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Yes, I’m talking about AOL. I was blessed to be assigned to a team with this perky, friendly, optimistic, and incredibly talented woman of the name Cindy Li. Our first adventure was launching a new homepage to millions of adoring fans (and equal number of complaints about moving the mail icon!

One of the funnest evenings of my life. There was so much love that night.

This was a really fun trip :) I’m pretty sure there were hello kitty waffles the next morning! We’d just got off the plane and then went to target and a food shop and came back to have a BBQ. I think Nik actually fell asleep on the table 😂😂 we’d been up 18ish hours by then! 💗