Category: Slice of Life

Lazy Saturday

Slice of LifeLeave a Comment on Lazy Saturday

Hi everyone!

How was your Saturday? Ours was relaxing once again. Today we took down and put away all of our Christmas decorations and also the tree. 🎄 We have an artificial tree which we keep in our garage. That thing is heavy as hell, but at least it separates into three parts so it isn’t too difficult to carry. This year the kids helped remove all the ornaments and lights so the job went much quicker. It was a huge help! 👍

Our holiday decorations are usually pretty limited… several years back we would put more effort into it, with decorations in the yard. But nowadays it’s only the indoors that gets decorated, and just the living room. We enjoy the celebrations, parties, and getting together with family, but we aren’t religious so the Christmas holiday doesn’t have that aspect to it. It’s fun to get into the giving spirit, though, and listening to all the Christmas music will always bring good memories and warm feelings. 😊🎵

"Small Plants" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Small Plants” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

Today’s photo is of a few of the small plants we have in our house. These particular ones live on the kitchen window sill.

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! Stay warm if you live in a cold part of the world!

おやすみなさい！💤

-B

Last day of 2015

Slice of Life, TravelingLeave a Comment on Last day of 2015

Good morning everyone! I hope you are keeping warm if your region has cold weather! It wouldn’t be fun to ring in the new year while being sick… 😬

Finally, the last day of 2015… It has been a great year for me! I am pretty sure this year has been the most I’ve ever traveled before in my life.

I can say without hesitation that all of these trips were fantastic and I enjoyed them so much! I used to get stressed about the logistics of traveling, but nowadays I just trust in myself and my family that everything will work out, and that if things don’t go as planned, it’s not the end of the world. Just adjust and enjoy! They say “adventure begins at the first wrong turn”. Something like that. I guess I have learned to embrace the possibilities, rather than stress on the unknown.

Besides all of the travel, a few notable things in the family… Firstly, Koa finished elementary school and began middle school. In his school district, middle school is grades 6-8. He’s loving it so far! Secondly, Bay became a high-schooler. It is still hard to believe that my baby boy has grown up so quickly! I am getting a little tear in my eye. 😂

I hope 2015 has been a great year for all of you. Let’s do our best in 2016!

-B

Back Home

, , , , Photo Life, Slice of Life, Traveling, Well-beingLeave a Comment on Back Home

Hi all! How are you today/tonight?

Well, we are back home in Texas now. Today we flew on our normal route from Long Beach to Austin on JetBlue airlines. We really like flying out of Long Beach because it is a small airport and hardly any traffic or lines. Especially compared to the craziness that is LAX! But this morning’s flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we arrived in Austin at 5pm… not really too big of a deal, and waiting at the airport was ok since we had sandwiches that my mom had made for us. Also, I had time to finish The Martian! What a great book! 👍

USA. California. Long Beach. 2015.
USA. California. Long Beach. 2015.

The flight itself was pretty good, and I spent the time reading and also reviewing and deleting photos from my camera. I like to pare down the photos I keep. In the past, I would just keep every single photo, even if they were similar. I might have 8 photos that are almost exactly the same just because it didn’t cost me anything to keep more than one. But now, I really enjoy minimizing down to just the essentials. That means keeping only the best photo of a series. (I might cheat and keep two sometimes!) It’s so liberating to jettison all the extra photos right away after taking them. I feel like the longer you hold onto all those extra files, the longer they stay in your mind and clutter up your thoughts. Just choose one or two and be happy with those!

USA. 2015.
USA. 2015.

So, we made it home, but Austin is cold! Tonight will drop into the 30s again… ❄ Please take care to stay warm!

-B

End of Vacation

Slice of Life, TravelingLeave a Comment on End of Vacation

Hi everyone! How’s it going with you?

Today is our final full day of visiting my family in California. It’s always fun to come back to my hometown and see how it has changed. This time I noticed the traffic is getting even worse… 😟 But luckily we didn’t drive around too much during our visit.

What was really nice was seeing both my brothers and playing mahjong! We always have a fun time getting silly. Some things never change and I am truly thankful that I have a good relationship with my family.

Sadly we will return to Texas tomorrow. Still, I am happy to see our cat and dog at home!

Take care especially if it is cold where you live!

-B

Visit to Dodger Stadium

Slice of Life, TravelingLeave a Comment on Visit to Dodger Stadium

Good morning! How’s it going?

Today it is so cold here in Los Angeles! It’s only in the 30s but happily it is sunny and beautiful outside. 🌞 There are some strong winds coming through the area, so much of the smog has been blown away. The visibility is great!

"Downtown View" USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/420 sec, ISO400
 “Downtown View” USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.

Yesterday we drove up to Dodger Stadium to shop at the Top of the Park store and also check out the ballpark. ⚾️ It’s great because you can hang out in the Top Deck level and enjoy the view year-round! One of the great tips I read was that you could actually bring your lunch and eat there (if no games are scheduled) and enjoy the amazing view.

"At the Ballpark" USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO400
 “At the Ballpark” USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.

There’s also a nice stadium tour you can take. It’s a guided walking tour and you get to see the clubhouse, press box, go down to the field and sit in the dugout, etc. It is really fun!

"Looking Up" USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/210 sec, ISO400
 “Looking Up” USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.

This time we just took a bunch of photos 📷 from the seats and bought a couple of things from the gift store. But it was really cool to hang out with my brother and our kids! And FYI, it was my two kids’ idea to go up to the stadium and I was happy to take them. 😄

"Fanboys" USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/200 sec, ISO400
 “Fanboys” USA. California. Los Angeles. 2015.

Hope you have a great day today, and stay warm!

-B