“Puzzle Time” Torrance, 2016
Wordless Wednesday
“Puzzle Time” Torrance, 2016
Tag: travel
“Puzzle Time” Torrance, 2016
At Home
“The Old Kitchen” Torrance, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going
Today’s photo is of the kitchen area of my parents’ house. It’s looked pretty much the same since I was a kid which I am happy for. Sure, there have been changes throughout the years such as a new stove, painted walls, and most recently a new floor, but it still has the original feeling. I was thinking how sad it would be if the kitchen got a total remodel… so much would be lost and swept into family history. Makes me sad to think of it!
For now, I’m happy to be able to come back to my childhood home, with the original charm still intact.
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B 
Vacation
“Evening Sky” Over Texas, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today we traveled from coooold Texas to a slightly warmer Southern California to spend the holidays at my folks’ house. The flight was delayed by about a half an hour, but other than that went smoothly. If you travel between Austin and Los Angeles, I highly recommend flying JetBlue from Long Beach. You can avoid the madhouse that is LAX, and if you are on the south side of town, you can avoid a bit of traffic too! Plus JetBlue is a great airline, with lots of freebies such as free movies, free WiFi, snacks, and soft drinks.
When we spend Christmas in Los Angeles, we ship most of our gifts directly to my parents’ house so we have a pile of boxes waiting for us. Today we’ll go through them, wrap them up, and then have some free time. In fact, we don’t have much on the schedule this time. It’s nice to just play it by ear!
Hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B
A brief bit of sunlight
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today was another cold day, but it started out with clear skies and when I arrived at work, the sunlight was streaming in from the east side of the building. It looked so cool that I had to take a photo of it.
Lately I’ve been having a bit of wanderlust, since I enjoyed our road-trip so much and I’m looking forward to traveling more in the near future! We have a few trips planned, which reminded me of a bit of advice I heard last year… It was something like, “Always have something to look forward to.” I didn’t really know what it meant, but I think I am starting to see how it can be a nice way to keep yourself motivated.
Or maybe it’s not so much motivation, but just keeping yourself in a positive mindset. I’ve always thought that my days and years were spent trying to achieve a certain goal, and once I reached that goal, I could just coast. Kind of like I would dread doing my taxes, and I thought when I finished my taxes, then I could rest forever! But of course the next year’s taxes come again… and again.
So now as I get closer to 50 years old maybe I realize that it’s just an ongoing journey, and that it’s the journey itself that’s important, not the destination. Or maybe just shifting my thinking that the destination isn’t an endpoint, but more like a milestone and to look forward to the next milestone. And things do get easier, the more you go through.
Eh… I have no idea if that made any sense or not, but I’m pretty sure I am not articulating my thoughts well. But I’m not going to go back and edit this. You know, life’s too short to spend too much time going back to edit.
Anyways, I do think it’s good to have some things on the horizon to look forward to. Make some fun vacation plans and put them on the calendar!
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Postcards from Big Bend
“Modern Vintage” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going? Here in central Texas, not only has it gotten colder, but it’s also gotten wetter, with a light rain all afternoon. It looks like it will continue all weekend as well. I’m glad we don’t have outdoor activities planned! 🌧
Today’s photo is of the three postcards I bought at the Panther Junction Visitor Center in Big Bend National Park. I love the vintage design of these! So when I took the photo, I decided to post-process using one of Nik Software’s vintage camera presets. I like the way it came out. 😊
In looking at the designs, I realized that I took some photos of the same subjects or locations. I posted these before, but I thought it was neat to match them up with the postcards – the Rio Grande, the Milky Way, and Casa Grande.
“Santa Elena Canyon” Big Bend, 2016
“Starry Night” Big Bend, 2016
“Casa Grande” Big Bend, 2016
While on the travel subject, I have to admit that I have been getting into watching YouTube videos about minimalist travel, gear, and packing. It’s so fascinating to me! It’s funny, but minimalist travel, backpacking, and motorcycle travel all have similar recommendations, most notably to use synthetic or merino wool clothing (not cotton!), dress with layers in mind, and don’t overpack!
As some of you may know, I love bags and backpacks, and I’ve been searching for the perfect backpack. I pretty much found the perfect (for me) messenger bag in the Patagonia Minimass, but I haven’t found a backpack that I really love. I think I am going to sell my North Face Router and Jansport Hatchet, and pick up an Osprey Porter 30. It looks like a perfect travel backpack! But we’ll see. It’s fun to do the research at least. 😄
I hope you had a nice Friday!
おやすみなさい！
– B
