Blah! Blah! Blah!

Two weeks ago was my last post here. There’s not much to tell about the past 2 weeks except that we went to get the bookshelves from Ikea (finally!). Well, the whole set required 2 trips since one component of the set was out of stock on the first trip. Actually, the lady upstairs told us there are 4 in the inventory and would likely be gone by the time we reached downstairs to the warehouse. She called it alright. Anyway, we came back the following weekend and completed our set. The husband and I we’ve been talking about putting a bookshelf (actually a built in was what we wanted initially) in the family room on both sides of the fireplace. We’ve been talking about that for years. On August 1st, we will be in this house for 6 years and we have just bought the bookshelves. Boxes and boxes are sitting in the garage right now waiting for us to find time to do the assembly. Too much to do with a house, isn’t it? The back splash in the kitchen is still a dream until now. Too many things to do with the house and the yard that needs to be done in stages because money is not available.

Anyway, I have completely ignored by backyard. With the drought, I let the plants die, if they die. What can you do? We water them 2x a week sometimes, most times once a week. We have been collecting water in buckets, like rinse water from kitchen or the cold water from the bathroom shower to water the plants long before the water agency told us to save water. Still the plants need more water than we can provide. Such a shame.

My birthday is coming up in two weeks and the husband doesn’t know what to do. He’s waiting for me to tell him what I want to do on my birthday. I don’t do much celebrating on my birthdays and I don’t see the pattern being broken this year, although I might do the usual dinner and something else. Hubs is thinking we should at least go out for an overnight somewhere. Reno, Tahoe, Monterey – these names are being thrown in the mix of potential destination. But I don’t know. I’m not sure I wanna go.

Although today I suddenly thought of Point Reyes as a perfect overnight getaway spot. I always wanted to stay in one of the B&Bs near the park whenever we drive there and maybe we will consider it. But I really don’t know.

A day in the city is not ruled out. I haven’t been to California Academy of Sciences yet, so probably that’s a good place to spend one’s birthday. Closer to home as well. I also was looking for places to eat and with my love for tapas and Spanish cuisine I might consider going to Zarzuela. Lolindo in SF also sounds good. Yelpers are happy with the food there. We shall see.

In other news, I have met a blog pal recently. She is visiting the States with her daughter and with SF as part of her itinerary I met with her. She’s so charming. Her daughter is adorable and quite mature for her age. I adore them. It was like I’ve known them my whole life, that’s how comfortable I was with them and I hope they share the same sentiment.

That’s 2 blog pals I’ve met eye to eye since I began blogging a whole lifetime ago.

Should I?

So I was fooling around FB today scanning photos from my friends and family. Suddenly feeling bored with the same pictures I’ve seen over and over I decided to find people. I used my hometown as a filter to find a long-lost school chum. This wasn’t my first try to find her. I have searched for her before, always using her maiden name because apparently I don’t know what her married name is or if she’s married. I really wanted to catch up with an old friend.

Anyway, my search pulled up a ton of people from my hometown and one name came up that may sound like her brother. I don’t know her siblings per se. We were friends from 7 years old till we were 16. So we were in school together for about 2-3 years, then she moved to a new school and our friendship was conducted via letters. After elementary school, her entire family moved to the US to join her father who was serving in the US navy. The exchange of letters not only continued, but became more furious. She sent me long letters, 3-4 pages (front and back) sharing all her glorious new adventures in a new school and new surroundings. I remember at age 13 (and this was waaay before the age of internet) I was reading her letter about a trip to Disneyland. She said from their home in Vallejo, CA they traveled by car for 11 hours and the road was straight – she even drew 2 lines like this….II and she was bored to death. I was transported to a new place I haven’t been or will never be and I read all her letter voraciously. I lived vicariously through her letters. She was a productive letter writer. I wrote as much as I could, sharing my pathetic adventures in our old plain boring town making it sound as interesting as it could be without veering too much from the truth.

So anyway, back to the FB search…. I clicked on a name that sounded like her brother’s name. And I scoured his timeline to see any mention of her. Yes there was a mention of her, which meant I clicked on the right person. Next, I searched his friends list and unfortunately she wasn’t there. Okay so to make a very long story short, I found that she also has a sister, which I didn’t know because I only knew of her and her brother when I was friends with her. Anywhoo, I clicked on the sister’s page and found a group picture including her and a man’s arm is wrapped around her. Thankfully, the man was tagged in the photo and I followed that tag and I found her. The man is her husband and she’s there. It looks like she’s only about 4 hours’ drive away from where I live.

I am so very tempted to message the husband because it looks like she doesn’t have a page of her own. But I am having second thoughts.

Should I or shouldn’t I reconnect?

Fireworks

Fourth of July is time for fireworks. I don't care for fireworks. I'm just not. I don't get excited by them. I don't plan my holidays around them. I just don't.

I thought I'd share that!

First of July

First of July.

Whew! The first half of the 2015 sure did whiz by, isn’t it? I can’t seem to remember anything from that first half; well not really except that most of what happened was a blur to me.

Last weekend we went to the movies with another couple. We went to see Jurassic World in 3D. Now to be honest I don’t really care about Jurassic World or the previous movies about dinosaur. I may have watched all of them, although for sure I remember seeing the very first one on the big screen. The following installments I may have seen them on cable or Netflix.

Since I was there only to complete a double date I had no expectations of the movie or the enjoyment factor that I would get from such an outing. After all, the reviews I have read about the movie went like this: a lot of running by people not making wise decisions.

However, both the movie itself and the 3D experience surpassed my expectations. Well, I have no expectation to begin with. Still it was such a surprise to me that I enjoyed the 3D experience this time around. I cannot remember the movie anymore but the first time I went to a 3D movie I was dizzy for the most part. I ended up watching the rest of the movie without the glasses, so you know that wasn’t a good experience.

What I am looking for now is the last installment of Mockingjay. I cannot wait.

And so......

Okay, I was silent here again.

I was busy, I think.

While I was quiet here I went to the Giants game one Friday night, for the Pancreatic Cancer Society fundraiser.

The Giants lost, big time. They were getting no hit until the late innings. Pathetic.

Also, I've been reading some more. I really really enjoyed the last one that I read from John Grisham.

Good news. My green tea truffle that I entered for our church's Chocolate Extravaganza fundraiser won first place in the candy category! Can you belive that?

I practiced it first. I brought a sample to my co-workers. One of them is a great cook. She makes wonderful chocolate barks and other snacks. She said it was okay. Another co-worker said the flavor was okay, although the green tea flavor was weak. Of course she's Asian and she, like me, craves for the bold green tea flavor. However, my audience was probably not into the bold green tea presence in a chocolate truffle.

So I made my basic chocolate truffle and added chopped up candied ginger then sprinkled it with green tea. I instagrammed it here.

I believed the reason why I was chosen by the tasters was that my entry was a bit different from the usual brownie, or caramel flavor. I'm so happy I tell you. It's ironic that someone who has no kitchen know how gets to win a cooking contest :).

In another news, I finally got to the movies again. Today we saw San Andreas. It's an okay movie. That is all I have to say.

Birds, birds, birds!

I've been collecting photographs of doors, windows, and signs. Lately, I've been expanding my field of collection to birds. I have not been quite successful in the wild, on the few times that I went for bird watching. However, I found that the shore bird exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium provides the best venue for bird photography. Here's a few shots from there.

Tough Times

May I vent?

Again you say?

Yeah, again!

I know quite a few people who are dealing with difficult issues. Of course I know we all have crosses to carry. Some have heavier than others. As I observe around me, I feel a tad guilty that my cross is lighter than most people. I feel so blessed. And guilty. What have I done to carry a lighter cross?

The crosses that people around me are carrying:

Death of husband, then father and now brother is fighting the big C - all these in a span of 1.5 years.

Prolonged divorce proceedings that is wreaking havoc to health.

A cancer diagnosis for family member.

Sorry, I'm just having a bad day. All around me I feel people's sadness. I have been having some aches and pains too, part of growing old I suppose. Since the death of my niece in February, I feel like I'm in a fog. Somehow it's still not sinking in - fully and completely - that she's not going to show up on my doorstep.

All right, enough of this.

Let's go get excited about the GS Warriors basketball team who are in the NBA finals after 40 years. Geez, the winnings were nonexistent for a long period. This is hopefully their year to hoist the cup or trophy.

Another thing that's keeping me busy is reading. I have been devouring some paperback lately. Time is limited so I don't get to read as much as I really want to. I do my reading during lunch at work and if I don't finish the book during the week which I normally don't I take the book home with me and finish it on the weekends.

The last three that I finished reading are:

FRENCH SILK by Sandra Brown

THE SIGMA PROTOCOL by Robert Ludlum

THE FACE by Dean Koontz

I'm currently so engrossed with a James Patterson novel. For the life of me I cannot remember the title right now.

Have you heard of the following tv shows?

THE TYRANT

THE STRAIN

UNDER THE DOME

These are my summer guilty pleasures and I cannot wait for them to come on pretty soon.

I wish I have HBO because I really really love Game of Thrones.

Till next time.