The unexpected 15-minute nap after work.
This giant clam shell still intact.
The glow of sunlight through the windows in the studio.
The mangroves in the backyard lagoon.
The mist on the mountains.
The fleeting moments just after the sunset.
My home is my island.
Officer Scruffles watching me watching him.
The sound of the shutter on my camera.
Haven’t had too many chances lately to go SUPing with the winter winds in American Samoa.
It calmed down just a little bit on Friday and the ebb tide was just high enough when I got home from work so I grabbed my board, paddled against the current, and realized later that I forgot my board leash.
Floated back to shore just before dark.
After paddling, and Ian getting back from checking out the surf on the stretch, we sat down at Tradewinds to say our goodbyes to new friends who were leaving the island, and came back home for fun game night with the neighbors.
CONFESSION:
Before I went to bed that night, I had a mini break down because I suddenly felt a wave of sadness that the only thing I was looking forward to lately was the weekend. And when I say I had a mini break down, what I mean is that I was feeling a little frustrated with my day to day routine… and there’s nothing wrong with routine, but I was getting bored with just getting up for work, spending hours at a desk, eating (and not exercising), binge watching Netflix shows, and spending more late night hours behind a screen. There’s a smattering of other fun things that I usually do in between all the routine that keep me going, but like I mentioned in another post, I’m still learning to live slow. Doing more meaningful things that inspire me and keep me motivated instead of crossing things off a list just because. I always feel better with my camera in hand so this weekend I’m going to cherish the moments and take snaps that make me feel. I want to live consciously and live my life with care. I’m sorry for blabbing, but now that I’m over it I just wanted to share… it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes you gotta be the caterpillar in a cocoon, and eventually you’ll break free from the chrysalis and fly away.
Can you believe it’s already mid-September?! Less than 100 days till all my favorite holidays!
Lately, I’m learning to live slow. I have this tendency to do too much, wasting time on things that don’t matter and don’t build me up. I still need to rid the habit of multitasking, and focus myself on my priorities.
This is my life lately in photos and paragraphs.
Process.
I love spending time in the studio, aka my 2nd happy place (the first being my bed, obviously). It’s an organized mess right now, and every day it looks a little different depending on my mood. I’ve been going through my old journals, reading my favorite blogs, binding notebooks, and sewing cotton plastic bag dispensers. I have a lot of personal projects that are on my list of creative to-do’s, and since part of slow living is appreciating the process, I’ll be sharing some photos along the way.
When the workbench gets cluttered and I don’t want to put things away just yet, I’ll move some work to the floor.
The yellow fabric was from my natural turmeric dye project (read more about it here).
Ian made me spicy saimin with eggs and my favorite thick cut Daily’s bacon.
Speaking of projects.
One of my personal projects is binding notebooks by hand. I scanned, printed, and binded this traveler’s insert notebook. The painting was from last year and I’ve been meaning to scan it and do something with it, so here it is. I was thinking of selling these on Etsy eventually because I’ve been making a whole bunch. Should I?
It’s almost Officer Scruffles’ birthday.
He’ll be 2 human years next month and I still can’t believe I’ve adopted this furball. He’s such a rascal sometimes but he’s also very sweet. Gotta love his dirty little paws too. As much as I try to keep him indoors, he’s always sneaking out on a new adventure, hanging out with his puppy friends, pouncing on anything he finds suspicious, and then coming back home and spending the evening licking his dirty paws.
Ian-credible eats.
Ian has been on a cooking kick all week–he made all our food this week!! It’s so nice to come home from work to a handsome guy and a homemade meal. I am so spoiled and in love. We usually watch Netflix while we eat, but since we finished Limitless and Narcos season 3, we’re on a binge break. That means more balcony brunch dates and conversations.
Disconnect.
I always wake up and check my phone even before getting out of bed, and before I know it I’ve been scrolling for half an hour. It’s a bad habit I’ve been trying to kick, or at least control, so I don’t waste my morning staring at a screen.
Listening.
I’m still new to podcasts, but my current favorite is RadioLab. We were driving around the east side one rainy weekend and I decided to stream RadioLab on Spotify, and was blown away for the next 3 hours listening to these podcasts:
/ Where The Sun Don’t Shine
/ Truth Warriors
/ Breaking News
/ The Ceremony
/ Revising The Fault Line
End Ugly Instas:
I just found out about this awesome app called UNUM. It’s a free Instagram grid planner app by Adobe (which I didn’t know existed) but basically the app will automatically load all your photos onto a grid, and you can import other photos to essentially plan how your feed will look, and turn it into an #insta worthy gallery. If you couldn’t tell, I really really like aesthetically pleasing things so I just wanted to share this. I’ll probs be curating my insta with this now so you can go ahead and follow me now, it’s gonna be epic 😛
*This isn’t an ad or anything, I’m honestly just impressed with the app*
Someone asked me where I stayed in Bali, and I thought it would be a good idea to share some of these places…
We planned to stay for 3 days, so I wanted to make sure we had a comfortable spot to call home while we explored the town. A requisite when I was looking up accommodations for Ubud was that it had a kitchen, an outdoor shower, and a private pool. When I found Wayan Budiana’s home on AirBnB, I was immediately heart eyes over it.
This home in Ubud has everything you’d want in a vacation home and more. It is listed as a brand new family villa which can house up to 6 guests comfortably, and is hidden away in nature, but is very close to the main Ubud town areas. The open floor plan give the home a very spacious and airy feel, and the floor to ceiling windows and sliding doors brings the outside in and provides much of the natural light. Both the showers are partially outdoors, and i was obsessed with the wooden kitchen table and benches. There’s even a goldfish pond at the entrance!
We walked around on our first day to nearby rice paddies and the cutest little cafes and shops, and rented a scooter from our host to get around for the remainder of our stay.
Never used AirBnB? Sign up using this link for an extra $25 off your first stay!