maryna and theresa mailed me

the collapsible colander i

had been obsessed with for a year!

the package was accompanied with

macarons and monterrey bay aquarium gifts

and the infamous ballooo0o0o!
i laughed out loud when i saw him.
THANK YOU!!

~from a few months ago~

ashley and i looked at each other today and realized

we were both wearing black dresses with blue cardigans.

then we decided "eh, why not?" & got matching necklaces
made from calendars by ugandan teenagers
^then i made us both puffball garlands ^

the day i wandered to the lake,

sat under a tree and read a book

about a syrian man during hurricane katrina
(based on true events)

SUNFLOWERS AT PIKE MARKET $1
i was a tourist today & got some potato bread
and the best blackberry scone i've ever had.

my lithop back in california bloomed!

DAY IN FREMONT WITH NATALIE

on saturday, i visited my friend natalie!
~we went on a tour at theo's chocolate factory

~ate paseo's sandwiches w/ a peach i got at a farm

~showed each other pictures from

morocco + france & new zealand + tonga
~we also went to little boutiques and gawked
at cute locally produced stuff.

vanessa showed me this picture and said

"i think this picture captures your spirit."

i found a plant in a dumpster outside grace's apartment.

i gave it some water and now it's healthy again.

i also pulled a succulent off a tree

in during the "neighborhood walk"
and gave it a new home

in a banana flavored yogurt container.

today, my 2nd grade buddy M hugged me

for the first time after playing four-square

(he's really shy and quiet,

so it was a very magical moment).

i get to see this sunset every evening :)

day trip to discovery park!
  

we hiked for 6 hours through low tide & forests
& saw a galore of dead animals

(dead jellyfish, dead baby sea otter)

as well as some live animals

(bald eagle, heron, chipmunks).

picking wild berries
along our hike, ashley and i decided

to engage in some serious blackberry
harvesting. we scavenged about 3 lbs
and each ate ~a hundred berries along the way.

the sweetest juiciest patches

were along the beach in the sunshine.

thorns and bees didn't stop us.

 we want to bake a blackberry cobbler

and topple it with vanilla ice cream!

Anatidaephobia- the fear that somewhere,

somehow, a duck is watching you.

SUNSHINE CLEANING

"i want to thank you for all

being here, a part of this program.

i am really proud of everybody
and the work you are doing."

-kate
co-professor of my favorite class.

this is so powerful,

it gets at the heart of it all.

my friend seh invited me to

go to iran with her.

:)

shannon makes good soup,
cai taught kindergarten in korea for a year.

grace is from hawai'i and we watched
the new wolverine movie together
(it was NOT good...at all).

we ate grasshoppers today.

salty. crunchy.

i definitely broke my own record of #

of hours spent in class today.

(7)

now, my life consists of
digging for worms,
debating educational issues,
hanging out with super fantastic
people all day every day,
long commutes and sleepless nights in seattle.

"let's get married, we legally can here!"- ashley

"hmm...OKAY!"

after 6.5 hours of class, we decided to stop

at a japanese market on the drive back home.

i stocked up on sushi, tea and mochi.
keseniya tried hichew for the first time.
grace got red bean mochi and fed me some.
danny got some dinosaur egg looking crackers.
vanessa got a bento box. 

 i love tuesdays.
i love my classes on tuesdays.
i love all the discussions we have.
i love the people in my cohort.
^______^

"from our morning jog/walk/exploration."

 took this from ashley's insta.

 my plant sprouted a proboscis and

it won't stop growing.

its growth averages 2 inches per day.

i stumbled upon a forest in the city

during my jog today. initially, the plan
was to run to whole foods to see if they have
loose leaf tea, then i took a wrong turn and
ended up in the wilderness.

jesus bugs.

mini & massive bridges.
creeks.

moon flowers.

i'm going to run here everyday

(or at least 4x a week).
it's the PERFECT trail.

i made frosting from scratch for the first time.

i slathered it on my cake and then

fed it to my roommate, who liked it.

then we spent 30 minutes trying to

open a bottle of wine

without a corkscrew,

failed and now we're going to bed.

this package was sitting outside the door.

since i couldn't wait until christmas or my birthday,

i ripped it open.

theresa & maryna sent me an eggplant cutting board!!!

:)  :)  :) 
i know you (maryna) look at my
blog sometimes, so THANK YOU! <3

 this picture began as a pear.

"where you are at right now

is exactly where you need to be."

thanks for the reminder, ellen.

it's exactly what i needed to hear

from someone~~