Matt and I went to Game 5 of the Ducks vs. Predators playoffs last night. It was the first time either of us had been to a hockey game and we had a blast. We enjoyed the overpriced food and beer and laughed at the heavily intoxicated fans sitting behind us. At first. When they continued screaming during the breaks, it got a little annoying, but overall it was pretty exciting. We were sure the Ducks were going to win but then the game went into overtime and the Predators won. When they made the shot, the entire Honda Center was silent for several seconds. I started to think, where are the boos? Where’s some music? An announcer? Anything? Then everyone just left. It was really weird.
I’ve never followed hockey. Most people think that is weird because I’m from Minnesota (everyone knows Minnesota is basically Canada – ha!). My first love is football – love love love it. The Vikings are my team (which is why I secretly hope they get moved to LA – sorry, mom!) Hockey and soccer are the only other sports I’ll watch. I dislike baseball and basketball. The only way I’d go to a Lakers game is if I got to sit next to Jack Nicholson. Hah!
Matt bought me Easter Lillies yesterday. They are beautiful and so fragrant. Today I got orchids from my bosses. I’ve never owned either of these before so I’m really excited to see if I kill them how it goes!
I was two hours early for a meeting at UCLA yesterday. (Don’t ask! Okay, it’s because I was worried about being late and didn’t want to get stuck in some traffic jam on the way so I left really early.) Since I had time to kill, I decided to cruise over to Rodeo Drive. It was around 9:30am, so there wasn’t much going on, but I thought it looked pretty cool.
While I was driving down Wilshire, some lady in a Ford Escape honked at me and was being all demonstrative with her hands. It’s terrible – I totally judged her for having a crappy car and acting all hoity toity on the road. If she were in a Range Rover, me and my Toyota would have totally taken her seriously. LOL.
This weekend was Lovely. Yes, with a capital L. I had another small victory over stress in my life too by intentionally not thinking about work or work related projects and instead focusing on relaxing and hanging out with Matt. Honestly, it wasn’t too hard with the weather being so perfect – all I wanted to do was enjoy it.
We spent the first half of Saturday at the beach, in our super cool beach chairs. I seriously have a crush on our beach chairs. They are just so cool. Hah. We soaked in the sun, enjoyed the cool breeze, sipped on our iced drinks, read our books, laughed at the kiddos playing in the water, stared off at the horizon, reapplied sunscreen, chatted with each other. It was great.
We decided on Korean food for lunch but didn’t have any in the house, so we cruised over to Garden Grove to have some. With two good Korean markets and several restaurants not too far away, we eat Korean food between 2 and 4 times a week. Side note, I have no pictures on my phone of Korean food. I guess that means it’s just so normal that I don’t think to take pictures of it anymore. I’ll remedy that next time we are there. 
We spent the afternoon in Tustin at our new favorite place for dessert, FreeSoulCaffe. It’s a vegan restaurant with desserts and coffee. I love everything about the place… the courtyard with fountain, awesome chairs, cool butterfly artwork (from Anthropologie?) and delicious food and drinks. If we lived closer, I’d eat there more often. I had a pineapple coconut cake this time – so good!
I also finished Sarah’s Key this weekend. It’s been awhile since I felt like I could devote the time to reading that I’d like to. And reading a book in two days hasn’t happened since college, I’m sure. I recommend the book – such a good read.
Today I took a walk at 10:30am because I was nearing a mini breakdown. Normally when I’m stressed, I plunge headlong into my workload, refusing to let it win. But today was different for some reason. I literally got up and walked out of the house. I felt guilty, really guilty, because I know how many other people are in the same boat. Silly, I know, it doesn’t make any sense.
I stopped to chat with one of our friendly retiree neighbors on my way to the beach. We talked about several things but the conversation eventually came around to careers, stress and retiring. As I wrung my hands and explained how my week had been going, he looked up at me and said, “Stephanie, you are more important”. I didn’t expect to hear that and it immediately made me tear up. It’s crazy that someone who barely knows me or my situation would make a comment like that. I then realized that right at that moment, I was doing something for myself. Some people may not have a hard time with that, but I never seem to get around to it. It’s insane really. Again, it doesn’t make any sense.
We parted ways and I walked the beach. All by myself. It was so quiet, so gorgeous, so perfect. I felt like someone had given me a priceless gift.
When I got back home, no one had called and there were no urgent emails. What, no one died because I left the office for an hour?!? I’m being dramatic, but, seriously, sometimes the demands are so great it feels that way. It’s like my former boss used to say, it’s just TV people! Haha.
Tonight I’m grateful for what I learned. I’m also grateful that tomorrow will be another beautiful day and that I get to spend it with my husband on the beach with a book.
Nothing makes me forget about a stressful day quite like a walk on the beach. Matt and I have been so busy lately, me with work and him with mid-terms, that we haven’t been out to the water for awhile. We actually grilled dinner tonight and then took a walk. It was a perfect night for it. There were only a handful of other people out there with us, including this cute couple.
This is a non-iPhone picture. I dusted off my “real” camera the other day and decided that it was time to improve my skillz. Last time I tried to shoot on manual mode, I got overwhelmed with how crappy my pictures looked that I put the camera away for a few months. I’m over my pity party now and am giving it another go. Thankfully Matt is a great photographer and gives me hints along the way. He is also extremely patient as I fiddle with the settings for way. too. long.
All that to say, let me know what you think about the pictures. I’m basically experimenting at this point. Like I don’t love the way the picture above looks… it’s kinda poopy looking. Not sure if it’s the way I took the picture or my lack of post processing skills. Ugh. I have so much to learn. Thankfully I have lots of pretty things to photograph here. Hopefully the beach doesn’t start boring any of you!
When we moved to Pasadena in 2009, I was amazed at the vegetation in our neighborhood. There were countless kinds of succulents, Aloe taller than myself, several varieties of palm trees (my favorite!), as well as all the regular trees and flowers we see all over the country. At dusk, our entire yard and living room was filled with the scent of Brugmansia. I had never seen one before and it pretty much blew me away. The tree was as big as a house and was in our neighbor’s yard. Each night I would catch a whiff of it and just close my eyes and smell. Emmm!
About a month ago I decided that we NEEDED one in our yard here at the beach. It turns out they aren’t really easy to find and aren’t too cheap either. The day after I looked at all the online shops, I cruised over to Craig’s List and found some for sale. We got a nice sized tree (5 feet tall) for $15. I was worried it might die because I heard all of the roots pop as the lady yanked it out of the ground. I definitely thought we wouldn’t see blooms until next year… but look at that! The tree literally exploded a week ago! It’s too small to permeate our entire house and yard but I still love it and walk by it every chance I can. Love love love.
Every part of it is toxic, so we’ve made sure to warn our neighbors with the toddler. Thankfully the shrubby part of it is pretty high up, I doubt any animals could get to it.
