48 Hours in Seattle

This post is long overdue. My full transition into adulthood made me lose track of everything and my blogging efforts fell by the wayside. I don't think that should be an excuse though, and I blame myself for not trying hard enough to keep up with this blog even after finally moving in to my new apartment. But more of that will come. Fellow reader, please enjoy this travel photo essay.

I turned 22 last month and had an itch to travel, so I spent my birthday weekend in the gorgeous greenery and sapphire skies of Seattle, the Emerald City as many call it. The city is a great place to go to if you want to make a short weekend trip! My boyfriend Austin and I spent 3 nights and 2 days in Seattle (arrived late Thursday night, left Sunday morning) and packed it with lots of activities! Here's some of the highlights:

Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill is a lovely, quaint neighborhood that reminded me so much of England because of all the greenery! Everywhere we walked there were fresh green trees and bushes. The neighborhood is not far from Downtown Seattle, which is a 30-40 min bus ride away and a 15 minute car ride away. It's close to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport as well! If you need a place to stay in Seattle, I definitely recommend Beacon Hill!

Downtown Seattle

I loved being in the actual city of Seattle and being able to look at the city skyscrapers. All the shops are in close proximity, so you don't have to walk too far to go from shopping to grabbing coffee or a quick bite to eat! There are also some pretty nice boutiques in Downtown Seattle, such as Etiquette, where I bought a very cute beige jacket, perfect for the Seattle weather!

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Market is easily my most favorite part of Seattle. Every step you take brings waves of smells ranging from fresh coffee, sweet pastries, warm bread, french fries, fried fish, and burgers. Anything you can think of, Pike Place probably has it. My boyfriend Austin and I grabbed Mr. D's Greek Delicacies for lunch and it was heavenly. 

We also stopped by Mee Sum Pastries for their flavorful chicken hombow and red bean sesame balls, and Jack's Fish Spot for clam chowder and garlic fries. Pike Place is not just for food though -- you can find trinkets to buy and places to visit, like the Left Banks Books and the Gum Wall.

Chihuly Gardens and Glass

After spending as much time as we could at Pike Place, to Chihuly Gardens, which is 25 minutes away. We ordered tickets online for their best value deal, which got us access to both the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens for just $36 (for context, separate regular tickets cost $22 for Space Needle and $27 for Chihuly Gardens, so this was a steal)! A great thing about buying online is that you can get the tickets straight to your phone, so you don’t have to print them out if you have no access to a printer. Just show up with your ticket bar code and they’ll scan you in!

If you have never been to Space Needle of the Chihuly Gardens, they are necessary go-to! The Chihuly Gardens is a beautiful exhibit with seas of studio glass art in each room, designed by Dale Chihuly himself. The dim lighting and the brightly colored glass made everything look so ethereal. One of the best things about the exhibit was that you could take your time and sit down to admire the artwork. Luckily there were outlets close by so Austin and I took our time to rest and take in the breathtaking view of the glass art and pieces. They also have paintings, woven fabric, and flower gardens.

Space Needle

Of course a first time trip to Seattle is incomplete without heading to the Space Needle! Since we bought our tickets beforehand, we headed straight to the line, where we got our picture taken and headed to the elevator, which took us about 500 floors to the observation deck area. The view was spectacular to say the least. We arrived at around 7PM, a perfect time to take pictures during the summer time since the sun doesn’t set until 9PM! Austin and I were able to snag some tables next to the view and toast a wonderful day to some wine.

Fremont Troll

Fremont Troll is an interesting art project Seattle developed that looks like a literal troll underneath the freeway. Besides the ominous feeling of looking into those blank eyes of the troll, it’s a pretty cool tourist site. I probably won’t come back to it if I ever visit Seattle again since the troll itself is out of the way, but it’s nice to stop by and snap a picture to say you saw the famous Fremont Troll.

Kerry Park

This last highlight was the perfect ending to a wonderful time in Seattle. We spent majority of the evening admiring the skyline and taking pictures of it. It’s definitely a spectacle when the sun begins to set and the lights begin to twinkle.

LA to the Bay in One Day

At 1AM, I threw some clothes in my bag, took a quick shower, and hopped into my friend’s Volkswagen to head out to our friend’s graduation party in the Bay. This, to say the least, was one of my most spontaneous trips.

I love San Francisco. I love the rhythm, the culture, and the feeling of being in a slower-paced, laid back community. When we got to the City at 8AM, we had breakfast at a quaint yet flavorful restaurant, Sun Rise Restaurant. Their Sun Rise Eggs is just as sunny and delicious as the rest of the restaurant, which had faintly bright yellow walls that made me feel like I was in an episode of Jane the Virgin or in a Sandra Cisneros novel.

There was also a Philz Coffee across the street so we couldn’t resist grabbing a Iced Mint Mojito Coffee before starting the rest of our single day in San Francisco.

Dolores Park reminds me a lot of the parks in Madrid, Spain — expansive, yet homey and colorful. The empty green lawn soon filled with people visiting with their dogs. Many were relaxing on the grass, reading a book, and even drinking a beer in broad daylight. It felt so much like a community. 

Afterwards we headed to The Castro, the gay district in San Francisco, which was bursting with color as they prepared for the upcoming LGBT Pride Parade. We found a book store called Dog Eared, where we spent quite a bit of time roaming the book shelves and poring through the spines. I couldn't help but buy two books myself.

I can never seem to pass up the opportunity to go to the Bay area despite the 10 hour round trip drive from LA. But it is worth all that time. And if you’re thinking that a day trip to the Bay is impossible, think again — it’s not. 

Moving Forward

I still can’t believe it’s been a week since I graduated from my dream school! The world has been moving ten times faster since I finished my last commencement. Already I’ve started working full-time for minimum wage as an intern 15 minutes away from a modest room that I just officially moved in to last night (the modest room is in a frat house — and so far, it's not so bad). The idea of growing up has become a reality all too soon, and it’s staring right in front of me with loans from studying abroad and a lot of ongoing bills.

Many of us college graduates are already hustling to get to the top, me included. We always want to keep moving forward, a race to see who can be successful and pay off those loans and bills the quickest. College was competitive enough, but the real world, I’m beginning to see, is even more cutthroat than I could have possibly imagined. But moving forward doesn’t have to be a race. We can all go at our own pace, as long as we get a chance to reflect and breathe.

If I’m going to be honest, I didn’t get a chance to do all of the things I wanted to do in college. I didn’t get into the major I wanted in the first place. I didn't get any fancy honors, just an English B.A. and Film and Television minor to add to my resume. I didn’t get enough experience as I wanted in the spaces I dedicated myself to. I didn’t get a chance to really know the people I was constantly surrounded with besides their names. These are not regrets — they are pieces that I see myself reflected in, but was just unable to pick up for myself.

Despite all of this, I am still proud of what I have accomplished. I graduated UCLA with a GPA above a 3.0, when I started with a 2.8. I performed at Royce Hall one year, and wrote and directed the Pilipino cultural stage production the year after. I met amazing people, some that I know will be people I can still talk to even if age and time has separated us. I was a peer counselor for nearly 200 incoming freshman students. I learned how to dance, even if it was just as a beginner. I lost myself, but found bits and pieces of it again in nine different countries when I took a leap and studied abroad by myself.

If there's one piece of advice I can impart on current college students, it's that college is not the place for everything that you want to happen to you. It’s the place for everything that should happen to you. It’s the place to fall apart, to learn and grow, to become anew. It's a place for rediscovery. If that aligns with what you want, then all the better. But once that happens, life will finally come together. That’s when we can move forward.

Pressing the Reset Button

This week was the only week that I had for Spring Break. I had a lot of different plans and goals in mind -- get started on my demo reel, read for fun, exercise a little more, travel a little bit.

Those plans fell by the way side. Instead of those plans, I began to worry about the future. I'm expected to graduate in the spring. SPCN is coming up in in nearly two months. I'm attempting to balance two jobs on top of and internship and everything going on in my life. There's a lot going on in my head and it hasn't even started yet. And when it hasn't started yet -- well, my mind has a tendency to think about every worst case scenario that could possibly happen (trust me, there's never just one worst case scenario).

And now I'm beginning to realize -- just breathe. Everything is going to be okay. Sure, this break wasn't the most productive. But it allowed me to press the reset button and reassess what needs to be done, and what needs to matter now in my life. To relax and enjoy the house that held all the dreams that I'm not carrying out now. To be with family and the ones I love. To just live and relish in the idea of being home. This quarter I'm about to experience is only one small part of the life I have and the life I plan to have. Whatever shit will happen, I will take with my chin up and head high.

But for now, I will enjoy the comfort of being in my pajamas, lounging at home and enjoying sunsets across the horizon as I rest up for the beginning of a new and final quarter.

Pieces

I wish people knew who I really was. Sometimes I feel that the girl that speaks so loudly your heart sometimes stops, the girl that always has weary eyes and seems so tired, the girl that can't seem to get a word in edge wise when someone with much more eloquence and charisma is in the room. That isn't me. That isn't who I want to be anyway. But it's funny how sometimes the person I am and the person I don't want to be end up being the same.

But the truth is, I don't want to be looked on as someone who doesn't have anything to say. It's a given, though, that a blank paper or screen is the best mode to capture a glimpse of me that not many people know. When it's filled with words that don't show a person's face, but instead a person's mind and heart.

This winter I realized that part of the reason people know me so well is because of what I put through writing. Essay writing, short stories and scripts, stageplays, scrawled notes in my journals...pieces of me that I put out in the open, crystallized in the pages or on the screen. A piece of me that can be taken by anyone. And yet only a few people have seen those pieces, have taken a glimpse. The truth is, not a lot of people really know who that person is yet.

This is the first step.

Planning My Year

Call me a nerd or what you will, but one of the reasons why I'm excited to start the new year is so that I can use my bullet journal and Passion Planner!

What is a bullet journal? The creator, Ryder Carroll can explain it better than I can on his website, bulletjournal.com. In a nutshell, it's a DIY analog system that allows you to plan, make to-do lists, and pretty much anything else you want it to do!

My supplies are simple for planning! I use Muji pens, Daiso highlighters, a basic ruler, and a squared Moleskine Classic Notebook.

This is my general January set up! Huge thank you to Kara from bohoberry.com who inspired me to do some of the layouts for my bullet journal!

Some new things I'm trying out are the habit tracker, which will hopefully get me in the habit of doing things that will make a positive impact in my life, like working out more and taking more fish oil pills (I know that's random, but they have really good benefits!)

I also want to start saving more and use the money for experiences and things that will benefit me the most. 

My favorite part about the bullet journal is that you can customize it to your liking. Planning is so much funner for me now that I can be creative, yet still maintain organization and focus on important assignments, projects, and goals. I've been bullet journaling for 14 months now, and yet I'm still learning and challenging myself with the bullet journal!

Something else I like to use is the Passion Planner, which uses a time blocking system to help you visualize what your weeks and months look like. I mostly use it for my weekly plans because as a UCLA student, the weeks in the quarter system are super important!

Hopefully this blog post stirred up some creative juices in your brain for planning for the new year! I think it's really important to have a good planning system to help maximize your time and focus, so if you haven't started using any type of planner of some sort, you definitely should!

Thanks for reading! Talk to y'all soon!

House vs. Home

I hate this place. The house is too messy. Its corners carry remnants of the past, heavy burdens that I can’t bear to throw out due to old yet diminishing value. The chaos is bundled into a small three bedroom house in the middle of no where. 

I love this place. Home consists of a loving family and a place to sleep, eat, and bathe. I love coming back and listening to my mother wash the dishes and my father watch television. The murmur of sounds and voices are a subtle reminder of the home that is still very much alive.

I hate this place. In the house, all I want to do is lie down on my bed and think about things. Things that are going wrong, like my brother’s hospitalization. Things in my life that I want but are far from reach, like employment after graduation. Things that need sacrifice and work, like happiness in the future. Things in the past that come back to visit. Things in the future that haunt me. Things, overthinking things, all in the space of this house, a subtle reminder that things are far from easy.

I love this place. Smells of lumpia and pancit linger in the air. Home is where the food is. It is comfort after a long day, a long week, a long quarter, a long year. Food and home fill my stomach with warmth and happiness.

I hate this place and I want to leave.

I love this place and I will come back. 

Motifs of Life: A 2015 Reflection

I fail at fulfilling New Year’s Resolutions, like majority of people. The hope of a new year pushes us to make goals and carry them out, but for some reason, we end up losing sight of those goals after barely 2-3 weeks into the year. They’re inconstant and inconsistent with the bigger scope of our lives.

There are things in our lives, however, that remain constant. The constant motifs of life, as I like to call them (because English major). They’re not things we consciously seek out; rather, they are the pieces of ourselves that make up who we are, that never fail to leave us, no matter how many times we try to leave them.

Looking back on this year, and the years before, I feel that a common motif in my life is flight. It’s kind of funny because I joined a dance team called “Take Off” earlier this year and I wrote and directed a short film called “Jet Lag” last year. Seems only fitting, right?

But actually, flight resonates with me on many different levels. It suggests wanderlust, a desire to travel, which is something I love and aspire to do in the future. It suggests escape, something that happened once I graduated from high school, and happened again when I started college. It suggests loneliness, because many times I had to flee from places that made me feel alone, only to realize that I had to comfort myself with my own loneliness in order to feel better.

Flight has appeared many times this year, even though I didn’t physically get on a plane. I had to mentally escape from the intense amounts of stress I felt over the summer and Fall quarter. I had to fly out of my comfort zone when it came to performing on stage, whether it was as a dancer, a singer, or an actor. I flew away from problems with broken wings, but I always returned with better strength and motivation.

Now here I am, waiting for the 2016 to come, a year where I’m expected to graduate in the Spring and fly off into the world of employment and job hunting all while still figuring out what it is I’m supposed to be doing with this life God has given me.

What does it all mean, these motifs in our lives? To be honest, I’m not so sure. But if this motif occurred last year and the years before that, and reappeared this year, I’m pretty sure that it will pop up sometime next year. It's inevitable. And I can’t wait to see how this motif will develop and branch out into other motifs next year and years to come.

I don’t believe in New Year resolutions. But I believe that the New Year is the perfect opportunity to reflect on not just this year, but in past years. I don’t believe in setting goals for just this one time of the year, I believe in setting goals year round. I don’t believe in putting efforts to improve myself once the New Year kicks in, I believe in trying to improve myself constantly, every day. And with the acknowledgment of this common motif in my life, I hope to use it to my own advantage and make the most out of it for next year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Arizona: A Grand Road Trip

Out of a whim, my mom and I packed a few of our belongings into my Corolla and we drove for 5 hours east to Gilbert, Arizona from our humble hometown of San Bernardino, California to visit family. The drive didn't feel that long since we ate, talked about life, and admired the views on the way, which soon became just plain desert about 2 hours into the drive. Nevertheless, we arrived to Gilbert, and the first location we went to the day after was Sedona!

Sedona has beautiful cacti and red sandstones, and the town itself is very quaint and ranch-like. I immediately felt like I was in Cars Land back in Disney's California Adventures as I was cruising in my Corolla. One of the things we tried in Sedona was  prickly pear ice cream! Unfortunately it wasn't the bright purple color like I saw in pictures, but it was still pretty tasty!

Of course, our Arizona road trip would not have been complete without a trip to the Grand Canyon!

On our 4 hour trip from Gilbert to the Grand Canyon, we ran into some snow! It was refreshing to see snow cover the desert landscape, almost as if we were in the countryside.

The views of the Grand Canyon were beyond words. The picturesque sunset behind the Grand Canyon definitely made the freezing 20 degree weather afterwards worth it.

I would advise trying to go to the Grand Canyon as early as possible. My mom and I barely made it two hours before the sunset, but I wish we had gone sooner to go around the South Rim to get as many photo ops as possible. There are also a lot of opportunities to hike, which I was unable to do due to my mom's aching legs.

Oh well, guess I'll have to come visit you again soon, Arizona! :) 

Broad Adventures

Kicked off the first day of my winter break by spending it at The Broad museum. Here are some of my favorite art pieces.