The year is halfway gone and this is only 1 of 2 posts I have shared over six months. I’d like to give you reasons for my “busy” schedule, but really I should remember what all of this was about when it started. I wanted a way to chronicle my work, life, and thoughts. Over the years I went through periods where what I posted didn’t matter, the depth of the writing was not important, and all I really wanted to do was show something.

For the next half of the year I’d like to make a promise to myself to frequent this space more. Posts don’t have to happen daily, they should happen regularly. I experienced a lot of firsts in 2017, traveled to new places and continue to learn about myself and challenge myself in my work. You’ll see some of them here. No captions, no locations but just enough to know a little more about this story.

Reading newspaper from last week, eating a cinnamon roll, and watching Netflix. Ok, maybe I am just looking through most of the photos, but The New York Times publishes damn good photos.

This is probably one of the most ridiculous picture I have ever had taken of myself but isn’t it funny?? Yes it’s three days after I turned twenty seven and this totally happened on Wednesday in the middle of the workweek. When you’re freelance this can happen and it’s ok too (sometimes as long as you did all your work and are waiting for edits to come back to you). A lot can happen in a year. Last year this time, my big thing was figuring out how I was going to move home to Hawaii. Here I am a year later, living in a completely different place–San Diego.

Twenty seven is a big number. Out of the single digits, out of the teens, and no longer in the early 20’s. Mid-to-late twenties it is. Ready to see what this new year has to offer and figure out how I’m gonna float through life. Preferably with a caramel apple lollipop in hand!

I drink a lot of drinks. Not alcoholic ones–the occasional cocktail or glass of wine doesn’t hurt–but caffeinated ones. I picked up the tea habit in NYC pulling long days and even longer nights. I started drinking everything UN-sweetened, which was unheard of for me in college. I also learned  “getting coffee” or “meeting up in the afternoon” with clients or friends usually meant it was happening over a beverage and a cute overpriced croissant or baked good. Well duh, you don’t plan to “get coffee” with someone and get something to drink. So drinking drinks also became a social thing. I would once complain about it being SO overpriced and overrated and something I could make at home, but here I am today, enjoying non-alcoholic drinks with friends just because. 

On a recent friend meet-up in North Park, we did just that. Meeting up for coffee, just because. Except coffee is still not an option for me (never will be) and I’m all about iced tea or chai tea lattes. We got these tall and short drinks at Coffee & Tea Collective, a place that is nothing short of “hip.” From the white painted brick wall, wood counter tops, stools, rebar and Edison bulbs, it’s hip on point. Seen a lot of these from New York to North Park and I think they are here to stay, for a while. Get familiar.

As all tourist would (even though we’re not), we sought out the picture perfect postcard down the street. This photo of me looks pretty ridiculous (I have a number of friend who would agree), but hey, it’s very fitting for this time in my life. I’m back to a place where I lived the first time I left home. While I take a lot of pictures, there are some times I wish I got a picture of me at certain place. After all, “pic or it didn’t happen.”

Before my day was over, I had two more drinks. I forgot to take a picture of one, but this tea from Lofty Coffee was delish. That’s right, if you clicked the link you know Lofty is in Solana Beach, so I traveled far for this one. With a new sidekick, this lavender infused black tea really hit the spot. It’s supposed to be fall but SoCal doesn’t quite do it like the east coast does and it was pretty warm.

My last tea of the day, Thai Tea, was paired with pad see ew, from Bahn Thai in University Heights. I don’t really know how I ended up there with yet another friend, but we did. Friends and food go hand-in-and and this particular day was full of chatting, eating and drinking–tea. Sometimes it’s not about how good the coffee/tea/food is (although that’s the goal), but it’s about the company and throughout this day I totally scored.

USD’s got it güd.

Yesterday, I posted a pic similar to this to my Insta-story. Still trying to figure out why I would need to do that, Snapchat, and maybe even a real Insta-post that only some of my friends would see thanks to the new algorithms. I could even share all that to my Facebook feed if I really wanted to (and at times, I do). Let’s not forget Twitter because this will end up there too. With so many ways to stay connected and share, when does it become an over-share? I’m struggling with the idea of having so many ways to post.  I wouldn’t want people to see the same image 10x. Instead, I’d want them to see something different, every time. This is a new challenge to me. I remember when the challenge was to take a picture of something interesting everyday. Now I’ll have to take at least 20. Catch me where you can, I won’t promise it’ll be super interesting, but I’ll do my best to try!

Actually, no. What is not chill is I can’t believe the last post I made was from July 31, 2015. I’m writing this and scolding myself about that. Now that’s I’m finally here, the secret’s out. Okay, it really wasn’t a secret, but it also wasn’t announced. I’ve made my way back to San Diego, the University of San Diego to be exact. I’m not longer a student, but I’m a teacher. I’m teaching a class I took as a freshman, in the same classroom I took it in as a freshman. I have the same e-mail address and ID number (they never get rid of those) and I’m walking the same halls I walked nine (what.) years ago.

I haven’t kept my digital life as updated as it should be. From tying up the lose ends at home, to prepping for my second cycle in San Diego, AND working (because we have to make money honey), it hasn’t been chill. But now I’m here and I’m pretty happy about it. There’s a lot going on here on the west side of America, and I’ll keep working on posting here, so I will forget about it never. ;)

California was my first step away from home. In all my trips in and out of California, nothing has changed. California has always been the same, but I think I’ve changed. The things that caused me grief have turned into the things that make me feel good. I haven’t lived here in years but the comfort I feel in San Diego makes me feel right at home. Here I learned about myself and let people learn about me. I’ve left a lot of hearts here. Long distance friendships are never easy but when they are with the right people, they are definitely worth it. Thanks for staying the same California. You are quite the cure.

SD, that’s why.

I’ll be here, somewhere in the corner under clouds of [California].

Swiping through old pics late and night and being reminded of good friends, and food.

North Park, it’s a thing.