– my family for always supporting me and being patient with my choice to take a very circuitous route in life
– my boyfriend for providing a sense of security, supporting me whenever I pick and choose jobs even if we could use the cash and always being up for pizza
– friends who’ve kept in touch even though we’re all busy and live so far apart
– finally getting a dog after 20+ years (having a dog is way harder than I thought, but it’s also a million times better, too)
– moving to San Diego and somehow, making it work
– my health, truly
– living in a place that’s 70 degrees and sunny almost every day with the beach just a 10-minute drive away
– cool, smart, engaging readers who follow this blog
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone! See you back here on Monday.
In place of my weekly rituals feature — which, full disclosure, I completely failed to get together in time — I’m here with a list of 8 great links to check out as we head into the weekend. I will be spending mine poring over the many magazines on my coffee table — thank you, expiring airline miles! — so I thought it was only fitting to offer you some reading material as well.
18 Things You’d Be Surprised Happened on The Simpsons If You Stopped Watching in 2003. (This is a few weeks old, but it still blows my mind as a diehard fan of The Simpsons seasons 3-8.)
Lucky editor in chief Eva Chen shows us her office — and it’s redunkulous.
This is the best, funniest, most adorable gift for a mother.
I’m outraged by the crazy-high cost of rugs, which is why we still don’t have any (minus a very precious Persian rug we’ve tucked away until Teddy earns our trust). I plan to scoop one up during my upcoming India trip for cheap, but if I wasn’t and if this fit with our color scheme, I would totally go for the reasonably priced Asta Rug by Grandiflora, a new home decor site launched by House of Earnest blogger Erin Souder.
There’s a new iOS app that’s being called the “Yelp for men,” as in women can dish anonymous reviews about specific males. Oh, and no guys, you can’t join; the app uses Facebook to detect your sex. And it will know if you all of a sudden change sexes.
Been blasting this song quite a bit lately. To be honest, I mostly like Hollis’ portions and the part from 1:05-2:00. But still.
I admit I didn’t turn on my video setting all that much in October, but I did get the most important stuff: a beautiful hike in Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, my dad’s recent visit, a fun fall-themed cooking class, the gorgeous Pacific as viewed from La Jolla, the pumpkin patch and a touch of Halloween. And tacos! Always tacos.
If you notice closely, when we offer Teddy a pumpkin of his own back home, he very gingerly takes it in his mouth, looks back to see if I’ll tell him to “LEAVE IT!” and then seeks sanctuary in his bed. When I bought that bed, I was afraid he’d prefer the cold tile floor and never touch the bed. As it turns out, he takes his most prized possessions — frozen blueberries, carrots, new toys — there to investigate further.
I was recently chatting with my friend about what I had been up to. And because I don’t filter — I just don’t see the point in saying, “Everything’s great!” when it’s not — I launched into a diatribe about frustrations, lack of sleep, self-doubt and a general state of stress. (The transition to the freelance, self-employed lifestyle hasn’t been an easy one.)
my rituals is taking a break this week, but in its place is something equally fun!
Last week I was so happy to wake up to news that I had won a Liebster Award thanks to Amina from Paper/Plates. What’s the Liebster Award, you ask? You could call it an online relay race of sorts, in which bloggers answer fun questions about themselves and then pass on a new set of their own questions to 5 other bloggers. It’s a way for me to share some wild and weird facts about myself and introduce (or re-introduce) you to five awesome bloggers you should check out. The idea, then, is that they fill out their questionnaire and continue to pass the baton to more bloggers.
On this day last year, I was boarding a plane in Delhi bound for New Jersey. It was the very last day of our RTW trip, and it blew my mind that the end was right there at the airport gate. Eaman and I parted ways — he was continuing on to Iran, where he would be backpacking for six weeks — while I was headed home. He kept me company at the gate, and then boarding began. Once they called my section, I started crying. And then Eaman started crying. It felt devastating to walk away from each other after everything we had been through. That said, flying home solo and having six weeks to myself gave me some perspective on what I had learned and what the trip meant to me.
Since coming back we always randomly reminisce — about that time we hitchhiked in Patagonia with a very shady Argentinian man or when our Vietnamese local bus left us behind at the border between Vietnam and Laos or every other crazy memory that inspires us to do this kind of trip again sometime soon. (When? I don’t know. For how long? Maybe six months. Where? Central Asia and Africa sound exciting.)
But the trip really wasn’t about those isolated adventures; it was about how they all came together to teach us a few lessons. I figure today, exactly one year later, is the perfect time to look back on those lessons and to see how/if I’ve taken them to heart:
For me, September just sort of came and went because there was so much going on. Eaman turned 30 and as a surprise, I flew his sister in for a weekend of Funfetti cake, Bananagrams, hiking and sunset-viewing. I also went to Riviera Magazine‘s To Dine For event, which pairs the best in San Diego fine dining with A-list interior designers, hiked the Rose Canyon trail with my friend Gloria and got Teddy neutered.
He wore a cone for 8 days, which was kind of a disaster because he trotted around the apartment like it ain’t no thang. He bumped into the coffee table, dragged it with him and broke the cone, so we taped it up, then he ate the tape, then he broke it again a different way, and it went on like that for 8 days. Anyway, the last scene in the video? That’s probably the most realistic portrayal of things — dog toys on the floor and Teddy distracting us from work (and we don’t hate it).
We had a fun weekend planned for no apparent reason. Lunch at a delicious Lebanese spot, shopping at the mall with some gift certificates, a movie at an actual theater (we never do that anymore — so expensive!)*, trip to the dog park followed by acai bowls, BBQ with friends, an IHOP breakfast and a relaxing day with a groggy Teddy who just got neutered yesterday.
It was a good exercise in letting go and remembering that’s it’s OK to chill. This hasn’t been an easy lesson to learn since becoming a freelancer. When you work for yourself, you often feel like there’s always something else that can be done. And when you work from home, it’s often hard to officially end the work day. In this day and age of teenage entrepreneurs and wildly successful start-ups, does anyone else ask themselves, “Am I doing enough?” I’m not saying we should praise laziness, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I sometimes feel guilty for getting some R&R.
But Teddy’s surgery ended up being the catalyst I needed to tell myself, It’s OK to relax! Post-neutering, the poor guy was in a total pain medication haze and could barely walk or keep himself upright. He’s forbidden from much exercise or activity for the next couple weeks, and for his first day, I wanted to make things as soothing as possible. I just sat on the floor — in harem pants no less! — petting him while watching the Emmys. And then we ordered Papa John’s. And then I fell asleep reading magazines on the couch. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel guilty about any of it.
*We watched Blue Jasmine. I can’t give a proper review because I fell asleep intermittently, but from what I saw, I didn’t like it. Cate Blanchett’s character was so unlikeable. What’s with the good reviews? Someone please explain.
