summer rambling

Like a blog that I frequent recently said, it’s been two thousand years.

I don’t really have any excuse. It’s not that I don’t want to write, I do, but I find that I usually find myself drafting posts at night, when I’m in bed, seconds before I’m about to fall asleep. Somehow, that’s when my thoughts flow. When I’m awake, it’s always all too easy to distract myself with another article to read, another episode to watch, another activity to do. Not to mention the last two months was mostly spent on the road.

I comfort myself that I’m out there living life instead of writing about it. Except that writing is also one thing I want to do in life. And I find that a couple of years down the road, I’m always appreciative of these entries recording my past memories and thoughts. Because without these records, memories too often fade and I forget the person I was.

So anyhow, this is me. Trying to write more.

So let’s see what I’ve been up to.

The last two months was kinda crazy. LA, Monterey, Chicago, and did an entire loop around Michigan, hitting two National Lakeshores and a state park in Upper Peninsula. It was a good trip with Mom. After that it was entertaining Mom and ZL when they visited. Drove to many sights around the area, checking out the landscapes, it was fun. California is such a vibrant place through the eyes of a tourist. The beaches are lovely and the sun makes everything light up. As a resident, frankly, it’s too hot.

After two months of pure fun, life becomes more settled again. Except it’s summer, so there’s still fun to be had. We did a picnic for 4th of July at La Jolla coast, catching a beautiful sunset and the fireworks. The tons of people with tents and bbqs was impressive. The people were so friendly that just hanging out there made for a nice day. We also went snorkeling at La Jolla Underwater Park. We must have walked past La Jolla Cove a thousand times, and this is the first time we actually went swimming in the Californian Pacific. It wasn’t the perfect day, the tides were strong and it was difficult getting into the water, not to mention the wetsuit. But the view from the water of the La Jolla cliffs was beautiful, so different on the other side. It was nice to float on the water, looking at the view. And swimming through the seagrass and schools of golden fish is just indescribable. I went swimming a couple times more in our condo pool last week – each time I get in the water, I tell myself I should do it more. It’s such a good feeling, why do I always forget? Anyway, I signed up for Paddle Board Yoga next month, that should ensure more time in the blue Pacific.

Frequenting good old groupon also lined up more activities for us – horseback riding, a culinary tour, museum tickets etc. We also have plans for some fairs and a outdoor jazz concert in the park. It’s summer after all, although I can’t wait for fall.

And I’ve also been playing around with cooking and make-up.

Cooking is something necessary because eating outside costs so much here in SoCal, groupons and restaurant.com certificates notwithstanding. We still go out at least once a week and occasionally try out new places, but we mostly eat at home. Usually I just do soups – I have two or three soup recipes that I fall back on, it’s healthy and easy. Ten minutes of prep time before I leave the house and it’s ready when we get home. But I do like to mix it up a little to make it fun.

Last weekend, I attempted Chilli Crab because I had a hankering for home-style comfort food. I had no idea it required tomato paste! I didn’t use whole crabs, instead I switched it out for crab legs, snow crab, jumbo prawns and shrimp. The result did not exactly turn out like the Chilli Crab of home, but it was still tasty and we enjoyed the seafood.

Another good thing about summer is the cheap fruit. We bought boxfuls of melons, mangoes, peaches and apricot. When it’s too hot, sometimes just making a milkshake with fruit, milk, ice-cream and ice-cold cream soda is enough for dinner, or at least a really filling snack. I also made a batch of osmanthus tea recently to ward off the hot summer weather.

I’ve also been kinda suffering from retail therapy. After going out non-stop when entertaining family and friends, I took a couple of days where we only went out for groceries and spent the rest of the day at home, and I’ve some time on my hands to sit in front of the screen. Only I’m wishing I sat on my hands instead.

I’ve no idea how it started. I’ve never really been the shopping kind. I don’t really enjoy going out to shop, except for occasional sprees with a girlfriend. When I go overseas, I usually find myself bored at those shopping areas – especially if I’m with P who seriously hates shopping. But recently, I began frequenting beauty blogs and sites – and started buying. And it’s not a little addictive, especially with Sephora where buying stuff gets you points and tons of samples. But it’s really fun and I find myself spending more time and thought on putting myself together before going out.

I used to spend perhaps five minutes getting ready - just grabbing the nearest piece of clothing that makes sense in the weather and the type of activity I was going to do. Now I give more thought to accessories, colors, and also make-up. I don’t do this everyday (there are still days I grab the nearest piece of most comfortable clothing and slip on my oldest pair of sandals), but at least one or two days a week, I take thirty minutes before going out (P uses the time for an extra game at the computer so he doesn’t exactly complain). It’s enjoyable and entertaining (even if P don’t really notice or care!) And it makes me feel more female somehow. Thirty years is a little late to the make-up game and I’m still awfully bad at applying it; I don’t know if I’ll stick at it (I definitely need to stop buying!!!), but until it stop being fun, I’ll probably keep at it for awhile.

In actuality, life hasn’t been all that exciting recently. It’s not boring, but not exactly thrilling. Then again life rarely is. There are things to do, which are worth mentioning, but it hasn’t really been an emotional rollercoaster. Perhaps that’s the real reason why I haven’t been writing. Things to do with a combination of being satisfied made it easy not to pick up the pen (metaphorically speaking). I guess, too often I write when I want to rant, or when I need an emotional outlet.

But I’ve been happy. And I’m still happy. There are ups and downs, but the downs doesn’t distract from the fact that I’m mostly content. (It definitely helps that there’s someone who tries his best to lift me up whenever I’m down).

Sometimes I wonder if I should feel so satisfied and content. In reality, I’m not really achieving much, doing the little things in life. My work isn’t exactly going anywhere – and I should really start to stretch myself more, and perhaps push myself to get out of my comfort zone. I’m not growing in life and I lack adrenaline. I think of these things and feel the need for a change.

But then again, there are factors to consider – uncertainty in how long we’ll be staying here (P’s job hold priority), uncertainty in what to do. And I think to myself, I’m happy now. And those are thoughts for another day.