life happenings around nature, softball and fires...

Since my last post, I've been playing around with my new techie toy more. Before work one Wednesday morning, I paid a visit to the LA Arbortem. It was my first time there and I really didn't know what to expect. Walking through the doors and grabbing a map, I glanced up to see that the next "walking" tour had begun only a few minutes before. Missed that opportunity. Unfolded my map and grew a bit overwhelmed at how large the park seem. I only had a couple of hours before heading to work, so I had to get in as much as I could. Once of the first things that I ran into was:



I was told later that morning by one of the "regulars" that I had just missed them in their most regal form. I guess it was suppose to be impressive that they grew out their tails an average of 6 feet and pranced around the park during the summer months. Oh well, mental note for next year. The one place that I really wanted to see was the waterfall in the park. I love waterfalls. When I was younger, my family took a trip to Niagara Falls in Canada almost every year. There's just something about the rush of water that's both exciting and calming at the same time. I took some average shots of the mini waterfall at the Arbortem.



Although my favorite waterfall shot is still on my laptop at home and currently is acting as my wallpaper until something better comes along.

In the same week, I had mentioned to the boy that I had wanted to visit the Huntington Library. Mind you, I've lived in LA for over 5 years now and still haven't visited the Library grounds. I was told it was beautiful. That Saturday afternoon, despite the morning rain, we wandered to the Library. It was simply beautiful and peaceful even with the amount of people walking around. They were also hosting their annual plant sale as well. Our first stop was the Desert Gardens. Desert and Gardens didn't seem to belong in the same sentence much less be an attraction at the Library. But the pictures below should prove that wrong.





My favorite shot was one of cacti called "Living Stones" or their technical term "Lithops." I wanted to purchase one of these when I left for the day but decided against it as I would probably kill it with my non-green thumb.



We walked around the entire Library and through their impressive bonzi tree collection in the Japanese Garden. I can only imagine how much those bonzi trees would cost should they be available for sale. It was a nice escape from LA city life and so close to home.

This past weekend, we traveled to the Bay Area for softball. The tournament called, "Smash" is an "Asian" tournament featuring competitive men's, recreational men's and co-ed divisions. Our team, a mixture of north and south CA. Combined you get the "Nutty Cocks" Yes, that's their team name. They didn't do so bad, finishing 2nd out of 30 some odd teams in the recreational division. But if you were to ask them, they should have won it all. Thankfully, the visit wasn't just about softball. I played tour guide to my southern CA people in the city as well. It was a nice combination of sports and travel. Although, I almost didn't make it home. Somewhere between the rental car place and the terminal, I forgot my purse on the bus. Thankfully, my karma was good to me and it was found! I've got to laugh at it now but it wasn't all funny when it was happening. Pix from the weekend.






We're currently in day 5 of the fires here. Thankfully, we live in close to city and not near any of the fires. But the smoke and ashes are now a part of the daily life called LA. At least, I know that those closer to the fires are safe and ok and that the firefighters are making progress ending this disaster around us. Stay safe everyone!

weekend here... weekend gone...

Sometimes it's best when you don't have plans for the weekend. I've been dying for a weekend, a free weekend of no traveling, no commitments, no nada.

Unfortunately, what I hoped would be a free weekend, turned out to be a busy weekend.

Friday Night... post work, the boy and I had no plans but to chill out at home and be vegetables. That was the plan. But in actuallity, we ended up going to the softball park to catch the end of our friends' softball game. They lost again. Post game defeat, we all headed out to one of the greatest hole in the wall mom and pop food places in Monterey Park. It's called Pearl's Place on Garvey. I recommend the fried dumplings and the pork chops and rice. Simple but good food. My friend J has been going there since she was a wee kid with her family. She took me and boy the there once and I've been a big fan since. After that it was post coffee drinks at Starbucks. Unfortunately, they don't have a Coffee Bean out in the Alhambra/Monterey Park area, only because all the boba places dominate all the streets. It was a great night of conversation, laughter and friends.

Saturday... again no plans for the day but it turned out to be a busy one. The boy and I started the day with brunch at Pat and Lorraines in Eagle Rock. It's across the way from my mother in law's shop. We swung by the shop and mom reminded us of the birthday party of our friends two children was later that afternoon. Ugh... sure enough the reminder message popped up on the Curve just moments later. I completely forgot about it even though their mom handed me the invitation at a housewarming just a couple of weeks ago. So there went the free afternoon. Pat and Lorraines' is fabulous. I love food but I especially love breakfast. The boy and I both had omelettes. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of how big the portions are. He had the fajitas omelette and I had Jose's Omelette Special. Yumm-mmie! It's more like a scramble rather than a traditional omelette served with a side of home fries and your choice of toast, biscuit or fruit. Took home enough for breakfast in the morning again.

After breakfast, we headed home to pick up the invitation and then off to Target for birthday gifts for both kids. The parentals made specific requests for no toys and indicate clothing sizes. I love that. Takes the work out of guessing sizes. Gifts in hand, it was off to the party. A roadblock on the major street made us take the sideroute but we eventually made it to the party. Filipino parties are just an excuse for people to stuff their faces with lots of fried this and fried that. But seeing as brunch was still settling in our stomachs, the boy and I shook our heads politely and said we'd grab a bite to eat later. See, there was still 4 more hours of party left. The kids had a bouncer which was great. It was not only just a bouncer but it also had one of those slides in the back attached to it. It was a super bouncer. Even though it was made for kids, the bigger kids couldn't resist taking a few jumps and slides of their own. It was comedy in person. The pinatas, yes there were two, were broken and candy and money gathered, cake was cut, good times had by all. I took tons of pictures that day as I had just purchased a new camera lense for the nikon. It's sooo purty. Here's a couple of shots that I can post...



The above is a picture from the park, a level down from where the party was happening. It was quite peaceful. Reminds me of the poem by Robert Frost called "The Road Not Taken." It's currently my desktop picture. I love being able to play around with photography. Still trying to figure out how all the features work on this camera but as you can see, I'm loving some of the results.



We're both so ready to have kids! The boy with one of my friends' new babies. He's gonna make a great daddy!

After the party, we headed out to dinner at Briganti's in South Pasadena. It's light Italian food. Yes, there is such a thing as light Italian. We were able to meet the owner/chef of Briganti's. My boss is actually his next door neighbor. He was fabulous and ended up sending us 2 desserts. I recommend this place highly. I've been there a few times and have yet to have a bad meal or experience bad service there. Reservations are recommended especially on a weekend night.

Sunday, thankfully, ended up being mellow. I'm rather said that I missed out on a blog party gathering. It looked like so much fun from the pictures. We stayed home and vegged, cruised the internet and read for a bit before heading to the softball park for his men's championship game. They ended up winning in the bottom of the 7th by 1. We celebrated by heading out to Applebee's for dinner with the team.

So for a weekend filled with no plans, it turned out to be a crazy busy but fun filled weekend. How was yours?

a recap of some much needed recaps

So, it seems that my last post was back in June. Oh my... forgive me blog.

What's been happening in my life?

July
I love July only because I get spoiled rotten (it was planned this way, at least one of the events was, I had no control over the event) July is an entire month of celebration for me. Why... my birthday and my anniversary fall in this wonderful month of July. How did we celebrate? Hmm.. (racking old brain for a memory) Oh yes... the boy reminded me that he had woken up with a painful wrist and spent the morning at urgent care. He did manage to make it out and watch the opening of "Harry Potter." Post Harry, came home and baked cookies for the softball park. It was a pretty mellow birthday. I like them low key and just me and the boy. Plus, the end of the month, we had already planned a nice little getaway to San Diego and to SinCity. The combo of beach and gambling... love it! We visited The Wild Animal Park for the first time and survived Vegas heat. Oh... and I got to finish the final Harry book.

August
I'll just say one word. "Wedding" Too much detail to go into. Just nice to see old folks from college again. Good to see some things don't change and some things do.

September
I started September pondering a purchase, either another luxury purse that I would drool over or an SLR camera. The shutterbug in me won out. I'm now a proud shutterbugging owner of a Nikon D40. I adore my new techie toy. It came in handy as we headed off to Phoenix for a softball tournament.

Phoenix was hot hot hot. Dry heat thankfully but still hot. No matter how much water you drank, you were still dripping sweat and even more sweat. That was just the fans watching, can't imagine what the guys on the field felt like. It was a nice change to hang out with people from my softball park outside of the regular softball park. It did rain in Phoenix, right before we left. That kicked the humidity factor into high gear. Crazy crazy heat turned into sticky, gotta run back for a cold shower heat. Ew. But, the sky rewarded me with the following shot...



and one of my favorites of my favorite player...



I think that's all for now... until next time!

an overdue recap of life's ongoings

What's been up with me? Not that I have alot of readers truely committed to reading my blog. It's been almost two months since my last post. I lag.

Life is finally back to a pace where I "think" I can handle it. But then again, are we really able to handle anything no matter what pace we set for ourselves?

Do you ever find yourself in a drama situation after a while you forgot how you ended up in that drama situation? I've been currently caught up in one of those drama situations. It's been quite a tiresome process of watching, reacting and anticipating what's going to happen next. Thankfully, it's beginning to wind down now and things are somewhat going back to normal. I thought that I had distanced myself from everyday drama only to walk into more. I guess that's that pattern of life. No matter now much you try and avoid something, it's bound to sneak up on you when you least expect it to.

The boy and I have been house hunting in the area. Although we're not quite ready to buy yet, looking and figuring things out that we both like and dislike has been an adventure. We're still on track for around September to be buying a house. I can't wait for the chance to be homeowner, no matter what the headaches are that come with it, at least I know that I won't be losing money paying rent.

You know, I'm at a point where life is back to being ok. I've managed to walk away from a passion of the heart and pick myself up again with other things that I had forgotten were there for me before everything else.

I've come to find that life is full of circles, you go from one circle to the next, it may take a while to move from one circle to another but the one thing I will always have to remember is that each circle is there for a reason, good or bad.

How's everyone doing in my circle? Let me know!

a relationship with my mother in law...

I ran into my mother in law on the way to the coffee house tonight. She was heading home after a long day at her shop. I honked my horn and rolled down the window just to say hi. She asked where I was headed and asked if I was ok. It was comforting.

I think it's pretty ironic that I have what I consider a great relationship with mother in law. Considering that my relationship with my own parents is non-existant. Don't get me wrong.. the relationship isn't all bells and whistles either. She's my husband's mother.. enough said. But needless to say, I couldn't have asked, prayed, or given up my first born for the really comforting relationship I have with her. I try and make the attempt to swing by and say hi and check in on her to make sure that things are ok at least once a week.

I know that I have a certain amount of admiration for her. Along with that admiration comes respect. I don't think I would have had this relationship with her if I didn't have that respect. It's just nice to know that I can talk to her openly and know that she will always have our best interest in mind.

I'm lucky....

back to writing...

I remember back in the 8th grade when one of my favorite teachers of all time, Mrs. T introduced us to daily writing from "The Book of Questions." Back in 2000, I picked up a copy of that book along with another book to inspire me to write on a daily basis. With the intent there, time unfortunately did not permit. Now that I do have more time on my hands, it's back to writing. Writing not just to write but to keep the mind sharp and flowing.

So with that being said, I begin with question one.

For a person you loved deeply, would you be willing to move to a distant country knowing there would be little chance of seeing your friends or family again?

Wow, back in the day, my answer to this question would have been simple. But now that I'm older, it's alot harder to think of the right answer to this question as there are so many other questions that come up. The selfish side to me would say yes in a heartbeat. That would have been my answer in my early twenties. But now, as I approach the mid thirties, I can't say yes without hesitation. Sacrifice and compromise. Isn't that what life is about? One has to sacrifice and compromise in order to obtain happiness. How does love configure into this equation as there are so many types of love in my life? Would I be willing to give up the love I have for my husband and lose those who have been there for me even before I was married? It's not a fair question to ask and it's not a fair question to answer.

I think it's only fair to sit on this question a bit longer. I'll probably come back to it sooner than later....

Moving on....

It's taken me a while to write about this, only because the pain is still fresh. Very early this year, I decided that I had to give up my partnership in the business. Mostly because I disagree with how the business was being run. When it all comes down to it, one of the boys' old co-workers who is in the same industry, plainly put it... "We were working harder, but not smarter."

Why did I decide to walk away from my passion..... I have parts of it it figured out, I didn't like the stressful environments that I was placed into unwillingly, but mostly because I didn't like the person that I had become. It was hard for me to admit that I had changed as a person and harder even so to admit that I had really taken a major toll on my relationship with the one person that supported me the most. Sadly, I had stuck with the business based on the belief of the potential it had. The boy saw it much faster than I did but knew that I needed to come to the realization on my own.

I miss it though. Wallking away cold turkey... must be how smokers feel when they quite smoking. I'm slowly adjusting to life once again... a slower paced life. I do miss the creativity quite a bit. I've looked into art classes in the hopes of having a venue to release and satisfy the creative side of me.

So what's next... family and a house. Thankfully, I have a great job with the person who I was working part time for. She walked with me through the entire situation, making the adjustments with me. The boy and I are looking into buying a house towards the end of the year. But most of all, we're both looking to expand the family unit.

It's been a rough beginning to 2007, but I love how the rest of 2007 is looking.