11 posts tagged “happy”
Here are a few photos that I chose to upload from the trip and the boy and I took to the Sea Bluff late Christmas eve so we could spent time with his family at the beach house that they rented. It was beautiful. I'm still getting over the whole "sunny Christmas" bit after living in MN where it gets cold and stays cold for long periods of time. I miss those changes in weather, even though I appreciate the wonderful aspects of living in SoCal (picking fruits and veggies from the garden!). Somehow, I don't think that his parents really minded this warm Christmas, though (they are from MD). ;)
a couple of things about where we were at (life plaza):
• life plaza has the neatest asian/super kawaii things! want little soft footies for your stool that have cute little animal prints? or perhaps some peach lotion in a peach shaped container? then you've come to the right place! we ended up each leaving with a notepad and 3 pens a piece (0.38 pens? pshaw! who needs those when you can get 0.3 tip pens, or even 0.28?!).
• someone kept me from buying more school folders, and this someone will remain nameless *cough* ted *cough* because they were super cute and goodness knows that i need more cute things in my life! did i mention that life plaza has mugs with kitties on them, too? :O :D
• i'm sort of wired right now.
• if you go and at the small cafe attached be prepared to (1) receive more than one drink (the waiter didn't tell us that we were getting buy-one-get-one-free drinks, so we ended up with two coffees and two passion fruit juices), and, (2) be prepared to order rice and have the waiter tell you that they ran out of rice. i am totally not kidding here! how did an asian cafe that predominantly serves rice run out of rice? we don't know! they just did, and Ted ended up ordering noodles. i have to say that the waiter came back later with the offering of small pot of rice after noodles were ordered, though. :)
• you may now understand why i am wired. :o
i really miss my friends, but it's getting together like this and catching up that just feels really good. also, that's what having a new notepad with new pens is for. i suppose that it's time for me to collect some addresses since i'm pretty bad about keeping addresses all in one place!
tonight was lovely. i've been so busy that i haven't really been out and about, so driving out on such a crisp night in no traffic (it helps to leave the house at 11p!), listening to good music with a half a moon and well lit roads just made (and makes!) me happy.
earlier tonight, my sister and i drove to malibu to have dinner at the chart house restaurant. built alongside pacific coast highway and facing the ocean, it provided some beautiful views despite it being dark out. i wish i had better pictures to show (the first was taken from their website). the restaurant was kind enough to light up the beach area so we could see all of the seagulls perching atop the water, or running across the wet sand leaving their footprints. the drive shouldn't have taken us more than an hour, but it took well over an hour and half to get there with the evening and holiday traffic.
first picture: my sister standing next to the fire pit out on the patio-- the fire kept on flying about because of the sea breeze! the patio was still quite chilly despite the fire pit, what with the ocean lapping up against the rocks right beneath us and the ocean breezes.
second picture: you can see the reflection of the fire pit and my sister in the background there, but this picture was taken looking down from the patio. if you were to go a little farther down the beach to the right, you would see all of the seagulls. wait! there are some white dots, i think that those were some of them :) honestly, the way they were hanging out out there, it's like they knew that they were being observed!
i'm enjoying this "exploring" of california. it's funny how people think that simply because you grow up or live here, you know all of the places to go that are nice, which really isn't true. i like how the weather changes so drastically as you get closer to the coastline; how driving down pacific coast highway feels like you're going to drive right into the ocean and never come back.
i want to bundle up and take a drive to malibu beach during the day time and walk along the coast. i want to take good friends to see and experience these same places so that it feels like new. i try not to talk about the missing that i feel because it's all the same-- words on the screen. it's better to think about future visits and the fun that will be had. it's easier that way.
i'm looking forward to a roadtrip with my favorite person in the world that does not involve driving in separate cars, 16 hour driving days, and being scared sh*tless driving on curvy, high roads. did i mention that heather kitty cried a lot, too?
we will be hosted by the lovely d & l (we hope to return the favor when we have our own place), and plan on visiting friends, taking many pictures, and OMG, macworld! ;D
• getting my heavy locks shorn into pretty layers :)
• going to school, petting & chasing the cat
• after running on wednesday, i heard some bells and turned to see two great danes about this size walking behind their (presumable) owner, replete with santa hats and jingling bells around their necks. i'm not kidding! they're as big as me. i wish i had gotten a picture, it was so awesome!
• putting on my dancing shoes and going out to dinner at bistro 45 ($32 piece of meat, what?! to its credit, it was really tasty. it's also where i took the picture of the crème brûlée.)
• knitting (don't you wish you knew what? ;)
is it really halfway through the month already? :o
dan and i took a walk around the neighborhood tonight, which started with him pointing out the geese that were roosting upon a large tree across the street. apparently, all of those mornings when i thought i heard geese and convinced myself that it was just the sound of some weird machinery (come on, wouldn't you think the same thing?!), there were really geese here! my sister tells me that they come every winter and make their geese-like noises in the tree. i don't know why, but thinking about this makes me happy.
all i want to do is curl up with a good book or knit some more. why, oh why, can't i do both at the same time?
tonight, i went with my sister to buy her new car and had the best buying experience i have ever had. EVER. hands down. if you are in the market for a Lexus and live in southern california, you should go to Longo Lexus and speak to Elliott. he deserves many gold stars, and that is pretty much what i'm going to write in my letter to them! i am a fervent believer in letting a business know when i've received stellar service, especially since it is human nature to make a ruckus when we receive bad service, why not do it for something positive? :)
i have to say that the Lexus RX is an absolutely lovely car, and i am very happy for my sister. and i get to drive it sometimes, woo! :) (probably more woo for me than woo for her knowing me, oh noes!!)
oh! and then we went to a birthday party where i ate many veggies with dip, fresh mangos, sushi and freshly grilled steak. we were starving! my sister and i ran out to the car when we left (we parked less than half a block away because there were so many cars) because it was a "cold" night. i'm turning into a wuss ;) but the party was nearby the ocean so it was much cooler, and wearing cute girl clothes makes you cold.
i am now very full and sleepy and will end this boring entry. :)
i'm sure that i will get tired of taking photos of the same thing pretty soon, but, lately, i've been encountering the most beautiful sunsets on my drive home.
i am brimming full of hope tonight, eating beautiful sunsets and inhaling the scent of fresh apples on the tree. life is falling into place.
